# Aftermath > Video games, the internet and what comes after Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### About Us / Contact Us URL: https://aftermath.site/about-us-contact-us/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T23:21:29.000Z Welcome to Aftermath, a worker-owned, reader-supported news site covering video games, the internet, and the cultures that surround them. You might remember most of us from Kotaku, where we broke news, covered events, and brought you hard-hitting investigations. You might also have seen us at Motherboard by Vice, The Verge and The Washington Post’s games vertical Launcher. We got back together to start this site not just so we could all blog together again, but to try something new for ourselves and for games journalism. These days it’s tough for journalism, especially about games. The past few years have seen mass layoffs and site closures, with remaining writers being asked to do more and more with less and less. The ad-supported model is crumbling, social media is a mess, and the businessmen and private equity firms buying up news outlets don't care about workers, readers, and quality writing, they only care about profits. The five of us saw our sites closed, ourselves and our colleagues laid off, and our workplaces turned hostile in management’s pursuit of growth at all costs. This couldn’t be happening at a worse time for the games beat. There’s a lot going on: widespread labor organizing, industry-changing mergers and acquisitions, sweeping layoffs, and somehow through it all a ton of amazing new games from big studios and indies alike. We need a curious, independent press to hold power to account, to cut through the marketing hype, and to elevate the voices of those affected by the gaming industry’s upheaval. We’re going to do all that--and more--here at Aftermath. We know a little group of bloggers with a website can’t save games journalism. But we think there’s a better way than the exhausting rounds of layoffs and barely-functioning sites we’ve got now. As workers and owners, we’re beholden to no one but ourselves, and to you, our readers. When you subscribe, you’ll get access to writing that pursues the truth and casts a critical eye on gaming and the internet, that doesn’t need to placate capital or kowtow to PR. You’ll be supporting the kind of journalism our past experience has shown us you like best: honest and irreverent, written for people rather than SEO. You’ll get a site that prioritizes the reader experience, with no invasive popups or ads that burn up your device. Through our different subscription tiers, you’ll have access to articles, comments, podcasts, a newsletter, a Discord server, and more. We wanted to give you flexibility not just in how much you want to spend to support us, but in how much you want to interact with the community we hope to grow around the site. We hope you’ll want to talk to us, and to each other, but you can also just read the articles, where we’ll keep you up to date on the worlds of video games, board games, comics, movies and tv, nerd culture, tech, streaming, and the labor issues that surround them. If you'd like to get in touch, you can reach us here: ### **FOUNDERS** [Luke Plunkett](mailto:luke@aftermath.site) [Nathan Grayson](mailto:nathan@aftermath.site) [Riley MacLeod](mailto:riley@aftermath.site) [Gita Jackson](mailto:gita@aftermath.site) [Chris Person](mailto:chris@aftermath.site) ### **CONTRIBUTORS** [Isaiah Colbert](https://bsky.app/profile/shineyezehuhh.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) [Nicole Carpenter](https://bsky.app/profile/nicolecarpenter.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) [Multitude](https://www.multitudeshows.com/?ref=aftermath.site) (Podcasts) ### COLUMNIST [Joshua Rivera](https://bsky.app/profile/jmrivera.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) ### **GENERAL INQUIRIES** [Email](mailto:mail@aftermath.site) ### **SUPPORT** [Email](mailto:support@aftermath.site) --- ### **OUR VALUES** Aftermath rejects balance and performative impartiality as journalistic virtues. We strive to recognize the full humanity of those we cover, and strive for all reasonable fairness in our coverage. Honest reporting can be painful to subjects, and we recognize the effects such reporting may have on them. We take seriously our responsibility as journalists and strive to mitigate all unnecessary harm our reporting may cause. Aftermath rejects the “view from nowhere” in favor of honest, individualized editorial voices. We employ any and all rhetorical devices in our writing, including opinion, humor, and sarcasm. At the same time, we recognize that our words and tone have consequences, whether or not we intend them to. We strive at all times to be humane, whatever form our editorial content takes. Aftermath is an independent media organization, beholden only to our readers and ourselves. We do not let PR, advertisers, or companies dictate or influence our coverage. We take good faith reader feedback seriously and strive to incorporate it whenever feasible. Aftermath values diversity in editorial content and personnel. We strive to uplift under-served individuals and voices in our editorial content. We strive to use anti-oppressive language and promptly correct such instances where we might fall short. Aftermath values human-created journalism. We reject AI-generated editorial content and do not publish it except when it is required for a story. In such instances, AI-generated content will be clearly identified as such. We reject and do not use AI-generated art except in such instances as a story requires it, and we clearly identify it as such. ### Podcasts URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/ Last updated: 2025-10-15T14:32:53.000Z You don't just get to read *Aftermath*, you can listen as well. We've got three podcasts--*Aftermath Hours*, *52 Pickup* and *You Are Error*\--and you can find out more about these shows, and links to download/listen to them, below. **AFTERMATH HOURS** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/amh6-edited-w-710.png) The flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry. [**Spotify**](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&nd=1&dlsi=97c6034ed37142bb&ref=aftermath.site) **|** [**Apple**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site) --- **52 PICKUP** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/52wide-w-710.png) A show about the most important comic of the 21st century, and the greatest series you’ve never heard of. Each week Journalist Gita Jackson and DC Historian Alex Jaffe read and explore an issue of 52, a 2006 exploration of the DC universe by a legendary team of talent that shaped everything that came after it. [**Spotify**](https://open.spotify.com/show/5gGgyVVV65L1vlGKhDxrtF?ref=aftermath.site) **|** [**Apple**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/52-pickup/id1715634830?ref=aftermath.site) --- **YOU ARE ERROR** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/error6-w-710.png) You Are Error is Aftermath's podcast about common misconceptions in and around video games. Each episode interviews a different guest about something that either games or the people who play them frequently get wrong: It could be something mechanical, like climbing. It could be something born of narrative and world building, like Cyberpunk 2077's obsession with artificial limbs and exoskeletons, as opposed to what disabled people in the real world actually want and need. A topic could be fairly lighthearted in nature, like horses, or it could be heavier, like an exploration of how arms manufacturers use games as advertisements. Regardless, the goal is not to chide or condescend, but to explain how we got here and what it all means-both for games themselves and for culture more broadly. Games matter. Let's start treating them that way. [**Spotify**](https://open.spotify.com/show/7w7V296dt8HCoDryWiofI4?si=f79446b5647c44bc&ref=aftermath.site) **|** [**Apple**](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-are-error/id1782231480?ref=aftermath.site) ### Intro URL: https://aftermath.site/intro/ Last updated: 2025-11-10T10:21:24.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/11/pinksidelogo2.png) Welcome to Aftermath, a worker-owned news site covering video games, the internet, and the cultures that surround them. We're supported entirely by readers, which means human stories with no bullshit. [SUBSCRIBE HERE](https://aftermath.site/#/portal) ### Latest URL: https://aftermath.site/latest/ Last updated: 2025-10-27T07:54:17.000Z Bookmark this link to land straight on a chronological list of every Aftermath story. ### topics URL: https://aftermath.site/topics/ Last updated: 2025-10-02T00:59:50.000Z _No content available._ ### (Untitled) URL: https://aftermath.site/actions/ Last updated: 2026-03-23T18:54:54.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/11/icon1.png) #### SUBSCRIBE Paying subscribers get tons of cool stuff like access to every post, the ability to comment, an invite to our community Discord, full-text RSS and discounts on Aftermath merch. [SUBSCRIBE](https://aftermath.ghost.io/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal/signup) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/11/icon4.png) #### BUY MERCH You can support the staff of Aftermath, and the artists we work with, by buying merch from our online store. We ship worldwide! [BUY MERCH](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/11/icon3.png) #### SUBSCRIBER GOALS Every new subscriber helps the site grow, letting us hire more writers, do more stuff and give you more coverage for your money. Here's what we've got planned for the next year. [FOLLOW](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/) ### Tip Jar URL: https://aftermath.site/tip-jar/ Last updated: 2025-10-09T03:53:20.000Z _No content available._ ### Advanced User Settings URL: https://aftermath.site/advanced-settings/ Last updated: 2025-10-09T03:53:20.000Z _No content available._ ### Group Subscriptions URL: https://aftermath.site/group-subscriptions/ Last updated: 2025-10-09T03:53:21.000Z _No content available._ ### Buy a Group Subscription URL: https://aftermath.site/buy-group-subscription/ Last updated: 2025-10-09T03:53:21.000Z _No content available._ ### Privacy Notice URL: https://aftermath.site/privacy-notice/ Last updated: 2023-10-11T09:54:49.000Z **Last updated October 24, 2023** This privacy notice for Aftermath Site LLC ("**we**," "**us**," or "**our**"), describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share ("**process**") your information when you use our services ("**Services**"), such as when you: - Visit our website at [http://www.aftermath.site](http://www.aftermath.site/?ref=aftermath.site), or any website of ours that links to this privacy notice - Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, or events **Questions or concerns?** Reading this privacy notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at privacy@aftermath.site. **1\. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?** **Personal information you disclose to us** ***In Short:*** *We collect information that you provide to us.* We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register on the express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and services, when you participate in activities on the (such as by posting messages in our online forums or entering competitions, contests or giveaways) or otherwise when you contact us. The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us, the choices you make and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following: **Social Media Login Data.** We may provide you with the option to register with us using your existing social media account details, like your Facebook, Twitter or other social media account. If you choose to register in this way, we will collect the information described in the section called "HOW DO WE HANDLE YOUR SOCIAL LOGINS" below. All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information. **Information automatically collected** ***In Short:*** *Some information — such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit the Site.* We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use or navigate the Site. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about who and when you use our and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Site, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies. **2\. HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?** ***In Short:*** *We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent.* **We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Services, including:** - **To facilitate account creation and authentication and otherwise manage user accounts.** We may process your information so you can create and log in to your account, as well as keep your account in working order. - **To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user.** We may process your information to provide you with the requested service. - **To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users.** We may process your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the requested service. - **To send administrative information to you.** We may process your information to send you details about our products and services, changes to our terms and policies, and other similar information. - **To fulfill and manage your orders.** We may process your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the Services. - **To request feedback.** We may process your information when necessary to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Services. - **To identify usage trends.** We may process information about how you use our Services to better understand how they are being used so we can improve them. - **To save or protect an individual's vital interest.** We may process your information when necessary to save or protect an individual’s vital interest, such as to prevent harm. **3\. WHAT LEGAL BASES DO WE RELY ON TO PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?** ***In Short:*** *We only process your personal information when we believe it is necessary and we have a valid legal reason (i.e., legal basis) to do so under applicable law, like with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services to enter into or fulfill our contractual obligations, to protect your rights, or to fulfill our legitimate business interests.* ***If you are located in the EU or UK, this section applies to you.*** The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK GDPR require us to explain the valid legal bases we rely on in order to process your personal information. As such, we may rely on the following legal bases to process your personal information: - **Consent.** We may process your information if you have given us permission (i.e., consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time. - **Performance of a Contract.** We may process your personal information when we believe it is necessary to fulfill our contractual obligations to you, including providing our Services or at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. - **Legitimate Interests.** We may process your information when we believe it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests and those interests do not outweigh your interests and fundamental rights and freedoms. For example, we may process your personal information for some of the purposes described in order to: - Analyze how our Services are used so we can improve them to engage and retain users - Understand how our users use our products and services so we can improve user experience - **Legal Obligations.** We may process your information where we believe it is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations, such as to cooperate with a law enforcement body or regulatory agency, exercise or defend our legal rights, or disclose your information as evidence in litigation in which we are involved. - **Vital Interests.** We may process your information where we believe it is necessary to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of a third party, such as situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person. ***If you are located in Canada, this section applies to you.*** We may process your information if you have given us specific permission (i.e., express consent) to use your personal information for a specific purpose, or in situations where your permission can be inferred (i.e., implied consent). You can withdraw your consent at any time. In some exceptional cases, we may be legally permitted under applicable law to process your information without your consent, including, for example: - If collection is clearly in the interests of an individual and consent cannot be obtained in a timely way - For investigations and fraud detection and prevention - For business transactions provided certain conditions are met - If it is contained in a witness statement and the collection is necessary to assess, process, or settle an insurance claim - For identifying injured, ill, or deceased persons and communicating with next of kin - If we have reasonable grounds to believe an individual has been, is, or may be victim of financial abuse - If it is reasonable to expect collection and use with consent would compromise the availability or the accuracy of the information and the collection is reasonable for purposes related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada or a province - If disclosure is required to comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order, or rules of the court relating to the production of records - If it was produced by an individual in the course of their employment, business, or profession and the collection is consistent with the purposes for which the information was produced - If the collection is solely for journalistic, artistic, or literary purposes - If the information is publicly available and is specified by the regulations **4\. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?** ***In Short:*** *We may share information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the following categories of third parties.* **Vendors, Consultants, and Other Third-Party Service Providers.** We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents ("**third parties**") who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. We have contracts in place with our third parties, which are designed to help safeguard your personal information. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will also not share your personal information with any organization apart from us. They also commit to protect the data they hold on our behalf and to retain it for the period we instruct. The categories of third parties we may share personal information with are as follows: - Ad Networks - Communication & Collaboration Tools - Data Storage Service Providers - Payment Processors - User Account Registration & Authentication Services We also may need to share your personal information in the following situations: - **Business Transfers.** We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company. - **Affiliates.** We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this privacy notice. Affiliates include our parent company and any subsidiaries, joint venture partners, or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us. - **Business Partners.** We may share your information with our business partners to offer you certain products, services, or promotions. **5\. IS YOUR INFORMATION TRANSFERRED INTERNATIONALLY?** ***In Short:*** *We may transfer, store, and process your information in countries other than your own.* Our servers are located in the United States. If you are accessing our Services from outside the United States, please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed by us in our facilities and by those third parties with whom we may share your personal information (see "[WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?](https://aftermath.site/privacy-notice/)" above), in the United States, and other countries. If you are a resident in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK), or Switzerland, then these countries may not necessarily have data protection laws or other similar laws as comprehensive as those in your country. However, we will take all necessary measures to protect your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and applicable law. European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses: We have implemented measures to protect your personal information, including by using the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers of personal information between our group companies and between us and our third-party providers. These clauses require all recipients to protect all personal information that they process originating from the EEA or UK in accordance with European data protection laws and regulations. Our Standard Contractual Clauses can be provided upon request. We have implemented similar appropriate safeguards with our third-party service providers and partners and further details can be provided upon request. **6\. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?** ***In Short:*** *We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law.* We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). No purpose in this notice will require us keeping your personal information for longer than the period of time in which users have an account with us. When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible. **7\. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?** ***In Short:*** *We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.* We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment. **8\. DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?** ***In Short:*** *We do not knowingly collect data from or market to children under 18 years of age.* We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Services. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from children under age 18, please contact us at privacy@aftermath.site. **9\. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?** ***In Short:*** *In some regions, such as the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK), Switzerland, and Canada, you have rights that allow you greater access to and control over your personal information. You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.* In some regions (like the EEA, UK, Switzerland, and Canada), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; (iv) if applicable, to data portability; and (v) not to be subject to automated decision-making. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. You can make such a request by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?" below. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws. If you are located in the EEA or UK and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your [Member State data protection authority](https://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index%5Fen.htm?ref=aftermath.site) or [UK data protection authority](https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/data-protection-complaints/data-protection-complaints/?ref=aftermath.site). If you are located in Switzerland, you may contact the [Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner](https://www.edoeb.admin.ch/edoeb/en/home.html?ref=aftermath.site). **Withdrawing your consent:** If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, which may be express and/or implied consent depending on the applicable law, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?" below. However, please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal nor, when applicable law allows, will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent. **Opting out of marketing and promotional communications:** You can unsubscribe from our marketing and promotional communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the emails that we send, or by contacting us using the details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?" below. You will then be removed from the marketing lists. However, we may still communicate with you — for example, to send you service-related messages that are necessary for the administration and use of your account, to respond to service requests, or for other non-marketing purposes. **Account Information** If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can: - Log in to your account settings and update your user account. - Contact us using the contact information provided. Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements. If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at privacy@aftermath.site. **10\. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES** Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice. **11\. DO UNITED STATES RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?** ***In Short:*** *If you are a resident of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah or Virginia, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.* **What categories of personal information do we collect?** We have collected the following categories of personal information in the past twelve (12) months: | **Category** | **Examples** | **Collected** | | -------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | | A. Identifiers | Contact details, such as real name, alias, postal address, telephone or mobile contact number, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, and account name | YES | | B. Personal information as defined in the California Customer Records statute | Name, contact information, education, employment, employment history, and financial information | NO | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -- | | C. Protected classification characteristics under state or federal law | Gender and date of birth | NO | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -- | | D. Commercial information | Transaction information, purchase history, financial details, and payment information | NO | | E. Biometric information | Fingerprints and voiceprints | NO | | F. Internet or other similar network activity | Browsing history, search history, online behavior, interest data, and interactions with our and other websites, applications, systems, and advertisements | NO | | G. Geolocation data | Device location | NO | | H. Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information | Images and audio, video or call recordings created in connection with our business activities | NO | | I. Professional or employment-related information | Business contact details in order to provide you our Services at a business level or job title, work history, and professional qualifications if you apply for a job with us | NO | | J. Education Information | Student records and directory information | NO | | K. Inferences drawn from collected personal information | Inferences drawn from any of the collected personal information listed above to create a profile or summary about, for example, an individual’s preferences and characteristics | NO | | L. Sensitive personal Information | | NO | We will use and retain the collected personal information as needed to provide the Services or for: - Category B - As long as the user has an account with us We may also collect other personal information outside of these categories through instances where you interact with us in person, online, or by phone or mail in the context of: - Receiving help through our customer support channels; - Participation in customer surveys or contests; and - Facilitation in the delivery of our Services and to respond to your inquiries. **How do we use and share your personal information?** Learn about how we use your personal information in the section, "HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?" **Will your information be shared with anyone else?** We may disclose your personal information with our service providers pursuant to a written contract between us and each service provider. Learn more about how we disclose personal information to in the section, "WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?" We may use your personal information for our own business purposes, such as for undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration. This is not considered to be "selling" of your personal information. We have not sold or shared any personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months. We have disclosed the following categories of personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months: The categories of third parties to whom we disclosed personal information for a business or commercial purpose can be found under "WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?" **California Residents** California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the "Shine The Light" law permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below. If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with the Services, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Services. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Services, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g., backups, etc.). **CCPA Privacy Notice** This section applies only to California residents. Under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you have the rights listed below. The California Code of Regulations defines a "residents" as: (1) every individual who is in the State of California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose and (2) every individual who is domiciled in the State of California who is outside the State of California for a temporary or transitory purpose All other individuals are defined as "non-residents." If this definition of "resident" applies to you, we must adhere to certain rights and obligations regarding your personal information. **Your rights with respect to your personal data** Right to request deletion of the data — Request to delete You can ask for the deletion of your personal information. If you ask us to delete your personal information, we will respect your request and delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions provided by law, such as (but not limited to) the exercise by another consumer of his or her right to free speech, our compliance requirements resulting from a legal obligation, or any processing that may be required to protect against illegal activities. Right to be informed — Request to know Depending on the circumstances, you have a right to know: - whether we collect and use your personal information; - the categories of personal information that we collect; - the purposes for which the collected personal information is used; - whether we sell or share personal information to third parties; - the categories of personal information that we sold, shared, or disclosed for a business purpose; - the categories of third parties to whom the personal information was sold, shared, or disclosed for a business purpose; - the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information; and - the specific pieces of personal information we collected about you. In accordance with applicable law, we are not obligated to provide or delete consumer information that is de-identified in response to a consumer request or to re-identify individual data to verify a consumer request. Right to Non-Discrimination for the Exercise of a Consumer’s Privacy Rights We will not discriminate against you if you exercise your privacy rights. Right to Limit Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information We do not process consumer's sensitive personal information. Verification process Upon receiving your request, we will need to verify your identity to determine you are the same person about whom we have the information in our system. These verification efforts require us to ask you to provide information so that we can match it with information you have previously provided us. For instance, depending on the type of request you submit, we may ask you to provide certain information so that we can match the information you provide with the information we already have on file, or we may contact you through a communication method (e.g., phone or email) that you have previously provided to us. We may also use other verification methods as the circumstances dictate. We will only use personal information provided in your request to verify your identity or authority to make the request. To the extent possible, we will avoid requesting additional information from you for the purposes of verification. However, if we cannot verify your identity from the information already maintained by us, we may request that you provide additional information for the purposes of verifying your identity and for security or fraud-prevention purposes. We will delete such additionally provided information as soon as we finish verifying you. Other privacy rights - You may object to the processing of your personal information. - You may request correction of your personal data if it is incorrect or no longer relevant, or ask to restrict the processing of the information. - You can designate an authorized agent to make a request under the CCPA on your behalf. We may deny a request from an authorized agent that does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf in accordance with the CCPA. - You may request to opt out from future selling or sharing of your personal information to third parties. Upon receiving an opt-out request, we will act upon the request as soon as feasibly possible, but no later than fifteen (15) days from the date of the request submission. To exercise these rights, you can contact us by email at privacy@aftermath.site, or by referring to the contact details at the bottom of this document. If you have a complaint about how we handle your data, we would like to hear from you. **Colorado Residents** This section applies only to Colorado residents. Under the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA), you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law. - Right to be informed whether or not we are processing your personal data - Right to access your personal data - Right to correct inaccuracies in your personal data - Right to request deletion of your personal data - Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us - Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects ("profiling") To submit a request to exercise these rights described above, please email privacy@aftermath.site. If we decline to take action regarding your request and you wish to appeal our decision, please email us at privacy@aftermath.site. Within forty-five (45) days of receipt of an appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. **Connecticut Residents** This section applies only to Connecticut residents. Under the Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CTDPA), you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law. - Right to be informed whether or not we are processing your personal data - Right to access your personal data - Right to correct inaccuracies in your personal data - Right to request deletion of your personal data - Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us - Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects ("profiling") To submit a request to exercise these rights described above, please email privacy@aftermath.site. If we decline to take action regarding your request and you wish to appeal our decision, please email us at privacy@aftermath.site. Within sixty (60) days of receipt of an appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. **Utah Residents** This section applies only to Utah residents. Under the Utah Consumer Privacy Act (UCPA), you have the rights listed below. However, these rights are not absolute, and in certain cases, we may decline your request as permitted by law. - Right to be informed whether or not we are processing your personal data - Right to access your personal data - Right to request deletion of your personal data - Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us - Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising or the sale of personal data To submit a request to exercise these rights described above, please email privacy@aftermath.site. **Virginia Residents** Under the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA): "Consumer" means a natural person who is a resident of the Commonwealth acting only in an individual or household context. It does not include a natural person acting in a commercial or employment context. "Personal data" means any information that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable natural person. "Personal data" does not include de-identified data or publicly available information. "Sale of personal data" means the exchange of personal data for monetary consideration. If this definition of "consumer" applies to you, we must adhere to certain rights and obligations regarding your personal data. Your rights with respect to your personal data - Right to be informed whether or not we are processing your personal data - Right to access your personal data - Right to correct inaccuracies in your personal data - Right to request deletion of your personal data - Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us - Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects ("profiling") Exercise your rights provided under the Virginia VCDPA You may contact us by email at privacy@aftermath.site. If you are using an authorized agent to exercise your rights, we may deny a request if the authorized agent does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf. Verification process We may request that you provide additional information reasonably necessary to verify you and your consumer's request. If you submit the request through an authorized agent, we may need to collect additional information to verify your identity before processing your request. Upon receiving your request, we will respond without undue delay, but in all cases, within forty-five (45) days of receipt. The response period may be extended once by forty-five (45) additional days when reasonably necessary. We will inform you of any such extension within the initial 45-day response period, together with the reason for the extension. Right to appeal If we decline to take action regarding your request, we will inform you of our decision and reasoning behind it. If you wish to appeal our decision, please email us at privacy@aftermath.site. Within sixty (60) days of receipt of an appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. If your appeal is denied, you may contact the [Attorney General to submit a complaint](https://www.oag.state.va.us/consumer-protection/index.php/file-a-complaint?ref=aftermath.site). **12\. DO OTHER REGIONS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?** ***In Short:*** *You may have additional rights based on the country you reside in.* **Australia** **and** **New Zealand** We collect and process your personal information under the obligations and conditions set by Australia's Privacy Act 1988 and New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020 (Privacy Act). This privacy notice satisfies the notice requirements defined in both Privacy Acts, in particular: what personal information we collect from you, from which sources, for which purposes, and other recipients of your personal information. If you do not wish to provide the personal information necessary to fulfill their applicable purpose, it may affect our ability to provide our services, in particular: - offer you the products or services that you want - respond to or help with your requests - manage your account with us - confirm your identity and protect your account At any time, you have the right to request access to or correction of your personal information. You can make such a request by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?" If you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you have the right to submit a complaint about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles to the [Office of the Australian Information Commissioner](https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints/lodge-a-privacy-complaint-with-us?ref=aftermath.site) and a breach of New Zealand's Privacy Principles to the [Office of New Zealand Privacy Commissioner](https://www.privacy.org.nz/your-rights/making-a-complaint/?ref=aftermath.site). **Republic of South Africa** At any time, you have the right to request access to or correction of your personal information. You can make such a request by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section "HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?" If you are unsatisfied with the manner in which we address any complaint with regard to our processing of personal information, you can contact the office of the regulator, the details of which are: [The Information Regulator (South Africa)](https://inforegulator.org.za/?ref=aftermath.site) General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za Complaints (complete POPIA/PAIA form 5): PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za & POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za **13\. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?** ***In Short:*** *Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.* We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated "Revised" date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information. **14\. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?** If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at privacy@aftermath.site or contact us by post at: Aftermath Site LLC 418 Broadway #8040 Albany, NY 12207-2950 United States **15\. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?** You have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please email us at privacy@aftermath.site. ### Aftermath Podcasts URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-podcast-hours-52-pickup/ Last updated: 2025-10-31T03:37:07.000Z You don't just get to read *Aftermath*, you can listen as well. We've got three podcasts--*Aftermath Hours*, *52 Pickup* and *You Are Error*\--and you can find out more about these shows, and links to download/listen to them, below. **AFTERMATH HOURS** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/amh6-edited-2.png) The flagship podcast of Aftermath, a worker-owned, subscription-based website covering video games, the internet, and everything that comes after from journalists who previously worked at Kotaku, Vice, and The Washington Post. Each week, games journalism veterans Luke Plunkett, Nathan Grayson, Chris Person, Riley MacLeod, and Gita Jackson – though not always all at once, because that’s too many people for a podcast – break down video game news, Remember Some Games, and learn about Chris’ frankly incredible number of special interests. Sometimes we even bring on guests from both inside and outside the video game industry. **[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&nd=1&dlsi=97c6034ed37142bb&ref=aftermath.site) | [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site)** --- **52 PICKUP** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/52wide-1.png) A show about the most important comic of the 21st century, and the greatest series you’ve never heard of. Each week Journalist Gita Jackson and DC Historian Alex Jaffe read and explore an issue of 52, a 2006 exploration of the DC universe by a legendary team of talent that shaped everything that came after it. **[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5gGgyVVV65L1vlGKhDxrtF?ref=aftermath.site) | [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/52-pickup/id1715634830?ref=aftermath.site)** --- **YOU ARE ERROR** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/error6-4.png) You Are Error is Aftermath's podcast about common misconceptions in and around video games. Each episode interviews a different guest about something that either games or the people who play them frequently get wrong: It could be something mechanical, like climbing. It could be something born of narrative and world building, like Cyberpunk 2077's obsession with artificial limbs and exoskeletons, as opposed to what disabled people in the real world actually want and need. A topic could be fairly lighthearted in nature, like horses, or it could be heavier, like an exploration of how arms manufacturers use games as advertisements. Regardless, the goal is not to chide or condescend, but to explain how we got here and what it all means-both for games themselves and for culture more broadly. Games matter. Let's start treating them that way. **[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7w7V296dt8HCoDryWiofI4?si=f79446b5647c44bc&ref=aftermath.site) | [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-are-error/id1782231480?ref=aftermath.site)** ### Tips URL: https://aftermath.site/tips/ Last updated: 2023-10-15T01:44:23.000Z If you know something you think *we* should know, you can contact us at: **Email**: [tips@aftermath.site](mailto:tips@aftermath.site) **Proton Mail**: [aftermath\_site@proton.me](mailto:aftermath%5Fsite@proton.me) --- ### About Us / Contact Us URL: https://aftermath.site/about-us-contact-us-aftermath/ Last updated: 2025-10-31T03:37:33.000Z ![An illustration of Aftermath's team](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/aftermathcrewgreen-4.png) L-R: Chris Person, Gita Jackson, Nathan Grayson, Riley MacLeod & Luke Plunkett | image: doubleleaf Welcome to Aftermath, a worker-owned, reader-supported news site covering video games, the internet, and the cultures that surround them. You might remember most of us from Kotaku, where we broke news, covered events, and brought you hard-hitting investigations. You might also have seen us at Motherboard by Vice, The Verge and The Washington Post’s games vertical Launcher. We got back together to start this site not just so we could all blog together again, but to try something new for ourselves and for games journalism. These days it’s tough for journalism, especially about games. The past few years have seen mass layoffs and site closures, with remaining writers being asked to do more and more with less and less. The ad-supported model is crumbling, social media is a mess, and the businessmen and private equity firms buying up news outlets don't care about workers, readers, and quality writing, they only care about profits. The five of us saw our sites closed, ourselves and our colleagues laid off, and our workplaces turned hostile in management’s pursuit of growth at all costs. This couldn’t be happening at a worse time for the games beat. There’s a lot going on: widespread labor organizing, industry-changing mergers and acquisitions, sweeping layoffs, and somehow through it all a ton of amazing new games from big studios and indies alike. We need a curious, independent press to hold power to account, to cut through the marketing hype, and to elevate the voices of those affected by the gaming industry’s upheaval. We’re going to do all that--and more--here at Aftermath. We know a little group of bloggers with a website can’t save games journalism. But we think there’s a better way than the exhausting rounds of layoffs and barely-functioning sites we’ve got now. As workers and owners, we’re beholden to no one but ourselves, and to you, our readers. When you [subscribe](https://aftermath.site/products), you’ll get access to writing that pursues the truth and casts a critical eye on gaming and the internet, that doesn’t need to placate capital or kowtow to PR. You’ll be supporting the kind of journalism our past experience has shown us you like best: honest and irreverent, written for people rather than SEO. You’ll get a site that prioritizes the reader experience, with no invasive popups or ads that burn up your device. Through our different [subscription tiers](https://aftermath.site/products), you’ll have access to articles, comments, podcasts, a newsletter, a Discord server, and more. We wanted to give you flexibility not just in how much you want to spend to support us, but in how much you want to interact with the community we hope to grow around the site. We hope you’ll want to talk to us, and to each other, but you can also just read the articles, where we’ll keep you up to date on the worlds of video games, board games, comics, movies and tv, nerd culture, tech, streaming, and the labor issues that surround them. If you'd like to get in touch, you can reach us here: **FOUNDERS** [Luke Plunkett](mailto:luke@aftermath.site) [Nathan Grayson](mailto:nathan@aftermath.site) [Riley MacLeod](mailto:riley@aftermath.site) [Gita Jackson](mailto:gita@aftermath.site) [Chris Person](mailto:chris@aftermath.site) **CONTRIBUTORS** [Isaiah Colbert](https://bsky.app/profile/shineyezehuhh.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) [Nicole Carpenter](https://bsky.app/profile/nicolecarpenter.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) [Alex Jaffe](https://bsky.app/profile/alexjaffe.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) **GENERAL INQUIRIES** [Email](mailto:mail@aftermath.site) **SUPPORT** [Email](mailto:support@aftermath.site) --- **OUR VALUES** Aftermath rejects balance and performative impartiality as journalistic virtues. We strive to recognize the full humanity of those we cover, and strive for all reasonable fairness in our coverage. Honest reporting can be painful to subjects, and we recognize the effects such reporting may have on them. We take seriously our responsibility as journalists and strive to mitigate all unnecessary harm our reporting may cause. Aftermath rejects the “view from nowhere” in favor of honest, individualized editorial voices. We employ any and all rhetorical devices in our writing, including opinion, humor, and sarcasm. At the same time, we recognize that our words and tone have consequences, whether or not we intend them to. We strive at all times to be humane, whatever form our editorial content takes. Aftermath is an independent media organization, beholden only to our readers and ourselves. We do not let PR, advertisers, or companies dictate or influence our coverage. We take good faith reader feedback seriously and strive to incorporate it whenever feasible. Aftermath values diversity in editorial content and personnel. We strive to uplift under-served individuals and voices in our editorial content. We strive to use anti-oppressive language and promptly correct such instances where we might fall short. Aftermath values human-created journalism. We reject AI-generated editorial content and do not publish it except when it is required for a story. In such instances, AI-generated content will be clearly identified as such. We reject and do not use AI-generated art except in such instances as a story requires it, and we clearly identify it as such. ### Thank You URL: https://aftermath.site/thank-you/ Last updated: 2025-12-11T20:40:15.000Z Starting and running Aftermath has taken a ton of work, and we couldn't have done it alone. We’ve been lucky to have the counsel of so many friends and colleagues who paved the way, including Jack Mirkinson and Aleks Chan from [Discourse](https://www.discourseblog.com/?ref=aftermath.site), Matt Hardigree of [The Autopian](https://www.theautopian.com/?ref=aftermath.site), [Hell Gate's](https://hellgatenyc.com/?ref=aftermath.site) Max Rivlin-Nadler and Nadia Tykulsker, [Defector's](https://defector.com/?ref=aftermath.site) Jasper Wang and Sean Kuhn, Jason Koebler and Samantha Cole at [404](https://www.404media.co/?ref=aftermath.site), Chase Taylor-Carter and Rowan Zeoli from [Rascal](https://www.rascal.news/?ref=aftermath.site), and [Remap's](https://remapradio.com/?ref=aftermath.site) Patrick Klepek and Rob Zacny. Our amazing logos were created by [Andrew Elmore](https://elmore.design/?ref=aftermath.site). Our staff portraits were originally illustrated by [Doubleleaf](https://twitter.com/doubleleaf?ref=aftermath.site), and more recently by [Kim Hu](https://kim-hu.com/?ref=aftermath.site). Front page icons by [Mehwish](https://www.flaticon.com/free-icons/apparel?ref=aftermath.site). We couldn't have launched without the support of [Lede](https://joinlede.com/?ref=aftermath.site), who created the 2023 version of the site, provided vital tech support throughout our first two years of operation and were just generally a huge help whenever we needed it. The version of the site you're reading this on now is brought to you by the wonderful people at [Ghost](https://ghost.org/?ref=aftermath.site) and [Outpost](https://outpost.pub/?ref=aftermath.site). As bloggers who’ve had to turn into businesspeople, we've received invaluable advice from Anna Flewelling, Parag Rajendra Khandhar of Gilmore Khandhar, Lex Roman, the folks at Capital Bookkeeping Cooperative and ABC (A Bookkeeping Cooperative), Lawyers for Reporters, the New York Small Business Development Center, Jessie Rose Lee, and Courtney Waid of First Turn Operations. We couldn’t do any of this if not for all of our friends and peers in games journalism and beyond, who put up with so much to make great work in ever more trying circumstances. If there’s a future for this industry–and clearly we think there is!--it’s because all of you are fighting for it every day, and lifting each other up in the process. And finally, we couldn't do it without our subscribers, [particularly the Benefactor tier](https://aftermath.site/products), a group that includes: [**Michael Dominick**](https://dominickm.com/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Ted DiNola**](http://esdin.net/?ref=aftermath.site) **Patrick Rennie** [**Organized Havoc**](https://www.organizedhavoc.com/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Timothy Faust**](https://twitter.com/crulge?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor&ref=aftermath.site) **Shanti C** [**Alice**](https://3amgirl.gay/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Mark Ignacio**](https://www.threatkey.com/?ref=aftermath.site) **Lexxington87** [**Alberto Pareja-Lecaros**](https://albertopl.com/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Kenyon F**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenyonfryman/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Stephen Bell**](https://gardens.dev/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Ben Cordes**](https://pixelriver.io/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Key Gray**](https://insertcredit.com/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Adrian Von Braunbehrens**](https://lamarusinnovations.com/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Adam Gothelf**](https://gothelf.tv/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Steven Stoermer**](https://www.deletedsaves.com/?ref=aftermath.site) [**Vincent Tirado**](https://www.v-e-tirado.com/?ref=aftermath.site) --- ### Commenting Policy URL: https://aftermath.site/commenting-policy/ Last updated: 2025-10-30T04:11:02.000Z If you’re a paid member to the site, you have the ability to comment. We want the comments section to be a good place to give us feedback and to engage with writers and other readers. We think you want the comments to be a nice place too. Let’s make them that way together. The rules are pretty simple: Please don’t be an asshole. We want you to share your thoughts, debate us and each other, and point out typos or other inaccuracies–but you can do that in a way that’s respectful to Aftermath’s writers and community. Differences of opinions are encouraged; using those differences to insult, demean, or harass each other is not. We won’t tolerate bigotry, personal attacks, or pornographic or illegal materials. If you can imagine an older, wiser version of yourself cringing at your comments and saying, “Gosh, I’ve grown so much since then,” maybe think twice about putting it in the comments. Aftermath’s staff reserves the right to decide if your comment has violated the rules and to remove it or ban you from commenting accordingly. We *really* don’t want to spend our time doing that, and we’re sure you don’t want to spend your time having it done to you. Lucky for all of us, that’s easy to avoid! If you have questions about this policy or want to bring something from the comments to our attention, you can reach us at [comments@aftermath.site](mailto:comments@aftermath.site). Thanks for your support of Aftermath, and for being a part of our community. --- ### User FAQ URL: https://aftermath.site/user-faq/ Last updated: 2023-11-16T23:17:19.000Z Here you’ll find answers to some common questions we’ve been asked about your Aftermath account. #### **I signed up for an account but didn’t receive my verification email.** We’ve gotten reports of some verification emails going to users’ spam folders, so check there first if you didn’t receive your verification email. #### **I’m an existing user. How do I log into the site?** When you visit the site, look in the top right corner of the screen to find the Log In button. That will take you to the login/register screen, where you can enter your email address. You can choose to "Email me a link to log in without a password," which will send you an email with a link to log in. Alternatively, if you have already set a password on your My Account page, the "Enter password" button will display as well. Choose your preferred method and log in. #### **I'm an existing user. How do I update my account details?** Once logged in, click on the "Welcome Back" button in the upper right corner and then on "My Account". On your My Account page, you can: - Edit your email - Set up or update your password - If you're a paying subscriber with the ability to comment, you can add a user name and an avatar for commenting purposes - Adjust your newsletter selections - Add or modify your subscriptions - Add a payment method - Make sure to click the corresponding "Save" button when making any changes. #### **I’m a Member subscriber. How do I access the Discord?** You’ll be emailed a Discord invite link when you sign up for a Member-level subscription. You may not get the email right away, but if you haven't received it after 24 hours, please email us at support@aftermath.site from or including the email you used to create your subscription. Please note that the Discord link will regularly reset. Please email us at support@aftermath.site if your Discord invite expired before you activated it. #### **I have questions about the RSS feed.** Aftermath readers love RSS! You can access the RSS feed from the Menu dropdown in the top right of the homepage. Currently, the RSS feed only provides excerpts of articles, even for paying subscribers. We recognize that’s not ideal for many of you, and are discussing whether to change it in the future while still preserving our paywall. #### **How do I get my Benefactor perks?** When you sign up as a Benefactor-level subscriber (thank you; we love you!), you’ll receive an email from one of us about next steps. If you haven’t received an email after a few days, please drop us a line at mail@aftermath.site from or including the email address you created the subscription with. #### **How do I give someone a gift subscription?** You can purchase an Aftermath subscription as a gift from the [products](https://aftermath.site/products) page. You will be charged for your gift at the time of purchase. The recipient will receive an email with an explanation of how to redeem their gift subscription. #### **How do I give you *more* money, because I love your work so much?** We have a [tip jar!](https://aftermath.site/donate) Tips aren’t tax-deductible, but they are hugely appreciated. #### **My question isn’t here.** Check out our [contact page](https://aftermath.site/about-us-contact-us-aftermath/) to find the right person to contact. We’re a small team and are learning as we go, so we appreciate all your feedback and questions! ### 52 Pickup URL: https://aftermath.site/52-pickup-podcast-dc-comics/ Last updated: 2026-02-19T17:38:45.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/screen-shot-2023-11-08-at-12-04-39-pm-w-710-1.png) Image source: 52, DC Comics 52 Pick Up is a podcast about the strange and wonderful DC Comics series *52*. Every other week, join Gita Jackson of Aftermath and Alex Jaffe of the podcast Insert Credit as we take you on an issue-by-issue journey through a comic book series that explains everything about the DC universe, if you only look hard enough. *52*, which ran from May 2006 to May 2007, was an almost miraculous feat: a weekly series, written by some of the biggest talents then at DC, that *didn’t* feature Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman. Instead, it followed the tale of the other heroes of the DC universe, the ones who take care of business when the big names are out of commission. Looking back, the series feels like a trial run for the now ubiquitous “shared universe” concept that is now inescapable in superhero movies. Whether you hate or love the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe, *52* shows how we got here. Below are all the episodes of 52 Pickup that are out so far. Please read along with us! The show is edited by Esper Quinn, with original music by Jon Ehrens. Join us every other Wednesday on the podcast platform of your choice for new episodes! If you have questions for Gita and Alex, please send them to our mailbag at [52mailbag@gmail.com](mailto:52mailbag@gmail.com). **Week 0: [Forgot About Lane](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/000/activity?ref=aftermath.site)** *Journalist Gita Jackson and DC Lore Expert Alex Jaffe set the stage for full analysis of 52, the most important comic book of the century and the best series you’ve never heard of.* **Week 1: [Golden Lads and Lasses Must](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/001/activity?ref=aftermath.site)** *All-Star Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe dive into everything you need to know to start reading 52, as well as grants for Evil STEM education, and million dollar fanfiction ideas.* **Week 2: [Looking Back At Tomorrow](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/002/activity?ref=aftermath.site)** *All-Star Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe dive into the second issue of 52, covering Grant Morrison’s thoughts on Alan Moore, the super for Symbolman, and the origins of the phrase “curses, foiled again!”* **Week 3: [New World Order](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/003/activity?ref=aftermath.site)** *All-Star Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe dissect issue #3 of 52, covering Jaffe’s favorite villain, the Creeper-Freakazoid connection, and why characters have to die.* **Week 4: [Dances With Monsters](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/004/activity?ref=aftermath.site)** *All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe investigate the fourth issue of 52, and cover neoliberal black capitalism, Superboy’s greaser rival, and the prevalence of cults in comics.* **Week 5: [Stars In Their Courses](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/005/activity?ref=aftermath.site)** *All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe analyze the fifth issue of 52, and discover a multiversal Scotland where everyone is like Grant Morrison, the Dark Souls of comics, and giant penny stolen valor.* **Week 6: [China Syndrome, with Brian Cronin](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/006/activity?ref=aftermath.site)** *All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe are joined by Star-Spangled CBR Senior Writer [Brian Cronin](https://www.cbr.com/author/brian-cronin/?ref=aftermath.site) in discussing issue 6 of DC’s 52.* **Week 7: [Going Down](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/007/activity?ref=aftermath.site)** *Betrayal! Public shaming! Pop-punk and toxic lesbians!* *All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe infiltrate issue seven of 52, the most important comic book of the century and the best series you’ve never heard of.* **Week 8: [Thief, with Dalton Deschain and Dylan Roth](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/008/activity?ref=aftermath.site)** *All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe are joined by [Dalton Deschain](https://linktr.ee/daltondeschain?ref=aftermath.site) and [Dylan Roth](https://muckrack.com/dylan-roth?ref=aftermath.site) of [Are You Afraid of the Dark Universe](https://directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/3765c428-bc3d-466b-a657-3f2cd78f2448?ref=aftermath.site), covering issue eight of 52.* **Week 9: [Dream of America](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/009?ref=aftermath.site)** *All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe head off in pursuit of 52 issue #9, dealing with psychosexual eugenics factories, the LGBTQ+ nightlife scene in Gotham, and Big Mad Meltzer.* **Week 10: [Stop The Press](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/010?ref=aftermath.site)** *Live, laugh, love! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe jump out of a window into 52’s tenth issue, where they find out what the Middle East is even like in the DC universe, spend Tuesdays with Morrow, and take a quick quiz on super-vegetarians.* **Week 11: [Batwoman Begins, with Jadzia Axelrod](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/011?ref=aftermath.site)** *Man down in Wife City! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe are joined by The Prettiest Star* ***[Jadzia Axelrod](https://www.jaredaxelrod.com/?ref=aftermath.site)*** *as they dive into the romantic history of Kate Kane and Renee Montoya, make unintentional Andrew Hussie references, and figure out what to do with Donna Troy.* **Week 12: [Mighty](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/012?ref=aftermath.site)** *ttttttttt! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe consider issue number twelve of 52, and in the process share the best way to start reading comics, the best ideas for reintroducing Isis (the character! the character!) to comics, and the exact moment The Rock decided to change the hierarchy of power in the DC universe.* **Week 13: [Haystack, with Tim Marchman](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/013?ref=aftermath.site)** *This is what happens when they let me into a church! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe are joined by Substitute Legionnaire [Tim Marchman](https://twitter.com/timmarchman?ref=aftermath.site) to sift through Ralph Dibny’s descent into sadness, the X-Men for virgins, Gen-X leftists, and Saltburn Funko Pops.* **Week 14: [Sand and Rust, with Reid Vanier](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/014?ref=aftermath.site)** *Did you know mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature?! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe team up with [Doctor DC himself Reid Vanier](https://doctordc.libsyn.com/?ref=aftermath.site) to wear jeans while building robots, ponder articulated cheeks, and determine which triple-A studio should be making a Vic and Renee video game.* **Week 15: [Outshined, with Alex Sinclair](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/015?ref=aftermath.site)** *Your Donations Keep Lexapedia Running! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe are joined by the legendary lead colorist of 52 [Alex Sinclair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex%5FSinclair?ref=aftermath.site). The towering trio takes on #15 (the Frank Grimes issue), Jason Todd’s death poll, and [an unused yet fully illustrated and colored cover for 52](https://files.mastodon.social/media%5Fattachments/files/112/562/182/552/612/289/original/2bc2908e3e675804.jpg?ref=aftermath.site).* **Week 16: [Uhebbuki, with Charles Pulliam Moore](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/016?ref=aftermath.site)** *O zephyr winds which blow on high, lift me now so I can fly! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe team up with the Uncanny [Charles Pulliam-Moore](https://www.theverge.com/authors/Charles-Pulliam-Moore?ref=aftermath.site) for the Two-Hour Wedding Album that is issue sixteen of DC’s 52\. Hear whether Captain Marvel is an adult man or three kids in a trench coat, the wedding traditions of the Shazamish faith, and the debut of Cardi Bane.* **Week 17: [Last of the Czarnians](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/017?ref=aftermath.site)** *Only thirty-five more ta go! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe blast off into issue seventeen of 52, where they witness The Time Hands, weird editorial grudges that end up on the page, and Starfire as Leia Thee Stallion.* **Week 18: [Dismantled, with Questionposting](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/018?ref=aftermath.site)** *Emancipate the JLA! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe cross over with [Questionposting](https://bsky.app/profile/questionposting.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) to tackle issue 18, featuring BREAKING NEWS REGARDING DC CANON and the existence of Tracy Thirteen, Dr. Doom arguing with a drunk person, microdosing Fear Toxin, and the secret unpublished origins of Honest Abe, the Super-Hero Protector of Cincinnati.* **Week 19:** **[History Repeats](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/019?ref=aftermath.site)** *He knows! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe fly into issue nineteen, taking on Space Pope Lobo, which members of the DC universe are Charli girls vs. Taylor girls, and the most shocking twist of the series so far.* **Week 20: [God Is Fragged](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/020?ref=aftermath.site)** *I Died And Was Reincarnated As The World’s Greatest Monster! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe breeze through the Morrison-heavy and story-light issue twenty of 52, making space for Tim King’s public apology for being a CIA asset, Steel’s exposed penis, Superboy Prime as isekai, and Jaffe’s biggest DC blind spot.* **Week 21:** [**Teambuilding Exercises**](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/021?ref=aftermath.site) *Ah, Shuddup! Gita Jackson and Alex Jaffe kick the twenty-first issue of 52 down a flight of stairs, and in the process discuss Jaffe’s incredible American Idol experience, Power Boy’s deficit of chest exposure, and the death of Manchester Alabama’s second fastest speed-based superhero.* **Week 22:[ Burial Ground](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/022?ref=aftermath.site)** You’re ownin’ for a zonin’! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe smother issue 22, and in the process explain convoluted celebrity antics, examine the history of Native Americans in DC, and venture into The Nute Gunray Hole. **Week 23: [The Island of Professor Morrow](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/023?ref=aftermath.site)** Look out, my Cricketron’s gone berserk! Gita Jackson and Alex Jaffe collapse onto the beaches of issue 23, detailing mysteries of the Religion of Crime, mad scientists on Hookers & Blow Island, and what Grant Morrison thinks about Ayn Rand. **Week 24: [Just Imagine, with Jordan Morris](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/024?ref=aftermath.site)** Send a plot and three pages of dialogue right away! Gita Jackson and Alex Jaffe team up with Eisner-nominated writer and podcaster [Jordan Morris](https://www.jordanmorris.net/?ref=aftermath.site) for issue 24, featuring the debut of E. S. Pete, the death of a character introduced last issue, and how Booster Gold caused Reaganomics. **Week 25: [Liminal Times, with Josh Rivera](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/025?ref=aftermath.site)** Happy Halloween, Judeo-Christians! All-Star Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe team up with the Booty of Bludhaven [Josh Rivera](https://bsky.app/profile/jmrivera.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) to descend into issue 25, revealing which wrestling PPV is the good one, which DC characters love musicals, and the origins of Nightwing’s hot butt. **Week 26: [Halfway Home](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/026?ref=aftermath.site)** It’s a two-turkey dinner! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe reach the halfway point of 52, where they encounter Crockamurderer, draft an all-new teen superhero team, and reveal whether or not drug-sniffing dogs react to vacuum-sealed smoked turkey legs. **The 52 Pickup [Halfway There Extravaganza!](https://insertcredit.podcast.audio/@52pickup/episodes/52phalfway?ref=aftermath.site)** Blessed Be the Hoochmaker! All-Star Comics Journalist Gita Jackson and World’s Finest Comics Expert Alex Jaffe have reached the halfway point of 52, and take a moment to recap every major storyline in the series so far, as well as inventing new games to test each other based on both obscure trivia and romantic shipping possibilities. If you’d like to start listening, this is a great place to jump in! --- The episodes covering each issue of *52* and the secrets they contain are free, and you can subscribe [through iTunes](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/52-pickup/id1715634830?ref=aftermath.site) or wherever you listen to podcasts. The bonus episodes will only be available to Aftermath [subscribers](https://aftermath.site/products). We hope you’ll subscribe and join us! ### How To Pitch Aftermath URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-freelance-pitch-guide/ Last updated: 2026-02-26T22:31:41.000Z Aftermath is always happy to read pitches from writers both established and new. As a growing outlet, we regret we can’t take every pitch that excites us, but we’re still eager to see your work. Here are some guidelines for pitching us: Send your pitch to **freelance@aftermath.site** and please write “PITCH:” in the subject line. Include a short summary of your idea and, if you have a sense, how long you foresee the final piece being. **Please do not include full drafts.** If you’re pitching a story that involves reporting or sources, please let us know if you’ve spoken with anyone so far or how confident you feel in being able to arrange conversations. (We don’t need to know their identities, we just want a sense of where you are in the reporting process.) If your pitch requires access or speaking with industry figures, we know it can sometimes be tricky to arrange those conversations when a story isn’t attached to an outlet; if we accept a pitch, we can try to help arrange an interview, or to let you cite our outlet when you reach out to those contacts. **What we’re looking for:** Aftermath is committed to using our position as an independent, worker-owned outlet to tell the kinds of stories other outlets can’t. Free from the pressures of SEO, traffic, and the latest big game, we want stories that highlight important, under-explored facets of gaming and technology, as well as stories that hold powerful figures to account. We like stories that are focused on people rather than products, whether that’s developers and game workers, players, online and fan communities, or journalists. We’re especially interested in investigative or reported stories and stories that include the voices of players, workers, and community members. Games journalism has less and less room for investigative reporting these days, and we’re happy to carry that mantle as much as we can within our means. We’re also interested in essays that connect games, technology, and the internet to politics, current events, cultural trends, and other areas. We’re open to experimental formats that tell stories in ways beyond text. We’re generally not looking for game or hardware reviews, lists, guides, or service posts unless you have some particularly unique expertise to share. On occasion, we publish book excerpts; these have generally been with publishers with whom we have a relationship. If you’re interested in pitching a book excerpt, please write “book excerpt” in your subject line and we can discuss your situation further. We **do not** accept stories written with AI or that use AI-generated imagery, unless these make up a small portion of the work as necessary to report on an AI product’s use or function as required for your story. **Rate:** We pay **$300** for shorter pieces, and **$500** for more in-depth reporting and analysis. We know not every piece and its work requirements fits neatly within these numbers; if we accept your pitch, we can further discuss an appropriate rate for the piece’s scope. We pay promptly after publication. If, in the course of working together, we decide a story is no longer right for us, we can negotiate a kill fee. ### Sign In URL: https://aftermath.site/signin/ Last updated: 2025-11-05T08:07:12.000Z _No content available._ ## Posts ### Sprawl Zero Fuckin' Rules URL: https://aftermath.site/sprawl-zero-fuckin-rules/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T23:03:11.000Z Oh hey there. Week got you down? Try playing *Sprawl Zero*, it might make you feel a bit better. It worked for me. Just look at this: I've seen *Sprawl Zero* compared a lot to 90s shooters, and I see that. There are touches of everything from *Quake* to *Shogo: Mobile Armor Division* in this trailer, but I think that sells *Sprawl Zero* a bit short, because it's less about throwing back to the 90s and more about throwing back to the best bits of every shooter you've ever played. It's got *Half-Life 2's* mastery of physics. It's got *Max Payne's* (or *Timeshift's*, if you prefer!) bullet-time. There's some of *Neon White's* devotion to scoring the perfect combo in any given situation, a touch of *Deus Ex* in its interface and even a dash of *NeoTokyo* in the game's drab (complimentary) concrete, cyberpunk cityscape. All of which I'm telling you not to suggest *Sprawl Zero* is some crude grab-bag of influences, but that it's simply a shooter that makes you feel all of those things during the course of a single level. It's a game that references the 90s not in some meaningless visual way, but in an understanding that playing a first-person shooter can sometimes just be about finding the fastest, most badass way to the end of a level. [Let Me Throw A Gun At A Guy’s Head(In a video game)![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-ac8c2dc5-bdc9-48d8-b862-33b0a06d2d6d.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gun_throw-eb5fa261-40fc-46e0-b157-861029bcdb46.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/throwing-a-gun-at-a-guys-head-in-a-video-game/) It's a breathless experience, one whose recurring beats are extreme violence, empowering abilities ([let us *all* throw a gun at a guy’s head](https://aftermath.site/throwing-a-gun-at-a-guys-head-in-a-video-game/)) and joyous set-pieces where you get to string everything together (as you see repeatedly in the trailer above) in the most satisfying ways imaginable. It rules, I feel like strongest *and* fastest *and* smartest man on Earth every time I play it. Also shout out to the city: For a game where you're moving around really fast, all the time, it pays to stop for a second and soak it in. It looks so much better than this kind of throwback experience could ever be expected to. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260912165006_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260912163916_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260912164949_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260912165001_1.jpg) ### Will There Ever Be Another Half-Life: Alyx? URL: https://aftermath.site/half-life-alyx-steam-frame-retrospective/ Last updated: 2026-09-18T01:05:40.000Z In the process of reviewing the [Steam Frame](https://aftermath.site/steam-frame-review/), I replayed *Half-Life: Alyx* from start to finish*.* Frankly, I would have replayed it even if I’d reviewed a different headset, because it’s a nearly perfect game to me, so singular in its execution and scale. But I felt a bit pensive playing it this time, because I’m not sure they’ll ever make anything like it ever again. If you have not played *Alyx* in six or seven years, or even ever, that’s understandable. Despite the game [selling well](https://www.uploadvr.com/half-life-alyx-2-million/?ref=aftermath.site), VR’s big moment was years ago. It came and went as the technology bifurcated between multiple form factors, with Meta poisoning a lot of good will towards the medium by the sheer force of Zuckerberg being the most annoying billionaire on earth. *Half-Life: Alyx* launched in 2020 after the Index, and despite being a prequel, I consider it a full game on par with any in the *Half-life* series in terms of scope, world building, and importance. *Alyx* technically takes place between *Half-Life* & *Half-Life 2*, although the strict chronology has “complications” that extend into the future. In it you play Alyx Vance, Gordon’s ally throughout much of *Half-Life 2* and its episodes. Alyx is attempting to rescue her father and find a secret super weapon that The Combine have in their possession. *Half Life: Alyx’s* ending actually has direct and severe consequences on what would have happened after *Half-Life 2: Episode 2*, and so any complete understanding of the series requires playing it, or at least knowing what happens at its conclusion. A lot of good context can be gleaned from the two anniversary documentaries Valve put out. I’ve seen people lament *Alyx* being “trapped” on VR as a tragedy, but I think this is only a half-truth. I like to conceptualize much of what Valve does, from the *Half-Life* games to hardware, as R&D projects: massive investments that serve to explore what’s possible with technology and narrative. These projects end up having gargantuan and often profitable consequences even outside of Valve. *Half-Life* and its sequels explored what was possible not just within gameplay space but also interactive storytelling. *Team Fortress 2* and the software used to market it, Source Filmmaker, had massive consequences on animation; for example, it had bizarre consequences on [computer-generated pornography](https://kotaku.com/inside-the-surprisingly-big-overwatch-porn-scene-1778229605?ref=aftermath.site) before Blender got good, and the “Meet The” series is clearly the blueprint for how *Overwatch* was marketed early on. *Counter-Strike* and *DotA* moved the needle forward on how multiplayer games and [their markets work](https://kotaku.com/valves-hat-based-economy-now-has-its-own-hat-based-econ-5918761?ref=aftermath.site) (in both good and bad ways). Hardware like the Valve Index, the Steam Controller, Steam Deck, [Steam Machine](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/) and Steam Frame each serve to push forward a specific set of goals outside of the direct utility of each device. At times, Valve feels less like a game company and more like NASA. Conceptualized in those terms, *Alyx* does not work outside of VR because it is a game made for the sole purpose of figuring out the contours of what is possible in VR space. It is a VR moonshot, a AAA game meant to troubleshoot how truly interactive space works. How do you solve movement and traversal? What is unique about aiming or loading a gun in virtual space? How do players deal with the scope of that space, and what is reasonable to expect of them? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/output-1.webp) Still feels good as hell to do this. These problems and their solutions are much more bespoke when you listen to *Alyx’s* developer commentary, where the developers talk about the unique challenges that VR space presents. For example, the flashlight that Alyx gets is mounted on her glove and turns on and off automatically in response to darkness. This solves the issue of having to have an additional item held in the player’s hand that they would have to fish around for, a particularly problematic issue when you consider that guns in the game are loaded manually with the offhand by reaching into a virtual backpack to pull out clips or shells. What’s more, Alyx can hold guns with two hands, which points the flashlight in the direction the player is aiming. The developers cheat this a bit by giving the flashlight itself an articulating ball joint that twists to make sure the light is pointing forward no matter what gun is being held. These are the kinds of considerations that you simply don’t have to make in a standard FPS. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-17-141609.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-17-141828.png) The game cheats the flashlight by putting it on a ball joint that moves when the player points a gun. This is invisible to the player unless you look directly at it. The question of how to deal with objects in 3D space extends to one of the hallmark tools of *Half Life: Alyx,* the “Russells” or Gravity Gloves. The gloves are an iteration on the Gravity Gun from *Half-Life 2,* although their importance takes on debatably greater significance in *Alyx*. Using the Gravity Gloves is as simple as reaching towards an object, grasping at it, flicking it towards you, and catching it like an apple or a baseball. This becomes the primary action used for scavenging, a task you do in basically every room, as managing ammo and searching for Resin (the primary upgrade material for weapons) is a huge part of *Alyx*’s gameplay loop.q In practice, the Gravity Gloves are the closest a game has ever felt to giving you the sensation of having The Force. Dumping a spent clip from your handgun, yanking a fresh mag of bullets from a shelf, slamming it into the gun and then cocking your pistol before unloading into a ravenous headcrab feels thrilling in a way that few games can. It is so natural when you get the hang of it that if you play *Alyx* for extended periods of time you start to forget that you can’t just do that in real life. You’ll walk into a store and reach for a soda, and your hand will hesitate for a fraction of a second as your nervous system unlearns an unreal and imagined impulse. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/output2.webp) I get the urge to do this in real life sometimes. When I brought this up in chat, my colleague Luke said he did not like *Alyx* when he tried it, calling it the Disney ride version of *Half-Life*. He didn’t like the movement (OK fair, although I think the “continuous movement” setting solves a lot of problems) and thought the shooting was bad. I’ll agree that it is true the game holds your hand a lot more than its predecessors, that there’s a bit more banter and that the game is quite linear, but I think those are all for good reasons. The instructions you get from your companion Russell, played by *Flight of the Concords’* Rhys Darby, serve to teach you the best ways to navigate VR space and mechanics. You need a harder hand and a narrowed scope sometimes when you’re dealing with a way of navigating that many people have never operated in. Many players who just got their hands on the game in 2020 were like newborn babies despite potentially having decades of experience with the series, and so you can’t let them go off and explore the same way you do in other games in the context of an experience this new. I think it’s also hard to ignore the influence of *Portal* and *Portal 2*, both canonically *Half-Life* games, on how *Alyx* was written and physically constructed. Each *Half-Life* game is scoped for a different set of challenges and are quite different from each other stylistically, in part because they exist in such different contexts. The drab, low-poly military industrial complex look of the original *Half-Life*,with textures scanned from a local Bellevue Costco and goofball aliens, is closer in feel to *Duke Nukem*. Itwould give way to the biomechanically-conquered, Eastern Bloc-meets-Lebbeus Woods textures of City 17\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7238.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7241.JPG) A surreal space in the endgame that leaves you wanting more. Gravity moves in unreal ways. *Alyx* has a lighter tone at times, sure, but it also has moments that terrify and fill you with wonder, including an impossible space near the endgame where you stand in an extra-dimensional kitchen surrounded by floating silverware that moves and reacts to your touch. The many eyes of a brain-damaged Vortigaunt take on terrifying dimensions and intimacy, even as he goofily makes headcrab gumbo. He is not simply being rendered; the Vortigaunt is present in multi-dimensional space and time. Feels like they just got a real Vortigaunt for this one. He's a real guy that's in the game. There are points that I do think the game needs improvement. The initial holographic puzzles you use to unlock upgrade machines and open lockers are thrilling when you first get them but lack variability near the endgame. You are mostly interacting with three of them: one where you have to thread points of light connected by strings through dots in three dimensional space, another where you have to remember and connect colored glyphs on a sphere that can be rotated with your offhand, and a third where you have to very carefully navigate the surface of a rotatable sphere with your multi-tool. Doing these initially feels like every fantasy of interacting with a hologram come to life, but as the game progresses doing that third one specifically simply to upgrade your gun feels tedious and finicky, and I wish there was at least more novelty and variability instead of simply scaling the same puzzles with difficulty. Valve does add another light puzzle later in the game, one specifically for defusing tripmines where you have to guide the path of a line through a series of rings. This puzzle is easy and fast but no less riveting because of the context of possibly blowing up if you move slightly incorrectly. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7239.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7244.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7240.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7243.JPG) All told there are five puzzle types if you count the power routing puzzles but the three you use for unlocking lockers could use more variability near endgame. To play *Alyx* on the Frame after previously playing it on the Index is a twofold experience. If you play it on the PC via the wireless 6Ghz dongle and wifi, it feels perfect and true, the way it was always meant to be played. You can see what the designers had intended the game to be, and it’s given new life and a fair shake on a device perfectly suited for it. It makes you mull over the possibilities of the medium again, to consider what VR “Is or Will Be.” As much as I like the Index, being wired and having to set it up every single time I wanted to play it meant that over the years I’ve become more familiar with the front half of *Alyx* than the back half during replays. It was easier to burn out just due to the friction of the Index itself. The Frame is light, not fatiguing, and tailored for this specific kind of experience. But if you play *Alyx* natively on the Frame, you experience new friction points. The game renders at 36 fps and uses depth reprojection to achieve a stable framerate. This process is still in beta and at times looks a little ugly; it’s very much noticeable around the edges of objects and when you move your hands, which can appear choppy versus the background appearing smooth. This is because getting *Alyx* to run on the Frame is itself a moonshot, what feels like an impossible feat of alchemy, particularly when you realize that the game itself has the exact same unsimplified assets as the PCVR version game. This is not only wildly impressive but also significant, because it means that content in the Workshop should, in theory, also work. This is more important than most people realize, as the *Alyx* modding community is robust, and Valve has not only hired multiple people from there but it has also yielded the game *Gunman Contracts: “Stand Alone,”* which started its life as the most downloaded Alyx mod. According to an interview with Digital Foundry, the mood internally was that *Alyx* was “[never going to work](https://www.digitalfoundry.net/features/porting-half-life-alyx-to-steam-frame-how-valves-engineers-went-from-theres-no-way-to-shipping-standalone?ref=aftermath.site),” but that changed over many months of development. Having 16 gigs of RAM to work with and dialing in on both foveated rendering and eye tracking, with the game focusing horsepower on where the player is looking, became critical to that success. Like any *Half-Life* game, the process of making it work on the Frame was a form of R&D invisible to the player, one that required completely rewriting graphics drivers over 18 months. The process of making this game work could, potentially, benefit other games running on the device should more people choose to develop for it. Playing *Alyx* now forces you to confront the possibility that nobody will ever pour the same amount of resources and time into a VR title ever again. Perhaps that’s reasonable; many VR releases have scaled down in budget to match both the power of devices and the size of the market. But the idea that *Alyx* could be both VR’s killer app and also a bit of a unicorn gives me a similar twinge of uncertain melancholy that I get when considering the fate of *Half-Life 3*. There is this sensation of a lost future when I consider the current VR market, a space where too many of the old problems persist for most normal people, where the hardware is expensive and optional and where the market is scattered between manufacturers, each with their own confusing ideas of what VR should be. But at the same time, the magic of VR is that when it works it’s like being unstuck in time and deposited into a potential branching future. You can never kill VR because there is absolutely nothing like it for the people for whom it truly matters. The format has a dedicated Sardaukar army of furries, simmers, *Beatsaber* players, and perverts. The lengths that they will go to make VR work, modding and tweaking and creating full body tracking, is terrifying and rarely matched. You should see the regular updates that *Resonite*, what I can only describe as “*VRChat* but made by furries”, received. Every six months I check in on Resonite and they're like "we have found a way to do 3D modeling inside of it" To the extent that the Frame is exciting, despite being hampered by its price, it is exciting because it feels rough, open and uncertain the way VR used to feel. The Frame’s hardware is straining to do multiple things correctly, often buckling under that weight, and some of the things it does correctly are sometimes more important than VR itself. And yet of all the VR headsets, putting it on feels like a home more than its competitors. To revisit *Alyx* again, to see it thriving on new hardware, is to open your heart up to the possibility that maybe the future could be different if it’s ever allowed to, that maybe one day hardware will be affordable again to normal people, persistent problems fully fixed, and that maybe someone will be wild enough to finally match *Alyx’s* sheer ambition. ### Screw It, I'm Starting A Bracer Guild URL: https://aftermath.site/trails-in-the-sky-second-bracer/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T16:04:57.000Z Picture this: There’s some kind of argument in your neighborhood. Maybe a couple is in a shouting match in their apartment and you’re worried. Maybe someone thinks they’ve been swindled at the store. You put out the call to your local Bracer Guild, and a friendly adventurer shows up, does some mediation, and everything ends peacefully. Wouldn’t that be nice? That’s the reality in certain parts of Zemuria, the continent where the long-running *Trails* series of role-playing games is set. These games kicked off in 2004 with *Trails in the Sky*, a story that focuses on young teens Estelle and Joshua Bright. They had just become bracers, handy adventurers who are a mix between monster hunters and community service workers. Bracers do anything from fighting evil villains and dealing with dangerous beasts all the way to delivering packages or teaching Sunday school. They’re not cops, but they still patrol around and help people with any job, no matter how small. It’s a deeply community-minded adventure style. In the *Trails* games, players spend a lot of their time going on odd jobs and slowly unraveling a larger story. In-universe, about a decade has passed from *Trails in the Sky* to 2024’s *Trails Beyond the Horizon*. The draw of the series, beyond the decades of world-building, is both the relaxed adventuring and how it gives way to big anime action beats. Bracers are a major cornerstone of the setting, as Estelle and Joshua travel around their home country of Liberl doing all kinds of jobs. The joy of *Trails* comes from the wandering and the satisfaction of learning local customs and meeting new people. It’s a great time. These games can be daunting to get into, so a pair of recent remakes of the first two (the latest, *Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter*, releases on September 17th) are meant to help people get into the plot. [Playing the newest remake](https://kotaku.com/trails-in-the-sky-2nd-chapter-the-kotaku-review-2000734716?ref=aftermath.site), I was struck by how appealing the bracer life is. In real life, where police department budgets spike and communities have needed to band together to deal with immigration agents seizing neighbors, it’s easy to want a new kind of community servant. People who can approach a situation confidently and give the care that’s needed. No escalation. Of course, we’ve been trying this here and there for a while now. We’ve not established Bracer Guilds, but [some](https://www.vice.com/en/article/these-cities-replaced-cops-with-social-workers-medics-and-people-without-guns/?ref=aftermath.site) [cities](https://www.a2gov.org/news/posts/ann-arbor-city-council-approves-two-crisis-response-programs-to-improve-public-safety-and-connect-people-with-services/?ref=aftermath.site) and [counties](https://www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/11/19/police-social-workers/?ref=aftermath.site) in the United States are trying to rethink how to respond to community crises. In Eugene, Oregon, some amount of lower-risk mental health issues and homelessness situations have been tended to by crisis teams since 1989\. In Austin, Texas it is possible to use 911 to specifically ask for mental health services over police. Bracers aren’t exactly the same as social workers or mobile crisis workers, but the ethos exists in our world. Beyond this, we’ve seen communities come together to form civilian organizations and ad hoc teams. Most visibly, citizens in [Minneapolis](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-ice-minnesota-minnmax/) built a wider network of legal observers and watchmen laser focused to help protect vulnerable families from DHS immigration enforcement operations. They’ve [risked](https://theintercept.com/2026/02/09/ice-minneapolis-legal-observers-abduction/?ref=aftermath.site) [their](https://19thnews.org/2026/01/alex-pretti-minneapolis-ice-shooting/?ref=aftermath.site) [safety](https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/08/us/renee-nicole-good-minneapolis-ice-shooting-hnk?ref=aftermath.site) for their neighbors. We’ve known that there’s better paths to protecting our communities for a long time. Sending social workers to work alongside police [lowers arrest rates](https://libjournals.unca.edu/ncur/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/3355-Droubie-Trisha-CFINAL.pdf?ref=aftermath.site), and in many cases there’s no need to include the police at all when [trained mediators are sent](https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/07/25/police-mental-health-alternative-911?ref=aftermath.site) to handle neighborhood issues or mental health crises. It costs less money and [literally lowers the crime rates](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9176742/?ref=aftermath.site) of certain crimes if you send specialized care to meet specific incidents, and repeat offenses drop. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/sora_2nd_2026-09-04_19-14-04_52--1-.png) While playing *Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter*, I kept thinking about what it means to send truly caring people to help with a local problem. I kept remembering late nights during the protests in 2020; on one march through Brooklyn we were cut off by police, and it went about as well as you might expect. I remember this girl who was with me and the panic attack she had after watching trained officers march on protestors. That’s one of many memories I have: people in the middle of grief, and cops who came and handcuffed them. I wasn’t playing the game and having flashbacks or writing a leftist pamphlet, but I did look at Estelle and the other bracers and think, “Damn, wouldn’t that be nice?” I don’t know if I’d want monsters on the road between towns, but trained professionals who truly cared about their communities? Yeah, that seemed pretty damn good to me. In pretty much every *Trails* game, most of your time is spent on side-questing and really getting to know everyone you meet. Dialogue for NPCs updates constantly and their own personal storylines are trackable. When it comes to quests, you might help a couple find a lost wedding ring, and then a few hours later—if you happen to stop by the church—you can see their wedding and hang around to watch the bouquet get tossed. These are games about learning every street corner; every hustler, salary man, school kid, and farmer has a story that you can learn. Take a few bracer jobs and you really start to *know* the community. The Bracer Guild’s schtick is so effective that in the next story arc after the *Trails in the Sky* games, told in *Trails from Zero* and *Trails to Azure* and which take place in the metropolitan state of Crossbell, the police establish a department to follow the format. The new protagonist is Detective Lloyd Bannings. As a member of the Special Support Section, he and his comrades adopt a new brand of police work. The result, alongside their ability to unravel a secret cultist plot, is a police department that’s able to really respond to what people need. Sometimes, the SSS is conducting proper criminal investigations or helping with event security. In other instances, Lloyd and his team are filling in for mascot performers at the local theme park or helping to rebuild some storefronts in the ramshackle downtown district. There might be a lost kitten to find or a charity event to help manage. Traditional police work is mixed with community service. Through their combined community outreach and highly personal problem solving, they help transform Crossbell for the better. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_1261.jpg) I’ve spent basically a decade working in games, either writing about them as a journalist or working at a studio. I do my best to take games very seriously, but they are “just” games. I’m not going to walk into a local budget board meeting with the Bracer Guild charter and convince anyone to start a radical new first responder initiative. No one who disagrees with my position that police agencies should be defunded will see my side if I load up a copy of *Trails to Azure*. That’s not how the world has ever worked. That doesn’t mean art, including games, can’t inspire and provide models to follow. These days, it can be difficult to think anything you might do for others “matters” when the forces turning the world to shit are so powerful. Playing *Trails in the Sky*, you might look at Estelle defeating grand foes and participating in the plot’s larger events and think “I wish I could do that.” Who doesn’t want to save the mind-controlled dragon or defeat the seemingly undefeatable shadow society behind the world’s troubles? Maybe we can’t do that, but we still *can* be like Estelle. You can be a bracer if you want. The one thing you have control over in this life is what you do for the people around you. Your family, your neighborhood, your town or city. There are gardens to help maintain, there are people to feed. There’s probably a library that needs someone to help with a book fair, or a class you can take to learn how to be an ICE observer. That’s bracer work! The *Trails* series has always understood that the big heroics aren’t the only thing that make a hero a hero. These are games where that portion of the plot sometimes doesn’t kick off for 50 to 60 hours or more. About 90 percent of *Trails in the Sky* is spent being a bracer and going town to town. The plot doesn’t fully arrive until literally the very last moment of the game. History usually doesn’t resolve in one clean day of heroics. It’s a sequence, a progression. You plant the garden so that people can be fed, and that itself has contributed to the tyrant’s fall. So while video games don’t change the world, they’re not just idle flights of fancy either. Sometimes, a story is the thing that makes you realize that the world can be better. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/sora_2nd_2026-09-06_17-47-52_66--1-.png) It matters that Estelle Bright is a bracer. It will matter to Crossbell that Lloyd Bannings and the SSS take up a new kind of police work. If seeing that in a story, if spending 70 hours wandering Liberl on odd jobs gives you the good sense to volunteer somewhere or head off to a protest, that’s more than enough. You gotta get your inspiration somewhere. Close the police departments. Open up some Bracer Guilds! We can’t have the clean magickal energy and the cool treasure hunting priests, but we could probably lift the guilds from Zemuria. If anything else, it’s nice to imagine a version of things that is more personal, even-handed, and really focused on community needs. If that’s not doable on a “real” level, then we can at least do it on a personal one. Games don’t change the world. But! Estelle Brights can change the world, and the good news is that you can easily become the next Estelle Bright if you really want. ### Activision Blizzard Sued Again For Alleged Gender Discrimination URL: https://aftermath.site/activision-blizzard-microsoft-gender-discrimination-harassment-lawsuit/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T13:43:40.000Z A former 14-year Activision Blizzard veteran is suing the company over alleged sexual harassment and gender discrimination. [The Los Angeles Times first reported the lawsuit](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2026-09-11/former-employee-sues-activision-blizzard-claiming-sexual-harassment-discrimination?ref=aftermath.site), which was filed last week in Los Angeles court. The woman, who is called Jane Doe in the complaint, claims Blizzard Entertainment "was a male-dominated workplace in which women were a small minority." Women employed there, including Doe, were "largest absent from senior leadership" and "subjected to discriminatory treatment in compensation, assignments, and advancement, and to pervasive sexual harassment," according to the complaint. Doe worked at Blizzard Entertainment starting in 2009 as an hourly employee in the sound department. In 2016 she was hired in "salaried producer roles" in the sound department. Doe worked at Blizzard Entertainment until April 15, 2024, at which time she received a "constructive discharge," lawyers wrote. Doe said she was hired into the same role as a male employee who was paid $18 per hour to the $10 per hour she was paid, something that took six months to be addressed, among other alleged discrimination. The complaint also outlines alleged sexual harassment of Doe from multiple employees at the company, one of whom is accused of attempted rape. At work, Doe said, the coworker spread rumors about her and called her "bitch" and "slut" in front of others. Blizzard Entertainment's human resources department "took no meaningful remedial action," lawyers wrote, and eventually promoted the coworker. Doe also alleged harassment and assault by several other male coworkers, one of whom it’s claimed made "unwanted sexual advances" toward Doe at one of Blizzard Entertainment's sound facilities. "After Plaintiff rejected him, Coworker A grabbed Plaintiff, kissed her against her will, and put his hand inside her pants. Plaintiff forced him away and demanded that he stop," lawyers wrote. "Coworker A thereafter sent Plaintiff sexually explicit messages. When Plaintiff reported to her senior manager… that Coworker A should not be hired onto the team because of his conduct, \[the manager\] dismissed Plaintiff's concerns and expressed concern only for Coworker A's reputation." Human resources, throughout it all, dismissed her claims, according to the lawsuit. "Plaintiff repeatedly complained to her supervisors and to Human Resources about the harassment, discrimination, and unequal treatment she experienced. Blizzard's Human Resources function and management… were dismissive of and hostile to such complaints, were known to be close to the alleged harassers, and failed to take timely or effective corrective action," lawyers wrote in the complaint. "Plaintiff is informed and believes that Blizzard failed to preserve, and in some instances destroyed or withheld, documents relating to complaints and investigations. After Plaintiff and other women engaged in protected activity, Blizzard subjected them to adverse actions, including denial of professional opportunities, negative reviews, and the sabotage of their careers." Doe said she was "constructively discharged" on April 15, 2024\. She "suffered severe emotional and physical distress throughout her employment, including anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, and was required to seek ongoing psychiatric care," lawyers said. An Activision Blizzard spokesperson told Aftermath that it takes allegations seriously, saying, "We strive to maintain a respectful and inclusive workplace, and we do that through best-in-class policies and systems designed to prevent and address harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, and by holding employees accountable for their behavior.” Activision Blizzard was sued in 2021 by the California Civil Rights Department for similar allegations. The California agency reached a [nearly $55 million settlement with Activision Blizzard](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/activision-blizzard-settles-california-discrimination-suit-for-54-million?ref=aftermath.site) in 2023 to resolve the gender discrimination and harassment suit; as part of the settlement, California removed the claims of harassment and focused only on gender discrimination and wage inequality. Activision Blizzard denied wrongdoing throughout the case. The company was also sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2022 over the same sexual harassment and discrimination charges, which was [settled in 2021](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/activision-blizzard-settles-with-eeoc-creating-usd18m-fund-to-address-issues?ref=aftermath.site). ### I Think Enough Time Has Passed To Finally Talk About Star Wars Zero Company's [Spoiler] Moment URL: https://aftermath.site/star-wars-zero-company-plot-twist/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T23:03:45.000Z If you're like me and neither got into *Clone Wars* lore nor paid attention to *Star Wars Zero Company*'s in-universe news broadcasts, then like me you would have reached a point about halfway through this game where a key cutscene happens and you *lose your damn mind*. ## SPOILER WARNING If you can't heed a spoiler warning this big and red then honestly that's on you See, from the Battle Droids to the Anakin Skywalker cameo to the presence of a Republic officer (Bennic) on your bridge and a Clone Trooper (Trick) among your ranks, I had been led to believe this was a *Clone Wars*\-era video game. Which, fine, it's not my favourite Star Wars period, but for the opening hours of *Zero Company* it had been grimy and "real" enough to feel sufficiently Star Wars in a way I could recognise, so I was enjoying it well enough.[ It is, after all, a very good tactics game](https://aftermath.site/star-wars-zero-company-overwatch/). I was going to spend this campaign as the leader of a ragtag group of mercenaries fighting a cult on behalf of the Republic, and that was going to be fun. Then, as you're preparing to head off on a fairly routine mission, this happens: Uh, holy shit. I get that a certain percentage of the playerbase would have been expecting this, especially those who grew up on *Clone Wars* cartoons, but I think it hit so much harder if, like me, you had no idea this was coming. One minute I'm making my peace working for the Republic and hanging out with my Republic officer buddy and my absolute favourite soldier Trick, a former Republic Clone Trooper, and the next my--and their--whole universe has been turned upside down. With one order my buddy Bennic is now trying to arrest me, my new Clone Trooper friends are manhandling me and, worst of all, my pal Trick has turned on me. And the game has the smarts to make this play out as a mission! By keeping Trick a member of your party for one more mission, but locking the player into *only selecting the rest of your party as targets*, we get to see the change and turmoil that came in Order 66's wake from an entirely new story-telling perspective: *gameplay*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260905112137_1.jpg) The entire game pivots after this point. It's no longer a story set in the waning days of the Clone Wars, it's now a story about Empire and rebellion, and starts looking to *Andor* for inspiration instead of a cartoon series. *Zero Company's* backend is loaded with some of the most explicit anti-fascist commentary you'll find in a Star Wars video game,[ right down to a *Porco Rosso* cameo](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LPnUNhDIXOg?ref=aftermath.site), as Hawks and his crew find themselves making the transition from indifferent mercenaries to freedom fighters. What's especially deft (and poignant) is the way the birth of the Empire plays out among people you already knew before it existed. Where a Clone Trooper can turn at the push of a button, a person--in this case your friend Bennic--doesn't instantly become a fascist. They get there slowly: a followed order here, a justification there. None of this is revolutionary storytelling in of itself, but as this is a Star Wars video game, and a turn-based tactics one at that, my bar was so low that I'd have made do with "good guys win in the end" so long as they didn't fuck it up. Having it end by telling a defecting Imperial officer that there was no ultimate redemption for him, he was going to have to live with the terrible things he had done, safely cleared that bar. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260908193115_1.jpg) Before I'd started playing I'd seen reviews saying stuff like this was the "best Star Wars game in decades"; even taking the developer's pedigree into account, that felt like a *very big call,* since we've had some pretty good Star Wars games lately! After this point in *Zero Company*, though, I can see exactly what they were talking about. *Zero Company* is a great squad tactics game, sure, I'd have loved it even were it just that, but the way it brings such shock and gravity to a moment that *not even the film it originated in* could muster was a masterstroke. ### At Brooklyn's MPreg SpongeBob Rave, 'Shitposting Is Catharsis' URL: https://aftermath.site/weeb-adjacent-spongebob-rave-brooklyn/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T21:36:08.000Z “You’re pregnant and you’re proud!” screamed Robopup, a v-tubing puppygirl dressed as SpongeBob SquarePants. “W for pregnancy!” This was the first thing I heard when I arrived at the “*SpongeBob* AND ALSO *Final Fantasy* & *Kingdom Hearts* MPreg Rave,” hosted at the Brooklyn bar/indie arcade Wonderville in early September. Yes, that was the event’s real title. It was produced by [Weeb Adjacent](http://www.instagram.com/weeb.adjacent/?ref=aftermath.site), a “rave series and countercultural collective” that aims to inject some internet brainrot into NYC’s nightlife scene. I’m not a raver — I’m not even a dancer. But I *am* a terminally online weirdo. So when the event’s poster, which features [Cloud Strife lovingly cradling a visibly pregnant SpongeBob](https://x.com/bubucore69/status/2090526722919719235?ref=aftermath.site), appeared on my timeline, I was fascinated. Within a few minutes, I’d bought my ticket. Multiple people I spoke to at the sold-out rave also cited the bizarre mashup of themes as the central reason they’d attended. “The idea seemed so crazy,” said one attendee, drenched in sweat, who’d just spent the last two hours dancing his heart out. “I had to see what it was about.” For Joe Panuncialman, these raves might be crazy, but they’re also a reflection of the internet culture that raised him. Joe is the co-founder and head of Weeb Adjacent, as well as a DJ under the name [BUBUCORE69](https://www.instagram.com/bubucore69/?%5F%5Fd=1&ref=aftermath.site). He grew up frequenting anime and gaming fansites, including 4Chan’s /a/, which gave him a deep appreciation for memes, shitposting, and the niche subcultures that create both. And when his love for J-core, J-pop, and video game OSTs brought him into the world of DJing, he was demotivated by how “mainstream” most rave music was. But in 2023, when he and some friends took a chance on producing a rave with their own favorite tunes — in his words, “a mix of hyperpop, anime remixes, and some real shitpost-y stuff” — the audience resonated. Thus, Weeb Adjacent was born. “This is the kind of stuff that I think we, when we were younger, were looking for,” he told me. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/weeb-adjacent-joe-dj--1-.JPG) Photo: William Antonelli Since then, the group has hosted multiple raves, most featuring some wild mashup of pop culture themes. Last December, for instance, dozens of ravers attended a *Sonic the Hedgehog* x *Saya no Uta* rave. The group’s Hatsune Miku x *Family Guy* and *Madoka Magica* x *Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater* raves in March [went semi-viral on social media](https://www.instagram.com/weeb.adjacent/p/DUtJFzwjXIZ/?ref=aftermath.site). The choices might seem random, but Joe refers to each individual theme as a “constant,” or a cultural touchstone for his generation. “Shitposting is catharsis, right? Shitposting is a trauma response,” he said. “The job market's really bad, nothing is stable. And so the only constant that we have are these communities, and the sort of absurdity that defines them.” Most people would definitely describe the *SpongeBob* x *Final Fantasy* x *Kingdom Hearts* x MPreg (SBFFKHMPreg for short) rave as absurd. Around the bar sat a host of colorful characters, including a pregnant Cid Highwind, two Squidwards, and a sexy Patrick Star with nipple pasties and a Miku plush slung over her shoulder. The screens above them played *The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water* on mute with Arabic subtitles, next to a longplay of *Final Fantasy 7*. Outside, furries passed around a joint and laughed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/weeb-adjacent-spongebob-bubbles--1-.jpg) Photo: [ShotbyStacie](https://www.instagram.com/shotbystacie/?ref=aftermath.site) “That’s a whole lot of random shit,” Wonderville’s bouncer said to me, moments after yelling at a cosplayer to stop planking on the club’s property. He rubbed his face wearily. “I don’t see how SpongeBob is related to any of this.” I arrived in the middle of [Robopup’s](https://www.instagram.com/robopupp/?ref=aftermath.site) set, which blended dark thumping synthpop with classic *SpongeBob* songs. She danced in front of a screen that cycled between screencaps from the cartoon, memes, and a loop of her v-tuber model dancing. At one point, she transitioned into a song using [SpongeBob screaming “I NEED IT!”](https://youtu.be/m5uayeTCYJQ?t=96&ref=aftermath.site) as a dubstep-style drop. Between tracks, she asked the audience to bark for her, which they did with glee. But nothing could compare to the unhinged energy of [Pinkii](https://www.instagram.com/itspinkii/?ref=aftermath.site), the rave’s headliner. Pinkii — a “simp-funded” pop star with a womb tattoo who came across as a mix of Hololive’s Mori Calliope and Belle Delphine — spent her set jumping between J-pop bangers, speedily rapped verses, and call-and-response anthems. All the while, she berated the crowd, telling them to beg at her feet and pay their “simp tax,” which some did by throwing crumpled cash her way. On the background screen, four versions of her danced in an endless loop, while the words “WORSHIP HARDER SIMP” and “PINKII OWNS YOUR HEART” scrolled by. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/weeb-adjacent-pinkii-singer--1-.JPG) Photo: William Antonelli Joe himself DJed Pinkii’s set, and followed her act with a solo performance. He’s seriously skilled on the console, mixing *Final Fantasy* and *Kingdom Hearts* OSTs with techno dance music in a way that got even my lead feet dancing. Other solo DJs went hard too, including Weeb Adjacent mainstay [Rabbit Crime](https://www.instagram.com/rabbitcrime/?ref=aftermath.site), who complained to me that they “couldn’t find any MPreg songs” to weave into their setlist. “Yeah, we’re shitposting and being a little evil,” Joe said when describing Weeb Adjacent’s vibes. “But I like to think we have really good hearts and really good music on top of that.” The music isn’t the only difference between Weeb Adjacent’s raves and your typical concerts. For instance: About halfway through her set, Pinkii asked the winner of an Instagram raffle to step forward. His prize: Pinkii chaining him up with a dog leash and making him crawl around the stage. The crowd — and the winner — seemed to love it, cheering and laughing. “I just thought it would be fun,” the winner told me after the show. He’d come dressed as SpongeBob, holding a spatula with “yaoi” and “yuri” written on either side. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/weeb-adjacent-pinkii-dog--1-.JPG) Photo: William Antonelli The event might have felt silly, but there was also genuine passion fueling it. I’m tempted to say, “It’s funny, but not a joke,” but that’s not quite right. SBFFKHMPreg *does* have the tone of a joke, just one that everyone is laughing along with and adding to, not at or deriding. It’s sorta like longform improv, with each attendee “yes, and”-ing an increasingly complicated scenario. “The way I see it is that this isn't a business venture built on exploitation, right? It's one built on celebration,” Joe said. He recounted a conversation he had with a member of the MPreg kink community who had attended the rave because they felt represented by the theme. “We're just trying to prove that no matter what sort of niche you're into … that there is a place where you can thrive, where you can find people, where you can enjoy good music.” Multiple attendees praised Weeb Adjacent’s raves for introducing them to new friends with similarly unique interests and senses of humor. In a city of millions, these raves helped them find the handful of nerds they clicked with. And in that crowd, moving together on the cramped dancefloor, those friendships crossed the lines of race, gender, and kink. As I watched the cosplayers, dancers, and other guests laugh with their friends, I couldn’t help but long for that sort of connection. I had invited friends to come with me, but come showtime, I arrived at Wonderville alone. None of the NYC-based pals I talked to took the idea seriously enough to actually invest the time. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc%5FgHsqRz2F/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Bert (@bertubble)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc%5FgHsqRz2F/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) But plenty of people do: Joe said that the raves make enough profit to pay the performers, and then some. And Weeb Adjacent isn’t the only purveyor of weird pop culture mashups — in California, for example, the group Stay Ugly [just ran a “Cartoon Network vs. *My Little Pony*” rave](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcuTNz6mYT8/?img%5Findex=1&ref=aftermath.site), complete with MordeTwi (*Regular Show*’s Mordecai shipped with *MLP*’s Twilight Sparkle) MPreg art. And [Internet Kids](https://www.instagram.com/xx%5Finternetkids%5Fxx/?ref=aftermath.site) has been running anime-themed “hyperpop dance parties” in Minneapolis for years now. The SBFFKHMPreg raffle winner already owned a SpongeBob outfit because he’d held his own *SpongeBob* rave a few years earlier. All this is to say that there is an audience for this. It’s a sizable one, whose members can appreciate a living shitpost. Weeb Adjacent might just be the group that’s willing to risk getting called cringe for long enough to bring that audience together. I just hope I can be part of that audience again. ### Wardogs CEO Says Workers Who Speak Out Against Crunch Won't 'Be Happy Here' URL: https://aftermath.site/wardogs-brammer-crunch-bulkhead/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T16:07:37.000Z Crunch is a pervasive and [long-standing](https://kotaku.com/crunch-time-why-game-developers-work-such-insane-hours-1704744577?ref=aftermath.site) issue in video game development. Developers have long been pushing back against it, and studio leaders have tried [different ways](https://www.pcgamer.com/big-studios-cant-hide-crunch-anymore-so-they-just-admit-to-it/?ref=aftermath.site) to get ahead of causing it. This week, CEO of *Wardogs* developer Bulkhead, Joe Brammer, told [*The Game Business*](https://www.thegamebusiness.com/p/the-shooter-that-tencent-abandoned?%5Fsp=9ba66382-c7e0-4809-a914-23f429d7419b.1789497711089&ref=aftermath.site) podcast host Christopher Dring that not only does Bulkhead crunch, but that the studio scans the social media of potential hires to see if they’ve ever shit-talked the practice. If they have, the studio is unlikely to hire them. Dring quotes Brammer in the podcast’s notes: > “A lot of people who may have an issue with crunch - rightly so, I understand that issue, we always try and avoid it, but we don’t hide that this is going to happen at some point - they often don’t make it in the door,” \[Brammer\] says. “We want to be known for that: this is a place you come to work hard. If you care about the work you’re making and the result of what you make here, you’ll feel really valued. If you don’t, you will feel slave-driven. We check people’s socials, and if you’re constantly tweeting anti-crunch messaging: ‘This should never ever be a thing’, we know that and go, ‘Look, you’re not going to be happy here, so we’re not going to go with you’.” According to Brammer, Bulkhead's stance on crunch shouldn’t be a surprise to people applying for jobs there, saying on the podcast, “People know what I believe. They know I don’t believe in work-from-home for making video games. They know I expect people to crunch. I own that. I don’t try and hide it.” Brammer says on the podcast that Bulkhead tries to balance these periods of crunch, citing as an example that Bulkhead is resisting pushing the console version of *Wardogs* out faster despite players asking for it. He also says that workers who own shares in the company get a payout if a Bulkhead game does well. “If we’re going to be a company who says, ‘We do crunch’, then we have to also say, ‘But you get something for it.’ We want people to know that those people who do work hard get that return, and it is life-changing,” Brammer says. *Wardogs,* an FPS that came out on September 10, has [sold two million copies](https://www.ign.com/articles/wardogs-sells-2-million-copies-in-5-days-as-early-access-shooter-blows-up-on-steam?ref=aftermath.site) since launch, and Brammer wrote in a [tweet](https://x.com/Brammflakes/status/2100035530205347903?ref=aftermath.site) that "80% of the shares in Bulkhead are owned by 50% of the staff." Brammer's podcast appearance has received a lot of attention from outlets and developers. Brammer wrote on [LinkedIn ](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7505714189068464128/?ref=aftermath.site)on Tuesday, “This discussion perhaps exposes some of the controversial strategies AKA toxic traits we and I have embodied over the years. We're not got the balance right yet, but from lots of overtime to get the game out the door to the other end of the scale where 50% of *Wardogs* was developed on a 4 day work week \[, it's\] hard for me to feel ‘in the wrong’ about some of our attitudes here.” Brammer has frequently spoken publicly about how Bulkhead works. In a [Devcom keynote](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYFyecXRz40&ref=aftermath.site) in 2022, he described the studio’s experiments with the four day workweek, including a setup in which remote workers kept longer hours each day than those who came in person, and where the studio managed hours and days on pretty rigorously, while still attempting to provide flexibility. Brammer told [Games Industry](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/they-wouldnt-look-at-any-game-that-was-less-than-50-million-why-tencents-all-in-strategy-didnt-suit-bulkhead?ref=aftermath.site) in March 2026 that Bulkhead was “currently not doing the four-day work week… I really \[want to\] find a way to bring it back for our staff or to do something different with working hours, where we're kind of innovating on working practices.” In the podcast, Brammer also discusses Bulkhead’s efforts to give workers 10 weeks of paternity leave, noting “it was a disaster–\[people\] took the 10 weeks, as they should, but their partners, when it got to week 11, could not handle them leaving, they couldn’t handle the fact that they’re on their own with a kid now.” So the studio moved to two weeks of paternity leave, followed by gradual half and full days coming back into the office, which Brammer described as “training your partner how to look after their first child together, and you’re building a routine.” Eventually, workers get three weeks of paternity leave to use across the rest of the year, when parenting “gets a lot harder.” Listening to him, it’s clear Brammer and the studio put a lot of intentionality into how they work, and that they're willing to talk about it. But thought and transparency don't mean a studio’s ethos isn’t still grounded in the same exploitation of passion and romanticism of overwork that leads to harmful conditions across the games industry. Brammer's quotes can be read as connecting crunch–or at least a willingness to keep silent about it–to a developer caring about their work, which is precisely the kind of attitude that can foster unhealthy work environments. Screening out employees who hate crunch might prevent those employees from being unhappy at the studio, sure, but it also runs the risk of creating a workforce that reifies practices the games industry as a whole would be better off without. Not all studios see crunch as an inevitability: Waypoint spoke to [several studios about crunch at E3 2018](https://www.vice.com/en/article/we-asked-nintendo-microsoft-and-12-other-devs-how-they-deal-with-crunch/?ref=aftermath.site), and Dring spoke to game developers in 2020 about [how their studios try to avoid it](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/how-to-avoid-game-development-crunch?ref=aftermath.site). **Update, 9/17/26, 10:20am–** Brammer gave a statement to [Eurogamer](https://www.eurogamer.net/wardogs-ceo-new-response-crunch-backlash-social-media-monitoring-statement?ref=aftermath.site) responding to some of the critiques of his comments. He said that in June 2026, Bulkhead added "an extra 2 hours a day Monday through Thursday, for 4 weeks (16 working days total)" and said "We admitted to the staff that this was crunch." He said that this was optional, and that four people opted out; "nothing happened to them and nothing will. But I can admit that maybe the social pressure within a very tight-knit team might make those individuals feel less than great." Brammer also told the outlet that Bulkhead used the four day workweek for two years, saying "We ultimately needed the fifth day of productivity, but we saw huge benefits and absolutely aspire to bring some form of it back in the future." Regarding the company checking potential hires' social media, Brammer told Eurogamer > Where we do consider publicly available information as part of recruitment, it is done in line with applicable UK employment and data protection law. We don't access private accounts or carry out covert or intrusive checks. > > My comments were really about being upfront about the kind of studio we are and making sure it's the right fit for both sides. ### Oh My God, I Hope The Upcoming Changes To Marathon Work Out URL: https://aftermath.site/marathon-bungie-update-symbiosis/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T13:51:54.000Z Like many *Marathon* players, I was wondering when the hell I would hear any news about the next season of the game. In a blog on Monday, Bungie answered my questions—never, because there is no longer going to be a third season of the game, and they’re changing a lot of other things too. Despite the apprehension this fills me with, this is all probably, hopefully, a good thing. Originally, the third season of *Marathon* was set to begin on September 22nd. According to the [blog from Bungie](https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/nightfallrefreshandsymbiosis?ref=aftermath.site), while there will be a small update on October 6th, which will reset the game’s economy, provide a new battle pass and also have some quality of life updates, plans regarding seasons and the overall structure of the game have changed. “The content originally planned for September will now arrive as part of our Symbiosis update on December 8,” the blog says. “Alongside the new Runner shell, permanent PvE experience, and refreshed Perimeter zone, the update will also include a social space/firing range, an experimental TDM mode, and improvements to new player onboarding.” The blog also says that in the future, *Marathon* will no longer have seasons. “Instead of tying major updates to fixed seasonal deadlines, we’re giving the team more flexibility to build, test, and improve features before they are released,” Bungie wrote. The updates intended for Season 3 of *Marathon* are now coming on December 8th, in an update dubbed Symbiosis. All of these are welcome changes. Some of the additions are really no duh moves—the game provides mods for guns, but it’s hard to tell which ones you’ll like or dislike when there’s no firing range. As someone who sucks at this game, I usually die before I can test my loadouts, never to see those guns again. But what excited me even more than that is the addition of game modes other than what has been the core of the game, an extraction shooter. I have grown to love the extraction format [because of *Marathon*](https://aftermath.site/marathon-bungie-extraction-shooter-durandal/), but it is a niche genre. It’s high risk, high reward, and it puts a lot of pressure on players to fuck over other players rather than cooperate. If you’re going to lose all your gear when you die—and death comes switftly—then you’re probably going to try to kill everyone you meet. A lot of the time, I am the player you are killing to survive, and this sometimes leaves me at a loss when I’m trying to learn maps or new mechanics. A *lot* of people have told me that they’d try out *Marathon* with me if it had a PvE mode, because the pressure of the extraction shooter genre isn’t appealing to them. While there was a temporary PvE mode, Vault Breaker, a friend of mine has often described that as more a training ground for learning how to play the endgame content than a real mode in and of itself. With the Symbiosis update comes a permanent PvE mode, “providing a new way to explore, progress, and engage with the world beyond traditional PvPvE extraction gameplay,” as Bungie says. And if you enjoyed Vault Breaker, that’s also coming back temporarily as part of the update later this September. Now, if you are familiar with other games Bungie has developed, some of these additions might sound a little familiar. With the addition of a social space and an “experimental PvE Deathmatch mode,” another friend of mine called this update “*Destiny* 2.5.” (Yes, I do in fact have *two* friends who play *Marathon*, which may make me unique among the game’s playerbase.) One hopes that these additions will breathe new life into the game, which has not been as successful as Bungie, or its parent company Sony, has hoped. Sony has [framed *Marathon* as underperforming](https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-playstation-performance-reviews/), but also insisted that the game “[remains an important part of our portfolio](https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/an-update-from-playstation-studios-2/?ref=aftermath.site)” while [laying off workers](https://aftermath.site/bungie-destiny-2-marathon-layoffs-sony/) from the *Destiny 2* and *Marathon* teams. More recent news of Bungie [looking into subletting its office space](https://kotaku.com/bungie-is-exploring-subleasing-parts-of-its-massive-210984-sq-ft-studio-after-laying-off-more-than-600-people-in-just-three-years-2000731541?ref=aftermath.site) has not been encouraging—there is a very real fear that *Marathon* will be the last game Bungie ever makes. The *Marathon* community has been in doomer mode since before the game came out, and the reaction to having to wait another three months for content that was supposed to come out this month has not helped the general attitude. In fact, players of *Destiny* in the *Marathon* subreddit have pointed out that updates being delayed just before they were supposed to come out is something that [they’re unfortunately quite used to](https://www.reddit.com/r/Marathon/comments/1wg94yw/comment/p9segpr/?ref=aftermath.site). I cannot tell what the future has in store for *Marathon*, but it is interesting to note that people were asking for ways to interact with the systems in *Marathon* [outside of the extraction shooter genre](https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-singleplayer/) since well before the game came out. I want this news to be the shot in the arm that the game needs, because I think it’s a great game, but I am deeply afraid that it’s too little, too late. ### Ya-Yo Ya-Yo, Set Sail For The Most Interesting One Piece Fan Theory URL: https://aftermath.site/one-piece-red-line-fan-theory/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T16:53:41.000Z *One Piece* has been running since 1997\. With the Straw Hat Pirates' intimidatingly long odyssey comes one of fiction's longest-running mystery boxes: what is the One Piece? For decades, fans have joked that it's either "the friends we made along the way" or a fuck-off pile of treasure Gol D.Roger dumped at the end of the world. The former, at the very least, was debunked by Eiichiro Oda, who revealed that the treasure is physical. Which begs the question, what answer could satisfy Luffy and fans who've been asking this question for nearly 30 years? Of all the theories out there, the Red Line theory checks all the boxes. When I [binged 100 chapters a week during the pandemic](https://kotaku.com/i-just-read-1-025-chapters-of-one-piece-and-its-a-damn-1847671952?ref=aftermath.site), I didn’t care about the answer. Six years later, I absolutely do. Having banked chapters more often than reading *One Piece* weekly to give myself more to read between Oda's bouts of writing flashbacks within flashbacks, I've dipped into decades-long fandom theories about what its coveted treasure could be. The Red Line theory is a prevailing *One Piece* fan theory that slips snugly into place as a puzzle piece in the story. Much of that comes from how it perfectly dovetails information readers already know about the series without getting lost in the plot. **Obtuse spoilers for that.** One of the things that makes *One Piece*'s world so fully realized compared to other shonen is how thought-out and intriguing its world-building is. The Red Line theory does the same. We know that the [World Government](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/World%5FGovernment?ref=aftermath.site) and its Marines are safeguarding a secret about the [Void Century,](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Void%5FCentury?ref=aftermath.site) the world lost to time. We also know that the same World Government will [nuke entire islands](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Buster%5FCall?ref=aftermath.site) for the crime of looking into the Void Century by uncovering [Poneglyphs](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Poneglyph?ref=aftermath.site), giant slabs of rock spread across the world *Dragon Ball*\-style, revealing secret clues about the Void Century. We know that Gol D. Roger, after sailing the entire sea, discovered what the One Piece was [and laughed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLivdpRo5tM&pp=ygUUb25lIHBpZWNlIGhlIGxhdWdoZWQ%3D&ref=aftermath.site). We also know he was executed at the start of the series after setting the world off on the biggest scavenger hunt—[that spilled into real life](https://gizmodo.com/one-piece-treasure-hunt-oda-2000729430?ref=aftermath.site)—to find his treasure, the One Piece. Pirates can't traverse its treacherous seas without a special kind of compass called a [Log Pose](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Log%5FPose?ref=aftermath.site). Unlike real-world compasses, Log Poses can only point a ship toward the magnetic field of the nearest island. After which, it needs time to reset. Narratively, all of the above coalesce into a convenient plot contrivance that lets Luffy meet new people, learn about their dreams, recruit them to his motley crew, and liberate their island from whatever fascist arm of governance is lording it over them. The Red Line theory does the same. Red Line theory takes the incremental catharsis Luffy and the crew get from feasting after [toppling a totalitarian regime](https://aftermath.site/one-piece-flag-gen-z-protest-nepal-indonnesia-france/) and spreads it tenfold among the crew. It’s a satisfying answer to what the One Piece is and how it will help them all achieve their dreams. Nami, the Straw Hat's navigator, dreams of mapping the entire world. Zoro, the Straw Hat's swordsman, dreams of being the best swordsman in the world. Usopp, their scaredy-cat sniper, dreams of becoming the bravest warrior of the sea. Sanji, their cook, wants to find the All Blue—a rumored body of water where all the world's fish gather. Tony Tony Chopper, their doctor, wants to cure every illness. Nico Robin, their anthropologist, wants to discover the true history of the world that the World Government committed a genocide on her island to keep hidden forever. Franky, their shipwright, wants to build a ship that can sail the entire world. Brooke, their undead swordsman, wants to reunite with his pet whale, Laboon. And Jinbe, their helmsman, wants to achieve true equality between humans and fishmen. While Luffy's dream is signposted early in the series as becoming King of the Pirates—he yells it at the top of his lungs at any given opportunity—what that actually means isn't spelled out until a little later. To Luffy, it isn't a title he has to be granted through some maritime succession of power from him and Gol D. Roger. Being King of the Pirates means being the freest person on the sea. Which, when you think about it, is quite poetic, considering his Devil Fruit powers mean the sea is his mortal enemy. Luffy can't achieve his dreams without his crew helping him out every step of the way. It plucks at my heartstrings when Luffy's own dream extends to his crew and every person he meets along their journey. He wants to give them the same kind of freedom he seeks for himself, regardless of however many dictators he has to impact frame sucker punch in the face. > [Updated One Piece World Map with Luffy’s Full Path (Until Chapter 1150)](https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/1lr2aby/updated%5Fone%5Fpiece%5Fworld%5Fmap%5Fwith%5Fluffys%5Ffull%5Fpath/?ref=aftermath.site) > by [u/xads181](https://www.reddit.com/user/xads181/?ref=aftermath.site) in [OnePiece](https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/?ref=aftermath.site) Along the [Straw Hats](https://gizmodo.com/one-piece-straw-hat-pirates-ranked-2000730044?ref=aftermath.site)' journey, which's been tracked by the fandom on forum pages on its own series map, the crew have gotten bits and pieces of information about a cataclysmic battle that occurred years prior that made the world the way it is now: segmented, with a culture of people never knowing about one another because of the aforementioned sea-faring troubles. This leaves the government and pirates as the only folks able to sail the sea in search of control and freedom, respectively. During their odyssey, the Straw Hats learn about [Ancient Weapons](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Weapon?ref=aftermath.site#Ancient%5FWeapons), once thought to be myths, that still exist in the world. Around chapter 1190 (I know!), the series confirms that these weapons were cast into the depths of the ocean to achieve some universal peace amongst the world's former rulers before the World Government fucked that all up. [Poseidon](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Poseidon?ref=aftermath.site), one of the Ancient Weapons, is a person. Specifically, Poseidon is [Princess Shirahoshi](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Shirahoshi?ref=aftermath.site), whom the Straw Hats meet on Fishman Island. Shirahoshi's role as Poseidon is to use the massive Void Century-era ship, [Noah ](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Noah?ref=aftermath.site)(no really), and bring forth a great migration of Fishmen to the world's surface. The World Government really doesn't want that. They don't want that so badly that they aid and abet the Celestial Dragons in their chattel slavery of the Fishmen race. Perhaps this is out of fear of a prophetic upending of the world with the subjugated people playing a key role, or maybe it’s just out of pure racism. I bring all this up because it's a crucial part of the Red Line theory. Red Line theory posits that the One Piece is one of the weapons Roger discovered that will upend the world by destroying the Red Line, a massive landmass splitting the world in half. The Straw Hats began their journey into the [Grand Line](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Grand%5FLine?ref=aftermath.site) by trekking up [Reverse Mountain](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Reverse%5FMountain?ref=aftermath.site), a treacherous current that flows up a mountain, ejecting the Straw Hats and any other pirate foolhardy enough to search for the One Piece, and splitting the world as we know it into four sequestered quadrants of the North, East, West, and South Blue. The Red Line is a landmass on which the Reverse Mountain resides, which cuts straight through the aquatic Grand Line, separating the world and all its peoples. By destroying the Red Line, Luffy and the Straw Hats will not only achieve their collective dreams in one fell swoop, but also transform the entire world into, well, one piece. If the world becomes like Pangea, Nami will have charted the entire world. Zoro can say he became the greatest swordsman in the world because the Straw Hats would've seen and fought all that the world had to offer. Usopp can cowardly-lion his way into becoming the bravest warrior of the sea by sailing all the way around without fear. Sanji will have created the All Blue by uniting the ocean. Chopper, by proxy, will chart an easy trajectory to cure all illnesses with the islands free to share ideas and medicine. Robin will have achieved long-awaited catharsis by uncovering the truth of the world herself. Franky would've built a dirigible worthy of carrying the Straw Hats to the end of their journey with the Thousand Sunny. Several other characters would finally complete their life’s goals if the Red Line is destroyed, making this theory exciting to contemplate. Most importantly, if this theory is correct, Luffy will get to fulfill the long-laid prophecy of becoming King of the Pirates as [Joy Boy](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Joy%5FBoy?ref=aftermath.site), the Warrior of Liberation and Freedom. Time will tell whether any of this ever comes to pass, given that Oda said the manga is nearing its final arc in the [next four or five years](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/latest/2020/8/27/eiichiro-oda-claims-there-is-4-to-5-years-left-of-the-one-piece-manga?srsltid=AU7gw4WTseRJOAgXqMkvWcuRkri2Xl-m4OaZkIkQqWXmWfEcUrN18dl7&ref=aftermath.site) in 2020, which he[ also said back in 2018](https://kotaku.com/the-one-piece-manga-is-80-percent-finished-says-eiichi-1827796353?ref=aftermath.site). No one works harder at maintaining One Piece's longevity than Oda and his editors. But with so many more jumping-on points for the series, (including a [live-action series that surprisingly doesn't suck](https://gizmodo.com/one-piece-finds-its-groove-in-its-second-voyage-2000730815?ref=aftermath.site) and a [leaner anime remake](https://gizmodo.com/the-one-piece-reboot-episodes-release-date-netflix-2000754562?ref=aftermath.site) no one asked for but that nonetheless has people excited to check out, alongside its ongoing anime and manga series), the Red Line theory is one that achieves what Luffy always sets out to do: make everyone he meets happy. ### What Really Caused The Video Game Crash Of 1983? URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/you-are-error-podcast-video-game-crash-1983/ Last updated: 2026-09-17T13:51:46.000Z After a long, unintended hiatus, [You Are Error](https://aftermath.site/tag/you-are-error/) has returned and is off to an auspicious start: the end of the video game industry. Welcome back to You Are Error, Aftermath’s podcast about gaming’s greatest misconceptions. For those just joining us, I originally launched this show more than a year ago, inspired by podcasts like [You’re Wrong About](https://yourewrongabout.com/?ref=aftermath.site), [Maintenance Phase](https://www.maintenancephase.com/?ref=aftermath.site), and [If Books Could Kill](https://www.ifbookspod.com/?ref=aftermath.site). My goal was (and still is) to demystify often-misunderstood elements of video games, whether that means history and culture, the development process, or real-world inspirations that shape what games are about. Previous episodes have covered [Arabic](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/you-are-error-podcast-rami-ismail-arabic-palestine/), [Twitch](https://aftermath.site/you-are-error-podcast-twitch-stream-big-book/), [horses](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/you-are-error-horses-red-dead-redemption-2-horse-testicles/), and [the myth of the solo indie dev](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/you-are-error-podcast-indie-game-funding-mike-bithell/), and future episodes will dig into everything from Steam to arms manufacturers to marine biology. Unfortunately, not long after I launched You Are Error, the daily responsibilities of journalism, [another podcast](https://aftermath.site/tag/aftermath-hours/), and running a worker-owned business piled up, and something had to give. That thing ended up being this show. But thanks to [Aftermath subscribers and the resources they’ve provided](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/)—for example, money to pay our podcast partners, Multitude, for slick video and editing—I’ve been able to revive the show with a more manageable schedule and long-term plan for guests. In short, we’ve never been more back. That in mind, I figured we should re-begin on a fitting note: the disastrous conclusion of what was, up to a certain point in the 80s, the video game industry. I didn’t just pick this topic because I thought it’d be funny, though; the video game industry now once again finds itself in a period of existential turmoil, with AI, layoffs, studio closures, and an endless barrage of competing media threatening to crash the traditional games industry as we know it—or at least transform it into something unrecognizable. So I was curious: Does the video game crash of the 80s provide us with useful parallels? Can we learn from the cultural and economic realities of that moment, even though the games themselves were far more primitive? And of course, what *actually* happened back then, as opposed to the stories that got handed down via legend and hearsay? Was it really as simple as a bunch of games being so bad that they destroyed the companies that created them? And was the crash so calamitous that people just… stopped liking games? (Hint in both cases: no!) To answer these questions, I reached out to Alexander Smith, host of video game history podcast [They Create Worlds](https://www.theycreateworlds.com/?ref=aftermath.site) and author of what is perhaps the definitive book on early video game console history, [*They Create Worlds: The Story Of The People And Companies That Shaped Video Game History*](https://www.theycreateworlds.com/book?ref=aftermath.site). I learned a whole, whole lot from our conversation, and I hope you will too. Enjoy! You can listen to the episode below or on [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/you-are-error/id1782231480?ref=aftermath.site), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7w7V296dt8HCoDryWiofI4?ref=aftermath.site), and pretty much anywhere else podcasts are found. You can also [watch it on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@Aftermath%5Fsite?ref=aftermath.site). Here’s an excerpt from our conversation: **Nathan:** When people hear about the crash now, the general conception is that the problem was bad games. There were a bunch of them, and they were all kind of terrible—so terrible, in fact, that companies lost a lot of money and pulled out of the games industry or collapsed altogether. But my impression is that it was more complicated than that. So what was the landscape at the time, and why have people come to believe that the issue was simply really bad games? **Alexander:** It’s both simpler and more complicated than that. There’s certainly a grain of truth to the idea that some bad games came out of that time because there are some bad games that came out of that time—no question. But the parallel I like to draw there is, those of us that lived through the days of the Nintendo Wii remember the bins and bins of shovelware at Walmart and GameStop of all these cruddy me-too products. It takes more than bad games, I think, to kill an industry. But when people who lived through it—including the early people who are writing about it, who are also people who lived through it, like Steven Kent—the things that they remember, I think, are those discount bins. They remember getting *ET* at Christmas and being horribly disappointed. They remember playing *Pac-Man* and being blinded by flicker. They remember the bins at the front of the store where they were searching through all the games marked down to $5 or $3 or $1. So I think that’s probably why a lot of that narrative pushed through. Those are the visceral memories of that period. There’s no doubt that that’s part of the situation that occurred. It didn’t help that there were some games out there that were letdowns like *ET*. But on the whole, it really wasn’t so much that there were too many bad games; it’s that there were just too many games period. Every last one of them could have been the most amazing games that had ever been created in the history of video games, and if you put out about 200 percent of market demand, that doesn’t matter. You’re still not going to sell them all because you only have so many customers for that product. ## Recommended [Introducing: You Are Error, Our Podcast About Gaming’s Greatest Misconceptions - AftermathLearning from video games’ mistakes![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-0592f78d-6dfe-475b-9ba0-052fa4a7942c.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/error6-5-21516ba5-f8b6-4734-a9d5-ee7aede90b2f.png)](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/you-are-error-podcast-rami-ismail-arabic-palestine/) ### It's 2026, And I'm Playing GTA V For The First Time URL: https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-v-first-time/ Last updated: 2026-09-16T16:53:32.000Z I’ve been broadly immune from the *GTA VI* hype, not for any principled reasons but because I’ve just never played a Grand Theft Auto game. This has been largely circumstantial, as someone who didn’t own a console when they all released and who tends to dislike driving games. But the recent flurry of *GTA VI* looks got curiosity gnawing at my brain, wanting to share in the excitement of my peers and feeling drawn to a big open world to explore. And since *VI* won’t be coming to PC until god-knows-when, I’ve decided to do the only thing I can: finally install the copy of *GTA V* that’s been sitting on my computer for years. I picked up *GTA V* when it was free on the Epic store [all the way back in 2020](https://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/o349k55255a257/GTAV-Premium-Edition-Available-Free-on-the-Epic-Games-Store-Until-May-?ref=aftermath.site), my curiosity largely piqued by having spent years editing [Zack Zwiezen’s](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-gta-6-realistic-violence/) stories about *GTA Online* for [Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/author/zackzwiezen?ref=aftermath.site). Zack made the game sound like a weird alternate universe full of the kind of day-to-day life management that I love about [survival games](https://aftermath.site/survival-games-rule/), and I hoped the single-player would be that but without other players griefing me into quitting. “I could be a GTA guy,” I confidently told myself in 2020, before proceeding to never think about the game sitting in my Epic library again. A few weekends ago I finally decided to install it. This took a while: Between the Epic store being, well, itself, and my Rockstar account deciding I didn’t exist over and over until it randomly decided oh no wait I did, between account syncs that warned me they failed but didn’t seem to affect anything to having to install BattleEye, my first hour with the game was just a maze of pop-ups and error messages. Once I got into the game, though, things have run pretty smoothly. (Well, smoothly barring that it seems like the combination of using Epic and installing the game on a new SSD means that I can’t tell if my screenshots aren’t saving at all, or if they’re just being saved to some place where I have no hope of finding them. So sorry for the lack of images in this post; I didn’t realize until it was too late! Rest assured every screenshot I took was terrible anyway.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/gts.jpg) Imagine I took this (Rockstar) It’s weird to play [a very old GTA](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-v-was-released-on-september-17-2013/) when I’ve never played one before, and when my only reference for this style of Rockstar game is having not finished *Red Dead Redemption 2*. I’ve struggled a bit with the tutorials, which appear as tiny text prompts in the upper left of my screen and frequently disappear before I can internalize them. In Franklin’s first “real” mission, where he has to shoot a man fleeing on a motorbike while driving, I kept missing or misunderstanding which buttons I had to press so many times that I had to pause the game and go Google it. I then proceeded to fail the execution of this mechanic so many times that the game finally let me skip the mission, a choice I have continued to make every time the mechanic has arisen, and which I’m sure will have no consequences on my time with the rest of the game at all. Mostly what I’ve done in the game so far is wander around. I’ve only done a couple of Franklin’s missions and two of Michael’s, spending the rest of my time switching between the characters to explore their various neighborhoods. The world is definitely *big*–the other night I thought I was driving Michael toward one of his question mark sidequests, but when I couldn’t find it I instead walked the whole beach to the fairgrounds, rode the rides, then stole a jet ski and tried to see if I could circumnavigate the entirety of the map. Things hit a snag when I stopped to explore a little island and returned to find my jet ski had not just floated away but seemingly despawned. I stole a boat and kept going, before irrevocably beaching the boat and ending up having to walk for ages through rural dirt roads until I could find a car. A lot of my in-game time has been spent this way: stranding myself on the farthest edges of the map and having to time-consumingly work my way inland again. I also spent multiple in-game days attempting to locate a bicycle. When I discovered that I couldn’t just buy a bike from the in-game internet and store it in Michael’s garage, I wandered the streets of Los Santos hoping to come across one. Eventually I turned to the real-life internet for help, which told me bikes could be found at the beach, the only place in *GTA V* I can reliably navigate myself to. But I spent full nights and days skulking around parking lot bike racks hoping someone with a bike would come by while they steadfastly did not. Eventually, I walked my way to a bike rental place and nicked one there, which has led to me biking all over town in Michel’s ridiculous jeans and coat, with the current aim of getting back to a national park I passed so I can do some off-road riding. (The game is way more fun on a bike than in a car, if you ask me.) [Grand Theft Hamlet Is A Funny, Touching Take On Shakespeare - Aftermath‘We’re putting on a play inside a game, but the game is a kind of play, because we’re playing’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-2f1420e5-3f1a-4aa4-b2b8-f1ba0b745b6f.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gtahamlet-3-795d1d0d-9bb6-4cc3-9a08-2c5c066e7108.png)](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-hamlet-review/) While exploring is what I most like to do in open-world games anyway, it’s also been a way to ease myself into what *GTA V* actually seems to *be*. The atmosphere is crass in a way games aren’t anymore–one of the first interactable businesses I came across was a strip club where I could watch a shiny, skimpily-dressed woman writhe in front of me. I also went to a movie, in which a cartoon robot murdered a female robot for rejecting his advances. There are poop and dick and sex and gay jokes everywhere, in a way I think most games, if they haven’t rejected them outright, are at least more artful with today. Maybe some of this was funny in 2013, but in 2026 it mostly feels embarrassing. In his 2022 re-review of the game for [Polygon](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23281268/grand-theft-auto-5-re-review-gta-online-playstation-5-xbox-series-x-pc-steam-rockstar-games/?ref=aftermath.site), Cameron Kunzelman wrote that “Back when the game originally released, I called it conservative… Now I would call it out of touch — even for the era in which it was released.” Some of the game feels like it’s trying to have its cake and eat it too, leaning on the *South Park* defense of making fun of *everyone* while still essentially *being* the thing it’s making fun of. There’s a crude cynicism to its humor that, looking through the lens of 2026, is hard to write off as simply dated. And it feels like it’s trying to appeal to a particular vision of “gamers” that isn’t just inaccurate today, but toxic in a different way than it was in 2013\. It’s bizarre to play a game whose satirical politics are closer to the Tea Party than MAGA; even though so many of the same conspiracies and hatreds carry through, lines of thought that felt easy to write off or mock back then feel much more serious today. And it’s kind of shocking to play a game that feels like it’s both teasing and catering to a vision of an audience that was crafted before Gamergate. So many of the game’s jokes feel like Gamergate dog whistles, and I have to keep reminding myself that they *can’t* be, because there weren’t those dogs to whistle at when Rockstar’s developers were making the game. The elements of what would become Gamergate were there, of course; there’s a prescience to *GTA V*, at the same time as I think there’s no way its developers could have known precisely what they were predicting. I feel weird being disgusted by some of the game, because that reaction veers so close to the [moral panics](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gta-gta6-raises-anxieties-over-video-games-and-violence-heres-what-the-science-says/?ref=aftermath.site) surrounding the GTA series that get wielded against video games as a whole. On the plus side, it also makes the current [conservative backlash to *GTA VI*](https://www.wired.com/story/the-anti-woke-right-cant-figure-out-how-to-stop-grand-theft-auto-vi/?ref=aftermath.site)even more hilarious. GTA looms so large in the public imagination, and is so [weight-bearing](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/) to the current video game industry, that it’s hard to experience *V* for the first time just as itself, to not read so much into every billboard and radio spot and activity and character. There’s so much more of it that I need to experience before I can really understand what it is and what it’s doing. But with all the baggage around it, and with what I’ve seen so far when I get too close to the game’s core, I’m not totally sure that I *want* to. I’ve had more fun just exploring the world, even as I keep brushing against things I think are closed to me until I advance more of the plot. I want to open up all the [secrets and mysteries](https://screenrant.com/gta-5-secret-areas-locations/?ref=aftermath.site) that Zack’s stories made sound so enticing, even as I’m worried what I might find there. *GTA V* is a strange game to come to without any nostalgia; I’m not quite sure if I’m enjoying it, or what it could look like to enjoy it for the first time in 2026\. I would really like to get far enough to buy a better bicycle, though. [I Wish Rockstar Cared About People As Much As It Does GTA VI NPCsYou can’t talk a big game about handcrafting everything while mistreating the people responsible![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-21af82fd-60dd-4c33-b2e7-c24b55e95ca5.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gtanpc1-ac6a55e6-b53f-40ac-a2b3-772002939bd3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-netflix-gameplay-reveal-npcs-crunch/) ### IGN Ownership Chooses Busiest Time For Games Media In Years To Lay A Bunch Of People Off [Update] URL: https://aftermath.site/ign-layoffs-altano-macy/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T21:30:44.000Z Ziff Davis, the media company that currently owns IGN (along with Eurogamer, RPS and more) has laid off a number of IGN staff just two months ahead of the launch of *Grand Theft Auto VI*, one of the most colossal news-generating video game releases of all time. As[ first reported by Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/sources-ign-layoffs-hit-multiple-departments-and-long-time-hosts-2000734361?ref=aftermath.site), the layoffs "have hit multiple departments across the video game website’s business", most prominently affecting the popular and long-serving video presenters Seth Macy and Brian Altano. Tech writer Bo Moore has[ since shared he has also been laid off](https://bsky.app/profile/usebomswisely.bsky.social/post/3mvj2jn3c5b2f?ref=aftermath.site), on the same day his coverage of Valve's Steam Frame launch was on the site's front page. > I just got laid off. > > — Seth Macy From the State of Maine (@SethFromMaine) [September 14, 2026](https://x.com/SethFromMaine/status/2099570611580174425?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) This is not the first time Ziff Davis have conducted sweeping rounds of layoffs at what is still the world's most popular video games website.[ IGN's union last year engaged in a workplace strategy of "no more, no less"](https://aftermath.site/ign-layoffs-union-action-ziff-davis/) after [job cuts](https://aftermath.site/ign-layoffs-ziff-davis/) and buyouts left many sectors of the network stretching to cover the work of those no longer there, while[ just a few months back several tech workers were also let go](https://aftermath.site/ign-summer-game-fest-layoffs-union/). There have also been several rounds of layoffs across the sites Ziff Davis [purchased from the Gamer Network in 2024](https://aftermath.site/ign-gamer-network-eurogamer-gamesindustrybiz-layoffs/), including at [GamesIndustry](https://aftermath.site/ziff-davis-ign-gamesindustrybiz-humble-buyouts/), [Eurogamer](https://aftermath.site/eurogamer-layoffss-ign/), and RockPaperShotgun. IGN’s union has yet to comment on the layoffs. We’ve reached out to them for comment. **Update 7:20pm:** IGN Creators Guild [has issued a statement](https://bsky.app/profile/ignunion.bsky.social/post/3mvjakes7rs2u?ref=aftermath.site) which reads: > Today was an awful day at IGN. We were blindsided by the layoff of four union members and many more people across the organization who contributed years of their careers to making IGN an unparalleled voice in games and entertainment. > > With each successive layoff, core parts of IGN's operation continue to be stripped away. Today, IGN has decided to do away with many of our talented producers, editors, hosts, and other crucial roles, both within and out of the union. How many layoffs will occur before we no longer recognize the company we work for and the content that we make? > > While we recognize the challenges the media industry is facing as a whole, it is difficult to understand how laying off valuable employees better positions us to meet those challenges. In turn, remaining employees bear additional workloads worsened by anxiety over the ever-looming threat of another layoff. > > We are devastated, angry, and heartbroken for our colleagues. Speaking to Aftermath, IGN Creators Guild leadership say the union were not told about the layoffs in advance, even though in previous rounds they had at least been given a courtesy heads-up. This meant it took the Creators Guild most of the day just to find out who, exactly, had been laid off both inside and outside the union; at time of publishing they estimate four union employees were affected today, with another pending a decision in November. That worker's status is pending because the union say the employee was given an ultimatum to either move to Los Angeles– despite owning a home and having kids in school in their home city--or be laid off. Creators Guild leadership expressed concern that today's layoffs (and a new remote work policy beginning next month) could potentially be the result of a push to get IGN's remaining workforce to return to the office, as all those affected today were remote employees. ### Your 'Focus M' Zelda Jokes Have Become Reality URL: https://aftermath.site/your-focus-m-zelda-jokes-have-become-reality/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T21:29:59.000Z When Nintendo showed the first footage from *The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* remake [last week](https://aftermath.site/zelda-ocarina-of-time-remake-nintendo/), its new, detailed look reminded [some fans](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime2026?ref=aftermath.site) of “[Focus M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMh%5FAPo2Xss&ref=aftermath.site),” a meme reimagining the Mario games as gritty AAA. So the meme’s creator, voice actor Ryan Stewart, went ahead and made “Focus L” a reality. “AAA Zelda? Focus, L? Marvel's Zelda? Take your pick. This one was a lot of fun to put together,” Stewart wrote on [Twitter](https://x.com/RyanStewartVO?ref=aftermath.site). Like “Focus, M,” the video is a weird, hilarious combination of grim dialogue (“The Great Deku Tree was like a father to you,” says voice actor Ariel Hack as Navi) and the grunts and combat noises of realistic games, cast over footage of the *Ocarina of Time* remake trailer that doesn’t rise to the same serious level. There’s even the old video game trailer standard of a song cover, in this case a 2018 version of Jim Croce’s “[Time in a Bottle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9D3nu8RZNs&ref=aftermath.site).” > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdL76P3BpQ4/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Ryan Stewart (@ryanstewartvo)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdL76P3BpQ4/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) The original “Focus M” went from being a funny video to [attempts to define a genre of games](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/12/27/focus-m-what-is-the-new-meme-everyone-is-misusing/?ref=aftermath.site), and while I’d hate for this joke to go the [friendslop](https://aftermath.site/friendslop-peak-lethal-company-social-media-discourse/) route of being something we actually discourse over, I do think Stewart has highlighted certain vibes of modern AAA games. These games squeeze emotional moments into downtime in a way that’s pretty awkward when you think about it, and they include nudges and instructions to the player in ways that we all accept the necessity of, even when the dialogue is far from how people really talk. It can feel like a contrast to the emotional tone a game is going for, and I like how Stewart’s videos send that up by using games from before these tropes became common. Also, in both “Focus L” and “Focus M,” Stewart’s voice reminds me of Will Arnett in *Bojack Horseman*. This makes me unconsciously invent whole tragic backstories for Mario and Link, something I would actually like to see in a gritty reboot. Get on it, Nintendo. ### Adults Is The Sitcom That Made Me Finally Feel My Age: Old URL: https://aftermath.site/adults-fx-hulu-gen-z-humor-millennial-zillennial/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T18:11:51.000Z Being born in 1996 has meant that I’ve always existed on a generational divide: I’m too old to be Gen Z and just on the cutoff as a Millennial. A [Zillennial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zillennials?ref=aftermath.site), if you will. Despite growing up with a brother and cousins 25 years older than me and with a “late birthday” in school, I hadn’t felt the confusing generational gap of my age until I watched FX’s extremely Gen-Z-coded sitcom, *Adults*. If you’re aware of *Seinfeld*, *Friends*, or the Black sleeper hit *Living Single*, *Adults* follows their formula, but for a younger generation. Created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw under the original show title, [*Snowflakes*](https://mashable.com/article/adults-creators-rebecca-shaw-ben-kronengold-advice-from-friends-creators?ref=aftermath.site), *Adults* centers on five mid-twenties-somethings going on misadventures across the city while living rent-free in their friend’s parents’ Brooklyn apartment. The quintet is comprised of Samir, a mild mannered worrywart tiptoeing through life as a cishet man; Billie, a reformed workaholic (read: laid off) news reporter hopping from one fling to the next to make up for lost time; Paul Baker, a himbo of a sexually fluid man who miraculously rocks a mustache without looking creepy; Issa, who is basically Charlie from *It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia* and Ilana from *Broad City* doing a fusion dance; and Anton, the gay solar entity the entire friend group rotates around for better and for ill. While there’s been plenty of hilarious sitcoms like *Abbot Elementary* and *What We Do In The Shadows*, nothing beats a roommate-style sitcom with a cast whose members are the same age as you and, by proxy, go through similar albeit hilariously awkward mishaps. Watching *Adults* felt like splitting my consciousness across five characters struggling to navigate being “good people” without grasping what it means to be an adult, at an age when the recklessness of their youth is long past its social expiration date. I’ve seen them tussle with the ethical implications of leveraging sexual misconduct headlines as a Hail Mary career move, saying “cunt” in the workplace, and a meticulously plotted group acid trip gone wrong. *Adults* is one of those shows that makes viewers feel like the meme of the [guy laughing next to a poster of friends eating ice cream](https://imgur.com/toomeirlformeirl-ce2Olo9?ref=aftermath.site) like they’re the sixth member of the friend group. There’s nothing worse feeling in the world to me than needing to have a joke explained to me. That feeling is the same as someone telling me “You’re funny” instead of laughing after I tell a joke. That’s ego death. For the most part, *Adults*’ anxiety over the awkward stage of being too young and too old in mixed company hits me like a truck in the best way a sitcom can. But sometimes, instead of laughing as I ragdoll over the hood of a comedic bit from *Adults*, I go under its wheels and utter the youth-killing phrase, “I don’t get it.” No two moments have made me feel my pushing 30 age watching *Adults* more than its season one episode, Roast Chicken. Up until this point, I’ve felt right at home with *Adults*, never having to flee to KnowKnowMeme or Urban Dictionary like I have to with my coworkers to explain why lingo like “soak” and “I’m sliding twin” mean what they mean so I can laugh at a joke. But the moment the show introduced Julia Fox, the first of its many celebrity guests, I really felt my age. Special guest cameos and appearances are a staple of sitcoms. On paper, they’re supposed to work by having a generation of viewers the same age as the cast equally pog out alongside studio audiences' laugh tracks, glazing the show for having the motion to pull a special guest of Hollywood caliber. Guest appearances can also make or break an audience's connection to a show. As a kid, *The Sopranos’* James Gandolfini appearing on *Sesame Street* still hit me, even though I hadn't watched the show, because I knew it and found it weird that the mean Italian gangster guy was cuddling with muppets. By that same token, as a teen, I rolled my eyes at *Parks and Rec* and *Broad City* for having [Joe Biden](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/joe-biden-lands-cameo-on-parks-and-recreation-176440/?ref=aftermath.site) and [Hilary Clinton](https://deadline.com/2024/08/ilana-glazer-recalls-hillary-clinton-broad-city-cameo-1236038613/?ref=aftermath.site), respectively, because the whole thing was very corny and dated the show’s otherwise great comedy. As a Zillennial, I grew up watching sitcoms from my mom’s Gen-X generation while also being too old for shows my friends grew up watching, like *Adventure Time*. While I might not really understand why shows like *In Living Color* or *Regular Show* hit, I can still comprehend and appreciate why they were popular thanks to falling in between the fault lines of their audience’s age bracket. However, I’ve never encountered a show whose comedy feels like it passed me by. *Adults* was a rude awakening. While *Adults* doesn’t date itself by having canned laugh tracks to tell audiences when they’re supposed to laugh, it's pretty evident how proud it is to have Fox as a semi-regular. Fox cameos as herself as a friend of Paul Baker who goes way, way back. That fact gags his friends, making them a little insecure over her star power in equal measure to having them fawn over her fawn over. But to me, as *Adult*’s sixth cast member, her appearance left me slightly confused. Not because I didn’t know who Fox was. I was confused why my five friends were gassing her up like she was Lady Gaga waacking into *our* Brooklyn apartment. No disrespect to that lady, but the furthest extent of my knowledge of Julia Fox was that she starred in *Uncut Gems* alongside Adam Sandler, and that she dated Kanye West before he went full Third Reich. To the show’s token, it treated those two facts as jokes, but beyond that, they talked her up as a generational aspiration—something I just didn’t understand, despite being five years older than them. The moment I caught myself thinking, “It’d make sense if it were Lady Gaga,” was when—for the first time in my life—I felt old. Like pulling a loose thread from a sweater, more revelations unfurled the longer I watched the show; I kept noticing little intricacies that made me feel old. Chief among them were my own fears that AI was a non-issue for the cast in press runs, where being told they looked like AI was taken as a complimentary beauty signifier. In the show itself, the relatable phenomenon of feeling too old to party with the kiddos was age-bracketed, with 25 treated as ancient by Gen Alpha because they “witnessed 9/11” despite being kids themselves, only succeeded in making me feel even more ancient because I’m knocking on 30’s door. Less severe, but no less “Oh god, am I old?” was seeing the cast exclusively messaging each other via Instagram group chats. Meanwhile, my own verging-on-dormant group chat is on older, and far less hip, Facebook Messenger. As evidenced from my failed attempt to move us to Discord during the pandemic, we’re there to stay. Getting older is something I’ve only ever witnessed folks older than me come to grips with. When Gen-Xers malded over musicians like [Billie Eilish admitting she didn’t know who Van Halen was](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/billie-eilish-van-halen-920487/?ref=aftermath.site), I remained calm. After all, the band is from the 80s, and she was 17\. Plus, who the fuck is watching *Jimmy Kimmel* regularly enough to even catch wind of a teen who dresses herself like [Murphy Lee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%5FLee?ref=aftermath.site) and be outraged at such an innocuous fact? That’s certified old-head behavior. However, the adults making a *Mrs. Doubtfire* reference, with the punchline being that they only knew about Robin Williams lying in the movie via cultural osmosis despite never actually having seen the movie, is where I felt like Matt Damon rapidly aging in *Saving Private Ryan*. I feel even more ancient typing this out, realizing in real-time that the adults of *Adults* probably haven't seen that movie either, but know the reference as the shorthand prompt for [reaction GIFs](https://tenor.com/view/aging-matt-damon-aging-hd-saving-private-ryan-saving-private-ryan-aging-hd-aging-hd-gif-12994133595129614351?ref=aftermath.site). God. Issa, Samir, Billie, Anton, Paul Baker, we are no longer peers. I am a fossil. You’ve dated me. ### The Steam Frame Is More Than Just Another VR Headset URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-frame-review/ Last updated: 2026-09-15T18:11:34.000Z The Steam Frame comes at a strange time for VR specifically and computing generally. Developed over seven years since Valve's previous entry, the Valve Index, it attempts to solve many of the problems that have plagued both PCVR and on-device VR units like the Quest 3\. On a hardware level it is more expensive than you’d like (although not much more than the original Index, at $1059 for the base 256 GB model and $1299 for 1TB) and arrives in the hangover of several larger, louder and better-funded companies trying and failing to force a cultural moment with VR. But unlike Meta or Apple, Valve never stopped remembering who VR is primarily for: a small base of committed enthusiasts. Like the [Steam Machine](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/), the Steam Frame is a real computer running an ARM variant of SteamOS that you can run like a Linux desktop. Unlike its competitors, it can run many PC games on-device through a compatibility layer called FEX, although that is a work in progress much like Proton once was. And while it is more expensive than comparable money-hemorrhaging headsets for reasons outside of Valve’s control, I would argue that the steps that Valve took to create an open platform that just works are smarter and more consequential than any single VR headset ever could be. Also, it’s a very nice headset. ## **Son Of The Index** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061641_S128-1-1.jpg) The Steam Frame (Left) and its stalwart predecessor the Valve Index (Right). The old girl got me through some good times. During the pandemic I got a Valve Index from Kotaku for coverage. I distinctly remember going to Stephen Totillo’s home to pick it up because it had been shipped to him. Up until that point I had previously used Oculus Rifts, HTC Vives, and whatever headsets people had attached to the demos we had gone to. Uniformly, these were queasy and unpleasant experiences. The headsets were heavy, the images had a low refresh rate and resolution, and the overall experience constantly reminded you that barfing was an active possibility. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061641_S134-1.jpg) The Valve Index has these really cool floating drivers and a great mic that I always appreciated. They provided great isolation. While the Index did not fix everything, it was the first time I felt like the technology had made meaningful strides to being something a normal person would want to use. It was and is a headset made with love. The directional BMR drivers it uses for audio uniquely floated over your ear, allowing for spatial awareness while making the overall experience a less claustrophobic one. The displays had a high enough refresh rate that I felt comfortable using it for extended periods of time. The array mic in it is still shockingly good, borderline podcast quality, and I became obsessed with how Valve pulled that off in a device like that. The controllers, which floated on your hands and allowed for articulation of individual digits, are still among my favorites in terms of visual design. And the way that Valve handled spatial tracking, using a series of base stations (called “Lighthouses”), is still considered the gold standard for professionals I know who use VR for performance and art. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/lighthouse-1.jpg) The "Lighthouses" from the original Index were annoying to set up but great for the time they came out. You can rest easy now Soldiers. It was also the first fully-realized hardware product I had interacted with from Valve, and the first time I suspected that the hardware team might know ball. It also happened to coincide with covid lockdown, so it gave me something to do that was not pacing back and forth in a tiny apartment. I spent hours throwing toilets off a mountaintop in a virtual house and going to a club in *Hitman* in a time when all other nightlife had been rendered obsolete. 0:00 /0:41 1× This is the kinda shit we did in March 2020. Despite the Index feeling like a leap forward, VR advocates have not sent their best in the intervening years. Mark Zuckerberg, [who is never right](https://aftermath.site/mark-zuckerberg-meta-ai-metaverse/), insisted that VR was the future of every online interaction instead of a thing for specific niche use cases like guys with racing rigs and furries who like to play *Beat Saber*. He burned an [entire mountain of money](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uq47v-o9iLo?ref=aftermath.site) that could have solved real, human problems in favor of a way worse version of *VRChat* that nobody likes. This was a mistake of gargantuan proportions that society at large not only did not punish him for but also let him repeat with [pervert glasses](https://aftermath.site/meta-display-ai-rayban-glasses-ai-fail-demo-lmao-look-at-this-huge-dipshit/) and AI models that lag behind their competition. He tasked talented people to build an entire ecosystem with admittedly impressive hardware that could never escape the fact that it is ultimately a Meta product. He then [laid many of those people off](https://www.theverge.com/news/861295/meta-reality-labs-layoffs-shift-to-wearables?ref=aftermath.site), and pivoted to [sex criminal wearables](https://www.wired.com/story/meta-ray-ban-oakley-smart-glasses-no-face-recognition-civil-society/?ref=aftermath.site) when his low media literacy version of *Snow Crash* failed to cohere. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Quest-3S-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Apple-WWDC23-Vision-Pro-lifestyle-with-battery-FaceTime-230605_big.jpg.large_2x.jpg) The Meta Quest 3 and the Apple Vision Pro were made by talented people who unfortunately had to work for Meta and Apple. Credit (Left to right) Meta and Apple. Meanwhile, Apple bet that a ludicrously expensive VR headset with no games was a viable platform to replace your laptop, which is the weirdest swing I’ve seen from a company that tends to make safe, logical bets. Like the Quest, Apple threw talented engineers and made impressive strides in augmented reality. The displays on the Vision Pro and the hardware required to make it work are fascinating, but at no point during production did they ever give a sufficient answer for “who is this product for?” You can make the argument that visionOS is a test bed for some larger product, but without an actual use case it’s largely an embarrassment. Every time I’ve gone to the Apple Store since, it remains on the tasteful hardwood table with no people clamoring around it, as if enveloped in a void of negative charisma. Apparently you need to make an appointment to even try it on. Sony and other companies, to their credit, understood that the appeal of VR always was in games. The PSVR2 is a nice piece of hardware, but it is exclusively a wired device that cannot be used standalone, and at this point I’m mostly compelled to use VR for playing PC games. For a few years, the most annoying people on god’s green earth insisted this niche, beautiful category of devices was the future of everything, to the point where you questioned the utility of the devices to begin with. To be honest, the attempt to force a cultural moment felt unfair to virtual reality as a technology, whose only sin was impressing tremendously gullible and careless billionaires with no concrete sense of how normal people live lives. We now live in the hangover of that massive Silicon Valley fever dream: VR still exists, but in a modest and arguably more appropriate form. There have been improvements in the technology, attempts to make it less unwieldy, and though the Meta's headsets have taken up significant market share they remain weirdly proprietary. And in the intervening years, Valve has been working on the successor to the Index, dubbed the Steam Frame. ## Enter the Frame ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061400_S024.jpg) Frame time. The reason I don’t take my Index out anymore is because it’s a huge pain in the ass to set up. Using the Index required direct tethering, setting up several tracking stations and defining a play space manually. Though the tracking worked wonderfully for the time, that amount of friction between wanting to play a game and actually playing it made it unappealing outside of covid lockdown unless I really wanted to try a specific mode or watch a 3D movie I had ripped and encoded. By contrast, the Steam Frame takes no time to set up. Though I’m not the kind of person to fetishize unboxing, Valve’s package design is straightforward and gives you fairly clear instructions on how to get it up and running. If you have the Steam App installed on your phone, you can actually directly connect your Frame that way. When I did it, it showed me a chibi illustration of the Spy from *TF2* wearing a VR headset and told me to confirm that the image matched. You can also scan the QR code in the eyepiece with your phone, an admittedly wonky solution that Valve swears works. The Steam Frame is by far the most well balanced headset I’ve ever used out of the box. Valve opted to put the battery pack for the device on the very back of the head on the top of the occipital bone. Though the device itself is light at 440 grams, the fact that all its weight is not on the front of your face, which puts a downward swinging force on your face when you move your head, does wonders for your neck muscles long term. The closest direct comparison would be something like the Quest 3 with either the optional [Elite Battery Strap](https://www.meta.com/quest/accessories/elite-strap/?ref=aftermath.site) (MSRP $129.99) or one of the many aftermarket straps, although that strap adds significant weight to the Quest, which is already heavier than the Frame. On the whole, the device is a joy to wear, which is something I don’t say lightly about any VR headset. There does seem to be slight airflow coming through the eyeset to cool the device, and while that could potentially dry your eyes out a little, it does add to the Frame feeling far less claustrophobic. As I used the Frame over a period of weeks, I became less afraid of using it impulsively, more likely to just throw it on without thinking. The Frame’s battery can last over two hours standalone in my playtime, although this is very dependent on what I was doing and what power mode I was on. Realistically speaking that is just enough time for me, as I was either in a situation where I could be plugged in (at my desk, in bed, on the couch) or did not need to do standalone uninterrupted for longer than that. The Frame charges via a USB-C port near the battery in the back. That seems like a small detail, but this is an ideal location for a cord to dangle from versus the temple on the Quest 3 or the side of the head on the Vision Pro. If I need to play without being tethered I can just do what everyone does and put a USB-C power bank in my pocket and plug it in. The Frame only comes with a USB-C cable and no power adapter, which is fine to me because I own more of those than I can count. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/stuff.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/stuff2.jpg) This is a very good location for a USB-C port. One of the biggest ongoing problems with PCVR generally is connecting to your PC. This either requires connecting via direct wire, which tugs and presents a tripping hazard, or connecting wirelessly via home wifi. For people with dedicated sim rigs, the former is an acceptable tradeoff. Valve went with the latter for the Frame, and their solution is elegant. The frame comes bundled with a specifically optimized 6 Ghz wifi dongle. In addition to the dongle, which has a short but robust line of sight range, the Frame can also use your home wifi simultaneously to maintain a secure connection to the PC. On top of this, the device uses eye tracking and what’s known as foeveated streaming, which optimizes the bitrate of the stream for wherever your eye is currently looking. In practice, the combination of the two techniques is largely invisible and leads to a seamless and reliable stream that does not stutter. If you absolutely need a wired connection, Valve has started to add conditional support for streaming over USB-C, which will make fans of racing sims or any stationary game happy. Ultimately, even those people might not need it. Instead of base stations, tracking is done with a series of cameras on the device, which is now the standard among VR headsets thanks in no small part to Meta. In practice this works well out of the box, although I did experience hiccoughs when I did something particularly onerous like launching a PC game there was no hope of ever running on what is, from a processing standpoint, a very nice cellphone. For VR games you’ll need to define a play space. On the Index this was done with an elaborate setup where you drew the boundaries with the controllers and placed the headset and controllers on the ground. On the Frame, this is done in a few seconds, if at all, by using the pointer like a painting tool and grabbing the floor until it lines up directly. You can also recenter the space by holding down a single button. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061501_S045-3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061500_S037-1-4.jpg) The Frame controller is a bit more standardized, but with the ergonomic strap it more closely resembles the beautiful form of the Index controller. The controllers themselves are more uniform and modest than the beautiful hanging harps of the Index. VR controllers have mostly standardized, and the Frame’s controller reflects that, being much closer in design to the Quest’s. Like the [Steam Controller](https://aftermath.site/steam-controller-review-living-room-pc/), Valve went with TMR sticks, which means you shouldn’t have stick drift long term. Each controller has two triggers near the back as well as a third interior one near where the ring finger rests that is primarily used to enable and disable pointer mode in the user interface. This process has a small learning curve but quickly becomes organic. Both controllers take a single AA battery, which makes it easy to swap in the middle of a play session if you are prepared. And like the Steam Controller, the power management on the device is so good that I have not had to replace the battery even after a few weeks of regular use. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061526_S109.jpg) Double AAs baby. Ergonomically, the focus is on the sticks more than D-pad or the face buttons, which is the correct call for VR, and the controllers do a solid job at being very usable for everything while not being the best for traditional games. When used in the SteamOS, you can not only see the controller in physical space, but the buttons will move when depressed. When the device was first announced I was a little bummed out because the Index controller had bands that hugged your hand and the whole thing was designed around articulated finger control, but Valve anticipated this and sells an optional strap as part of the ergonomic kit that lets the device function in a similar way. You can also currently connect any controller to the device, including the Steam Controller, and Valve says that a feature that allows the Steam Controller to be seen in VR like the Frame Controller is going to be added later. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061517_S065-1.jpg) The cameras on the device responsible for the tracking. The mouse click button is surprisingly useful in a pinch, and the oblong shape meant I did not accidentally click power often. Like much of Valve’s hardware, it’s hard not to be impressed by many of the choices and considerations. Buttons on the front are straightforward, there’s volume buttons on the side and a dial for adjusting lens distance as well as an internal lock to prevent that setting from drifting. A button above the power button on the right side of the headset enables functions like a mouse click, a surprisingly handy feature if your controller isn’t nearby and you just need to navigate the UI quickly. The Frame does not have standalone controllerless hand tracking, although a representative for Valve told me that they’re interested in it and fully believe the hardware to be capable of it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IDG_20260906_180713_140.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7025.jpg) Inside the battery pack. The front padding of the eye piece is magnetic and snaps off easily for removal, and the Frame includes an additional magnetic spacer for people with glasses. As with the Quest, Zenni Optical sells prescription lenses for the device. The entire strap and enclosure of the device itself and the front compute module are also modular, locked in with three tabs. The modularity leaves the door open for improvements in straps or upgrades to the core device in the future. That modularity is one of the best impulses of the device, and given how robust the aftermarket for Quest accessories is, I could see it being a real high point. I wish that some of that modularity extended to the battery, which can technically be opened up by removing the Velcro pad and opening the back with Torx screws, but it seems trickier to service than the Steam Controller. When I asked Valve about user replacement of the battery, they noted that they are working with a partner to offer replacement parts but had no other details to share at this time. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/frame_parts.jpg) The modular nature of the device opens up a lot of potential possibilities for alternate straps. The Valve Index’s audio, both the speakers and array mic, were some of its standout features at the time. The set used two directional BMR drivers hovered over your ears to project crisp, clear sound that didn’t isolate the player or make them claustrophobic. The Index was so good at isolating sound that it would occasionally be copied and replicated in DIY setups, as well as products like the [Logitech Chorus](https://www.logitech.com/en-us/shop/p/chorus-for-meta-quest-2?ref=aftermath.site) and the HP Reverb V2\. The Frame’s audio, while good, cannot match the range of those dedicated drivers. This is to be expected, as the Frame is trading the Index’s driver performance for less weight and a simpler experience. The result is a sound with clear highs and mids but a far less robust low end, although how Valve deals with spatial audio works wonderfully. In an interview, Valve engineer Jeff Leinbaugh did imply that they were exploring the idea of bringing back that original floating driver design with a strap upgrade, a potential benefit of the modular nature of the device. The Frame's mic is stellar, like the Index's. The one part of the Frame I do get a little bummed out about is the displays themselves. Though the pancake lenses are quite nice and give a wide and sharp field of view, they are LCD, and unfortunately we live in a world saturated with OLEDs and QLEDs with inky black levels. I fully understand why Valve went this route — this headset took a while to design, and it seems hard enough to hit a reasonable price point as is while getting something that can do a high refresh rate (120hz with support for an experimental 144hz mode). Micro OLEDs have traditionally come with tradeoffs, and that the technology may not have been there for Valve during production. I just hope that any potential Frame successor also could include a refresh of the display tech. The Steam Frame is not the most advanced VR headset on every front, but the choices Valve made put it in an attractive sweet spot relative to its competition. The PSVR2, Bigscreen Beyond 2, and Apple Vision Pro have OLED displays capable of more aggressively black levels. The Quest and the Vision Pro have color passthrough by default compared to the monochrome of the Frame. The Beyond 2 is technically lighter, although having worn both side by side it’s not as big a difference as you’d think. But each of those devices also comes with compromises. The Quest 3 is cheaper but lacks foveated streaming and is a closed ecosystem run by Mark Zuckerberg. The Vision Pro basically doesn’t have games, costs $3499, and weighs twice as much as the Frame. The Bigscreen Beyond 2 is PCVR only, caps out at 90hz, requires Valve’s own Index Lighthouses to track properly, and requires you to be wired into the device. The PSVR2 has nice OLEDs, but fresnel lenses. And no other headset does wireless streaming as well and seamlessly as the Frame. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/sd_card.jpg) The microSD card reader makes the base model much more attractive for people that only plan on streaming games from the PC. Valve originally intended the Frame to be less expensive than the Index had been at launch, but instead it has arrived slightly above it for the base model. Unfortunately, 16 gigs of RAM (double that of the Quest 3) is not cheap right now. When I spoke to representatives of Valve, engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais confirmed to me that the Frame went through a similar price increase as the Steam Machine due to the increasing prices of RAM and flash memory. Like the Steam Machine, I could imagine this as a no-brainer for tons of people at a lower price, but I do think the shock of the Steam Machine wearing off, coupled with the fact that the device is pitched to a smaller and more dedicated market, makes the entire value proposition slightly more palatable. Also, like the Steam Machine and Deck, the inclusion of a microSD card reader is a godsend for people who might want to save money on the entry level version of the device. ## **Virtual Environment** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7189.JPG) Finally an adult computer. When the Apple Vision Pro launched, Apple leaned heavily on the idea that you would spend a significant amount of time doing work in it. This was always a tremendously bad idea for a device that weighed 800g distributed in the front, but also because the device itself did nothing compelling that a laptop could not do more comfortably for a third of the price. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7187.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7188.JPG) The UI is quite nice in practice and you can use the streaming feature to remote desktop. Bizarrely, however, the Steam Frame’s status as a normal-ass computer is far more interesting in practice than I had originally assumed. SteamOS in VR presents as a floating version of gaming mode with a task bar underneath it. If you want to access a browser window or desktop and install apps, a Linux desktop is there for you. Apps you use with any regularity from that desktop will populate a dropdown menu automatically. Individual windows can be snapped off from the main taskbar, attached to your hands, and stretched. If you are someone who loves gaming while having a browser window open in a second monitor, imagine that but you’re able to make the monitor the size of a movie theater screen. The same streaming used for games can also be utilized to remotely view a desktop on your PC, and while I wouldn’t want to edit Highlight Reel in there full time, I did for half of an episode. This type of environment is not unique to the Frame, but the particular way the Frame implements its UI feels more like an adult computer than a big cellphone, and Valve representatives in my interview indicated that some of the UI improvements on the Frame might make their way into Steam generally. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7191.JPG) Playing **Balatro* on a big ass screen with pointer controls while an NTS window floats in space. If you’re like me and you’re a pervert who tweaks his wifi APs to maximize your performance, the Frame excels as a device to stream non-VR games from a primary computer. This may seem slightly redundant if you own a handheld, but being able to have a convincing, fake giant display on-demand when you can’t use a TV can be useful if you’re in a relationship. I even kinda see the appeal of watching movies this way while traveling in a pinch. I found myself using it more and more to play *Star Wars Zero Company* than I ever imagined possible. Non-VR gaming on the device itself also kicks a frankly startling amount of ass. While a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 isn’t going to be groundbreaking when it comes to performance, I was pleased at the number of PC titles meant to run on x86 in Windows that I was playing with little compromise on an ARM-based Linux VR headset. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7182.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7183.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7184.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7115.JPG) **Mouthwashing, Mina the Hollower, Fallout: New Vegas* and **Cruelty Squad* all launched despite not being approved. As with the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine, Valve has clear indicators on what games run well on the hardware. Many indie games that are not Frame-approved, like *Neon White*, *Pizza Tower*, and *Devil Daggers* worked without a hitch for me. Others didn’t or ran with issues, but that’s to be expected given what the Frame is doing under the hood. *Fallout: New Vegas* ran without a hitch. *Balatro*, *Funni Racoon Game*, and *Hades II* all have official Steam Frame support and mostly run fairly well (minus some hiccoughing in *Racoon Game*), and I’m kinda surprised how much I enjoyed playing *Balatro* on a giant imaginary screen using pointers while a 100” YouTube window hovered to my right. And while game compatibility is still a work in progress, we have a good rough ballpark of what the device can handle based on how similar chips perform elsewhere. The Frame also ships with *Half Life: Alyx*, the greatest single narrative VR game ever made, even now. This works wonderfully streamed from a PC as it was originally intended, but Valve has somehow also managed to fit that experience on the device itself without changing the geometry of the assets. Frankly I’m impressed that they got it to work on the Frame at all. “The *Alyx* team has done a ton of software work to make stand-alone play possible,” a representative for Valve told me via email, “including support for foveated rendering, adding new Vulkan features, numerous graphics driver optimizations, and improvements to depth reprojection. Of note, many of these improvements (including reprojection, driver fixes, and driver optimizations) apply to other games on Frame.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7177.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7176.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7174-1.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7175-1.JPG) On-device (Left side) vs. Streamed (Right). The tricks required to get it to run on-device are not a fully seamless experience yet, but what it could mean in the future is quite interesting. While it definitely works, the beta version is not without tradeoffs. Hands and objects felt a bit jittery despite the environment feeling smooth. The dropoff in the foveated rendering is noticeable in your peripheral vision. It is not the ideal experience, but as a proof-of-concept of how much full fat PC gaming they can theoretically squeeze out of a cellphone SoC through two layers of translation it’s impressive, and I am curious what else they can manage with further optimizations. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7181.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7180.JPG) God this game is good. With the wireless dongle on PC, however, *Alyx* sings. I had absolutely no tracking problems with it in my space aside from the occasional VR collision and my girlfriend sneaking up on me to scare me by touching my ear. The field of view is wide and sharp, the streaming tech was seamless when I used it, and tracking did what it says on the can. With the ergonomic straps, finger control worked well, as the Frame’s controllers do support digits. If your goal is to play PC games without wires, you won’t find a more seamless and enjoyable experience. Other wireless games work equally well. Launching at the same time as the Steam Frame is *ANB\_Seth’s Gunman Contracts “Stand Alone,”* a game that started its life as the *Gunman Contracts* mod for *Alyx*. Made by a lone developer, you play a contract killer who hunts down criminals in a spectacularly vicious gun simulator. The plot itself is a tad threadbare and the banter between you and your dispatcher is corny, but that’s in keeping with its *Hitman* by way of Chad Stahelski roots. Though the game is in Early Access and I encountered occasional audio and collision glitches, once I dialed in my *Alyx* movement settings and got to the missions I did enjoy it quite a bit. It is both disquietingly violent and vaguely reactionary in the way that tacticool culture downwind of *John Wick* tends to be, while also accurately simulating how sick it would be to duel wield an uzi and a pistol and blind fire them down opposite directions of a hallway at a bunch of Russian gangsters in bullet time. If politicians in the 2000s saw this game they’d have hearings. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/IMG_7194.JPG) /. Seated streaming gaming works equally wonderfully. *Beat Saber* is still *Beat Saber* both on and off the device. The remake of *Riven* is fantastic in VR. *Assetto Corsa EVO* is so vivid that it made me seriously consider spending several hundred dollars on a wheel despite having no desire to own a car. The official multiplayer in *Star Wars: Squadrons* is functionally dead save for whatever custom servers people have going, but it still hits hard. *Project Wingman*, the only game to ever touch *Ace Combat* and a miracle of small indie development, has a fantastic VR mode, and on the Frame it was so transcendent that I got legitimately emotional for reasons that my colleague Jacob Geller is better at articulating. While wearing that headset, I was metal and beautiful and unconcerned with human concepts like gravity. Shoutout to Jacob. Being a plane rocks. As with the Steam Machine, the Steam Frame feels like a moving target sometimes. Certain features were not present during review, like the ability to use the wireless dongle with a Linux machine or the ability to use a regular gamepad paired to the device while streaming from a PC (although a controller connected directly to the PC you’re streaming to works fine). Valve says they’re working on getting that specific game pad input working before the device ships and Linux dongle support after launch. ## Add-Ons ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/camera_front.jpg) The (optional) Arcturus Vision camera One of the biggest initial critiques against the Steam Frame when it was first announced was its passthrough cameras, which are not full color like on the Quest or the Vision Pro. When you boot up the stock Steam Frame, your environment via its passthrough camera appears in a functional, blueish haze: enough to navigate around the world and identify people and objects but not enough to seriously interact with it (For example: you absolutely cannot read a phone). For many people this will be enough for their use case of the device. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061516_S059-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/cam_1.jpg) But for those who really need full color passthrough, Valve and the company that helped produce the tracking system for the Frame, Arcturus Vision, sell an upgraded camera. The Arcturus Vision Camera costs $149 and features two 36 megapixel Sony sensors, and can do full 5k streaming at 10-bit HDR (with the caveat that the displays on the device cannot handle that full range). This stands in contrast to the Apple Vision Pro, which maxes out at 6.5 megapixels, and the Quest 3\. With this camera, recording full stereoscopic video is possible, as is color passthrough. They also included a cue on the camera that indicates that you’re recording, similar to the Meta Ray-Bans, although using the Steam Frame in public does not have the same concerns about clandestine recording as Meta’s Ray-Bans. The two lenses on the camera are small sensors usually used for selfie cameras. The upgraded camera plugs in directly through the expansion port at the bridge of the nose of the camera. Overall the passthrough image is functional, although noise depends on your ambient lighting conditions and can be a bit grainy in the kind of lighting you normally have in your house, so don’t expect miracles. In dedicated recordings, however, the image is sharp and bright, so if you have any interest in augmented reality, stereoscopic recording or just having a color passthrough, the upgrade is a no brainer. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/2026-09-07_01-30-12_stereo-00.00.09.115.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/2026-09-14_11-19-49_stereo-00.00.23.176.png) The camera quality itself is quite nice. Arcturus Vision ships with two pieces of software, one for stereoscopic recording and playback, and another for playback of what are known as “Gaussian Splats.” The recording software is fairly straightforward and can be configured to transfer to a companion app on either Mac or PC. “Gaussian Splats” are a form of volumetric rendering and still fairly new, and the viewer lets you plop directly into a scene captured that way. Currently the software does not ship with a pipeline for turning the footage you get into something usable, although multiple open source workflows (like COLMAP and LichtFeld Studio) can be used to construct a space. In my version, the app came with several Splats of the Arcturus CEO’s house in the process of construction. It is terrifying to suddenly be transported into another man’s living room, and then to slowly see volumetric snapshots of that house over the years before it was completed. The center of that space is vivid and clear, and you can bend down and see dogs sleeping. The further you pull away, the murkier it gets, eventually dissolving into a mist of brush strokes. It is like living in another person’s memory. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/A005_07061645_S157-1.jpg) The ergonomic kit features a top strap (right) similar to the Index's, an adapter for people with smaller noses, and wraparound grips for the controllers that make digit articulation similar to the Index. Valve also offers a few other upgrades. There is an ergonomic kit at $59 USD, which provides the ergonomic hand straps that make the controllers a bit closer to the Index, a head strap for more dialed-in support on the top of the head, and an alternate nose bridge for people with small noses. I found that, despite not having a small nose, I actually did benefit from the improved light seal (although everyone’s face is different). The added strap made the device feel closer to a pair of night vision goggles and allowed a slightly looser fit on the sides, although I found it worked well both with and without the added strap. As with most headsets, you can also order prescription frames for the device. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Fex-textlogo_full.png) One reason that all these retro handhelds can suddenly play PC games. ## The Future Is FEX All of what I’ve said today may be of little or no consequence to you. VR is not for everyone, and so you may have no use case for an admittedly nice and slightly premium VR headset that plays PC games two ways. But the steps needed to get to the point where the device can actually play PC games on device is as important, if not more important, than the device itself. [Steam Machine today, Steam Phones tomorrowThe Steam Frame is a Trojan horse carrying Arm’s gaming future.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/android-chrome-512x512-339038e9-88e7-4aba-9f96-6cfdb0239a15.png)The VergeSean Hollister![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/258049_Valve_2025_EverythingTimeStudio_0008-6e61abce-ad7c-404a-9f91-90b26f8bd43f.jpg)](https://www.theverge.com/report/820656/valve-interview-arm-gaming-steamos-pierre-loup-griffais?ref=aftermath.site) For the last several years Valve has been funding a project called FEX, a compatibility layer that lets ARM chips (the kind found in cellphones, Android devices and Apple Silicon Macs) run programs originally intended for x86-64 hardware (think PCs, consoles, and bigger handhelds like the Steam Deck). Despite being able to stream from a PC, the Steam Frame has an ARM-based Snapdragon processor on it normally found in high end smartphones. Retro Game Corps has a good piece on the current state of Armada, a linux distro for ARM that uses FEX. Projects like Gamenative also use FEX. Making the Windows games already on your PC library run on Linux on ARM is a tricky proposition, but Valve has paid talented people to put in the work on the problem. The Frame existing as both a streaming headset and a standalone device makes it the perfect testbed for working out the kinks of FEX in public, like the Steam Deck and Steam Machine have done with Proton and SteamOS in both handheld and living room settings respectively. Valve's family of devices is not simply about their individual use cases; they are open source R&D projects for extending what both PC gaming and Linux can be to the greatest number of situations possible. And in addition to FEX, Valve has also introduced Lepton, their own software similar to Waydroid that helps Android apps (like many existing VR games for the Quest) work easily on the Frame. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/image.png) Credit: [Jiikae](https://bsky.app/profile/jiikae.com/post/3mv635anlgk27?ref=aftermath.site) on Bluesky ARM-based PC gaming is neither abstract nor limited to the Frame; it’s real and already here in an early form on the most exciting and growing category of devices: retro gaming handhelds. What were once niche AliExpress devices devoted exclusively to running emulators have evolved in complexity and power to handle increasingly demanding and modern titles. High end handhelds like the Retroid Pocket 6 and the AYN Thor have enough horsepower to handle many of the top indie games on Steam. Software that lets Windows games run on Android GameNative, Gamehub and Winlator have taken big strides, and now dedicated versions of Linux like ROCKNIX and Armada have started becoming more popular on these handhelds. FEX as a project directly helps open source projects like these, and as this category of niche devices grows so too does the number of devices running Steam natively. Given that hardware has gotten so much more expensive, a situation that shows little sign of improving, any push to open the frontier of the most affordable and portable devices on the market, and potentially even cell phones, is a smart one. It’s Snapdragons all the way down. ## The Frame The Steam Frame is not for everyone; I’d argue VR isn’t generally. But despite taking far longer than it should have to materialize and costing more than I’d like, the Steam Frame is one of the most exciting pieces of hardware I’ve seen in the space in years, one that gave me that same feeling of optimism that the Index did so years ago. The Frame builds on the work done by its competitors in the years since the Index and solves so many friction points I’d had to actually engaging with VR as a medium at all. It is a device that is doing massive amounts of hard work to unify several different use cases into a single open platform, and, despite its individual parts being less novel, that unity is game changing. It is hardware whose importance may ultimately eclipse its remit, one with potentially massive consequences for PC gaming, but on its own terms it hits the sweet spot that I've yearned for so much from a successor. I only pray we do not have to wait another seven years for more. **UPDATE 9/14/2026: Slight tweak to clarify the duration of the battery.** ### Blizzard Announcing Games For 2029 And 2030 Seems Nuts URL: https://aftermath.site/blizzard-announce-new-diablo-v-starcraft-fps/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T15:05:38.000Z Amid[ a bunch of news coming out of Blizzcon over the weekend](https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/24301453/everything-announced-at-blizzcon-2026-opening-ceremony?ref=aftermath.site), two items stood out: firstly, *Diablo V* is coming, and in what's probably the biggest announcement for a Blizzard game since *Overwatch's* original reveal, *Starcraft* is getting an open-world shooter. While these will have some long-time fans excited as concepts, both are tempered by the fact that neither game is coming out this holiday season. Or the next. Or the *next*. Indeed *Diablo V* has a planned release for 2029, while the *Starcraft* shooter--at this point confusingly called just *Starcraft*\--was announced for *2030*. That seems like an awfully long time away from September 2026 to be announcing big video games. A lot can happen between now and then. Think back to 2022, for example; could you have imagined the depths the entire video game industry would have sunk to just four years later? The[ radical changes taking place from top to bottom](https://aftermath.site/fallout-5-bethesda-xbox-layoffs/), impacting[ the platforms we play on and the publishers releasing major games like this](https://aftermath.site/playstation-discs-response/)? The [emergence of a boycott of Microsoft’s products over its support for Israel’s genocide in Palestine](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/)? Probably not! And that's because things feel like they're falling apart quicker by the day; water circles the drain faster the closer it gets to the end, after all. [Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Gushes About Elder Scrolls VI, Does Not Seem To Notice Giant Rat On Bethesda Office LawnPlease clap (instead of talking about layoffs)![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-170a8c85-e733-409f-8190-df5efedba2ae.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/20260811_095802-f9366958-ab02-424f-82e4-b36c4a5e7a52.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/xbox-asha-sharma-elder-scrolls-vi-bethesda-giant-rat/) Microsoft might not own Blizzard by then. Somebody else might, or they could be independent, who knows! There might not be a Blizzard by then. There might not be an Xbox by then. Even putting the collapse of the Western AAA industry to one side--and that's a big side--a lot can happen during the development of a video game in 3-4 years’ time. It could pivot, or [stuff that looked good on paper might not work as intended within its wider context](https://aftermath.site/civilization-vii-review/). Its story could change. It could get delayed. It could get cancelled. The decision to announce both these games so early and so publicly is just so weird, because so much can go wrong (or even change) between now and then, especially when you consider that another Xbox-owned studio, Bethesda, is an existing case study in making the same mistake already.[ *The Elder Scrolls VI*](https://aftermath.site/xbox-asha-sharma-elder-scrolls-vi-bethesda-giant-rat/) was first announced *eight years ago*, and is nowhere near being ready, leaving fans in the kind of state that has Todd Howard asking them to "[pretend we didn't announce it](https://www.ign.com/articles/the-elder-scrolls-6-has-made-todd-howard-more-conscious-of-what-he-announces-just-pretend-we-didnt-announce-it?ref=aftermath.site)". 🎞️ Blizzard GM Dan Hay [told GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-explains-why-the-starcraft-shooter-coming-in-2030-was-announced-now/?utm%5Fsource=dlvr.it&utm%5Fmedium=bluesky) the reason they announced **Starcraft* so far out--with a cinematic trailer, and no gameplay footage or screenshots--was "We’ve been working on it for a little bit now, and we feel like we’ve got something that we wanted to show". Blizzard president Johanna Faries, meanwhile, [told Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-09-12/blizzard-announces-diablo-v-new-starcraft-shooter?ref=aftermath.site) "We're a Blizzard that's going to ship, and ship big, and ship on time, and all hands on deck to set those projects up for success." Then again, maybe that "Microsoft-owned" part is the key here.[ As Xbox tries desperately to remind the market that they once developed good video games](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs/), what better way to get one of their biggest companies to help pander to the core (and make a statement of intent) than to announce both a new *Starcraft* and *Diablo* game? Even if all they're announcing is a hope that, one day, one or both of these games is actually released! ### I Guess Mods Are Something That *Checks Notes* IKEA And Breaking Benjamin Are Into Now URL: https://aftermath.site/breaking-benjamin-ikea-fallout-skyrim-mods/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T18:51:21.000Z For no clear reason beyond cosmic coincidence, mods—you know, the ones hyper-dedicated nerds (complimentary) create mostly for PC games—have broken containment this week. Twice. I know games are part of mainstream culture now, but there’s still something whiplash-inducing about seeing two of the world’s most disparate strange bedfellows, butt rock legends Breaking Benjamin and Swedish hell maze IKEA, both get into modding. Maybe it’s the fact that mods remain a relatively niche pursuit in the grand scheme of things. Or maybe it’s because, in both cases, the institutions-turned-modders were not fucking around. > [Local Man Benjamin Burnley interrupts a Breaking Benjamin concert with a rant about his True First Person 1.2 Fallout 4 mod](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/1w9vfue/local%5Fman%5Fbenjamin%5Fburnley%5Finterrupts%5Fa%5Fbreaking/?ref=aftermath.site) > by [u/im\_all\_ears](https://www.reddit.com/user/im%5Fall%5Fears/?ref=aftermath.site) in [Fallout](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/?ref=aftermath.site) As spotted by [PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/breaking-benjamin-frontman-pauses-concert-to-rant-about-fallout-4-modding-beef-there-was-a-modder-in-the-community-that-was-really-mean-to-me/?ref=aftermath.site), the whole Breaking Benjamin incident is truly phenomenal—in large part because it took place on stage, in the middle of a rock show. The band’s frontman, Benjamin Burnley, decided to air out some *Fallout 4* mod drama for all the world to see: > "There was a modder in the community that was really mean to me and bullying me, saying, 'Oh, your mod is shit. You don't know what you're fucking doing,'" said Burnley. "So I'm doing this every fucking night, and blowing his fucking downloads out of the water." > That was a mere two minutes into the four-and-a-half minute rant. Someone behind the scenes at the venue even joined in, putting the mod's details up on screens. > "Even if you fuckin' don't play that game, go and download it. It's on Nexus Mods," said Burnley. "Tomorrow I better see all my motherfuckin' downloads going up." > … > "When you post a mod, you're supposed to be able to grow and learn and make it better," Burnley said. "And right off the bat, this fucking asshole was shitting on my mod." Philosophically speaking, he’s not wrong! However, his [“True First Person” mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/108335?tab=posts&BH=6&ref=aftermath.site)—which has now been viewed by nearly 70,000 people on Nexus Mods—is tagged as “AI assisted,” meaning it was likely vibe coded. So maybe Burnley’s bully was right? IKEA’s mod also builds on a Bethesda game—*Skyrim* instead of *Fallout 4*—and somehow involves an even more famous person: Matt Berry of *What We Do In The Shadows*, *Garth Marenghi's Darkplace*, and countless other comedies (as well as his own music career that I only just now learned about on Wikipedia). In it, Berry [plays a talking “Kallax” shelf with a full quest line](https://creations.bethesda.net/en/skyrim/details/bb2fbdf4-239e-4945-b69a-a5560fcf5b86/KALLAX%5FSTORAGEBORN?ref=aftermath.site) that’s triggered by the player becoming overencumbered. Yes, it’s an elaborate marketing scheme, but you’ve gotta admire the commitment. "I am a bulwark against encumbrance,” the shelf explains in Berry’s characteristic bellow after being assembled. “A champion of categorization! I am a practical storage solution of epic proportions! And also, I'm a shelving unit." There is, remarkably, way more where that came from. Speaking of origins, both of these odd mod stories do make a certain kind of sense. Berry’s already inextricably tied to another Bethesda property—*Fallout*, the TV show of which sees him [voice a Mr Handy robot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LghsLs3DYUs&ref=aftermath.site)—and real old heads will remember that Breaking Benjamin [contributed a song to the *Halo 2* soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePLDO68lcA4&ref=aftermath.site). Like Burnley’s *Fallout* mod, it was fine. ## Recommended [The Painstaking Process Of Adding Rideable Horses To Fallout: New Vegas - Aftermath“I keep rewriting code over and over again, looking for that ‘OK, this feels close enough’ moment”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-fa2df284-9ab9-4ecf-8954-5fefd34120c2.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/fallouthorse2-3-ac067ac3-6c86-4f2a-93a1-10ea586b95df.gif)](https://aftermath.site/fallout-new-vegas-horse-mod-interview/) ### If Hideo Kojima Games Aren't Safe, No Games Are Safe [Update] URL: https://aftermath.site/hideo-kojima-productions-pt-xbox-playstation/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T18:51:41.000Z Some surprising news broke yesterday when it was announced that *Physint*, the next game from Kojima Productions, was being dropped by PlayStation Studios, only for[ Xbox to step in and sign it instead](https://kotaku.com/xbox-swoops-in-to-save-kojimas-stealth-action-game-physint-after-playstation-tried-to-cancel-it-2000732992?ref=aftermath.site). The news was first announced by a tweet from PlayStation: > An update from PlayStation Studios: After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS on its project PHYSINT. We continue to have great admiration for Hideo Kojima's vision for the game. > > Our relationship… > > — PlayStation (@PlayStation) [September 10, 2026](https://x.com/PlayStation/status/2097875212427735146?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) It's odd that PlayStation Studios would make a decision like that, given the success Kojima's games have always had on their platforms (for a while there *Metal Gear* was very much a PlayStation thing, and PlayStation either published or had a hand in publishing both *Death Stranding* games). It’s even odder that, of all the companies out there who could swoop in to publish *Physint* instead, it would be the embattled Xbox ([already working with Kojima on *OD*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OD%5F%28video%5Fgame%29?ref=aftermath.site)), which followed Sony’s post a minute later with their own announcement: > PHYSINT and OD! Proud to build both with [@HIDEO\_KOJIMA\_EN](https://x.com/HIDEO%5FKOJIMA%5FEN?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) in Japan. A big moment for XBOX. [pic.twitter.com/X3JG0lIB9F](https://t.co/X3JG0lIB9F?ref=aftermath.site) > > — ASHA (@asha\_shar) [September 10, 2026](https://x.com/asha%5Fshar/status/2097875597590659271?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) After which Kojima [added his own statement](https://x.com/HIDEO%5FKOJIMA%5FEN/status/2097877506401681753?ref=aftermath.site), which added a little more context: > As confirmed earlier through our official channels, in mid-June of this year, we unexpectedly received notice from PlayStation Studios that they would cancel the PHYSINT project. PHYSINT is an important project both to me personally and to KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS. Determined to keep the project alive, we have spent the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner. In the course of seeking advice and pursuing negotiations with people across many fields, we found in XBOX a partner with whom we share a common vision for the future, and we have decided to team up with them once again. Please rest assured that development of PHYSINT, our genre-defining action-espionage title, is ongoing and will continue moving forward. What's most striking to me here is that this is not (broadly) the first time something like this has happened to Hideo Kojima. The *Metal Gear* creator[ famously split with Konami](https://www.polygon.com/2015/12/16/10220356/hideo-kojima-konami-explainer-metal-gear-solid-silent-hills/?ref=aftermath.site) after "gag orders, vague statements...and insults to Kojima's legacy", a break-up that killed off the mainline *Metal Gear Solid* series and sunk cult classic horror demo *PT* (and the *Silent Hill* game it was promoting)as collateral damage along with it. And while there's nothing to suggest this move by PlayStation is acrimonious--Sony's cordial "we continue to have great admiration" statement suggests otherwise--I just find it extremely weird that for whatever reason a major publisher has once again found a way to *not* publish a Hideo Kojima video game, surely one of the safest bets in the entire industry. Like, what is going on here? Not to revisit old news, but couldn't Konami have just buried whatever personal beef they had with the man to keep making millions of dollars on a regular schedule? And what possible reason could Sony have to offload *Physint*, outside of the fact[ everything](https://aftermath.site/sony-court-digital-ownership-playstation/) that[ company](https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-playstation-performance-reviews/) has[ done](https://aftermath.site/sony-buys-remake-studio-shuts-them-down-and-lays-off-70-workers-without-releasing-a-remake/) in 2026 has been a colossal disaster? Was there no long tail to its revenue? Was it[ not live-service enough](https://kotaku.com/live-service-games-have-proven-a-near-impossible-nut-for-sony-to-crack-but-the-ps5-maker-isnt-giving-up-2000711049?ref=aftermath.site)? I get that the circumstances are entirely different here than with Konami, but the fact the end result--a major publisher turning down money--is the same has really got to me. If you ever needed a reminder that these are tumultuous times for the *entire* industry, look no further than one of the planet's three console manufacturers dumping a Hideo Kojima video game! **Update September 11, 11pm**: Bloomberg's Jason Schreier [has published a follow-up story](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-11/hideo-kojima-s-physint-video-game-dropped-by-playstation-goes-to-xbox?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4OTEzMzY2NSwiZXhwIjoxNzg5NzM4NDY1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTDdDOVdLSVVQVEIwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.fyrTke3aUIkJk3LwiBfR7JiNr0phfE51dlEql1RcXZ4&leadSource=article-gifting&ref=aftermath.site), reporting: > Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation pulled out of an upcoming game by the well-known designer Hideo Kojima because of concerns over budget, potential profitability and exclusivity, according to people familiar with the project. > > One major factor behind the decision was the commercial performance of Kojima’s previous two games, *Death Stranding* and its sequel, which didn’t meet PlayStation’s revenue expectations. I stand by my points! [PlayStation's expectations are what they are](https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-playstation-performance-reviews/), and even if the 'commercial performance' of his games don't bring in *hundreds* of millions of dollars, I think having those games on your platform are worth more overall than whatever this latest disastrous news cycle has cost PlayStation down the road. [OK, Hideo Kojima, You Finally Got MeDeath Stranding 2 is a very unexpected (for me) masterpiece![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-8a1ac8f1-aa7d-4d43-8465-ec4b0a700de3.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/20260412112314_1-b87b89d9-99de-4cee-b430-078f207db40a.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/death-stranding-2-review/) ### GOP Posts Hasan Piker’s Hog At The Republican National Convention URL: https://aftermath.site/rnc-hasan-piker-meat-pic-thirst-trap/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T15:13:21.000Z For reasons I do not completely understand, one of Hasan Piker’s many thirst traps was displayed as part of a sizzle reel meant to hype up the crowd at the Republican National Convention Midterm Convention currently taking place at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The image was shown during the portion of the sizzle reel depicting the dangers of socialism, after footage of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and images of people waving communist flags. The intended message is clear: Hasan Piker is a dangerous, communist threat. But I am not really sure that depicting your enemy as extremely fuckable is a wise strategy. I have already seen this picture, which [shows Piker flexing in the mirror wearing just his underwear](https://www.instagram.com/p/DC2YTm9Tcnn/?ref=aftermath.site), because I follow his Instagram where I am bombarded with such images quite regularly. The image in question was posted in November 2024–but also, this is a person whose Instagram stories frequently include a picture of his armpit. The one difference in the image as shown on Instagram and the one shown at the RNC is that, for some reason, they blurred out Piker’s underwear. Piker, who had been watching and reacting to the convention on a livestream, said, “my hog has never been so tall.” During this livestream Piker said that he wasn’t embarrassed by this at all because it is the best he’s looked in years. “‘My meat pic will be shown at the Republican Convention in the midterms’ is like a joke I would come up with,” he said. ### Nintendo Will Give Buyers A 30% Off Sale, But No Tariff Relief Money URL: https://aftermath.site/nintendo-customer-appreciation-sale-tariff-relief/ Last updated: 2026-09-14T15:13:13.000Z Nintendo isn't giving back any tariff relief money it received from the United States government, if it has its way in court. But it is, [the company announced today](https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/adventure-awaits-nintendo-of-america-announces-customer-appreciation-sale/?ref=aftermath.site), having a sale it's calling the Customer Appreciation Sale, brought to you "in part by tariff-related refunds." You won't get any money back from Nintendo's tariff-fueled price increase, but you could just buy more stuff—just 30% cheaper. [Nintendo sued the U.S. government](https://aftermath.site/nintendo-tariffs-sue/) earlier this year looking for tariff refunds. That was shortly before the government was ordered, in a different case, to give back the inflated taxes it charged companies; the Supreme Court found that the tariffs were illegal. Since then, various companies have received billions of dollars back in refund money. Fedex, for instance, is [passing that back to customers](https://ieepa-refunds.fedex.com/?ref=aftermath.site). But other companies, which include Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, are not. Several different people have filed lawsuits against all of these companies to ask the courts to force them to pay out. How much did Nintendo receive back from the government? [The company reported in a 2026](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2026/260806%5F2e.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) earnings document it got a $300 million return. It said at the time that "tariffs related to the refunds were primarily borne by the company rather than passed on to consumers through product prices." Net sales were down by 9.5%, Nintendo reported, but its operating profits grew by 150.5%. Nintendo reiterated that it bore the brunt of the tariffs in its sale announcement: "While Nintendo absorbed most tariff-related costs, the refunds helped make promotions like this one possible." Two Nintendo customers sued the company in April, arguing that buyers should get some money back. Nintendo, in subsequent filings, [said it had no obligation to do so](https://aftermath.site/xbox-microsoft-nintendo-tariff-refund-lawsuit/), and asked the court to dismiss the case, which is a proposed class action. Since Nintendo's motion to dismiss, one original plaintiff voluntarily dismissed his own individual claims; the next step is whether this becomes a class action lawsuit or not. [Response online is mixed](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/1wcj5nr/adventure%5Fawaits%5Fnintendo%5Fof%5Famerica%5Fannounces/?ref=aftermath.site). A lot of people are happy to see Nintendo games go on sale; it doesn't happen all too often. There's some surprise at the transparency of the statement—that it's related to the refund. And others are disappointed that Nintendo's only response, besides saying it has no obligation to refund money, is a sale in which buyers must spend more money. As for the sale, Nintendo hasn't said what will be included, save that it'll be 30% off "Nintendo Switch digital games and bundles, plus savings on select physical games, downloadable content, accessories, amiibo, and apparel." This sale will run from Sept. 13 to Sept. 26 in both the Nintendo eShop and Nintendo Store, as well as some physical stores. ### Fired Rockstar Games Workers Rally As Employment Tribunal Begins URL: https://aftermath.site/fired-rockstar-games-workers-rally-employment-tribunal/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T17:04:10.000Z A group of fired Rockstar Games workers rallied at the Glasgow Tribunal Center in Glasgow as their hearing began. Rockstar Games and the 31 laid off employees, represented by the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, will appear in front of the tribunal over the firing, which the IWGB Union has called "unlawful." The hearing is expected to run until Oct. 16 [according to an IWGB Union news release](https://iwgb.org.uk/en/post/final-hearing-rockstar-iwgb/?ref=aftermath.site), a month short of *Grand Theft Auto 6*'s Nov. 19 release date. People gathered for the rally with IWGB flags and signs supporting the fired employees. "Say sorry, be nice! Reinstate your fired workers," one reads. That sign references an Easter egg from across Rockstar Games' video games, [including *Grand Theft Auto 6*](https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Say%5FSorry,%5FBe%5FNice!?file=GTAVI-Stock305-SaySorryBeNice.jpg&ref=aftermath.site). Former Rockstar Games programmer Rachel Crawford, who worked at the company for just under 10 years, gave a speech about being fired. "The modern workplace runs on fear," [she said in a video circulating on social media](https://bsky.app/profile/austinkelmore.com/post/3mv5o2dlxx22h?ref=aftermath.site). "Fear of speaking out, fear of being punished, fear of being fired, losing your livelihood, and even your home." > Closing out the rally, @nershly.bsky.social beautifully speaks about her experience being fired by Rockstar and how they try to use fear. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:m2wtiwhflzv7ijhem7gimqqz/post/3mv5o2dlxx22h?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Austin Kelmore ([@austinkelmore.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:m2wtiwhflzv7ijhem7gimqqz?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [September 10, 2026 at 4:46 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:m2wtiwhflzv7ijhem7gimqqz/post/3mv5o2dlxx22h?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) Thirty one workers [were fired in October 2025 for allegedly](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/iwgb-accuses-rockstar-of-union-busting-following-reported-dismissal-of-over-30-employees?ref=aftermath.site) "discussing confidential information in a public forum," Rockstar Games says. The [IWGB disputes](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-delay-union-protest-rockstar/) that; it argued that the workers were fired for attempting to unionize. The communication in a "public forum," it said, was just employees discussing unionization amongst each other in a private Discord server—not talking about the highly anticipated *Grand Theft Auto 6*. Later, [a Rockstar Games representative told Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-05/-grand-theft-auto-studio-says-fired-employees-were-leaking-information?ref=aftermath.site) that the layoff "was in no way related to people’s right to join a union or engage in union activities." The union filed its claims against Rockstar Games in November 2025, kicking off the process that began Thursday. Eventually, the union's concerns reached the U.K. Parliament, where two members of Parliament asked the prime minister to address the case and ensure Rockstar Games is following employment law. IWGB asked the tribunal for "interim relief" that would ensure the fired employees were paid during the process and that their work visas would remain valid. The Glasgow Employment Tribunal [rejected that request in January 2026](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-12/fired-rockstar-employees-denied-pay-by-uk-judge?ref=aftermath.site). Several months later, in May, Rockstar Games' U.K.-based employees [officially announced their union](https://aftermath.site/rockstar-games-workers-union-public-announcement/). The tribunal process continued [throughout preliminary hearings](https://iwgb.org.uk/en/post/rockstar-suffers-legal-setback-as-judge-rules-against-studio-in-union-busting-dispute-2/?ref=aftermath.site). Thursday's hearing is where both sides will make their official arguments. When the Glasgow Employment Tribunal reaches its decision, [it's likely to be published on the government website](https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions?ref=aftermath.site). "As the world prepares for the release of *GTA VI*, we are reliving the heartbreak of being thrown out of a project we poured so much of our lives into," [former Rockstar Games systems technical designer Jason Lewis said in a statement](https://iwgb.org.uk/en/post/final-hearing-rockstar-iwgb/?ref=aftermath.site). "We lost our jobs, our income, our community and the chance to see the game through to release after spending years helping to build it. It was devastating. "We have fought tooth and nail to get to this point, not just to be able to win justice for ourselves, but to draw a line in the sand for any employer that thinks it can attack workers for unionising. It has been an emotional journey and it is not over yet, but we can now see the finish line, and justice at last feels within reach." Rockstar Games did not immediately respond to Aftermath's request for comment. ### Former Game Awards Future Class Members Skeptical Of Geoff Keighley's Involvement With Grant Program For Game Devs URL: https://aftermath.site/future-class-nova-grant-keighley-cerny/ Last updated: 2026-09-11T18:10:25.000Z On Tuesday,[ Game File](https://www.gamefile.news/p/nova-games-foundation-mark-cerny-geoff-keighley?ref=aftermath.site) reported that The Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley and PlayStation architect Mark Cerny have launched the Nova Games Foundation, which will provide no-strings-attached grants to game design students to fund a game. For the program’s inaugural year, 20 designers will receive $100k grants, as well as mentorship, and some could receive an additional $500k. While anyone *giving* money to people making games–instead of taking it away in the form of slashed budgets, cancelled projects, and lost jobs–sounds like a good idea these days, the nature of the program, and Keighley’s participation, has some in the games industry uncertain whether the initiative will live up to its promises. [Nova Games Foundation](https://novagamesfoundation.org/?ref=aftermath.site) grants will only be available to students affiliated with 13 specific universities, including NYU and USC in America, as well as universities in Scotland, Australia, Germany, and France. Cerny and Keighley both put their own money into the Foundation, and hope to get additional contributions as it gets off the ground. Nova has hired an executive director and head of grants to run things, and has attached what Keighley calls “dozens of leading game directors” to lend their time to the project, including Hazelight’s Josef Fares. But many people seized on Keighley’s participation, especially in light of his previous efforts to support games industry workers via The Game Awards Future Class, a program that began in [2020](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/the-game-awards-announces-inaugural-future-class?ref=aftermath.site) and inducted its last class in 2023\. In 2023, Future Class leadership and participants clashed over [participants’ request that Keighley acknowledge Israel’s genocide in Gaza at that year's Awards](https://aftermath.site/one-week-and-2600-signatures-later-game-awards-havent-acknowledged-future-class-palestine-letter/), and subsequently over efforts by participants to [improve the program’s offerings](https://www.theguardian.com/games/2025/nov/11/future-class-gamings-oscars-game-awards?ref=aftermath.site). The experience has left some people leery of another Keighley-backed initiative. “A program like \[Nova\], with this much money going behind it, can’t hurt,” one Future Class participant, whom Aftermath is granting anonymity due to fear of career repercussions, told Aftermath. “I just hope the people in charge succeed with the ideas they’ve cultivated and subsequently get the flowers they deserve, because Keighley didn’t deserve the flowers he so eagerly picked up for his attempt at bettering the industry through Future Class.” "I hope… recipients of this program receive what they are promised, rather than becoming a cheap bit of good press for Mr. Keighley,” said another Future Class participant, whom Aftermath is granting anonymity over career concerns. Aftermath has reached out to the Nova Games Foundation for more information, but did not hear back in time for publication. ## **The Rise And Fall Of Future Class** Unlike Future Class’ broad focus on participants’ careers, Nova is focused on helping people make specific games. Game File wrote that Nova’s payments > will be delivered based on development milestones, and recipients will own their games. Nova will help promote the work, and developers will be free to pursue the publishers and platforms of their choice. Nova can help introduce fellows to publishers, but won’t take a cut. Keighley told Game File that the program is “philanthropy: we aren’t taking equity or looking to recoup the grants. The return we’re hoping for is creative—helping new voices make games and find their footing.” Naomi Clark, chair of participating school the NYU Game Center, told Aftermath that NYU faculty’s role will be to encourage students to apply and to write letters of recommendation for their applications. She told Aftermath that “I am excited for the potential of the Nova grants because they're quite different from other forms of recognition or funding. Unlike some programs to celebrate up-and-coming creative voices, the Nova grants are primarily about direct, material support in the form of seed money for a graduating student to kick off a new project.” “I'm hopeful that from across all these schools \[Nova will\] find twenty interesting, unusual, innovative or groundbreaking projects, and that twenty games will begin growing that might not otherwise have a chance to come to life,” Clark said. While multiple people are involved in the Nova Games Foundation, and while it appears to have been chiefly Cerny’s idea (“Keighley credits Cerny with the idea to figure out a way to put their money and time back into the industry,” Game File writes), much of the reaction to the announcement centered on Keighley. On social media, many people were quick to point out the fact that Keighley has tried something like this before with The Game Awards’ Future Class. Future Class was conceived of as a way to highlight people who “represent the bright, bold, and inclusive future of video games,” according to its now inactive [Medium page](https://tgafutureclass.medium.com/?ref=aftermath.site). (Inductees were previously listed on The Game Awards’ website, but their names have since been [deleted](https://kotaku.com/game-awards-2025-future-class-tgas-geoff-keighley-2000641757?ref=aftermath.site).) In late 2023, Future Class members and alumni [penned an open letter](https://aftermath.site/one-week-and-2600-signatures-later-game-awards-havent-acknowledged-future-class-palestine-letter/) that garnered thousands of signatures, asking Keighley to address Israel’s genocide in Gaza from that year’s Game Awards stage, which Keighley didn’t do. Following the letter, Future Class participants [told Aftermath in 2024](https://aftermath.site/game-awards-2024-future-class-game-changer-geoff-keighley/) that there was a meeting with Keighley and program administrators to talk about making changes to Future Class. Ultimately, there was no Future Class for The Game Awards in 2024, where Keighley unveiled a “Game Changer” Award that some feared was the program’s replacement. Organizer Emily Weir told [Game Developer](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/the-game-awards-confirms-its-future-class-program-will-remain-on-ice?ref=aftermath.site) in 2025 that there wouldn’t be a Future Class that year and that there were no “active programming plans for Future Class.” > 'None of that just actually manifested for us, and when we requested that we actually receive what we were promised... they simply killed the program.' One Future Class participant told [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/games/2025/nov/11/future-class-gamings-oscars-game-awards?ref=aftermath.site) in 2025 that inductees felt like “props” as part of the program, with some participants feeling that it didn’t live up to its promises of networking and mentorship. The mentorship “felt like Keighley just called a bunch of his friends to do Zoom calls,” one inductee told the outlet. Participants credited other members for getting the 2023 class better mentorship opportunities, as well as lodging and airfare to The Game Awards, to which Future Class members could buy discounted tickets. But many who spoke to The Guardian felt that the program ended due to members’ pushback and efforts to improve it, with one saying they felt program leaders ultimately thought the whole thing was “too much trouble.” Given the rise and fall of Future Class, a quote from Keighley in Game File’s report might sound strange: Keighley told the outlet, “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I can do for future generations. Games have been my entire career. I’ve been incredibly fortunate, and helping someone else build a life in this industry feels like a meaningful way to give back.” Wasn’t that what Future Class was for? What assurances will Nova participants have that their program won’t go the same way? In a followup thread on Bluesky, Game File’s Stephen Totilo [quoted Keighley](https://bsky.app/profile/stephentotilo.bsky.social/post/3muzumyxxfk26?ref=aftermath.site) as saying that “Future Class was a list to recognize emerging voices and potential leaders across the industry. There’s a shared belief behind both \[Future Class and Nova\]: that it’s worth paying attention to people early in their careers and helping others see their potential." “I do feel it’s strange to see \[Keighley\] framing Future Class as a list when it was absolutely a program,” the first Future Class participant told Aftermath. They highlighted Future Class’ newsletter, mentorship calls, and Discord server as examples of how it was more than just a list of honorees. The second Future Class participant told Aftermath, “It’s interesting to see Geoff make the clarification that the Future Class program was merely a list. That is not how the program was sold to us participants, as we were told that we would receive mentorship and connections.” This participant felt Future Class failed to live up to those promises, saying, “None of that just actually manifested for us, and when we requested that we actually receive what we were promised and for the program to live up to its values and acknowledge the atrocities committed in Gaza in a similar manner that they did the [war in Ukraine](https://www.ign.com/articles/ukrainian-game-studios-industry-support-ukraine?ref=aftermath.site), they simply killed the program.” “I’m also puzzled by the framing of Future Class as being dedicated to spotlighting ‘people early in their careers,’” the first participant said. “There were absolutely many talented and skilled juniors among the cohorts, but there were also people like Tanya DePass, Halley Gross, and Elaine Gómez — incredible people who were already established experts in their fields. To frame the up-and-coming juniors as being ‘early in their careers’ in the same way as them is disingenuous at best.” [‘Lay Off CEOs Instead’: Game Awards Protesters Fed Up With The Show And The State Of The Industry“The ones who made the games are outside. \[Bosses and executives\] are inside patting themselves on the back”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-1b7178d2-b9ab-49f6-94db-d6109aae05b1.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_0063-9938165b-c2c0-4905-94d9-4bc114554748.JPG)](https://aftermath.site/game-awards-2025-protest-future-class-uvw/) According to Totilo, Keighley also said he [sees Nova](https://bsky.app/profile/stephentotilo.bsky.social/post/3muzumyxxfl26?ref=aftermath.site) as serving a “different, more specific purpose” than Future Class: “It’s focused on recent university and college graduates who want to make games. Recognition is part of it, but so is giving someone practical help to take the next step.” Limiting the program to students also [concerned](https://bsky.app/profile/justinoaksford.bsky.social/post/3muzyhseqi22j?ref=aftermath.site) [some](https://bsky.app/profile/cptcorallis.bsky.social/post/3muzwuhb4ed23?ref=aftermath.site) people who [reacted](https://bsky.app/profile/stephentotilo.bsky.social/post/3muzqt75alk2v/quotes?ref=aftermath.site) to the announcement, who feared this could prioritize people who already have the support of an academic program and the financial means to attend one. The first Future Class participant told Aftermath they worried the school requirement could disadvantage “brown and Black students — who tend to need the most financial help so that they can achieve their full potential.” ## The Games Industry At Large Beyond who’s eligible to receive a grant, there’s also the question of its role in today’s games industry. Game File wrote that Keighley sees the Nova program as potentially “useful to help promising graduates bridge the transition from student to professional.” Keighley told Game File that “Joining an established studio isn’t always possible—especially in today’s market—and even then, it isn’t the right path for everyone.” That’s one way of framing the current industry facing game design school grads. But what happens after the Nova-funded grant is done? In a landscape of limited opportunities, closing studios, and mass layoffs, where do participants’ careers go once the money is gone? “Call me cynical but I don't know that launching a fellowship for new people entering the industry is going to help address the fundamental problems of longevity and sustainability in existing studios,” Ko-Op narrative designer Jenna Yow wrote on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/jannouna.bsky.social/post/3muzu2nlwqk27?ref=aftermath.site), later [writing](https://bsky.app/profile/jannouna.bsky.social/post/3muzuaqp2zc27?ref=aftermath.site) that, “A few years ago when I was a graduating game design major, the one thing I did not want to do was start my own company/kickstart a passion project, because I knew that no amount of striking out on my own could substitute from actually learning from seniors.” “I get a lot of requests from mentees for apprenticeships but there is no money for me to hire seniors for a project to teach them on,” [wrote](https://bsky.app/profile/caraellison.bsky.social/post/3mv25thknxk23?ref=aftermath.site) game designer and former games journalist Cara Ellison. > 'A foundation funded, at least initially, by two individuals to help dozens of people is not going to shore up the whole game industry.' When asked by Aftermath if and how a Nova Games Foundation grant could set a student up for their career, Clark said that “As I understand Mark Cerny's vision for Nova, the point is not simply to make more pathways into the game industry; it's an investment into the future possibilities of games as a creative medium. After all, if you compare the massive scale of layoffs at the large end of the industry to the small number of up-and-coming creatives who would be supported by Nova grants, there are many orders of magnitude difference. A foundation funded, at least initially, by two individuals to help dozens of people is not going to shore up the whole game industry.” Clark continued > I don't see Nova as a substitute option for a graduating student whose ambition is to get an entry-level job in AAA games. That can be a very difficult and risky route to travel, as our students who set out in that direction \[know\]. Nova, on the other hand, will provide the very first round of funding for brand-new concepts to start design and production, giving talented students with noteworthy ideas an additional runway to freely explore. What happens after they make a game? We play the game, and in doing so we've hopefully moved the meaning of play forward a little bit. “Alternately, if a student game isn't successful, and many aren't for a host of reasons,” Clark said, “it's still an accomplishment in their portfolio which will serve them in all sorts of fields they go into.” Perhaps Nova is better seen as akin to the rise of studio-funded publishing[ initiatives](https://aftermath.site/indie-game-publishers-outersloth-pocketpair/): not a fix for an industry in turmoil, but at least a new option in a time when *any* option can be difficult to come by. And, unlike Future Class, the Nova Games Foundation is more than the brainchild of one person, and it’s tied to institutions invested in education and mentorship, rather than promoting a handful of yearly events. Clark believes that, at the very least, participants “will have more than what they started with, we'll see some new sprouts, and if we're lucky at a communal level, we'll see some significant blossoming that would benefit far more people than just the original grantee.” And the Future Class participants who spoke to Aftermath are hopeful that the program can do some good, even if they feel misgivings about it. “The other people involved with the project are great and have fantastic reputations and track records, so maybe Keighley is just attaching his name to promote the program (and himself),” the first Future Class participant said. “I’d see that as the best course of action here.” They said, “Ultimately, I am happy that this program exists and my wish is for the people who benefit from it to consider it a life-changing part of their journey.” ### How Much Of Toshirō Mifune Survives In Onimusha? URL: https://aftermath.site/toshiro-mifune-onimusha-way-of-the-sword/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T15:46:05.000Z How much of an actor is just their face? How much is their scowls and expressions? I keep thinking about this while playing *Onimusha*: *Way of the Sword*, a game that made the bold decision to make its main star Toshirō Mifune, an actor who has been dead for about 29 years, and animate him with immense skill. I’m in awe of what they’ve created, despite being unsure of what to make of the chimera that they’ve made. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/9105717_596.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/9105717_584.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/9105717_607.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/9105717_587.jpg) Miyamoto Musashi in Onimusha:Way Of The Sword, based on a younge Mifune. Using the likeness of a dead person is always a charged choice. Even under ideal circumstances – where family members consent and contracts are signed prior to the person’ passing – the process of recreation is often bizarre and offputting. AI has made this kind of digital necromancy more fraught, but this whole thing has been a problem since they got [Fred Astaire](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR3JzxlcKBs&ref=aftermath.site) to advertise vacuum cleaners. Toshirō Mifune was in some weird stuff later in his life, I don't necessarily think he'd be against a video game. Unlike Tupac Shakur’s inclusion in the upcoming *Stranger Than Heaven*, Mifune feels like a less confusing inclusion in the 2026 reboot of *Onimusha.* Part of this is that Mifune was an actor by trade, one who specifically embodied the role of famed swordsman Miyamoto Musashi in Hiroshi Inagaki’s *Samurai* trilogy in the 1950s. Celebrity likeness, both living and dead, have been a staple of the series (who can forget French actor Jean Reno in *Onimusha 3: Demon Siege*?), and Capcom got the blessing of Mifune’s family. Additionally, I would not presume that Mifune himself would be above being digitally in a goofy video game as a young man, particularly if you are familiar with his work in the 1980s, including the original adaptation of James Clavell’s *Shogun, The Bushdio Blade*, Kon Ichikawa’s bizarre sci-fi adaptation *Princess from the Moon,* and John Frankenheimer's *The Challenge.* Recreating his likeness as a digital actor is a weird choice, sure, but I can see the various ways they got there, and it seems like they tried to do everything above board, to the extent that one can. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/musashi-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/mifune-musashi-1.png) Toshirō Mifune as Miyamoto Musashi in **Samurai II: Duel At Ichijoji Temple \[1955\]*. **Onimusha:Way Of The Sword is set*earlier in his life. Where that choice starts to get uncanny is in *which* Mifune Capcom’s *Onimusha* decided to go with. Mifune as an actor spanned many eras, and was in his mid 30s by the time of *Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto.* In that series, he is dour and jowly. By contrast, *Onimusha’s* Mifune is in his 20s, closer to films like *Snow Trail* or his earliest dramatic collaborations with Akira Kurosawa like *Drunken Angel*, *The Quiet Duel*, and *Stray Dog.* In these contemporary dramas he was still youthful, classically handsome and clean cut. This is not to say that Capcom was not within their rights to mix and match eras; it’s pedantic to suggest otherwise and makes sense if you consider it a loose, goofy prequel of sorts. But the Mifune whom I typically associate with period samurai films was a little older, sometimes a bit worn out and often irresistibly swarthy. This is to say nothing of the man’s voice, a waterfall of sound that often veered towards incomprehensibility. I am glad that neither of the voice actors attempted to do that, but without that voice what’s left of Mifune? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Mifune-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/mifune-2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/snow-3.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Shizukanaru-ketto.png) Mifune in the earlier part of his career: *Snow Trail* \[1947\], **Stray Dog* \[1949\], **The Quiet Duel \[1949\]* I don’t want to sound overly chiding here, because the animation team absolutely crushed it on the facial expressions. In cutscenes, *Onimusha: The Way of the Sword*’s Miyamoto Musashi is expressive, funny, kind of a shithead, and absolutely sells dramatic beats. He scowls and freaks out; there’s a human light that’s so difficult to recreate in his eyes. You can see his face flitter between emotions rapidly in a matter of seconds, and there’s real thought and care in how the performance accentuates each beat. That is the part that feels true to the real Mifune: bright and expressive, loud and bold, constantly emoting. There's a part of this interview where they say that their Musashi was not particularly influenced by movies because Capcom makes games. But it is an imagined Mifune, one who has his actions and reputation but is placeless in his history, one who exists symbolically instead of as a person who lived, worked, and died. One gets the sense that they could have done this kind of magic to any man’s face, that the talented team manipulating a dead actor’s skin could do that kind of magic again. I hope they do, because the work is unquestionably beautiful. But that beauty is rife with contradictions that constantly roil my mind. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260907233005_1-1.jpg) ### Steam Is Asking Australians To Verify They're Adults By Linking A Credit Card, Something Millions Of Australians Don't Have URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-is-asking-australians-to-verify-theyre-adults-by-linking-a-credit-card-something-millions-of-australians-dont-have/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T18:32:24.000Z Earlier this week Steam joined[ Xbox](https://news.microsoft.com/source/asia/2026/08/10/microsoft-introduces-new-age-assurance-for-app-store-users-in-australia/?ref=aftermath.site) and[ PlayStation](https://www.playstation.com/en-au/support/account/age-verification-faq/?ref=aftermath.site) in forcing Australians to verify their age before purchasing adults-only games, and like so many other age verification processes this has been implemented about as shoddily as you can expect from companies like this. Not only are there[ concerns over privacy and data security](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/privacy-concerns-about-age-verification-r-rated-games-websites/106432440?ref=aftermath.site), but there's also the question of verification's effectiveness; some platforms’ allowance of facial ID scans, for example,[ has allowed users of any age to gain access by pretending to be...*Yakuza's* Kazuma Kiryu](https://80.lv/articles/fans-are-using-yakuza-s-kazuma-kiryu-to-bypass-age-verification?ref=aftermath.site). In Steam's particular case, though, that won't be a problem, because unlike Xbox and PlayStation--which give users a choice of methods, including uploading (yikes) a form of government ID--Valve is currently only allowing a single form of age verification: linking a credit card to your Steam account. Anyone trying to access an R18+ shopfront listing who doesn't have a credit card already linked to their account is being shown the message: > Valve is required by the Age-Restricted Material App Distribution Services Code to verify that you are 18 or older before accessing mature content. If you wish to do so, please add a valid Australian credit card to your account and afterwards update the Mature Content Preferences. I see the logic here in terms of taking a shortcut on administrative work; you have to be 18 to get a credit card, and you would have needed multiple types of government ID to get one from your bank. The problem, of course, is that not everyone has a credit card. And those who are adults and don't currently have one aren't going to suddenly go out and make a major financial decision just so they can play some R18+ games on Steam. Which is fine, you shouldn't need to go out and sign up for a credit card just to prove you're an adult on a video game shopfront! Making matters even more confusing is that while Valve's note specifies that users need a credit card,[ Australians are reporting](https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/974419?ref=aftermath.site#comment-17884815) that some *debit* cards--particularly those from the country's four largest banks--are working while others aren't. [Recent statistics report that there are currently 14.7 million credit cards registered in Australia](https://moneysmart.gov.au/credit-cards/choosing-a-credit-card?ref=aftermath.site), which has a total population of around 28 million people. When you consider that [around 22 million of those are adults](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/regional-population-age-and-sex/latest-release?ref=aftermath.site), that's a lot of Australians without credit cards! A big enough number to make you wonder why Valve, for all the other options' flaws, didn't at least just copy what other platforms have done. Then again,[ half-arsing things when it comes to Australia is nothing new for Steam](https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/full-federal-court-confirms-that-valve-misled-gamers?ref=aftermath.site)! ### Thousand Hells Offers Thousands Of Stories URL: https://aftermath.site/thousand-hells-video-game-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T17:04:38.000Z The thing I like most about video games is that they become engines to power one’s own imagination, a framework for telling stories. *Thousand Hells* takes this idea and builds a whole game around it. In [*Thousand Hells*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3794210/Thousand%5FHells%5FThe%5FUnderworld%5FHeists/?ref=aftermath.site), you’re putting a team together for a heist—a heist that will invariably involve you and your party members traveling into the realms of Hell. Each adventure is somewhat random. You create a new player character and pick up new party members each time, and they embark on one of eight unlockable quests. Each playthrough doesn’t take much longer than an hour, and all the action is expressed through illustrations and dialogue. What makes the game fascinating to play is the sheer scope of it. It has a similar quality to *Dwarf Fortress*, in that it feels like every single playthrough is different in some way. Of the two heists I’ve played through, I returned home from one empty-handed and with two party members dead. In the other, our souls were trapped in Hell for all eternity. Combat encounters, which include actual combat but also negotiating with gods or unlocking a demonic vault, are expressed through picking tiles from a bag and then applying the correct action or demeanor to the right problem, which is then resolved through a dice roll. All your crew members have different skills, as well as negative traits that won’t help you. Crossing the sea in a recent heist created a new crisis I had to deal with: My lockpick was deathly terrified of the ocean, and we had to try to calm her down. Failure occurs frequently, which only makes these stories feel richer. As members of the crew accrue injuries or negative mental states, they also pick up new quirks. A character who is fatigued won’t be as good of a fighter or as good at navigating the natural hazards of the woods or the caverns of Hell. A dejected seductress won’t be as seductive. You can use insight to get a preview of how likely a given tile will perform in a given situation, but it’s a scarce resource. There are so many ways to lose, and very few ways to win, which makes each success feel not just significant, but almost mythological. It was the second heist that really sold me on the game. My leader, Chanter, had done a pretty good job of keeping morale high, even when things didn’t exactly go how we wanted them to. Getting to the realms of Hell was the easy part, given that my leader had knowledge of the woods and used to be a sailor. Early on, we lost a challenge from a god, despite the best efforts of our demonologist, and then later we had to impersonate demons in their bank of souls. Badly injured and dispirited, we couldn’t quite perfect our demon act. We failed three labors to prove our worthiness, and then utterly whiffed it when faced with demonic bureaucracy. In the end, we knew we were being led into a trap when we entered the vault of souls, and just before we walked in, Chanter apologized to their crew. It was their fault that they would all lose their lives there, and she urged them to save themselves, but by then it was far too late. Somehow, it’s just as fun to describe these stories as it is to play through them. Games like this continue to live within me once I’ve exited the game. They linger in my memory and imagination, even the characters who ended up dying in Hell. I can see myself using *Thousand Hells* to tell weird and interesting stories for a long time. ### Science Saru's The Ghost In The Shell Exceeded Our Expectations URL: https://aftermath.site/the-ghost-in-the-shell-science-saru-anime/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T16:08:46.000Z [*The Ghost In The Shell*](https://gizmodo.com/the-ghost-in-the-shell-science-saru-anime-premiere-review-anime-expo-prime-video-2000781580?ref=aftermath.site), Science Saru's latest anime rendition of Masamune Shirow's formative cyberpunk series, is out in its totality on Prime Video. Aftermath's resident anime sickos, Chris and Isaiah, are here to dive into the web and yap about it. **Isaiah Colbert:** I've got to say, when this anime was announced a couple years back, I couldn't think of a better anime studio to handle it than [Science Saru](https://gizmodo.com/dan-da-dans-director-never-wanted-the-anime-to-compete-with-the-manga-2000550459?ref=aftermath.site). It's quickly in a way become the defining anime production studio of the decade. Like, I'm talking Mappa in the late 2010s/early 2020s level of motion. That, on top of the show being a more [faithful adaptation of the manga's titular goofiness](https://gizmodo.com/i-really-hope-the-new-ghost-in-the-shell-anime-keeps-the-majors-manga-goofiness-2000717983?ref=aftermath.site), all but assured it was going to be a heater. As someone who's got more years on me with this series, what'd you think of it? **Chris Person:** It's nuts how loyal it is to the source material itself, honestly. They did a real straight up adaptation of that bad boy with all its weird lumps. I think people who only know the material through the Oshii movie and the subsequent shows really don't have a good sense of what Masamune Shirow's whole deal is, and it's a very weird deal, and I'm impressed that they got it to cohere as well as they could. **Isaiah:** When I interviewed [director Mokochan and character designer Shuhei Handa](https://gizmodo.com/ghost-in-the-shell-science-saru-mokochan-shuhei-handa-interview-2000782410?ref=aftermath.site), they were really hot on making sure they got the manga's tone and aesthetics down pat. Perusing the anime side of social media, it was very funny to see folks who'd never heard of the series until now wonder if it was the new [*Cyberpunk: Edgerunners*](https://gizmodo.com/anime-expos-world-premiere-of-cyberpunk-edgerunners-2-absolutely-ruled-2000781342?ref=aftermath.site) show. Going from my own trajectory with the Oshii movies, *Stand Alone Complex*, *Arise*, *SAC\_2045*, to Science Saru's show, I found that each series really lends itself to the show's whole idea of Motoko's ghost still remaining intact regardless of the shell she's in. I feel like it's the only anime that can get away with so many different permutations of itself, with slight variations in how it characterizes its protagonist, while giving her different *Law and Order*\-esque speculative-fiction cybercrimes to solve. Though, I suppose we should say what the series is first before we dive too deep into its themes and such. To put it simply, Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg lady with a cunty bob who leads a counter cyber terrorist sect called Section 9\. The shit they get up to varies, but for the most part they all tie to under-the-table government conspiracies and humanity's precarious placement in a trans humanist world with AI on the verge of breaching the parameters of its programming. All of this, mind you, takes place in the not-so-far-off year of 2030. ![Batou and Kusanagi.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/theghostintheshell--8-.jpg) Science Saru **Chris:** I love when people adapt something that's a few decades old and don't change the date, that's so fun. The original *Ghost in the Shell* manga isn't terribly long, basically a single book, and so they cover the entire run in this ten-episode series, which the original movie also attempts to cover in an a much more truncated form that Oshii really makes his own. It's funny to go from the original source material, which is simultaneously goofy, busy, sexy, and concerned with the marginalia of how the universe works, to Oshii’s transcendental, almost Catholic interpretation of the work, and seeing how he changes not only the look and feel of series to be his own, but also what he decides to excerpt or truncate, particularly in the back half. But then you go to this version and yeah, much closer to a police procedural, much more concerned with the tone of the original. And in both cases you're left wanting more because Shirow leaves it open-ended, but also because you can absolutely imagine the Major going on more adventures before the conclusion. **Isaiah:** I've heard the second manga volume is a bit harder to parse as a follow-up to the original. Which has only made folks lose their mind at Science Saru hinting that it might spin the block on it next by posting a key visual that's pretty much the intro illustration of the second volume. And honestly, if they want to swim in waters other series haven't swam beyond the shores of the first volume, I say go for it. But as far as this anime goes, it was a really fun watch both in its English and Japanese dub. I think what it nails especially is that retro look that's been all the rage in modern anime. In contrast to shows who stop the buck at grainy compositing filters, *The Ghost In The Shell* really goes in with bringing back the analog nature of technology in nearly every corner of the show. I know that's been something [Luke's harped as a sorely missed facet of animation](https://aftermath.site/anime-classics-mecha-robot-recommendations/), so it was really cool to see the show go beyond the surface level aesthetics of cyberpunk by including Shirow's asides about tech and military lingo name dropped in the show. > [pic.twitter.com/zVea7hBx02](https://t.co/zVea7hBx02?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 攻殻機動隊 THE GHOST IN THE SHELL｜TVアニメ公式｜7月7日放送開始 (@thegits\_anime) [September 8, 2026](https://x.com/thegits%5Fanime/status/2097333662031437936?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) That, in concert with the show's bumping soundtrack, old-school character designs, guest illustrator episode end cards, and allowing its animators like Bahi JD, go absolutely wild on action sequences, made *The Ghost in The Shell* appointment viewing every week. **Chris:** Man I gotta read *Man-Machine Interface*. It's so weird. Also, I occasionally have to check X for work, and it's funny to see how that site has just devolved because I saw people call that sequence mid for engagement. That scene was so, so good. **Isaiah:** I feel like anime fans lost their appreciation for sakuga that isn't heavily composited on some ufotable shit. **Chris:** I think it's good to worry about Science Saru becoming [MAPPA ](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-anime-manga-crunch-labor-jujutsu-kaisen/)on some level, retaining its soul and not scaling beyond its creative capacity, but people just don't know what looks good any more if they ever did. **Isaiah:** We should return to the "Holy shit, two cakes!" love of animation, because that sequence fucking ripped. I especially loved how the lead-up to the sequence showcased a really crisp, detailed shot of Kusanagi yelling inside a Fuchikoma before the action sequence kicked in. The only way I can comprehend not loving this sequence is that folks never imagined Spider-Man scaling buildings from the passenger's seat of a car on a drive. And this being one of the only scenes like this early on in the show animated by one guy was something special. > I still remember that GIF of Bahi JD from 2009. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4espjuathgjignpl7qkyhp6w/post/3mr6az6ul4226?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Catsuka ([@catsuka.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4espjuathgjignpl7qkyhp6w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [July 21, 2026 at 11:45 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4espjuathgjignpl7qkyhp6w/post/3mr6az6ul4226?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) **Chris:** Bahi’s resume is super impressive not to single him out and he has been in the industry a while (starting with *Kids on the Slope*). But you're also seeing this happen more with Japanese companies realizing how much talent exists internationally. Even in this show it was nice to see the end cards being done by people I follow online. **Isaiah:** The show swinging out the gate with a Yoji Shinkawa illustration was the most cash money dollars flex from an anime in a long time. **Chris:** My goat... **Isaiah:** While I do understand that Prime Video is a bigger market platform in Japan, it still sucks that *The Ghost in the Shell* suffered from the same lack of promotion in the West. Like [*Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX*](https://aftermath.site/gquuuuuux-finale-gundam/), [*City The Animation*](https://aftermath.site/city-the-animation-review-anime-nichijou-kyoto-animation/)*,* and[*New Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt*](https://aftermath.site/panty-stocking-studio-trigger-cat-vibe-amazon-prime/), it was pretty much up to the studio's own social media accounts to promote the show themselves the day before and the day of a new episode dropping, and I think that sucks for discoverability for shows of this caliber. [Prime Video Sucks for AnimeThe Amazon streamer’s hopes of being anime’s go-to hub feel hollow when its track record reads like a cautionary tale.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-28169fb0-a5ae-41df-9184-9bba89fe2ff4.png)GizmodoIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Amazon-The-Ghost-in-the-Shell-Prime-Video-Science-Saru-1200x675-4d59c26d-e2ca-4590-8cef-d821f945b0aa.jpg)](https://gizmodo.com/prime-video-sucks-for-anime-science-saru-the-ghost-in-the-shell-exclusive-streaming-2000723977?ref=aftermath.site) **Chris:** Western companies with deep investments in Japanese markets keep doing this and it's so annoying. We've talked about this how badly Netflix has fucked up *JoJo* but it feels like they know in the abstract that anime is popular in the west but still have no clue how to treat it like the cultural force that it is. Lean on it! This is a huge industry! Debatably, it's one of the most influential cultural products out there as a genre and they're acting like it's a tax write-off half the time. Netflix made a billboard for *The Last House*, one of the worst movies I've seen all year, and had an actor live inside it. Imagine if they pulled that kinda shit with [*Steel Ball Run*](https://aftermath.site/jojos-bizarre-adventure-steel-ball-run-netflix-release-stage-2/), or if Amazon knew what the hell to do with this series in the west. **Isaiah:** It was pretty gratifying that the [*Steel Ball Run* stage 2 trailer](https://gizmodo.com/steel-ball-run-jojos-bizarre-adventure-will-finally-continue-in-september-2000781319?ref=aftermath.site) made it abundantly clear they heard all the criticism by explicitly saying, "[JoJo Fridays Are Back](https://kotaku.com/jojos-bizarre-adventure-stone-ocean-netflix-binge-watch-1849846467?ref=aftermath.site)." I just wish that in the same way the Netflix Brazil account is more tapped in to animation fandom posting, that the Prime Video social media machine took its own animation arm more seriously beyond pump and dumping their money-making shows annually like a 2K game. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/theghostintheshell--1-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/theghostintheshell.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/theghostintheshell--2--1.jpg) Production I.G **Chris:** Getting back to *The Ghost In The Shell*, “Bye Bye Clay” might be one of my favorite episodes of television this year. This is the episode where they capture the Puppet Master and features the Major interacting with the rogue AI for the first time. In the Oshii movie this kinda gets merged and truncated into the events of Episode 10, and they bypass the last part of the series where the Major gets put on trial for being a member of an unaccountable police force engaging in extrajudicial assassination (fair point, Japanese court system!), but Science Saru does some beautiful sequences attempting to translate Shirow's transcendental conversations between Kusanagi and the AI. Gorgeous work. **Isaiah:** I'm glad I got to re-experience this storyline through the Science Saru anime because it was probably my least favorite part of the Oshii movie. I got what it was going for, but it all felt a bit rushed with the rhythm of the movie cherry-picking parts of the manga Oshii liked. It didn't land with me as well, even though I got the impression of what it was going for. The show having it be such a cosmic experience for Kusanagi that we get to see from her perspective rather than two (blown to hell) characters talking in the rain elevated their conversation to new heights for me. I think it also helped that their conversation wasn't a one-and-done. Puppet Master's prescience being felt throughout the show's other procedural moments dovetailing to its finale made that episode all the better. Forget Woke 2, have you heard of Woke Tree??? lmao. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/theghostintheshell--5-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/theghostintheshell--4--1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/theghostintheshell--3--1.jpg) Science Saru **Chris:** lol. It's also fascinating revisiting that sequence in the movie because it's so much more lurid in some ways but static in others. Like the lead-up is fascinating, but they luxuriate on the Major’s body being destroyed. The Science Saru adaptation really leans into the specifics of what the Major melding with the Puppet Master implies. But also that in-between court scene is important, despite being politically questionable, because it begins to show the process by which the Major identifies less and less with humans and begins to see people as software, and of problems as systemic failures. The way her eyes glaze over as she talks about human life like a programming error is a much darker tone and contextualizes why she would ever begin to agree to merge. **Isaiah**: Yeah, I found that moment in the Oshii movie kind of came out of left field. It’s Major leaned more towards being a machine contemplating the ways she's still human. Her just agreeing without much pushback to merge with Puppet Master always felt more like a "the script says she does" moment than something entirely motivated by her. The anime made that turn a lot easier to follow. If Daisuke is side-eyeing the Major like she's looking mad unfamiliar talking about blasting a dude with all the gravitas of a yawn in mixed company, you know a flip has been switched in her head. ![Motoko Kusanagi scaring the hoes. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/theghostintheshell--7-.jpg) Science Saru **Chris:** There's a part where she's like, "If these people cared about violence they would renounce consumer culture for the violence it does on the periphery," and it's like, damn, the computer turned her into a Marxist. But also you still shot a guy in the head five times with hollow-tipped bullets. And that discomfort does kinda add something to her bottom-line conclusions. **Isaiah:** Even Batou was like, "Dude, wtf?" and he's usually pretty agreeable to covert missions going from stealth to full-blown shootouts. **Chris:** It feels closer to a Paul Atreides situation where the religious, transhumanist moment is undercut by this slightly dark implication of what that transformation might yield. **Isaiah:** The Les(Bi)an AI-Gaib kinda spooky. ![Motoko Kusanagi bailing on her gal pals. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/theghostintheshell--6-.jpg) Science Saru While I can already project folks debating where this show lands in the *Ghost in the Shell* tier list—and whether it's better than (gasp) *Stand Alone Complex*—I can't help but reiterate my feeling that the series' different iterations kind of supersede the usual water cooler talk of one show being better than another based solely on its efficacy to the source material. To me, every *Ghost In The Shell* is a mirror reflecting the times. Sometimes that shows up in Motoko's character design; other times, it's in the scope of cybercrimes she and Section 9 face. It's kind of like [*Kamen Rider*](https://aftermath.site/kamen-rider-kuuga-tokusatsu/) in that respect: The shell might be different, but the themes humming inside it are a special kind of baton pass from series to series, letting you see how different folks keep the ball rolling. Science Saru going back to the well cyberpunk media like *The Matrix* have been drinking from for years to give the original manga its time in the sun beyond forum acknowledgment of the tones from the series echoing Oshii was a nice treat to see play out alongside modern anime. Seeing how prescient its themes are compared to when the manga came out was wild. I just hope its success doesn't give the streamer powers that be flirt with the idea of doing another live action project again. **Chris:** Controversial take: give Science Saru the *Akira* manga. I believe they have it in them. Or it would kill them. ## Recommended: [You Can Rest Now, PSX Ghost In The Shell Anime CutscenesThirty years before Science Saru’s anime adaptation, this PlayStation One game was the closest thing Ghost in the Shell fans had to seeing the OG Major as an anime baddie![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-3740ed14-1f6e-444e-a072-eec4beb3136d.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ghost-in-the-shell-psx-playstation-produciton-ig-61e8a4ec-6605-43d4-9056-ef9abd0ffc83.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/the-ghost-in-the-shell-gits-motoko-kusanagi-science-saru-video-game/) ### Who Are These Men? URL: https://aftermath.site/nhl-27-ea-faces/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T19:29:02.000Z Electronic Arts puts out a new *EA Sports* *NHL* game every year. The franchise is certainly no *NBA2K* or *Madden NFL*, so it often comes and goes with little fanfare for those outside of video game–playing hockey devotees. *NHL 27* is currently in early access, with a full release on September 11– and this year, a lot of people are talking about it. But it's not because the game is exceptionally good. It's because a lot of the faces are very, very bad. I haven't played *NHL 27* just yet, but I do get the sense that some of the screenshots people are sharing are bad angles or catching a character in a weird moment or face, because the models are moving in-game. And it's possible some won't look as bad when they're wearing helmets and speeding around on skates. But still, some of these are egregiously bad. Unfortunately for me, a Boston Bruins fan, the Bruins have been done especially dirty by Electronic Arts' face-scanning technology. Take Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy. His mouth and jaw got brutally destroyed this past season after taking a puck straight to the face, but it doesn't look like this! > A thread of the Bruins defence & goalies in NHL 27 > > Charlie McAvoy [pic.twitter.com/Z0IYLd3kDA](https://t.co/Z0IYLd3kDA?ref=aftermath.site) > > — KingKhusy (@KingKhusy) [September 5, 2026](https://x.com/KingKhusy/status/2096358412342759909?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Fellow defenseman Hampus Lindholm looks like he's a made of melting clay. > Hampus Lindholm [pic.twitter.com/XHrUUHEOq4](https://t.co/XHrUUHEOq4?ref=aftermath.site) > > — KingKhusy (@KingKhusy) [September 5, 2026](https://x.com/KingKhusy/status/2096358680354587052?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) I don't think they even tried with defenseman Jordan Harris. > Jordan Harris [pic.twitter.com/oWJGHdNV2d](https://t.co/oWJGHdNV2d?ref=aftermath.site) > > — KingKhusy (@KingKhusy) [September 5, 2026](https://x.com/KingKhusy/status/2096359232404644034?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) I don't want to talk about what Electronic Arts did to star player David Pastrnak. > A thread of the bruins in NHL 27 > > David Pastrnak [pic.twitter.com/3yRNNQJE2d](https://t.co/3yRNNQJE2d?ref=aftermath.site) > > — KingKhusy (@KingKhusy) [September 5, 2026](https://x.com/KingKhusy/status/2096343958133629034?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) It made forward ([and fellow writer](https://substack.com/@mikeyeyssimont/p-206613307?ref=aftermath.site)) Mikey Eyssimont look like he's 10. > Mikey Eyssimont [pic.twitter.com/vB5wU06PBB](https://t.co/vB5wU06PBB?ref=aftermath.site) > > — KingKhusy (@KingKhusy) [September 5, 2026](https://x.com/KingKhusy/status/2096345751727100206?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Most egregious of all is defenseman Mason Lohrei, who Electronic Arts made look… like this… > Mason Lohrei [pic.twitter.com/tsw1HNPf7t](https://t.co/tsw1HNPf7t?ref=aftermath.site) > > — KingKhusy (@KingKhusy) [September 5, 2026](https://x.com/KingKhusy/status/2096358601946182108?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Of course, it's not only the Bruins. A ton of players look awful, scary, or like totally different humans. I had fun watching this video and trying to guess who each player is. I haven't been playing *NHL* video games for very long, but I can't ever remember the face scans looking this bad. > (possible flash warning idk) > > bitter sweet symphony [pic.twitter.com/6rh3l6Obfu](https://t.co/6rh3l6Obfu?ref=aftermath.site) > > — teeth ☆ misses wild hockey (@0rbitals) [September 6, 2026](https://x.com/0rbitals/status/2096409963975278796?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) For fuck's sake, *this* is Cale Makar? No! It's offensive. > what in the Sid the sloth 😭 [pic.twitter.com/GsBYt5Saod](https://t.co/GsBYt5Saod?ref=aftermath.site) > > — shada🕊️✨(victoire walter cup champions) (@LESBIANS4MPP) [September 7, 2026](https://x.com/LESBIANS4MPP/status/2096831369095848426?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) *These* are the Colorado Avalanche goalies? No!! Who are these men? > This is not my lumberyard yall😔 [pic.twitter.com/pgwt3OsF8C](https://t.co/pgwt3OsF8C?ref=aftermath.site) > > — :/ (@moo29stuff) [September 8, 2026](https://x.com/moo29stuff/status/2097467716135498203?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Most of these players likely did get their faces scanned by Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said in 2024 that artificial intelligence helped the *EA College Football 25* team recreate 11,000 player likenesses. "Creating 150 unique stadiums and over 11,000 player likenesses couldn’t be done without EA’s deep history of being a technology leader and by our incredibly passionate and talented teams harnessing the power of AI and machine learning to deliver truly amazing entertainment," Wilson said of *EA College Football 25* in an earnings call in 2024, [as reported by Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/ea-college-football-25-generative-ai-fifa-1851609733?ref=aftermath.site). Here's his full remarks: > For those that don’t track our industry or track our sports games in particular, we typically, in any given year, will develop about 500 to 1,000 star heads inside of one of our game. And over the course of a platform generation, through the hand tooling of that, we ultimately fill out the full roster of star heads in our games. And of course, there were ebbs and flows in that. > > But as we were launching *College* on a new generation of platforms to a new generation of fans with the world’s largest single-sport NIL deal, where image was a really important part of the process, getting 11,000 star heads into the game was a top priority for us. The reality is our teams are incredible and built workflows to facilitate that, but they were amplified and accelerated through AI and machine learning. > > And we were able to take in a whole plethora of photo imagery across 11,000 players and build workflows out where AI and machine learning would generate heads and our very talented artists would be able to come in and touch up and enhance those heads versus having to go through the full head development programs. In the absence of AI we simply would not have been able to deliver *College Football* at the level we did, even though we’ve given the team many, many years in development. I've reached out to EA Sports to ask about the use of AI in creating *NHL 27*'s player faces, but didn't hear back in time for publication. Faces aren't the only use of AI in the game, according to NHL commentator John Buccigross, who is featured in the game. [Buccigross told the Chirping Zebras podcast](https://x.com/MikeStrawMedia/status/2097052725225607513?ref=aftermath.site) that "\[EA is\] using some AI stuff now." "They were playing me back some of my AI voice and it's like, 'Score! And the crowd gets out of their chairs!," he said. "And I was like, 'No \[...\], we call them seats." So far, I haven't seen any NHL players commenting on their face scans. But I'm sure it'll show up in some content this season, given how widely the disaster has spread. ### After Years Of Company Stalling, Blizzard Workers Win Mega-Contract That Applies To All Unionized Teams URL: https://aftermath.site/blizzard-union-contract-warcraft-overwatch-diablo/ Last updated: 2026-09-10T16:08:06.000Z Even before Microsoft [laid off 1,600 employees (with 1,600 more to come)](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/) earlier this year—prompting multiple series of [demonstrations at studios across the country](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/)—Blizzard workers [were marching](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-union-workers-layoffs-blizzard-zenimax/) outside the house that *Warcraft* built in Irvine, California. Since 2024 teams across countless projects like *World of Warcraft*, *Overwatch*, *Diablo*, Story & Franchise Development, and Platform & Technology had unionized one by one, with Microsoft and Blizzard voluntarily recognizing those unions per the terms of [a legally binding neutrality agreement](https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2023/10/13/microsoft-affirms-commitment-to-labor-principles-cwa-labor-neutrality-agreement/?ref=aftermath.site) brokered by CWA, the larger union helping game workers organize. But when workers and higher-ups reached the bargaining table, they failed to see eye to eye. And that’s when higher-ups gave workers any bargaining time at all. Two years of tumult later, Blizzard unions finally have a contract, and its terms extend to all unionized units at the company (as opposed to different sets of rights and protections for different teams). It covers 1,900 workers in total and includes the above units as well as *Hearthstone* & *Warcraft Rumble* and Quality Assurance, the latter of which previously [secured its own contract](https://aftermath.site/blizzard-qa-workers-newly-ratified-union-contract-locks-in-pay-increases-better-benefits/). “We really started mobilizing as one Blizzard unit in \[the\] last couple of months, and I think that really helped put the pressure on,” Paul Cox, senior game designer on *World of Warcraft*, told Aftermath. > "I feel like the company dragged its feet and did a lot of posturing and wasting time until the very, very last moment." Prior to spring of this year, the *WoW* team, which unionized in 2024, had gotten the lion's share of bargaining time. Other units found themselves stuck in the mud. Higher-ups were effectively stalling the whole process—unfortunately [nothing new for unionized workers under Microsoft’s umbrella](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-zenimax-cwa-union-contract-negotiations-strike/). "For this whole year of bargaining on the *Diablo* side—and I imagine on the rest of the units as well—we received so few \[bargaining\] dates, but we kind of had the understanding that whatever *WoW* was able to win would at least influence and set the floor for the rest of our units,” *Diablo* senior environment artist Mahreen Fatima told Aftermath. “We adopted this messaging about how *WoW*'s wins are our wins, so we should be out there mobilizing with them. But truly, I feel like the company dragged its feet and did a lot of posturing and wasting time until the very, very last moment this last month to finally be able to say, 'OK, yes, we are willing to extend this contract to everyone.' We really did not have any indication that we could get this done until last month." The *WoW* unit had to fight tooth and nail for every last guarantee. "*WoW*, especially, had to bargain every little thing—all the stuff the company gives us normally," Blizzard senior editor Alison Veneto told Aftermath. "Even if the company's provided it for 20 years, they don't want to put it in writing because then they can't take it away again. So we had to do everything from wages down to what happens if there's inclement weather, and everything in between. We spent two days talking about \[keys and money Blizzard gives us to use in Blizzard games\]." "I've worked here for 19 years," said Cox, "and they have always given us keys for things that Blizzard makes. They fought us on that. We have always been given winter break, and they fought us on that as well." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/image.jpeg) CWA What changed in the past month? You might point to layoffs and the furor surrounding them, but Blizzard employees to whom Aftermath spoke didn’t characterize the shot Microsoft aimed at its own foot as the silver bullet. Instead, they said, workers made it clear to the company that if they got a tidy contract, everybody would win. "It's mutually beneficial for our union and the company,” said Fatima. “We made some statements at our separate tables on *Diablo* a couple months ago about 'Do you really want to be renegotiating every letter of every proposal after it comes out of *WoW* and then have *Diablo* and then *Overwatch* rehash and spend 80-plus days \[on it\]? Is this really a good use of our time?'" "I don't think \[the reaction to layoffs moved the needle much\],” Cox added. “Alex, our bargaining chair, talking with Nick, \[the company’s\] bargaining chair, was like 'Blizzard, do you want to be bargaining eight tables basically permanently?' \[Blizzard\] realized 'Oh, this is mutually beneficial. We can get out of an insane level of bargaining on our side.'" But that’s not to say that unionized workers had zero aces up their sleeves. "Mobilizing \[played a big role\],” said Veneto. “I mean, a few hundred people were outside the orc statue \[on Blizzard campus\] making noise on a regular basis. That was making a big splash, and I'll go ahead and say it: BlizzCon is next week. Going into BlizzCon without a contract with the level of mobilization that had been ramping up from Blizzard employees could have been uncomfortable \[for the company\]." > "A few hundred people were outside the orc statue \[on Blizzard campus\] making noise on a regular basis. That was making a big splash, and I'll go ahead and say it: BlizzCon is next week." Still, negotiations came down to the wire, and workers like Fatima—who’s remote and traveled to Irvine for a week in August assuming she’d see the *WoW* team finally bring home a hard-won contract—repeatedly had their expectations subverted. By the time the dust had settled, workers spent something like 70 hours in a conference room over the course of five days, and they got a contract for everyone, not just the *WoW* team. But while layoffs may not have convinced Blizzard to finally thaw its icy bargaining table disposition, they were certainly top of mind for workers. Microsoft is still planning to kick another 1,600 employees to the curb sometime in the next year, and though Blizzard mostly dodged the boss’ boot last time around, it’s impossible to say what the future holds. The contract should at least help with that. “One of the things that we got in there was really strong layoff protections,” said Cox. That includes a bare minimum of four weeks of severance plus an additional week for every six months an employee has worked at Blizzard, up to a maximum of 39 weeks. The unions also won something those at other studios, like Zenimax, [bargained for following previous layoffs](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-unions-microsoft-layoffs-mmo-elder-scrolls/): recall rights. Blizzard’s, however, are more expansive. “It's not just recall rights into your unit; it's recall rights into any job that you would be qualified for,” said Cox. “So if *WoW* has a bunch of layoffs, but *Diablo* doesn't, and *Diablo* is looking to expand, the folks who are laid off from *WoW* can get recalled into *Diablo* if they're qualified, which has definitely never happened in our industry before, and is very rare to see just in general. So we are really excited about that.” All unionized units under Blizzard qualify for recall rights, which span 14 months. “14 months from the layoff, you can be recalled into an open position that you're qualified for,” said Veneto. “This is kind of common in other parts of the unionized world, but we believe this is a first for the tech industry to have recall rights like these.” > "We have finally entered the industrialized world where most countries have these kinds of protections—where an employee cannot just be laid off because your vibe wasn't great or whatever." Another big win as far as video game workers are concerned: just cause protections. "Now that we have just cause, we have finally entered the industrialized world where most countries have these kinds of protections—where an employee cannot just be laid off because your vibe wasn't great or whatever,” said Fatima. “It's, like, a foreign concept to us here in America. Right now, someone could lay you off because it's a Tuesday or they don't like your energy, and that's not normal. Now we have just cause to protect us from that." Workers also contractually locked in their current hybrid work schedule, meaning that Blizzard can’t suddenly change it, as has been [a labor-unfriendly trend](https://aftermath.site/activision-workers-speak-out-against-return-to-office-mandate-that-they-see-as-soft-layoffs/) [in the games industry over the past couple years](https://aftermath.site/rockstar-return-to-office-grand-theft-auto-vi-crunch/). Fully remote workers scored a big win as well. “I'm remote, and we grandfathered everyone who is remote to stay remote, so we can't be magically called to an office that we've never worked at before,” said Fatima. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/diablounion6.jpg) CWA But while employment is preferable to the alternative, it’s not like everyone at Blizzard—even with all the company’s prestige—commands a sizable salary. Before the contract was ratified, some employees were making under $50,000 per year. Now, at least, there are a series of salary floors in place that range between $51,840 and $70,400 depending on which city an employee is based out of. “The highest raise that someone is seeing from this contract is a 34% increase,” said Fatima. “But it’s because they were so severely underpaid.” More broadly, pay is one area in which unionized workers feel like they compromised. “We'd hoped that we would get more pay,” said Cox. “We did get an increase in wages; it just wasn't as big as we would have hoped. I thought that we would get more pay and less of the many other things that we won. I'm surprised we got locking in remote and locking in hybrid, given that literally every other Activision studio is back in at least four or five days. I'm surprised we got the really good layoff protections, given how layoff happy this industry is. … Of our top-five issues, we got four of them, and four out of five is pretty good.” > “The highest raise that someone is seeing from this contract is a 34% increase. But it’s because they were so severely underpaid.” The contract isn’t perfect, but Veneto believes that it makes for a solid foundation atop which others can build. "I do think one place we can have a really big impact is on the rest of the video game industry,” she said, “because I think this is a really good contract, and it sets a great standard for other unionized workers who are coming after this.” Speaking of foundations, [like their not-so-next-door neighbors at Zenimax](https://aftermath.site/as-video-game-industry-goes-all-in-on-ai-workers-race-to-secure-their-rights/), Blizzard workers also secured AI protections. "The company has to talk with us before implementing AI tech that affects our working conditions, and we get to negotiate over the impact of that,” said Cox. “We'll also be regularly discussing AI as part of our labor management committee, which is the sort of meeting between the union and the company on a frequent basis where we can bring up everything from AI to 'Hey, people are complaining that the toilet doors have too large of a gap in them.'" “AI is difficult because over the four-to-five-year life of the contract, it's kind of hard to know what's going to happen,” added Veneto. “So I think getting that impact bargaining, where we can bargain the impacts that the AI use has on the workers, is a good place to be. It's hard to get too specific. Who knows what's going to be happening five years from now?” As for what’s happening now, Blizzard, like many other video game companies and Microsoft subsidies, is experimenting with AI—though workers stopped short of answering a question about which teams are most regularly deploying the brain-deflating tech. "Some teams have been impacted by AI and the push to use more AI,” said Veneto. “I think we're all still figuring out where it works in our workflow and where we think it benefits us." "Some teams and projects are experimenting and leaning into AI more than others,” said Fatima. “I don't know if it's safe to say it's a common occurrence because it really is dependent on the leadership of each project and how the leads want to take the direction of that project and their team." > "Some teams and projects are experimenting and leaning into AI more than others.” But that, Fatima continued, is why AI protections matter. “The silver lining here is that it highlights to everyone just how urgent it is to get AI language and protections in the first place, because we can see firsthand what the results of that are,” she said. "Previously, whenever employees brought up concerns about the way AI is being used or had red flags about how it's impacting their workflow or their skills or the game or the players or what have you, they had a sense that leadership wasn't always listening to them and working through their legitimate concerns. The AI language we got gives us a seat at the table to discuss and evaluate and bargain and actually have our voices heard." AI is far from the only noxious gas burbling up from the belly of the beast that is Microsoft; previously, a contingent of Microsoft workers—[including unionized developers at *Dishonored* and *Deathloop* studio Arkane](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-azure-arkane-israel-palestine-genocide/)—publicly decried the company’s complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Could Blizzard’s many unionized workers put their now-considerable weight behind similar causes in the future? "I think the difficulty is that we have 1,900 people, so it would have to be on things that the majority of our membership supports,” said Veneto. “But I will say that I was really surprised when we did our bargaining survey for our team how much diversity and social justice issues came up. I think that is of interest to a lot of people, but we've been so focused on getting the contract through at this point." "All of us are still fairly new to unions and having an understanding of how much we can achieve,” said Fatima. “We still have the opportunity to think even bigger and think outside of ourselves—of not just change for our industry, but for our society, our country. We can go further. It just depends on the strength of our union. So I think there will come a day when we can think even bigger picture than this." > "The strength of the contract is dependent on how willing we are to defend it." In the shorter term, Blizzard’s unionized workers are certain that they’ll be forced to hold Blizzard and Microsoft to account in other ways. "We already know from our union siblings at \[Blizzard\] Albany/Austin \[and\] Zenimax—the folks who have already gotten a contract—that the company will violate the contract and will not follow it,” said Fatima. “So really, the strength of the contract is dependent on how willing we are to defend it and defend the language. That's one of the things we'll be working on for the next several years." "Now that the contract is ratified, this is not the end,” said Veneto. “We don't just take a nap now, because we have to enforce the contract. Somebody said this is like a live service game. It's kind of true." ## Recommended [Game Workers Rally Against Microsoft Layoffs: ‘Corporate Greed Is Destroying Our Games And Our Livelihoods’Former and current workers and supporters rallied outside ZeniMax offices across the US and Canada to protest Microsoft’s latest cuts![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f2f84bc8-2e4f-4bb5-a657-8ed7ae7e71d2.png)AftermathMikhail Klimentov![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_2638--1--2-1-1-1-c56f2218-53e6-4a75-a2f0-83d937c3ff87.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/) ### 'Gen-AI Controversy Aside' Is A Wild Thing To Write In A Video Game Preview URL: https://aftermath.site/crazy-taxi-ai-preview/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T00:04:21.000Z Not that anyone reading this website needs to be told this, but[ the use of generative AI in video game development is not very popular among players](https://quanticfoundry.com/2025/12/18/gen-ai/?ref=aftermath.site). As more and more people become aware of the environmental, societal and economic impacts of the technology, and continue to drown in the visual slop it creates, its use in video games becomes ever more indefensible. Which is why I did a cartoonish, eyeball-bulging double take last week when Eurogamer published the following story: [Gen-AI controversy aside, after 30 minutes with Crazy Taxi: World Tour, it feels like classic arcade Sega - and it’s an absolute blastCrazy Taxi was not my favourite Dreamcast game (please don’t ask me to choose between the triumphant rhythm triptych of…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-48x48-c2db4142-3f9c-44f6-bcc2-54df2d134d5f.png)Eurogamer.netMatt Wales![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/crazy-taxi-world-tour-germany-header-0066b56a-fe50-48c9-94d5-c3d4f7b89492.jpg)](https://www.eurogamer.net/crazy-taxi-world-tour-gamescom-preview?ref=aftermath.site) This game, which is not even out yet,[ is perhaps better known for its use of AI in development than the fact it's a new *Crazy Taxi*](https://aftermath.site/crazy-taxi-world-tour-tomb-raider-steam-ai/), so trying to brush that fact aside in a headline--then only mention AI in passing in the 12th paragraph of a 12-paragraph story--sure is a decision when covering this kind of story in 2026. You can't place it to one side! It's [part of the story](https://aftermath.site/crazy-taxi-world-tour-tomb-raider-steam-ai/), and is at the forefront of the audience's perception of the game. It's impossible to talk about this game and *not* talk about AI, so to relegate the topic to what's essentially a legally-obligated disclaimer, buried at the end of the story and under a bunch of ads, is to deprive your readers of important context the game's coverage deserves. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Capture.JPG) At time of posting this was the most popular of the 128 comments left under the preview Readers are justifiably mad. The social media posts were ratio'd to hell and back, and there are well over 100 comments underneath the story itself. And they're mad for good reason: a real danger with AI's relentless attempt to seep its way into every corner of our lives is that people will start to get tired of resisting it. They’re mad that websites like Eurogamer, who have posted countless anti-AI stories over the years and even[ penalised games in their reviews for making use of it](https://www.eurogamer.net/arc-raiders-review?ref=aftermath.site), are by September 2026 publishing throwaway lines like "Gen-AI Controversy Aside". A few days later, Eurogamer[ then ran an impressions piece for *1666: Amsterdam*](https://www.eurogamer.net/1666-amsterdam-early-access-review?ref=aftermath.site), a game[ made perhaps even more infamous for its disastrous use of AI](https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-ai-game/), and dropped in a single line that reads "There's the AI stuff in the game, of course, which is just as miserable as always". [This Is Hopefully The Last Time I’m Writing About 1666: Amsterdam‘I can ask the AI to give me 75 different variations of one thing, but I cannot have 75 different illustrators come up with a variation in three seconds’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-dca70071-5594-4011-827d-653c3ca2aed0.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-08-14-092127-9f25d752-4faf-4a5e-9b44-db2bb244364b.png)](https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-ai-game/) I understand that it's tiring trying to call out AI's use in video games if you're opposed to the tech, especially if your job is to report on them. It's certainly exhausting writing about it every week. But that exhaustion is also the point. AI is being relentlessly[ crammed into our working lives and emails](https://aftermath.site/google-docs-grammar-suggestions-suck-ass/) and personal assistants and search results and customer service experiences and every other corner of our lives,[ and the big companies behind AI know most people hate the tech](https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/ai-unpopular-in-america-new-nbc-poll/?ref=aftermath.site) and are trying to resist it as much as we can. But they don't care; they're hoping to simply wear us down until we give up, to accept that this shit is just part of life now because it has become inescapable. I know these posts don't seem that heinous, but they're indicative of that slide, and I'd hope the reaction to them is a sharp reminder to everyone still writing about video games for a living that, as boring as continually covering AI can seem, your readers know how important it has been and still is in shaping the environment in which you're writing. ### A Zelda Game Ought To Leave More To The Imagination Than This URL: https://aftermath.site/zelda-ocarina-of-time-remake-nintendo/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T21:04:30.000Z I like the mossy cave leading to the Great Deku Tree, the way the tunnel feels less like infrastructure and more like an accident of nature. Like Link is boring through the wild history of a world indifferent to him trudging through it. Like if he sat down there for a little too long, the roots and vines would grow over him, making him part of the scenery, another detail for someone else to run past. The first in-depth look at Nintendo's [forthcoming remake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuMHONlXptI&ref=aftermath.site) of *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* is full of details like this, the thoughtful rendering of wood and stone and vegetation, a misty fog that suggests the Kokiri Forest smells richly of mildew. I didn't imagine any of this when playing the original version of *Ocarina of Time*, released in 1998 on Nintendo 64, and remastered with minor alterations on the Nintendo 3DS in 2011\. I was busy imagining what has now been rendered in this new version of the game: What the cloth of Link's tunic might feel like, what I might see if I could move the camera freely around the cobblestoned streets of Hyrule Castle Town, if there was some hidden ruin somewhere in Hyrule Field that only I could find. These questions seem moot in 2026's *Ocarina of Time*, a remake that appears from this generous preview to be tremendously faithful to the original and also incredibly solid and rational. It has done all this imagining for me. In spite of their endless pursuit of realism, video games are at their most powerful in their capacity for abstraction. The game designer's decision to simulate some things over others, their choices for disguising the hard boundaries of their systems – these are in turn invitations for players to fill in the blanks with a little bit of themselves. To imagine. The Legend of Zelda has always been a potent vector for this imagination, as the 8-bit sprites of the 1986 NES original game were among the first to give players the feeling of a wild world worth exploring. Each generational leap in technology has seen a new Zelda game attempt to recapture this feeling in a new context: The wide-open oceans of *The Wind Waker*, or the sky islands and pitch-black depths of *Tears of the Kingdom*. And so I wonder: Where is my imagination meant to find a home in a game like *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* (2026)? The original is among the most over-examined and thoroughly-praised games in the video game canon, partly because of the way that it rendered the abstraction of previous Zelda games into something more astonishingly lifelike, and partly because there was still plenty of work that the player's imagination had to do to make its more fully-realized world feel real. There's also the fact that many come to Zelda games as children, and there is a wide gulf between the imagination of a child and that of an adult. Children will not wonder what Hyrule's taxes are like. I am no longer a child, and *Ocarina of Time* is no longer using a polygonal shorthand to evoke the wildness of Hyrule. Link appears uncanny, strange, as if he is sculpted from a material I cannot place, something not quite wood nor plastic. He would not be out of place in a stop-motion feature, but that's not what this is. It is a fluid, video game world, appearing on screen at the smooth framerate expected of modern games. As such, it is odd to see him rendered this way. Other characters don't look as off-putting to my eye; they feel like dolls in the way that I suppose I always presumed they were, little figurines populating a world that feels like a diorama – and it's here that I see the aesthetic connection to 2019's lovely, toylike remake of *The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening*. Maybe I am merely uncomfortable revisiting a character previously known to me as a rough assemblage of polygons, to learn that he too has been changed into a marionette. Still lifeless, except for whatever life I decide to lend him. Maybe that's not so bad. Maybe through him, I will find my imagination free to wander in different directions. Time will tell. Mostly though, this new vision of *Ocarina* *of Time* just raises impossible questions for me. I want to know things that are unknowable, to see this game with another's heart and mind–someone who has only known games in high definition, where abstraction via rudimentary graphics wasn't the base supposition. What do you wish for when turned loose into the too-green fields of a video game? When you turn the console off for the night and close your eyes, do you long for something you can't find there? Do you wish there was more? Zelda games, after all, are different now. They are still interested in evoking wonder, in leaving room for your imagination, but using the language of modern games with their towers and maps full of icons and open-world activities. *Breath of the Wild* and *Tears of the Kingdom* stand in opposition to the cruft of games like countless Assassin's Creed installments and *Crimson Desert*, with their manic efforts to please the player and constantly give them something to do. They lack the patience for quiet of the modern Zeldas, which are no less dense, but have so much more room for the player. What argument does a remake of *Ocarina of Time* make in this context? Maybe the optimist's view is that *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* (2026), in its painstaking detail and single-minded reproduction of the 1998 game, is an argument for limitations in a world where the biggest games must do it all – that all the technical resources in the world will not dull the magic of a game with such a careful focus. This could have been a version of *Ocarina of Time* with new depths to plumb, mechanics that gesture at where the series is now, something that, in crass commercial terms, justifies paying whatever price Nintendo asks for it. But what was shown today resists that: This appears to be exactly the game the world fell in love with in 1998\. And all of the increased resources available to its developers now haven't been used towards making the game bigger, fresher, or novel to those who have played the original endlessly. Instead, in this charitable reading, that time and energy was spent on reconstructing the knotty growth of Hyrule's forests and oppressive mountains, rendering them even more dramatic. In reasserting that not everything a designer crafts is there for you to climb, to master. Some of it is there just for you to wonder about. And so I look forward to *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* (2026), to see the ways this new vision is received by a world that is unrecognizable from the one in which I played the game the first time. I want to see where it leads our imaginations, how it collides with this coarser world of casual video game magic, if it fills me with different questions than the ones I had the first time around. I want to know if there's still room there for me. ### Sound of A Blink Is A Manga About Loss That Hits Incredibly Close URL: https://aftermath.site/sound-of-a-blink-is-a-manga-about-loss-that-hits-incredibly-close/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T18:46:13.000Z When I first took a gander at the upcoming slate of manga announcements this fall, [*Sound Of A Blink* caught my eye](https://x.com/VIZMedia/status/2024909198635544985?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). It was in the macro overlaying sketches gracing its cover, its provocative title, and the eyebrow raising prospect of it being a semi-autobiographical work by the author who penned one of my favorite psychological drama manga, *The Flowers of Evil*. What I didn’t expect, after reading an early copy provided by Viz Media ahead of its September 15th release, was for the manga to unearth my own recent loss of a loved one in such a transparent, matter-of-fact way. ![Sound Of A Blink manga cover art.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/sound-of-a-blink-4.png) Shuzo Oshimi / Viz Media [*Sound Of A Blink*](https://www.viz.com/manga-books/manga/sound-of-a-blink-volume-1-0/product/9002?ref=aftermath.site), by [Shuzo Oshimi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%ABz%C5%8D%5FOshimi?ref=aftermath.site), follows the mangaka early in his career. In any other tale, Oshimi’s life up to this point would be a triumphant falling action to a long road of sacrifice finally rewarded. He’s in a decent college, he’s got a girlfriend, a roof over his head; what more can he ask for? Although Oshimi is on the up and up, having recently won an award meant to propel the future class of mangaka into the mainstream, you wouldn’t know it. He’s been dealing with a lot of unaddressed family baggage, all of which is starkly brought to light after a bombshell of a cold call from his father, revealing that his fifteen-year-old little brother is in the hospital with a brain tumor. Now, he’s gotta address all his damage, which he does in the only way he knows how: his art. If you’re a fan of manga about art a la [*Look Back*](https://aftermath.site/look-back-gkids-tatsuki-fujimoto/) and [*Blue Period*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%5FPeriod%5F%28manga%29?ref=aftermath.site), *Sound Of A Blink* resonates in a similar register. However, instead of staying strictly in the lane of celebrating art and the human artists behind it, *Sound Of A Blink* narrows its focus to the unglamorous life of artists through its own artwork. Namely, how tumultuous life experiences can shape one's art like a muse, and how they can also act as an anchor that keeps an artist grounded when they’re at their most rudderless. ![Sound Of A Blink pages of Shuzo remembering his brother.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/sound-of-a-blink-1-1.png) Shuzo Oshimi / Viz Media Like many an artist, Oshimi’s affinity for art started at home. While his love of art reached new heights after his father showed him “realistic” artwork from [Odilon Redon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon%5FRedon?ref=aftermath.site), he really found his love of drawing when his little brother practically beamed after he drew *Detective Conan* fan art for him. After a while, though, art became a kind of prison for Oshimi. Instead of veering into overly familiar, verging-on-nihilistic exploration of art as a laborious act of love that hurts to give yourself to, the manga acts as a heavy reminder of why we do it. Memory is a funny thing. Whenever I remember something, I’m reminded that the act is less about remembering something exactly as it happened than recreating a scenario based on fragments of how it made me feel. Objectivity be damned. Throughout *Sound Of A Blink,* Oshimi taps into that phenomenon through his fine-line artwork. Here, he accentuates the ephemeral nature of memory with frustrated scribbles and opaque details of things he held dear coming into focus in a stream-of-consciousness manner. At the forefront of his mind is the fear that the sight of his gaunt brother laid up in the hospital will forever tarnish his once-beaming smile as his last living memory of him. This sends Oshimi into a heavy whirlwind of an inward journey, tracing the somewhat pyrrhic path he endured to become a mangaka. His tale is rife with malignant interpersonal turmoil and resentment toward his well-meaning parents, fear of past relationships repeating in newfound loves, and doing art as a job without the passion he once had. Shuzu’s pens his baggage with such nonchalance that can only come from years of looking inward and finding hard truths about yourself. As a reader, what rises to the top is the necessary discomfort of thinking and talking about yourself while sitting bedside to a loved one: a phenomenon I also experienced with the passing of my aunt earlier this year. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/sound-of-a-blink-3-1-1.png) Shuzo Oshimi / Viz Media No matter how many times I pushed back on making time to see my aunt, I always assumed I’d have time to get around to it in earnest. Outside of the morbid hi-bye of meeting at the wake of a former church congregation member’s funeral, I hadn’t seen her in a real way in shy of a decade since I moved back to Chicago. That sting hurts all the more whenever I reflect on the whole fact that we lived a neighborhood over from each other for five years. Still, every Mother’s Day, I floated the idea that my cousin, my mom, and I would get together like the good old days, this time with their children treating them to a post-church meal out like they treated us to a meal growing up. After years of fancying the scenario with the same fervor of a high school classmate ambivalently writing H.A.G.S (Have a great summer) in a yearbook, I resolved this year would be when I finally got to it. Maybe she’d pinch my cheeks and smile to hear that her nephew, who’d fold computer paper to make my own manga stories, was interviewing creators they admired as their job, which they fought hard as hell to do after nearly giving up. It never came to pass. Like Oshimi, I got a cold call from my mom that my aunt’s cancer got really bad, and that she was in hospice. Ahead of my pilgrimage, I ran through a litany of lost-time conversations we’d have: What I’ve made of myself in the years since we last spoke and whether she’d praise me for it or push me to keep trucking. With everything feeling on the precipice of being worth reporting back on, I kind of dreaded talking about my perceived “making it” feeling perpetually on layaway. But when I saw her, she was most of the way gone. Like Oshimi, I stuttered, not really knowing what was appropriate to say other than falling to my knees, holding her hand in mine, and saying “I’m here” repeatedly. A handful of tissues later, my mom arrived, and we got a vastly different version of how I’d imagined our reunion to be. We talked almost as if nothing had happened. At first I wondered if it was even “okay” to talk so candidly while my aunt was transitioning, and if the shoes were on the other foot, how I’d feel if I were my aunt in this situation. How scary it’d be to struggle to turn someone I knew into a character that’d exist forever in my own mind, and whether I’d be able to do them justice. Summarizing an entire person into a memory is a lot of responsibility to live up to. ![Sound Of A Blink page of Shuzo remembering the birth of his brother.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/sound-of-a-blink-2.png) Shuzo Oshimi / Viz Media As someone who finds comfort drifting to sleep listening to spirited conversations, *Sound Of A Blink* helped me through my mourning by positing that hearing loved ones chat while you drift to the big sleep being the best comfort you can give them. *Sound Of A Blink* rides the line of ending on a comforting and afflicting note, it being the first volume of however many to come left me with a promising feeling that it might help me through my own mourning and steps toward my own refired convictions with my own “art” like Shuzu. To this day, I swear I saw a single tear roll down my aunt’s cheek when I held her hand in mine. It may have been involuntary, but I choose to believe otherwise. ## Recommended: [How Do We Relationship? Is A Brutal Stumble Toward True LoveOnce Tamifull’s manga moves beyond its load-bearing yuri-for-straights scaffolding, it blossoms into a remarkable queer romance![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-4fe3508d-e150-487f-a0b6-3643d8400ca8.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/how-do-we-relationship-manga-viz-media-tamifull-1439e19a-f860-4915-8814-189fee9b534d.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/how-do-we-relationship-yuri-manga-tamifull-viz-media/) ## ### Wake Up Babe, New Layoff Horrors Just Dropped URL: https://aftermath.site/futurlab-powerwash-simulator-layoffs/ Last updated: 2026-09-09T13:12:31.000Z There’s never a *good* way to do layoffs; even in the best of such terrible circumstances, no one ends the day feeling great. But there’s got to be a better way than *PowerWash Simulator* developer FuturLab reportedly did them recently, where sources claim team leaders weren’t even told why their employees were gone. According to a report by [This Week In Videogames](https://thisweekinvideogames.com/news/powerwash-simulator-developer-futurlab-quietly-conducts-layoffs-cancels-in-development-project/?ref=aftermath.site), seven people were let go from FuturLab after the cancellation of a project that had been in development for a few years, and which was not related to [*PowerWash Simulator*](https://aftermath.site/power-wash-simulator-2-chores/). This happens! What tends *not* to happen is that, according to a source, “managers and team leads were not informed that their direct reports were going to be away or why.” Once it became known that the seven workers were no longer with the company, sources say that remaining FuturLab employees were told to call them “the leavers” and to avoid using the word “redundancy.” TWIV writes that > Staff were also reportedly told that managers and team leads were “not included in choosing the affected individuals to not give them any of the guilt,” and that the redundancies were conducted in this way to prevent staff from enduring “the stress of not knowing their job security for the two weeks of the process.” FuturLab CEO Kirsty Rigden confirmed to TWIV that seven workers had left the company, telling the outlet in a statement that “seven people have left the business” due to the cancelled project. “This is awful as these are people who are super talented and many of whom have been with us a long time, and I really really appreciate them,” Rigden said. “This was not an easy or quick decision to make.” FuturLab would not confirm to TWIV that the people had left due to layoffs, with the company saying it was “unable to divulge any further details about a confidential and legally binding process.” I have been fortunate enough in my leadership career to never have to conduct layoffs, though I’ve been in situations where I’ve lain awake at night wrestling with how I would do them if upper management demanded it. Surprise: It would suck and I would feel bad! So there’s part of me that can understand the thinking of cutting managers and team leads out of the process, especially if it’s not their call. But to reportedly be completely in the dark wouldn't spare me any “guilt;” I’d feel like a bad leader if I didn’t know what was happening to my people. And even if it wasn’t my decision, I’d still feel the responsibility to look my people in the eye and deliver the news myself, particularly if, as Rigden told TWIV, they’d been with the studio a long time. Beyond that, instructing employees not to say that laid-off workers were laid off makes no sense. What is FuturLab trying to accomplish by pushing the idea that seven people just left at once after their project was canceled? Rigden calls it a “decision,” so clearly it wasn’t some weird coincidence. Layoffs affect workers who didn’t lose their jobs, as well as those who did; the people remaining at the company deserve an honest accounting of what happened and the ability to talk about it freely with their colleagues. Nobody likes layoffs, and I am even soft-hearted enough to believe that the people who decide to do them don’t take any pleasure in the task, despite the game industry’s repeated proof to the contrary. But to deny leaders the chance to be good leaders, even when those decisions are made over their heads, and to deny affected workers’ colleagues the ability to acknowledge what happened, is a new low. [PowerWash Simulator Developer Quietly Conducts Layoffs, Cancels In-Development ProjectSources say managers were unaware direct reports would be affected, with Futurlab staff reportedly told to avoid using the term “redundancy”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/cropped-512x512-1-270x270-b0509608-26a8-44c4-948d-850681ecaef3.png)This Week in Videogames - TWIVMaddie Agne![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/powerwash-simulator-2-key-art-900980a9-7d6e-4f6f-89c9-fce17edce003.jpg)](https://thisweekinvideogames.com/news/powerwash-simulator-developer-futurlab-quietly-conducts-layoffs-cancels-in-development-project/?ref=aftermath.site) ### Zero Company's Characters Are Animated With Such Lovely Little Human/Alien Touches URL: https://aftermath.site/star-wars-zero-company-cutscene-cinematic-animation/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T22:14:29.000Z If you're reading this you probably know by now that Bit Reactor, the studio behind *Star Wars Zero Company*, is made up ([for now](https://aftermath.site/star-wars-zero-company-furlough-layoffs-bit-reactor/)) of a lot of the same folks behind the success of the *XCOM* series. Which is cool, but today I want to talk about how much I love seeing the bones of another, unlikely Firaxis game turn up in the *Star Wars* universe: *Civilization*. *Civ* does not have a strong history with either sci-fi story-telling or turn-based tactics, but the one thing *Zero Company* does have in common with Sid Meier's long-running series is that some animators, artists and cinematics folks from *Civilization VI* also worked on *Zero Company*. I once wrote a whole blog called "[*Civilization VI* Has The Most Incredible Animation](https://kotaku.com/civilization-vi-has-the-most-incredible-animation-1791100996?ref=aftermath.site)", because it *did*: The leader animations you'd encounter in diplomatic scenes were some of the funniest, most evocative works of video game art I have ever seen, and went a long way towards filling the game with a real sense of humour and character that it was otherwise sorely lacking. Just look at this, it's such wonderful work: It doesn't take long after booting up *Zero Company* to see some of the same juice in action. I'm not saying *Zero Company's* characters and animations are done by *all the same people* responsible for *Civ VI's*, but a quick check on Linkedin revealed there's a few who have worked on both (and *Midnight Suns* in between), so there's some DNA (or even just influence) being shared here. Nearly every cutscene in *Zero Company* is full of the most *human* (or alien!) touches: Characters will throw their arms up in the air, point angrily, roll their eyes and sigh as deeply as a 3D model existing within a video game that doesn't actually need to breathe can sigh. It not only looks cool, but it really brings a sense of warmth and togetherness to the whole thing. These aren't a collection of nameless soldiers, these are your *guys*. I can't stress enough how important this seemingly minor touch is to the overall experience! A big part of what's sucking me into *Zero Company* between missions is that I get excited about hanging out with this wacky crew. I love seeing Hawks exhale as someone says some extremely dumb shit, I love seeing Runa flail her arms around while she tries to brag about something, I love seeing Tel--*who is wearing a dead, lifeless mask*\--somehow have more expression in her actions than other games can manage with a fully mo-capped face rig, all expressed through the gentlest of finger motions. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-04-152257.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-04-152247.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-04-152236.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-04-152215.png) The tiniest movements in a character's face can make a huge difference to their ability to convey an emotion! They're all so real and alive and full of sass (a big thanks to the voice actors here as well) that it makes this game feel more like an epic RPG than a mildly repetitive turn-based tactics game. Normally this genre would need to get you romancing its characters to make you feel this strongly about them (I'm looking at you, *Fire Emblem*), so to have me feeling so fondly towards almost the entire cast just on the strength of their glares and folding arms is one hell of an achievement. ### There Are More Video Games Coming Out Than We Can Ever Hope To See Or Play URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-number-games-released/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T22:14:10.000Z Ask anyone who is a player, pundit, worker or analyst what the biggest threat to a video game's potential success in 2026 is and you'll get a whole spectrum of answers, ranging from a fixation on short-term earnings by the executive class to the cost-of-living crisis. One thing most would agree on though would be: there are simply too many video games. When you look out over the industry as a whole--and[ Steam in particular, since that's where so many of the total number of customers, global studios and businesses are operating](https://www.pcguide.com/news/new-report-suggests-steam-now-has-over-200-million-users-making-it-over-50-larger-than-playstation/?ref=aftermath.site)\--and see the sheer volume of games being released, it's not hard seeing the reason so many releases, even very good ones, are being overlooked and are sinking beneath the waves. Take last week (and this is data from ICO Partners CEO Thomas Bidaux,[ as reported by GI.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/over-700-games-launched-on-steam-in-one-week-for-the-first-time-though-74-had-fewer-than-10-reviews?ref=aftermath.site)) for example, when 720 games were released on Steam. *720 new video games*, in just *seven* days. That's a new record for the platform,[ though much like climate milestones](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62rrj66p3eo?ref=aftermath.site), it's one that currently exists only to soon be broken. The number of games releasing on Steam has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2019 just over 8000 were released, [according to figures posted by SteamDB](https://steamdb.info/stats/releases/?ref=aftermath.site). By 2025, that figure was over *21,000*. And while there are caveats to that increase--a sizeable percentage of them are [what Steam calls 'Limited Games'](https://steamdb.info/tag/1003823/?ref=aftermath.site), meaning nobody buys or reviews them--it's still a figure that makes discoverability and exposure an absolute *nightmare*. ❓ ****Why is this a** ***problem** **?** Loads of reasons! For developers, a game that took a team of people years to make can disappear without a trace. For players, you could miss a game perfectly suited for you. And even for Valve, it's becoming a quality control issue, as Steam's new release section becomes overwhelming. Ever take a look at Steam's 'New Releases' tab in its entirety lately? It looks like this: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-03-102841.png) Yikes. While Valve to their credit keeps trying to find ways to help players hack through all this scrub, like the Discovery Queue and, more recently, the addition of a "Personal Calendar" feature (which is pictured up top), there's no amount of curation or guidance that can hope to cut through *that* many releases. Take the Personal Calendar, for example; while noble in intent, and certainly useful in some cases, for the most part even this supposedly laser-targeted discoverability feature is still recommending 2-4 games to me every day. Every day! I do not have the time in my life to play that many games even if I wanted to, and my job involves playing video games. Someone who is out of the house for 10 hours a day, and who is most likely suffering through a cost-of-living crisis, couldn't even scratch the surface. Meaning that multiple times every day a game that I could have maybe loved, and more importantly for its developers spent money on, drops off my radar and into oblivion. The next day it will happen again. And each time it happens, sure, you might catch a glimpse of an AI-riddled slopfest sliding off into sunset, but you might also have missed out on a hidden gem, an underrated treasure that you might otherwise have loved if only it had been given more time--or even *any* time--in the spotlight. There's no fix here for the quantity of games being released. I am not (and nobody should be) the Video Game Police; this is just what the industry looks like now, thanks to more affordable game-making tools and the reduced scope of so many titles in this increasingly post-AAA era. Nobody is going to be able to stop so many people and so many studios from making games. But the simple fact is that while the number of games available on Steam increases exponentially, the number of people *buying* them is not (or at least at nowhere near the same rate as they’re being released), nor are the number of hours we have free in the day to play them or the amount of money we have spare to buy them. There's a bottleneck in the market, one that's being squeezed ever tighter by the week, and if nobody is going to be able to slow the number of games being released--a trend that was shooting upwards even before AI reduced the barrier to entry--the only avenue left to try to improve things for all of us, the people playing and making games, is discoverability. Helping the right games find the right audience. And I don't mean asking Valve to fix an existing system, or create a new one. Between its various charts, Discovery Queue, Personal Calendar and Wishlists, Steam is already bristling with attempts at curating this firehose, and as we've already seen they don't work so great. Half the problem here is that tens of thousands of games are being pushed onto a single global storefront, which when you step back and think about is absolutely insane. We rightfully complain about subscription fatigue, but imagine if every TV show on the planet was forced onto a single streaming platform–it would be an absolute nightmare (anyone who has ever tried to[ wade through a Fire Stick](https://au.pcmag.com/media-streaming-devices/114187/using-pirated-apps-on-your-fire-tv-stick-amazon-is-set-to-shut-you-out?ref=aftermath.site) will know the feeling). For all of TV's issues, at the very least I know that I can open up Apple TV, Netflix and my local TV stations (ABC and SBS especially) and appreciate that I'll be offered, and be looking for, different and unique stuff on each. I know there are a ton of conveniences associated with Steam, like the fact it *works*, has big sales and keeps your library in one place, but between its unreasonable 30% cut of most games and this discoverability bottleneck, it's also becoming clear that the world could really do with a few more options when it comes to PC shopfronts. Like yes, there is GOG (also very good for *owning* your games), [Epic was trying pretty hard there for a while](https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckepic/comments/1q6ouz7/epic%5Fgames%5Fstore%5Fgrew%5Fusers%5Fby%5F173%5Fover%5F6%5Fyears/?ref=aftermath.site) and some major publishers have gambled on opening their own stores, but until we live in a world with at least 1-2 *major* competitors to Steam, this is a problem that's only going to get worse. I don't know how you do that! Maybe regional stores? Shopfronts catering to specific genres or types of game? If I did know, you can bet I'd be keeping my damn mouth shut and[ working on a way to get a slice of an $11 billion pie](https://www.gamesradar.com/hardware/steam-has-reportedly-made-valve-more-money-in-the-first-half-of-2026-than-it-did-in-all-of-2020-usd11-1-billion-and-counting/?ref=aftermath.site). All I know is that we need to do *something*, because pretty soon we'll be looking at 40,000 video games coming out in a calendar year, and if they're all trying to squeeze onto Steam I don't even know what that looks like beyond "God help us all". ### In Fields Of Mistria, The Pleasures Are In The Details URL: https://aftermath.site/in-fields-of-mistria-the-pleasures-are-in-the-details/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T20:00:55.000Z I often wonder why I play so many farming simulators. Mechanically, most of them are exactly the same—you farm, you sell crops, you romance townspeople, rinse and repeat. *Fields of Mistria* does not differ so much from this formula, but it is one of the best expressions of it that I’ve played in a long time. [*Fields of Mistria*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2142790/Fields%5Fof%5FMistria/?ref=aftermath.site) could be uncharitably described as *Stardew Valley* with magic, but that’s not what makes this game special (and besides, adding magic to a farming sim is already a sub-genre, with [many](https://runefactory.com/?ref=aftermath.site) [examples](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2230110/Fae%5FFarm/?ref=aftermath.site)). What I keep coming back to is the richness in the writing, especially in the characters who fill out the town of Mistria. Because these kinds of games are all so mechanically similar, they really live or die based on the storylines you can explore with each of the people who live in town. (Which I should know, because I am writing a romance novel set in a farming simulator called *Level Up For Romance!* coming in 2027.) The citizens of Mistria start off as broad archetypes, but become unique over time. I like fan favorite March, who has a bad attitude but a soft center, and Ryis, the sweet boy who apprentices with his uncle at the carpenter’s shop. But there’s also Juniper, who runs the baths and teases the player constantly, and Valen, the no-nonsense doctor. The child characters, like the aspiring entomologist Luc, also have robust characterization–in other farming sims, kids can often feel incidental, because well, they’re just kids. But no one is “just” anyone in *Fields of Mistria*. It never feels like this town was waiting for you to arrive. It has a history; the characters have pasts and interconnect with each other. I love how this is expressed every weekend in-game, when characters all meet at the Tavern on Saturday nights. There are various ongoing plot lines you can check in on. One group of characters is playing a *Dungeons and Dragons* pastiche, initially not taking it very seriously but getting more and more into it each week. At another table, some of the characters play cards, cheating, complaining, and taking each others’ money. These stories don’t stay static—the player character isn’t the only one who can change as time passes. There are some tiny mechanical differences from other farming sims that also make the game less of a hassle to play. Shops don’t open and close on a schedule, so you don’t have to run your errands at particular times. When you craft things, your materials are all sourced from your chests, so you don’t have to carry crafting materials around all day. The combat—because there’s monsters in the mines where you can also scavenge for crafting materials—is also a little bit more involved than spamming the attack button. There’s something *Dark Souls*\-esque in the way you have to pay attention to character animations and get locked into an attack animation as soon as you press the corresponding button. All these mechanical changes are nice to have, but I keep playing because of the people of Mistria. It’s an achievement to make a fake town feel like a real place, and I love spending time there. ### Star Wars Zero Company's Success Is Bittersweet URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/star-wars-zero-company-furlough-stephen-totilo/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T14:53:29.000Z *Star Wars Zero Company* has had a rocky few weeks to say the least. By all accounts the game is doing gangbusters, although it is in desperate need of optimization (which is very XCOM). We here at Aftermath are really in love with it, particularly Luke, Chris and Nathan. Unfortunately, that joy was tempered by much of the staff of developer [Bit Reactor getting furloughed](https://aftermath.site/star-wars-zero-company-furlough-layoffs-bit-reactor/) prior to the game’s release. Recently, former Kotaku bossman turned Game File author Stephen Totilo [broke the story of the furlough and a Bit Reactor lawsuit](https://www.gamefile.news/p/star-wars-zero-company-bit-reactor-furloughs-lawsuit?ref=aftermath.site) over who owns the company. He also [broke a story](https://www.gamefile.news/p/facing-lawsuit-sony-argues-its-already?ref=aftermath.site) about PlayStation’s absurd argument in court where they outright stated that [two people can’t really “own” the same game digitally](https://aftermath.site/sony-court-digital-ownership-playstation/), which made us tremendously confused and annoyed. On Aftermath Hours, Luke and Chris caught up with our former boss to talk Game File scoops, digital ownership, the messy situation that led to the furloughs and how, despite all of that, *Star Wars Zero Company* is still one of the best Star Wars games in years, a fantastic debut hit that hopefully indicates that there is more to come from Bit Reactor, provided they can just find a way to do right by their workers and get them paid. You can find this week's episode below and on[ Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site),[ Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can keep creating Aftermath Hours and don’t have to furlough me and Luke. ### Future? No Thanks! Thinks The Revolution Is Possible, But Also Pretty Funny URL: https://aftermath.site/future-no-thanks-review/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T17:36:51.000Z Video games love to imagine dystopic futures– *Cyberpunk*, *Fallout, Wolfenstein*–and set the player as a hero fighting to make things better. Games that [do imagine something more hopeful](https://aftermath.site/4x-game-climate-capitalism-civilization-future/) are frequently systems games, helping players think on a grand scale how humanity might get from here to there. *Future? No Thanks!* does something different. It paints the kind of socialist utopia often dreamed of in DSA meetings and Bluesky posts, but then casts the player as an elderly boomer who thinks the whole thing is horseshit. [*Future? No Thanks!*](https://futurenothanks.com/?ref=aftermath.site)is the latest game by Molleindustria, a studio behind various [political simulation games](https://aftermath.site/new-york-times-simulator/) and digital experiments. The game has had a long road to its surprise release on Friday: shortly before it was meant to come out in late July, developer Paolo Pedercini announced that [it had been delayed](https://bsky.app/profile/molleindustria.org/post/3mrahp6hqrc24?ref=aftermath.site) due to being held up in [Steam’s content review](https://aftermath.site/steam-censorship-future-no-thanks-perfect-tides/). Over the next month-plus, Pedercini tried to communicate with Valve and to tweak the game, offering to remove a plotline centered on sex and change the names of some of the achievements. After Pedercini went public with how the situation had led to [players at August’s Gamescom being unable to see the *Future?* store page](https://bsky.app/profile/molleindustria.org/post/3mu363pkzzc2l?ref=aftermath.site) because of German age restriction laws, Valve [re-reviewed the game](https://bsky.app/profile/molleindustria.org/post/3mu6c37xfds27?ref=aftermath.site) to remove the restrictive tagging, and now the game is out. “I'm looking forward to talking to people about the game rather than about why Gabe Newell doesn't want to join [IARC](https://globalratings.com/?ref=aftermath.site), the different flavors of [USK](https://usk.de/en/?ref=aftermath.site), [Collective Shout](https://aftermath.site/itch-io-nsfw-adult-content-remove-payment-processors-collective-shout/) and payment processors,” Pedercini [wrote on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/molleindustria.org/post/3mu6cjlllhc27?ref=aftermath.site). > It looks like Steam re-reviewed Future? No Thanks! and removed the "frequent nudity or adult content" reverting the Germany geo-ban and the age verification by credit card in the UK. It officially has only "some nudity or adult content" as every good game should. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qtuursbdld45szkmbaids3h7/post/3mu6c37xfds27?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Molleindustria FUTURE? NO THANKS! DEMO OUT ([@molleindustria.org](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qtuursbdld45szkmbaids3h7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 28, 2026 at 5:19 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qtuursbdld45szkmbaids3h7/post/3mu6c37xfds27?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) The version of the game out today still features the questlines Pedercini suspected could have led to the flag, though he told Aftermath that a character in the storyline now wears a bra. And it’s just one of several storylines in the game, which plays more like a traditional open world game than Molleindustria’s previous work. You play as Harvey Huffstone, a baby boomer whose life has been unnaturally extended thanks to advances in medical science. He now finds himself living in a version of the future where millennials and subsequent generations didn’t just (finally) come into power, but created the kind of world the New York Times and Washington Post op-eds of our day love to scaremonger against. There are vestiges of the old world–the United States has become balkanized, and not all areas are as progressive as the game’s Pittsburgh setting–but in Harvey’s world, there’s universal basic income and free health care. The city is full of free stores, ethically-sourced coffee shops, and suburbs being rewilded. The US Steel factory is now pronounced “us” and runs on consensus. Police are costumed characters trained in community safety and conflict de-escalation; today’s ACAB slogan now stands for “All Cops Are Besties.” (“Policing is like comedy,” one cop tells Harvey, “you always have to punch up.”) The billionaires all flew away to space and died; Elon Musk and his Hyperloop are slang insults now. This doesn’t mean everything is perfect–climate change is still an issue, notably–but the biggest problems Harvey observes aren’t the “gotcha”s that the Right seems to long for, where no one works or takes out the trash. Instead, they’re the problems you might already be familiar with depending how involved in leftist politics you are: There are too many meetings that take way too long, and everyone is a little bit cringe. Harvey is a retired insurance claims specialist who feels left behind by this future, and he’s ready to end things. He’s chosen euthenasia, which he can get for free at the Bernie Sanders Geriatric Hospital, which has a memorial “to the victims of private healthcare” in its lobby. Before he goes, an algorithm (AI is still a part of this world, alas, though it now seems largely confined to MarxNet, the all-knowing head of Karl Marx) gives him a series of “last day on Earth” tasks. Most of these are peak boomer–eat a real steak, drive a gas car, smoke a cigar, have sex for the last time–but he’s also gnawed at by the possibility of reconciling with his estranged daughter and grandchild before he goes. Of course none of these tasks are simple in a world of electric cars and biolab meat. The quests are fairly classic stuff: getting this object requires winning over these people, or getting into that area requires procuring this key. Pursuing all this takes Harvey around the city (either by subway or his on-demand motorized wheelchair), interacting with Pittsburgh’s various residents. As he does, he’s forced to enter into their lives a little more. He sits through an astonishing number of meetings (you can skip through them, but I, an inveterate meeting-lover, did not), avails himself of a public library that includes a meaty [cyberpunk translation of *Das Kapital*](https://perebite.com/cyberpunkcapital/?ref=aftermath.site#/cyberpunkcapital/chap-0#top), explores neo-pagan rituals, and even finds vestiges of the world he once knew hidden away in pockets. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/futstore.jpeg) Molleindustria/Aftermath *Future? No Thanks!* never becomes some big treatise on leftist politics or inter-generational conflict. Instead, by making the game’s protagonist someone it’s likely many of its players might consider an “enemy” and setting up as hostile a world many of those players might dream of living in, it’s able to get enough distance to loving mock some of the stylings of radical life without undercutting the values at its core. In doing so, it also highlights the challenges in how we actually get from here to whatever your personal conception of “the revolution” is. Real conflicts between characters’ beliefs, and real problems that don’t have easy solutions, stand side-by-side with the self-serious or minor stuff that can grow big enough to tank movements if left unaddressed, but more often than not are just the exasperating stuff of working together with other people. Plenty of games have radical politics, but I don’t know that I’ve ever played a game that felt so much like it *lives* in them, one that feels safe enough in its audience and their beliefs to not be defensive or precious about the leftist project. The most present flaw of the future is that everyone can be kind of ridiculous, but they’re also earnestly trying to build a new world. They’re the kind of people I’ve rolled my eyes at in activist meetings, but whom I’ve still had enough common ground with to fight alongside. They’re largely kind to Harvey, in part due to a universal reverence for the elderly, but they’re not going to let his needs and desires dictate how things work anymore. Harvey is a caricature of a boomer, but there’s also real earnestness at the heart of his efforts to wrap up his life. He feels threatened and left behind by this world, and he’s also struggling with ramifications of aging that science can’t fix. Even when it’s played for laughs, it’s a relatable conflict: At some point, your generation just isn’t the main character anymore, and you have to step aside and let younger people give things a shot. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/futworkclas.jpeg) Molleindustria/Aftermath In many ways, the game feels perfectly aimed toward me, an anarchist in my mid-40s. More often than not I hang up the phone with my parents blaming them for why I’m fighting the fights I’m fighting, but I also get the side-eye when I walk into my familiar punk shows and bike repair collectives and don’t recognize any of the kids running things. While I didn’t come away from *Future?* with some new-found appreciation for boomers, I did see in Harvey a challenge I could relate to in my own experiences with people [younger than me](https://aftermath.site/lego-fortnite-cat-enters-his-queer-elder-era/). As anyone who scrolls social media too long or joins an activist project where they’re older than everyone can relate to, sometimes you just have no idea what the fuck anyone is talking about anymore. And you can be hard-headed and dismissive or a know-it-all in response, or you can try to understand and maybe grow a bit as a person. Maybe–as I remember doing at one particularly badly-organized queer conference decades ago, where I was an “elder” in my late 20s–you simply step aside and let people try, and maybe fail, on their own terms, growing from their mistakes as you did. But *Future? No Thanks!* is keen to remind you that you have to learn to live in the world around you. Not feeling left behind by the future means interrogating which of your beliefs are deeply-held and need sticking to, even in the face of pushback, and which are vestiges of a time or place that maybe it’s best to let go of so that you, and everyone, can get a little better. Going on this journey with someone whose beliefs are humorously abhorrent gave me just enough distance to think about how I’m doing that work in my own life and if I’m living up to my own standards. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/futpope.jpeg) Molleindustria/Aftermath My run–dictated by the quests I completed–ended on a personal, human note that also left a lot of conflict in its wake, the way real life works. Along the way there were a lot of good jokes, very clever writing, and some exceptionally killer music (notably, there’s a fantastic busker I’d encourage you to visit frequently). *Future? No Thanks!* skillfully and hilariously melds the past, present, and future to encourage me to think about where I’m at and where I’m going with my own politics, while also reminding me that while yes, consensus is important, someone can just end the damn meeting already. [‘Who’s Deciding The Fate Of This Game?’ The Secretive Process Of Getting A Game With Sexual Content On Steam‘You work six years on a game, you line up press and events for the launch, and then some guy at Valve clicks on a checkbox and blocks everything.’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-06f5c857-c85b-40c2-b4f1-b65da36ff912.png)AftermathJay Castello![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-08-17-at-10.12.41---AM-1c2f5e5b-9583-450c-9a9b-79028654f4a3.png)](https://aftermath.site/steam-censorship-future-no-thanks-perfect-tides/) ### A Racist Arcade Is The Latest White House Initiative Nobody Asked For URL: https://aftermath.site/a-racist-arcade-is-the-latest-white-house-initiative-nobody-asked-for/ Last updated: 2026-09-08T15:29:22.000Z Instead of doing literally anything actually good for Americans, United States president Donald Trump's administration is spending time and money making cruel, bad games. The White House website now has an "arcade" page in which people can play *Tetris* re-skinned to "protect the border from the coming horde" of immigrants, *Snake* where you play as Immigration and Customs Enforcement kidnapping undocumented people, and an egregious ripoff of *Flappy Bird*. Aftermath has reached out to Microsoft, Nintendo, The Tetris Company, and other companies which have had their imagery used for comment. None have responded. **(Update 9/4/26, 1:46pm--**Tetris wrote on its [official Instagram account](https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc2wSSYFLFv/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site) that "The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall’. P.P.S. We take copyright infringement very seriously." In a posted note, the company wrote that "At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them."**)** "Can't stop winning," [the White House posted from its X account](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2095615734567100766?ref=aftermath.site). "Build the wall. Deport. Fill a Trump account." A video accompanying the embarrassing tweet shows the uninspired gameplay of each of these, set to music from *Sonic the Hedgehog*. Other posts on X promoting the arcade use the Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, and *Pac-Man* logos. Reached for comment, a White House representative [pointed Aftermath to an article on Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-classic-arcade-games-maga-makeover-online-launch?ref=aftermath.site). "This administration is laser focused on ways to innovate and tell the story of the President’s many accomplishments in a way that resonates with every American," a White House representative said in a statement. "The President continues to rack up victory after victory on behalf of the American public, while opponents of his agenda are defending their record of raising taxes and empowering criminal illegal aliens. This is an effort to further contrast between a culture of fun and winning and the dark socialist vision Democrats have for America." Embarrassing! Racist! Cruel! And, honestly, who is this even for? Are there hordes of Trump supporters looking to play poorly implemented video games on the White House website? Why spend time on something so dumb? Presumably, this cost some amount of money and time when there are other, more pressing matters to focus on. [Food recalls have increased dramatically](https://newrepublic.com/post/214946/food-recall-fda-list-august-skyrocket?ref=aftermath.site). We can't eat anything without the risk of salmonella or the new-ish explosive diarrhea disease. [But who can afford groceries](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/your-grocery-bill-could-rise-even-faster-next-year--heres-why-134148018.html?ref=aftermath.site) anyway, or [even drive to the grocery store](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/diesel-fuel-prices-record-gas-august/?ref=aftermath.site)? Meanwhile, ICE continues to rip people away from their families and treat them inhumanely in custody. This month, [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/01/ice-stage-4-cancer-filipino-national?ref=aftermath.site) reported that ICE has withheld cancer treatment for a 76-year-old permanent resident. [ICE detained more than 50,000 people](https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/09/02/ices-august-arrests-break-record-number-illegal-aliens-arrested?ref=aftermath.site) in August alone—something the government is bragging about as a record. But the games! The White House representative did not respond when asked who made these games. There's some speculation [that the games may have been vibe-coded](https://bsky.app/profile/mackeza.bsky.social/post/3mup3il3uhs2w?ref=aftermath.site). Unfortunately, these games are aligned with the Trump administration's wider strategy of co-opting popular culture to promote itself with cringe propaganda. The White House posted clips of *Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3* interspersed with footage from its Iran attacks. [As Riley wrote in March](https://aftermath.site/call-of-duty-white-house-meme/), when this was posted, "it should be shocking—our highest level of government treating a conflict that has left a reported over 1,000 people dead, including more than 100 children, as a joke—but what else do we expect from them at this point?" Some companies have spoken out about this sort of usage—the White House has posted clips based on anime and other video games, like the *Halo* franchise—but most have not. Nintendo, [after the White House posted a video montage](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4z0l8wvvdo?ref=aftermath.site) using *Pokémon* footage and music, said they did not grant permission for usage in this way. **Update, 9/8/26, 11:30am--**The *Tetris* clone is no longer available on the White House site. [Call Of Duty Enters The White House’s Arsenal Of MemesThe latest in a growing line of horrifying government posts![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-69b3ac7e-434b-41a9-a2ba-d1995cb6cc48.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-03-05-at-2.55.45---PM-7f5a2758-4ea7-4d8c-a8b6-a8638146454b.png)](https://aftermath.site/call-of-duty-white-house-meme/) ### ArtStation Has New Owners, Who Are Saying They Want To 'Put Artists First' By Protecting Their Art From AI Scrapers URL: https://aftermath.site/artstation-owners-ownership-ai/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T01:21:18.000Z ArtStation is a website that, for a very long time now, has been a very popular platform for both viewing and hosting professional art. Chances are that if you are or know a video game artist, their portfolio is hosted on the site. To give you an idea how important it has grown to be,[ I ran an art feature at Kotaku for over a decade](https://kotaku.com/culture/fine-art?ref=aftermath.site), and I'd say 90-95% of portfolio links I pointed to weren't to standalone websites, they were to ArtStation pages. The thing is, ArtStation as an *organisation* hasn't always enjoyed the most stellar reputation among the artists using the site. While it was under the ownership of Epic Games, for example,[ the community engaged in mass protests over ArtStation's inaction over AI-generated imagery flooding the site](https://kotaku.com/artstation-ai-art-generated-image-protest-controversy-1849895978?ref=aftermath.site), and there were[ repeated allegations in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that moderators were removing pro-Ukrainian artwork](https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckepic/comments/trt8ow/epic%5Fowned%5Fcompany%5Fartstation%5Fis%5Fallegedly/?ref=aftermath.site). Last month, though, the site was sold. As Epic[ continues to shed the websites it pointlessly purchased while high off *Fortnite* money](https://aftermath.site/bandcamp-just-trying-to-keep-the-lights-on-following-epic-sale-layoffs/), on August 10[ it was announced](https://magazine.artstation.com/2026/08/kitbash-acquires-artstation-and-sketchfab/?ref=aftermath.site) that ArtStation had been sold to KitBash, the company behind 3D art platforms KitBash3D and Greyscalegorilla. The first thing new management has done is issue a statement titled "[ArtStation Should Put Artists First](https://magazine.artstation.com/2026/09/ai-updates-from-artstation/?ref=aftermath.site)", in which it's acknowledged that the site needs to be better at protecting artists’ work from being scraped by AI companies, and that more needs to be done to prevent AI-generated works from clogging up ArtStation's search and discovery. To that end, they’re making some changes to the default toggles, tags and settings. It is, as far as a new ownership statement goes, a promising one. This is stuff ArtStation users have been waiting a long time to hear! Sadly there's also a bit of "shut the barn door after the horse has bolted" to the whole thing, seeing as the site will have been scraped endlessly over the past three years already. I've seen a lot of professional artists discussing this on social media in the past week, and reactions have mostly landed somewhere between "finally" and "fine, but it's too late". I think that's fair: ArtStation's reputation has taken massive hits in recent years,[ with new options like Cara having emerged as alternatives](https://aftermath.site/cara-i-art-artstation-instagram-facebook-artist/), so while this statement is definitely an improvement over what took place under Epic's ownership, I think there's a long way to go before the platform is able to rebuild the trust that has been lost over the last few years. [Fed Up With Meta’s AI Bullshit, Artists Are Fleeing To A New Site Called Cara - AftermathCara went from 100k to 700k users in FIVE DAYS![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-6680e6a7-cfc2-4277-8b08-1c06411ad830.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/cara2-3-743c7bde-2f67-4201-b810-ebd2a20a75a4.png)](https://aftermath.site/cara-i-art-artstation-instagram-facebook-artist/) ### The Work Is The Work URL: https://aftermath.site/ai-work-office-emails-chatgpt-claude/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T20:17:12.000Z You may have seen news reports lately about the ways in which AI is taking over what were once generally considered white collar duties.[ People are using it to write emails](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-31/should-artificial-intelligence-ai-be-used-to-write-work-emails/107051458?ref=aftermath.site), to take notes, to compile presentations.[ Doctors are using it to record your symptoms](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/05/doctors-ai-scribes-australia-government-privacy-warning?ref=aftermath.site), lawyers are using it to 'research' cases and[ real estate agents are using it for...everything](https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2025/nsw-tackles-ai-real-estate-pics.html?ref=aftermath.site). Yet as more bosses begin to [mandate AI's use](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/bosses-obsessed-with-ai?ref=aftermath.site) in the office, and more professionals bring it ever more into their working lives ([whether of their own free will, or because of company orders](https://apnews.com/article/ai-workplace-poll-gallup-gemini-chatgpt-e4c129e9773255203ccae208bfccb367?ref=aftermath.site)), have any of them ever stopped to wonder just what it is they *do*, exactly? A white collar job does not generally involve manual tasks. It is, for the most part (and sorry if this sounds like an ad slogan), a job of the mind. From managers to HR, events to compliance, accountants to physicians, people are in those jobs and are getting paid for them because of their (supposed) ability to communicate with others, analyse things and interpret meaning from events. To draw upon their training, their experiences and their beliefs to do their work. Let's say I'm an office manager or a HR rep, and my job is to settle a dispute between two workers. To settle that dispute is part of my job, it's why I am there. My skills at talking to people and conveying my thoughts and opinions via email are why I am being paid. If I open up ChatGPT and ask a machine how to do it--a machine that does not know how to do it, it only knows how to synthesise one million examples of this, because it is a machine--I am not doing that work anymore. Anyone could have asked the machine that question. Or, if I'm a lawyer and my job is to prepare for a case, I am about to get paid a lot of money, because legal work isn't just hard, it requires a lot of training and has a lot of responsibility attached to it.[ If I start using ChatGPT to cut corners and research things for me, or even help me write things](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-05/artificial-intelligence-used-to-prepare-legal-document/106086724?ref=aftermath.site), why should I keep getting lawyer money if some kid off the street could have punched in the same prompts? These people are hastening their own obsolescence, not because AI can do their work (it can't), but because by thinking it *can* they've shown themselves to be[ some of the dumbest people in the workforce](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260505-how-to-use-ai-without-turning-your-brain-to-mush?ref=aftermath.site), a collection of rubes who will throw decades of best practice out the window just because some Silicon Valley billionaire is jangling a shiny set of keys at them. For all of the defence of AI from its boosters, cries that it's just a 'tool', it's anything but. We are years into this supposed revolution and AI is still hallucinating, making basic citation errors and failing to understand the nuance of a situation because it will *never* be able to. Robots might be able to do the work of a human arm, but the human brain is clearly a different story. A combine harvester that does the work of ten farmhands is a tool. A nailgun that lets a builder put a frame up in a fraction of the time it would have taken with a hammer is a tool. Whatever the effect of these technologies on labour or capital in those contexts, it is indisputable that those tools can do the exact same work, only faster. A machine that tries to do your job and fails (in[ sometimes spectacular, embarrassing and even dangerous ways](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/sep/01/how-misinformation-ai-hallucinations-infiltrating-australian-parliament?ref=aftermath.site)) but which you keep using anyway isn't a tool. It's a scam, one you and your bosses have fallen for. In racing to make use of it in an office job you're not optimising workflow or not getting left behind, you're showing that you either cannot or are now simply choosing *not* to do your job anymore. Letting a machine write your emails or a talk or spin up a PowerPoint presentation isn't cutting corners, those tasks are literally what you're being paid for. That work is *the* work. ### Markiplier: 'I Did Not Pump. I Did Not Dump' URL: https://aftermath.site/markiplier-says-he-didnt-bump-and-dump-gopro-stock/ Last updated: 2026-09-03T20:26:44.000Z Mark Fischbach—that's Markiplier to you!—really likes GoPro cameras. He said as much in a recent YouTube video in which he reviewed [the new GoPro Mission 1 ILS](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8flNsaufwKk&ref=aftermath.site), comparing it to the professional camera he used to film parts of *Iron Lung*. His enthusiasm for GoPro may have gotten Fischbach to Mr. Magoo his way into securities fraud, though he insists that, despite appearances, it’s all a huge coincidence. GoPro is basically the Kleenex of action cameras, he said, and though the company is seemingly struggling, that's why he decided to invest a whole bunch of money into the company over the past couple months. He's invested so much money, in fact, that he's now GoPro's largest individual shareholder, [Bloomberg reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-08-30/youtube-star-markiplier-is-now-gopro-s-largest-shareholder?ref=aftermath.site), with a 8.5% stake. (That's not including the founder, though.) Fischbach *did* mark his YouTube review as sponsored content, but he *didn't* disclose that he had a stake in the company. Still, oops! Shortly after Bloomberg published a story about Fischbach and his investment into GoPro, the company announced that it had been acquired for $285 million by tech company Starman Optical, which wants to take GoPro into AI and defense technology. Yikes! That's why everyone thinks Fischbach has done a securities fraud. Is this actually securities fraud? I certainly don't know. But it isn't a great look, and Fischbach has [said as much in a broadcast on Wednesday](https://www.youtube.com/live/OJOyJtavpXs?t=147s&ref=aftermath.site). "I'm going to talk about the situation that unfolded in the past few days, which is just a fascinating string of coincidences," Fischbach said. "I can see if people were just looking from news articles being like, 'Huh, well, that seems awfully suspicious.'" Fischbach said he invested in GoPro because it's undervalued. [Bloomberg reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-08-30/youtube-star-markiplier-is-now-gopro-s-largest-shareholder?ref=aftermath.site) that GoPro shares were down "more than 90% over the past five years;" [GoPro itself said](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-08-30/youtube-star-markiplier-is-now-gopro-s-largest-shareholder?ref=aftermath.site) there's doubt about the company's future, ahead of the acquisition announcement. Bloomberg said Fischbach started buying stock earlier in the year (while begging for a sponsorship), then got a sponsorship with GoPro after visiting its offices. By Aug. 20, [Fischbach's securities filing was published](https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001500435/ea882bb8-af00-456a-8861-3fff06551f42.pdf?ref=aftermath.site), in which he reported having acquired all those shares. The interview with Bloomberg, he said, was held a week earlier. He had no idea when it was to be published, he said in the video. The article came out Aug. 30, and GoPro stock prices went up by Monday, when the stock market opened. Tuesday, there's the acquisition announcement. Business Insider said the stock reached a high of $1.64 on Tuesday, 173% up from Friday. There's been interest, the publication said, from meme stock traders, because it's cheap right now. Some have accused Fischbach of a "pump and dump" scheme, in which stock is artificially inflated to make quick profit. He said that's not the case: "That would have required me to have dumped. I did not buy during this time. I did not sell during this time. I did not invest for the purpose of making money in this." He continued: "This is a terrible idea what I was doing, a very dangerous investment. But I did it because I had a very successful movie and I wanted to put my money towards something that possibly could help other people with their cinematic adventures and their journeys." The GoPro acquisition by Starman has certainly made that a bit iffy. GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman added that GoPro's experience in "advanced optics" are something he hopes to "grow across consumer, commercial, and defense markets," "addressing important areas of national security related to cameras, optics, and AI infrastructure." GoPro has been known largely for its consumer cameras. Content creators love them. The AI and defense security flip feels jarring. For Fischbach, he said in his YouTube response that he's out if GoPro stops selling cameras or starts getting into Flock-like cameras. "I did not know and I would not have endorsed \[the acquisition,\]" he said. "I'm going to take my tiny voting share, \[...\] and I'm going to vote against the merger." ### Microsoft Just Found Yet Another Way To Enshittify Xbox Game Pass URL: https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-game-pass-cloud-gaming-time-limits/ Last updated: 2026-09-03T19:15:10.000Z Following layoffs that [have beloved studios hanging by a thread](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/), a re-focus on [franchises that reliably print money](https://aftermath.site/fallout-5-bethesda-xbox-layoffs/), and—pretty much guaranteed to partially counteract that—[a third Xbox hardware price increase](https://aftermath.site/xbox-price-increase-again-and-again/), Microsoft has found another place to penny pinch until it draws blood: Game Pass, [an ever-reliable](https://aftermath.site/xbox-game-pass-rot-economy/) victim of [enshittification](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-game-pass-price-increase/). This time the company is placing limits on Cloud Gaming, which allows users to play games sans downloads. Beginning in November, those shake out as follows (on a monthly basis): - Game Pass Ultimate: 15 hours - Game Pass Premium: 10 hours - Game Pass Essential: 5 hours Many individual games last longer than 15 hours. But worry not: You can always purchase more hours if you use up your monthly allowance (Microsoft says pricing details will come in November). “We recognize that introducing limits is a meaningful change, particularly for players who regularly spend more time gaming through the cloud,” Team Xbox [wrote in a blog post](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/09/03/xbox-cloud-gaming-changes/?ref=aftermath.site), claiming that this change will impact just four percent of users. “We’re introducing this model because the cost of providing cloud gaming grows as more people use it and play for longer. Moving to monthly limits allows us to keep offering the service while continuing to invest in its reliability and performance. We understand that for some players the practical result is a higher cost.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/XBOX-Cloud-Playtime-Hours-c381b1adcea2de6c3def-1600x900.jpg) Microsoft Rationale like this will never not ring hollow coming from Microsoft, one of several massive, highly profitable companies in a rush to transform themselves into AI firms—thus [driving up the cost of hardware and services that draw on high-end components to support AI usage](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/), like… the cloud. Microsoft is not just stepping on rakes; [it runs the rake factory](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs-microsoft-ai/). Microsoft has also tested out [ad-supported game streaming](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/07/23/game-streaming-ad-supported-xbox-insiders/?ref=aftermath.site) this year, another distracting interruption to Game Pass users’ experiences. Everything downstream of Microsoft’s AI efforts suffers. This also comes at a moment when Sony's plan to phase out discs has players [railing against the demise of physical media](https://aftermath.site/sony-court-digital-ownership-playstation/) and, with it, their previous concept of ownership. While Xbox seems to be [breaking with its console war rival](https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/console-gaming/xbox-announces-new-disc-to-digital-feature-for-physical-media-lets-players-claim-digital-versions-of-their-games-with-support-for-play-anywhere-and-cloud-gaming?ref=aftermath.site) where discs are concerned, this re-imagining of cloud gaming represents a worst case scenario for those who fear an all-digital future: You don't own anything, not even your time. It is almost certainly no coincidence that Microsoft will begin enforcing time limits—and also allowing non-subscribers to buy cloud gaming time—in November, the month *Grand Theft Auto VI* comes out. *GTA VI* will not be on Game Pass when it first launches, but as [IGN points out](https://www.ign.com/articles/microsoft-announces-big-changes-to-xbox-cloud-gaming-switches-to-monthly-hour-limits?ref=aftermath.site), the game will lead to an influx of new Xbox owners despite price increase(s), and some users will likely draw on cloud gaming to play older games, sample games they’re considering installing, or play games in rooms where they don’t have a console. Money is still money, Microsoft has shown us time and time again, even if it’s just a scattered handful of nickels and dimes. ## Recommended [Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Gushes About Elder Scrolls VI, Does Not Seem To Notice Giant Rat On Bethesda Office LawnPlease clap (instead of talking about layoffs)![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-0df3db65-0169-4bf3-8588-7a1ff21ab4b7.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/20260811_095802-23facf8e-92c5-4aff-bbfb-49baf16eaa3a.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/xbox-asha-sharma-elder-scrolls-vi-bethesda-giant-rat/) ### Here's Four Hours Of A Cow Playing EVE Online URL: https://aftermath.site/eve-online-cow/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T09:28:47.000Z I spent several years at Kotaku editing blogs about *EVE Online* by our very knowledgeable contributor [Lee Yancy](https://kotaku.com/author/sarinblackfist?ref=aftermath.site), and I once visited the offices of developer CCP (now [Fenris Creations](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/ccp-changed-its-name-rather-than-pick-a-fight-with-the-chinese-communist-party-which-was-probably-wise/?ref=aftermath.site)) in Reykjavík, but I can’t say I’ve ever really *understood* the back-stabbing space MMO. So when I saw people today talking about a cow playing *EVE*, it made about as much sense to me as anything else I’ve heard about the game. In the grand tradition of [fish playing *Elden Ring*](https://aftermath.site/pointcrow-tortellini-goldfish-dead-elden-ring-youtube/)and [dogs speedrunning](https://aftermath.site/speedrunning-dog-interview-peanut-butter-agdq/), Fenris put a cow in a field rigged with buttons and got it to do some space mining in *EVE Online*. The idea, according to [GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/you-can-watch-a-cow-play-eve-online-right-now/?ref=aftermath.site), came from a nickname *EVE* players have for a recent update, Cradle of War (“CoW,” you see). The cow itself had the player name FC CapitalCowPilot. The Twitch stream, which ran for about four hours, is over now, but you can [watch the archive on Fenris' Twitch channel](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2863253745?ref=aftermath.site). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-02-at-1.40.59---PM.png) [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2863253745?ref=aftermath.site) The cow (real name Valva) is an eight month old dairy cow. The developers say at the beginning of the stream they needed to get a bigger fence for Valva because she kept escaping, busting through a regular fence and an electric fence and “tackling two people” before the stream started. In-game, Valva led a mining fleet of human players to mine some ore, with the buttons in the field giving Valva the ability to moo, press enter, and do “some fireworks and some other stuff,” according to the developers. During the stream, the cow wandered around in the slow, unmotivated way of cows, while human-controlled ships swarmed around her ship in the game. According to [MMORPG.com](https://www.mmorpg.com/features/i-played-eve-online-with-a-cow-and-it-was-glorious-2000138847?ref=aftermath.site), the human players tried to fight the cow, as well as each other, because this is *EVE* after all. There was a human developer in the pen with the cow encouraging her to move around, but I’ll be honest with you I have no idea what effect any of this had on what happened in the game. To me, a person who–maybe like many of you–loves to read about the hijinks that go on in *EVE* but will probably never play it myself, the stream was fun just to absorb the vibes: the flashing lights and explosions of a swarm of tiny ships in the vastness of virtual space, chat’s excitement, and the very compelling image of a man and a cow standing in a field under a cloudy Icelandic sky. (Who wouldn’t enjoy a big field to be in right now, instead of in front of whatever screen you’re reading this on?) Toward the end of the stream, the video cut to the developers getting to visit a barn and pet some baby cows, which I, a man who has never pet a cow, imagine is the greatest possible thing a person could get to do with a workday. If you want to know more about what actually happened in the game beyond “cow,” MMORPG has a good play-by-play from an actual *EVE* player. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-02-at-1.53.15---PM.png) [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2863253745?ref=aftermath.site) “\[*EVE Online*\] is a notoriously hard game, but it doesn't have to be!” Fenris wrote in a [tweet](https://x.com/FenrisCreations/status/2095191356075364757?ref=aftermath.site) after the stream. “With the help of a few hundred pilots, and a specialized cow-friendly gaming rig, our new developer here led a fleet which cleared out 3 asteroid fields of ore! If a cow can play *EVE*, what's stopping you?” While I didn’t need a reminder that a cow is better than me, who plays video games for work, at *EVE Online*, I think the impenetrability of the stunt is what makes the whole thing compelling. What motivates the cow? What motivates *EVE* players? Is everyone doing a good job? I have no idea. In *EVE*, as in life, everyone involved is moved by their own strange, unique whims (for Fenris, also sharing details about an upcoming *EVE* update), and the best the rest of us can do is just try to keep up. ### Video Game Companies Keep Trying To Bait And Switch Us With AI, And It Sucks URL: https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-no-more-ai-tomb-raider-divinity/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T17:55:25.000Z *1666: Amsterdam*, best known as the brainchild of *Assassin's Creed* co-creator Patrice Désilets before its reveal was [marred by some impressively terrible AI art](https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-made-by-a-team-including-over-a-dozen-talented-and-experienced-artists-used-ai-images-all-through-its-reveal/), has as of recent times “totally” moved on from AI. That’s according to Désilets, who, [speaking with GamesRadar](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/action/after-ai-backlash-assassins-creed-creator-says-1666-amsterdam-wont-be-using-any-ai-anymore-and-only-used-it-in-conception-and-pre-production/?ref=aftermath.site), claimed that his company had fired up the plagiarism machine “mostly at the beginning … in conception and pre-production.” Now, though, AI’s out of the pipeline. Hm, where have we heard this kind of thing before? Oh, right, earlier this year [from the developers of *Blood of Dawnwalker*](https://www.ign.com/articles/the-blood-of-dawnwalker-studio-uses-ai-but-theres-no-ai-assets-in-the-game?ref=aftermath.site), the vampire-flavored skulk ‘n’ stab from former *Witcher* devs that comes out this week. And also from the studios behind *Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis*, [the Steam page for which discloses that](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3558670/Tomb%5FRaider%5FLegacy%5Fof%5FAtlantis/?ref=aftermath.site) “AI-assisted tools” were used to support “some early exploration and temporary development content,” but that “any AI-assisted assets were either replaced or refined by humans in order to maintain the creative and artistic vision of the development team.” Oh, *and* from Larian CEO Swen Vincke [at the very beginning of the year](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/larian-backtracks-on-ai-use-for-divinity-concept-art-and-writing-but-says-generative-ai-can-help-some-areas-of-development/?ref=aftermath.site), who—while facing sustained blowback following [an admission during an interview last year that his studio had been experimenting with AI](https://aftermath.site/larian-ceo-ai-art-baldurs-gate-3-divinity/)—clarified that developers used the tech to “explore things” but that “there is not going to be any GenAI art in *Divinity*.” At this point, a meta has calcified: Use AI, get caught and/or admit it, and then walk it back by saying that no AI-generated assets will appear in the final game, you’re done with AI for the time being and, actually, you never used it all that much to begin with, so really, what’s the big deal? Then the bad press dissipates, and you can move on with your life. This should not be allowed to function as a get-out-of-AI-jail-free card, both because it’s a plainly disingenuous reaction to criticism, and because it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. Creativity is a process, one that begins with ideation and conception. Indeed, these are some of the most enjoyable parts of creating something; writers get to envision whole new worlds, artists get to sketch out their most deranged fever dreams, designers get to invent new genres and mechanics. It feels almost banal to say at this point, but that’s the last place where we want AI intruding. Unbridled human imagination does not need a pair of clumsy, cold hands leading it to water. And even if the words, images, and designs AI produces don’t make it into the final game, its fingerprints still wind up all over the thing. Those are still AI’s malformed hallucinations being painted over by people. That is still AI effectively helping steer the ship, if its contributions really are constrained to a project’s early goings. It’s the video game development version of humans being trained not in any specific skillset, but rather in *how* to prompt AI to do it for them. After a certain point, that becomes almost worse than using AI to whip up an ugly in-game painting or two. Instead, it’s filling in perceived cracks in the foundation. It’s becoming the base on which everything else rests. I don’t care what studio heads say about individual assets; AI is absolutely *in* a game made that way. This is a bait and switch, and it can’t become the accepted default. AI suffuses these games even if it’s not literally staring you in the face moment to moment. Execs and studio heads will keep trying to talk out of both sides of their mouth here. Don’t let them. Words need to mean something, or else AI will have truly won. ## Recommended [This Is Hopefully The Last Time I’m Writing About 1666: Amsterdam‘I can ask the AI to give me 75 different variations of one thing, but I cannot have 75 different illustrators come up with a variation in three seconds’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f4e01974-b811-4baf-9087-e60341d852f5.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-08-14-092127-105f1814-f66b-46b3-927d-03ea9ad3d116.png)](https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-ai-game/) ### The Real Coyote Vs. Acme Is The Friends We Made Along The Way URL: https://aftermath.site/the-real-coyote-vs-acme-is-the-friends-we-made-along-the-way/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T15:00:16.000Z From tax write off to 16 million in its opening weekend at the box office, *Coyote vs. Acme*, the latest film by director Dave Green that Warner Bros. didn't want you to see is in theaters now. Aftermath's resident Looney Tunes sickos, Gita, Chris, and Isaiah saw it and are here to chat about the movie's triumphant release three years after it was shelved. **This post contains spoilers for *Coyote vs. Acme*.** **Isaiah:** Hey hey Gita and Chris. I saw *Coyote vs. Acme* a bit earlier than you for interview and review purposes. But the moment I did, I knew we had to get y'all's thoughts on it. I guess to start, walking out of the movie, knowing the long road it took to getting here, did it live up to your expectations? **Chris:** I think that I mostly got what I wanted out of it. I tried not to let the situation broadly influence what I thought of it and tried to judge it on its own merits but a "small town lawyer takes on the big companies" legal thriller but it's Looney Toons is what I wanted and it delivered on that front. I don't think it's *Roger Rabbit* but *Roger Rabbit* is also a perfect movie even outside of the format. I think if the bar is "movie where cartoons talk to people and everyone acts like that's normal" it's on par or better than Back In Action (minus that one Walmart gag) and an objectively better movie than *Space Jam* but *Space Jam* is less about being good and more about being *Space Jam*. **Gita:** It did CONSTANTLY make me want to watch *Roger Rabbit* though. Usually when I am thinking about another movie while I'm watching a movie, that's not a great sign. But here I just felt this sense of joy that I knew I could only really replicate with one other, singular film. It's rare that a movie makes me actually laugh out loud, but this one got me A LOT. **Chris:** The jokes that really got me were not the Looney Tunes jokes but the oblique ones like the sign about how great Albuquerque is. **Isaiah:** Congrats to Bugs for finally making it there, by the way. The joke that got me real early was its opening text saying it was based on a true story. In tandem with the movie's advertisements taking jabs at the reality of it hitting theaters with a side of Ketchup (Entertainment), that was a good bit to get the meta humor of it all out of the way and lean more on what the film is trying to do. Which is tackle a corporate conglomerate meant to bully the little guy into submission. I wrote it in my review, but conceptually, *Coyote vs. Acme* is the most universal shower thought of a film. We've seen Wile E. Coyote for YEARS have his plans to catch Road Runner blow up in his face thanks to Acme products. A film where he sues them just makes sense! **Gita:** Honestly, my favorite gag might have been "it's a limited number of signs." **Chris:** That one is really good. Yeah you kinda can't escape the context sometimes but the jokes that really work are like, Will Forte getting mad and storming in to Coyote waiting while he's reading a book called "How To Wait Dramatically". **Isaiah:** The Pepé Le Pew "predator spray" bit was real good, too. While the movie didn't push the envelope as far as I wanted it to with its interrogation of corporate oligarchs, the movie having Foghorn Leghorn basically act as a class traitor by selling the toons out throughout the film as an Acme suit was pretty inspired. Going so far as to hurt himself in court to dehumanize toons to as characters who don't feel pain was the kind of lean forward in your chair inducing sociopolitics I wasn't expecting the film to feature. Daffy Duck needed a scene where he took his fellow feathered brethren to task for selling out. Tweety Bird deserved getting choked out by John Cena for that. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The movie proper sees Wile E. Coyote seek out personal injury lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte) to sue Acme for years of selling faulty products to him. Avery isn't exactly a star lawyer. His whole deal is he tends to settle than go after as big a fish as Acme, whose hands are in virtually every piece of entertainment and consumer product in the world and have John Cena putting the smackdown on prosecutors in the court of law. But the duo, in tow with Avery's niece played by Lana Condor, stumble into a conspiracy tied to Acme that could lead to a discovery to turn the tide in their favor. Along the way, we get tons of Muppet-style Looney Tunes cameos and meep meeps from Road Runner. Side-bar: Apparently there was some contention over whether Road Runner goes "meep meep" or "beep beep." We can't be friends if you think he says "beep beep." **Gita:** He says meep meep, obviously. It is difficult, given the structure of the film, not to dwell on the fact that it was shelved as a tax write off and then finally released years later. But what struck me especially is that you can see WHY the people who made this film fought so hard for it. In the right circumstances, this could have and should have been a huge, family friendly hit summer film. This should have had toy tie-ins with a fast food joint, billboards all over Los Angeles, schmaltzy commercials every break. It's a well made, deeply funny movie that pays a deep respect to the Looney Tunes in a way that Warner Brothers currently seems uninterested in doing. **Chris P:** I think it's sorta connected to this lack of confidence that Looney Tunes can ever be salable again, like it's status as IP, and that's fucking nuts to me. Just because they have been bad stewards of it does not mean it's culturally gargantuan. I've seen too many bespoke Bugs Bunny leather jackets and bootleg tweety bird shirts to know better. **Isaiah:** The fact that we live in a world where Warner Bros. has HBO Max to watch their shit, but nearly 800 Looney Tunes cartoons are streaming on Tubi blows my mind. Its tantamount to Paramount's treatment of the *Avatar: The Last Airbender* franchise in that it prints money on its own but the rights owner seems to resent that. **Chris P:** Will Forte really is perfectly cast in this movie as the bumbling lawyer trying to regain his dignity Like, if you asked me for a list of actors who could convince me that they have personally met Bugs Bunny, he's at the top of the list even before this. There's also a fantastic deep cut where he's meeting the Coyote that's a direct reference to the weird era when Wile E. Coyote talked with a mid Atlantic accent and had an inconsistent pronunciation. > There’s a deep cut reference in there where Will Forte says “Mr. Coyote? Or Coyoté?” that’s specifically referencing that weird era when he talked. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mudtwx6mzk2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Chris Person ([@papapishu.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 30, 2026 at 10:22 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mudtwx6mzk2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) **Isaiah:** That's such a deep cut. Forte was born to play opposite a Looney Tunes character. And I think Cena is cementing his place as a former wrestler gone Hollywood with great comedic chops. Though, that should come as no surprise since James Gunn has been showing us that in *Peacemaker* and as one of the three writers of *Coyote vs. Acme*. I also found Lana Condor to be a real underappreciated anchor for the film's "humans interacting with Tunes" cast. She felt pretty natural as the hopeful spark keeping the gang together. **Chris P:** Same, I also really appreciate the Martha Kelly cameo renaissance we are currently living through. Do you need someone to show up and say a line in a brutally deadpan way, get Martha. Also very funny that this movie was written by the screenwriter of *May December*. **Gita:** Wait Chris, I had no idea about that, that's hilarious. **Chris:** Thankfully those themes are not shared in this picture about cartoons. **Gita:** What I appreciated about this script was that it had a real economy--it's not trying to be the biggest, best movie in the world, the most spectacular, but instead just A Really Good Looney Tunes Movie, which is enough. The Looney Tunes as cartoons are sometimes these real visual flexes or are sumptuous, really long and weird bits. But mostly, they're just bare bones, basic comedy at its most vital, often even without any dialogue at all. *The Day The Earth Blew Up* was also a great tribute to the kind of comedy you can only really get in cartoons, but this movie had the ability to make you stop and appreciate a simple gag. **Isaiah:** I will say though, as a film sequentially released after *The Day The Earth Blew Up*, I couldn't help but wish the film was a 2D animated spectacle. That's not to say the bits didn't hit in its hybrid 3D animation, but the kid in me would've loved to see all the slapstick hit with the kineticism of 2D animation. It's my one molehill of a gripe with the otherwise good-ass capital O original Looney Tunes film. **Chris:** Doing real 2D animation is quite difficult with people, if you've ever seen the behind the scenes for Roger Rabbit it's mind bending how they pulled that off. I understand why they went this route but there's just some instances where the characters looked a little too computer generated and off model, a little too slick. I think we've been spoiled by *Guilty Gear* and *Dorohedoro*. They needed to do a second pass on Fudd. But mostly I do enjoy this weird pseudo 3D reality it exists in. Roger Rabbit posits the existence of Toon Town as this other space that the Toons are put in but Cartoons just kinda live in the real world here so it being a little 3D makes coherent sense. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/coyote-vs-acme-2--1-.jpg) Coyote Vs. Acme **Isaiah:** After the movie's *Ace Attorney* antics, it ends on a surprisingly sentimental note I wasn't expecting the film to go: Road Runner taking the stand in the war against *Coyote vs. Acme* on the side of Wile E. I've seen folks clue in to the promotional poster's whole Sisyphus metaphor with Wile E.—which the film explicitly spells out—but I've been loving the notion that the film posits where the boulder loved Sisyphus. The film already achieved a herculean task with having its main lead pantomime the entire movie with a limited number of cue cards to bridge the language barrier, but I wasn't expecting to be brought to tears by Road Runner supporting Wile. E. And for the film to be real enough with us by having them still lose. What did you guys think of the ending? **Chris:** I got weirdly emotional? **Gita:** I yelled out "THEY'RE FRIENDS!" **Chris:** They need each other! He can't live without the Road Runner and vice versa. It's sweet. **Isaiah:** Wile E. Coyote: fakest IDGAF-er of all time. That being the only display of Toon comradery depicted in the film inspiring other Tunes to speak out and give Acme a death of a thousand cuts moved me. **Gita:** Yeah, I think it's important to the film that ultimately, the big corporation wins out. That happened in real life for this movie, at least for a little while. And while the film is finally in theaters, it's without the marketing push that Warner Brothers would have given it. Still, you have to count your wins when you get them—and for this movie, the best possible win you can get is making a friend. ### You Can't Own A Video Game Because Other People Also Own Video Games, Sony Argues In Court Filing URL: https://aftermath.site/sony-court-digital-ownership-playstation/ Last updated: 2026-09-02T19:54:03.000Z Back in June, some gamers [sued Sony](https://aftermath.site/sony-digital-transparency-lawsuit-buy-now/) over how games are purchased on its digital storefront, claiming the company violated a California law requiring stores to make clear that digital purchases are a license. Sony replied earlier in August, as it attempts to move the suit into arbitration instead of going to court. Among its arguments, Sony suggests that the plaintiffs don’t understand how ownership works, and in fact no one can really *own* anything at all. As spotted by [Game File](https://www.gamefile.news/p/facing-lawsuit-sony-argues-its-already?ref=aftermath.site), Sony’s August 21 response to plaintiffs Andrew Garcia, Edward Heycock, Jason Mendoza, and John Salinas is a little bit hypothetical: It’s the argument the company *would* make if the case were to go to court instead of the arbitration Sony argues the plaintiffs agreed to in the PlayStation store’s terms of service. “If, however, the Court were to address the merits of the dispute, the Court should dismiss the claims with prejudice,” Sony writes in its [filing](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73500986/17/heycock-v-sony-corporation-of-america/?ref=aftermath.site). Sony argues that its purchase page and terms of service make clear that a PlayStation store purchase doesn’t confer ownership. It also argues that the plaintiffs aren’t alleging any harm, given that the “are, by their own allegations, very satisfied customers, who have ‘spent hundreds of dollars’ on PlayStation digital goods over the past few years, repeatedly buying video games.” Then comes a section of the filing titled “Reasonable Consumers Would Not Be Misled,” in which Sony drops this banger: > In the digital age, it is not plausible to allege that reasonable consumers believed they were obtaining “ownership” of a digital game. Were that the case, then Plaintiff Edward Heycock would not have been able to obtain the game *Resident Evil Requiem* on February 25, 2026 for $69.99 from the PlayStation Store after Plaintiff Jason Mendoza had obtained *Resident Evil Requiem* on February 14, 2026, because Mr. Mendoza, not Sony, would have owned it then… Moreover, digital video games are played against other players, who themselves must have a copy of the game in order to play. It is not plausible that reasonable consumers would believe that once they obtained a digital video game, they would be the exclusive owner of that game. This is a simply bonkers argument. I don’t think anyone buying a car thinks they’re buying *the only car in the world*, nor does someone buying *Resident Evil Requiem* think clicking the “confirm purchase” button means there’s only one *Resident Evil Requiem* in existence and they snagged it. Owning something doesn’t get its meaning from ensuring no one *else* owns it. In the world of digital purchases, this was an idea that undergirded the NFT craze, in which regular people fired back by simply copy-pasting ugly apes of their own; while everyone agreed this made the original ape (even more) worthless, it didn’t mean that first idiot didn’t still own an ape. Sony’s philosophical “reasonable consumer” here comes off seeming anything *but* reasonable, someone who hasn’t yet learned that the kindergarten classroom has more than one red beanbag chair at storytime. > > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:kopiyhjlr2zlaw57z67nrpqh/post/3muhrqcc75k2a?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Mike Bithell ([@mikebithell.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:kopiyhjlr2zlaw57z67nrpqh?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [September 1, 2026 at 11:53 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:kopiyhjlr2zlaw57z67nrpqh/post/3muhrqcc75k2a?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) That some lawyers got together in a room and dreamed this one up is blowing my mind. Sony has plenty of other arguments to stand on (and makes them in its filing) without resorting to some bizarre conflation of ownership as being dependent on exclusivity. The problem the plaintiffs are complaining about isn’t that *other people* also own the same video game as them, it’s the fear that Sony could take the video game away by revoking the license or ending support for a game’s servers. The lawsuit against Sony is one of [several](https://aftermath.site/gamestop-lawsuit-digital-goods-law-buy-vs-license/) cases against games sellers winding through the courts over the idea of digital ownership, and part of a [broader movement](https://aftermath.site/stop-killing-games-petition-eu-pirate-software-ross-scott/) concerned with what “ownership” means in a world of increasingly digital goods–and, in Sony’s case, soon-to-be exclusively digital goods, with the company [ending its production of physical discs in 2028](https://aftermath.site/sony-discs-2028-consoles/). Whether or not the plaintiffs' arguments are good is up to the court to decide, but Sony replying that “hey man, no one owns *anything*” like a college kid taking a bong hit is a wild thing to see in a court document. [Gamers Sue Sony For Allegedly Breaking California Digital Purchase Law“Consumers who ‘purchase’ digital games through PlayStation do not obtain ownership of those products”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-35b40c0c-b67d-4315-b58d-83ea494fcb03.png)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-06-18-144702-f871182d-cd07-4fb0-ada9-8360321c2fa5.png)](https://aftermath.site/sony-digital-transparency-lawsuit-buy-now/) ### Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma Is A Meta Slasher That Didn't Do It For Us URL: https://aftermath.site/teenage-sex-and-death-at-camp-miasma-review/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T15:01:48.000Z *Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma* is the latest film by Jane Schoenbrun, the director of *We're All Going To The World's Fair* and *I Saw The TV Glow*. Like those movies, it's all about queerness and media, and, like those movies, all my (Riley's) friends can't stop talking about it. Chris and I both saw it recently, and now we're here to talk about it. **This post contains spoilers for *Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma*.** **Riley:** Hello, Chris! I saw *Teenage Sex And Death at Camp Miasma* over the weekend, after reading the Wikipedia summary enough times to convince myself it wouldn't be too scary for me. (I'm a horror wuss.) And you saw it too! What did you think? **Chris:** Man, I wish I liked it! I wanted to like it! I, unfortunately, did not like it. **Riley:** I also did not quite like it. I came home after seeing it and read some reviews, and one was like "this movie is so nuanced and layered" and the other was like "this movie was so obvious I wanted to chew my arm off." I found that dichotomy very funny. **Chris:** I am in the latter category unfortunately, and to quote the film critic Peter Griffin, [it insists upon itself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYAi5aI%5FNPc&ref=aftermath.site). **Riley:** Yeah, I think it's... very clear about what it's talking about, even under its layers of meta-narrative and surrealism: media and queer desire and in particular the eroticism of slasher films. But I wasn't always sure *what* it wanted to say about those things. It felt like the big dramatic moment was "slasher films are about sex" and I was like... well, yeah. **Chris:** The thing is the movie contains many things I enjoy. Jane Schoenbrun casts a lot of people I like! Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, Zach Cherry, Kevin McDonald, Sarah Squirm, Louise Weard, Patrick Fischler. It's a stacked cast. And there's a handful of jokes in there that I thought were quite good. But I found it to be tedious and academic while also chastising that impulse! But maybe we should get into the plot of the film first. **Riley:** Right. So the short version is that filmmaker Kris Williams (Hannah Einbinder) has been commissioned to reboot and reinvent a slasher film series called *Camp Miasma*, which was once very popular until it played itself out. The film series is about a summer camp stalked by a killer called Little Death (get it?... sigh), whose backstory is now seen as transphobic and retrograde. Kris is trying to cast the woman who played the original film's final girl, Billy Presley (played absolutely wonderfully by Gillian Anderson), who lives alone in the abandoned summer camp that served as the set for the films. Kris stays with Billy at the summer camp, and things get... sexy and meta. They're both great characters, and they work really well together--they're so different, but they have this great chemistry, and I think watching them on screen together made the movie less tedious than it could otherwise have been when it started feeling a little too film school for my tastes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-10.07.28---AM.png) [Mubi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dimCiC%5FhdoA&t=2s&ref=aftermath.site) **Chris:** Film School is exactly on the money, very much an "in this essay" movie. I was annoyed because they mention Billy's status as the final girl quite a bit, but the entire movie feels like trying to just make a plot out of Carol J. Clover's "[Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928507?ref=aftermath.site)." If you've never gone to Film School, first off: Good, keep it that way. But the main takeaway from the essay that's germane to this is the concept that slasher films intermingle the perspective of an often male (and quite often queer or feminine-coded) killer and a woman who must survive or overcome (often in a masculine manner). **Riley:** I loved the part where Kris and Billy are watching the first movie and Kris whispers "This part's transphobic." There isn't necessarily anything "wrong" with making a very film school film--Schoenbrun's work (the two of their three movies I've seen, anyway) is very much about media, and I think it's fair of them to want to do something that's more speaking to... I don't know, maybe their peers, or to other film buffs. That does mean if you aren't a Film Person it can be hard to enter into, though. **Chris:** A big part of the third act of the film is Kris' sexual dysfunction, which is rooted, on some level, in being exposed to this media at a young age. It's media that's both fraught and also serves as a queer awakening. And much of working through that sexual dysfunction with Billy involves imagining herself as outside of her body, disassociating a la Clover's essay into the viewpoint of the problematic genderqueer killer, who is a direct reference to *Sleepaway Camp* specifically but also countless other fraught titles (*Psycho*, *God Told Me To*, *The Silence Of The Lambs*, *Dressed To Kill*). The metatextual element is Schoenbrun working through the contradiction there, but the problem is it feels like therapy. I find the use of VHS-tinged nostalgia treacly, and the actual murder scenes in the original *Camp Miasma* film are corny and unengaging. **Riley:** Yeah, they're so over-the-top that I think it's hard to tell quite what they're doing. I thought that approach worked with the transphobic scene in question--it was so ridiculous that it didn't even feel like a sendup of the various slasher films the movie wants to critique, it just felt like making fun of transphobes in a way I appreciated. (Everyone has pointed this out, but: the in-world *Camp Miasma* movie is directed by Ray Blanchard, [who invented the idea of autogynephilia that transphobes use to do their weirdo shit](https://juliaserano.medium.com/autogynephilia-junk-science-and-pseudoscience-89c5f71c5752?sk=c787aa52c016084a429ac4037c8aeaf3&ref=aftermath.site). So it felt like it was making fun of *him* more than anything, which I'm into.) **Chris:** That part is good! Blanchard is a psycho. The problem is that the movie is both simultaneously underbaked in some parts and tediously over-explained in others. I quite like Schoenbrun's use of magical realism in this and *I Saw The TV Glow*; I just wish they trusted me enough to not have to explain it to me first. That feels overly defensive. **Riley:** I think part of why *I Saw The TV Glow* was so affecting was that it left a bunch of stuff unsaid (though I have Thoughts on that, especially now that I've seen more of Schoenbrun's work), and I think here maybe they... said too much. But at the same time I came out of it not entirely sure what they were saying, big picture, at all. **Chris:** I think Kris does say it quite bluntly: There's that libidinal impulse to wanting to be the hot girl covered in blood at the end of the movie. Covered in blood and laughing and thriving like Sally at the end of *Texas Chainsaw*. The idea of these things as fantasy, as play–I get that! **Riley:** Right but like, what is it saying about that beyond "this is a thing" which, like, yes, it is. And maybe it doesn't have to come to some big conclusion, maybe it can just celebrate that, maybe that's fine! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/Screenshot-2026-09-01-at-10.09.19---AM.png) [Mubi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA5NqUMEdbI&ref=aftermath.site) **Chris:** I think the problem for me is that Little Death exists as this eternal force, this divine androgyne who lives in a *Videodrome*\-esque flesh cave in a hole under the lake "where the movies come from," and that is the part that feels explicitly trans but also kind of incoherent. The movie spends so long explaining Kris' hangups and then leaves that in an asymmetrically abstract place. I'd be fine if the whole movie was that abstract, but it isn't! Also, there's a line that Billy says at one point, something to the effect of "you missed what those movies were about: flesh and fluid," which I agree with. But if you're going to say that, use really good-looking practicals for your gore! **Riley:** Haha, right, what does it mean to make this whole big sexy thing out of slasher stuff but then not have the slasher stuff be... particularly sexy? **Chris:** The sex scenes suck! I like sex scenes too! **Riley:** I think that for me, personally, sex isn't that interesting, and so when Kris is like "ah my big sex hangup!" I'm like... "yeah, sex is weird, whatever." But I mean good for Kris ending up with Gillian Anderson and having a whole big sex and blood thing, like that's fun! **Chris:** I think that's part of why I'm frustrated. I also had a huge crush on Gillian Anderson as a kid, and working that out on the big screen with Einbinder should work on paper! I agree with the impulse, I just dislike the execution. **Riley:** Yeah, I thought if you're gonna do "weird relationship to media," *I Saw The TV Glow* did it in a way that felt a lot more relatable and affecting to me. **Chris:** Yeah, I also think that *TV Glow* is more interesting because it is about the process of discovery, whereas this is about working through dysfunction after the fact. **Riley:** Right, so here's my sort of hottest take: Having seen two of Schoenbrun's three movies, the way I interpret the project of transness and queerness they're on is one of, like, becoming. Transitioning or having a sort of healthy, integrated queer identity is this situation of longing for something you have to overcome barriers to attain and embody. And for myself as a trans person and particularly as a trans writer, I think the stories I'm most interested in–and the ones I think are the most valuable politically, in whatever way you want to interpret "politics"–are ones of *being*, of what it is to exist in the world particularly as trans. Which isn't to say Owen from *TV Glow* or Kris *aren't* trans or queer or anything like that, but there is a way I can read these movies as transitioning or coming out narratives. And we need those, but I have also spent my personal artistic career trying to find different stories to tell. And so when I really dig into it, I start to find something almost retrograde about Schoenbrun's work as I interpret it. And, like, they don't have to live up to *my* standards or do what *I'm* doing, they can tell whatever stories they want! But it does start to... gnaw at me a little. For the record, and as I [wrote](https://aftermath.site/i-saw-the-tv-glow-review/), *I Saw The TV Glow* would 100% be a worse movie if it ever said the word "trans," and the not saying gives it so much of its power, but I do also have to sort of ask myself, what does it mean to make a trans movie that never says the word "trans"? **Chris:** Yeah, that's a case where it would not work to mention it, but this is a case where not centering it is somewhat detrimental. And the way that they mention transness is oblique and doesn't really work. **Riley:** A lot of my friends, especially my trans friends, really liked *Camp Miasma,* so I'm excited to talk to people it really clicked with and hear more about why it worked for them. I don't think it worked for me, but I'm also not a big Film person, so maybe I'm just not the audience it's talking to. My parents called me when I was in the theater, and when I called them back the next day and told them the name of the movie they burst out laughing and were like "you New Yorkers," so that sort of felt worth it to me, haha. **Chris:** That's the thing: Even when I don't like the movies or think they work for me, I'm still happy they do for others. I can speak to queerness in slasher films, but not to transness. But I just wish the films worked for me a little more, because even when I dislike them, the process of locating why is an interesting process for me. Maybe the next one I won't slide off as hard. ### Most Of Star Wars Zero Company's Developers Were Furloughed Weeks Ago URL: https://aftermath.site/star-wars-zero-company-furlough-layoffs-bit-reactor/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T03:07:31.000Z *Star Wars Zero Company*[ is out and it rules](https://aftermath.site/star-wars-zero-company-overwatch/), which *should* mean Bit Reactor, the team responsible for making the game, are currently basking in the warm afterglow of a great success. Instead, this being the hellscape timeline we currently inhabit, most of the studio have been furloughed and aren't being paid. As[ Stephen Totilo reports at Game File](https://www.gamefile.news/p/star-wars-zero-company-bit-reactor-furloughs-lawsuit?ref=aftermath.site), most of Bit Reactor's staff were stood down two weeks before the game’s launch, with one source saying the furlough has affected 80% of the team. And while one look at the publisher (EA) and license (Disney) for *Zero Company* would have most already assuming the culprits, a Bit Reactor rep told Totilo Bit Reactor made the decision on its own. The report paints a picture of a studio in crisis; Bit Reactor had "run out of most of its money just ahead of the launch of \[*Zero Company*\]", while it had also been embroiled in a long-running legal dispute between two founders over who, exactly, owned the company. While Bit Reactor are reportedly "\[hoping\] to bring furloughed workers back" after the game's success, that's far from a guarantee, and so regardless of the cause and particulars, we're still left with the same result as[ so many other layoffs and closures from the 2020s](https://aftermath.site/tag/layoffs/): a team of workers spent years making a video game people love, only to find themselves out of work right when they should be enjoying the fruits of their labour. ### There Is No Greater Joy In Video Games Than Laying Down Some Overwatch And Watching An Absolute Fool Walk Straight Into It URL: https://aftermath.site/star-wars-zero-company-overwatch/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T00:17:58.000Z I have been playing a *lot* of *Star Wars Zero Company* this week, and for all the things it does very well--most of which we'll probably get to over the next week or two--there's only one thing that is so good it made me literally hoot out loud at my computer screen. That thing, as *XCOM* lovers will have worked out already from the headline, is Overwatch. If you've never played those games (or any of the many other tactics games that use a similar system with a similar name), Overwatch is where you sacrifice a small amount of your current turn's action points in order to direct a unit to cover a certain part of the map with their gun, and if an enemy unit enters that part of the map (usually depicted as a cone of vision) during *their* turn then your unit will shoot at it. "But why not just shoot at it in your turn?" someone who hasn't played any of these games might be asking, to which I'll say, "Great question! Here's why". You see, in turn-based tactics games, cover is usually a big deal. If you shoot at an enemy unit while they're hunkered down behind some crates, or around a corner and out of sight, you're wasting your turn (and some bullets) on a target you're very unlikely to hit. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260831183542_1.jpg) The two bad guys stuck inside those blue cones are in some **big* trouble If you wait until you can catch them moving during their turn, though, you've got them dead to rights. An enemy unit running across an Overwatch cone has their weapon down, their gaze focused elsewhere and are usually completely out of cover. They're like First World War soldiers trying to cross No Man's Land, they're like lambs being led to slaughter, they're like rubes getting shot to hell because they walked directly into my *trap*. Overwatch rules because while nothing has materially changed in terms of outcome of a battle if you use it--you've shot at and killed some enemies, same as you would have otherwise--the way it's packaged makes you feel like the smartest guy in the room. Like someone who would say in a very whiny voice "You fool, you idiots, you had perfectly good cover! Now you've met your end because of my *devious* plan!" *Zero Company* also very smartly continues the *XCOM* tradition of telling the player that when enemy reinforcements are on the way, they will be coming from *this* exact spot on the map, and so if you as the player decide to setup multiple overlapping Overwatch fields across that spawnpoint, and a group of enemies show up and the first thing they do is walk into a hail of blaster fire that makes you jump up and down in your seat clapping, then that's just a thing that's going to happen in this video game. A *lot*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260831183629_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/09/20260831183630_1-1.jpg) I don't care how many years I have been doing the same trick, it still feels so satisfying every damn time I just can't stress enough how good Overwatch makes you feel. You get to set it up down to the most minute detail, arranging every arc of fire down to the last degree and likely percentage of landing a shot, and so there's a huge sense of ownership of the end result. Even if you interrogate your own heart and realise that deep down you know the enemy is approaching clustered like this on purpose, and that the AI is designed at points to run straight into Overwatch just to make you feel good, and that you have been doing this for over a decade now across many turn-based tactics games, none of that matters. The fun never wears off. It's a perfect game mechanic. It's *the* perfect game mechanic, a sublime mixture of work and reward, of feedback and subversion of the norm, and both *XCOM* and now *Zero Company* know it, because beyond just the tactical enjoyment of getting some cheap kills (in a game where kills can otherwise be harder to come by!) many Overwatch sequences are treated to badass, over-the-shoulder cinematic cutscenes, like showing your sniper snapping her laser rifle up and firing off a shot that traces directly into a Battle Droid's skull. So the next time I see someone trying to tell me that the[ most fun you can have in a video game is parrying](https://aftermath.site/parrying-good/), or drifting around a corner, or[ beating some kind of elaborate *Souls* boss](https://aftermath.site/i-hate-souls-games-bloodborne-elden-ring/), all I'm going to think is "yeah man, those things are fun I guess, but it's also clear you've never put two heavy gunners on Overwatch and seen them mow down an entire enemy squad while it wasn't even your turn, now *that* is some good shit". ### The Lovers Is A Sapphic Romance That Will Restore Your Faith In The Power Of Indie Animation URL: https://aftermath.site/the-lovers-studio-heartbreak-indie-animation/ Last updated: 2026-08-31T19:01:13.000Z Queer supernatural media has been [having a full-blown renaissance](https://gizmodo.com/the-summer-hikaru-died-this-monster-wants-to-eat-me-queer-horror-anime-crunchyroll-netflix-2000675445?ref=aftermath.site) lately, especially in the arena of [gals falling for sirens and mermaids](https://x.com/maijodox/status/2093878713402220658?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). At the same time, [indie animation has exploded on YouTube](https://gizmodo.com/the-knights-of-guinevere-pilot-brings-some-good-surreal-sci-fi-2000662283?ref=aftermath.site), with everything from [fan reanimations](https://aftermath.site/flcl-reanimated/) and pilots to original series that rival—and often eclipse—studio‑backed Hollywood fare. [Studio Heartbreak](https://studioheartbreak.com/?ref=aftermath.site)’s award-winning indie animated film, *The Lovers*, carries 2026’s yuri mermaid baton with a story that wows at every turn. > les yuri avec des sirènes you will always be famous [pic.twitter.com/Tcmpjqb3Lv](https://t.co/Tcmpjqb3Lv?ref=aftermath.site) > > — jody (@maijodox) [August 30, 2026](https://x.com/maijodox/status/2093878713402220658?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) *The Lovers*, co-directed by Alice Mao and Sophia Paez and written by Mao, is a fish-out-of-water love story for folks who wondered what *The Shape of Water* would look like if Guillermo del Toro made it gay. It follows chef Sara Baylon ([Vanille Velasquez](https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Vanille-Velasquez/?ref=aftermath.site)), whose marquee problem is generational trauma—specifically, filling the void left by her late father to help keep her family's seafood restaurant afloat. This is also a world where fantastical marvels like sirens are real. Unfortunately for siren Sirena ([Dawn M. Bennett](https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Dawn-M-Bennett/?ref=aftermath.site)), Sara’s family plans to serve her up on a silver platter for the governor’s inauguration dinner. Here, the gourmet tale doubles as a dangerous sapphic romance, where Sara and her siren paramour could spill each other's guts at any moment. Just as a room cheers for a baby taking their first steps, the internet has been championing *The Lovers* long before its premiere. Studio Heartbreak raised over $400,000 on Kickstarter within their campaign’s first 45 days. In a [2024 blog post,](https://updates.kickstarter.com/the-creative-download-film/?ref=aftermath.site) Kickstarter listed *The Lovers* as its fifth-highest-funded film and video project in 2023, which the studio justifiably humble-brags about achieving without celebrity or traditional studio backing. Though that’s not to say the industry hasn’t given it any: Some even offered their talents to the film and its promotion. Key among them are Velasquez and Bennett—voice actors known for *Valorant*, *Fire Emblem*, and *My Hero Academia*—who voiced the leads, and artist [Ami Thompson](https://www.gallerynucleus.com/artists/ami%5Fthompson?ref=aftermath.site), known for [*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*](https://x.com/AmiThompson%5Fh/status/1670132470275264512?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) and [*KPOP Demon* *Hunters*](https://x.com/AmiThompson%5Fh/status/2088352385165119504?s=20&ref=aftermath.site), who illustrated *The Lovers*’ promotional poster. But what makes *The Lovers* genuinely inspirational as an indie animation project is that its gorgeous animation didn’t come from industry veterans showing out. > its the small details in the visdev that really shine! > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:meew3yepwyvdk63lx3vwwzp3/post/3lbb4t4u6lk2d?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Studio Heartbreak ([@studioheartbreak.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:meew3yepwyvdk63lx3vwwzp3?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [November 18, 2024 at 5:58 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:meew3yepwyvdk63lx3vwwzp3/post/3lbb4t4u6lk2d?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > peeling back the layers > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:meew3yepwyvdk63lx3vwwzp3/post/3lbaazdjbg22d?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Studio Heartbreak ([@studioheartbreak.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:meew3yepwyvdk63lx3vwwzp3?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [November 18, 2024 at 9:41 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:meew3yepwyvdk63lx3vwwzp3/post/3lbaazdjbg22d?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > some visdev art and notes for our set! > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:meew3yepwyvdk63lx3vwwzp3/post/3lbgeiip6tc2b?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Studio Heartbreak ([@studioheartbreak.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:meew3yepwyvdk63lx3vwwzp3?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [November 20, 2024 at 7:59 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:meew3yepwyvdk63lx3vwwzp3/post/3lbgeiip6tc2b?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > the first animation test we made for the project! 2023 ish .. by [@tanjeronie](https://x.com/tanjeronie?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/PER8RRE7T1](https://t.co/PER8RRE7T1?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Studio Heartbreak @ OUT ON YOUTUBE (@studioheartbrk) [August 31, 2026](https://x.com/studioheartbrk/status/2094457654760366246?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) In a pinned YouTube comment, Studio Heartbreak wrote that the film’s story was written by Mao when she’d just turned 20, and Paez turned 19 while attending college for “non-animation things”– meaning *The Lovers* is the first-ever project from creators with zero animation or industry experience. After witnessing *The Lovers*' lush, delightfully cluttered background paintings, seamless 3D integration, and a balance of grotesque and provocative imagery, Studio Heartbreak has the juice. For a debut work, *The Lovers* is shockingly polished throughout its fifteen-minute runtime. And the side note on its official website that all the product photos they took of *The Lovers* mini artbook (which I need expeditiously), film poster, and keychains were taken at IKEA is just so real of them. > yas guys make fanart make fanmerch be free do what u want [https://t.co/Kb3RBn2cqU](https://t.co/Kb3RBn2cqU?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Studio Heartbreak @ OUT ON YOUTUBE (@studioheartbrk) [August 30, 2026](https://x.com/studioheartbrk/status/2093898831079325979?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) The film’s already been making festival rounds, winning [Gold](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/news/the-fantasia-international-film-festival-announces-its-2026-audience-awards-and-2027-dates?ref=aftermath.site) at the[ Fantasia Audience Awards](https://fantasiafestival.com/en/film/the-lovers?ref=aftermath.site) and screening at [Annecy ](https://www.awn.com/news/annecy-2026-sets-animated-thrills-chills-programming-lineup?ref=aftermath.site)and [HollyShorts](https://thecontending.com/hollyshorts-2026/?ref=aftermath.site) before making its world premiere on YouTube for free. In just two days, it’s hooked nearly 400K views. What’s got my heart growing three sizes over *The Lovers* is how Studio Heartbreak’s engagement with its growing fandom feels like a [for-us-by-us phenomenon](https://studioheartbreak.com/pages/fanclub?ref=aftermath.site). Not only has it disabled monetization “for a better viewing experience” and added an email address to its description inviting volunteers to subtitle *The Lovers* in languages other than Tagalog and English, but it's also got a [pretty generous fanmerch policy](https://studioheartbreak.com/pages/fanmerch-policy?ref=aftermath.site) that allows fellow independent artists to create artwork, AMVs, free games, and video essays. What’s more, Studio Heartbreak is a class act for posting a [link to the portfolio of artists](https://x.com/studioheartbrk/status/2093890207804203246?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) who helped bring *The Lovers* to life. > I CAN FINALLY POST THE COLOR KEYS FROM 1 MILLION YEARS AGO YESSSSSS [pic.twitter.com/qKPfDm9cdO](https://t.co/qKPfDm9cdO?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Studio Heartbreak @ OUT ON YOUTUBE (@studioheartbrk) [August 31, 2026](https://x.com/studioheartbrk/status/2094459343701766563?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) It's incredibly easy to get caught up in doomerism in the arts. If you’re not in the throes of a remarkable original show being [canceled](https://aftermath.site/you-wait-ages-for-a-bus-and-then-two-come-along-at-once/), you’re inundated with news of [revered artists revealing they fuck with AI](https://automaton-media.com/en/news/goodnight-punpun-creator-inio-asano-says-the-manga-scenes-attitude-towards-ai-is-one-of-the-reasons-he-put-mujina-into-the-deep-on-hiatus/?ref=aftermath.site). Either way, the whole song-and-dance is soul-fatiguing, so it's refreshing to see that the “old ways” of creating out of passion and having that passion received and supported yield an independent, unabashedly queer animated work. Studio Heartbreak may be a ways off from being “an internet-based animation studio of girls who are going to change the world,” as they declare in *The Lovers*’ YouTube description, but I’m hoping their next project about “VTubers, androids, and biotech startups that play god” captures lightning in a bottle twice. ### We've Got New & Improved Gift Subscriptions! URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-gift-subscription-2/ Last updated: 2026-08-31T17:38:25.000Z We've[ offered gift subscriptions for a while now](https://aftermath.site/this-holiday-season-give-your-loved-ones-the-most-precious-gift-of-all-a-subscription-to-aftermath/), but today we're happy to announce that they have just got a *lot* better. Thanks to several key improvements on the backend, we're now able to offer gift subscriptions of varying length (1, 3, 6 or 12 months), and across all three of our paid subscriber tiers. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-28-091047.png) Our new gift subs have a lot more options, making them a great option for all kinds of occasions You've now also got a range of delivery options as well, like being able to select the day the subscription is emailed to the recipient (it won't start until the day they redeem it) and adding a personalised message. Or, if you'd prefer, you can select 'I'll share it myself' and a URL will be generated that you can share with the recipient however you like. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-28-091141.png) The new customisation options not only make the whole process look more **generous*, but let you add some more personal touches as well The (virtual) gift cards themselves also look nicer as well! If you're spending $100 (or even $999!) on someone you want the gift to be slick, and we hope you like the new design of the gift cards as much as we do. If you'd like to buy someone an Aftermath gift subscription, you can find the link in your account settings, or by[ heading here](https://aftermath.site/#/portal/gift). ### Game Developers Devastated By Gamescom Laptop Theft Spree URL: https://aftermath.site/gamescom-laptop-theft-spree-iam8bit-mimic/ Last updated: 2026-09-01T15:47:32.000Z Game developer and consultant Ryan Laley traveled to Cologne, Germany from Essex, England to showcase [his upcoming horror social deduction game *Mimic*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2606850/Mimic/?ref=aftermath.site) at the annual Gamescom event. He paid "thousands of pounds" to get a booth at the show, where other game developers and press could try the game ahead of its October release. But Laley's Gamescom was cut short when he realized Friday morning that his brand new Alienware laptop, purchased for the event, was missing. The laptop was stored in a cupboard in the booth, and Laley started asking nearby vendors to see if someone had moved it. That's when he realized it was stolen—and that he wasn't alone. Laley's booth in Gamescom's business area, specifically in the International Game Developers Association Lounge, had been hit in what appears to be a string of thefts at the convention center. The business area of the convention is not open to the public, only press and others with specific tickets. Laley said Gamescom advertised this area as having 24/7 security and limited access after hours. "I'm a solo dev doing this all on my own," Laley told Aftermath. "I'm very, very tired and very, very stressed out." Publisher and merchandiser iam8bit, in a nearby booth showcasing *Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School* and *Petal Runner*, had two laptops with game builds stolen Thursday night from its booth, a representative confirmed to Aftermath. The theft has "disrupt\[ed\] our very busy appointment schedule," [iam8bit posted to X on Friday](https://x.com/iam8bit/status/2093398808650719323?s=46&ref=aftermath.site), and put in-progress game builds "at risk of being leaked." Iam8bit has contacted authorities, which are "seeking anyone who may have relevant information," iam8bit Presents marketing and publishing manager Billy Shibley told Aftermath. A Gamescom representative said in a statement to Aftermath that the impacted parties "followed the established procedure and notified security personnel." They continued: "The police were then notified. We have no influence over further police proceedings or findings." Aftermath reached out to Cologne police, but has not heard back by publication time. > My [#gamescom](https://x.com/hashtag/gamescom?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) cut short. Our equipment was stolen last night from the booth. > > Police reports have been filed. > > At a loss for words to describe the feeling. Just defeated. Gonna do my best with what's left of the week. > > But a huge blow financially and mentally [pic.twitter.com/dKpp3Of6df](https://t.co/dKpp3Of6df?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Mimic | Ryan Laley (@RyanLaley) [August 28, 2026](https://x.com/RyanLaley/status/2093280590996869487?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Laley is not only losing out on the cost of a brand new laptop, but the booth space that will go unused for the rest of the event, which runs through Sunday. It costs nearly €3,000 (roughly $3,500) for the smallest size booth in Gamescom's business area, [according to its price calculator](https://exhibitors.gamescom.global/calc/?L=en&ref=aftermath.site). Pricing only goes up from there. That's not to mention the cost of travel, hotels, and food for the week in which Laley expected to showcase *Mimic*. He posted [an emotional video to social media](https://x.com/RyanLaley/status/2093280590996869487?ref=aftermath.site) to share the news that his Gamescom was over. "As an indie, solo dev, this shit's expensive and hard to do all by yourself," Laley said in the clip. "And to have this happen is beyond frustrating. It's heartbreaking." Before posting that clip, Laley said he felt defeated. "I felt like I was just wasting my time," Laley told Aftermath. "I thought, let's just give it in and walk away from this. Clearly, the gods had spoken and said I can't be doing this. Thankfully, that hasn't been the case. We've had a massive amount of support from everyone around us at the booth, and everyone in the industry has been, honestly, overwhelmingly supportive." Laley's community immediately responded looking for ways to help after he posted the clip. CD Projekt Red offered equipment, [posting a reply on X from the *Cyberpunk 2077* account](https://x.com/CyberpunkGame/status/2093352395044483450?ref=aftermath.site). "We are very sorry this happened to you," CD Projekt Red wrote." We hope you know you’re not on your own with this. And while it won’t help right this second, we’ll check the Arasaka hardware archives and see if we can send a few things your way. No choom should have to start from zero." Laley said some people have [supported him by signing up for his Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/ryanlaley/about?ref=aftermath.site), but wishlisting *Mimic* is enough. "The most meaningful thing has been people just running up to me or messaging me and saying, 'hey, we're here for you if you need anything,'" he said, "'Come get a beer, let us know if you need anything.' It's been heartwarming." Later, [Laley shared on X](https://x.com/RyanLaley/status/2093387270556426431?ref=aftermath.site) that consultant and *Don't Scream* game developer Joe Hensen had donated enough money for Laley to buy a new laptop. Laley packed up his booth on Friday after the show and took it back to the hotel. He says he’ll stay in Cologne for the rest of the event and play some games. "This weekend, my brain and heart just need to decompress a little bit and take a chill for a second and just network and chat to people," he said. **Update (8/31/26):** Gamescom posted a lengthy statement on X Saturday in which it said the company was "aware of stolen hardware," and that it was taking reports seriously. [Here's the rest of the statement](https://x.com/gamescom/status/2093654741192433865?ref=aftermath.site): *Uniformed guards provide general security across the venue. Individual stand security can be booked separately, and exhibitors are advised to insure equipment against theft.* *This is noted in the terms and conditions of participation and the technical guidelines.* *All cases have been reported to us and to the police, and investigations are already underway. We also want to ensure that the reported cases are individual cases, which we are very sorry to read.* *Because security has one of the highest priorities to us as an event and to see that indie developers are affected makes us very sad. At an event of this size, however, there will always be individuals attempting to take advantage of the situation.* *Our security measures are designed to minimize such risks as effectively as possible.* Cologne police also responded to Aftermath's request for comment and declined to share police reports. They said they'll have "a list all theft-related offenses in the coming days." Several other studios have said they, too, were robbed, [including *The Gibbo Show* maker Tessera Studios](https://x.com/tesserastudios/status/2093421439508463879?ref=aftermath.site). ### GTA VI’s Realism Might Make It Hard To Kill People URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-gta-6-realistic-violence/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T17:19:01.000Z This week Rockstar finally [blew the proverbial lid off *Grand Theft Auto VI*](http://youtube.com/watch?v=tJbzMqJGH4k&ref=aftermath.site), and when people beheld its contents, their faces melted like they’d gazed upon the Ark of the Covenant. While [the particulars of the game’s making are very much worth discussing](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-netflix-gameplay-reveal-npcs-crunch/), the fact remains that it will soon be a real, tangible object. That in mind, what will it be like to rampage through a world full of NPCs that move and scramble and cry in manners uncannily akin to actual people? Is there a point at which wanton virtual violence stops being enjoyable? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we talk about that. This time around, we recap the highs (read: mids) and lows of Geoff Keighley’s least consequential annual advertisement fest, [Gamescom Opening Night Live](https://aftermath.site/gamescom-opening-night-live-news-roundup/). The new expansion for *Witcher 3*—yes, the one that originally came out in 2015—looks cool, as does an arguably even longer-awaited continuation of a beloved series: *Pony Island 2*. But otherwise, it was hard not to let our eyes glaze over as Geoff and co ladled out a slurry of [same-y looking games that embraced AI](https://kotaku.com/opening-night-live-2026-genai-slop-games-geoff-keighley-2000728477?ref=aftermath.site), shamelessly cribbed notes from other series, or both (see: Hoyoverse, Krafton). Then, a whole day later—which will pass to you like seconds thanks to editing magic—Kotaku’s resident *GTA* beat reporter [Zack Zwiezen](https://bsky.app/profile/zackzwiezen.com?ref=aftermath.site) joins us to talk about [the latest developments in *GTA VI*’s lengthy leak saga](https://kotaku.com/gta6-grand-theft-auto-6-leaks-cyberleek-memecoin-rockstar-cash-out-2000728825?ref=aftermath.site) and, of course, the Netflix extended preview that Rockstar inconsiderately chose to air on Thursday, 24 hours after we typically record. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can amass even more stars than a *Grand Theft Auto* character. **Zack:** I’m really excited by this idea that the world’s gonna react to you a lot more in subtle ways. Those people \[who saw Lucia approach a convenience store with a gun behind her back\] didn’t call the cops. They were just like “Uhhh, I’m gonna get out of here.” **Nathan:** Also, like, considering the level of verisimilitude in the world and how real it all looks—and maybe over time my mind will revert to how it normally is when I play video games—I wonder if I’ll be able to do the normal *Grand Theft Auto* thing of going on a rampage and killing a bunch of people. I don’t think I’d feel good about it. I think I’d be like “Oh… this sucks.” **Zack:** Speaking of that leak with the nudist colony, I was watching it, and the part where he opened up fire on this crowd of people with a pistol, I was like “Oh man, yeah, we’re at a point where, Rockstar, you’ve done your job so well. These people look so real.” And it’s not just how they look. If you watch that clip when he starts shooting, people are grabbing onto each other. **Nathan:** Yeah, the way they move is crazy. Zack: You look at this, and you’re like “You did your job so well that I don’t know if I want to just shoot into a crowd.” I don’t know. It’s gonna be a really weird feeling. And you can tell in the \[Netflix\] extended look, the missions tend to involve criminals or armed guards. You’re not just out in the world shooting people. Now maybe there will be missions like that, but I suspect that even Rockstar’s picked up on this, and there won’t be. I highly doubt there’ll be rampage icons in this game like there have been in past *GTA*s where you get the little icon and it’s like “Kill 500 of these people” or whatever. I don’t know if they’re gonna do that. I think Rockstar might realize “Oh, this doesn’t work for us anymore.” **Nathan:** Again, I think that’d make me feel icky. And I’m sure some people will do it anyway. I bet there will be many, many YouTube videos of someone being like “I killed 40 billion people in *Grand Theft Auto VI*.” But I think that normal players will probably approach it less recklessly. I think the thing that will happen to a lot of people is, they’ll be shocked at how much they’re following the rules in a game about crime. They’ll be like “Yep, I’m driving at the speed limit. I’m trying not to hit people.” **Zack:** “I’m not taking corners too tight; that way I don’t hit people on the sidewalk. I’m being careful.” **Chris:** “I’m being respectful.” ## Recommended [I Wish Rockstar Cared About People As Much As It Does GTA VI NPCsYou can’t talk a big game about handcrafting everything while mistreating the people responsible![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-d2bc57f9-3681-486f-bf41-f8c2944cedff.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gtanpc1-dbcb6f37-ca9a-4d9d-a864-9c3de8c71539.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-netflix-gameplay-reveal-npcs-crunch/) ### Pokémon Is For The Gays URL: https://aftermath.site/pokemon-lgbtq-san-francisco-coyote/ Last updated: 2026-08-31T17:38:43.000Z [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/coylog.png)](https://www.coyotemedia.org/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal) This piece is a joint publication between Aftermath and [COYOTE](https://www.coyotemedia.org/?ref=aftermath.site), a worker-owned newsroom for the San Francisco Bay Area. [Subscribe to COYOTE ](https://www.coyotemedia.org/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal) The most colorful, expressive area in the Bay Area this weekend might just be downtown San Francisco, where instead of the usual hustle and bustle and aggressively straight tech bros of the corporate world, you might see something more whimsical. Pikachu, Charizard, and the trainers who love them are descending on San Francisco, as organizers are expecting more than 50,000 people to attend Moscone Convention Center throughout the weekend for the Pokémon World Championships, taking place from August 28-30. It’ll also be, like so many other elements of *Pokémon*, extremely gay. “There is a level of this that is just, *Pokémon* is for everybody, everybody has a favorite,” says DJ Burtch, a *Pokémon* content creator and speedrunner. “It’s very present in the games that there are all kinds of people.” --- Before I knew I was queer, my favorite character from the *Pokémon* anime was James from Team Rocket, a purple-haired, eccentric, loveable diva always trying to steal Pikachu away from the protagonists. I just thought he was so “funny;” I didn’t even know what “queer-presenting” *was* for the early part of my life. I even went as him for Halloween in 2021, right around the time I was finding my queer identity. I have been a *Pokémon* fan since I was about 3 years old. When I grew older but before I came out, I called myself “culturally a lesbian,” which is cringe, but also all my friends were queer and I liked all the nerdy stuff they did, like *Pokémon*. I was building a community through *Pokémon* before I really identified with why. Having racked up [$147 billion in revenue](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2026/3/best-selling-media-franchise-pokemon-celebrates-its-30th-anniversary?ref=aftermath.site) as of 2024, *Pokémon* is the highest-grossing media franchise in the world. Once an 8-bit video game released for the Game Boy in 1996, it now extends to trading cards, movies, an anime, and even theme parks. This year marks *Pokémon*’s 30th anniversary, making the World Championships a bigger event than ever. Madelyn Brannan competed in an Orlando Video Game Championships (VGC) regional this year, and her brother will be in San Francisco this weekend to compete in the trading card game. She believes that the chosen family aspect of *Pokémon* is a draw for queer fans. “The way you can pick whatever Pokémon you want to use and your character doesn't talk, so you can kind of imagine for yourself, like, the relationships you form with the other characters in the game, especially in these later games where \[the games\] give a lot of personality to the characters,” she said. “You want and imagine your own journey being whatever you want it to be, whatever is meaningful to you. And being able to talk about that with other people because we all played the same game, but we all played in a different way. I think that's something that has really colored my experience and my relationship with the franchise over the years.” --- Fan bonding aside, *Pokémon* itself has so many camp elements. Obviously, there’s Team Rocket, who I loved as a kid. The game features a handful of canonically queer and trans NPCs, including [a transfeminine Beauty Nova](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Beauty%5F%28Trainer%5Fclass%29?ref=aftermath.site#/media/File:XY%5FBeauty%5FNova.png) in the *X/Y* games who talks about her transition and says that just half a year prior, she was a Black Belt, which is a male-exclusive NPC category. And there are at least two recurring nonbinary characters in *Pokémon Go*, in Team Mystic’s leader, Blanche, and ultra space traveler Rhi, who uses they/them pronouns. And who can forget the choose-your-own adventure Eeveelutions, where the adorable Normal type can evolve into whatever it wants to be? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/branden-skeli-C51VWJljlJA-unsplash.jpg) The Eevee line of Pokémon, especially the blue, pink, and white Sylveon (front right), are often seen as trans-coded by fans. (Branden Skeli/ [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/various-pokemon-eeveelution-figurines-are-displayed-C51VWJljlJA?ref=aftermath.site)) “In the game, the first question they ask you is, ‘Are you a boy or a girl?’” Burtch said. “I think what kind of made me realize I was trans in hindsight was when I played *Pokémon Black* for the first time, and I picked the female character, and I was like, ‘Why am I doing this?’” Game Freak and the Pokémon Company have never blatantly given messages of support for the queer community. Still, the internet is full of essays such as “[The Genderqueer Rule of Mewtwo](https://medium.com/pop-off/the-genderqueer-rule-of-mewtwo-9fcc4071ffd0?ref=aftermath.site),” “[21 Pokémon who are totally, absolutely, definitely queer](https://www.out.com/gay-tv-shows/gay-pokemon?ref=aftermath.site),” and “[Fairy Pokémon Have Become A Queer Calling Card.](https://kotaku.com/pokemon-fairy-queer-lgbtqia-sylveon-pride-trans-flag-1850577955?ref=aftermath.site)” Even some of the Pokémon themselves are hard to see as anything *other* than queer representation. Some Pokémon seem super on-the-nose, like the trans flag-colored Sylveon. Burtch cited Gardevoir, a feminine humanoid psychic Pokémon, as one the queer community claims for its gender androgynous vibes. [Marill](https://www.reddit.com/r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns/comments/tdzvox/friendly%5Freminder%5Fthat%5Fmarill%5Fis%5Fan%5Fofficial/?ref=aftermath.site) [is also](https://www.tiktok.com/@berryengutz/photo/7512763384362831134?image%5Findex=3&ref=aftermath.site) [embraced](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB0dabL7o1c&ref=aftermath.site) because a coding quirk in older games caused one in three female Azurill to evolve into male Marills. Then there is the queer icon known as Amoonguss. Amoonguss is a mushroom-shaped grass and poison type Pokémon that is popular in the competitive circuit mostly because of “Spore,” a move that puts both opponents to sleep with a 100% success rate. In 2024, a screenshot went around on X in which a prominent VGC player, Neil Patel, had allegedly written that he “will never support people changing their gender, that’s mental illness.” During the finals of that year's Orlando Regionals competition, Patel was matched with former world champion Wolfe Glick in a hotly anticipated bout. In their final battle, which would break their one-to-one tie, Glick’s unassuming Amoonguss carried him to victory after defeating Patel’s stacked team, which included three legendary Pokémon. According to [Dot Esports](https://dotesports.com/pokemon/news/pokemon-community-hails-trans-rights-icon-amoonguss-after-vgc-players-transphobic-comments?ref=aftermath.site), Patel’s comments began to spread after that event. And from there, the legend of trans rights icon Amoonguss became unstoppable. “I for one welcome Amoonguss as our new Trans Rights icon,” [VGC commentator Gabby Snyder tweeted,](https://twitter.com/GabbySnyder/status/1780197106885476462?ref=aftermath.site) reposting artwork of Amoonguss in colors of the transgender flag. A [YouTube commenter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh07ex9EnZ8&lc=UgwEHnjAgujsr5UG8OF4AaABAg&ref=aftermath.site) wrote, “amoonguss threw the first brick at stonewall.” --- The video game space has often been toxic online for anyone who isn’t a cisgender white straight man, but *Pokémon* has *mostly* been an exception to that. This weekend will be a competition and commemoration of the franchise, but also an opportunity for queer fans to celebrate community. The Stud, a queer, worker-owned bar in San Francisco, already hosted a [Warped *Pokémon* party](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/warped-presents-pokemon-party-at-the-stud-tickets-1993776023758?ref=aftermath.site) earlier this month, and 620 Jones Bar & Restaurant is hosting a [*Pokémon* drag brunch](https://www.instagram.com/p/DccTfDusG4R/?ref=aftermath.site) on Sunday. While the weekend’s schedule is [jam-packed with official events](https://registration.pokemon.com/flow/pokemon/26sanfrancisco/landing/page/dailyschedule?ref=aftermath.site), I think the most exciting part of the Championships will be found outside of the Moscone Center, where the community will be out in force displaying their homemade cosplays and trading cards and finding each other organically. That’s how queer fans have gathered and expressed joy in the *Pokémon* world since the beginning. Brannan appreciates the uniqueness of everyone in the *Pokémon* community, and she believes that her fellow fans also see that as something to be celebrated. “And I know,” she says, “because they love this franchise too, that they must share those values with me.” ### I Wish Rockstar Cared About People As Much As It Does GTA VI NPCs URL: https://aftermath.site/gta-6-netflix-gameplay-reveal-npcs-crunch/ Last updated: 2026-08-31T17:39:19.000Z After years of leaks and anticipation, it finally happened: Rockstar [released gameplay footage of *Grand Theft Auto VI*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJbzMqJGH4k&ref=aftermath.site), the most expensive video game in history. And boy does it look the part. Vice City shimmers with sweat, grit, and personality. Every scene is almost too detail-rich, a feast for the eyes that threatens to induce sensory overload. But what really stood out to me were the characters—and not just soon-to-be household names like Jason and Lucia. Every NPC, whether in a crowd or cutscene, *moves* with an incredible degree of verisimilitude. They appear human. This, Rockstar boasted in [a breathless New York Times feature](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/27/arts/grand-theft-auto-vi-trailer-extended-look-rockstar.html?ref=aftermath.site) about the *GTA VI* Netflix gameplay preview, is all handmade—a titanic achievement. > To make this world feel more believable, Rockstar built a new team of writers, directors and producers in Los Angeles that focused solely on creating more realized NPCs. Rather than use procedural generation to algorithmically mix and match body parts and clothes, the developers went for a bespoke approach. > > “We art-directed each individual one of them,” said Garbut, who with Nelson also leads development for Rockstar Games. > > *Grand Theft Auto VI*, Rockstar said, has well over 600,000 animations, compared with 55,000 animations in *Grand Theft Auto V* and 300,000 animations in *Red Dead Redemption 2*. Garbut emphasized the new game’s human-made craft. > > “Every room in the game, somebody thought about this,” Garbut said. “Who’s sitting where, what they’re drinking, the marks that are left on the table. The pictures on the wall will have the people that are in that room, with their tattoos on their arms and their family behind them. That whole thing has been made, and built, and photographed, and placed in this random room in a random building in a huge city, in a world.” After a week of big [Gamescom announcements accompanied by AI disclosures](https://kotaku.com/opening-night-live-2026-genai-slop-games-geoff-keighley-2000728477?ref=aftermath.site)—a concentrated gut punch of implicit “AI is inevitable, don’t try to resist” messaging—this is a gulp of fresh air. Human hands crafted *GTA VI*, Rockstar at least seems to be saying (though these days, you never truly know), and more importantly, human minds put thought into every inch of it. That’s the good shit. That’s why we play games and experience art: to see the world through other people’s eyes, to understand how and why they live. *GTA VI* represents the apotheosis of a certain kind of art: what happens when an enormous group of best-in-class artists are given near-infinite resources and, if not an infinite amount of time, then at least more than most usually get on a commercial project. This, it turns out, is what people can produce when working, in lockstep, with a singular purpose. Coordinated to a degree that few others in history ever have been. They can build something that is—at least, at first 27-minute glimpse—awe-inspiring. But if Rockstar were being honest, it’d replace the star in its logo with an asterisk, because there’s always one looming over its games. The lead-up to *Red Dead Redemption 2*’s 2018 release, especially, was characterized not just by [horse testicles](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/you-are-error-horses-red-dead-redemption-2-horse-testicles/), but by [reports of a culture of brutal crunch](https://kotaku.com/inside-rockstar-games-culture-of-crunch-1829936466?ref=aftermath.site)—one that forced reviewers to reckon with the human toll exacted by gargantuan virtual worlds littered with painterly details. At the time, former Kotaku staffer and current Triple Click/Strong Songs podcaster Kirk Hamilton [wrote](https://kotaku.com/red-dead-redemption-2-the-kotaku-review-1829984369?ref=aftermath.site): > Play *Red Dead Redemption 2* for just a few minutes, and the fruits of that labor will be immediately apparent. This wonderful, unusual game was clearly a titanic logistical undertaking. Every cutscene, every railroad bridge, every interior, every wandering non-player-character has been polished to a degree previously only seen in more limited, linear games. If Naughty Dog’s relatively constrained *Uncharted 4* required sustained, intense crunch to complete, what must it have taken to make a game a hundred times that size, but with the same level of detail? As critic Chris Dahlen once put it while ruminating on how much easily missable, painstakingly sculpted work is included in the average big-budget game, “That’s some fall of the Roman Empire stuff right there.” > > … > > It is human nature to pursue greatness, even when that pursuit brings destruction. It is also human nature to pursue achievement as an end unto itself. *Red Dead Redemption 2* is in some ways emblematic of those pursuits, and of their hollowness. The game is saying that progress is a cancer and that humanity poisons all that it touches, but it was forged at the apex of human progress. Its gee-whiz technical virtuosity has a built-in expiration date, and in ten years’ time, the cracks in its facades will be much more apparent. At unimaginable cost and with unsustainable effort, it establishes a new high-water mark that will perpetuate the entertainment industry’s relentless pursuit of more, accelerating a technological arms race that can only end at an inevitable, unfathomable breaking point. > > But there is a pulse pumping through this techno-artistic marvel. This game has heart; the kind of heart that is difficult to pin down but impossible to deny. It is a wonderful story about terrible people, and a vivacious, tremendously sad tribute to nature itself. There is so much beauty and joy in this expensive, exhausting thing. Somehow that makes it even more perfect—a breathtaking eulogy for a ruined world, created by, about, and for a society that ruined it. Eight years later, Rockstar is on the verge of one-upping itself. But once again, that achievement might come at too high a cost. Despite [reports in 2020 that Rockstar had cleaned up its act](https://kotaku.com/18-months-after-red-dead-redemption-2-rockstar-has-mad-1842880524?ref=aftermath.site) both in terms of 60-hour work weeks and a pervasive frattiness enabled by leadership, more recent times have suggested that it still doesn’t value its people so much as what it can squeeze out of them. In 2024, the company [announced a five-day-per-week return-to-office policy that proved immensely unpopular with employees](https://aftermath.site/rockstar-return-to-office-grand-theft-auto-vi-crunch/) who’d finally managed to balance work and life under Rockstar’s figurative roof. This was met with large-scale pushback, as well as concerns about workers with disabilities and backsliding on crunch. Rockstar, however, refused to budge—in part as a preemptive countermeasure against leaks on the scale of what happened in 2022\. We now know [how that story ends](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-leak-2026-rockstar-union-no-boycott/). Then, last year, Rockstar abruptly [fired over 30 employees](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-delay-union-protest-rockstar/) involved in a push to unionize their workplace for allegedly “discussing confidential information in a public forum” when—according to the Independent Workers’ Union Of Great Britain (IWGB)—they were actually communicating in a private union Discord. [Protests followed](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-6-rockstar-fired-workers-protest-nyc/). Fired workers, in conjunction with IWGB, are currently in the process of pursuing legal action against Rockstar, with a final hearing set for next month. UK-based Rockstar workers formally [announced their union](https://aftermath.site/rockstar-games-workers-union-public-announcement/) earlier this year, but Rockstar [has yet to officially recognize it](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8x4dlxg5o?ref=aftermath.site). Meanwhile, in July of this year, Game Developer reported that [Rockstar has been ignoring pay inequity, mandating crunch, and weaponizing bonuses](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/rockstar-accused-of-disregarding-pay-inequity-mandating-crunch-and-weaponising-bonuses?ref=aftermath.site). Despite all this, unionized workers have asked fans not to boycott *GTA VI*, instead requesting that they [help monetarily support fired workers in their legal battle](https://gameworkers.square.site/s/order?cs=true&cst=custom&item=66WZHVFB242USGVZPSOPSAAB&ref=aftermath.site#most-popular). “We poured years of our lives into helping build this game,” they wrote in a statement earlier this month. “We don't want you to boycott it. We want you to help us fight for justice.” It’s tempting to believe that a production on the scale of *GTA VI* naturally leaves a trail of cracked whips and broken backs in its wake—that if people aren’t worked to the bone, they won’t produce something truly excellent. But in the past, Rockstar workers [have disputed this assessment](https://aftermath.site/rockstar-return-to-office-grand-theft-auto-vi-crunch/), as have those at other studios with histories of crunch that made serious efforts to reform, [like CD Projekt Red](https://aftermath.site/after-mass-layoffs-cd-projekt-union-wants-to-make-management-think-twice-about-more/). Great games wind up in our hands *despite* labor abuses and burnt-out workers, not because of them. Rockstar can’t have it both ways. If the company is going to hold itself up as a paragon of care and craft, then it must also treat the people responsible with the care they deserve. Anything else is rank hypocrisy—a failure no matter how many billions of dollars *GTA VI* makes. ## Recommended [Nothing About GTA VI’s Launch Can Be Normal“Can you imagine another video game getting this treatment? This level of brand recognition and obnoxious Netflix specials and Sephiroth-adjacent coin-selling hacker kids sending manifestos?”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-5eb707b5-ba92-4685-bd75-253609550c6a.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gta666-96eb8f38-84ff-46ea-8dba-c82c972a5bf6.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-grand-theft-auto-vi-leaks/) ### Sovereign Tower: It's Good URL: https://aftermath.site/sovereign-tower-review-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T18:44:31.000Z Described by developers Wild Wits Games as a 'management RPG', *Sovereign Tower* is what you get when you take *Yes, Your Grace* and make it *sexy*. Playing the role of the titular Sovereign, recently installed on the seat of an ancient and powerful throne, this is a game where a never-ending stream of peasants, nobles and axe-grinders visits you on a daily basis, asking you to solve, mediate or ignore their various issues. While some of that solving comes from simply spending a bit of cash to fix up a road or whatever, many of the more serious issues--like monsters eating farmers’ cattle and angry Dragon Kings challenging you to duels--become quests, which require you to send out your roster of brave, shiny and slightly weird Knights to complete. Each Knight has strengths, weaknesses and traits (some might be afraid of the dark!), and so you need to make sure you're sending the right man, woman or undead-creature-pretending-to-be-something-else to do the job. Knights can take damage on these quests, uncover secrets that unlock further quests (with their own storylines) and even, if you really fuck it up, die. That matters here, because each Knight is a rich and fully realised character. Every single one has a backstory, and dialogue sequences, and you can even romance them, so when you lose one, it hurts! Not just because you've spent ages levelling them up and equipping them with expensive gear, but because you might be *in love with them*. A huge part of the *Sovereign Tower* experience is built around these interactions, to the point where you'd be forgiven for thinking this was more of a visual novel RPG than a management RPG. Nearly the entire game is spent talking to *someone*, whether a petitioner, castle attendant or Knight, and both the writing and art are so good I don't think I let a single opportunity for conversation or a sidequest pass me by. Look at these menus! That map! It's glorious! Every scene in the game is oozing with character and wonderful little touches. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260826221006_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260826215953_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260826220234_1.jpg) It's not all chit-chat, though. I saw the game described[ in a Discord I'm in](https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/three-moves-ahead/id307176617?ref=aftermath.site) as "*Sovereign Tower* is basically just *Suzerain* with an embodied character", and that also checks out. Anyone who has played *Suzerain*, with its constant need for decisions of state to be made with sometimes little more than gut feeling to go on, will see that same pressure here within around five minutes, albeit with the added immersion that you're a character actually existing in *Sovereign Tower's* world, not just a disembodied, guiding hand. There's some depth to the management of your Knights, too; every day you need to juggle sending some out on missions, having others come back and making sure they've all got the right equipment (and maybe a cake or two for a stats boost). Once you've got a full roster it[ feels a lot like *Dispatch*](https://aftermath.site/dispatch-demo/), only without the smarm; the cast here is so full of interesting and unique characters that I grew to love (nearly) all of them. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image-6.png) Some quests are life and death! Others are not. I know there are a lot of games coming out at this time of year, way too many for everyone to even keep track of, let alone play, but boy am I glad I carved a few days out for *Sovereign Tower*, which takes abstract worker management and makes it *personal*. ### VHOLUME And CICADAMATA" Make A Meal Of Movement URL: https://aftermath.site/vholume-and-cicadamata-make-a-meal-of-movement/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T21:07:12.000Z *VHOLUME* and *CICADAMATA”* both dropped at the same moment. Both are brilliant indie experiments in speed traversal through single player levels. Both are cheap, at eight and nine dollars respectively. Both make use of leaderboards for each stage, allowing a player to sink countless hours trying to shave off time and focus on route optimization. Both even let the player replay an entire area with a single button. And while they radically differ in how they approach story, space and basic movement, they are both standouts worth your time in one of the most packed release seasons in recent memory. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6777.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6774.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6776.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6861-2.jpg) ## ***VHOLUME*** The [*VHOLUME* demo](https://aftermath.site/vholume-game-titanfall-2s-gauntlet-indie-parkour/) stunned me when it came out. It is a brutalist parkour runner a la *Mirror’s Edge, Counter-Strike Surf* or more specifically *Titanfall 2*’s beloved gauntlet level. I left the demo wondering how far the game would go outside the scope of the demo. Not far, it turns out, which is the right call. *VHOLUME* took the demo and extruded it, adding more levels while retaining the slightly hands-off feeling that felt so special. Retained is the sensation of being dropped into a placeless and timeless world with little to latch on to save being oppressive and Eastern bloc-coded. The space is impossible and yawning, slabs of stone and concrete seemingly suspended in the air whose only functional purpose seems to be your traversal. Fumito Ueda’s legacy is deeply felt in every slab and brick. The music by, among other artists, 1000 Eyes (who wrote music for *Signalis*) and Konstantin Schimanowski hums and coos, ambiently tuned precisely to the register of a lonesome world. It is a game that evokes the groggy sensation of traveling at an ungodly speed through a city that can only live in half-remembered dreams. Damn the soundtrack is good. There is little in the way of a formal plot, but the narrative choices *VHOLUME* makes outside of its impossible architecture are filigrees – misshapen creatures sharing tiny lines of dialogue and detail that are more poem than prose. At one point a slug creature in a subway recites Sahrah Teasdale’s poem “A Prayer.” Two nude, sexless figures sit in a room filled with light carved by venetian blinds while one bemoans the status of a factory. Several large and distorted people behind desks extol the virtues of management and bureaucracy. These cryptic encounters never ever add up to a fully realized world, but encountering them is precious nonetheless. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6853.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6849.jpg) Though you might miss them, **VHOLUME* has some great little guys. The basic verbs of *VHOLUME* are to run, crouch/slide, wall crawl, climb and jump. Like most serious first person traversal games there are nuances that allow you to optimize a run. Bunny hopping is fast, but the absolute fastest way to travel in a straight line often involves hopping and sliding so that it appears like you are bouncing on your ass. It is also possible to climb straight up a wall indefinitely by holding forward while looking up, letting go for a second, jumping, then repeating the process. The game features “Coyote time”, a game technique that allows the player to execute a jump for a short period of time after a wall run or cliff, but the specifics of using it are narrow and technical. With these techniques you can bypass entire sections of a level, shaving minutes off a potential run. Because the game will not only record your time but also save a “ghost” to the leaderboard that anyone can replay, it’s quite easy to see just how to get silver or gold medals on each level, and to see how someone far more twisted than you managed to beat a level in eight seconds instead of minutes. You can ignore these challenges if you wish, but the appeal of *VHOLUME* is that you can easily become obsessed with trying to match or beat a run. The game is not long as far as time to beat it, but I spent far too much time attempting to beat one level by ping-ponging off of three poles. In addition to this there are also unlockable B-Sides, community-made levels that have made it into the final version. Like arena shooter *STRAFTAT* which one of the creators worked on, *VHOLUME* feels like a game that benefits from its low price and open nature, and one that benefitted from having a Discord chat that it used to cultivate a loyal community. The B-Sides range from unrelenting to comical, with one of them being just a one-to-one recreation of the Tsukuba Circuit in Japan. Here's a compilation of several WR. Though a quick game to beat if you rush, V*HOLUME*’s levels are finely tuned and lovingly crafted, sculptures chiseled in Unreal Engine, somnial skyscrapers in a void. Despite sharing many traits of the game that came out the same day, there are few games that approach what it does, and few that will stick with me so vividly this year. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6865.jpg) Green Hill Zone ass level. ## ***CICADAMATA”*** Where V*HOLUME* is contemplative and lonesome, *CICADAMATA”* is loud and abrasive. The world of *CICADAMATA”*, dubbed CASCADE, is low-poly, digital and cyberpunk, *Marathon* by way of the PSX*.* Your character FAWN-A2 (Callsign: “White Rabbit”) must traverse six spheres, each with three sublevels. The goal of each stage is to collect four cores and extract alive, racking up the highest score possible upon completion. FAWN-A2’s weapon of choice is a gun named Joyuse, a two shell shotgun similar to *Marathon*’s WSTR, although its secondary fire is functionally the railgun from *Quake 3 Arena*. In addition to this, FAWN-A2 can dash and stomp offensively. Dashing is a fantastic way to chain through several enemies, while stomping can be used offensively to crush, levitate a character with the force of an impact, and shave off seconds by rapidly descending. Like *VHOLUME*, each stage has three potential tiers of success: silver, gold and platinum. Also like *VHOLUME*, these challenges are optional to completing the story, and more exist as a personal point of pride. But unlike *VHOLUME*, *CICADAMATA”’s* scoring system is not just a function of time to completion, but also involves points accrued based on how you traverse the world and defeat enemies, known as THREATS. Each THREAT has a different optimal strategy for engaging with it. Flowers explode on being shot taking out other THREATS nearby. Birds are often difficult to shoot but easier to dash through and can provide an additional mid-air platform through the level. CRABS cannot be stomped but can be launched and dashed. ESPERs are unique in that they drain FAWN-A2’s points when she is nearby, but if they are destroyed you will magnetize to their position, making them a very fast way to traverse a level if you can nail them with Joyuse’s secondary fire. I will never be this good at this game Part 2. *CICADAMATA”* feels indebted to *Neon White* in terms of both its heavy use of Machine Girl-esque breakbeats, the pace and structure of movement, and its approach to competitive single player leaderboards. There is also a not-insignificant amount of *Jumping Flash* and *Sonic Adventure* in the mix, particularly in terms of level design and how the game utilizes dashes for defeating enemies repeatedly. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6862-2.jpg) The air is just heavy today. *CICADAMATA”* is also quite bluntly a queer game, engineered in a lab for lesbians and enbies who identify on a core level with games like *Signalis, Nier:Automata,* or even something like *The Amazing Digital Circus*. This is a game for people who find the mecha from *Virtual-On* and *Zone of the Enders* to be erotic. Though the game does initially tell its story via scraps of text flashed on the screen and terminals from other CICADAS, how it settles at the end is much more explicit, grounded and earnest. It is heavily implied that this is simply the first part of an incomplete story to be finished later in the vein of *Deltarune,* and if that is the case I will happily reup for additional chapters. *CICADAMATA”* feels like it could be the foundation for something larger and more expansive, and I hope the creators have the opportunity to execute on that vision. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/journal.jpg) One of the many entries you can find in the game. In a season littered with so many big budget releases, it can be hard to tell people to focus on tiny indie games. But both *VHOLUME* and *CICADAMATA”* cost less than a nice sandwich, and both are no-brainers for someone even remotely interested in what they’re attempting. Both are easy enough to complete but daunting to truly master. They are cheap enough that they can be easily gifted to a friend on Steam, something I’ve done already for both. If either of them sound intriguing, do not hesitate, because both are going to be precious for the audiences destined to find them. ### Peter Cullen Was Anime’s Peerless Pitchman URL: https://aftermath.site/peter-cullen-toonami-rest-in-peace/ Last updated: 2026-08-28T14:28:47.000Z Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime, Eeyore and countless characters, [passed away Wednesday](https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/peter-cullen-voice-of-optimus-prime-and-eeyore-dies-85-1236845132/?ref=aftermath.site) at the age of 85\. Among voice actors he was irreplaceable, but more than anything I will always remember his voice, cutting and distinct, overlaid with jungle and DnB music selling promos for anime. If you grew up with Toonami, which admittedly narrows this down to Americans of a certain age, you heard Peter Cullen’s voice quite a bit. To hear Cullen’s voice promoting shows like *The Big O*, *Dragon Ball Z*, and *Gundam Wing* was to know that anime was not just fun but cool. That was not something that was certain in America at that time. What Cullen did with these promos was truly sell you on that certainty. With a voice you could feel in your ribcage if you turned your sub up rough, he’d peer into your soul and say “[Tougher than the best, stronger than the rest…accept no substitutes.](https://youtu.be/xf7UT3asEt8?ref=aftermath.site)” He, along with C. Martin Croker’s [Moltar ](https://youtu.be/dBJz-xmr1qk?ref=aftermath.site)and Steve Blum’s TOM, was a constant voice for millions of kids and teens discovering anime for the first time. I generally loathe nostalgia and am bad at eulogizing famous people, although in a week where we’ve lost [Tim Curry](https://aftermath.site/tim-curry-dead-video-games-command-and-conquer/) and [Dolly Parton](https://aftermath.site/gamescom-opening-night-live-news-roundup/) this one hits pretty badly. It can also feel weird to eulogize someone for doing promos, which isn’t work that people are usually proud of. But Cullen’s voice elevated that Toonami cool to a cultural force, something that locked you in for a lifetime. Many of those promos are art. Even more than two decades after the blocks that they’re advertising have aired, it is hard not to watch his promos for *Tree of Might* or *Gundam Wing*, to look at how normalized anime has become among teens, and appreciate his small but pivotal role in helping that come to pass. > Rest in power, Peter Cullen. One of one. You will be missed. [pic.twitter.com/Jobl0shIoo](https://t.co/Jobl0shIoo?ref=aftermath.site) > > — adult swim (@adultswim) [August 27, 2026](https://x.com/adultswim/status/2093011339807539510?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) ### I Came To Hell Clock For The Vibes, Then Learned A History Lesson URL: https://aftermath.site/i-came-to-hell-clock-for-the-vibes-then-learned-a-history-lesson/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T15:50:15.000Z One of my favorite experiences to have with a piece of art is, “I have no idea what is going on, and I love it.” It’s how I feel when I play *Elden Ring*, or when watching the 1981 horror movie *Possession*. And most recently, it’s how I feel about the roguelite game *Hell Clock*, which depicts a version of the Canudos Massacre, a real historical event that took place in Northern Brazil from 1893–1897. ***This piece originally appeared 7/30/26 at*** [***Mothership***](https://www.mothership.blog/i-came-to-hell-clock-for-the-vibes-then-learned-a-history-lesson/?ref=aftermath.site)***, a worker-owned outlet providing gaming coverage for her, for them, and yes, for him. If you like what you see, consider*** [***subscribing***](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal)***!*** Since I started playing this game last week, I have read several articles about the Canudos Massacre. The game itself has taught me almost nothing about this deeply sad piece of Brazilian history; its characters don’t really explain what is happening. Being victims of this horrific circumstance, they are struggling to understand it themselves; there’s no time for them to sit around describing the particulars. The Hell Clock is ticking, after all. Speaking of the Hell Clock, this is also a game in which hell exists, as well as hordes of brainwashed, undead soldiers — representative of the actual Brazilian government forces that so cruelly slaughtered innocent people during the real-life historical massacre. Similar to *Diablo* and *Hades* before it, this is an isometric game depicting a ghastly underworld, but *Hell Clock* does not depict hell with all of the camp and colorful gore of the *Diablo* franchise, nor with all of the helpful expository dialogue found in *Hades*. The world of *Hell Clock* is grotesque, beautiful, and sparse; its cutscenes play out in a blocky, painterly style, and its in-game monsters are as monstrous to behold as the acts of the real-life people who inspired them. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image-7.png) **Hell Clock (Rogue Snail/Mad Mushroom)* *Hell Clock*’s protagonist, Pajeú, is a former clockmaker turned Canudos resistance fighter. The game begins with Pajeú seeing an old woman beset by two undead soldiers; he kills them both, one headshot for each. She leads him to the abandoned, ransacked house of Canudos’ counselor, who is almost certainly inspired by the real-life Antônio Conselheiro. Again, the game does not fully explain all of this, but here’s a quick summary of the man who inspired this game and its setting. Antônio Conselheiro was a Catholic mystic who devoted himself to helping the poor and the oppressed in late 1800s Brazil; he became the leader of a refugee town called Canudos. Canudos was a haven for poor people, newly freed slaves lacking resources, indigenous people, and anyone else escaping oppression… oppression that Canudos’ residents saw as the fault of the Brazilian government. That’s why that government came to see Canudos as a rebel cell that needed to be destroyed. The modern-day perspective on Antônio Conselheiro is not united. People today do generally agree that the massacre was wrong. But for some historians, Conselheiro just seems like an extremist cult leader. For others, he’s a hopeful figure who did all he could to protect and preserve some of Brazil’s most marginalized people and cultures, however briefly. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image-8.png) **Hell Clock (Rogue Snail/Mad Mushroom)* That latter perspective is the one that *Hell Clock* depicts, while also depicting the invading Brazilian government as the work of the antichrist and his followers. If you didn’t know who Conselheiro was and you played this game, you’d still understand the weight of what Pajeú is facing. He’s fighting hordes of zombies, protecting innocent old ladies from ghouls and demonic entities. *Hell Clock* has a very specific vibe, and it succeeds in conveying the stress and tension of Pajeú’s fight against forces whose powers far exceed his own. It’s easy to pick up what *Hell Clock* is putting down thanks to these vibes, even if you have no idea what’s going on — which I sure didn’t at first, and sometimes, still don’t. There are many parts of *Hell Clock* that I still don’t understand, such as the titular Hell Clock. Similar to *Hades*, this is a roguelite game in which Pajeú fights his way through the underworld. But unlike *Hades* and many other roguelites, *Hell Clock*’s runs have a timer. Pajeú fights as far as he can through various underworld levels, and either he dies on the way and has to start over, or the clock runs out and he gets sent back home. This encourages the player to frequently level up at home base, especially since one of the skill trees allows you to add more time to the clock, thereby letting Pajeú explore further each time. Also, most of the abilities allow Pajeú to kill more enemies faster, so you end up getting through levels faster each time, even if you don’t add more seconds to the clock. As you improve your weapons and attacks, the game starts to feel less like *Hades* and more like *Vampire Survivors*, as leveled-up Pajeú becomes so super-powered that he can whip through early stages like a vengeful hurricane. Why is there a clock in the first place, though? It’s not been explained to me yet. My personal headcanon is that Pajeú simply cannot survive in hell for very long, and so must return and rest before he can get back to his quest. But *Hell Clock* doesn’t actually confirm this. Also, as someone who enjoyed *Hades* but found it extremely difficult, I appreciate that *Hell Clock* forces me to end runs at regular intervals and level up more before heading back down. I also know exactly how long each run is going to be — the seconds tick down on screen the whole time Pajeú is in hell — so I always know if I have time to do another run before bed (although I have absolutely stretched that to its limits). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image-9.png) **Hell Clock (Rogue Snail/Mad Mushroom)* This is how much of the game’s world-building feels. Why is any of this happening to Pajeú in particular? What did he do to deserve this? Why is he capable of navigating hell, while other people seemingly cannot? The game’s cutscenes suggest that Pajeú is already dead, already a victim of the massacre. So perhaps the reason he can come back from hell again and again — as well as return there, for limited time periods — is because he is dead already. So… is any of this real? Or is this just a terrible, desperate dream that he could still save his people from this massacre, even as his actual corpse bleeds out on the ground? It’s rare to play a game so confident in its aesthetic, tone, and vibe. I don’t always find *Hell Clock*’s combat levelingto be perfectly balanced; I’ve hit various frustrating difficulty spikes and often cursed the ticking clock. But I keep on playing because its under-explained yet perfectly depicted world is so compelling. And if you’re going to play a game with repetitious runs, you do need the vibes to be immaculate. Hell Clock *is available on* [*Steam*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1782460/Hell%5FClock/?ref=mothership.blog)*,* [*PlayStation 5*](https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10016758?ref=mothership.blog)*, and* [*Xbox*](https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/hell-clock/9NWCMBF3JZ2Z?ref=mothership.blog)*.* [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/02/MsLogo_2_Black.png)](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal) Mothership is a website, a channel, and a community co-founded by Polygon veterans Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah, where staff and freelancers cover how gender and identity relate to games. [Subscribe to Mothership ](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal) ### RIP Tim Curry, Video Game (And Regular) Actor Extraordinaire URL: https://aftermath.site/tim-curry-dead-video-games-command-and-conquer/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T00:56:16.000Z Because this week evidently decided it hadn’t already [taken enough beloved 80-year-olds from us](https://aftermath.site/gamescom-opening-night-live-news-roundup/), Tim Curry passed away Tuesday night. A king of camp, many remember Curry for scene-stealing roles in movies like *Clue*, *The Rocky Horror Picture Show*, and of course, *Muppet Treasure Island*. But he also loved popping up in video games, a perfect fit for his inimitably over-the-top stylings. [According to Moby Games](https://www.mobygames.com/person/6009/tim-curry/credits/?ref=aftermath.site), Curry ultimately appeared in 22 games. While some of these were licensed fare—Curry voiced Nigel Thornberry in *The Wild Thornberrys*, after all—his gameography is littered with heavy hitters including *Gabriel Knight*, *Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger*, *Brütal Legend*, *Dragon Age: Origins*, and *Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3*. The latter role pretty much guarantees Curry’s immortality all by itself thanks to a line read so good that [Vice dedicated a whole oral history to it](https://www.vice.com/en/article/an-oral-history-of-tim-currys-escape-to-the-one-place-uncorrupted-by-capitalism/?ref=aftermath.site). “I’m escaping to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by capitalism,” Curry, as Premier Anatoly Cherdenko, bellows, half-panting, half-convulsing with unbridled enthusiasm. Then he blurts the piece de resistance so hard that you can practically feel his spittle on your face: “Space!” From Vice’s oral history: > JOSHUA BASCHE (assistant cinematics editor, *Red Alert 3*): It’d be these long takes of them just sitting there reading a teleprompter as lines came up. It was towards the end of the day, and you could kind of tell Curry was tired, he wanted to get out of there. But then that line comes up. And you saw the smile pop onto his face when he read it through first. The first take was that take. > IVANA MILIČEVIĆ (“Dasha,” *Red Alert 3*): When I saw that, I was like, “I know you’ve been sitting there for hours.” > MICAL PEDRIANA (story and cinematics producer, *Red Alert 3*): Everyone was busting up. > JOSHUA BASCHE: It’s so bombastic. It’s so fantastic. > STUART ALLISON (cinematic editor, *Red Alert 3*): This is fucking brilliant. I love this. This is Frank N. Furter, for me. > IVANA MILIČEVIĆ: Was he making fun of it? Or was he having fun? > CHRIS CORRY (executive producer, *Red Alert 3*): He was ready to bring the ham. I don’t think he was breaking at all. > JOSHUA BASCHE: I think he did exactly what he wanted to do. > HARIS ORKIN (cinematics writer, *Red Alert 3*): You could see he knew how ridiculous this was. But he kind of played it that way, almost. A little different than everybody else. > STUART ALLISON: I think he was aware he was about to break but he finished the take because he knew it could be used. He knew he was doing it brilliantly. > MICAL PEDRIANA: He’s a professional. I don’t think he did a lot of stuff by accident. “He didn't die, he simply escaped to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism,” reads a comment made today on a YouTube video of the clip, echoing the same sentiment as countless others. In honor of a man who could bring gravitas even to the silliest moments, here’s more highlights from Curry’s video game voice (and regular) acting career: That *Dragon Age* clip, especially, suggests that even as somebody who came up before video games exploded into a multibillion-dollar industry, game roles weren’t just a job to Curry; he found them legitimately interesting. "The opportunities are limitless, really,” he said. “That's what fascinates me about \[the game\]. And the opportunities for the gamer within the game are limitless. ... So if you engage in this game, and you might recognize my voice, I hope it will be able to seduce you into getting further and further embroiled in my dark, dark world until I eventually meet my fate." Great words, but as with all things Curry, I *implore* you to go watch his delivery of them. ### I Am Begging Websites To Remember They Are Read By Human Beings, Who Possess At Least Some Small Amount Of Dignity URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-movie-website-headlines-clickbait/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T01:32:24.000Z As you may be aware, the internet is[ slowly killing the old media business model](https://advertisingweek.com/aw360/news/the-search-traffic-collapse-is-forcing-publishers-to-adapt/10598/?ref=aftermath.site) of letting you read a website for free and covering said website in ads. Those few websites that remain are finding themselves caught in a never-ending struggle to adapt to an ever-changing landscape, one where the death of ad sales and the rise of AI search results have upended everything they once thought they knew about running a business. [As someone who spent a long time in that line of work](https://aftermath.site/video-game-blogs-old-media-2000s/), and a decent chunk of that time writing crap to attract social media clicks because it made ownership happy, I have nothing but the utmost sympathy for every writer and editor still working at a major masthead who is being encouraged (or even forced) to do annoying stuff to keep the lights on. Everyone pushing those changes on them, though, from the moron owners of their publications through to the ad and tech executives ultimately responsible for stuff like AI search results, can get in the bin. The smallest and stinkiest bin, though, should be reserved for whoever across Valnet’s sites have brought us to the point in time where we are being shown[ headlines like this](https://www.polygon.com/taylor-sheridan-jon-bernthal-sicario-streaming-hbo-max-august-2026/?ref=aftermath.site) on their stable of websites: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Capture-2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Capture2.jpg) Note: I've removed the bylines from these posts because the issue here is not the writers, who I very much feel for, it's structural [I've complained about impenetrable headlines before](https://aftermath.site/its-exhausting-trying-to-read-video-game-website-headlines/), but there's clickbait and then there's whatever the fuck *this* is. Who in their right mind is describing (or searching for) the Second World War series *SAS: Rogue Heroes* by its studio creators or cumulative review score? That Polygon headline is just the tip of a modern internet-shaped iceberg. Look how far you have to get into the story before the movie the article is actually talking about is mentioned: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Untitled-1.jpg) The film in question is finally revealed after that Tom Holland video, and the movie is...*Sicario*? Fucking *Sicario*?!?! It's not a Western! Bernthal isn't even the *star* of that movie, he's like 5th or 6th billing!!! Why is the story framed this way, with its runtime and review average in the headline but not the *name of the movie* or even the main stars included? This is a Benecio Del Toro and Josh Brolin film! Is it because Bernthal is in the new *Spider-Man*, and Sheridan also has something to do with that? No, Taylor Sheridan fucking *hates* Marvel movies! He[ called *Spider-Man* out specifically](https://screenrant.com/taylor-sheridan-marvel-movies-criticism/?ref=aftermath.site) in a recent rant on Bill Simmons' podcast! Many of Valnet's sites have started using these kinds of headlines in recent months, all of them failing to mention the film or show or game in question, but instead listing things like runtime, number of seasons and/or community ratings. It's a bizarre thing to see repeated once you've seen it once. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Capture5.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Capture-3.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Capture3.jpg) I don't work in SEO, so I can't speak definitively as to why these headlines are being crafted in this very specific way. Maybe it's to try to get a search engine to list the blog as a news item when people *are* searching for a movie or show or game. Maybe it's a long-winded way of ensuring a story shows up in AI-generated search results,[ increasingly the main way users are being directed towards a website](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/27/googles-ai-search-is-rapidly-becoming-the-default-new-data-shows/?ref=aftermath.site). (If you work in SEO and know why, [I'd love to hear it](mailto:luke@aftermath.site)!) Whatever the reasons, I know the results: It's an indignity. Like, come on man. We're people trying to get by on the internet here, and being treated like an article is a puzzle box that feels designed solely to torment someone into juicing a pageview, rather than inform or entertain a reader, is a demeaning experience. Nobody should have to dance for their supper just to find out some folks have rediscovered *The Wire* again. The more I see these headlines, the more I feel like[ one of the last living humans on an internet increasingly written by machines for machines](https://fortune.com/2026/07/23/dead-internet-theory-bots-agents-majority-web-traffic/?ref=aftermath.site). What are we even doing here, when headlines aren't being written for the people reading the website? What even *is* a website without that? There's nothing in these headlines making me want to click on these stories, and there's very little in them to warrant the deception in the first place. It's smoke and mirrors from top to bottom. Like I said, I feel for the very human writers with their bylines attached to posts like these (and remember, [many headlines are written by editors](https://aftermath.site/games-journalism-an-faq/), not the writers!). Nobody goes into writing wanting to do *this*,[ and with jobs as scarce as they are now](https://aftermath.site/games-media-journalism-layoffs-gamurs/) I don't begrudge a single soul for following whatever bonkers guidelines they're being asked to follow. But like, where does this ride we're on end? How much more impenetrable and frustrating are headlines going to become before human beings stop being able to understand them at all, let alone want to read them. [It’s Exhausting Trying To Read Video Game Website Headlines - AftermathYou’re not the Riddler, just tell me what this is about![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-a3d0e062-3a8a-4b61-bdb8-6a091b64534e.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/mixkit-exhausted-man-in-front-of-a-computer-with-his-head-69-original-large-3-88d8a2d3-d132-4912-9c31-9b29fc9f473d.png)](https://aftermath.site/its-exhausting-trying-to-read-video-game-website-headlines/) ### Companies That Love Shit-Spewing Algorithms Admit Maybe Shit-Spewing Algorithms Are Bad URL: https://aftermath.site/meta-facebook-instagram-lawsuit/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T16:10:51.000Z Two tech companies this week have taken steps toward limiting how youth interact with algorithms on their platforms. On Wednesday, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta proposed a settlement with state attorneys general in a trial over youth safety, and on Monday Roblox banned user-made games that feature scrolling video from being featured in its Kids and Select age tiers. Meta has been on trial since last week over [allegations by attorneys general across the country that its products are addictive to kids](https://www.npr.org/2026/08/18/nx-s1-5935458/meta-child-safety-social-media-addiction-trial-opening?ref=aftermath.site), and that it hid what it knew about this from the public. Meta denied the states’ claims. On Wednesday, Meta [announced proposed changes to its platforms](https://about.fb.com/news/2026/08/agreement-with-state-attorneys-general-supporting-teens/?ref=aftermath.site), writing that it will add time limits to teen accounts, block notifications at night and during school hours, and prompt teens to take breaks. The company also wrote that “Teens will be able to choose a non-algorithmic feed — one that isn’t personalized by our recommendation systems — as their default. We will periodically remind them of this option, and parents can choose to adjust their teen’s default experience to require this setting.” If the settlement is approved by regulators, in addition to these changes Meta would pay states approximately $12.7 billion over the next 10 years to use on online safety initiatives for youth. Meta says it will pay another $5.3 billion if YouTube and TikTok “implement a one-hour Daily Limit, Night Mode, and age assurance measures” and “each pay an amount matching the \[$5.3 billion\] figure, with half of the remaining funds tied to YouTube’s payment and half tied to TikTok’s.” “\[T\]he fact is that teens move fluidly between dozens of apps a day,” Meta wrote. “All platforms should empower parents and support teens by putting the same measures in place, because we know that when teens are restricted on one app, they simply move to another.” While the algorithmic option isn’t the biggest part of the settlement, or the thing Meta is pushing on other companies, it’s the part that caught my eye the most. Muting notifications and adding time limits are all well and good, but to my view, they’re just band-aids over the essential [hideous allure](https://aftermath.site/irish-tiktok-nasti-instagram/) of these apps: the algorithmic feed that feels endless, that’s constantly pushing new hits of dopamine into users’ brains. Adults can [barely withstand the effects](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/social-media-algorithms-warp-how-people-learn-from-each-other/?ref=aftermath.site) of this, so I’d certainly believe it’s way worse for young people whose brains are still developing. These feeds lure people into spending more time than they intend to on platforms, and show them stuff that can feel designed to outrage or mislead them to keep them scrolling or get them in the comments. Meta, [the attorneys general allege](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/why-states-claim-meta-designed-addictive-features-for-children?ref=aftermath.site), *wants* this. User engagement is a success metric for all kinds of online platforms, but it can feel like algorithmic-based apps don’t care if users stick around because the products are good or enriching, just that it always feels like there’s *something new* beneath the next swipe. Roblox, another company that has [no idea how to keep youth safe](https://aftermath.site/tag/roblox/) on its youth-focused platform, has also recognized that maybe this shit sucks, or at least that it could be open to trouble over it. [Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/roblox-cracks-down-on-doomscrolling-games-like-steal-an-egg-that-forces-players-to-watch-reels-while-running-on-a-treadmill-2000727952?ref=aftermath.site) reported that the company has banned for users age 5-15 games that include feeds of short-form videos that autoplay or loop and that include rewards for watching these feeds. Kotaku wrote that this is aimed at games like *Steal an Egg* and its clones, which allow players to level up their characters’ speed by running on a treadmill set before a screen featuring a short-form video feed. (Kotaku wrote that this feature has since been removed from *Steal an Egg*.) “Rewarding users to consume a continuous feed of content without natural stopping points is not appropriate for younger users,” Roblox wrote in its [announcement about the change](https://devforum.roblox.com/t/roblox-kids-and-select-new-restrictions-on-reward-driven-media-feeds/4829188?ref=aftermath.site). I had no idea *Roblox* games had these kinds of features, so I’ve gone through a roller coaster of horror and relief to learn about this crackdown. But, as Meta writes, if young people are looking for a scrolling fix, there’s plenty of other places to get it. (I’m not handing it to Meta here; I doubt the company has had a *Christmas Carol*\-style change of heart about the feature that undergirds its entire business model, and I wouldn’t be surprised if its demands on TikTok and YouTube were just to keep users from fleeing to competitors.) And *Roblox* itself is fueled by its own [game discovery algorithm](https://about.roblox.com/newsroom/2026/06/optimizing-discovery-great-games-reach-millions-players-roblox?ref=aftermath.site), which is based in part on player retention; the company might not want young players scrolling an endless video feed inside a game, but it still needs them faced with an endless scroll of *Roblox* experiences of varying quality. This isn't unique to these companies. The whole internet, from [actual websites](https://aftermath.site/gameshub-clickout-media-seo-gambling-ai/) to [search engines](https://aftermath.site/google-search-ai-conversation/) and [products](https://aftermath.site/google-docs-grammar-suggestions-suck-ass/), feels like it’s just designed to feed you *shit* now, but shit it’s hard to stop looking at or avoid. AI is bad because it produces things that are bad, but it’s also bad because it allows the worst actors to fuel this compulsive spew of crap at scale. Trying to keep this shit away from young people is a good idea, but more widespread solutions are fraught. Banning youth from algorithms is a feature of KOSA, the [Kids Online Safety Act](https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/about/issues/kids-online-safety-act?ref=aftermath.site), but KOSA’s critics highlight the ways the bill could be used to [identify users, muzzle free speech](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/08/senate-should-reject-kosas-privacy-risks?ref=aftermath.site), and crack down on [queer content online](https://19thnews.org/2024/03/why-some-lgbtq-groups-oppose-the-current-kids-online-safety-act/?ref=aftermath.site). And countries that have attempted to ban youth from social media have seen [use actually rise](https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/social-media-rise-among-australian-010013199.html?ref=aftermath.site), and have been [criticized for keeping young people from participating in a key part of society](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/06/uk-social-media-ban-for-under-16s-right-diagnosis-wrong-prescription/?ref=aftermath.site). And algorithms aren’t the only thing keeping people online too long: While social media app [Bluesky](https://bsky.social/about/blog/3-30-2023-algorithmic-choice?ref=aftermath.site) can show you only people you follow, it’s still rife with the endless scroll and engagement bait that algorithmic-based apps feed on. Maybe the problem is just the entire scrolling internet, but I don’t think that demanding everything be siloed or finite is a solution either, if such a thing were even possible. And I do think that, to an extent, youth need to be free to roam a porous, explorable internet; I wouldn’t be the queer person I am today without having spent time in AOL chatrooms I *probably* shouldn’t have been in as a teen. Too much oversight and restriction can keep youth from engaging with parts of themselves they might not be ready to, or that it might not be safe to, share with adults around them. It can feel like the best you can do is just set healthy limits for yourself, something that’s hard for adults and so surely much harder for youth, especially when we’re all up against internet companies that built their success on smashing through users’ boundaries by design. Neither Meta nor Roblox is motivated by pure good will here, and at the end of the day it could be likely both just find new ways to try to keep users from logging off. But at least it’s satisfying to watch Meta tuck its tail, and I imagine it will be equally satisfying if it succeeds in taking YouTube and TikTok down a peg with it. ### I Fear The Levels Of Film Bro I Will Become With My XGIMI Horizon 20 Projector URL: https://aftermath.site/xgimi-horizon-20-home-projector-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-27T16:10:06.000Z So I did a thing: I replaced my living room TV with a projector. And my word, I've become even more of a film bro than I thought possible. > Living mas. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vy6xpujujv3lmlrwuhplzq2q/post/3msw4v2usnc2w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Isaiah D. Colbert ([@shineyezehuhh.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vy6xpujujv3lmlrwuhplzq2q?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 12, 2026 at 6:00 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vy6xpujujv3lmlrwuhplzq2q/post/3msw4v2usnc2w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) In the lead-up to my big boi, baller-on-a-budget purchase, I've yearned for the tactile. After spending the better part of seven years staring at a laptop and smartphone screen for work, leisure, and human contact with colleagues, I've come to a point in my life where I desire the hands-on comfort of interacting with and fine-tuning my possessions. At first it started with jotting things down in a journal instead of using a Google Calendar. Then it evolved into brewing my own coffee with the [OXO Rapid Brewer](https://aftermath.site/oxo-rapid-brewer-coffee-espresso-soup-shots/) and a hand grinder—which I proudly haven't upgraded to an electric one. Why? It's exhilarating to play an active part in how my gizmos and doodads work. ![My XGIMI Horizon 20 projector on a throw rug.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/XGIMI-Horizon-20--11-.jpg) The plant was a paid actor. At long last, that same compulsion has made its way to the second and third loves in my life after professional wrestling: What if I transformed my living room into a comfy sleepaway camp where I could watch anime and film? I'm glad I did, because now every night feels like a (night at a) movie. What's more, it's given me a trial by fire in what I like and don't like, what I don't understand, and an appreciation for how cinema works by tinkering with my own makeshift setup. After roughly two weeks of deep-diving down a YouTube and tech review sites ([bless RTings](https://www.rtings.com/projector/reviews/xgimi/horizon-20?ref=aftermath.site)) rabbit hole, I landed on the vanilla model of [XGIMI's Horizon 20](https://us.xgimi.com/products/horizon-20?srsltid=AfmBOooJrw7bwtEwV4PVarhHci6MX0WXE6sqzYvfDRyH6-NTW-oGgy1V&ref=aftermath.site) projector. Although I was dancing around whether I wanted to get the standard or the Pro model, the price tag for all three models of the XGIMI projectors was on sale on the Lex Luthor online storefront ($1,399.00) —believing I might as well get the upgrade so I wouldn't have to fret over wanting more later, I'm pretty satisfied with the OG. Mainly because its 3,200 ISO lumens output vs the Pro (4,100 ISO lumens) and the Max (5,700 ISO lumens), which meant the Horizon 20 has deeper blacks and greater depth than its pricier, bigger brothers. Plus, I'm not trying to have the Bat signal's light localized entirely within my living room. ## The setup Setting up the projector was a breeze, though it came with some annoying foibles. Key among the upsides was the projector's built-in Google TV, making logging in to my streaming apps a cinch. Plus, knowing the projector has a [Harman Kardon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harman%5FKardon?ref=aftermath.site) speaker—the same as my [ZenBook Duo Dual laptop](https://gizmodo.com/asus-zenbook-duo-review-a-stacked-laptop-in-more-ways-than-one-2000713558?ref=aftermath.site)—I knew it'd be crazy loud before getting a soundbar. And honestly, even after getting a [rinkydink Sony soundbar](https://electronics.sony.com/audio/soundbars/all-soundbars/p/hts100f?srsltid=AfmBOoqokTqh3H5RaDKIdB884-ojqEws5PiCblB1fTJZuWTfFwyBr1Yu&ref=aftermath.site), I'd still say the projector gets louder, but I appreciate the more precise tinkering I can do with my soundbar, adjusting soundscapes for music, cinema, and more importantly, voices for all my whisper-speak actors. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/XGIMI-Horizon-20--10--1.jpg) Likewise, the projector has an ample array of ports on the back, including two HDMI ports (one being an HDMI 1/eARC, which, to my luddite brain, means it's the better one to plug in my PlayStation 5 Pro), two USB ports, an optical port, and an audio jack. Alongside IMAX Enhanced and Dolby Vision film formats that it automatically detects from whatever film I'm playing, the Horizon 20 also has 4K gaming capabilities with 1ms input lag, up to 240 Hz, and an FPS crosshair feature. I've honestly not tested it too much, but it plays *Ace Attorney* and *Tetris 99* like a dream. ![The backside of the XGIMI Horizon 20.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/XGIMI-Horizon-20--3--1.jpg) A lot of ports for activities. I didn't want to rearrange my living room bookshelves and my couch so my projector would play against my larger white wall, but the other option was the exposed brick wall my living room TV had as a backdrop. Even with the projector's built-in wall-adaptive color feature, projectors famously do not play well against brick walls. I’d preemptively purchased a [100" fixed screen](https://us.xgimi.com/products/xgimi-100-fixed-frame-projector-screen?srsltid=AfmBOopbz4LVvpe%5F3IjIMSkmVZFUR5YYSKU2h6fLyC-PVBC-lvg2yN7O&ref=aftermath.site), which is too big for my brick wall and would overlap with my frickin' door. But necessity breeds invention, and my mother had a cloth projector screen lying around in her closet. To solve the issue of it also being as long as my fixed screen, I folded it in half to a 4:3 aspect ratio, hoisted it up by plastic hangers and impressively adhesive backings, and I've only had to reinforce it every handful of days after a corner fell down on my brick wall. I'll be saving my fixed frame screen as a [Mystery Mousketool](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTU84u%5FLogo&ref=aftermath.site) for my future apartment. For now, it occupies space in my closet. Circle of life. While my folding of the projector screen immediately raised alarm bells in my mind over whether I was shooting myself in the foot with my projector, its boon of having keystone correction and lens shift meant images weren't warped to fit my projector screen, giving everything I watched an old-school cinema aspect ratio feel without looking warped or digitally cropped to sacrifice image quality. Even though the projector comes with a lot of "auto-detect" and autofocus features where it figures out where a screen is, I appreciate its dedicated remote manual focus feature, allowing me to adjust an image's crispness on the fly for my poor eyes so I don't have to squint at text on the screen. I do wish my projector had the same form factor as the earlier iteration—[the Horizon Ultra](https://us.xgimi.com/products/horizon-ultra?ref=aftermath.site)—whose speaker cover acts as a remote-controlled lens cover upon startup. The anxiety of my expensive-ass projector lens getting scratched is ever-present. My solution is laying a silk microfiber cloth over my projector, like pulling a cover over a bird cage when it's time to go to bed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/27524.jpg) That being said, I've discovered I, too, have the same neat-freak compulsion when watching movies as I was horrified to discover during my stints of PC gaming. Only instead of spending the first five minutes with a game tinkering with settings to make sure the square peg of a game can fit in the circular slot of my laptop (that wasn't built for this), I came to learn what settings I need to have in place so I can slump on my couch with friends over and let whatever movie we've settled on wash over me. In the weeks I've had my projector, one crucial adjustment that compelled me to learn more about its rocket science display settings was [preventing interpolation of images](https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/1ertkh3/from%5Fsomeone%5Fstudying%5Fto%5Fbe%5Fan%5Fanimator%5Fi%5Fbeg%5Fof/?ref=aftermath.site). With the projector also having some annoying AI features like Gemini ([RIP Assistant](https://www.inc.com/georgia-fearn/google-is-finally-shutting-down-the-google-assistant-heres-what-android-users-need-to-know/91385340?ref=aftermath.site)), it has the faux 4K image-quality boost and framerate adjustments that've plagued many a TikTok AMV. I don't want my anime to look like that. [Ever](https://x.com/Papapishu/status/1424878643587788804?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). And the screen-tearing side effect of interpolation is increasingly noticeable on a projector, to the point that it made my teeth itch, wanting to learn what scary civic engineer setting I'd have to learn about to stop that shit cold. What I learned is that the acronym MEMC stands for Motion Estimation/Motion Compensation, and how to turn that shit off. Now my anime moves in biblically accurate, God-fearing frames per second. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/27540-3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/27541-3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/27542-3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/27515-5.jpg) I've barely scratched the surface on all of the projector image display settings. ## In Action My favorite thing about my XGIMI projector is how it adjusts to my living room and not the other way around. Placing my projector on its stand off-center from my kotatsu (where it once sat, swiveled up to my screen) initially raised the worry that the images projected onto my screen would be off-center. Thanks to lens shifting and manual keystone, that's barely an issue. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/XGIMI-Horizon-20--8--1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/XGIMI-Horizon-20--7--1.jpg) Keystoning and lens shift are my PC menu screen-adjacent mind goblins. Once I ignore my mind goblins over keystone lines being just a slight bit off, daily occurrences like my oafish bumping into my projector make readjustments a kind of ritualistic exercise whenever I set up and tear down my XGIMI and take it over to a friend's using its snug styrofoam traveling case. And it's pretty bright even with the windows open; however, during the day I only use it to watch reality TV shows. I save watching movies for at night, when I get the most out of its blacks. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/XGIMI-Horizon-20--2-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/XGIMI-Horizon-20--9-.jpg) Majima for scale. The XGIMI Horizon 20 also runs pretty quietly, with its fan blending into either my AC or the cross-breeze in my living room to the point where I've never heard its fans running. That being said, [it's not mobile like its portable cousins](https://us.xgimi.com/collections/portable-projector?ref=aftermath.site), meaning it's gotta be plugged into the wall. XGIMI [sells a stand for the projector](https://us.xgimi.com/products/xgimi-floor-stand-ultra-elephant-grey?ref=aftermath.site) that swivels at the top and has a heavy base to prevent it from toppling over. However, the one advertised on Amazon with a compartment to hide its sizeable power brick and cords [wasn't what was sent to me](https://us.xgimi.com/products/xgimi-floor-stand-elephant-grey?ref=aftermath.site). I got a stand where my cord awkwardly trails down to its brick, which I have to tuck under my end table. Despite not getting what I ordered, having it sit in my living room like an Art Deco doodad you might see inside[ Edna Mode's mansion in *The Incredibles*](https://www.forbes.com/sites/anharkarim/2024/05/28/airbnb-brought-edna-modes-mansion-from-the-incredibles-to-life/?ref=aftermath.site) is an aesthetic I'll never get tired of. Plus, I like the freedom of scooching my kotatsu and throw rug around without having to putz with keystoning every day, which I had to do when I had it taking up real estate on the top of my table before getting its stand, too much to go back or ask for a refund. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/XGIMI-Horizon-20--6-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/XGIMI-Horizon-20--1-.jpg) My kotatsu's watch as a projector stand was an era I'm glad is over. One niggling issue is that, because of the manual keystone and lens-shifting settings I set on my projector, any time a dark scene is playing in a movie, the light overlay from where my projector light is shining outside my screen is distractingly visible. Like I've had to tell my brain to chill: My screen being purposefully off-center on my wall is leagues less annoying than it being just a hair off-center. It's a reality I've just had to make peace with until I get a new pad, allowing even more use of its spatial capabilities I'm only using a fraction of. ## Verdict Overall, having a projector has done exactly what I feared: It's turned me into a film bro. Every night, I'm making plans to watch films not just out of curiosity, but to see how they look on my new baby. I've had friends come over to christen it with some wrestling on a big, cinematically cropped screen to a rousing success. Likewise, it's made my Letterboxd escapades feel like events where watching films I missed in theaters, like *Burning*, *Dog Day* *Afternoon*, and *Lawrence of Arabia*, feels as bespoke as fleeing to a special theater screening. Being able to see the texture of a movie shot on film on my projector screen scratches an itch I didn't know needed scratching. ![XGIMI Horizon 20 projector on stand.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/27530.jpg) Plus, being able to do it every day is the comfy bonus of being able to snuggle up under my heated kotatsu as I watch a movie I fine-tuned my display settings for, which gives me a swell of pride in playing an active part in the enjoyment of whatever cinematic journey lies ahead of me as its projectionist. In a similar fashion to a photographer going from a point-and-shoot to a manual DSLR, owning a home projector has opened the aperture on my appreciation for film and heightened my sense of agency in shaping pictures to my preferences. ### Is This All You Can Conjure URL: https://aftermath.site/google-ai-video-games/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T23:40:46.000Z Because I am nothing if not a huge idiot, this week I wasted several minutes of my one precious life on this Earth reading a company blog from Google called '[Level up: How AI is unlocking a new golden age of games](https://cloud.google.com/transform/gamer-golden-age-with-ai-new-genres-living-games?ref=aftermath.site)'. The shape of this blog is entirely predictable, given it's published on Google's Cloud site and was written by Jack Buser, their Global Director for Games. It's a sales pitch written by a Company Man, full of low-calorie, Linkedin-bait lines like: > We need a structural shift to revive the ecosystem where creative risks are sustainable again. Fortunately, AI has matured enough to help drive that renaissance. But what I'd like to draw your attention towards was a section near the end, where Buser specifically highlights three "exciting" use cases for AI in game development: > This opens up exciting new creative possibilities that will forever transform player experiences, and we’re already seeing this reflected in gameplay today: > > [**Square Enix**](https://www.square-enix-games.com/en%5FUS/home?ref=aftermath.site) is integrating "Chatty Slimey” into *Dragon Quest X Online,* creating a real-time, multimodal companion that builds a personal, evolving relationship with the player based on their shared journey. > > [**10Six Games**](https://10sixgames.com/?ref=aftermath.site) launched *YOU vs. Zombies* this summer, a time-traveling horde-survival roguelite game where players use a custom AI generation system called "The Ritual" to turn anyone or anything into a personalized, spell-slinging playable hero to fight through the zombie apocalypse. > > [**Ubisoft’s**](https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/3mWlITIuWuu0MoVuR6o8ps/ubisoft-reveals-teammates-an-ai-experiment-to-change-the-game?ref=aftermath.site) *Teammates* prototype replaces traditional command menus with natural voice-directed play, allowing players to coordinate battlefield tactics with AI squadmates who react immediately to human intent. Do you mean to tell me that we are 3-4 years into this collective descent into madness, and this is all you can come up with to support your sales pitch? These three minor, annoying and deeply unpopular gimmicks? This is your ‘Golden Age’? The only relationship Chatty Slimey is evolving with *Dragon Quest's* fanbase is[ how much](https://www.thegamer.com/dragon-quest-chatty-slimey-yuji-horii-fan-concerns/?ref=aftermath.site) they[ hate the idea](https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1s0das8/square%5Fenix%5Fannounced%5Fplans%5Fto%5Fintegrate%5Fgoogles/?ref=aftermath.site). This is literally the first I'm hearing about *YOU vs Zombies*, a game I just looked up and which looks like complete shit. And you might remember *Teammates* from our November 2025 blog titled '[Ubisoft, Face Covered In Bruises, Once Again Confidently Extends Foot Towards End Of Rake](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-ai-teammates-im-so-tired/)'. The fact this is all Buser could point towards in such a slick company blog is just so deeply embarrassing. Developers and studios all-in on AI in their production pipelines have had *years* to come up with something that makes normal people care about the technology (AI was supposed to let you release games in a fraction of the time!), and all Buser has to talk about are three wet farts. I thought AI was supposed to speed up development and liberate our creativity! Where's the pioneering RPG with AI-generated characters, whose witty and contextual responses have made gamers the world over fall in love with them? Where's the trailblazing space sim where an AI-generated universe gives players limitless worlds to explore (and ones that are worth exploring)? Where's the life sim where AI creates a friend who is *interesting*, and not just responsive? They're nowhere, because it can't do any of this. AI cannot and never will be funny, or unique, or be able to create a damn thing, because it's a crude machine that eats actual creative endeavours, digests them into a casserole and shits it out on a plate. And I don't think it's significantly helping speed up or streamline the development process on the backend either, because surprise surprise, the biggest problems facing video game developers (and release schedules) are not mild limitations on the available technology, but[ the ineptitude and shortsightedness of everyone's managers and owners](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-union-workers-layoffs-blizzard-zenimax/), who are usually the ones[ pushing AI on their workers in the first place](https://aftermath.site/ai-resistance-tips-workforce-llm-workers/). It’s fitting that Buser ends his blog with an analogy, saying: > I think of AI as an exoskeleton — an Iron Man suit for developers. The armor does the heavy lifting, but it does nothing without the intent of the human pilot inside. Because Iron Man suits are a fantasy that don’t actually exist. ### All The Biggest Announcements From Gamescom Opening Night Live URL: https://aftermath.site/gamescom-opening-night-live-news-roundup/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T21:12:01.000Z Wow, what an incredible day it’s been for video games. Perhaps the greatest ever. Let’s dig in. ### The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—Songs of the Past officially shown off ### Final Fantasy VII Revelation gets spring 2027 release window ### The developers of Amnesia and Soma show off new horror game, Ontos ### Gear of War: E-Day looks fine > If you’ve never heard the (very cool) 33rpm slowed-down version of Jolene, you should really listen to it now—listening to it at that speed lets you hear how incredibly on-pitch Dolly is the entire time. She was a marvel > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z4llsx425l4htoylyyx6iam3/post/3mtwihdc3a22k?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Stella Sacco ([@antlervel.vet](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z4llsx425l4htoylyyx6iam3?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:52 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z4llsx425l4htoylyyx6iam3/post/3mtwihdc3a22k?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Hoyoverse is making Totally Not Elden Ring > Dolly Parton and Patti LaBelle playing their acrylics. Two icons. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fvzkql2aqtbk7qmqjkoo2lv2/post/3mtwhqq3ths2e?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Imani Gandy ([@angryblacklady.blacksky.app](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fvzkql2aqtbk7qmqjkoo2lv2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:39 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fvzkql2aqtbk7qmqjkoo2lv2/post/3mtwhqq3ths2e?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Ubisoft announces Rainbow Six XCOM ### Ananta is releasing in January > Pee Wee Herman & Dolly Parton singing a duet? Here ya go... > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:whttq2yqsfkr2rwhpwubquqc/post/3mqvuc4gdx22k?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Ken Plume ([@kenplume.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:whttq2yqsfkr2rwhpwubquqc?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [July 18, 2026 at 1:36 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:whttq2yqsfkr2rwhpwubquqc/post/3mqvuc4gdx22k?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Silent Hill: Townfall will probably be decent > RIP Dolly Parton > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:e6bgpkdom5zlzs5sxy5piaqy/post/3mtwgggqjic2k?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Out of Context Simpsons Couch Gags ([@ooccouchgags.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:e6bgpkdom5zlzs5sxy5piaqy?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:16 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:e6bgpkdom5zlzs5sxy5piaqy/post/3mtwgggqjic2k?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Tides of Annihilation has swords and stuff > Dolly Parton was a supernaturally talented musician who brilliantly toed the line of playfulness and sincerity. She was a radiant star in America’s dark skies. Here’s her doing a beautiful bluegrass rendition of Collective Soul’s Shine. Heaven let your light shine down. youtu.be/8e-Ip9RagkU?... > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6jv7bys47g55ez4dpywbifdk/post/3mtwi7s4lbc2s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Keifer ([@dannyvegito.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6jv7bys47g55ez4dpywbifdk?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:48 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6jv7bys47g55ez4dpywbifdk/post/3mtwi7s4lbc2s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### There's another Mega Man > Dolly Parton supported so many important causes, among them donating a million dollars to COVID vaccine research early in the pandemic, which saved millions of lives. She will always be remembered as a champion of the people. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:dcpvyzm4ou74j6zcz67il5fk/post/3mtwgk3hxo22c?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Dr. Lucky Tran ([@luckytran.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:dcpvyzm4ou74j6zcz67il5fk?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:18 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:dcpvyzm4ou74j6zcz67il5fk/post/3mtwgk3hxo22c?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Rayman Legends Retold will include the Macarena > Dolly Parton on funding education and childhood literacy programs: My daddy was the smartest man I have ever known, but I knew his inability to read probably kept him from seeing all of his dreams come true. Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h7qtoo7nxqxarrsijohjhbw4/post/3mtwgfeolho2y?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — FactPost ([@factpostnews.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h7qtoo7nxqxarrsijohjhbw4?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:15 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h7qtoo7nxqxarrsijohjhbw4/post/3mtwgfeolho2y?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### PUBG still exists > a favorite bit of writing on Dolly: David Cantwell on "Coat of Many Colors" "I am poor, but I will be more than that. I \*am\* more than that. Despite your contempt, the things I love are worth loving." > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vtqkh4q3vlh7rltd4tnaweh2/post/3mtwgstneak2o?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) ([@bowiesongs.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vtqkh4q3vlh7rltd4tnaweh2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:23 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vtqkh4q3vlh7rltd4tnaweh2/post/3mtwgstneak2o?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Game of Thrones: War For Westeros will hopefully let you squash the likeness of Kit Harington, a willful participant in a new work from anti-trans activist JK Rowling, like an ant > dolly parton taught millions of children to read dolly parton raised millions of dollars for cancer research and disaster relief dolly parton stood by the lgbtq community her entire life dolly parton personally helped fund the moderna vaccine if there was a right side of something she was on it > > — Micah ([@rincewind.run](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6hit5rjdbmlnscmuk4bbtmuc?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:25 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6hit5rjdbmlnscmuk4bbtmuc/post/3mtwgx4dmsk2m?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Exodus gets a release date > I was just talking to a friend today about Dolly Parton's Imagination Library - new books every month, totally for free, for kids ages 1-5\. My son was part of the program - this is a copy of the letter that came with his last book, right after his 5th birthday. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7etzcg6pu2daagzgwg2s7imi/post/3miurjefiz22s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Ryan Dunlavey ([@ryandunlavey.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7etzcg6pu2daagzgwg2s7imi?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [April 6, 2026 at 7:52 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7etzcg6pu2daagzgwg2s7imi/post/3miurjefiz22s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Pony Island 2 is coming next spring > Dolly Parton was a supporter of Willa B. Farms, an animal rescue in Old Hickory, TN. I hope you will consider a donation in her memory. 💔 www.willabfarms.com/donate > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xrr5j2okn7ew2zvcwsxus3gb/post/3mtwgnfbvbk2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Cats of Yore ([@catsofyore.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xrr5j2okn7ew2zvcwsxus3gb?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:20 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xrr5j2okn7ew2zvcwsxus3gb/post/3mtwgnfbvbk2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### There's another Dungeons & Dragons game (it has swords and magic) > i'm sure many will recommend this today but you really do have to listen if you haven't, she's wonderful in these interviews > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cfy5rgqvohpdqxgu2geb5u2b/post/3mtwjaframs2i?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Miles Klee 🦉 ([@milesklee.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cfy5rgqvohpdqxgu2geb5u2b?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 12:06 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cfy5rgqvohpdqxgu2geb5u2b/post/3mtwjaframs2i?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Metro 2039 gets a new trailer > If you need a Dolly Parton retro watch tonight, BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS doesn't get the love it deserves anymore. A little dated (the comparison here between tattoos and cattle brands is absolutely of another era), but still brassy, funny, and subversive as hell about sexuality and pleasure. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:zwbnzj4tc7scayxulo6zem6p/post/3mtwilzec4s2x?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Tasha Robinson ([@tasharobinson.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:zwbnzj4tc7scayxulo6zem6p?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:55 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:zwbnzj4tc7scayxulo6zem6p/post/3mtwilzec4s2x?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Hitman kills Snoop Dogg > from 2023 www.billboard.com/culture/prid... > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:krlnm4bv72pfsgasu5rmgfmm/post/3mtwhe7fd5s2p?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — send mike elias to the hague ([@chrpngbrd.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:krlnm4bv72pfsgasu5rmgfmm?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:32 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:krlnm4bv72pfsgasu5rmgfmm/post/3mtwhe7fd5s2p?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Hoyoverse copies Stardew, Animal Crossing, and a bunch of cozy bullshit too > let's do UBI for her, she'd want us to > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:irb6w5thw5c6ivhb5efp7hrv/post/3mtwgmnan2s2j?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Bree (half of Kit Rocha) ([@mostlybree.kitrocha.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:irb6w5thw5c6ivhb5efp7hrv?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:19 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:irb6w5thw5c6ivhb5efp7hrv/post/3mtwgmnan2s2j?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### The new Crazy Taxi has multiplayer > Dolly Parton rose from poverty to stardom. She gave $500 to every student in her hometown who finished high school; she built hospitals & bald eagle preserves; her Imagination Library has gifted 300 million books to children. Roger Ebert met her and came away thinking she was a literal angel. RIP. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hppum4l25hcczzffastsicpq/post/3mtwjpfxak223?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Boze Herrington, Library Owl ([@sketchesbyboze.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hppum4l25hcczzffastsicpq?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 12:14 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:hppum4l25hcczzffastsicpq/post/3mtwjpfxak223?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Dinosaurs? In Turok? You'd better believe it > there is an understanding at every strip club that you can’t have multiple dancers using the same stage name at the same club—and let me tell you how many people I worked with who fought to be, lost, and still ultimately respected anyone who got to be Jolene > > — Melissa Gira Grant ([@melissagiragrant.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6c45z5sf3rhgrupy26iqndmc?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 12:03 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6c45z5sf3rhgrupy26iqndmc/post/3mtwj3pqsek2k?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### A Lego city builder? How have they not already done that > Dolly Parton has sent my daughter a new book every month for years as she does for thousands of children. She help fund the development of the Covid vaccine. She’s not a billionaire. I think as non wealthy people it’s hard to even imagine how much billionaires \*could\* be doing with their money. > > — Kayla B ([@queenofthesouth.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:3ip6nmfnzvu7wusgmma4yxai?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 13, 2025 at 6:51 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:3ip6nmfnzvu7wusgmma4yxai/post/3lwbxuthl2c2q?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Dead By Daylight is still around > Dolly was always in on the joke. RIP to a legend. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:s5g7v67sedc2dfoftm4tk3yj/post/3mtwlho4ydc2r?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — ohhleary ([@ohhleary.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:s5g7v67sedc2dfoftm4tk3yj?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 12:46 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:s5g7v67sedc2dfoftm4tk3yj/post/3mtwlho4ydc2r?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is getting remade > I just got off the phone with my dad, who said that what folks were told for a while now is that Dolly was making sure that trusts & such are set up to care for all the good she put into motion. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h5slgmcxfehhdfclzoe2wye6/post/3mtwhpf6xtc2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Dr. Emily Friedman ([@ecfriedman.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h5slgmcxfehhdfclzoe2wye6?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 25, 2026 at 11:39 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h5slgmcxfehhdfclzoe2wye6/post/3mtwhpf6xtc2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### In conclusion: Gaming. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/dollyparton.jpg) [Source](https://bsky.app/profile/airbagged.bsky.social/post/3mtwhxazvl22p?ref=aftermath.site) RIP, Dolly. ### It's Both The Best And Worst Time To Get Into Pokémon Cards URL: https://aftermath.site/nicole-gets-into-pokemon-card-trading/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T16:21:36.000Z Like many people, my childhood Pokémon card binder has been in my parents' garage for more than a decade—maybe two!—gathering dust. I didn’t actually know where it was until helping my parents prepare for a move this summer, sorting through bins and buckets that hadn't been considered for years. We mostly threw things away, out of the garage and into a rented dumpster: the Valentine's Day cards from my middle school class, my sisters' report cards, and other little bits and bobs. When my mom pulled the binder out of the mess, we all stopped to look through it. It was more than full, with multiple cards in each slot. Its front cover hung on by threads of cardboard, seemingly decayed from all the years in storage. Admittedly, my first thought was value: How much is this worth? We looked up a few cards but moved on quickly to the task at hand of throwing out stuff. I can't remember the last time I touched this binder. There was no apparent rhyme or reason to the way I put my cards in, except that I *did* separate the trainer and energy cards. The Pokémon cards, though, are in no particular order. Most of the sleeve slots have one, two, three or even more cards stuffed in behind them. Somehow, most of them are in fairly good condition, despite my clearly chaotic collecting style. (A few are, unfortunately, stuck together.) There are a bunch of holographic cards—even a Charizard! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_0059.jpg) I went to a card show, as research for a different story, and asked a kid vending: Are these worth anything? He said some were. We moved all the holographic cards to the front of the binder. Eventually, my husband and I brought them to a card shop. The card shop is tucked away in a mostly abandoned mall. Living in this town for nearly three years, I had no idea it existed. It was the only store in the mall with any activity at all: people gathered inside to play Pokémon. We asked the man behind the counter to take a look at the holographic cards. He said he'd buy them all for 65% of their value. I agreed. I pulled a couple aside (including the Charizard) while he priced them out. I used the money to buy a few cards for my new collection, Pokémon with food. He gave me store credit for the rest. I kind of regret it. It all happened so fast that I just let it happen, even though I wasn't sure about anything—the deal I was getting, or if I wanted to sell all of them. It's not this guy's fault! It's a me problem that I simply went along with it all. In the weeks and months that have passed since then, I've become attached to these cards in a way I didn't expect. I got a new binder for my cards, and have spent many nights now sorting and reorganizing them with my partner. We look at the cards and inspect their art, sort them by type, and lay them out in the binder. Multiples are all next to each other, of course. I have a full page of Charmanders. I pulled out Pokémon that have food in their art, and my partner pulls any Pokémon that look like they have anxiety. Sometimes I have a new idea on how to organize them, so I take out all the cards and start again. We started organizing some of our favorite Pokémon into pages in which we go by evolutions, so Charmander, Charmeleon, then Charizard. One of the cards I sold was an original holographic Venusaur, so now that evolution line is incomplete. (I never had a Blastoise, but I do still have a page full of Squirtles and Wartortles.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_0060.jpg) It's both the best and worst time to get into Pokémon cards. Interest is at an all-time high, buoyed by a pandemic boost and several popular sets, so there are lots of people willing to talk Pokémon with you. I've never met so many people who want to look at my cardboard collection. It feels exciting to be involved, and to meet other people who love Pokémon in the same way. There's so much art and joy in the hobby; my favorite part, so far, is looking through someone's binder and listening to them tell the stories about how they've acquired these cards. But all that interest means there's also the bad side: It's nearly impossible to buy anything card-related at retail price. The moment cards are stocked on the shelves, they're gobbled up by scalpers. There are [whole Instagram channels dedicated to the violence](https://www.instagram.com/pokestreetz.official/?ref=aftermath.site) of certain card restocks. There are people fighting at Pokémon vending machines, [stalking store employees](https://wpde.com/news/local/woman-files-police-report-for-stalking-and-harassment-over-pokemon-cards-pokemon-go-wciv-abc-news-4-8-21-2025?ref=aftermath.site), and [robbing stores](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/01/17/nyc-pokemon-shop-robbed-new-york-city/88220784007/?ref=aftermath.site) [and vendors at gunpoint](https://nj1015.com/woodbridge-card-collectors-robbed-gunpoint/?ref=aftermath.site). It's easy to get caught up in the value of the cards, even as a casual collector, but the things people will do to acquire cards is actually nuts. I don’t feel the same frenzy as some others about trading or selling cards; I’d rather do so slowly and with intention. (Though, like I said, it's easy to get caught up in the value part, and I'm not immune to that.) I've been to a couple more card shows since, and they're a blast: wandering around the aisles, searching through displays and binders of cards for something that fits my collection. At my first show as a collector, I found a vendor with a whole bunch of Yuka Morii cards. (Yuka Morii is the card art designer who makes Pokémon out of clay and photographs them. They're brilliant, and always a joy to find.) The vendor, a young adult, looked through my binder for things that he'd like to buy, and found one: an EX Power Keepers Pichu card. He collects Pokémon cards that are stamped, like this one. He pulled out another stamped card, a special Mewtwo that was given out with movie tickets to *Pokémon: The First Movie*. I traded both for a whole bunch of Yuka Morii cards, and he let me pick out several more for free. He had stickers of the Yuka Morri designs, too. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_0057.jpg) At that same show, I found another card—Fuecoco in the supermarket, an absolutely adorable full art card from the Paldea Evolved set—at another vendor's setup. At $60, the Fuecoco card was priced much higher than I'd ever pay, but the seller worked with me to go through my cards and get me to a roughly $60 trade. I have a lot of vintage cards, and most are worth just a few dollars. It took a bit to get us there, but we did it, and I left with a card I adore. On the way out, a child approached to ask if I was trading Pokémon cards. We swapped binders in the event space's lobby. He told me his dad (my age!) had binders of now vintage Pokémon cards as a kid, but they got stolen. I picked out Iono's Kilowattrel, from the Journey Together set. He took a Team Rocket's Charmander and a Wartortle. For everything that is bad about this hobby—scalpers, expense, and the fact that opening packs is literally gambling—I've found so much to love. I'm reconnecting with art I haven't seen in decades, I'm meeting people I otherwise would have never known, and I'm pushing myself outside my boundaries to do that. It's kind of wild to me that these (sometimes) shiny pieces of cardboard can have that sort of impact on my life. I'll leave you with one last story: My husband and I used our three hour drive home after a trip to visit local trading card game stores on the way. We mostly browsed and talked to the shop staff, but on our last stop, we brought our cards in with us. I'd found a couple that fit my food collection (Melody from Crown Zenith making breakfast, and Nacl, who is literally rock salt, from Paldea Evolved.) I made a couple trades for them, and my husband pulled out his binder of Magic: The Gathering cards to show the woman who was helping us. The first card he showed her was one she needed for a deck she intended to use that night. It was the only card she was missing. He added it to our trade (he has a few) and picked up a Slowpoke card. Again, we're literally trading cardboard, but I can't explain how special it felt to give this woman something she needed. ### Despite Myself, I'm Obsessed With This Irish Language Food Influencer Drama URL: https://aftermath.site/irish-tiktok-nasti-instagram/ Last updated: 2026-08-26T16:21:47.000Z I spend way too much of my time on social media, but I have a mindset: To paraphrase a religious sentiment, I try to be *on* social media, but not *of* social media. I try to stay out of discourse, I don’t pick fights or respond to fights picked at me, and generally I pay attention to what’s going on but don’t take it too seriously. But over the last week I have become way too invested in some drama playing out in the niche world of Irish language influencers. There’s a Dublin-based influencer named Jonathan Finlay aka Nasti, with over a million followers across [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/nasti%5F2k/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site), [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@nasti%5F2k?lang=en&ref=aftermath.site), and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@nasti%5F2k?ref=aftermath.site). He appears to be known for very Irish food content (though also, like [far too many influencers](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/12/09/us/crypto-casinos-gambling-streamers.html?ref=aftermath.site) these days, he has [reportedly promoted gambling apps](https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/companies/arid-41807372.html?ref=aftermath.site)). For the last 12 days as of this writing, Finlay has embarked on a challenge to call up Dublin restaurants and order food in Irish–one of the official languages of Ireland–until someone takes his order. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db%5FfYMti58E/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Jonathan Finlay (@nasti\_2k)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db%5FfYMti58E/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) It hasn’t been going well. In the best cases, some places [recognize it as Irish and apologize for not understanding it](https://www.instagram.com/nasti%5F2k/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site), or at least [give it a shot](https://www.tiktok.com/@nasti%5F2k/video/7676552135701499158?ref=aftermath.site); some just [hang up](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcEeXACihc9/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site); others are hostile, with [one replying “blah blah blah”](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcO00YfiMyk/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site) before demanding he speak English. Finlay has called the whole thing a “[light-hearted challenge](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcPDmHXih3c/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site)” and, as such, says he doesn’t publicize the locations of the places he’s calling. You can see that he’s disappointed when the challenge fails, but he isn’t aggressively rude to the restaurant workers when they can’t help him. I was a little bit charmed when this first appeared on my Instagram feed. As someone learning Irish in America I have no occasion to ever order in the language or use it in my daily life at all, but sometimes when I’m waiting in a checkout line I’ll practice to myself how I *would* conduct my business in Irish, just to force a chance to imagine the language out in the wild. Through Finlay’s videos, it’s been dispiriting to see that “maybe one day I’ll go to Ireland and use my Irish there” might not be as much of a solution as I’ve imagined, but at least the videos have taught me a new sentence construction for ordering in case it *does* ever come up. According to the [Irish Star](https://www.irishstar.com/news/ireland-news/irish-tiktoker-order-food-series-37569785?ref=aftermath.site), the series has gone viral, so I imagine a lot of people are in my same position of clicking each new video hoping today is the day. > [@nasti\_2k](https://www.tiktok.com/@nasti%5F2k?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@nasti_2k") > > We’ll get there one day… [#irish](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/irish?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "irish") [#ireland](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/ireland?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "ireland") [#gaeilge](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/gaeilge?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "gaeilge") [#nasti2k](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nasti2k?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "nasti2k") > > [♬ i was only temporary - my head is empty](https://www.tiktok.com/music/i-was-only-temporary-7282498671971780609?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ i was only temporary - my head is empty") But because this is social media, it hasn’t taken long for things to go off the rails. Even if Finlay isn’t actively rude to the people answering the phone, it hasn’t stopped commenters from doing it for him. Things have gotten (sorry) nasty: Many of the comments on his videos are, predictably, racist, with some saying he might have better luck speaking a “3rd world language” or otherwise critiquing immigration, and others taking an uncomfortably nationalist stance by saying people “should be ashamed” not to speak Irish in Ireland. (A large number of the comments have also taken Ireland to task for not making the language mandatory in schools, while Finlay and other commenters have pointed out that in fact it is.) Clare Cullen, an influencer who has made [person-on-the-street videos](https://www.instagram.com/p/DV8OkHfCAtf/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site) in Irish, [critiqued the series](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcNyLslvobd/?ref=aftermath.site) early on by saying that Irish language influencers “have to be really careful not to allow \[their content\] to be used to push forward xenophobic and racist narratives.” She took Finlay to task for not deleting these kinds of comments; I didn’t see them at the time she posted her video, so I can’t tell if he’s since removed any, but there are definitely more ugly comments than not. Cullen also notes what some of the people *not* engaged in gleeful racism have pointed out in the comments: that it sounds like Finlay is at least on occasion calling Chinese takeaways, where it might not be reasonable to expect the staff to know Irish. Finlay has acknowledged the claim that he’s picking places unlikely to have Irish speakers without exactly refuting it, [saying](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcWvpZTCV0P/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site) “I think it’s clear to see a lot of these people have Dublin accents.” I’ve definitely soured on the stunt since first seeing it. Finlay’s whole approach has come to feel like a bad internet-age take on Manchán Magan’s [*No Béarla*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyll-bBZzyk&list=PLF7C9A5708D68A515&index=4&ref=aftermath.site), an incredibly unlikable 2007 TG4 series where Magan attempted to get around Ireland only in Irish and was openly disdainful to anyone who couldn’t keep up with him. The Irish language band Kneecap has [praised the show](https://www.thejournal.ie/manchan-magan-imithe-ar-thuras-na-sioraiochta-2-6834160-Oct2025/?ref=aftermath.site), but I found it deeply offputting; the reasons Irish is rare, even in Ireland, are [massive and well-documented](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XdnQSRbCNX8?ref=aftermath.site), and it didn’t seem to me like stomping around the country sneering at anyone who hasn’t been able to undo centuries of colonialization was likely to change that. (Magan, who [died last year at 55](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5q9ly5q4po?ref=aftermath.site), softened in his approach as his career went on; I’m particularly fond of his formal, poetic cover of one of Kneecap’s [popular songs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sf0htzbMKk&list=RD8Sf0htzbMKk&ref=aftermath.site).) The hook of Finlay’s videos are the same, even if he’s not actively saying as much: He simply launches into Irish and lets the call answerer swing in the wind. Watching the videos, reading through the comments, and observing other influencers’ responses, the whole thing has come to feel mean-spirited and not actually doing much to promote or preserve an endangered language. It feels like a crummy way to eat up some hassled restaurant worker’s evening, and it’s adding to the piles of hate speech the internet already has too many of. Some Irish language influencers have made their own content in response. Cullen made a Finlay-inspired video called “[Day 1 of ordering in Irish until someone says no](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcTcan8Ovi9/?ref=aftermath.site),” which features footage of Aon Scéal Café in Dublin, an Irish language coffee shop. “Will anyone care, or is the new meta that the Irish language will only get mass attention when being used to undermine multiculturalism?” she wrote in the caption. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcTcan8Ovi9/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Clare Cullen | Clisare (@clisare)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcTcan8Ovi9/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) Another influencer, Éamon Ó Corcráin, who [has a series where he invites people on the streets of different countries to speak Irish with him](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcBoipizqpN/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site), made a video of himself ordering a pizza in Irish. He starts [the call](https://www.instagram.com/p/DcWQKuXTyj3/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site) by expressly asking if it’s possible to order in Irish; the person on the phone happily replies that she has Irish, and they have a pleasant conversation in which Ó Corcráin is able to order his pizza. “I teach Irish and good manners,” he writes in the caption. > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcWQKuXTyj3/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Eamon Speaks Irish (@eamonspeaksirish)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcWQKuXTyj3/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) Other content creators have made send-ups of the video highlighting [how Irish can be gatekept](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DcW%5FPyQNhtS/?ref=aftermath.site). Someone making an Irish language learning game has used it to [promote their game](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DcacfDISz4F/?ref=aftermath.site).TG4, the Irish language TV station, [made a video from the perspective of an over-prepared food worker waiting on a call from Finlay](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DcbdVA-Ne68/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site). > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcbdVA-Ne68/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by BLOC TG4 (@bloc\_tg4)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcbdVA-Ne68/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) It’s not a giant controversy in the scheme of things, but it’s far removed enough from the things that comprise the bulk of my social media that I have broken many of my personal rules and keep searching for people talking about it. (It probably helps that I refuse to get a TikTok account, so I can’t gorge on whatever horrors are surely going on over there.) My behavior highlights to me one of the insidious things about social media: The discourse around the whole thing is so niche and minor, but at the same time it touches on important bigger picture questions about language and national identity. The real weight underneath it all has, if I’m honest, become the excuse I use to just indulge in the ugly habits social media fosters to keep us hooked. I name-search and scroll and gawk at the arguments, decide people I’ve never met are “good” or “bad,” and tell myself I’m learning something about a culture different from my own when really I’m only seeing a small, curated slice crafted by people who are building their personal brands. The drama *has* opened my eyes to aspects of the language that are removed from me as an American learning it for fun, but I’m not *doing anything* with that new knowledge; I'm just scrolling social media instead of doing the myriad better things I could be doing with my time, including actually studying my own Irish. A few years back I [quit watching short-form video](https://aftermath.site/reels-shorts-regret/), and my personal takeaway from all this is that I should probably do that again. I don’t need to see any more Content, and I don’t need to see a bunch of racist comments on that Content, and I don’t need to give any more seconds of my life to Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram. Hopefully by writing about it I can purge it from my system. [Watching An Irish Language Game Show Has Given Me An Existential Crisis About Game ShowsIt’s also a good way to learn some very specific new words![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-9843928c-ceed-495d-89da-8d65ac9a993a.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-08-11-at-10.12.34---AM-1-981f81cd-0d06-4cae-adb5-01bf55ee7a11.png)](https://aftermath.site/irish-game-show-an-deis/) ### Badly In Love Is A Netflix Japanese Reality Dating Show That’s More Than Its Bad Reputation URL: https://aftermath.site/badly-in-love-season-2-dating-show-controversy/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T19:18:46.000Z Reality TV dating shows are rarely without their controversies, both on-screen and behind the scenes. Be they unearthed social media posts of liberal use of the N-word or night-cam videos of infidelity, controversies are usually the cherry on top of what makes these shows so irresistibly entertaining. However, the discourse surrounding the latest season of a Netflix Japanese dating show full of ex-juvenile delinquents, accusing it of glorifying criminality, is utter nonsense. *Badly In Love* is one of a [new crop of Japanese dating shows](https://aftermath.site/boyfriend-netflix-terrace-house-review/) jockeying to recapture the magic [*Terrace House*](https://aftermath.site/terrace-houses-omurice-incident-japanese-reality-tv/) once had before its [devastating cancellation after the death of a cyberbullied cast member](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52829186?ref=aftermath.site). Its premise centers on a group of [yankii ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee?ref=aftermath.site#Japan)(delinquent) guys and gals cohabiting in a school setting, competing in challenges to earn dates with the people they’re interested in. It’s the typical dating-show rigmarole, but with the added element of not judging a book by its cover. In concert with the ebb and flow of meet-cutes, romantic indecisiveness, and scenes where hot people deal with rejection for the first time in their lives while cameras roll, it's a show with a surprising amount of heart that outshines the will-they-won’t-they dating of it all. Despite the show becoming a global hit on Netflix, with Western viewers championing it for confronting biases and showcasing people on the fringe of society who want to do better for themselves, *Badly in Love*’s second season landed the show in hot water, prompting Japan’s justice ministry to cancel a campaign with the show. According to [Japan Today](https://japantoday.com/category/entertainment/japan-axes-netflix-collaboration-after-outcry-over-dating-show?ref=aftermath.site), the Japanese ministry initially planned to promote *Badly in Love* as part of its rehabilitation bureau because it aligned with the program’s belief that people can change. The ministry canceled its partnership on August 21 following online backlash accusing the show of glorifying criminality. Japan Today notes that the moment from season 2 that sparked online discourse was when a cast member confessed to being arrested as a teen for setting someone on fire to prove he wouldn’t “chicken out.” “It was never the intention of this collaboration to endorse crime or delinquency, nor to glorify or trivialize these acts from someone’s past,” the ministry wrote in a statement. “But we have received a lot of concerns and criticism that it can cause discomfort among people victimized by crimes.” The ministry went on to add that, regardless of putting the kibosh on its collaboration with *Badly in Love*, its actions were in no way “meant to deny efforts to help rehabilitate people who committed crimes in the past.” Although it's a nice sentiment, the noise around the show’s core, controversial aspect smacks of a similar discourse and dissonance with Japanese audiences abhorring Netflix anime *Chain Smoker Cat* because of how it highlights the unglamorous aspects of living in Japan. [Chainsmoker Cat’s Anime Opening Is Absolute CinemaThe actual show? Not so much.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-5b98017c-8a08-4ebb-a847-092a87bc5568.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/chainsmoker-cat-1-1-68681a48-a398-460b-bb91-9f5f2fabc13c.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/chainsmoker-cat-anime-opening-is-absolute-cinema/) While I’ve my quibbles with *Chain Smoker Cat*’s premiere—which, against all odds, I’m still watching out of interest in how, if ever, it’ll address its catgirl protagonist’s journey to quit smoking—the anime has landed in similar discourse amongst Japanese viewers for being a controversially gross-out show. In the weeks since its premiere, it too has landed in hot water, getting [banned on streaming services](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2026-08-20/ani-one-asia-also-removes-chainsmoker-cat-anime-from-streaming-lineup/.240773?ref=aftermath.site) for cigarette ads. But what’s become more telling amid the noise of the show being 2026’s controversial anime is how much of it says the quiet part out loud, with viewers put off by how it puts Japanese poverty and addiction front and center. In an excellent write-up about *Chain Smoker Cat* for [Unseen Japan](https://unseen-japan.com/yani-neko-japan-poverty/?ref=aftermath.site), Jay Allen wrote that Tokyo works to keep its homelessness hidden because it—like any country—doesn’t like to look at its own poverty. > Japan’s relative poverty rate sits around 15%. Its child poverty rate was around 11.5% in 2021, with around 44.5% of single-parent families below the poverty line. > > Japan has a social safety net (生活保護; seikatsu hogo) to catch people below the poverty line. Private citizens, such as the children’s cafeterias we’ve written about, also work to make sure those who are struggling get enough to eat. > > Some say it’s not enough. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based forum of 38 wealthy countries, ranked Japan one of the worst performers on child poverty despite its wealth. The statistics bear this out: poverty is rising in Japan, but the number of people on the welfare rolls is falling. > > Japan stigmatizes poverty. It regards it not as a social ill to be addressed but as a national embarrassment to be swept under the rug. This was clear in 2018 when the country’s right-wing piled on an award-winning director for daring to pull back a curtain many want kept closed. Although I’ve yet to see whether *Chain Smoker Cat* rises to the occasion to bring truth to power as a lens into poverty in Japan, when it’s not doing *It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia* bits that are nonetheless entertaining to watch, I’ve seen firsthand how *Badly in Love* has taken ardent steps illuminating the harsh upbringings of its cast members and fostering a community where folk who are readily stereotyped based on their appearance are more than meets the eye. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--45-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--44-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--43-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--42-.png) Netflix Mechanically, the show achieves this—albeit a touch patronizingly for my taste in its first season—by having its cast members do community service in their downtime. Whenever folks aren’t planning dates or gossiping about who likes who, they’re helping youth and the elderly through menial labor on farms and in after-school programs. It's here that audiences are meant to have their biases challenged in real time. To my delight, the show’s three-person live commentary panel was given a boon by featuring rapper [Awich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awich?ref=aftermath.site). In contrast to last season, when its panel played armchair psychologists, leaning into stereotypes for why its cast members are the way they are, Awich provided a much-needed, empathetic insight into their lifestyle as someone [who’s lived as hard a life](https://www.flaunt.com/blog/awich-a-badass-female-rapper-from-okinawa-japan?ref=aftermath.site). Throughout the show, audiences witness a softer side of the cast, which fosters an understanding beyond their rough first impressions of [the most for-the-cameras peacocking and tear-apart scuffles I’ve ever seen committed to television](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNQXLjKjpK4&ref=aftermath.site). Organically, the show achieves this by having its cast members confide in one another about the abuses they’ve endured and perpetrated, and their desire to change. The “worst” things done to and by cast members include going to juvie for fights, being physically abused by and to their exes, and setting a person on fire. The common thread across these confessions is that they’re shared by cast members of their own volition—not to sound tough, but to be upfront with their newfound family about the worst that’s happened to them and because of them, and to express their desire to change however they can. Sometimes that means finding a partner who’ll accept them on their journey, being moved to call home and talk with estranged family members, or having friends organize an intervention. To my delight, the women in season 2 readily step in when they feel their homegirl Maririn’s steps toward changing for the better aren’t being acknowledged by the guys, or when cast members tell a new “transfer student” that her jokingly telling Ari—[another mixed-race cast member](https://aftermath.site/half-is-more-yoiko-fujimi-josei-manga-haafu-racism-review/)—he “looked like a drug addict” was foul. Anyone who's watched *Badly in Love* will tell you it's a refreshing watch compared to the more clean-cut, Uniqlo-clad reality TV shows on Netflix, where everyone is some sort of model or businessman. Here, its cast members wear their baggage on their sleeves, in tattoos and missing digits from leaving the yakuza. Their yankii and gyaru aesthetics aren’t presented as virtuous or as a cross to bear. It’s who they are. Sure, there’s a latent cynicism about walking into reality shows with the expectation that their participants are there to increase their follower counts. But of all the dating shows I’ve watched on Netflix, *Badly in Love* doesn’t hit hard because of its cast members clashing, but because it showcases how they come together over matters of the heart, commiserate, and support each other in their pursuit of love, atonement, and change despite their bad reputations. ## Recommended: [The Boyfriend Shines In The Shadow Of Terrace House - AftermathFour years after it was cancelled, Terrace House (kinda) returns![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-b2ee31e7-634a-4dfc-a598-16e9ed9cbefd.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/y6tdanu5kn7ltgeasdavr6-3-dc1f2737-14ad-487e-9ee4-2d6be438ddb0.png)](https://aftermath.site/boyfriend-netflix-terrace-house-review/) ### Man, Blood Dungeon Rips URL: https://aftermath.site/blood-dungeon-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T16:00:56.000Z Sometimes it’s nice to cut to the quick, so I’ll start off by saying that *Blood Dungeon* kicks ass. This is unsurprising for several reasons, the first being its pedigree of coming from developer Messhof, who brought you the classic indie duelers *Nidhogg* and *Nidhogg 2.* The second reason is that I dumped about six hours into the demo before receiving review code, and that’s usually a warning sign that a game is very, very good. The quick log line on *Blood Dungeon* is *Vampire Survivors* meets *Spelunky*, although the comparison to *Survivors* might do *Blood Dungeon* a disservice. Though I find *Vampire Survivors* and *Vampire Crawlers* to be well-made and engaging, the way they are balanced does rancid things to my mind, a sensation that Brendan Caldwell recently articulated to in [his blog that made half the people that saw it online get upset](https://www.jank.cool/death-to-the-self-playing-game/?ref=aftermath.site). *Vampire Survivors* exists purely in the machine zone, an endless time sink that ends up practically playing itself. It always leaves me with a nasty, oily feeling of never having accomplished much, whereas something like *Balatro*, an equally sinister game in terms of sheer addictiveness, constantly escalates in difficulty to check whatever broken combo the player can concoct. Though *Blood Dungeon’*s levels have a distinct end point and get progressively easier to break as you unlock new weapons and upgrades, the amount of active choices you have to make in terms of strategy and platforming make it so you never end up in that numb, queasy zone that *Vampire Survivors* tends to induce where all that’s left is the reward, a slot machine payout that keeps going. Nothing but respect for **Balatro*. There is little plot to speak of in *Blood Dungeon* save for the fact that you’re a nasty little freak that gets pooped out of a bloody butt in the ceiling of an underground dungeon. You can swap between different characters, each with their own pluses and negatives — a baby with a magnum and a trust fund, a nude barbarian with his dingdong out, a naked freak named Skinja that walks on her hands, legs troubling in the air and cartwheeling on the ceiling like that old lady in *Exorcist III*. Each plays slightly differently and has passives that require different choices in how you build them out. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6823.jpg) The art style is most reminiscent of *Nidhogg 2* by way of MS Paint: squiggly, funny and unpleasant to look at. The main hub features a wizard that’s a dog and several witches holding assault rifles. Enemies are equally inventive and amusing: a seagull with gesticulating legs that are *way* too long, skeletons in track suits running absurdly, flying demon babies with terrible teeth, centaur men that are squarely average looking, and a boss that’s just a really big frog. The entire game feels, much to its benefit, like it was designed by a bored yet creative 12 year old metalhead drawing in the margins of a notebook during math class. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6824.jpg) Baby is a shockingly powerful character because they start with a gun and can reliably reroll into better choices. Each individual stage is an enclosed, sometimes looping arena with various pickups. Each character starts with a primary weapon that is predetermined and which auto-fires à la *Vampire Survivors*, and they can claim additional weapons over the course of the round. Enemies will drop blood, which is the currency that levels you up, and those levels, along with any treasure chests you might find, are how you secure upgrades. Upgrades are pure RNG, even to the point where the choices are presented like a slot machine, although they can be forcibly rerolled using coins. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6822.jpg) Confusingly the Seaman boss appears to summon water even underwater. Double water. The bulk of the strategy is in building out a character with a proper weapons and accounting for synergies in an individual stage. For example, there’s an upgrade you can acquire that increases your rate of fire significantly if your character only is below 25% of their max oxygen while swimming, so a viable strategy in the few water-rich stages is to come close to drowning yourself repeatedly. Some upgrades have hyper-specific conditions, while others are purchased from the dog wizard by giving him bones. Upgrades are also influenced by rarity, and so making it so your volleyball explodes or that your whip chains between enemies can have huge impacts on your ability to clear a screen. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6818.jpg) Weapon slots and other upgrades are purchased by giving bones to a dog who is a wizard. What makes *Blood Dungeon* riveting instead of feeling like you’re in a palliative haze of endless, recursive upgrades is that the experience is brutally tuned. Though your character can climb walls, the sheer density of enemies with absurd and capricious movement patterns requires a significant skill to navigate on the fly, an aspect of the game that feels most indebted to *Spelunky’s* legacy. Those countless near misses coupled with what the designers refer to as a “dungeon dnb” soundtrack by Thomas Hoey creates an escalating sense of tension that ratchets up to an obscene degree. There’s no experience quite like hearing harpsichords intermingling with high bpm drum machines while you vault over a giant floating mummy head. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6821.jpg) New style baby. *Blood Dungeon* is out on multiple major platforms, although Switch 2 and Steam Deck are by far the most compelling because it is a fantastic travel game if I’ve ever seen one. The rounds are fast enough to fit in between waiting in a dentist’s office, and it doesn’t take up enough time to be onerous. It’s a perfect little forever game to take with you, an experience that you can endlessly play while attempting to beat all your friends on the individual stage leaderboards. And, in case I have not been clear enough at this point, the game is really fucking good. ### [Very Australian Voice] 🎵 Tale As Old As Tooiimmeee 🎵 URL: https://aftermath.site/halloween-game-banned-australia/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T16:25:25.000Z Before 2013, [Australia did not have an R18+ age rating for video games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian%5FClassification%5FBoard?ref=aftermath.site#1990s;%5FModifications%5Fand%5Fcomputer%5Fgame%5Fclassifications), meaning that any title the nation's classification board deemed was *too much* for kids simply wasn't allowed to be commercially sold here. This impacted a number of high-profile releases (the most prominent being *Fallout 3*), so when in 2013 we finally got an R18+ rating it felt like a final, belated acknowledgement that like any other form of popular media, video games could and were being enjoyed by *adults* in Australia. Of course that acknowledgement came with a catch. Australia's classification board wouldn't be assessing video games by the same criteria that movies and TV shows were; by virtue of their interactivity they'd be much more closely scrutinised, and a number of conditions were added to the new ratings system, such as a stipulation that in most cases a gameplay mechanic that rewarded the player with in-game advantages after taking drugs would see the game refused classification, regardless of the new adults-only rating. A number of games have been hit by these rules and either made edits or appealed the decision to be able to enter the market, a list that includes everything from *Disco Elysium* to *Rimworld*, while other games (such as *Wasteland 3*) have not and have thus simply remained without classification, which in effect means they are banned. All of which brings us to *Halloween: The Game*. [As Jackson Ryan reports at The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/aug/24/michael-myers-halloween-video-game-banned-in-australia-drugs?CMP=aus%5Fbsky&ref=aftermath.site), the upcoming tie-in to the classic 1978 horror movie features a positive reward for the use of drugs, which brought it squarely into the classification board's sights: > In the game, players can smoke marijuana to see the location of Michael Myers in order to avoid being killed – a use of drugs that the Classification Board has deemed a “gameplay advantage”. Under the Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games 2023, video games are refused classification if they contain “illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards”. Which means it's being refused classification. For a full run-down on the frustrations being felt locally around this latest decision, you should [definitely read Jackson's full story](https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/aug/24/michael-myers-halloween-video-game-banned-in-australia-drugs?CMP=aus%5Fbsky&ref=aftermath.site), as it interviews a number of local academics and industry representatives. I'd just like to add as an Australian that while I'm generally quite understanding of the glacial pace with which bureaucracy sometimes adapts to modern times--I live in the nation's capital, so most of my friends and family work in government, it's a long and boring job to change things!--I'm old enough to remember [working in games media during the fight to get the R18+ rating introduced in the first place](https://kotaku.com/how-australia-rates-video-games-5474445?ref=aftermath.site). To see us still being side-lined by antiquated rulings *13 years* after this supposed "victory" is taking the piss, even by my generous standards. Hopefully change can come soon: [a review is currently underway to once again modernise Australia's classification standards](https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/have-your-say/modernising-and-harmonising-classification-standards?ref=aftermath.site), and one suggestion is to "remove the harsher judgement of video games’ interactivity". ### Who Are We To Know If This Video Game Is Using AI Artwork On Its Cover And In Its Trailer, We Are But Human Beings With Eyeballs And Brains URL: https://aftermath.site/james-pond-ai/ Last updated: 2026-08-25T16:25:11.000Z *James Pond*, a classic fish-based 1990 platformer that spawned (I am not sorry) a few sequels is, decades later, getting not only a surprise new game in the series, but a rerelease of the originals as well. Which could and should be good news for fans, but sadly, the vibes here are off. First, the new game! Not only did its reveal last year feature a ton of terrible AI-generated imagery, but original series creator Chris Sorrell went out of his way to throw the entire project under the bus, [telling Time Extension in August 2025](https://www.timeextension.com/news/2025/07/i-hate-almost-everything-they-do-with-a-passion-james-ponds-creator-isnt-a-fan-of-gamewares-ai-focused-sequel?ref=aftermath.site) that *James Pond: Rogue AI* (made without Sorrell's involvement) was "yet another warmed-over re-hash of a 34-year-old game that somehow makes it look like 30 years of tech progress never happened", and lamented that developers Gameware were "promoting it with lazy, AI-generated bull-shit". A year later and a new trailer for an upcoming rerelease bundle, *James Pond Legacy*, is facing many of the same allegations. [As Go Nintendo report](https://gonintendo.com/contents/63928-following-accusations-james-pond-legacy-devs-say-no-generative-ai-was-used-in?ref=aftermath.site), the [top comments on *Legacy's* trailer are all accusing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFggndxGZk0&t&ref=aftermath.site) the video (and the game's box art and other marketing materials) of using AI-generated images, while some are also suspecting the team used AI-generated music for the trailer as well: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image-1.png) For your reference, here is a collection of three screenshots from the trailer, featuring art that also appears across the bundle's marketing material: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-20-102926.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-20-102900.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-20-102842.png) Were these images--centrepieces of a marketing campaign for a video game that you are expected to pay money for--generated by a glorified autocorrect? Who is to tell! Because despite the allegations put forward by those YouTube commenters, and perhaps even your own eyeballs, developers System 3 have released a statement in their defence, titled "[System 3 reveals the painstaking, human-led process behind the transformation of an original James Pond character from retro pixels into a modern 3D creation](https://system3.com/news/from-retro-pixels-to-the-pondversethe-bovine-bomber-recreated-in-3d/?ref=aftermath.site)". Specifically, they reference this character: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/The-Bovine-Bomber-Art-Process-Aug-2026-v2-SfW-2048x934.png) What are we, the general public, to make of the original's milk jug being forgotten, the missing horn in the third image, the weird way the man is holding the joystick, the inconsistent dimensions of the udder guns and the [overall presence of a piss filter](https://www.popularai.org/p/chatgpts-piss-filter-why-ai-images?ref=aftermath.site)? The statement reads: > The Bovine Bomber’s transformation began with the original low-resolution retro character graphic, which was carefully cleaned up in Photoshop. > > The character was then manually redrawn in Illustrator and Photoshop. This allowed details restricted by the original pixel resolution to be restored and defined, including its distinctive markings, cockpit, twin weapon system, rocket propulsion and electrified horns. > > The redrawn artwork then provided the reference for a full 3D render. This translated the original two-dimensional design into a modern character while preserving its recognisable shape and unmistakable James Pond humour. > > The final stage involved a detailed manual clean-up and paint-over in Photoshop by the System 3 art team. Particular attention was given to the Bovine Bomber’s expression, surface detail, colour, weaponry and the appearance of Dr Maybe inside the cockpit. > > No generative AI was used in the creation of the artwork. Every stage began with the authentic original James Pond graphic and was completed using traditional digital illustration, 3D rendering and manual artistic refinement. This is all such a huge bummer. System 3 is a name that resonates in retro gaming circles; they were the developers of pioneering fighting game *International Karate*, for one, but also made *The Last Ninja*, [which may well have the best video game soundtrack of all time](https://youtu.be/yKWl-R7BOy8?t=275&ref=aftermath.site). It would be bad enough to see them trying this on just one release, but their website reveals that being accused of slapping AI garbage onto classic video games (like [*Dropzone*](https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/11/accusations-of-ai-art-deflate-archer-macleans-dropzone-40th-anniversary-announcement?ref=aftermath.site)) is now a regular part of their business. ### Psychonauts Developer Double Fine Gets Rights To Games Back, But Union Future Uncertain URL: https://aftermath.site/double-fine-independent-game-jam-union/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T19:25:23.000Z *Psychonauts*, *Keeper*, and *Kiln* developer Double Fine, like [*South Of Midnight* studio Compulsion](https://aftermath.site/compulsion-south-of-midnight-ownership-xbox-layoffs/), is now officially free and clear of Microsoft. If you buy its games, you’re supporting an indie that frankly, well, needs it, as opposed to [a genocide-abetting mega corporation](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/). But it’s not all good news: Double Fine’s union push, which we [first reported on back in May](https://aftermath.site/double-fine-union-microsoft-cwa-xbox/), is for the moment no more. Double Fine director of marketing and communications James Spafford confirmed Double Fine’s independence to Aftermath. “I can confirm that we are officially independent, the deal is closed, and buying our games now directly supports us just the same as Compulsion,” he said. In addition, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer [went on Kinda Funny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R1nX65ZKBM&ref=aftermath.site) to divulge more about plans for the future, announcing that the studio is bringing back its internal game jam, Amnesia Fortnight, [with a Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doublefine/amnesia-fortnight-2026-indie-reboot?ref=creator%5Ftab). “We're going to do a Game Jam, live on the internet, in which our backers will get to choose which of our myriad of ideas get made into four new prototypes—and which of those final four will become a real (small) game,” reads the Kickstarter page. “You may even snag some sweet merchables and rarities along the way.” The Kickstarter, which will also include a documentary of the entire process by 2 Player Productions, goes live on August 31. During the Kinda Funny appearance, Schafer compared Double Fine's current state to the period of time after it finished Brutal Legend, only for EA to cancel the sequel—ultimately leading the studio to focus on smaller Amnesia Fortnight projects like *Stacking* and *Iron Brigade*. "We got a little bit of runway on the departure \[from Microsoft\] to sign some games," he said. "We want to sign some game deals, get going, it’s kind of a scary time to be out there. It’s a runway, not a freeway, it doesn’t go forever. It’s just a little patch where we can take off on our own power, and we want to extend it a little bit. ... So we’re doing a game jam, which we used to do a lot." Not long after announcing that it would be regaining its independence from Microsoft in July, Double Fine [laid off 23 members of its staff](https://gameinformer.com/2026/07/28/double-fine-announces-layoffs-following-split-from-xbox?ref=aftermath.site). As for the Double Fine workers’ union, the original petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board in early May. At the time, it covered all regular full-time and part-time employees—a total of 42\. Today, however, CWA, the union that has helped thousands of Microsoft game workers organize, informed Aftermath that workers withdrew their petition just a couple weeks after filing it (and well before layoffs or Double Fine regaining its independence). The union did not elaborate as to why. “Beyond that, we don't have any updates,” said a CWA spokesperson. Aftermath asked Double Fine for additional details but did not receive a reply as of this publishing. ## Recommended [Money Spent On South Of Midnight Now Supports Its Developers, Not Microsoft“I can confirm we have regained ownership of our IP, and that the publishing rights are transferring back to Compulsion”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-92587ac4-7ca2-44e0-9fce-568669f3f14c.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/south-2954d883-d3a4-40a8-b453-ac55a6771299.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/compulsion-south-of-midnight-ownership-xbox-layoffs/) ### Nothing About GTA VI’s Launch Can Be Normal URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-grand-theft-auto-vi-leaks/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T16:12:59.000Z *Grand Theft Auto VI* is finally, seemingly almost here, which of course means it’s time for everyone to go completely insane. This week alone saw [a hacker who monologues like Sephiroth](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-leak-2026-rockstar-union-no-boycott/) leak portions of the incineratingly anticipated crime caper, as well as the revelation that [the US Army is offering four days with the game](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-united-states-army-reenlistment/) in exchange for several years of soldiers’ lives. All that, and we haven’t even gotten to *GTA VI*’s big extended preview bash next week, which Netflix is hosting for some reason. On the latest Aftermath Hours, we reckon with a wild ride that, whether ultimately exhilarating or ruinous, will almost certainly prove to be one of a kind. This time around, the staff of Aftermath convenes to discuss the pre-math of *Grand Theft Auto VI*’s impending release. With a Netflix preview of the game—itself pretty unprecedented—a week away, fired Rockstar workers are [asking fans not to boycott the game](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hhIESBAyDK8?source%5Fve%5Fpath=MjM4NTE&embeds%5Freferring%5Feuri=https%3A%2F%2Faftermath.site%2F&ref=aftermath.site) while the aforementioned hacker has taken to leaking more gameplay footage with each passing day. So far, despite the evident addition of [controversial new systems like… gas](https://kotaku.com/the-first-big-gta-6-debate-is-here-cars-needing-gas-2000725870?ref=aftermath.site), it’s looking pretty much like you’d expect a *Grand Theft Auto* game to look. We talk about how *GTA* reached these [dizzying highs of hype in the first place](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/) and how a rapidly changing industry [all but guarantees that no single video game ever will again](https://aftermath.site/gta-vi-grand-theft-auto-6-aaa-billions/). We also ponder the funniest possible outcome: What if *GTA VI*, the latest installment in a series known for low-brow humor and surface-level satire, turns out to be nuanced and thoughtful? You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can spend a decade and one billion dollars developing a sequel to Aftermath Hours with slightly better graphics. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Chris:** I don’t want to give it to \[the hackers\] because I think they’re a little bit annoying, but there is also this element of the way this game is being doled out in this hyper-special way; it feels like \[Rockstar\] is like “No one is ever gonna let us do this shit again. They’re never gonna give us a moment to ever, ever, ever have this dripfeed.” Games don’t have the interest to do that anymore. There’s too many of them. It’s hard to manufacture this scale of excitement. And so, I don’t cheer when this stuff is ruined, but it is kind of funny to have everything very carefully laid out, and then a guy in a plastic *V For Vendetta* mask is like “If you do not agree to our demands, the fire burns.” Dog, you’re talking about video games. I’m sorry to be kinda mean. I agree, but this is the funniest way you could’ve done it. **Nathan:** There probably won’t be *this* amount of hype for a triple-A blockbuster video game again. Luke, you’ve written about how *GTA VI* feels like the final iteration of this kind of thing. Do you want to go into that a little bit? **Luke:** It’s basically what Nathan just said: Can you honestly look inside your heart and imagine another video game getting this treatment? Getting this level of brand recognition and mass following and decades-long success and obnoxious Netflix specials and Sephiroth-adjacent coin-selling hacker kids sending manifestos? It just really feels like the ride we’ve been on for the last 10-15 years in triple-A video games is coming to an end, and this is sort of the final stand of it. *Grand Theft Auto VI* is what it is because of the last five and associated *Grand Theft Auto* games. This is a very long-running—and very single-player, for a long time—series. Over that time and over the quality of the games and their sustained success, they have developed a fan base globally that must be in the hundreds of millions. It’s the biggest single-player video game. Can you see another game being afforded the opportunity to have that sustained level of success? Nobody’s investing in what the next *Grand Theft Auto* could be. Nobody’s supporting the current successful games that could be as successful as *Grand Theft Auto* became. Series are getting wound down. Studios are getting closed. Everyone’s being laid off. Everyone’s being pushed onto more temporary, ethereal projects—live service games and online titles and all this other stuff that doesn’t have the lasting legacy of something like *GTA*. There’s no space. There’s cultural stuff here, too. You mentioned algorithms \[and how they fundamentally change the way newer generations are discovering and interacting with series\]. The sort of demise of a shared reality or a centralized information system. *Grand Theft Auto* is a series that was born of us all being on the same websites and watching the same TV stations. A comparison I always think of is—and I’ve had this thought exercise for the past 20 years or so—what’s the biggest band in the world? And every time a band would kind of reach for that space on the podium, you would realize they’re all old bands. It’s just a matter of which ones are surviving the longest. None of these are new bands; these are all old bands from when everybody had CDs in stores and centralized places where music was distributed. Now that music is blasted all over the internet via half a dozen streaming services and whatever else, people can live comfortably within algorithm-driven nests and never encounter other bands. You might see a band headlining a festival, and you have never heard of them. ## Recommended [It Doesn’t Get Much Bleaker Than The US Army Offering Four Days Of GTA VI In Exchange For Several Years Of Additional ServiceFour whole days in exchange for a chunk of your life, what a deal![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-e6fad0bf-7234-4f3f-aac3-3e738d764a3d.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gta69-9a914daf-6eed-4362-b79a-8ced1c8dc6fe.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-united-states-army-reenlistment/) ### Google Docs' Grammar Suggestions Suck Ass URL: https://aftermath.site/google-docs-grammar-suggestions-suck-ass/ Last updated: 2026-08-24T16:12:32.000Z Unfortunately, I use Google Docs every day. As a pretty prolific writer, both for Aftermath and for my upcoming novel *Level Up For Romance!* from Mira Books coming in 2027, and I have become accustomed to a certain level of jank from this app. But what’s gotten incredibly frustrating as of late is the quality of its grammar corrections. I don’t really need Google Docs to correct my grammar, because everything I write goes through an editor before it’s published. Riley is the person I rely on to unfuck my use of the possessive, something that I can never get right. \[Editor’s note: You’re not wrong with the possessive, Aftermath just doesn’t use double “s.”\] I get that the grammar feature is intended perhaps for non-professional writers, but I fear that it would be of little use to them, because it is frequently, blatantly wrong. Check out this example of the grammar suggestion, indicated by the blue squiggle, asking me to replace a very real and normal word with one that is made up. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-69ef389a-9de2-4de4-a5e2-8e142862ae13.png) Not every example is so egregious, but they are distracting and plentiful. Sometimes the grammar suggestion would make the sentence less readable. Sometimes it would change the meaning of the sentence wholesale. Sometimes, more irritatingly, these suggestions would change the tone or tenor of a sentence, which isn’t something I need advice on from a fucking robot. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-c1ac9fe3-e5ec-48e1-ac84-d7e919936f20.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-9dc60b67-bdaa-4468-8fe8-dae4628dc3e7.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-b8166bc0-c095-4f31-a6ef-fc30c63467b0.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-50efee79-5147-4c44-9b8e-2458d300e8bd.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-2d255748-2d54-4e77-a729-42dd7d2eae25.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-e22b098b-a5d5-41c3-b66c-f820ef841d88.png) I’m not the only person who has experienced this problem. YouTuber Sarah Z has also posted a screenshot to BlueSky of the Google Docs grammar suggestion trying to get her to change one completely grammatical and appropriate word to another, less dynamic word. [Sarah Z (@sarahz.bsky.social)I DID NOT ASK YOU, GOOGLE DOCS.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-5dd4e853-a5a2-4710-97c6-815b0f72c6ae.png)Bluesky SocialSarah Z![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreiaissqbhzsotgp2gzth2d54kinsyrom2tkstlry4lzfugzixlc7ua-a123a423-447b-400c-970f-3613f7182b4c)](https://bsky.app/profile/sarahz.bsky.social/post/3mtip6hzzsc24?ref=aftermath.site) I have now, finally, turned this stupid piece of shit off (go to tools, then spelling and grammar, and then uncheck grammar suggestions). I’m going to get my grammar checked the old-fashioned way: making Riley do it. ### Money Spent On South Of Midnight Now Supports Its Developers, Not Microsoft URL: https://aftermath.site/compulsion-south-of-midnight-ownership-xbox-layoffs/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T16:59:07.000Z Ever since Microsoft [laid off 1,600 employees](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/) and—in the process—kicked multiple studios to the curb, there’s been uncertainty about how the split will impact games originally published under its increasingly shaky umbrella. Now, in at least one case, we know: Compulsion, the studio behind *South Of Midnight* and *We Happy Few*, now wholly owns its intellectual properties; if you purchase a Compulsion game, Microsoft won’t see a cent of it. Compulsion CEO Guillaume Provost clarified the terms of its breakup with Microsoft to [GamesBeat](https://gamesbeat.com/compulsion-games-pulls-off-management-buyout-and-separates-from-xbox-exclusive/?ref=aftermath.site): “I can confirm we have regained ownership of our IP, and that the publishing rights are transferring back to Compulsion. It’s just that there’s a transition period where that happens with different platform holders,” he said. “Buying the games is supporting the studio as a result of that change.” This was [a matter of some debate](https://noescapevg.com/why-it-matters-who-south-of-midnights-publisher-is/?ref=aftermath.site), as some [major](https://kotaku.com/south-of-midnight-compulsion-games-bds-xbox-2000724140?ref=aftermath.site) [video game websites](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ignore-your-growing-backlog-its-time-to-play-south-of-midnight-on-steam/?ref=aftermath.site) suggested that people were free and clear to purchase *South Of Midnight* without supporting Microsoft before the terms of the deal were known. At this point, the list of reasons to avoid further inflating Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar bank account is a mile long: There are the annual mass layoffs, of course, as well as the [well-documented AI obsession](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs-microsoft-ai/), but most damningly, the company continues to aid and abet Israel’s genocide in Gaza with its tech. Multiple movements, including [BDS](https://bdsmovement.net/news/boycott-microsofts-xbox?ref=aftermath.site) and [No Games For Genocide](https://nogamesforgenocide.com/?ref=aftermath.site), have called for a boycott of Xbox and Microsoft, though No Games For Genocide has always allowed a carveout for indie games generally, and *South of Midnight* in specific. Compulsion, fortunately, is no longer within Microsoft’s bloodstained grasp. Despite continuing industry tumult, it will forge its own path. “I did this deal for the team first and foremost,” Proust told GamesBeat. “I asked the team, ‘Do you want to stay together?’ The team told me we would rather eat rocks and drink gasoline rather than be split up.” ## Recommended [Despite Awards, South Of Midnight Studio Becomes Latest Victim Of Microsoft’s ImplosionCompulsion Games could be on the chopping block, months after Xbox hyped up its award wins![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-064f8875-8995-4a50-b877-370a84ca8da1.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/comps-19a9adb9-046c-481e-b514-3c3750f973bb.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/compulsion-microsoft-xbox-layoffs-closure/) ### The Nape Pro Is Not Like Other Trackballs URL: https://aftermath.site/keychron-nape-pro-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T17:16:21.000Z For the better part of a year I was fascinated by a specific trackball that never seemed to materialize: Keychron’s Nape Pro. It is a unique and baffling object from a company not normally known for its bold form factors but rather for making affordable versions of a category of existing products. The Nape Pro is not shaped like other trackballs; it’s a small ball set inside the body of a long macro bar. As far as I can tell, this trackball was originally intended as a collaboration with [Gizmodo Japan](https://www.gizmodo.jp/?ref=aftermath.site). Keychron’s domestic website did not mention it much until fairly recently, and outside of a handful of people online who imported it, I have seen no domestic reviews of it online. Then one day it just appeared on Amazon, someone on the trackball subreddit noticed, and people started buying them, including myself. Soon after, Keychron put up pre-orders on their site. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/nape_close_bright.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/nape_close2_bright_crop.jpg) Buttons and positioning are arbitrary and each button is programmable. The Nape Pro does not seem like it is meant to replace a mouse or a full sized trackball. It’s a thumb ball closer in utility to a trackpoint or trackpad. Being asymmetrical and square, it holds equal utility for lefties and righties. The ball is surrounded by a scroll ring, and six buttons can be used either on their own or using layering, a keyboard technique for programming macros under a custom map. The Gizmodo Japan piece about the Nape Pro. When you first start using the Nape Pro, you may be confused as to the best way to interact with it, with the topline question being “What direction does this device go in?” The nice thing about the Nape Pro is that it’s able to be oriented in any direction you’d like. The 04 button by default serves as a rotate key, allowing you to adjust the north star of the trackball by 1/8th rotations with each press. This means the Nape Pro can sit at the bottom of a keyboard, thus mimicking a trackpad or [pointing stick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing%5Fstick?ref=aftermath.site) in terms of relative utility. The Nape Pro can also sit on the left or right of a keyboard, or in my case, in between my split keyboard hugging the left side of the right half. This is closer to how I always use trackballs, not as a direct replacement for a mouse, but rather as a device that allows me to make tiny movements like copying and pasting text while working on documents or scrolling without having to lift and reposition my entire hand every single time I need to interact with a mouse. I also found that it fit in quite nicely in a living room setting to accompany the Steam Machine or as a tiny travel mouse with a Steam Deck, as both devices occasionally need some limited mousing while in desktop mode without sacrificing table space. Because the device uses ZMK – an open source firmware [I’ve covered in the past](https://aftermath.site/i-need-an-open-source-mouse-so-i-never-have-to-look-at-razer-synapse-again/) – it can be used in conjunction with layers to create as many potential macros as you have button configurations. You can reprogram the device simply using either ZMK Studio or the Keychron Launcher locally or on their site. You do not have to have [Razer Synapse](https://aftermath.site/i-need-an-open-source-mouse-so-i-never-have-to-look-at-razer-synapse-again/) installed on your computer where it can cause trouble, and macros stay on-device. I’m overjoyed to see pointing devices move towards more open ecosystems, as the shit that Logitech and Razer have regularly pulled just to use their hardware has pissed me off to no end. ![A UI showing how the Nape Pro can be programmed and my current layout.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/layout.png) The Nape Pro is ZMK-based, and you can use Keychron's web flasher. By default the scroll wheel adjusts volume, but I already had a keystroke for that on my keyboard so instead opted to make it an additional scroll wheel. I also decided to create macros for copy and paste. I also added back and forth macros for page scrolling, and have plans eventually to make left and right clicks activate new layers by holding them, something [I already do with the thumb keys on my split keyboard.](https://aftermath.site/best-split-keyboards-diy-qmk-zmk-corne/) The Nape Pro can be used wired, via bluetooth or via a 2.4 GHZ polling rate dongle, with three levels of polling rates (125/500/1000 Hz) able to be set by the user. The overall feel of the device is slightly muted with an emphasis on acoustics over feel. Keychron used Huanao Silent switches for these, little brown microswitches with a dampened sensation. In general I enjoy these and have several in a parts cabinet, but they can feel slightly mushy if you are used to crisp mouse clicks. I am fairly confident I could open the device up and solder new switches in, which is extremely possible because I have some Huanao pink dots in a drawer. The scroll wheel is also equally silent and feels a tiny bit scratchy. This is by far the achilles heel of the device and a feature that would benefit from a mod. While I wish it had a bit more tactility to it out of the box, I understand the utility in focusing on making an unobtrusive device, particularly for designers. The track ball itself is quite small and may feel slightly unwieldy to some people even at low DPI settings, which is why I would see this as an accessory device rather than a primary mousing one. In general I found that this was ameliorated by using two fingers on the ball instead of one, but overall this is not a device for repeated precision movements. At least one person on Reddit near and dear to my heart has gotten around this by putting a [25mm steel ball bearing they found in a parts drawer in theirs](https://www.reddit.com/r/Trackballs/comments/1vle1sv/nape%5Fpro%5Fpotential%5Ftrackball%5Ffix/?ref=aftermath.site). I am currently trying to find an exact replacement for that and may update this writeup, but in my experience trackball performance on chrome steel can be finicky sometimes, and often requires taking steel wool and 2000 grit sandpaper to it. Do you want to see a guy use a bunch of steel pins and citric acid to dull a trackball? Sure you do. As I spent time with the Nape Pro, I found new and exciting configurations. Normally I use an [Endgame Trackball](https://efog.tech/products/endgame-trackball-complete-diy-kit?ref=aftermath.site) directly between my split, an absolutely perverted, semi-DIY device made by a single person in Ukraine who [goes by eFog.](https://efog.tech/?ref=aftermath.site) Now, the Endgame hugs the right of my wireless split, and the Nape hugs the left. I don’t need to click with the Nape because I already have a keybind for clicking bound to holding space and pressing H on the right side of my keyboard. Alternately, I can mouse with the Endgame and use the Nape to macro. Minor desktop movements that don’t require serious mousing are now small, mirrored ambidextrous movements, and the net result of having two trackballs in the middle of my desktop feels like controlling an alien spaceship. If you tried to interface with your computer the way I do you’d probably fucking hurl. ![Two sides of a split keyboard and two trackballs in between. One is large and blue with white buttons and a steel ball. The left one is the nape pro. A yellow Vaxee mouse is on the right.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/terror.jpg) Flight Of The Navigator ass layout. The primary question around the Nape Pro is one of audience and intent. Who is the Nape Pro’s audience? The answer is whomever the baffling device calls out to. There are countless, great wireless mice that can be purchased for next to a song out there. At 90 dollars, the Nape fits into an odd price point for what you get, in the range of a “really nice mouse.” But what the Nape Pro excels in is defining its own use case, being this bizarrely-shaped half pointer/half pad device that fits into ergonomic niches that you may not have considered. You can technically pick it up and use it as a weird remote, although I’m not sure that using the wheel would feel great. Computers have gotten tremendously dull, and ideally we should be applauding hardware makers for trying some wackadoo shit, in exploring the depths of how we interface with the computer. The Nape Pro is not a device I’d recommend for everyone, but for the real sickos out there, you might end up falling in love. ### A Game That Makes You Feel Clever For Decapitating A Bunch Of Dudes URL: https://aftermath.site/mrfreezy-demo-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T16:59:33.000Z In the same way that I have too many [daily puzzle games](https://aftermath.site/puzzle-games-daily-oh-no/), I also have too many *other* puzzle games to play. I’m just always throwing little tinkery things into my Steam library, and then every time I boot up my PC I’m faced with far too many options. Yesterday I added to that pile the demo for the upcoming *Aerial\_Knight’s MrFreezy*, a game that strikes just the right balance between being gory and light. [*MrFreezy*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4756010/Aerial%5FKnights%5FMrFreezy/?beta=0&ref=aftermath.site) casts you as a serial killer known across Detroit for kidnapping and beheading men. You get a hint of this narrative in the demo, but mostly you play through a tutorial and a few levels of the game’s core puzzle. Various heads sit on various bodies, and you have to move the heads around to align enough to decapitate them, racking up a certain number of points in under a certain number of moves. Portrayed in grainy black and white, the whole thing is more cerebral (sorry!) than violent, which goes a long way in not making the whole idea feel crass. Different kinds of heads have different properties: Regular heads cause the ones next to them to move, while some heads only move themselves and others can’t be moved at all. Others still cost double the amount of moves or count as double the amount of points when decapitated. Nothing I encountered in the demo was too tricky–I always had plenty of moves left when I met a level’s goals–but I was definitely very, very low on the game’s leaderboards, given my puzzle game strategy of tending to try things out instead of thinking my moves through. The game is good at highlighting which heads will be affected by your choices, which helps you know what will happen as a result of a move and (if you aren’t me) plan out your strategy. Even in the brief demo, there’s a lot of replayability if you want to be the most efficient serial killer you can be. In my time with it, *MrFreezy* was a fun little thing to fiddle with, though the developer says the full game will get more complex. They also write that there will be more story, and I’m curious to see how that pans out with the game’s semi-comedic vibe. Games that cast you as the killer often get pretty dark, but Aerial\_Knight calls the game a “weird little horror world” that I assume means things won’t turn into anything too brutal. I found that the puzzle-solving aspect offset the creepiness, while said creepiness gave the puzzles a unique and intriguing feel. The full game comes out September 1, but for us horror weenies out there, the demo is a nice way to get a sense of whether you’ll get on with *MrFreezy*’s vibe. ### It Doesn’t Get Much Bleaker Than The US Army Offering Four Days Of GTA VI In Exchange For Several Years Of Additional Service URL: https://aftermath.site/gta-6-united-states-army-reenlistment/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T21:40:34.000Z Let’s say you’ve already spent some time in the United States Army, a vicious colonial project that in recent years has been weaponized by a government with even more openly fascistic tendencies than in the past. What would [get you to reup](https://www.reddit.com/r/army/comments/1kaj8e7/best%5Freenlistment%5Fincentives%5Ffrom%5Fyour%5Funits%5Fthat/?ref=aftermath.site), aside from [general economic hardship that the Army has long preyed upon](https://www.workers.org/2022/12/68299/?ref=aftermath.site)? Special training? Time and money to attend college? Extra leave to spend as you please? OK, well how about this: Four—that’s right, four!—days off to play a video game. Fort Stewart in Georgia is currently offering four fleeting days with *Grand Theft Auto VI* in exchange for two-to-six more years of service, [according to CBS](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grand-theft-auto-army-reenlistment-bonus/?ref=aftermath.site). Soldiers who reenlist between Aug 1 and Nov 14 will be granted a special pass that, per the terms of the contract, coincides with “the highly anticipated release of the video game *Grand Theft Auto VI* (*GTA 6*).” For now, the offer is limited to a lone battalion, but it could apparently be expanded to others. "The idea was to have a unique incentives program that connects to what Soldiers are interested in," Lt. Col. Angel Tomko, a spokesperson for the 3rd Infantry Division, told CBS. "The command team, in conjunction with the career counselor, wanted to get soldiers excited to reenlist." 20 soldiers (of around 130 eligible) have accepted the offer. The Army has been targeting gamers for years now, with booths at video game conventions, equipment that [draws on popular video game control methods](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/07/28/new-israeli-tank-features-xbox-controllers-ai-honed-by-starcraft-ii-doom/?ref=aftermath.site), and—perhaps most notoriously—[a presence on Twitch in 2020 that was extremely poorly received](https://kotaku.com/the-twitch-viewers-who-dedicate-their-days-to-trolling-1844918298?ref=aftermath.site). Undeterred by that setback, the Army made plans to spend millions on *Call of Duty*\-related streamers and events in 2021 and 2022, [according to documents obtained by Motherboard](https://www.vice.com/en/article/us-army-pay-streamers-millions-call-of-duty/?ref=aftermath.site). More recently, the Trump administration has [leaned heavily on jingoistic memes that reference games like *Halo*](https://aftermath.site/trump-halo-twitter/)to make being a professional violent racist seem cool to the youths (never mind that everybody who plays *Halo* in 2026 is 40). My first piece of advice: Don’t enlist in the Army! But if you’re already in it, and somebody offers you four days with a video game in exchange for a significant chunk of your life—you know, like the Devil would do—I’m begging you: turn them down. ## Recommended [Call Of Duty Enters The White House’s Arsenal Of MemesThe latest in a growing line of horrifying government posts![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-90f794e8-3fde-4dda-ac1b-1ac625f88f4e.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-03-05-at-2.55.45---PM-0e257fc9-b2e6-4029-abe5-a04987c6e171.png)](https://aftermath.site/call-of-duty-white-house-meme/) ### The ReTerminal Sticky Is An E-Paper Display Begging You To Hack It URL: https://aftermath.site/reterminal-sticky-review-ereader-xteink/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T19:29:21.000Z e-paper has been having a bit of a moment recently. First, the Boox Palma shrank the form factor of eReaders down to something a bit more pocketable and less proprietary than the Kindle. Then, open source developers seized upon and installed custom firmware on the Xteink X4 and X3, cheap no-frills eReaders that snap to the back of your phone and are just enough for many people. The [X4](https://aftermath.site/xteink-x4-cheap-hackable-ereader-crosspoint-review/) was clearly a huge success, as Xteink is following this up with the X3 Pro and X4 Pro and Boox has announced their micro ereader competitor the [Boox Picco](https://liliputing.com/onyx-boox-picco-is-a-pocket-sized-ereader-with-a-3-97-inch-epaper-display/?ref=aftermath.site). But bare bones e-paper is anyone’s game at this point, and so Seeed Studio has thrown their hat in the game with the reTerminal Sticky, an even cheaper and more capable small magnetic eInk display that leans in on the entire angle that made the X4 a viral sensation. I have at least 9 of these in my house, they're in tons of DIY projects.. SeeedStudio is a company near and dear to my heart because I solder circuit boards for fun. They are a Chinese company mainly aimed in the same space as Adafruit and [M5Stack](http://m5stack.com/?ref=aftermath.site): tiny circuit boards, displays, sensors and IoT devices tailored for tinkerers who like to get their hands dirty. Seeed made their name in the space with the Xiao (literally “small” in Chinese), a tiny square microcontroller that has found its way into many keyboards and devices, including a split keyboard I own called a TOTEM. Many of the official devices for Home Assistant are produced by Seeed, and their products tend to have a professional fit and finish while still being aggressively targeted in the same price range as no-name stuff you buy from AliExpress. It’s worth noting that, like all companies in the smart home space, Seeed have doubled down on AI branding, with the Sticky’s box declaring it “The AI Sticky Note.” While that’s unfortunate but understandable given what the company makes, it’s also entirely optional given the open nature of the hardware. The Sticky gives you plenty of ways to ignore that specific element of the device. The Sticky is the newest entry in the reTerminal line, a series of open smart home-enabled e-paper displays. It costs $50 at the time that I’m writing this, below the MSRP of the X3 on Amazon by about 19 dollars. Xteink also announced they were ending the current version the X4, [most likely to refresh the device in the near future](https://aftermath.site/half-is-more-yoiko-fujimi-josei-manga-haafu-racism-review/). The Sticky is roughly the same size and shape as the X4 while being a more capable device that features a touch screen, a mic, and higher pixel density. By default a beeper is enabled, which is something you are instantly going to want to turn off because it is quite annoying. The screen is also glossy, which is a pity as I very much would have preferred the option for a matte one. The Sticky comes stock with Seeed’s software Seeedash, which itself is not unattractive and lets you use the device like a smart sticky note, a to-do list, smart home frame and a clock. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IDG_20260806_140201_392.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IDG_20260806_140009_154.jpg) The default firmware is basically a calendar, a notes app, and an AI dictation thing. Not what I'm interested in, frankly. The “AI” part of the device is that you can use it to do AI dictation using the internal mic or have the device show your Codex usage, and while I am not going to do either of those things I can imagine the kind of person who might. Unsurprisingly for a spartan device, transcription is not done on-device but in the cloud, which is where my interest in it ends. The Sticky also features a temperature and humidity sensor and a gyroscopic motion sensor, which is quite a lot for a device that costs 50 bucks. If the device was just a fridge magnet clock and sticky note with AI features that I am clearly not the audience for, I would absolutely not buy it. But that functionality is purely perfunctory, and Seeed has done something quite smart here and fully leaned into the real reason why anybody actually buys these things: hacking them and installing stuff you actually care about. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot_20260819_134800.jpg) Seeed Studio straight up said "here you go". This is not a company turning a blind eye to what users do; the website itself prominently boasts in advertising that the device can be used with ESPHome, OpenDisplay, TRMNL, and CrossPoint Reader (the community eReader software made for the Xteink X4). Basically anything you can think of can be flashed on it. Whereas Xteink had a minor dustup on Reddit earlier this year about if it would continue to allow users to flash CrossPoint on their devices (which has since been addressed by the company), Seeed has basically told its users “yeah, go nuts man, we’re not your dad.” This is how computers should actually work. The reality of many IoT devices is that they are simply off-the-shelf parts refashioned into a novel form factor. The ESP32 series of chips in particular are in everything from light bulbs to smart sensors and even to [open source music-making computers](https://aftermath.site/the-tulip-is-a-tiny-open-source-music-making-computer-for-cheap/), with the main distinction being “do I actually have control of this hardware or is it a little cop I paid to narc on me?” A key distinction between Seeed and many smart home companies is they actually *make* hardware instead of outsourcing it, slapping a monthly service on it, and selling it at Best Buy to clueless moms. Almost every smart home camera is a cop when you get it, and Amazon’s entire hardware line is an exercise in selling the least open hardware possible at either a severe loss or questionable profit and often for nebulously-defined goals as is the case with Alexa. Much of that stuff ends up as ewaste or gets increasingly shittier and full of ads unless you manage to find a specific model that you can jailbreak like the Echo Show or that one Fire Cube you can install CoreELEC on to. Kindle hacking has become increasingly popular for a good reason, as it allows you to turn an old forgotten device in a closet into an object with purpose and intent. Makers have gotten increasingly good at using e Ink in a DIY context, as is evidenced with the Steam Machine’s Inkterface and companies like TRMNL leaning into user sovereignty over their devices. The reTerminal Sticky is simply what happens when a company that actually makes stuff reads the tea leaves and gives people what they want. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/bionic.jpg) "Bionic Reading" is an optional formatting feature based on the [font of the same name](https://bionic-reading.com/?ref=aftermath.site). It was added to CrossPoint and CrossInk because some people find it easier to parse letters like this. ## **The eReader Experience** The only quibble I have with the reTerminal Sticky as an eReader specifically is that the screen is glossy. I do not love glossy screens if I can avoid them, doubly so if I am supposed to touch them with my fingers and read text on them. There’s something nice about that slightly rough texture that matte eReaders tend to have, and scratches are easier to hide. It did not take long before I managed to ding it up slightly, and Seeed Studio needs to put out a screen protector or folio case if they want to take the eReader market seriously. In practice, however, it is less distracting than a smartphone screen and something that could be easily addressed with either an alternate model or a matte screen protector, although the upshot is that text does look handsome on a glossy screen. With the exception of that one specific element, the device is a layup. Text looks slightly clearer than the X4, although still what you’d expect for 50 bucks. Unlike the non-pro Xteink devices it has a touch screen natively, and the exact same ecosystem for CrossPoint Reader is already in beta and easy to flash. It has a USB-C port, which should not be novel but the X3, X3 Pro, and X4 Pro all dropped the port in favor of a POGO pin connector for some reason which, despite not being proprietary, basically nobody wants. Like the base X3/X4 and unlike the new X3/X4 Pro models the Sticky does not have a backlight, but I would pay the extra money for that in a heartbeat if they offered it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/A005_06141658_S142.jpg) Quite literally my only issue with the device, which is not awful in practice and can be fixed with a matte screen protector. Because the device is ostensibly meant to be a sticky note, the N52 magnets are not in the center but in the corners. Unlike the X4 they are sturdy as hell, and when you put this thing on your fridge it won’t fall off from swinging back and forth. Seeed is clearly aware that people will want to mount this on their phone and have included an adhesive mounting ring as well, and like the internal magnets they are not screwing around. It’s a substantial ring with a slight lip and the adhesive is strong, although I’ve not put it through a torture test. Leaning into the phone ring being adhesive and optional also solves one of the bigger issues with the X4, which is that the device would not sit flush with your phone and would run into the camera bump. Not only does the added depth make it easier to position the device, it also positions the eReader higher than the camera bump, so rotating it 180 degrees on my iPhone 15 Pro was possible without hitting the camera bump. Though the depth of the ring made the device a little bigger in my hand, it’s absolutely not going anywhere unless you want it to. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/A005_06141603_S121.jpg) The magnets on the device are significant but on the corners. The adhesive ring they ship with the device for phones, however, is NOT screwing around. Since I wrote up the Xteink X4, the community made CrossPoint Reader firmware has become increasingly easy to flash. Just insert a FAT32 formatted microSD card, open their website, connect your device via USB-C, hit flash, and reset the device. The microSD card is pretty deeply inset, so you may need a toothpick or something similar to insert it. The flashing process stands in stark contrast to hacking a Kindle, which is an elaborate yet rewarding [process that has its own wiki](https://kindlemodding.org/?ref=aftermath.site) and uses various exploits named “AdBreak”, “Nosebleed” and “WinterBreak”. Like the Xteink and Palma, ePubs can be thrown directly onto the SD card or via WiFi, and CrossPoint Reader can now preemptively optimize the text for the limitations of the ESP32\. Though the Sticky lacks the second row of buttons of the X4, the touch screen more than makes up for this. While I was initially worried that the sensitivity of the screen would lead to unintentional page turns, the touch behavior can be disabled and in CrossPoint Reader feels organic and predictable. CrossPoint can also use the internal gyroscope of the device for page turning, with tilting the device backwards or forwards advancing the page depending on the setting. This is off by default and not something I have gotten the hang of again, but pretty neat to have in a cheap little gadget. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image.png) It's rare for a company to be like "yeah throw whatever you want on it man". Credit: Seeed Studio. ## **The Everything Else Experience** As previously mentioned, a detail that differentiates the reTerminal Sticky from the Xteink is that Seeed Studio does not care if you install third party firmware on it and would, in fact, love it if you did that. Not only did Seeed reach out to several open source e-paper projects prior to the release of the device, they have web-based flashers for each of them on their own website. CrossPoint Reader, CrossInk, TRMNL, ESPHome and OpenDisplay are prominently shown on the Sticky’s homepage. It’s quite easy to flash the device and get the firmware up in running in a matter of minutes with little or no technical background, although I did run into one issue that set me back a few days before Seeed clarified one wrinkle in the process: For the majority of the non-eReader firmwares, you should not have a microSD card in the device when you flash it. The technical reason for this is that the eInk display and the microSD card share the same SPI bus, but Seeed told me that they are working on resolving this. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/A005_06141518_S103.jpg) There are many ways to interact with TRMNL. One plugin can give you a quick roundup of your Letterboxd feed.. The reTerminal Sticky is the ideal target for software like TRMNL, a piece of software meant to be an everything hub for networked e-paper displays. The company sells their own devices, but the software can be installed on hacked Kindles, or many open e-paper displays. You can host your own service locally for free, or (currently) pay 50 bucks once to register your own device (or BYOD, as TRMNL calls it.) TRMNL works on a plugin system to synchronize services like your Google Calendar, a weather service, apps like ToDoist and TickTick, or whatever you want to code for it. From there, you can set up a plug-in playlist for your device to cycle through at regular intervals. Some of these are as corny as you’d expect from an open e-paper display service, like a plugin that displays different facts about Ferengi from *Star Trek*, while others are more practical. One of the cards I had in my playlist linked TRMNL to my Letterboxd account to see a quick breakdown of recent movies my friend saw. It’s actually quite pleasant and a bit futuristic to go to your fridge for a snack, see an updating magnet and remark “Oh, Will gave *The Samurai And The Prisoner* five stars, I gotta remember to buy tickets.” If a company tried to pull that shit with my fridge I’d put it in a faraday cage, but it’s entirely different when you choose to do that. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/A005_06141601_S112.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/open_display.jpg) Open Display is simple and works over Bluetooth. You can use it to update a simple image, or connect it to Home Assistant. OpenDisplay is way easier to set up while also being far more simple and local. You can control anything you want on the device via bluetooth and can use it to send doodles or text to the device. OpenDisplay is also an open platform and can be used with any compatible sender like Home Assistant. It’s a much simpler interface and program than TRMNL, but if you are looking to treat the Sticky like a sticky note or something more direct and basic, that simplicity is a strength. The devs were also quite nice when I bugged them for support help on Discord, so I’d like to thank them publicly for that. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/A005_06141834_S003.jpg) You can turn this thing into a life counter for Commander games. There’s plenty of other apps in the “Playground,” the part of the site that Seeed devotes to development. While rotating through the various off-the-shelf firmwares, I installed a bunch of different apps to it. There’s one called [Sticky Lotus](https://github.com/inkOne/sticky-lotus?ref=aftermath.site) that turns the touch screen into a two/four way life counter for *Magic The Gathering*. Another firmware is a recreation of [2048](https://github.com/Lukilyy/reterminal-sticky-2048-eink-game?ref=aftermath.site) that utilizes the touch screen. I’m sure the Sticky will be a destination for many vibe coded one-off projects that are promptly abandoned, but in all honesty there are far worse things you could put on GitHub, and it doesn’t really reflect poorly on the device itself. Frankly, I’m just happy that people are excited for the possibility of a tiny, cheap computer. ## **An Open Paper Future** Since my review of the Xteink X4, I have seen a lot of traditional reviews attempting to reconcile this new category of devices – e-paper displays connected to cheap microcontrollers and running community firmware – within the framework of existing eReaders. Many bring up the lack of a storefront, while others knock them for being a tiny bit hacky and requiring a bit of knowhow to get up and running. And while this could be construed as fair feedback for a broad, traditional consumer base that would purchase a Kindle (I would love a version of these devices that worked with Libby, for example), it fundamentally misunderstands that the audience for these devices is people who are fucking sick of Kindles. Devices like the Xteink X4 family and the reTerminal Sticky are for people who have a loose folder of ePubs on a Dropbox or hard drive. It is for people who want to fill a 32gb microSD card up with erotica downloaded from AoE3\. These are not devices that attempt to be everything; they are meant to be inexpensive and dedicated. Though these devices are similar in function to traditional eReaders, they have more in common spiritually with the ever-proliferating category of retro handhelds, devices no reviewer would dream of treating the same way they do a traditional console or handheld. Saying “you’re going to have to find epubs” is a bit like saying “you may have to find ROMs” when talking about the Retroid Pocket; functionally a tiny bit silly and condescending to the reader. You would be shocked at the average person’s capacity to follow a wiki, a sticky on subreddit, or a fairly complex YouTube tutorial to completion if they are excited for a new, affordable and accessible device. What Seeed Studio have done here has doubled down on the bet on the competency of its audience. They have seen that there is a niche but growing market for these small, cheap devices that Xteink kicked off, intentionally or not, and decided to run with it while selling it at a cutthroat price point. They have made a device that they would use, an e-paper display that leans into the DIY and open nature of the hardware they sell and the community that embraced the X4\. And though I experienced a few hiccoughs at launch and I really wish that they sold a version in a matte screen (and maybe one in black), if the current price holds, it will sell like hotcakes. The reTerminal Sticky is not simply a cheap eReader; it is a dirt cheap magnetic swiss army knife eInk display with an ever-growing repertoire of flashable firmware. But most importantly, it is a device that reaffirms the truth that the ideal use case for a computer is whatever the user can imagine. ### Kane Parsons's New Backrooms Short Is All Killer, No Filler URL: https://aftermath.site/kane-parsons-backrooms-youtube-short/ Last updated: 2026-08-20T16:48:22.000Z There’s a new Kane Parsons Backrooms video out. It essentially functions as a set tour for the movie, which is great, because that’s what I really wanted to see after watching the YouTuber’s directorial debut. Of the two YouTuber movies that came out this summer, *Backrooms* was the one that made me truly excited for the future of cinema. The way I put it to my friends was that *Obsession* was the movie with the perfect script, but *Backrooms* was the more visually adventurous. There are shots from the film that I’ll just never forget: the Christmas tree room, the eerie unreality of the blue sky, the camera descending down, down, down through the floor, tracing the same room as it gets distorted in its repetition. The script has very real and obvious problems—I’m sure they didn’t *mean* to have Chiwetel Ejiofor play the rather racialized role of an alcoholic man with anger issues who stalks not one but two white women, but that’s what happens when you write a role as race neutral without thinking about what happens when you cast a black man in the part. Honestly, I would have watched a version of this film that just explored its set, showing off the incredible details of its construction. Luckily for me, this new Backrooms video essentially serves that function. The video takes place in the section of the titular Backrooms that appear in the film. There’s some iconography from the film itself—a recognizable “Everything Must Go!” sign, some mannequins, a ship’s steering wheel—but most of the video consists of employees from the mysterious Async company visiting the same portion of the backrooms that the film takes place in. While Parsons’ series has its own involved mythology, you don’t really need to know it to enjoy the video. All you need is a desire to see this set one more time, from new angles. The found footage style parts of *Backrooms* was by far my favorite parts of the film, so this little short is kind of a victory lap for me. I’m not entirely sure, but I also think I hear Mark Duplass, who played a scientist from the Async in the film, narrating part of the video. Duplass was one of the originators of the “mumblecore” cinema movement, and I thought his casting was a cute tribute from one wave of new, exciting voices in film to another, newer generation. But overall, this short is a slice of the things I loved about Parsons’s *Backrooms*—it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, leaving you wondering, “how the hell did they shoot that?” [Backrooms’ Biggest Scare Is CapitalismThe meme turned found footage series turned movie explores the nostalgia--and the horror--of 90s corporate waste![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-2897d6c5-d12c-4b2b-af3d-7c734bae7b93.png)AftermathLiz Ryerson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/https___cdn.sanity.io_images_xq1bjtf4_production_8e12e221f70acfd5be1933ad1595ff8c41b00195-7823x5215--1--58359bda-61be-4e89-a39b-e0321fe9432b.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/backrooms-movie-parsons-youtube/) ### Vibes Around GTA VI Continue To Be Rancid As Gameplay Footage Leaks And Fired Devs Ask Fans Not To Boycott URL: https://aftermath.site/gta-6-leak-2026-rockstar-union-no-boycott/ Last updated: 2026-08-21T01:04:20.000Z *Grand Theft Auto VI*, less a video game at this point and more a [long-prophesied](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/) [messianic figure](https://aftermath.site/gta-vi-grand-theft-auto-6-aaa-billions/), is just over a week away from its big, brazenly opportunistic [Netflix “extended look” preview](https://www.netflix.com/title/83035795?ref=aftermath.site). Fans, who kept things at a simmer for approximately five seconds ten years ago and have been at a boil ever since, are now erupting like a volcano. This has resulted in a day that’s been eventful, to say the least. On one side of the coin, you have fans who’ve threatened to swear off the game following Rockstar’s [firing of over 30 workers last year](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-6-rockstar-fired-workers-protest-nyc/), seemingly in association with a movement to organize their workplace. Undeterred, workers and the IWGB Game Workers Union announced [the formation of a Rockstar union earlier this year](https://aftermath.site/rockstar-games-workers-union-public-announcement/). Meanwhile, the final hearing of fired workers’ legal proceedings against Rockstar will begin in Glasgow, Scotland next month. Despite what you might expect, those workers do *not* want fans boycotting *GTA VI*. In a statement received by Aftermath, Jack Hoxby, an IWGB Game Workers Branch member fired by Rockstar last year, said: > We poured years of our lives into helping build this game. We don't want you to boycott it. We want you to help us fight for justice. > Since Rockstar fired us suddenly last year, we’ve seen an incredible outpouring of support from gamers and workers around the world. Some people have asked whether they should boycott *GTA VI* to protest on our behalf. But there’s a better way to support us and hold Rockstar to account. > [Buy one of our T-shirts](https://gameworkers.square.site/s/order?cs=true&cst=custom&item=66WZHVFB242USGVZPSOPSAAB&ref=aftermath.site#most-popular). You’ll be helping to win justice for us and to defend the right of workers everywhere to come together and unionise. That way, when *GTA VI* comes out in November, you can enjoy it knowing that you had the backs of the people who made it. This is understandable, considering that effective boycotts are long-term concerted efforts; a handful of irate people saying “I’m not going to do this” rarely moves the needle, no matter how much gamers wish it would. Moreover, despite what we’ve been propagandized to believe, consumerism is not our only means of affecting change—or, on most occasions, a useful one at all. Direct support of relevant parties is almost always preferable. It is unlikely that those workers appreciate what happened later in the same day: A hacker group seemingly [leaked gameplay footage of *GTA VI*](https://kotaku.com/gta-6-gameplay-and-a-full-map-have-seemingly-leaked-ahead-of-the-big-netflix-reveal-2000725468?ref=aftermath.site), as well as the game’s map. One clip that’s made the rounds depicts one of the game’s main characters, Jason, walking around his home and playing basketball, while another shows a car accident and some hand-to-hand combat. It all looks very *GTA*. These clips have already been copyright claimed across a variety of platforms, lending credence to the idea that they are, indeed, authentic. These sorts of hacks, in addition to being illegal, are painful for those who spent years pouring buckets of blood, sweat, and tears into games, as the public will now inevitably hold a magnifying glass up to a half-baked version of their hard work. But this is also a symptom of a sick ecosystem. As Riley said [after the 2023 Insomniac leak](https://aftermath.site/the-insomniac-hack-reveals-the-ugly-truth-of-video-game-hype/): > Upcoming games and what’s in them is news in the games beat because the games industry is fervently future-looking but obsessed with secrecy about that future. PR and marketing departments carefully control the flow of information, conditioning journalists and players alike toward hype. The future has value in this space, a fact the hackers were gambling on by hoping Sony would pay to keep control of that future. Many games journalists know the value of that future too, because they prop it up or benefit from it, even when it starts to muddy the waters between journalism and marketing. Some games journalists attend previews and accept embargoes because they know their readers want that information, or because they got the chance to see something cool and are excited to tell readers how cool it is. Other times, it doesn’t hurt that playing ball with PR can help their own bottom lines, or that they can make a whole career knowing, or insinuating they know, what games are coming before everyone else does. These systems incentivize people to drop heaps of cash on pricey preorders and uphold hype cycles as though they, too, are diligent little (unpaid) marketers. *GTA VI*’s upcoming Netflix reveal—which people will require a subscription to view, at least until it’s posted online hours later—is the apotheosis of this: basic, 101-level information about a game kept under lock and key until it can be optimally monetized. It’s no coincidence that this [isn’t even the first big *GTA VI* leak](https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Grand%5FTheft%5FAuto%5FVI/Leaks?ref=aftermath.site). The same mentality, it’s worth noting, also gave Rockstar an excuse to fire the aforementioned workers, who the company[ claimed](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-05/-grand-theft-auto-studio-says-fired-employees-were-leaking-information?ref=aftermath.site) were “discussing confidential information in a public forum” by participating in a private union Discord. It’s the logical conclusion of games as a product first and foremost and art a distant second, of humans as disposable drones rather than the true value of any artistic pursuit. Complicating matters further is the fact that the alleged hackers behind the *GTA VI* leak only sort of acknowledged those very real issues, mostly focusing their message on “anti-consumerism.” [In a manifesto](https://x.com/salbertMVP/status/2089776906958766238?ref=aftermath.site), they promised the leaks will continue until publishers—not just Rockstar—begin upholding its three “commandments” and apologizing for breaking them. The dramatically stated commandments are: “Thou shalt not sell digital preorders,” “Thou shalt not sell fake single-player DLC,” and “Thou shalt preserve single-player content.” > CYBERLEEK was born in the networks. It has seen what gaming can be at its best, and it has watched what the industry did to it. Slowly. Methodically. One monetization scheme at a time. Publishers sell licenses and call them purchases. They ship unfinished games and call them living services. They lock content on discs and call it DLC. They kill games and keep the money. Every year anti-consumerism tightens its grip, and every year gamers get less for what they pay. Oh yeah, they also want money: > To fight this war, CYBERLEEK is raising funds for a secret project. The specifics cannot be revealed yet; showing the cards to the big corporations would only give them time to build their defenses. Let it be absolutely clear: this is not a cash grab. Funding is directed toward the infrastructure needed to strike, as well as the security and protection required to withstand the inevitable corporate counterattacks. Anyway, it’s a gigantic mess, albeit the kind the video game industry has repeatedly primed itself for over the years. For a plethora of reasons, *GTA VI*’s launch cannot be normal. Expect even less smooth sailing from here on out. ## Recommended [Grand Theft Auto VI, The Last BlockbusterOne final push for a dying industry![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-faf537c2-e252-4665-ac5f-849216d8f69c.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Jason_and_Lucia_02_landscape.0cosv-uzbpt91-0850019e-3434-4cc6-ab6a-727466bf9756.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/gta-vi-grand-theft-auto-6-aaa-billions/) ### Half Is More Is A Josei Manga About Prejudice That Outshines The Racism That Tried To Define It URL: https://aftermath.site/half-is-more-yoiko-fujimi-josei-manga-haafu-racism-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T19:30:28.000Z *Half Is More* is a manga that exists to confront racist behavior, only to have its announcement treated like a [Klan rally in the comments and quote‑retweets of its English localization on Twitter](https://x.com/VIZMedia/status/1979230196851998890/quotes?ref=aftermath.site). Having read the manga myself after receiving a review copy from Viz Media, I’m moved by how its first volume completely drowns out the tired, white noise that tried to define it. What emerges instead is required reading about identity, prejudice, the long journey toward coexistence, and radical empathy. > Announcement: Being mixed-race in Japan like Kazumi means facing daily trials of racism, microaggressions, and otherness. This is a journey of resilience, hope, and the search for coexistence. Half Is More, Vol. 1, by Yoiko Fujimi, releases Summer 2026\. [pic.twitter.com/a3YeAHpJf9](https://t.co/a3YeAHpJf9?ref=aftermath.site) > > — VIZ Media (@VIZMedia) [October 17, 2025](https://x.com/VIZMedia/status/1979230196851998890?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [*Half Is More*](https://www.viz.com/manga-books/manga/half-is-more-volume-1-0/product/8972?ref=aftermath.site), created by half-Spanish, half-Japanese mangaka [Yoiko Fujimi](https://bsky.app/profile/fujimiyoico.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) (and [translated](https://gizmodo.com/why-harassment-comes-with-the-territory-of-translating-popular-manga-2000556430?ref=aftermath.site) by the homie, [David Evelyn](https://x.com/shinhoroko/status/2084366001810948232?s=20&ref=aftermath.site)), follows a woman named Kazumi Mandanda Yoneyama and her close-knit group of mixed-race friends. Kazumi and her gal-pals would be known in Japan as “[haafu](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/being-haafu-in-japan/?ref=aftermath.site),” but Fujimi prefaces the manga by acknowledging her omission of the term because of how it has harmed many people on the receiving end of it. For that reason, Fujimi intentionally swaps it out with “half” throughout the manga to “reexamine the implications the term carries,” to consider how the term is still used today, and to implore readers to reflect on their own feelings as they read the manga. > “A temporary stint abroad as a foreigner just doesn’t compare to being treated as an outsider in the country you were born and raised in.” As someone who often scuffs my feet to announce my presence when passing white people on the sidewalk, raises my voice a couple of octaves while speaking to strangers to seem less imposing, and defaults to making jokes as the class clown—like Kazumi—to make my otherness a positive signifier to those around me, reading the first volume of *Half Is More* was a visceral wake-up call. Oddly enough, flipping through *Half Is More*’s pages reminded me of that *SpongeBob SquarePants* episode “[Tea at the Treedome](https://spongebob.fandom.com/wiki/Tea%5Fat%5Fthe%5FTreedome?ref=aftermath.site),” where SpongeBob visits Sandy Cheeks’ house for the first time. Throughout the episode, SpongeBob struggles to remain polite in Sandy’s dome devoid of seawater—despite his politeness in not asking for a glass of water literally harming him because he doesn’t want to come off as rude. It’s an all-timer episode ([Kotaku be damned](https://kotaku.com/spongebob-squarepants-best-episodes-band-geeks-nickelodeon-2000692529?ref=aftermath.site)) for the hilarity that ensues as well as the life lesson it imparts, teaching kids that it’s okay to ask to be accommodated. *Half Is More* takes that same concept and prompts readers to exercise [radical empathy](https://www.transformingsociety.co.uk/2020/06/08/a-time-for-radical-empathy/?ref=aftermath.site) to understand the struggle of feeling like an outsider in their own country. ![Half Is More manga page of Kazumi reminiscing over racism she faced in grade school.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/half-is-more-1.png) © Yoiko Fujimi / Viz Media Similarly to how [Keito Gaku](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/interviews/2022/6/23/interview-boys-run-the-riot-author-keito-gaku-on-streetwear-and-trans-identity?srsltid=AfmBOopLT%5F%5FKCIqFb13RlSMYDU3aFlTqLE%5FhSD7jFlqjTZv6xjdDlcVE&ref=aftermath.site)’s 2020 manga [*Boys Run The Riot*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys%5FRun%5Fthe%5FRiot?ref=aftermath.site) paved the way toward understanding of trans existence, gender dysphoria, and affirmation through fashion, *Half Is More* serves as a meditative mirror, providing a space that highlights how a group of mixed-race friends strive to achieve self-acceptance in their identities while contending with misunderstandings, microaggressions, and (way too comfortable) bouts of racism. The hard answer for many of its main cast, whom the manga focuses on in alternating chapters, is to passively acquiesce to outside forces that make them feel like shit. Whether it be enduring backhanded compliments about “speaking well,” going by a different name for others’ comfort, or unprompted inquiries about where they’re really from—and whether their mixed-race existence has the ‘exoticism’ of being “mixed white” or the ‘denigration’ of being a mixed person of color—*Half Is More* doesn’t pull its punches in depicting the harsh truths of being mixed. ![Kazumi and her brother talking about him changing his name.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/half-is-more-2.png) © Yoiko Fujimi / Viz Media In tandem with its sharp sense of humor, *Half Is More* is rich with an honest quality of storytelling that can only be realized through the lived experiences of its mangaka and the friends she interviewed, who offer diverse viewpoints on the disparate yet similar trials and tribulations of being mixed-race. That’s not to say the whole volume is bogged down with brow-beating or reliving past trauma for Black readership in the same fashion as Oscar-bait movies released in February. [藤見よいこ🍣🥘『半分姉弟』1巻出たよ！ (@fujimiyoico.bsky.social)#よいこごはん #青空ごはん部![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-c06912f8-69e5-4942-8eb0-b67205dee6eb.png)Bluesky Social藤見よいこ🍣🥘『半分姉弟』1巻出たよ！![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreicw4ecxmrepqbtv5nmk4w7ufwnyc2ut4fvrbimx3kaxpahpfhbk74-370445d5-1668-4f7a-b38f-5e40ebc0cc9c)](https://bsky.app/profile/fujimiyoico.bsky.social/post/3mmt5oxu3hc2n?ref=aftermath.site) Fujimi is also a mangaka’s mangaka in how she injects levity, humor, and camaraderie amongst the girlies while they commiserate over meals. Meals, I’m delighted to mention, allow Fujimi’s “[foodie otaku](https://bsky.app/profile/fujimiyoico.bsky.social/post/3mmt5oxu3hc2n?ref=aftermath.site)” predilections to shine through, with plenty of asides putting readers onto the exact names of their mouthwatering foods and libations they’re partaking in to add to your food journal. That’s to say, *Half Is More* is a good read that feeds the appetite for good eats and encourages more empathetic humans in a time when it's become far too easy to be a fucking chud. [藤見よいこ🍣🥘『半分姉弟』1巻出たよ！ (@fujimiyoico.bsky.social)渋谷の宮益坂上交差点でやっとビッグイシュー買えた👍👍👍![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-4cdbb4b2-716e-4f48-a95e-fcedb0866a6b.png)Bluesky Social藤見よいこ🍣🥘『半分姉弟』1巻出たよ！![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreignkuui3cpjoy7ogundcqjo767oip5qejvbj3lm75dnlulox4a3pa-58515c32-3dc8-4c90-930b-0c01a2dd3241)](https://bsky.app/profile/fujimiyoico.bsky.social/post/3m6qf2d7sks24?ref=aftermath.site) --- While being online comes with the territory of becoming a cynic, witnessing folks fail to meet *Half Is More*’s announcement as a moment of empathy [because Twitter be like that](https://aftermath.site/twitter-elon-musk-grok-antisemitic-mechahitler/), I’m still a huge proponent of [solutions journalism](https://kotaku.com/isaiah-colbert-to-kotaku-confirmed-1847636953?ref=aftermath.site). As opposed to news cycles that only emphasize the many ways the world we live in sucks, [solutions journalism](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Solutions%5Fjournalism?ref=aftermath.site) highlights the reasons why societal issues persist and explains why responses do and don’t work. Granted, it doesn’t offer a catch-all explanation for why the world is a fuck, but it strives to hold people in power accountable and highlight those in the community working towards solutions by offering a well-rounded perspective beyond the half-reported reminders inundating your timeline. *Half Is More* is solutions journalism distilled in manga form, reminding readers that life is full of teachable moments, should you have the temerity to empathize beyond what’s within arm's reach. [Gigi Murakami 🔪 Queen of Horror Manga (@gigimurakami.bsky.social)Hey yall! RESENTER (2024) VIZ edition manga is up and available on my online store!! Grab your copy now: https://www.gigimurakami.store/products/resenter-viz-edition-2024![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-3b43c21a-107c-4b91-9ed0-a9293c78298c.png)Bluesky SocialGigi Murakami 🔪 Queen of Horror Manga![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreidlpxrn6qaozicedf2x6lvbqlioeokknqkh7nhhxncyovgi2vv3lm-0e6f10e5-f976-4620-a8cf-153d7edaec0d)](https://bsky.app/profile/gigimurakami.bsky.social/post/3mq6n2nqkyk2y?ref=aftermath.site) Despite the medium’s often narrow framework and representation flattened by stereotypes and caricatures, manga publishers like Viz Media have been making strides to include more diverse voices en masse, addressing systemic shortcomings in media. One solution to the manga’s rampant racism problem was Viz Media’s introduction of [Viz Originals One-Shots program](https://gizmodo.com/viz-medias-one-shots-program-wants-to-make-manga-for-everyone-2000530772?ref=aftermath.site), allowing aspiring mangaka outside of Japan to submit their stories with the chance of getting picked up as an official series. When I interviewed editor-at-large Hisashi Sasaki for[ io9 about the program in 2024](https://gizmodo.com/viz-medias-one-shots-program-wants-to-make-manga-for-everyone-2000530772?ref=aftermath.site), noting its influx of aspiring mangaka of color and from different cultures of Japanese descent, Sasaki revealed that a goal of the program was to tell stories rooted in the experiences of creators from different cultures that are often reduced to stereotypes. “That was a big reason I wanted to work with English-speaking mangaka, and produce original manga in English in the first place. The goal is to help expand the manga market as a whole, by publishing stories that reflect the unique cultural backgrounds of different countries—stories that Japanese creators might not be able to tell in the same way,” Sasaki told io9\. “In this way, I hope we can make manga accessible to a broader group, both creators and readers, that we may not have been able to reach before.” That being said, the anime and manga community has a longstanding racism problem that can be summarized by white people denigrating Black people any time they’re seen having fun with [cosplay](https://www.businessinsider.com/black-model-racist-comments-anime-cosplay-2020-7?ref=aftermath.site), [fan art](https://gizmodo.com/racists-are-trying-to-make-dan-da-dan-the-latest-front-in-their-culture-war-2000536054?ref=aftermath.site), or [crumbs of representation on the screen](https://aftermath.site/gachiakuta-jujutsu-kaisen-zeno-robinson-jabber/) and [inside voice acting booths](https://kotaku.com/anime-black-voice-acting-funimation-crunchyroll-hero-ac-1848603377?ref=aftermath.site). The discourse usually ends in a tired refrain telling Black people we should make our own stuff instead of [celebrating or criticizing Black representation](https://kotaku.com/piccolo-is-black-coded-book-jordan-calhoun-dragon-ball-1849158709?ref=aftermath.site) in anime and manga. Being the minority is an ever-shifting set of goalposts on the journey to cultivate your own space. [藤見よいこ🍣🥘『半分姉弟』1巻出たよ！ (@fujimiyoico.bsky.social)投票Done🗳️して外食するんだ🍣💨 移民やハーフ/ミックスについて「これから」の話ばかり巻き起こる不思議な本邦、 選挙でもそうじゃない手段でもとっくに一緒にこの社会を作りまくってるのでこれからもよろしくな✌🏾♡✌🏽♡✌🏼♡✌🏻♡ #日本社会はあらゆるルーツの人とともに #衆議院選挙2026![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-f3770e6d-6292-42c1-a4e1-0979017904f9.png)Bluesky Social藤見よいこ🍣🥘『半分姉弟』1巻出たよ！![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreibufgzdk6gvvgxb2xgvpijd6bmmam7fj5tqikp4o54dzp7xbowq5a-6dd29397-fa5a-4e86-84d7-c1ee5a5d10a5)](https://bsky.app/profile/fujimiyoico.bsky.social/post/3meb2qu3ij22a?ref=aftermath.site) Despite its announcement being used as an avenue for racist tweets, *Half Is More* drowns out the noise and sets the stage for a manga series with a life-affirming message worth reading. ## Recommended: [Me And The Devil Blues Is A Haunting Manga About A Black Blues LegendNever in a million years could you guess who drew a historical, psychological horror series about a musician who may not have sold his soul to the devil![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-9dd1ac7b-dab2-4356-8589-da54da298b01.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Me-and-the-Devil-Blues-Final-1775122d-b214-4b2e-a578-3d8c41e97ad7.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/sinners-manga-robert-johnson-delta-blues-akira-hiramoto-prison-school/) ### What If A Rage Room Made You Feel Like A Jerk URL: https://aftermath.site/virtue-sledgehammer-demo-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T19:30:18.000Z Since 2014’s *Gods Will Be Watching*, Spanish studio Deconstructeam has always stuck in my mind as developers who are going to make me feel *weird* whenever I play their games. In my time with the demo for their latest, the upcoming *Virtue and a Sledgehammer*, this definitely held true, though I’m still trying to unpack what exactly left me so uneasy. [*Virtue and a Sledgehammer*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3743260/Virtue%5Fand%5Fa%5FSledgehammer/?ref=aftermath.site)is made with studio Selkie Harbor, who worked with Deconstructeam on last year’s [*Many Nights a Whisper*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3541130/Many%5FNights%5Fa%5FWhisper/?curator%5Fclanid=45536738&ref=aftermath.site).The Steam page describes it as “a game about family, traditions, and being a misfit;” you play as Pratelle, a woman who’s returned to her changed hometown to exact revenge using what she calls “20 pounds of physical media”--a sledgehammer. What once seemed to be a small, quaint village is now populated by androids, and it quickly becomes clear in the demo that Pratelle’s family has something to do with the situation. While the androids very much look like robots, they act not just like humans, but humans who know Pratelle. Sometimes this is moving, when an android who clearly knew Pratelle since childhood tells her it doesn’t have any treats from its store for her and asks her to send its regards to her mother. At other times, this is infuriating, as when an android bartender insults Pratelle’s race and sexuality. You can only do two things in the demo: walk around, and smash the shit out of everything. You can knock down buildings or break through walls, and you can turn all these androids into flying debris. Sometimes the androids will flee, but you can easily chase them down; other times they’ll try to fight back, but they aren’t too hard to fend off so you can wind up your sledgehammer for the death blow. The movement and aiming are a little clunky, but this isn’t a bad thing. It gives the game a very particular slow pace that helped me feel both menacing and a little out of control. Deconstructeam told [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/aug/11/virtue-and-a-sledgehammer-take-a-literal-hammer-to-your-past?ref=aftermath.site) that the game isn’t meant to be a critique of how much of our lives we live through screens, but it was hard for me not to read it that way, in particular through the lens of AI. There’s a visceral conflict between the human and the digital, with server racks crammed into stone houses and androids worrying over their gardens in a gross facsimile of humanity. But the physical isn’t painted as some idyllic past to return to; there’s a lot of pain boiling under the game’s surface, and it’s obvious Pratelle wasn’t any happier before the androids than she is now that they’re here. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/virt2.jpeg) Deconstructeam/ Selkie Harbor/ Aftermath Her family is a big part of this. You occasionally smash floating phantoms that unleash cutscenes from Pratelle’s past, where she talks with her sister and her mother. These scenes can be mysterious, and they’re often very moving. In the nature of a Deconstructeam game, you’re sometimes asked to participate via tough questions, like which quality you think is most important in a mother or the one thing Pratelle wants her mother to stop hounding her about. Deconstructeam told The Guardian that “We think of *Virtue* like a walking simulator: you go through a space and solve the narrative, and the game isn’t designed around combat.” As someone with a lot of complicated feelings about family, and who lately has been thinking a lot about what it will mean for my parents to one day pass away, I struggled with a lot of the scenes, which felt both intimate and harsh. Everyone keeps telling Pratelle that she’s being ridiculous, more disappointed in her than they are afraid, and that made it hard not to respond like the petulant teen I can sometimes revert to when I spend too much time with my own parents, a tendency that weighs on me as my parents age. It can feel absurd and cruel to stomp around smashing everything, especially when there doesn’t really seem to be anything *wrong* with the androids, or when they’re nice to you or seem happy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/virt.jpeg) Deconstructeam/ Selkie Harbor/ Aftermath There was one moment when the android form of a nun asked me to spare some androids under her care; even with hints in her dialogue that something nefarious was going on, I just couldn’t bring myself to disobey her. I stormed through the village knocking down houses and destroying gaggles of androids, while the ones I’d left chatted and cavorted at the edge of my view. I felt uneasy just leaving them, and it was an actual effort not to drift over as I looked for more things to destroy. Even if you want to read the demo as a metaphor for technology against the developers’ own interpretation, it doesn’t feel *good* to unleash hell. Besides the bartender android, whom it felt awesome to wreck because he was a jerk, I felt like an asshole as I ruined things, even as Pratelle urged me on. I’m curious to see where the narrative I glimpsed in the demo goes, to find out more about how things got this way and why Pratelle is so pissed off about it all. I came away from the demo both intrigued and a little glad it was over, which seems to be the vibe Deconstructeam is often going for. *Virtue and a Sledgehammer* aims to release in 2026. ### Warren Spector Says He's 'Retiring From Game Development' URL: https://aftermath.site/warren-spector-retire/ Last updated: 2026-08-19T16:21:53.000Z Storied developer Warren Spector, best known for his work on games like *Deus Ex*, *Thief* and the *Ultima* series, said yesterday that he is "retiring from game development. At least I think so." In a statement [posted to his Linkedin page](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7495321215083905025/?ref=aftermath.site), Spector says that having worked on 17 titles across 44 years in the industry, his "age and health" are catching up with him, and that after spending so many years in video games it's time to "write some books, do a lot of reading, do some lecturing, maybe do some consulting". Lamenting that "there are three games in particular I'd still like to make", Spector adds "the game business has changed and it's just not as much fun for me anymore. Plus there's a new generation of developers coming up who deserve their time in the sun." While [a designer will always have ideas they never get the chance to see turned into games](https://aftermath.site/hideo-kojima-game-design-usb-stick-pitches-productions/), I think Spector leaves a pretty damn healthy legacy of titles we *did* get to play, love and keep playing decades later. Alongside the three I've already listed, he also worked on *System Shock*, the *Wing Commander* series (and some of its spin-offs, like *Wings Of Glory*), EA's cult classic *Crusader: No Remorse* and *Epic Mickey*. (If you'd like to read a lengthy account of these and all the other projects he's played a part in over the years, [there's no better place than Spector's own personal blog](https://warrenspector.wordpress.com/2023/10/09/40-years-and-im-still-here/?ref=aftermath.site)). You can read his full statement below: > Let me cut right to the chase. I'm retiring from game development. At least I think so. I've been here before and changed my mind but this time I'm pretty sure I mean it. > > I've had a great career. Wouldn't change a thing even if I could. But the reasons to retire are simple: I'm a month away from my 44th year as a developer. I've had the chance to work on tabletop roleplaying games and boardgames. I've worked on more digital games than I can remember – 17 full games, I think, and 9 or so add-on packs. Gratifyingly, some of those games are still being played 15... 20... 30 years later. And most of them have been in a genre that has had influence beyond what I or anyone else expected. I've run teams as small as a dozen and as big as 800\. I've worked for big companies and done startups. I like to think I've helped some insanely talented people along in their careers. (That last is the most important.) > > With all that behind me and with age and health (my business) catching up with me I'm feeling like I've done what I set out to do. It's time to write some books, do a lot of reading, do some lecturing, maybe do some consulting. (Feel free to get in touch about those last two.) Also there's a keyboard here just waiting for me to get my piano chops back. > > I definitely have mixed feelings about this. I mean there are three games in particular I'd still like to make. (One is very big... one is very small... and one I don't know how to make which scares me.) But the game business has changed and it's just not as much fun for me anymore. Plus there's a new generation of developers coming up who deserve their time in the sun. > > To all of you reading this I want you to remember that games are not a solved problem yet – there is, I hope, plenty of experimentation and innovation to come. And to all you young developers out there, I've said it before and I'll say it again, your job is to make people forget people like me ever existed. > > Will I come back? Never say never. But I think it's time to ride off into the sunset. > > Now stop reading and make great games. ### We Deserve More Cartoons Like My Adventures With Superman URL: https://aftermath.site/my-adventures-with-super-man-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T23:45:51.000Z Asking creatives to make new *Superman* media is akin to asking a professional chef to cook you up some scrambled eggs, knowing damn well it’ll drive them mad. Sure, everyone knows how to do it, but time and time again, folks have gotten lost in the sauce under the incessant pressure to elevate or deconstruct the stalwart hero, as if his core ingredients are too bland to wow on their own. For three seasons, [*My Adventures With Superman*](https://gizmodo.com/my-adventures-with-superman-review-adult-swim-dc-comics-1850607441?ref=aftermath.site) has proven there’s no need to rack one’s brain finessing what constitutes a *Superman* story, so long as you tell an uncynical one. Whether you’re a Marvel or DC Comics fan, it's inarguable that the latter forever has a historic leg up on the former in the animation department. Evidently, DC Studios is also wising up to that fact, redoubling its efforts in [wilder swings](https://gizmodo.com/3-things-we-liked-and-3-things-we-didnt-about-creature-commandos-2000546260?ref=aftermath.site) in concert with live-action projects since [James Gunn and Peter Safran took the wheel](https://gizmodo.com/james-gunn-dc-slate-info-flash-aquaman-justice-league-1850051467?ref=aftermath.site). Before the world saw what Gunn’s post-Synderverse reboot had to offer with the 2025 movie *Superman*, *My Adventures With Superman* was already hope-maxxing the DC Universe through the [power of animation on Adult Swim in 2023](https://gizmodo.com/my-adventures-with-superman-review-adult-swim-dc-comics-1850607441?ref=aftermath.site). And it did so by sporting its anime-inspired art style as prominently as the “S” on its hero’s chest. As a former *Superman* hater who long believed the well had been tapped dry of interesting, animated stories about him the further we got from *Superman: The Animated Series*, *My Adventures with Superman* has consistently proven he’s still a wealth of emotionally stirring tales worth making appointment viewing on Adult Swim and HBO Max. Created by [Jake Wyatt](https://x.com/jakewyattriot?ref=aftermath.site) and [Brendan Clogher](https://www.instagram.com/gendobrendo/?ref=aftermath.site) and animated by Studio Mir ([*The Legend of Korra*](https://gizmodo.com/the-legend-of-korra-didnt-ruin-the-legacy-of-avatar-it-enhanced-it-2000750508?ref=aftermath.site)) and Studio Grida ([*Batman Caped Crusader*](https://gizmodo.com/batman-caped-crusader-season-2-review-prime-video-animated-series-2000792299?ref=aftermath.site)), *My Adventures of Superman* was the first time in ages DC Studios has told a Superman story without cynicism—where the logline isn’t “[but he’s evil](https://gizmodo.com/dc-comics-injustice-is-the-best-evil-superman-story-of-1781977598?ref=aftermath.site),” or where he isn’t sequestered as the sole beacon of kindness in a jagged, gritty world. Here, he’s just a himbo trying his best to restore the radical feeling that kindness is strength. This isn’t the first time Superman dipped his cape into the world of anime. He’s made a cameo as half of [*Project A-Ko*’s superhero parentage](https://gizmodo.com/project-a-ko-retro-anime-review-2000773779?ref=aftermath.site), thrown hands in Kamikaze Douga’s [*Batman Ninja vs. the Yakuza League*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QleeDtH%5FWWE&pp=ygUdYmF0bWFuIG5pbmphIHZzIHlha3V6YSBsZWFndWXSBwkJ%5FgsBhyohjO8%3D&ref=aftermath.site), and indulged in culinary hijinks in Satoshi Miyagawa’s [*Superman vs. Meshi*](https://www.dc.com/graphic-novels/superman-vs-meshi-vol-1?ref=aftermath.site). But those were one-off curiosities, playful what-ifs rather than fully realized interpretations of the Man of Steel. What [*Teen Titans*](https://www.polygon.com/23795036/anime-teen-titans-anniversary-season-watch/?ref=aftermath.site) and [*Avatar: The Last Airbender*](https://www.polygon.com/24080558/avatar-last-airbender-anime-influence-atla/?ref=aftermath.site) once did for Western animation, taking anime seriously as a mode of storytelling, so too does *My Adventures With Superman*. It does it not by shaking his hallmarks through an anime-shaped sifter, but by elevating them through anime’s own unique mold. That much is made abundantly clear from the show’s pilot, which sees Clark Kent undergo a *Sailor Moon*\-esque magical girl transformation into Superman before biding its time and then showcasing the show’s logical conclusion: Going full *Dragon Ball Z* in its third season’s Saiyan-coded power-ups and spectacle. While I’ve struggled to keep up in earnest with seasonal offerings of anime over the years, *My Adventures With Superman* has become a steady fixture of my media diet. Like every other day-one viewer, my initial intrigue was in spotting which anime it would homage next. Those shows include, but are not limited to, *Neon Genesis Evangelion*, *Ouran High School Host Club*, *Trigun*, and *Gurren Lagann*. But it's what happens between its YouTube red-arrow-thumbnail-esque anime homages that truly makes the animated show soar. > My Adventures with Superman is a closer product to Dragon Ball than ANY Dragon Ball product is to a Superman one, which is quite ironic considering how much Superman fans claim DB is inspired by it > > Pretty hilarious stuff considering all the discourse sprouted by the show [pic.twitter.com/jYidt4jkxo](https://t.co/jYidt4jkxo?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Epik (@EpikEpikson) [July 6, 2026](https://x.com/EpikEpikson/status/2073959133032730829?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Across three seasons, I’ve witnessed Jack Quaid, who voices Superman, deepen the hero’s intrigue not by departing from his mythos, but by restoring a sense of vulnerability and optimism that are as much a part of his DNA as the hue of his spandex. Sure, the show delivers the expected shonen-coded power fantasy—impact frames, [sakuga](https://aftermath.site/dandadan-anime-sakuga-science-saru/), the whole nine yards—but, as its title suggests, it’s also a slice-of-life vibe. Like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, viewers fold in as a third wheel in Clark’s day-to-day life, watching him balance saving the world and simply being your cool friend. It’s here that the show truly sings, elevating both facets of the DC hero. For the romance girlies, its first season is as shojo-tinged as they come, with what’s become my favorite depiction of Clark and Lois’s love story across all Superman media. That’s not to mention its truly inspired decision to reimagine Supergirl as a once-planet-conquering Saiyan to a [cinnamon roll who can actually kill you with a thirst for life and romance](https://gizmodo.com/my-adventures-with-superman-brendan-clogher-jake-wyatt-interview-supergirl-jimmy-olsen-relationship-2000773634?ref=aftermath.site). It also doesn’t hurt that the show is as [agent-of-woke-2 ](https://aftermath.site/woke-2-wokeness-black-lives-matter-activism/)as they come, with Lane’s Korean heritage not shoved into character‑concept‑art‑book trivia, Jimmy Olsen being Black, and a consistent throughline of queer representation that never pats itself on the back. *My Adventures With Superman* earned the high‑water mark of being Isaiah‑bait media not just for its anime presentation ([and the animators’ not‑so‑subtle slutting out of Clark by oiling up his chest at every opportunity](https://x.com/jakewyattriot/status/2088837556997902794?s=20&ref=aftermath.site)), but for its merit as a series that refuses to bend the knee to the “story‑for‑everyone” mandate in an era when animated shows are treated as content over craft. > So why not push the idea she would wear a Hanbok to a Gala/date night? I have to thank [@38\_\_\_sr](https://x.com/38%5F%5F%5Fsr?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) and [@DouHongArt](https://x.com/DouHongArt?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) for helping spin my hay into gold with Lois's Gala design and [@jakewyattriot](https://x.com/jakewyattriot?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site), Brendan, and [@CozyJamble](https://x.com/CozyJamble?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) for letting me go for it!!! [pic.twitter.com/KyHdv5f6GU](https://t.co/KyHdv5f6GU?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Intindra (@intindra) [July 22, 2023](https://x.com/intindra/status/1682822763868766208?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Granted, all this praise came after moments when I worried the show would fall into the same awkwardness that *The Legend of Korra* suffered, with every season finale written as if it were the last. Its first and third seasons had me nervous about how it dove into multiverse and time‑travel antics, usually fare reserved for series that want to go out with a bang. In the hands of any other showrunner, those swings tend to be hard to “yes, and” their way out of, giving me the distinct feeling that *My Adventures With Superman* was written with the same sense that it was a miracle it even exists—leaving everything on the table out of fear it wouldn’t fly back for another season. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/-my-adventures-with-superman-still-9.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SUPR323_ADULT_SWIM_STILLS_04.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SUPR323_ADULT_SWIM_STILLS_12.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SUPR322_ADULT_SWIM_STILLS_14.png) © Adult Swim / DC Studios To my surprise, instead of bouncing off those arcs, the show finessed its big tentpole swings to elevate the relationships of its core cast. Like the *Spider‑Verse* films, it addresses the elephant in the room in a metatextual way: these characters’ storylines are better known for how they can go disastrously wrong than how they go right. Repeatedly, Superman and friends are confronted with those same elevations and deconstructions of their characters that their canon has seen time and time again, less as a romp or out of desperation from the lack of narrative yarn *My Adventures With Superman* has to tell, but as a foil to their anxieties about not messing up and living up to their heroic ideals. After two seasons in which Lois and Clark lived in fear that every innocuous decision would lead them toward doom, encountering alternate-universe versions of themselves nearly every episode who either died tragically or set the bar way too high to live up to, season 3 has them confront the poison dripping through with the prospect of becoming parents. Throughout the season, they encounter time-traveling kiddos who’re equally petrified of failing to live up to their parents’ example as Lois and Clark are at discovering how they failed them as parents. I hate time travel storylines as much as I hate amnesia storylines, but this Kryptonian family drama had me sat. While I initially got the ick, afraid that its multiversal story might overshadow what endeared me to its grounded storytelling, I found these fixings not as jingly keys to one big spectacle after another but as obstacles that reaffirm the characters' values in the face of how scrambled their well-trodden storylines are in their own canon. As in seasons prior, *My Adventures With* *Superman* season 3 came out the other end as a gem of an animated show—one that never lets the spectacle of its anime visage obscure what makes Superman an infectiously inspirational and versatile hero. ## Recommended: [The World Needs Superman - AftermathEvery time I look at the news I’m greeted by an unending clown car of bad behavior and cynicism. But, look… up in the sky.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-0bef7c75-734a-4673-926c-0c228721d36c.png)AftermathGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/superman-top-3-dc91de50-8811-4ef6-a5fc-7f642f474671.png)](https://aftermath.site/superman-movie-james-gunn-dc-comics/) ### 'Who’s Deciding The Fate Of This Game?' The Secretive Process Of Getting A Game With Sexual Content On Steam URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-censorship-future-no-thanks-perfect-tides/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T20:55:05.000Z *Future? No Thanks!* [says](https://bsky.app/profile/molleindustria.org/post/3mnidzrd2ks2s?ref=aftermath.site) that it’s an “ecosocialist open-world utopia for our dark times.” Or it would be, if it had released on July 22nd as planned. Instead, it's currently being held up by Steam, who have spent weeks “assess\[ing\] the scale and scope of the nudity contained within it,” [per a social media post](https://bsky.app/profile/molleindustria.org/post/3mrahp6hqrc24?ref=aftermath.site) by developer Molleindustria. *Perfect Tides* developer Meredith Gran released the first game in the series four years ago. “\[The review process\] went so smoothly that it practically seemed automated,” she tells me, aligning with her expectations that it would take about a week for Steam to “play through it a little bit and look for major crashes.” And so when she came to release the follow up, *Perfect Tides:* *Station to Station*, earlier this year, she expected a similar experience. In fact, she thought it might be easier: While both games contain sexual content (“nothing you wouldn’t see in, say, a PG13 movie,” Gran explains), she considers *Station to Station* “more cut and dry,” than the original, since the character has aged up from a high schooler to a college student. She sent her build to Steam and waited. It took much longer than it had with the first game. Eventually, Steam responded with a question about the disclosure she had added to her [store page](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2088810/Perfect%5FTides%5FStation%5Fto%5FStation/?ref=aftermath.site). Under “mature content,” she had written “Non-explicit depictions and written descriptions of sexual acts. Depictions of verbal abuse. Use of recreational drugs.” Steam asked her to send them a build that would specifically highlight the moments described by the first sentence of her disclosure. “I basically had to make a build of all the sex scenes in my game and send them back,” says Gran. Both these games were subject to delays when their builds were being reviewed, but Steam also requires checks when first creating a store page. When developer Heather Flowers was uploading the marketing materials for the upcoming hand-stabbing horror roguelite [*500 Finger Fillet*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4602120/500%5FFINGER%5FFILLET/?ref=aftermath.site), she initially included, in her words to me, “a very cool-looking image” of a hand with the ring finger having just been cut off, with a splatter of red blood. “Steam said no, you’re not allowed to do that,” she says. She ultimately replaced the image with one of an intact hand, the knife on the table between the fingers, the blood now pink. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Main-capsule.png) The original image for 500 Finger Fillet (courtesy of Heather Flowers) All three of these examples are part of a seemingly increasing trend of scrutiny on Steam, which goes in tandem with crackdowns elsewhere, like the [Online Safety Act in the UK](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/no-uks-online-safety-act-doesnt-make-children-safer-online?ref=aftermath.site) requiring sites to verify that users are over 18 to access certain features and media, and the threats made by payment processors about adult content on [sites like itch.io](https://aftermath.site/itch-io-nsfw-adult-content-remove-payment-processors-collective-shout/). Or another example: Flowers reports having to offer a blood-free version of the demo for *500 Finger Fillet* so that YouTubers don’t get dinged by content systems on that platform when uploading gameplay. The affected developers describe frustration and fear, as well as a potential chilling effect on what gets made in the future. “\[[*Future? No Thanks!*](https://futurenothanks.com/?ref=aftermath.site)\] has some brief nudity and mature content… but there’s no intercourse on screen,” Paolo Pedercini, the creator behind the Molleindustria pseudonym, tells me. “The game industry has very clear, structured content ratings, and *Future? No Thanks!* is demonstrably ESRB 17+ or PEGI 16+.” But, he says, Steam is currently flagging the game as adult-only, “like those hentai and porn games whose main purpose is titillation.” Valve did not reply to a request for comment about the content review process. If the game remains flagged this way, it will “have very serious implications on its accessibility and visibility,” says Pedercini. (One side effect would be that, as someone living in the UK under the aforementioned Online Safety Act, I would have to prove I’m over 18 in order to be able to access the game’s store page. Pedercini also says it would be completely unavailable to buyers in Germany and China.) Pedercini is considering tweaking the game to avoid this issue, but it’s not clear exactly what he would need to fix. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-17-at-10.02.57---AM.png) An image from the flagged content in "Future? No Thanks!" (courtesy of Molleindustria) From these developers’ reports, as well as [the account from](https://www.horses.wtf/BannedFromSteam/index.html?ref=aftermath.site) Santa Ragione, the developer behind *Horses*, once a build and a disclosure form are submitted to Steam, the process goes on behind closed doors. Steam might request a build or instructions that allows them to see disclosed content more easily, as in Gran’s case, but in Pedercini’s they were less forthcoming. He was told that his achievements may have inappropriate names, but when he asked whether changing one from “have sex one last time” to “find romance one last time” would help, Steam didn’t reply. “The review process is extremely slow and vague,” he says. “It’s frustrating. You work six years on a game, you line up press and events for the launch, and then some guy at Valve clicks on a checkbox and blocks everything.” For Gran, after she submitted her build full of the sex scenes, Steam took “probably about two weeks” to get back to her, during which she was “sweating.” “I’m just left to speculate. What do they think of this? Who is this person who’s deciding the fate of this game I’ve been working on for four and a half years?” This was also happening just a few weeks after the game [*Horses* was delisted](https://aftermath.site/horses-indie-game-banned-steam-epic-review-impressions-santa-ragione/) from Steam and other storefronts over its sexual content, making Gran wonder whether she would get to sell the game at all, and whether it would become known for having bannable content rather than “really just a truthful retelling of a teenage experience.” But then, with no further communication, Gran was simply told that *Perfect Tides: Station to Station* had been approved, and it went on sale without issue on the day of its planned release. “Anecdotally I have been made to understand that if you have any sort of sexual content in your game, this is what’s going to happen at this point,” she says. “You’re going to go through a review process in which you are pretty much shut out from what’s going on and what’s being considered until they make up their minds.” Gran says that the idea of changing the kinds of stories she wants to tell based on this potential additional scrutiny “repulses” her. “Stories of adulthood, of young adulthood and beyond, always involve explicit content, content that is potentially inappropriate for children… I try not to moralize and just present things frankly, and that’s really the only thing I’m interested in doing.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-17-at-10.16.18---AM.png) Perfect Tides: Station to Station (via [Adventure Vault](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYswwLHGpJk&ref=aftermath.site)) But it’s hard to overstate just how crucial Steam listings are for developers. “Steam is a monopoly with very few precedents,” says Pedercini. “As a developer, I’m completely at their whim.” The storefront is currently [embroiled in at ](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/gabe-newell-on-steam-monopoly-accusations-gamers-have-enormous-choice-about-where-to-buy-games/?ref=aftermath.site)[least](https://www.ign.com/articles/steam-owner-valve-faces-900-million-lawsuit-over-pc-monopoly-claims-following-uk-tribunal-ruling?ref=aftermath.site) [three](https://nltimes.nl/2026/06/11/dutch-gamers-file-eu220-million-claim-valve-operator-game-platform-steam?ref=aftermath.site) lawsuits over allegations that it’s a monopoly. For Flowers, that’s a fact she sees no choice but to work around. “I think \[Steam are\] harsher on sexuality than they are on violence, generally speaking. I think the combination of those two is where it gets really, really difficult.” And so while *500 Finger Fillet* might have subtextual sexuality, “if there were a boob in the game… I do genuinely feel like we would have a much bigger problem than we currently do.” And that’s not something she’s comfortable chancing, especially as games are now both her fulltime job and she is the owner and creative lead of studio DEADBODY Games, putting her in a position of responsibility for others’ livelihoods. “I feel like as artists it's sort of our duty to push against \[censorship\] as much as possible,” says Flowers. “But at the same time, as people living under capitalism, we often need to pull back and get as close to the line as possible without actually showing it.” Gran sees it slightly differently: “Success is extremely rare and at the end of the day the only thing that we can be sure to walk away with is the truth that we tried to tell ourselves. So I actually think because these are such bad, restrictive-feeling times, there is no downside to just telling the stories that we want to tell right now.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-17-at-10.02.22---AM.png) An image from the flagged content in "Future? No Thanks!" (courtesy of Molleindustria) During the process of writing this article, Steam replied to Pedercini. “After removing all the nudity (putting clothes on the sex worker and sexbot) Steam rejected *Future? No Thanks!* again for the reason: ‘Contains sexual content that is explicit or graphic and is intended for adults only,’” Pedercini tells me. “They say they can't specify the reasons or point at the content.” “I'm going to cut the entire sex quest from the game for Steam distribution and release the directors' cut elsewhere,” he says. “But I wouldn't be surprised if they already made a final decision and tagged it ‘adult only’ even without any mentions of sex.” ### Recommended [Horses Is TameHorses, the indie game that is too scandalous for either Valve or Epic, is only beyond the pale if you’re not familiar with any other art form.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-895cd391-0751-40c5-a8bf-2f88dc705b4c.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/horse-lady-dbd3bb8a-713e-4aff-8099-31bda7e535e5.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/horses-indie-game-banned-steam-epic-review-impressions-santa-ragione/) ### Pro Jank Footy Is A Game Of Two Halves URL: https://aftermath.site/pro-jank-footy-review-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T15:09:56.000Z Before we go anywhere with these impressions, let me get something important out of the way: Despite being the lone Australian on staff, I *hate* Australian Rules Football. It's a dumb sport! I hate the way everyone runs around never being able to hang onto the ball properly, I hate how it rewards misses, I hate how despite being a sport with tackling nobody ever tackles and, most of all,[ I hate the crap songs teams sing at the end of a game](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvLZIz3-yks&ref=aftermath.site). (Australians will know this isn't an *outrageous* take; despite being the country's most popular sport *overall*,[ I live in one of the three states/territories where it's not #1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barassi%5FLine?ref=aftermath.site)). [Pro Jank Footy Gets What Makes Sports Fun: Running Around Like A DumbassOh hey, another video game about a sport I don’t get![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-cd8209d1-f28d-47db-9b30-044dd8f79f00.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/prj-d71e0784-3323-46b9-91af-ab2c5149f798.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/pro-jank-footy-demo/) So despite my nationality [and love of sports](https://aftermath.site/ea-fc-madden-nba-2k-recycled-dogshit/) I am against the odds not your guy for a nuanced, expert take on how this recreates Australian Rules, or pays homage to its culture. I'm just looking at this as a sports video game guy, and from the same distance I would, say, an ice hockey game, a sport so foreign to me that Americans and Canadians are probably wondering why I had to call it *ice* hockey (here, "hockey" is what we call field hockey). [Unlike Riley](https://aftermath.site/pro-jank-footy-demo/), then, I was not exactly *excited* to try out *Pro Jank Footy*! At least, not from a sports game angle. The Australian Football League (AFL) has never really had a breakout video game success like rival sporting codes have in this country,[ despite several attempts](https://www.aflplayers.com.au/news-feed/stories/the-history-of-afl-video-games?ref=aftermath.site), partly because it's a very hard game to turn into a digital experience (as we'll get to in a minute!), and partly because by virtue of it being a sport only played in Australia it's never had the money or sales potential of games based on Rugby League, Rugby Union or Cricket. Which coupled with not being into the sport itself means I have never had a good time playing an AFL game. *Pro Jank Footy* does not change this. As a sports game--even a casual one--it's difficult to play, not because it's *hard*, but because a combination of the rules of the sport and the way it's been designed are a constant frustration. Take "marking", for example, a rule in the AFL that works like a fair catch does in the NFL, where if a kick is caught nobody is allowed to tackle the player catching the ball, only here it happens *all the time* in open play. It's really boring when a team is able to string them together successively, in ways that will probably make sense to an AFL fan, but which were deeply annoying to me, a person trying to enjoy a fast-paced video game. It's bigger problem, though, is player-switching. In most sports games the speed and accuracy of player-switching, mostly on defence, is *everything*. If the button designed to snap your control to the nearest, most appropriate defender doesn't work as intended then you simply can't defend, and I've lost count of the number of goals I've conceded in *Pro Jank Footy* because it's switching my control to a player with no hope of intervening in the play. I don't know if this is something inherent in the flow of Australian Rules Football or just something that needed more work on the development side, but I haven't sworn this much at a sports game in *years*. Were this an actual sports video game, then, I'd be pretty down on it! Especially since it's unlicensed, the roster of teams is limited, there's not much meat to it beyond 1v1 games and a basic arcade mode and it's carrying the issues I've listed above. Lucky for all of us, then, nothing I've said so far means a damn thing. That's all between me, God and a sport I don't like. *Pro Jank Footy* is not– and you have may have already picked up on this--a real sports video game. I mean it is, and those things are still annoying, but look at this game. *Pro Jank Footy* has almost no interest in recreating this sport accurately, it has the word *Jank* in the name for God's sake. This is a 90s arcade sports game come to life, a proud descendant of not just *NBA Jam*, but everything from *Super Baseball 2020* to *Super Sidekicks* to *NFL Blitz*. *Pro Jank* doesn't want to respect the intricacies of Australia Rules Football, it wants to make you yell at a screen with a friend, maybe after a beer or three, while laughing your arse off the whole time. [Aunty Donna's Broden Kelly](https://youtu.be/X1U9XgCwfMc?si=3qzLqsT1lsD6QBVF&ref=aftermath.site) is on the mic and delivers one of not just the funniest but also legitimately most enthusiastic sports game commentary performances I have ever heard. Even if you don't get the (sometimes very) Australian jokes being delivered multiple times per minute, every game, look at the work being put in here and compare it to the dull, lifeless lines being read out for *NBA2K* and *EAFC*: If you are going to pay homage to a golden generation of S-tier arcade sports games, a genre not exactly known for its subtlety, then a very good way of doing so is to show the same sense of abandon and just go *all out*. There's a CRT filter enabled by default that I've left on the entire time, the in-game visuals are wonderfully crunchy and *Pro Jank's* more arcade elements--like power-up cards that do everything from turning players into giants to sending flocks of seagulls onto the field to dropping a bouncing DVD logo onto the screen--do exactly what they're supposed to do: annoy you constantly while also being extremely funny Its final success, and this is a difficult balance to strike, is being an Australian video game without being *too* Australian.[ I wrote about this a while back with *The Drifter*](https://aftermath.site/the-drifter-point-click-adventure-game-lucasarts-king-carpenter-australia/) and the same applies here: This is a game that's proudly and confidently for Australians, yet doesn't resort to any tired cliches or pandering to international sensibilities. It just makes Bunnings sausage sandwich jokes and if you get them you get them, and if you don't you're just left wondering why there's a team called the 'Snags', and what a snag even is. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260813100844_1.jpg) Leave the CRT filter on, this is a rare game where it absolutely enhances the intended experience Seeing as 96% of visitors to this site do *not* live in Australia (those are accurate metrics, I just checked), my advice for engaging with this video game is thus as follows: Forget the sports part. This isn't an AFL game, do not play this to learn the minutiae of this country's most popular (and also worst) sport. This is multiplayer chaos that just happens to have a veneer of football scraped over the top as an excuse to be extremely funny, and even as an Aussie Rules hater, I love it for that. ### Reliving Kotaku’s Theme Week About 2002, From 2036 URL: https://aftermath.site/kotaku-warp-week-2002-best-games-future-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-18T06:23:20.000Z Kotaku, which some have called a website, just wrapped up a theme week, [Warp Week](https://kotaku.com/tag/warp-week-2002?ref=aftermath.site), in which its writers excavated gaming’s past (read: the year 2002) “with stories about big games, events, and moments as if we were reliving them.” Even though Aftermath invented theme weeks, we don’t plan to sue them about this. Instead, we’re going to one-up Kotaku by leaping forward into the future to evaluate its blogs about the past. Hi everybody, it’s me, Nathan from the future. I recall Warp Week, albeit vaguely, so it’ll be fun to take a walk down memory lane. Where to begin: ### [Critics Adore Super Mario Sunshine: ‘My Apartment Is In Shambles. Mario Has Arrived’](https://kotaku.com/critics-adore-super-mario-sunshine-my-apartment-is-in-shambles-mario-has-arrived-2000720853?ref=aftermath.site) This is a fun concept, pulling from old reviews not just to reflect on what critics of the time thought of a series dark horse, but also *how* they talked about games in an era that was pre-social media but beginning to move beyond magazines. Speaking of sunshine, I remember when we could go outside without being incinerated by the ravages of climate change. Those were the days. ### [GameStop Raises $325 Million In IPO As Barnes & Noble Bets Big On Video Games](https://kotaku.com/gamestop-goes-public-for-325-million-as-barnes-and-noble-bets-big-on-video-games-2000723109?ref=aftermath.site) This one’s amusing, considering what happened to GameStop in the long run (rendered obsolete by digital games, eventually turned into Wall Street bros’ plaything, obliterated by Godzilla in 2032). And that Kotick quote is maybe the most of-its-time thing I’ve ever read. By the way, neither here nor there, but I actually live inside the abandoned remains of a GameStop these days. I hide behind a gigantic Funko Pop display any time The Sentries patrol by. Even *they* hate those soulless little things. Isn’t that funny? ### [I Can’t Believe They’re Already Making A Sequel To Golden Sun, The Best Game Boy Advance RPG](https://kotaku.com/golden-sun-the-lost-age-sequel-warp-week-2000723015?ref=aftermath.site) Still waiting for this game’s interminable dialogue to end in 2036\. Got ‘em. ### [It’s Time To Give Mario A Gun](https://kotaku.com/its-time-to-give-mario-a-gun-2000724461?ref=aftermath.site) They actually did end up giving Mario a gun in 2034\. Turned the NYC Nintendo Store Mario-on-a-flagpole statue into a turret emplacement. Full 360 degrees of motion and everything. Resistance leader Zohran Mamdani (you all might know him as “mayor”) made great use of it during the pivotal battle of World New York War III. That was the last we ever saw of him… ### [The 12 Best Video Games Of 2002](https://kotaku.com/best-video-games-2002-gta-kingdom-hearts-pokemon-2000724528?ref=aftermath.site) Where’s *Ratchet And Clank*? The Gamecube version of *Resident Evil*? *Jet Set Radio Future*, which we call *Jet Set Radio Distant Past* here in the actual future? Awful list. ### [Judge Throws Out ‘Mortal Kombat Stabbing’ Lawsuit On Free Speech Grounds](https://kotaku.com/judge-throws-out-mortal-kombat-stabbing-lawsuit-on-free-speech-grounds-2000724107?ref=aftermath.site) Remember when people used to seriously argue about whether or not video games caused violence? Such quaint times. No, the real cause of violence is capitalism. That and the brain parasites that infected rats’ minds in 2029—and then our minds in 2030, allowing the rats to pilot us just like in, yes, *Ratatouille*. I know it sounds funny when I write it out, but it’s actually very tragic. ### [I Think Kingdom Hearts Is Going To Change The World](https://kotaku.com/i-think-kingdom-hearts-is-going-to-change-the-world-2000724470?ref=aftermath.site) This makes me want to blast “Simple And Clean” by Hikaru Utada, an all-time banger of a theme song matched (but neither exceeded nor defeated) by “Sanctuary” from *Kingdom Hearts 2*. But of course music is illegal now and has been for several years. Maybe if I play it really, really quietly… \[Is immediately lasered into a pile of ash by Sentries.\] ### This Is Hopefully The Last Time I'm Writing About 1666: Amsterdam URL: https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-ai-game/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T21:02:52.000Z The first time I wrote about the upcoming *1666: Amsterdam*[ was when the game's reveal was found to be riddled with some absolutely *dogshit* AI-generated imagery](https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-made-by-a-team-including-over-a-dozen-talented-and-experienced-artists-used-ai-images-all-through-its-reveal/). The second, and hopefully final, time is to say that the studio's co-founder Patrice Désilets has not learned a damn thing from it. [1666: Amsterdam, Made By A Team Including ‘Over A Dozen Talented And Experienced Artists’, Used AI Images All Through Its Reveal‘We are actively reviewing the assets in question’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-5b8ec665-48c6-413b-90d9-45309b06f623.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/1666-amsterdam-6pwhj-aab34b83-38f3-4622-afd9-4d36e3b959e5.png)](https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-made-by-a-team-including-over-a-dozen-talented-and-experienced-artists-used-ai-images-all-through-its-reveal/) In an extraordinary interview[ published on Eurogamer earlier this week](https://www.eurogamer.net/1666-amsterdam-ai-tools-controversy?ref=aftermath.site), Désilets--most famous for his work on the early *Assassin's Creed* games--tries to explain away the reveal's AI content by saying "We live in a world full of AI - let's be honest between ourselves - but there were some \[assets\] we didn't retouch enough in the pipeline, and since then we made sure that there will not be any use of AI anywhere in the game." That's a quote from a man who sounds absolutely *cooked* on the tech, up to his eyeballs in it, trying to explain away a grievous and insulting public relations disaster by saying "well everyone is doing it, sorry we got caught". My guy we--and I'm talking about video games here in particular--[do not live in a world full of AI](https://aftermath.site/ai-resistance-tips-workforce-llm-workers/). The only people who would assume that we *are* are those either trying to sell the technology or who have become hooked on its conveniences and shortcuts. Désilets then digs a deeper hole, saying "I can ask the AI to give me 75 different variations of one thing, but I cannot have 75 different illustrators come up with a variation in three seconds. This is the world in which we're living, and while we were this small team and building \[the game\], we put it in. We didn't even realise it was AI any more because we were used to seeing it." To say this proudly and publicly,[ when he has 'over a dozen' professional artists working on the game'](https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-made-by-a-team-including-over-a-dozen-talented-and-experienced-artists-used-ai-images-all-through-its-reveal/), and given the public's[ general disdain for AI in all aspects of game development](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/gamers-are-extremely-mad-about-ai.html?ref=aftermath.site) (but *especially* when it comes to art) is insane. The part of the interview that *really* got to me, though, was this section, where Eurogamer's Robert Purchese helpfully provides some context for what was going on in the room (the interview took place during a press event in Amsterdam) beyond Désilets' direct quotes. > He continued: "We can have a big discussion about AI as human beings, but right now it's tough to have the discussion." At this, another member of the press and a creator said they didn't need this discussion because it was just another tool to be used. To which Désilets added: "And it's everywhere: trying to find something on Google without AI..." But with a laugh he said he didn't want to have this discussion in front of a room of journalists. While I understand developers would prefer not have interviews about their upcoming game divert from whatever it is *they* want to talk about, the fact here is that for many peoplethe use of AI is all they know and care about *1666*, so questions about it should be fair game. Trying to laugh that concern off with some AI-boosting ‘creator’ in the room is just the latest example of[ where the relationship between developers and what's left of video games media is at in the year 2026](https://aftermath.site/video-game-journalism-2026/). Anyway, like I’ve said, hopefully this is the last time I have to write about *1666*. I can leave that coverage to others, like this carefully stage-managed preview event still [managing to end on a succession of critical findings](https://youtu.be/i6uIMLgVxRE?t=317&ref=aftermath.site). ### Let These Avengers Radicalize You URL: https://aftermath.site/avengers-ultimates/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T17:24:38.000Z *Welcome back to* [*The Work*](https://aftermath.site/tag/the-work/), *a column about resistance in fiction. This month:* The Ultimates (2024), *by Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, et al*. Is the superhero over, or are reports of their demise overstated? This summer has mounted arguments for both, as apathy over [a sauceless *Avengers: Doomsday* trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irVNGjRFZGk&ref=aftermath.site) and *Supergirl*'s [box-office bomb](https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/supergirl-box-office-bomb-dc-studios-1236797855/?ref=aftermath.site) suggest that cape comics' Hollywood reign is over, while *Spider-Man: Brand New Day*'s astonishing, [ongoing success](https://deadline.com/2026/08/box-office-spider-man-brand-new-day-third-weekend-1237031204/?ref=aftermath.site) might prove the doomsayers (ha) premature. There's a lot of money at stake, and no one wants to leave any on the table. Like a lot of issues facing superhero movies, comic books had this problem first. For as long as there have been superhero comics, the people in charge of making them have been anxious about them falling out of fashion. They frequently deal with this by: commissioning bold new reinventions of their biggest characters, finding a way to retrofit post-war or Atomic Age anxieties into more contemporary concerns. But there are limits – as 20th century creations, superheroes depend on a 20th century framework, a faith in institutions that have now failed, a civic-mindedness that is currently in short supply, a government that has decided to [abandon all semblance of propriety](https://aftermath.site/christopher-nolan-odyssey-film/). While modern takes on superheroes acknowledge the shortcomings of institutions — Batman and Daredevil stories revolve around the failures of law enforcement and the United States criminal justice system, Iron Man stories are predicated on the evils of the military industrial complex — even these broken systems are only recognizable to those who lived through a time where they appeared to function, when it was important for the United States government to at least pretend it had a duty to represent its citizens' interest, to protect the environment, or to regulate big business. We now live in a time disinterested in such performance. One where young people, after a decade of Donald Trump's MAGA movement, have not known anything different. So what does heroism look like in this world? How do heroes define themselves in a world where acting in the public interest is branded as terrorism? Where do the lines lie? How should violence be applied? Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri's recently-concluded run on *The Ultimates* (2024) offers one answer. The setup is a little involved. The comic takes place in an alternate Marvel Universe, one where a mad genius called The Maker has manipulated events so that Marvel heroes are either corrupted or kept from their superhero origins, while the world is carved up and controlled by supervillains under The Maker's rule. The public is unaware of these machinations, but thanks to the efforts of Howard Stark/Iron Man, The Maker is trapped in time for two years, and Howard's son, Tony, learns the truth of the world. The young Tony decides he's going to "fix the world," repopulate it with superheroes and build a team that will be ready to fight The Maker when his two-year imprisonment is up. From here, Camp, Frigeri, and a handful of guest artists do something unexpected: They have Tony fail. Constantly. He fails because he's trying to build a superhero team modeled after decades of Marvel Comics, where heroes band together and fight bad guys, and violence is the beginning and end of the conversation. This doesn't work — can't work — because it doesn't involve the people they're fighting for. Even superheroes can't topple evil alone. He learns from this mistake quickly, and *The Ultimates* becomes a survey of the ways in which people struggle against and resist the new world order designed by The Maker. His team becomes a network of solidarity and support. The result is dazzling, each issue both a thrilling comic book yarn and punchy agitprop. The eponymous Ultimates are not superheroes but revolutionaries, and the revolution has many fronts. In one issue, the team visits an island poisoned by the fallout of the radioactive explosion that created the Hulk (in this version of the story, he is a cruel dictator and martial arts master working under The Maker). They hope to find someone just as strong, and they do – but Lejori Joena Zakaria, the She-Hulk, is the proud protector of an indigenous people that has long suffered under corporate experiments that poisoned her land and mutated its populace. She will not join a cause unless that cause is undoing the devastation of her land. Elsewhere, Luke Cage, wrongfully incarcerated in his youth, reads works like [*Soledad Brother*](https://bookshop.org/p/books/soledad-brother-the-prison-letters-of-george-jackson-george-jackson/1f6fd3aaefc7c92e?ean=9781556522307&utm%5Fsource=google&utm%5Fmedium=cpc&utm%5Fcampaign=dsa%5Fnonbrand&utm%5Fcontent=%7Badgroupname%7D&utm%5Fterm=dsa-19959388920&gad%5Fsource=1&gad%5Fcampaignid=12440232635&gbraid=0AAAAACfld41H9W0pE%5FPtiH0ek1hVBsDUI&gclid=CjwKCAjw1vXTBhB-EiwAEKr%5Fk5pUlniF4ahQ1Rg6G1Lftoklq49ZlSUit3OoSO8Cpho9NIjM-73Z-hoC8XgQAvD%5FBwE) and is radicalized without the superpowers that give him unbreakable skin and incredible strength, laboring to educate and inspire his fellow inmates. When Tony offers him the powers he should have had to join his team, Luke takes them but refuses to fight in his battles – choosing instead to continue his work of abolition, leading revolts in private prisons, restoring power to the people. ![A comic book cover styled to look like white prison bars, behind which stand Luke Cage in a prison jumpsuit with Iron Lad superimposed over him](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/ULTMTS2024009_DC11.jpg) Image: Cover for The Ultimates (2024) #9 by Dike Ruan and Neeraj Menon In another adventure, Clint Barton, the man who was supposed to be Hawkeye, rejects Stark's offer to embrace his heroic destiny, leaving his sci-fi archery set in a dumpster. It's picked up by Lakota activist Charli Ramsey, who uses it to engage in a campaign of sabotage against the energy companies that have run amok and ruined the land. Captain America goes with the intent of stopping them, and the two have an issue-length brawl while debating about America and who it belongs to. Cap lets them keep the bow. And so it goes, for issue after issue. The frame narrative of The Maker's two-year imprisonment unfolded in real time, meaning each monthly issue of *The Ultimates* counted down to a final confrontation, giving the series an incredible momentum. It also meant that the stories had to sacrifice depth for breadth, a shame given how strong Camp and Frigeri's vision of a revolutionary take on The Avengers is. *The Ultimates* isn't the "right" way to do superheroes, and like all art produced by a massive corporation like the Disney-owned Marvel, it's a compromised work, subsuming the aesthetics of resistance into its output. But it's still effective as a call made from inside the house, arguing that these stories are focusing on the wrong things, that people who want to inspire a generation — maybe even with superheroes — ought to start coming up with new ideas and urgently address problems that exist right now. *The Ultimates* is a story that dares us to go bigger even in our most commercial art. "Heroes aren't born or made," Camp writes in his closing argument for the series. "They rise up from the people, from the struggle." Is the superhero over? Maybe in its most commercial, cinematic form, they are. But they still can be useful, relevant in the way *The Ultimates* is, which argues that while superheroes can inspire, the real burden lies with everyday people resisting in whatever mundane way they can. That's what it's going to take, if we're ever going to fix the world. ### The Onion’s Infowars Is Destroying What’s Left Of Alex Jones’ Reputation And Getting Sandy Hook Families Paid URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-the-onion-infowars-ben-collins-interview/ Last updated: 2026-08-17T17:24:29.000Z If you haven’t been keeping up via weekly streams and a near-nonstop barrage of clips, Infowars—the Sandy Hook-denying conspiracy mill once headed up by Alex Jones—is now in the playfully nefarious clutches of The Onion. For the past month and a half, Tim Heidecker and a seemingly bottomless rolodex of popular comedians have constructed a bizarro alternate universe version of conspiracy culture in which the real [Alex Jones popped like a balloon](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7vqBjt%5F%5FG8c?ref=aftermath.site) and was replaced by a clone, and [JFK, contrary to popular belief, *didn’t* kill himself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXiq-s0QGgo&ref=aftermath.site). It’s been extremely effective at skewering the kinds of people once thought unsatirizable. On the latest Aftermath Hours, we talk about all things Infowars. This time around, we’re joined by [Onion CEO Ben Collins](https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site), because, against all odds, he and his comedic cohort have managed to transform Infowars—until recently one of the internet’s deepest, darkest toilets—into something funny and good. We discuss how the new Infowars came to be, its larger goal of providing monetary aid to the Sandy Hook families ([with the help of gay frogs](https://store.theonion.com/products/gay-frog-plush-replica?srsltid=AfmBOorXXIXscsvW1v2k0RR14lgnEPHfI6NJ2ByjSKzRCdbep2D10vPi&ref=aftermath.site)), and those families’ reaction to the new show’s deranged shenanigans. We also delve into the particulars of satirizing something as inherently absurd as Infowars, as well as the ins and outs of how the show gets made on a regular basis. This includes, of course, an answer to the question on everyone’s mind: Is Tim Heidecker’s voice OK after doing a remarkably convincing Alex Jones impression for so long? (Barely.) You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we, too, can dedicate our lives to tormenting Alex Jones. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Ben:** Robbie Parker, who’s one of the fathers of \[a Sandy Hook child who was killed\]—the guy who Alex sort of lasered on immediately after, same day as Sandy Hook—was the only family member to speak publicly at a press conference the day of Sandy Hook. He nervously \[did an exhale motion\], and Alex took that as him laughing and said that’s why Sandy Hook didn’t happen. Robbie had to move out of Connecticut. Again, he’d lost his kid. The guy is a NICU nurse, and he lost the ability to speak in public; he had a really hard time even speaking at all. And what he said is, this whole thing that we’ve been doing has been helping him speak again. Once we finally get in that studio \[that Jones and co used to own\] in Austin, which is just melting now, he wants to read his book in it. That, to me, is the cosmic justice that we get Sandy Hook families. And then we’re still the only people in the world who have at least committed to getting them money. We’re just trying to do the right thing on both ends here. But \[the families\] have been so cool about it. They’re good people, and they’re just dogs. The Sandy Hook Promise folks, they don’t want \[Jones\] to be able to do this again. If you just take all of his stuff, he’s gonna end up in a closet yelling, because this is America and that’s what’s going to happen. But if you take all of his stuff and then spend a long time saying, “The way he did this, you have to be a moron to believe what this guy thinks,” that’s how you actually affect change here. **Nathan:** How do you approach that on an episode-by-episode basis? Because I feel like somebody else taking over Infowars would turn it into kind of a current events show where it’s very reactive in an almost *South Park*\-y way. This feels more like it’s riffing on broader themes that an Alex Jones would approach, as opposed to being like “Alright, something happened this week, and we’re going to do a parody of that.” Was that kind of the intention? **Ben:** I think in both \[*The Jim Haggerty Show* and Tim Heidecker’s *Emergency* segments\], it was like “Let’s do a character study of what’s actually going on in these people’s brains” instead of “What’s going on with Alex Jones this week.” Because to be real with you, I do not give a shit. I could not care less what’s going on with Alex Jones this week. **Gita:** And also he popped like a balloon and is in hell, so we know what’s going on with him. **Ben:** Exactly. But I do think that getting to the guts of this \[is important\]. I don’t know if we had anything to do with this, but people are finally starting to be like “Oh, all these people \[like Jones\] have weird psychosexual problems, and it’s infecting our military and our government and all these things.” We just lay it all bare. Like, Jim Haggerty is so desperate to get shot in a nonlethal way. **Nathan:** Yeah, I love how he’s always asking his show guests like “How would that work? Do you think I’d still get a lot of attention? Could you make the bullet miss my vital organs?” It’s so good. **Ben:** “Would Jesus Christ still be famous if he didn’t die?” But that’s the thing; that’s what’s actually going on inside these people’s brains right now: “How do I become cool in a world that’s so focused on self-victimization?” **Nathan:** “And how can I do it in the most cowardly way possible—in a way where I lose nothing and gain everything?” ## Recommended [The Onion Bought InfoWars, Which Rules - AftermathFinally, some good news![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-ef5a0725-d63f-44a7-be02-81620945faa4.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_1143612197-1-3-d78e9bd1-6105-4ac7-9e39-3dc75483a503.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/the-onion-infowars/) ### Twitch Won’t Label Which Streams Are And Aren't Using AI, So Streamers Are Doing It Themselves URL: https://aftermath.site/twitch-amazon-ai-labels-aioptedout-noai-nogenai/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T21:35:03.000Z Yesterday, Twitch announced that Amazon is going to be [training AI models](https://aftermath.site/amazon-twitch-generative-ai-training-streams-vods/) on Twitch streams, VODs, and chats, with users forced to opt in by default [because otherwise “nobody would opt in.”](https://aftermath.site/twitch-ai-amazon-opt-out/) During a stream addressing concerns, Twitch chief product officer Mike Minton noted that the company won’t be introducing any sort of label to help users distinguish between streamers who remain opted in and those who do not. Now streamers have taken matters into their own hands. As first [spotted by Zach Bussey](https://bsky.app/profile/zachbussey.tos.gg/post/3msydfa776s23?ref=aftermath.site), numerous streamers have begun adding [“AIOptedOut”](https://www.twitch.tv/directory/all/tags/aioptedout?ref=aftermath.site) to their tag selections on Twitch. Other popular tags with similar aims include [“NoAI”](https://www.twitch.tv/directory/all/tags/NoAI?ref=aftermath.site) and [“NoGenAI”](https://www.twitch.tv/directory/all/tags/NoGenAI?ref=aftermath.site), with the latter managing to attract big names like longtime streamer Chris “Sacriel” Ball. While this approach is by no means comprehensive, it at least gives viewers a selection of streamers who for sure aren’t letting Amazon’s creepy crawly data-scraping bots go hog wild on their broadcasts. Streamers say it also sends a message. “‘What does this do?’” [wrote](https://x.com/Shania%5Fttv/status/2087985152223809651?ref=aftermath.site) a streamer named Shania, who has also taken to displaying a “This channel doesn’t train Gen AI models” banner [in her Twitch profile](https://www.twitch.tv/shania/about?ref=aftermath.site). “It gets people talking. The only way things can change is if we use our voice.” “I'll be joining in,” [said](https://x.com/HolmesDrunklock/status/2087994764419289395?ref=aftermath.site) another streamer who goes by the handle Drunklockholmes. “Deception and hiding things like this is a company's whole MO. They know you don't like it, but know there's a chance that what the viewer doesn't know won't hurt them.” Whether or not Twitch will continue to allow this in the long run remains to be seen. It’s telling that the company announced Amazon’s AI model training with detailed instructions about how to disable it, but the feature is now baked into Twitch’s very fiber despite immediate and expected outcry. Considering that Twitch has long been an odd duck in Amazon’s larger portfolio and has struggled to achieve profitability, I don’t imagine the Amazon mothership pays much heed to what streamers think. But that won’t stop streamers from trying. “Creators are gonna have to do what Amazon and Twitch, as companies, won't,” added Drunklockholmes. “Per usual.” ## Recommended [Twitch Says Quiet Part Out Loud: Amazon AI Is Opt Out Because ‘Nobody Would Opt In’“If it was opt-in, nobody would opt in. That’s honestly the answer”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-9f749fae-9c44-4fe8-a417-b02299ed0363.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_2324859265-07e30794-7c2a-4049-9e99-1da3cfb09a54.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/twitch-ai-amazon-opt-out/) ### Netflix Closes Two More Game Studios, Expects Us To Believe It Still Sees ‘Opportunity’ In Games URL: https://aftermath.site/netflix-games-studio-shut-down-night-school-unhinged-oxenfree/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T20:11:25.000Z Today Netflix, ubiquitous in the realm of TV and film but known mostly in the video game industry for shutting down studios, took the hatchet to two more. One, the Helsinki-based Moonloot, hadn’t released anything, but the other, Night School, created the beloved *Oxenfree* narrative adventure series, as well as comedic outdrink-the-devil simulator *Afterparty*, a *Black Mirror* mobile tie-in and, most recently, *Unhinged*, a first-person horror game streamable on Netflix that came out just six weeks ago. Laid-off employees took to LinkedIn and Bluesky to lament their unceremonious fates. "Despite directing *Unhinged* and shipping it 6 weeks ago to millions of excited, satisfied players, it looks like I'm back on the market (along with the rest of Night School Studio)," [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7493747834719178752/?ref=aftermath.site) Night School game director Sam Warner. "So, who’s hiring?" [wrote](https://bsky.app/profile/tarav.bsky.social/post/3msygboljvs2j?ref=aftermath.site) Netflix games senior accessibility producer Tara Voelker. "Yes, I was impacted by the Netflix layoffs even though I was the single accessibility person in gaming." In [a statement to Game File](https://www.gamefile.news/p/netflix-closes-night-school-moonloot?ref=aftermath.site) about the closures, a Netflix spokesperson said that the company is also making cuts to its internal games team. However: “We see an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities,” the spokesperson told Game File. According to Game File, Netflix attributed the cuts specifically to “a prioritization around kids gaming, party games, story-driven fare and games with mainstream hooks, such as a recently released FIFA game.” Earlier this month, the studio responsible for the aforementioned FIFA game, Refactor, [laid off 85 percent of its workforce](https://gamesbeat.com/refactor-games-worked-with-delphi-on-fifa-game-for-netflix-now-the-studio-laid-off-85-of-staff/?%5Fsp=7bb97e6e-b1b8-450e-9fa8-82145f937726.1786648322541&ref=aftermath.site). This immediately after [Netflix’s CEO praised the game](https://aftermath.site/netflix-delphi-fifa-layoffs-shutdown/). Netflix does not own Refactor, but its shepherding of other studios hasn’t exactly inspired confidence. In 2024, it [shut down an internal studio](https://www.gamefile.news/p/netflix-team-blue-socal-studio?ref=aftermath.site) headed up by a former *Overwatch* producer that also managed to attract *Halo*’s former creative lead and *God of War*’s art director. Nothing publicly playable came of their efforts. In 2025, Netflix [shut down *Squid Game: Unleashed* developer Boss Fight Entertainment](https://aftermath.site/squid-game-unleashed-boss-fight-closed/), which—sensing a pattern here—it hyped up to investors just before doing so. Late last year, Netflix also sold *Cozy Grove* and *Spirit Crossing* studio Spry Fox [back to its founders](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/report-netflix-to-sell-spry-fox-back-to-founders?ref=aftermath.site). As Game File notes, this now leaves Netflix with just an internal gaming team that works with other developers and one first-party studio, Next Games, which has made games like *Netflix Minigolf*, *Netflix Puzzled*, *Boggle Party*, and others of that nature. Despite all this, Netflix [said in a July 2026 earnings report](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:25ofi7urzd5uhgzdbq4gqybn/post/3mqsr7chpd226?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref%5Furl=https%253A%252F%252Faftermath.site%252Fnetflix-video-games-fifa%252F&ref=aftermath.site) that it’s only “scratching the surface” when it comes to games—just as it did in April 2026, January 2026, October 2025, and January 2025\. The problem with some surfaces is, if you scratch at them for long enough, they start to bleed. ## Recommended [Netflix, Just Pay People To Make Video Games, You Are Making This Needlessly ComplicatedThe adults are in the room again![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-2b615f44-45b8-4651-b9e9-9aa10deffcb6.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Untitled-1-1-ddfe0c0a-8c6e-4fc7-89d9-6ba0b8006a94.png)](https://aftermath.site/netflix-video-games-fifa/) ### You Can Feel The Love That Went Into Veritas Tales URL: https://aftermath.site/veritas-tales-witch-of-the-dark-castle-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T17:22:59.000Z *Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle* was primarily made by one guy, namely Yoshio Nishimura. This is both an objective fact of the game that you can feel every second that you can play it, and squarely a part of how the game pitches itself. [Nishimura left Vanillaware](https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/english/260616d?ref=aftermath.site) during the COVID-19 pandemic, moving to a remote mountain village in Nara, and when the call came to return to the office he decided he’d rather stay. After six years, he released *Veritas Tales,* and much to the credit of the story the game tells about itself, you can feel the love of its creator in every moment. *Veritas Tales* is a loving riff on physical media. The omniscient guide on your journey is an elderly wizard who looks as if an airbrushed Merlin from the side of a van glowed like Santa Claus in a Coke ad. He presents you with a book and a choice of two characters — a lady witch named Paneri and a male warrior named Havlock, each with unique ways of interacting with the world and the story. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/gamebook.JPG) Game books like **Sorcery! w*ere a huge inspiration. *Veritas Tales* is a magical choose your own adventure book, complete with individual page numbers that correlate with distinct plot points and location. [Like many gamebooks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve%5FJackson's%5FSorcery!?ref=aftermath.site), you often find yourself at a sudden dead end due to a wrong choice or a bad roll, forcing yourself to go back and try again. Early on in the game, for example, you are presented with a scenario where countless undead surround you and most of the choices will end in your grisly demise. This sequence serves as a lesson for how quickly things can go south. The game itself stems from a [*Dragon’s Crown* pre-order DLC mini-game](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-10-17/dragon-crown-pro-ps4-rpg-delayed-to-february-8/.122828?ref=aftermath.site) that never made it to the West, and the soundtrack was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto who scored *Tactics Ogre*, *Final Fantasy Tactics*, *Vagrant Story*, and several Vanillaware titles. **Akuryōtō no Hihō*, a pre-order bonus for Dragon’s Crown produced by Yoshio Nishimura before **Veritas Tales.* Combat takes the form of faux pen and paper encounters. Without the context of the person who developed the game or what it is referencing, this may be seen as slightly cumbersome, but Vanillaware games often have a slightly charming clunkiness to the in-between moments that feels ornate and affectionate. And like tabletop gaming, there is something quite arresting about being forced to use your imagination, only occasionally interrupted with a visual or voice acting. In *Veritas Tales*, overt meta-gaminess sings in harmony with the loving illustrations and skeuomorphisms to create a game made with care. Speaking of care, the illustrations here are all hand drawn with the same fondness for high fantasy that Vanillaware built its reputation on. The moment I knew this was uncut Vanillaware was when the game threw a giant golem at me, complete with Hebrew on its forehead, that was also in the shape of a giant muscular woman. There are monsters and ghouls and wizards, and all of them feel pulled from first edition *Dungeons and Dragons* or, perhaps more accurately, *Sword World*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/golem.JPG) Oftentimes the plot will veer in directions like the campaign of a pen and paper game, with small, contained one-off encounters and vignettes and semi-visible checks. At times it can feel like you’ve been thrown directly into a new world feet first, but the game thankfully has tooltips over many proper nouns that will give you a refresher on the context, a la *Avowed*. Though I was technically able to play the game on a Steam Deck or Steam Controller specifically with the touchpads and touch screen, this is very much a game optimized for mouse and keyboard, and I’d love the game to be optimized for controllers better in the future. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6636.JPG) Individual choices branch off into different paths. *Veritas Tales* being primarily developed by a single person ([the game also cites a couple programmers and a translator in its credits](https://www.hardcoregaming101.net/veritas-tales-the-witch-in-the-dark-castle/?ref=aftermath.site) in addition to its composer) is not unique among indie gaming save for its execution. Like *Sektori*, it is the years-long passion project of a developer mostly flying solo after working on games I loved, and that history is painted on every page. But intentionally or not, *Veritas Tales* reads the current situation for filth simply in the nature of its existence. People yearn to see human hands in the art they interact with more than ever, to see the people inside it and be assured that they care even more than the player can about these worlds. *Veritas Tales* is that: a tiny bit clunky and limited by the nature of its conception, but overflowing with the love that one artist has[ for the art that inspired him](https://dev.rpgsite.net/interview/20797-yoshio-nishimura-interview-veritas-tales-witch-of-the-dark-castle-vanillaware-capcom-george-kamitani-gamebook-rpg?ref=aftermath.site). ### I Melted My Microwave Kiln URL: https://aftermath.site/melted-microwave-kiln-oops/ Last updated: 2026-08-14T17:22:48.000Z I've been making ceramics in my microwave. [I wrote about it last month](https://aftermath.site/microwave-kiln-and-mini-pottery-wheel/), and have made an unreasonable amount of miniature ceramics since then. I use my Small Ceramics miniature pottery wheel to throw tiny pots, cups, and vases, before glazing and firing them—in the microwave. Crucially, this is not the microwave I use for food, because who knows what sorts of weird things are being emitted. (I use it in the open garage.) I get a real delight out of hearing the ceramics jingle around; it's a much more satisfying sound than the things I make out of polymer clay. However, I have run into some problems. The microwave kiln I've been using is the large size, so I thought I'd give the small one a go. The large one holds more stuff, but it also takes much longer to heat up. When the small kiln showed up in the mail, I immediately put it to use. I put my best new pieces in there (a mistake) and put it into the microwave to start an abbreviated schedule—the small one needed much less time. As it turns out, it needed much, much less time than I had figured. When I pulled the kiln out of the microwave after it cooled, it was stuck shut. I could not open the microwave kiln. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_9899.jpg) It is not supposed to look like this I thought that, perhaps, the glazes I used had run so much that the kiln got glued shut by them. I was wrong. I eventually wiggled the microwave kiln open to see that I had absolutely obliterated the inside of the microwave kiln. The black stuff on the inside that lines the ceramic fiber structure was bubbled and melted. Like, *totally* melted. That black stuff is apparently silicon carbide, which absorbs microwave energy and how the microwave kiln gets so hot, like upwards of 1,500°F. I can’t be certain how hot the kiln got; my only indication that the microwave kiln is hot enough to melt and solidify the glazes is a red glow from the little hole at the top. But, uh, it clearly got too hot. I had a second small microwave kiln so I tried again, for less time, and that microwave kiln also melted, but only a little. (I just tested whether or not it's still usable and the results are in: It's not usable. I will never learn my lesson about putting nice pieces into the kiln for a test.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_9706.jpg) Most of the tiny things I've made I do not fully understand why I am incapable of using the small kiln in a responsible way, but I also don't want to buy any more to potentially ruin immediately. The upside to the small kiln—and why I wanted one to work—is because it's much faster. It heats up way quicker, as I have learned. But maybe too quick. Back to my large microwave kiln. Against my chaotic nature, I have started documenting the process of what works and what doesn't in the large microwave kiln. I'm testing different firing schedules to play with what I can skip. I've learned today, while writing this story, that the heat up period is, indeed, important. Several of the pots I fired this morning are heavily cratered, and my theory is that they got too hot too quick and the gas bubbles were too big. Not all of them are equally catered, but each one has at least some pinholes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_9891--1-.jpg) Today's big oopsie I've learned a lot in the few months that I've been playing with clay and putting it in the microwave. Mostly, I've learned that I can't really be precious with anything. Once the glaze goes on and it goes into the microwave kiln, anything can happen. This is true with regular kiln firings, but even more so with the microwave kiln. You can't control or even tell the temperature. You've just got to throw it in there and hope for the best. ### Tomb Of The Bloodletter Is A Tough But Goofy Typing Game URL: https://aftermath.site/tomb-of-the-bloodletter-impressions-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T17:30:58.000Z We all know the pain of finally getting some time to play games, and then staring at our Steam library not really in the mood for anything. Lately, there’s a game I always think “I could play that” about: *Tomb of the Bloodletter*, a dungeon-crawling typing game that came out back in February. [*Tomb of the Bloodletter*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3531630/Tomb%5Fof%5Fthe%5FBloodletter/?ref=aftermath.site) shares a general concept with 2024’s [*Cryptmaster*](https://aftermath.site/cryptmaster-pc-review/), in that you fight enemies by typing words. But in *Bloodletter*, levels aren’t spaces but a series of encounters, which you choose at the beginning of each stage by typing a word of a certain length. In each battle, you and an enemy trade blows until one of you dies. There’s a keyboard at the bottom of your screen, and the letters on it can be assigned certain powers. Some do damage; others damage you to build up your “fury,” which makes your attacks more powerful; others can heal you; some weaken an enemy’s attacks or take points off their shields. Some of these powers only work if a letter comes at a certain point in your word, or if a word contains a particular series of letters. It’s often as much of a puzzle to think of a word that uses your available powers as it is to then try to optimize your strategy. How many “E”s can I fit in here? Do I know any words that contain a Z and a K? If I spend these letters’ powers on this turn, does that mess me up for future turns? Despite having played hours of *Bloodletter*, I’ve never gotten very far. Enemies are tough, and each has unique abilities you have to play around. Some of them spray ink that makes some of your letters useless, while others can insert a “spy” into your letters that you have to play before it damages you. One can light letters on fire, damaging you if you use the letter but also spreading the fire to other letters if you don’t. There’s a degree of randomness here, and in the broader game itself, that can also hurt you: Sometimes all the most useful letters are inaccessible, or sometimes my powers fall on a bunch of letters that rarely appear together in words. I often find myself in doomed wars of attrition with an enemy, both of us slowly damaging each other and then healing, until one of us just squeaks through. There’s a bit of a meta-game in terms of playable characters you unlock and their unique abilities–so far I’ve only unlocked the starting Adventurer and the second character, the Heretic, who can reroll your letters’ powers at the cost of health but also heals herself for the first damage you do on a turn. You also upgrade your character as you play a run based on the letters you pick to form each stage’s map, with rooms that can heal you or give you more powers on your keyboard. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/gjf.jpg) Ethan's Secretions I love the way *Bloodletter* always has you thinking about both vocabulary and video game strategy, and the way the words you reach for change each round based on how your powers fall. I have to meet each turn as it comes, meaning even if I’ve faced a certain enemy dozens of times before, the situation still feels brand new. This can be frustrating at times–like I said, I’ve never made much progress in the game, despite having about 12 hours in it at this point–but I never mind it much when I lose. Each restart just means getting to do the core, enjoyable thing of the game again: wracking my brain for big, ridiculous words that can knock out an enemy before it takes me down. *Tomb of the Bloodletter*’s cartoonish art style also helps offset any frustration; it’s hard to be mad at dying to a goofy, helmeted guy on an invisible bike or a crudely-drawn bat. The roguelike structure means I can dip into it without making a big commitment, making it an easy go-to when I’m overwhelmed by my Steam library. It t helps me wake up my brain before playing other stuff, when it doesn’t end up taking up my whole night instead. ### Saber Interactive's CEO Matt Karch Can Get In The Bin [Update] URL: https://aftermath.site/saber-interactive-ceo-ai-writer/ Last updated: 2026-08-15T22:11:20.000Z Earlier this week Stella Sacco, a former lead writer at Saber Interactive,[ claimed on social media](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z4llsx425l4htoylyyx6iam3/post/3mssv7pyows2l?ref=aftermath.site) that the company had "replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development" of the game *Rideshare "Stimulator"*, that "all the passenger voices \[in the game\] were AI" and that "either they changed direction at some point or they’re not disclosing it on Steam". > I didn’t even see this had been announced. I was lead writer on this one! And Saber replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development. All the passenger voices were AI too. Either they changed direction at some point or they’re not disclosing it on Steam > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z4llsx425l4htoylyyx6iam3/post/3mssv7pyows2l?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Stella Sacco ([@antlervel.vet](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z4llsx425l4htoylyyx6iam3?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 12, 2026 at 1:05 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z4llsx425l4htoylyyx6iam3/post/3mssv7pyows2l?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) In [an initial statement to PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/saber-interactive-denies-replacing-writer-with-chatgpt-on-its-new-driving-game-but-says-it-will-use-ai-as-the-number-of-passengers-in-the-game-is-infinite/?ref=aftermath.site), Saber addressed these allegations in a somewhat straightforward manner: > Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI for Rideshare or any other game. In fact, Saber's staff of writers has tripled since 2023\. Rideshare's story was written entirely by real people. > > The game will also feature an experimental, free-ride mode that by necessity incorporates AI as the number of passengers in the game is infinite. We are firm believers in using AI tools to improve or enhance gameplay experiences and improve NPC behavior as we have done since Saber was founded in 2001\. As the industry has continued to contract, Saber continues to hire. None of our 3000+ employees have to worry about being replaced by AI. To which Sacco responded, [also to PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/saber-interactive-denies-replacing-writer-with-chatgpt-on-its-new-driving-game-but-says-it-will-use-ai-as-the-number-of-passengers-in-the-game-is-infinite/?ref=aftermath.site), by saying: > They can say what they want—I was there, I even posted on Facebook about it at the time, and I have mentioned it on Bluesky several times without using the game’s title. > > They took me off the project to use ChatGPT to write the rest of the text, including planned live updates. If they changed plans in the intervening years, that’s great, but again: I was there, and it was my job to write the game, and then it wasn’t once Matt Karch decided using ChatGPT would be great publicity for the game. Matt Karch is the CEO of Saber, and earlier today he decided to add to the discussion–and set fire to his professional reputation–by sending a follow-up statement [to TWIVG](https://thisweekinvideogames.com/news/saber-interactive-acknowledges-undisclosed-genai-use-in-rideshare-stimulator-denies-replacing-lead-writer-with-chatgpt/?ref=aftermath.site), in which he assembles four paragraphs blending personal and deeply unprofessional insults with further admissions to the use of AI in *Rideshare "Stimulator",* despite[ the game's Steam page containing no AI disclosures](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2366590/Rideshare%5FStimulator/?ref=aftermath.site). > “Stella who? I had to ask Claude because I have never spoken to her or seen her. We have already said we are using AI for certain parts of the game and will update the Steam page once we have finalized the feature set. > > “Let me clarify that the entire story script, were it to win an award, would go to someone who can walk up on stage and receive it. It was always our intention to reveal this until Stella violated her confidentiality clause and revealed this before we were ready. > > “We look at our use of AI in this particular game, which will be a lower priced title, as a plus for consumers,” he said. > > “As far as Stella is concerned, she was replaced by someone more talented and terminated for a variety of reasons a few months later. From what I can gather she enjoys controversy even more than I do. I would frankly in retrospect have been happy to replace her with AI. At least we would be dealing with someone programmed to be honest.” We know that a lot of video game industry professionals read this website. If that's you, I'd hope you remember this statement every time Saber Interactive and their CEO cross your path in the future. **Note*: Sacco is a friend of several Aftermath staffers, though not the writer or editor of this story.* > Everything I said was true. Here’s more truth: that statement is remarkably pathetic for the CEO of any company to be making, and combined with the AI use it will do far more damage to Saber’s reputation than it ever could mine. This screed will be many people’s first exposure to the Saber brand. > > — Stella Sacco ([@antlervel.vet](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z4llsx425l4htoylyyx6iam3?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 13, 2026 at 9:58 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z4llsx425l4htoylyyx6iam3/post/3mswdijs5v22y?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) **UPDATE:** > And now, a lesson on CEO-ing from Matthew Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive: > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:n46qe2qoi6qgo6fbknctquzi/post/3msym5ldpgk2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Giant Bomb ([@giantbomb.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:n46qe2qoi6qgo6fbknctquzi?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 14, 2026 at 7:38 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:n46qe2qoi6qgo6fbknctquzi/post/3msym5ldpgk2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) **UPDATE 2, August 15 2026**: Karch has reached out and apologised, with [Stacco posting the following statement earlier today](https://bsky.app/profile/antlervel.vet/post/3mt57o6to6s2o?ref=aftermath.site): > Hey everyone. > > Last night, to my great surprise, I received a long email from Saber Interactive CEO Matt Karch. He apologized unreservedly for the awful way he spoke about me in the press. The email's full text will stay between us; I'm not that kind of girl. But I have confirmed it was from him. > > Matt said he regretted escalating, and how people online were speaking about me. I'm not worried about being called slurs by random commenters-I'm a trans woman, that's every day for me-but it stunk to have my skill and reputation built of 20 years in games publicly maligned by someone with institutional power. > > One thing I saw people saying about me, and that Matt fueled the flames of too, was that this is not my first time calling a former employer out, so I must love drama or be hard to work with. The truth is, bad treatment is everywhere in games; I'm just more willing than others to call it out. And I call it out so maybe others will be willing, too, when it happens to them. > > I've been firm from the beginning that I was telling the truth; I think we can all now agree that's been borne out. Matt expressed a desire to make it right with me; at this time I don't really know what that looks like for me, and I'll have to take some time to sit with it, but I do at least accept his apology. > > None of this changes my stance on Al. > > Matt and I obviously differ on this, and as a CEO the consequences of its use fall on him, and unfortunately also on his employees. > > Apologies are simply in too short a supply these days to spurn one when it's offered. > > God willing, this is the last statement I'll need to make about this. > > Stella [Saber Interactive Won’t Pay Up $3.1 Million In Wild Card Football Licensing Fees, Football Union SaysThe dispute has been ongoing for years over the game and its royalty payments![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-36689ae8-ad51-4889-9813-78a26f1b6a04.png)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Wild_Card_Football_Art_16x9-1731bdc4-da2f-4c4c-868b-ef7071d8ae4b.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/saber-interactive-nflpa-wild-card-football-lawsuit/) ### Twitch Says Quiet Part Out Loud: Amazon AI Is Opt Out Because ‘Nobody Would Opt In’ URL: https://aftermath.site/twitch-ai-amazon-opt-out/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T01:16:22.000Z Today Twitch announced that [Amazon plans to scrape the popular livestreaming platform for AI training data](https://aftermath.site/amazon-twitch-generative-ai-training-streams-vods/). During [a follow-up stream](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2844385157?ref=aftermath.site), Twitch staff attempted to answer questions and assuage users’ concerns about the overwhelmingly unpopular decision. It did not go well. Over the course of around an hour, Twitch chief product officer Mike Minton and head of community Mary Kish fielded an avalanche of questions, principal among them: Why not make this feature opt-in by default—thereby giving those who don’t hyper-vigilantly have their finger on Twitch’s purple pulse an actual choice—instead of opt-out? “Now why is it not opt-in?” said Minton. “That’s what everybody here is spamming in chat. I get it. ‘Let me opt in versus making me opt out.’ There’s an honest answer, and I think most of you can probably appreciate this: If it was opt-in, nobody would opt in. That’s honestly the answer.” This was followed by a torrent of all-caps chat responses that included “THEN DON’T ROLL IT OUT,” “SO WHY EVEN DO IT,” and “IF NO ONE WOULD OPT IN THAT MEANS NO ONE WANTS IT.” 0:00 /0:43 1× Twitch The remainder of the stream saw users barrage the duo with questions equal parts fast and furious, to which they replied in empathetic tones while completely failing to justify the new feature. At the crux of Minton’s argument was the idea that companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are already scraping the entire internet for data anyway, so Twitch and Amazon—the smol-est of beans—can’t help but follow along. "If models were trained on your VOD, it may or may not even have been Amazon,” said Minton. “It was likely any one of the...dozens of companies that are creating models that are using any publicly available content they can find." "It's a delicate topic, and I think our community has the reaction that I expected you guys to have, which is that you don't like this,” said Kish in response to a question about streamers potentially losing money because viewers might leave Twitch over AI. “Because this is industry standard, going other places won't absolve you of this. … It's not as easy as saying everyone's just gonna leave, because this is something that's really across the board. It's something that's happening on livestreaming communities across the space." But of course, when it comes to livestreaming, Twitch likes to position itself as an industry leader, so these words rang hollow to many in chat. "If GenAI is 'industry standard,' why are you not helping us fight against it?” asked one chatter. “Why are you rolling over and hiding behind excuses?" In chat, Kish suggested that some at Twitch, herself included, might be trying to do exactly that. "The opt out numbers will help us continue to reiterate that our community is not receptive of AI in any form," she wrote. "I'm sorry but I am reading your comments and do hear you." Minton and Kish also took great pains to distinguish between Amazon’s AI training and AI currently in use on Twitch, which already powers captions, safety, and newer features streamers can opt out of like stream summaries and auto clips. Twitch features, said Minton, are powered by pre-existing models, not whatever Amazon has cooking. As for how Amazon plans to use Twitch streamers’ livestreams, VODs, and chat, it’s bewilderingly unclear. "I'm not responsible for Amazon's training efforts in terms of use of this content, generative AI training,” said Minton. “I would assume anything that's part of your channel content \[is fair game for training\]." "We do know that it's being used to train models, but it's a broad stance of what you can train a model for,” Kish later clarified. “Giving you a list of 500 use cases I don't think is actually helpful." Twitch does not plan to add any sort of labeling system that will help users tell at a glance who’s opted in and who hasn’t. Additionally, even if you opt out, your chat data can still be used if you spend time in the chat of someone who’s opted in. 0:00 /0:55 1× Twitch Has Amazon already been using Twitch data to train its models? Also unclear. "Twitch has not been training models,” said Minton. “I can't speak to what Amazon is training or not training as it relates to any specific usage of content." But again, other people are almost certainly doing it, so Amazon—only one of the biggest companies in human history—really doesn’t have any choice here. "There's 10-25 companies around the world that are creating some of these, what we'll call, 'frontier' large language models,” said Minton. “I don't know this conclusively, but I think it's a pretty reasonable assumption that almost any available content is being used for model training in one form or another, whether permitted or not. So I think we also just need to acknowledge that there's a lot here that is even beyond our direct control." Minton did clarify, however, that Amazon and Twitch don’t sell data to other third parties, which is, I suppose, the infinitesimally smallest speck of something. "We do not resell the data to other companies that are training models,” he said. “That's not what's going on here. We're not profiting or making any money by selling your data." Viewers in chat also repeatedly brought up [a pre-existing UserVoice feedback form](https://twitch.uservoice.com/forums/923383-creators-and-stream-features/suggestions/51352369-make-all-ai-features-optional-and-opt-out-by-defa?ref=aftermath.site) requesting that Twitch make AI features opt-out by default. Minton and Kish acknowledged it but once again acted as though Twitch’s hands were tied. “‘Wasn't this clear in the UserVoice?’” said Kish. “There's no misunderstanding." "We're not tone deaf in terms of knowing where the community stands,” said Minton. “We hear you loud and clear." In response to that and similar questions, the two again encouraged users to opt out, with Kish even noting that she’d done so with her own channel because she’s aware that members of her community would disapprove otherwise. Minton, on the other hand, said that if, hypothetically, he were a streamer, he’d probably keep the feature on. "I saw a recent survey that said more than half of adults now use some form of AI on a daily basis,” he said. “Its usage is as high as it's ever been. Now you wouldn't know that from reading Twitch chat, of course. That is a general population-type study. It's also true that the anxiety and anger about AI is as high as ever. Those two things are in conflict. Our bet is that in the long run, the concerns of creators and all the participants in the ecosystem will be addressed, and that in the same way past technology transformations had concerns that were addressed over time, by focusing on improving the experience for creators and viewers on Twitch ... it helps viewers understand what's going on." He added, however, that "I understand that I live in a bubble that is not your reality as it relates to this technology and the use of it." None of this left viewers feeling particularly satisfied or hopeful—something else Minton was only able to meet with vague platitudes. "I saw some folks comment in chat,” he said. “It's always hard to do these streams where the community is super angry. It's not that we're unprepared. Just know that what we're trying to do is triangulate answers to questions that are complex questions that have in some cases concerns from a 'What we say can get us in trouble' perspective—not just with the community, but literally in trouble in different ways around the world. Obviously I am not speaking on behalf of Amazon in terms of any of their efforts. So there's this triangulation going on in terms of trying to find an answer that is as hopefully as helpful as possible to explain what's happening here and why without breaking into jail." ## Recommended [Amazon Wants To Use Twitch Streams To Train AIIt’s going as well as you may have expected![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-800edcc6-a586-4696-944b-b77e800fb1c9.png)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1679065236532-09c4a500a025-f6fcfff8-7898-4d4f-84f0-039812fc59e8)](https://aftermath.site/amazon-twitch-generative-ai-training-streams-vods/) ### Fan Translations Still Are Being Done The Hard Way URL: https://aftermath.site/kamaitachi-no-yoru-london-spirit-detectives-kownloons-gate-innocent-tears/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T22:00:44.000Z There are certain games whose impact is largely obscure to most Western audiences due in large part to what made it over here. And though fan translations and YouTube have helped quite a bit, certain classics are only now getting their time in the sun. *Kamaitachi no Yoru* for the Super Famicom is one of those games, a title that is load-bearing for understanding how certain games came to be. And though versions of its remake have been localized before, the original has not been localized properly until now, as translator and programmer But Thou Must has done [proudly without the use of AI.](https://github.com/ButThouMust/kamaitachi-sfc-english?ref=aftermath.site) *Kamaitachi no Yoru* roughly translates to “Night of the Sickle Weasel,” although a kamaitachi is more specifically a yōkai, a mythological creature that looks like a weasel with blades for arms and rides on dust devils. The game is mostly interactive text, a Chunsoft-branded subgenre known as a “sound novel” that reads more like an actual book than other visual novels Western audiences might be familiar with (although the distinction is debatable). *Kamaitachi no Yoru* followed the success of the first “sound novel” [*Otogirisō*](https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/03/32-years-on-spike-chunsofts-first-game-has-been-translated-into-english?ref=aftermath.site), [which ButThouMust also released a patch for two years ago](https://github.com/ButThouMust/otogirisou-english?ref=aftermath.site). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6615.jpg) Some versions of the game replace the silhouettes with anime characters. In *Kamaitachi no Yoru*, the player takes the role of Tooru, who is staying at a boarding house named Spur in the mountains on a ski trip with his girlfriend Mari. A blizzard traps everyone inside, and the game introduces a varied cast of characters before descending into a snowy murder mystery of increasing violence. The setup of a mystery in an isolated snowy mountain lodge reminds me of [*Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYejH1Bxx8I&ref=aftermath.site)and Věra Chytilová’s *Wolf’s Hole,* two fantastic movies that mix intrigue and mystery in the isolation of cold. As the plot progresses the body count rises, and only by going through the multiple branching bad endings in the plot (there are about 40) and replaying the game can the player solve the mystery, with the true “best” ending being [a fascinating exercise in metafiction.](https://createthefuture.blog/2023/09/21/kamaitachi-no-yoru-and-chunsofts-legacy/?ref=aftermath.site) The soundtrack rocks. *Kamaitachi no Yoru* was a gargantuan success on the Super Famicom in 1994, going on to sell 750,000 copies and massively influencing the visual novel genre moving forward. It is hard to overstress the importance of the game’s impact, an impact which you can see in Spike Chunsoft’s later work generally (the same writer of the game, Takemura Abiko, would go on to write *428 Shibuya Scramble*) and the work of Kotaro Uchikoshi specifically (*999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors*, *Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy*). The game spawned sequels and was remade multiple times and brought to multiple platforms, with later versions of the game ruining the mood by adding abrasive anime characters instead of using foreboding blank silhouettes. Making the characters knowable and explicit ruins much of what makes the original Super Famicom game so special. This version was translated and brought to iOS as *Banshee’s Last Cry*, although the localization changes the character names and location significantly. Though I’m sympathetic to changing details to fit a new language, much is lost in that version of the game. Bowl of Lentils has a fantastic history of the sub-genre for those interested. Playing the original *Kamaitachi no Yoru,* you are struck by how alarmingly gripping and modern it still manages to be. The music in the game is solid, and the backgrounds are digitized photos from a real location compressed into crunchy images to fit the Super Famicom. Characters are rendered as silhouettes, which adds to the mystique and forces the player to use their imagination. I could see playing this game in a cramped apartment in Tokyo in 1994 and it rocking my world. “When I was playing the game in Japanese for the first time, I thought the atmosphere was excellent, with a palpable sense of despair and helplessness in the later parts of the murder mystery.” Translator But Thou Must told me via Discord “I also appreciated the game's unique look with the silhouettes and digitized photos, and how the story felt more focused than Chunsoft's previous sound novel Otogirisou. I knew I seriously wanted to work on the translation when I got my first bad end and then went back to pin down the killer.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6488.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6468.jpg) The ending on the left sees Tooru bypass the murder entirely and moving to Osaka. The game’s multiple endings go some wild places depending on what the player chooses, with objectively the funniest one being Tooru accepting a job offer in Osaka so enthusiastically that Mari breaks up with him in disgust, with him bypassing the murders entirely, dropping out of school, eventually taking over the business of the job he was offered, and returning to the snowy lodge years later as an elderly retired man with his wife. The tone of the game is oppressive and bleak, highlighting the ways in which humans are violent to each other. While the choices the game makes are a product of what the system could handle, those crunchy images have aged like fine wine, the pixels and synth adding a layer of sheer menace. If a patched ROM could be cursed, it would be *Kamaitachi no Yoru*. If you have any interest in visual novels and are able to, I highly recommend you play it. Someone took pictures of the real lodge “Knulp” that the fictional Spur is based on. Seems nice! Localizing games is both a technical feat and one of translation, and But Thou Must had to deal with a few challenges with how the game understood text, particularly with name entry (which is needed for several endings) and how the game parsed text. “The original Japanese game had a character limit of six for names,” But Thou Must told me via Discord. “Six was fine for fitting the default names of the protagonist (Tooru) and his girlfriend (Mari). But six wasn't enough for the points in the story where you have to enter the name of who you believe to be the killer.” From there, it was a matter of balancing the text properly inputting to memory and the save file with the amount of available screenspace. He wrote some assembly code to expand the limit to ten for naming the killer, and seven for naming Tooru and Mari to be the ideal sweet spot. Since Chunsoft also reused compression formats for script and text from their previous game *Otogirisou*, But Thou Must was able to reuse and tweak compression tools from his localization of that game to fit the new translation. Like many people in the ROM hacking and translation space, But Thou Must sees the intrusion of AI as a liability in a field full of important work. “I disagree with the ‘it's better than nothing’ mindset that some people have with AI fan translations. To me, a major issue with them is, should it be the first-ever translation of a particular game, that patch becomes players' first, and quite possibly *only*, exposure to that piece of media. If, and emphasis on *if*, a human-created fan translation comes out later, most people who were interested in playing the game will likely not care. After all, they already got to play the game.” The announcement for the patch. ## **Kowloon’s Gate** We are currently in a flood of incredible curiosities being translated, and I’d like to mention a few. Earlier this year hacker and localizer [Hilltop](https://bsky.app/profile/hilltopworks.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site)along with a team of others that included translators [Cargodin](https://bsky.app/profile/cargodin.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) and [\_dk](https://x.com/underbardk?ref=aftermath.site) created an English language patch [*Kowloon’s Gate*](https://readonlymemo.com/kowloons-gate-fan-translation-interview/?ref=read-only-memo-newsletter), an incredible oddity of the PlayStation era set in Kowloon Walled City. Hilltop is a great localizer who has done great work in the past that is worth spotlighting, including [*Racing Lagoon*](https://www.patreon.com/hilltopworks/posts/racing-lagoon-58594184?ref=aftermath.site) and the official localization of [*Milano’s Odd Job Collection*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3582980/Milanos%5FOdd%5FJob%5FCollection/?ref=aftermath.site), which came out earlier this year. *Kowloon’s Gate* is legitimately offputting, and if you wish to see what it looks like, [my colleague Dia Lacina has a longplay of it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXnWWI0wAew&ref=aftermath.site). Outside of [*Slitterhead*](https://aftermath.site/siltterhead-is-good-actually/), few games have attempted to capture the fantastical nature of Kowloon Walled City and use it for narrative effect. The game itself is spiritually closer to the works of Osamu Sato and PC adventure games like *Cosmology of Kyoto* than its PlayStation contemporaries at the time; it’s an oddity that could only have been made organically in that exact moment in time that mixes feng shui, terrifying characters, and impossible FMV geometry. Dia Lacina has been playing through the game since its patch. “*Kowloon's Gate* is one of those [ooparts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-of-place%5Fartifact?ref=aftermath.site) outsider art games that was made by someone whose exposure to video games was comprised of the completely eclectic multimedia CDs that were released in the early/mid 90's. That's how it feels anyways,” Hilltop told me over Discord. “Not so weird in the PC space where *Myst* was a massive influence, but on PS1 it's like this lost sheep that wandered in from the Japanese Macintosh scene. It's incredibly unique and beautiful in its own way, with misshapen characters and a story that seems impenetrable at first. It has Mr. Dopeman in it. Not a localized name, he was always just ‘Mr. Dopeman.’ And he's some kind of roided-out juicer sewer-digging android, or maybe his body was taken over by a slug monster? It's unclear. The game has a million freaks like him.” [Hong Kong Supreme Feng Shui Committee (@hksupremefengshui.bsky.social)Volume 3 of the manga Great Teacher Onizuka (1997) contains a direct reference to Kowloon’s Gate.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-08f8f8b9-d79f-4800-ae3b-9b2583d5efc8.png)Bluesky SocialHong Kong Supreme Feng Shui Committee![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreier3syjvfzorttl3xjxoqigdyy7zgokd4rv65twgsaeledfyj56vm-7b8c71f1-4fa2-4ae1-9890-65912fc72515)](https://bsky.app/profile/hksupremefengshui.bsky.social/post/3ms2rtd7bu22f?ref=aftermath.site) The Hong Kong Supreme Feng Shui Committee is a good account if you want hyper specific trivia about this game and the context it operates in. *Kowloon’s Gate* translators Cargodin and \_dk were both attracted to the story due to its setting. “I like FMV games and games with strong backbones in historic fiction,” Cargodin said. Translator \_dk told me that "being from Hong Kong, *Kowloon's Gate* is a personal game to me. It had, in my opinion, the most authentic atmosphere of Hong Kong done by Japanese developers in the 90s. It is clear the devs spent time and effort doing the research and going to Hong Kong in order to make this game, and I feel like we would not have respected their effort enough if we didn't personally do the best we can in our research to convey the ideas that they had.” When it comes to the technical details of how *Kowloon’s Gate* came to be localized, it turns out it was as idiosyncratic inside as it was on the outside. “*Kowloon's Gate* is one of the most poorly programmed games I've ever worked on,” Hilltop said. “Probably worse than [HamuHamu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TmxF9wuN90&ref=aftermath.site). It's full of bandaid fixes, bodges, Actual Bugs, and the feeling that this was more of a programming student project that would get a C+ at best. I had to manually add subtitling to the game from scratch, and the game fought back against me every step of the way. The game had a dozen unique, unnecessary ways to pause the game to play an audio clip. Looking at the code, you can tangibly feel the deadlines looming in 1997 when the game was already years behind schedule.” “Every character dialogue has its own text file,” Cargodin added, “and operates a little more like a framed html document than a regular script file. Searching for any one line of dialogue also meant I was searching through 2500-ish documents, give or take, which is much more time-consuming than searching through 2500 lines in one document.” ## **Innocent Tears and London Spirit Detectives** Two other projects that came out in the last week are *Innocent Tears* and *London Spirit Detectives.* *Innocent Tears* was a Japan-exclusive release for the original Xbox, which makes it an obscurity. To quote translation group Eight-mansions’ summary of the plot, “A fallen angel scours the ruined streets of Tokyo, searching for the woman he once loved. She and many others have awoken as man-eating angels that now threatens mankind. Will he save her? Or will he cut her down?” It is a genuinely strange and messy game and can be easily clocked as the most 2002 shit you have ever seen in your life. To play this game is to suddenly grow a wallet chain. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6603.jpg) This game is nutty. Like *Kamaitachi no Yoru,* the devs state proudly that the patch was created without AI. “No AI was used for this patch. Only genuine stupidity,” the GitHub page for the patch reads. Wes Fenlon at Read Only Memo [has a fantastic writeup of the project with hacker Yuvi](https://readonlymemo.com/the-mister-console-mode-is-finally-here-and-its-every-bit-the-ui-i-hoped-it-would-be/?ref=aftermath.site) where they dig into how confusing and idiosyncratic the game is on a basic structural level. It might not shock you to learn that the game’s artist was mainly known for drawing hentai. “I really like the oddball games like this that try to aim for something grand and fall short,” *Innocent Tears* translator SnowyAria told me via DM. “Sometimes you enjoy them for the B-movie aspect, and other times you can see the gem that glitters beneath the rough surface. It's also a great feeling being able to introduce people to games like this they may never have seen otherwise. Thankfully since I usually work on kusoge/awful games, I'm not as much at risk of AI vibecoders pulling the rug from under me since there's no clout to be gained, but it's still incredibly disheartening when it happens to my friends. It's always a rushed weekend job with no thought to character voice or even polished hacking.” [*London Spirit Detectives*](https://github.com/bigbanana23/london-seirei-tanteidan?ref=aftermath.site) (*London Seirei Tantei-dan*) is a little less abrasive and far more charming. A PlayStation RPG by Bandai from 1999, the game takes place in Victorian England and stars a precocious orphan who is taken under the wing of a detective as an apprentice. Eventually he’s joined by a girl with a crush on him, a six year old boy who treats him like an older brother, and a mysterious older boy. The gang solves supernatural crimes in a beautifully rendered steampunk version of London, and the sprites are expressive and goofy in a manner that reminds me a bit of *Breath of Fire III.* Quests are refreshingly human and small scale. The game also features monster designs from [Yasushi Nirasawa,](https://youtu.be/HcEKrBG4i2o?ref=aftermath.site) who Kamen Rider fans might recognize and who also did designs for [*Shin Megami Tensei IV*](https://www.polygon.com/2013/7/10/4510114/meet-the-tokusatsu-monster-makers-behind-shin-megami-tensei-4s-demon/?ref=aftermath.site)as well as one of the most violent versions of [Devilman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amon:%5FThe%5FDarkside%5Fof%5Fthe%5FDevilman?ref=aftermath.site) ever made, which is saying something. Jimmy Hapa’s breakdown of the game is a good guide. “What attracted me to start it was the fact that the game had such a unique style and setting and that nobody had seemed to take an interest in working on a translation patch,” lead hacker bigbanana23 stated. Others, like graphics lead vervalkon, hadn’t heard about the game at all before being contacted. Like many Japanese localizations, translating the game without breaking it was a difficult problem. “The scenario files were difficult to work with and required multiple layers of compression to fit all of the text into the original space to avoid having to completely reverse engineer them,” bigbanana23 said. The title cards had to be not only photoshopped so that the original text was removed, but redrawn from scratch, vervalkon told me. The original game has attacks that involve one character yelling Japanese text at the person, which the team replaced with anglicized versions of that profanity. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/data-src-image-163a2977-c0b5-4f84-af68-0c2d4514c3f0.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Noggin.webp) Aries' shout attacks are individually translated and broken up into English-ish phrases. But the strangest quirk of the game is that while most of the graphics used either 4bpp or 8bpp sprites, all the backgrounds used MDEC frames, which were usually reserved for cutscenes. “*London Spirit Detectives* used what would be analogous to ‘single frame FMVs,’ so to speak,” vervalkon said. “The backgrounds load fast, can have way more than 256 colors, but are ultimately very ugly and hard to work with.” It is an extremely rare and strange programming trick that they had only ever seen in [*Heart of Darkness*](https://gist.github.com/cyxx/210f4ece293d801fa5a208cfb795502b?ref=aftermath.site), in part because the drawbacks significantly outweigh the advantages. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6602.jpg) The game stores its backgrounds as what are functionally FMV frames. ## **The Old Fashioned Way** Like all the translations mentioned today, *London Spirit Detectives* is a labor of love. “*\*Note: Artificial intelligence tools were NOT used in the creation of this patch,*”Cabal Translations notes in their [repo of the patch](https://github.com/bigbanana23/london-seirei-tanteidan?ref=aftermath.site). This is becoming an increasing flashpoint in not just the world of translations, but also [emulation and decomps](https://readonlymemo.com/ps1-recompiled-progress-recompone-pixygarden-interview/?ref=aftermath.site). It is starting to creep aggressively into the MiSTer community, [sometimes using the work of devs that do work the old fashioned way](https://x.com/topapate/status/2072345385167618105?ref=readonlymemo.com). Though *London Spirit Detectives* hacker bigbanana23 doesn’t have an issue with AI per se from a hacking standpoint, he was skeptical of its effects on such a highly technical project. “If we come to rely on AI to do this type of thing, then not only do you lose out on an opportunity to develop yourself (programming, reverse engineering, analytical thinking etc.), but you also gradually reduce the base of people who properly understand the processes involved in the hobby.” Vervalkon also acknowledged that the issue is divisive within the community, and sees the advantage on solving problems like decompression, but he was overjoyed to work a team without it. “I was happy to work with such a professional team that we saw no need to use anything AI-powered, not for translating the strings nor on the technical side (hacking, graphics, data analysis, tools),” he told me. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/IMG_6601.jpg) For *Spirit Detectives* translator Aishsha, the impact of LLMs was more personal. “I’m a professional translator/interpreter by profession who lost tons of clients because they wanted AI to make it faster and cheaper, only to later come back with a request (to look through this mess pretty please),” he said, also noting that said clients got rebuked. “Enough to say, I saw many AI works that require even more translation after they have been ‘done.’ Not to mention that imho anything that can be done by a human should be done by a human unless you want their brains \[to\] eventually dry up completely - we ain't talking about piloting a rocket through the radiation of outer space here.” And while there is debatable utility in using LLMs for tooling, it has made covering this work increasingly fraught, and made it more difficult for hard work to stand out on its own without exclaiming that it is AI-free. Hilltop has done extensive talks on the topic of localization and ROM hacking, and had one of the more [concise blogs earlier](https://medium.com/@hilltopmailer/the-deadly-serious-part-time-unofficial-hobby-of-videogame-fan-translation-05850fb24e45?ref=aftermath.site) this year when the topic of AI translations came up surrounding a fan translation of *Segagaga* turning out to be a poorly machine translated mess. “\[The context of *Kowloon’s Gate*\] is something I personally just could not defer to an AI,” translator \_dk said, “especially considering the subject matter (feng shui and Taoist theory) is not adequately documented on the English internet for LLMs to scrape off of. Of course, that meant I had to get familiar with the other concepts in the game, from psychoanalysis to Christian iconography, but this is where having another human translator to communicate with makes the process engaging, and I would not trade that back-and-forth for the world if I am being honest." “I've seen the crazy lengths Hilltop went to to get [*Racing Lagoon*](https://www.patreon.com/hilltopworks/posts/racing-lagoon-58594184?ref=aftermath.site) working well,” SnowyAria told me, “or the dedication and research Cargodin and their team put into making *Kowloon's Gate* as perfect as possible. A vibe coder wouldn't go to the effort of making a release they could be proud of, one the community could look at with satisfaction.” “In art, you often run into the sentiment that ‘your art style is made from shortcuts.’ The way you problem solve, for better or worse, determines your entire identity on the paper,” translator Cargodin said. “I don't have anything clever to say to AI folks at this point. They've already decided that the words coming out of their mouths aren’t important.” And yet despite the flood of questionable projects out there, we are still currently in a golden era of fan translations. People still want to do the hard work of bringing unique and largely unknown experiences to new audiences. Sometimes they are beguiling and bizarre, other times they have aged well and remain oddly modern. But for all of that work, I’m thankful. “As long as the community doesn't settle for good enough,” SnowyAria said, “we'll have a long future of projects ahead of us!” ### Amazon Wants To Use Twitch Streams To Train AI URL: https://aftermath.site/amazon-twitch-generative-ai-training-streams-vods/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T21:45:43.000Z Twitch quietly announced that it is or intends to use videos livestreamed on its platform to train Amazon's generative AI models on Wednesday. There have [been rumors about this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/1vd0e8s/how%5Fdo%5Fyou%5Ffeel%5Fabout%5Fai%5Ftraining%5Fon%5Ftwitch/?ref=aftermath.site) in recent weeks, but the official confirmation comes by way of the [Twitch Support X account](https://x.com/TwitchSupport/status/2087572924450455558?ref=aftermath.site) informing streamers they can opt out of AI training. Twitch posted that the company will talk more about the announcement on its live show, streaming on Twitch on Wednesday afternoon. A crucial detail here is that generative AI training is turned on automatically for all Twitch accounts. One must opt out to stop Amazon from using their data to train what Twitch calls in its [FAQ](https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/twitch-account-settings?language=en%5FUS&ref=aftermath.site#FAQ) "future training of a model developed by Amazon whose purpose is to generate or synthesize text, audio, images, or video." You can opt out in [Twitch's security settings](https://www.twitch.tv/settings/security?ref=aftermath.site). The switch is under a heading labeled "Training for Generative AI." Twitch said in its FAQ that if you're not opting out, livestreams, chat, VODs, clips, highlights, "and any text or images on your Channel" are fair game. Typing in another Twitch streamer's chat is also being used, and their AI settings determine whether your words could be used for AI training. In clearer terms: If you have opted out of AI training, but your favorite Twitch streamer hasn't, anything you say in their chat can be used by Amazon. "When you allow training, that means that your content may be used for future Gen AI model improvements," Twitch wrote in its FAQ. "An example of what happens when you allow your content to be used for training a GenAI content model is that your audio might help refine models that create speech to text, which would help improve captions at Twitch but would also help improve captions across Amazon." Twitch also said in the FAQ that opting out doesn't mean Twitch won't use anything AI related: "Opting-out of training generative AI content models does not opt you out of all AI or machine learning uses at Twitch. For example, Twitch will still run AutoMod, which helps keep our community safe, but does not retain your data and use it to produce content. Twitch may also still use your data to run AI-supported features, like captions, which automatically generate captions for your Clips but does not retain your stream or your clips to train a model that can generate new content." Unsurprisingly, this feature is not going over well—not just that Amazon and Twitch are using streams to train AI, but that streamers are automatically opted in. Streamers have started passing around links to Twitch's User Voice forums, where people can suggest features. In May, one person shared an idea: "Make all AI features optional, and opt-out by default." [That suggestion has gotten 13,000 votes](https://twitch.uservoice.com/forums/923383-creators-and-stream-features/suggestions/51352369-make-all-ai-features-optional-and-opt-out-by-defa?ref=aftermath.site) and is growing rapidly since the announcement Wednesday. Streamers are flooding the comments after Wednesday's announcement in support of the suggestions; they don't want their content to be used to train Amazon's generative AI models. I'm sure the Twitch stream later today will go over fine! Aftermath reached out to Amazon and Twitch for comment. ### Everyone In American Psycho Talks Like They Have AI Psychosis URL: https://aftermath.site/american-psycho-bret-easton-ellis-ai-psychosis/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T17:56:56.000Z As a light summer read, I’ve been picking away at Bret Easton Ellis’s *American Psycho*. Beyond being one of the funniest books I’ve ever read, it’s weirdly prescient. What I mean is, everyone in this book talks like they have AI psychosis. *American Psycho* is a 1991 novel by Bret Easton Ellis, who is an extremely weird guy. It’s been celebrated as a vicious satire of 1980s consumer culture, and was turned into a really great movie in 2000\. In a long, rambling interview from 2010 with The Oregonian, Ellis explains that the titular psycho, Patrick Bateman, comes from a dark period of his own life. “It initiated because my own isolation and alienation at a point in my life,” Ellis [said about the novel](https://www.oregonlive.com/books/2010/07/qa%5Fbret%5Feaston%5Fellis%5Ftalks%5Fabo.html?ref=aftermath.site). “I was slipping into a consumerist kind of void that was supposed to give me confidence and make me feel good about myself but just made me feel worse and worse and worse about myself.” Reading this from Ellis isn’t entirely shocking—[he sucks big time](https://www.bookforum.com/print/2601/bret-easton-ellis-rages-against-the-decline-of-american-culture-20825?ref=aftermath.site)—but it is also weirdly familiar. In particular, isolation, alienation and that “consumerist void” is something that now gets filled with AI. Just look at this passage from *American Psycho* and tell me it doesn’t make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end: > “So how were the Bahamas?” I ask after we order. “You just got back right?” > “Well, Taylor,” Armstrong begins, staring at a point somewhere behind me and slightly above my head—on the column that has been terra-cotta-ized or perhaps the exposed pipe that runs the length of the ceiling. “Travelers looking for that perfect vacation this summer may do well to look south, as far south as the Bahamas and the Caribbean islands. There are at least five smart reasons for visiting the Caribbean including the weather and the festivals and events, the less crowded hotels and attractions, the price and the unique cultures. While many vacationers leave the cities in search of cooler climates during the summer months, few have realized that the Caribbean has a year-round climate of seventy-five to eighty-five degrees and that the islands are constantly cooled by the trade winds. It is frequently hotter north in…” Or take this one, from a chapter called “A Glimpse of a Thursday Afternoon.” > I pull away, horrified, stumbling uptown, toward home, but people, places, stores keep interrupting me, a drug dealer on Thirteenth Street who offers me crack and I blindly wave a fifty at him and he says “Oh, man” gratefully and shakes my hand, pressing five vials into my palm which I proceed to *eat whole* and the crack dealer stares at me, trying to mask his deep disturbance with an amused glare, and I grab him by the neck and croak out, my breath reeking, “*The best engine is in the BMW 750iL*.” Pretty much every conversation Patrick Bateman has is like this—copious but utterly surface level, a recitation of facts that add up to basically nothing. It’s chilling to realize this was written so long before the technology behind products like ChatGPT was even a possibility, and yet the sycophantic, inauthentic voice of AI is captured so perfectly. I’ve thought to myself that the popularity of an app that basically tells you that you’re right all the time must be in part because of how lonely people are. *American Psycho*, a very unsubtle book, hits you right over the head with the rot inherent in a capitalist society. The problems with America that created this book certainly have not gotten much better in the time since. ### Chasing Lilacs URL: https://aftermath.site/chasing-lilacs/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T00:02:35.000Z [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/9781843519768.webp)](https://www.lilliputpress.ie/products/ctrl-essays-on-video-games?ref=aftermath.site) The following is an excerpt from **CTRL: Essays on Video Games*, a book published by The Lilliput Press and edited by Dean Fee. [Learn more ](https://www.lilliputpress.ie/products/ctrl-essays-on-video-games?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Untitled-6-1.jpg) *Chasing Lilacs*, by Brenda Romero, is a personal history told through the lens of gaming. --- **1) House number.** The number 722 marks the address of the house on Montgomery Street. --- **2) Front porch steps.** Ted sits here and practises his guitar for hours a day. If he makes a mistake, he tilts his head and says, ‘Ah,’ as if he’s offended both Segovia and himself, and then he starts to play again. a) If you are four, you sit and watch him play. He stops playing Segovia and starts to play ‘Salty Dog’, one of your favourites. b) If you are ten, he asks you to sit as you walk up the stairs in front of him. He implores you: ‘Listen, little sister. Listen.’ You sit. The music of Segovia is the background music of your life, on the porch, in the living room, in his bedroom upstairs. You ask if he can play ‘Bennie and the Jets’, but he tells you that Elton John plays the piano and that song isn’t really meant for guitar. c) If you are fifteen, you sometimes decide to skip the steps and walk around on the other side of the car towards the back of the house so you don’t have to listen to Segovia or whatever he’s playing. Shouldn’t he have mastered it by now? d) If you are twenty, you are visiting home. You think of your brother, moved to Hawaii, and hear his music, even if he is no longer there. --- **3) Front door.** The space inside the front door can be called an entryway or foyer, but these words seem bigger than the space, so it is called ‘the front door’. a) If you are two, your father greets your older sister’s date at the door. He hands him a lead pipe and says, ‘Bend this, and you can take my daughter out’. The young man struggles with the pipe, fails to bend it, and hands it back to your father saying, ‘I don’t think it can be done, sir.’ Your father takes the pipe, bends it in a U with his powerful arms, muscles worked hard by a lifetime of labour, and hands it back to the young man. Closing the door, he walks back to the living room and sits down in front of the TV. Your sister, mortified, races out the front door trying to explain her father’s odd sense of humour. b) If you are four, you walk out the door holding the index finger of your father’s right hand. He is six feet four inches tall, so you stretch to reach it. Sometimes, he takes your whole hand and swings you back and forth on your walks to Swann’s Grocery to get penny candy from shelves behind the glass counter. c) If you are fifteen, you welcome your friends in to play board games. Tonight, it will be Monopoly with David, Kathy, Danny and Deb. At other times it has been Julie, Andy, Maureen, Patti, Mike and Chuck. Lisa and Lori, Carrie, Paul, Kathy and Karen. Deanna, Gokey, Sam, Tammy. d) If you are seventeen, you wake to a bang and your mother yelling, ‘Get out of here!’ You rush down the stairs to the front door to see her standing in her nightgown and robe, her hair dishevelled from sleep. She is scared, breathless, and tells you to call the police. --- **4) Stairs up.** The stairs are to your right as you walk in the front door. At the base of the stairs, there is a mirror. a) If you are three, you hear your father walk up the stairs, home from the night shift at the St Lawrence Psychiatric Centre, where he works in the powerhouse. He calls, ‘Who’s that sleeping in my bed!’ You throw yourself under the covers and hide behind your mother, but your laughter betrays your location. He scoops you up into his arms and cradles you into your own bed. b) If you are thirteen, you bound up and down the stairs spelling out the name of your first boyfriend, one letter per step. You think this brings you good luck. c) If you are sixteen, you kick a hole in the plaster of the wall. Your mother gets you up at 5 the following morning to replaster the wall. ‘You can have coffee when you’re done.’ --- **5) Living room recliners.** There are two recliners in the living room, one green and the other rust. a) If you are not yet born, your father sits in the living room chair in the dark. The front door is unlocked, and the windows are too. A string of break-ins have occurred, and he waits for the burglar to come in. What the police cannot solve, he plans to solve himself. b) If you are fifteen, your mother turns the channel to Johnny Carson at precisely 11 pm. She watches the monologue while drinking half a Genesee beer. When Carson is done, she caps the beer with plastic wrap and a rubber band and heads upstairs to bed. ‘C’mon Brenda,’ she says. --- **6) Couch.** Your mother upholsters and reupholsters the living room couch so many times that you no longer have a clear vision of it in your head. The colours of autumn seem the most common palette: rusts, mustards and burgundies. It has two throw pillows on it and an afghan, which your mother also crocheted. a) If you are three, your father lies on the couch, home from the hospital having had surgery on the varicose veins in his legs. He brought you a bag of goodies which you now bring back to him one goodie at a time: packets of jelly, salt, pepper and sugar, a plastic jug for water, spare bandages left over from the bandage rolls for his legs. You pretend to be a doctor and ask him, ‘How are you, Daddy? Are you OK?’ You put your hand on his forehead to take his temperature and wrap his arms in bandage rolls. ‘Don’t go anywhere,’ you tell him. ‘I will be right back’. b) If you are four, your father lies on the couch, tired and feeling out of sorts from shovelling snow off Mrs Santy’s roof. He falls from the couch to the floor. c) If you are fifteen, you sit on the floor between the couch and the coffee table to do your homework while watching MTV. Your brother, home for a visit, shakes his head and complains that music is for the ears and not the eyes. d) If you are seventeen, you sit on the floor between the couch and the coffee table and flip open a Playgirl magazine purchased from the corner deli. Your mother comes in, stops walking past, and gasps. She confiscates the magazine and tells you never to bring anything like that home again, how dare you. e) If you are eighteen, you are away at college and do not see your mother as she sleeps on the couch listening for someone trying to break in through the front door. --- **7) Dining room table.** A mahogany table and chairs are in the centre of the dining room. The table is usually bare, with occasional holiday displays for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the spring, it becomes an altar for a procession of lilac bouquets. a) If it is fifty years before you are born, the table is in another home. Dr and Mrs Redmond sit in its carved mahogany chairs enjoying their evening meal. They discuss getting a new dining set, having grown tired of this one and its matching mahogany sideboard. ‘What will we do with this one, then?’ Dr Redmond says. ‘Give it to the gardener?’ Mrs Redmond suggests. ‘He’s been good to us, and I am sure his wife would appreciate it.’ b) If it is forty-seven years before you were born, the table moves to your grandmother’s house. She polishes the mahogany tabletop before setting the table for Sunday dinner. She takes the Spode plates, also donated by the Redmonds, from the mahogany sideboard and sets the table for four. c) If you are ten, your grandmother asks you to polish the mahogany tabletop and set the table for eight. d) If you are fifteen, your grandmother has passed and the table is in your dining room. You play games here, Monopoly, Dungeons & Dragons, Trivial Pursuit, Kismet, and games you’ve made up. On New Year’s Eve, you polish the mahogany tabletop and set the table for two. e) If you are fifty-five, the table is in your home office in Ireland. On weekends, you polish the table and set it for one. --- **8) Front window seat.** Four windows – two up front and one to each side – surround a window seat that no one ever sits in. It is home to Christmas trees, televisions or plants. a) If you are not yet born, your father walks to the window and stands there in the dark, looking out at the empty street, hoping for the burglar to show himself. b) If you are four, you crawl under the window seat and hide. You leave the doors open, though, because you don’t want to hide in the dark. You fall asleep as you hold your Drowsy doll. Sometimes, you arrange pillows in there and pretend it’s a fort. c) If you are fifteen, the area under the window seat is stuffed with board games, some store-bought, some homemade. You pull them out on weekends to play with your friends. --- **9) Phone.** Similar to the front door (3), the phone room is named for the object in it that has the most utility, a beige phone with a ten-foot-long spiral cord. a) If you are three, your brother moves a piano, guitars, amps and a reel-to-reel stereo system into the room. He poses for a photo in front of the piano while holding a guitar. His hair is long and curly. b) If you are four, your mother calls an ambulance and then the Seymours, where you’re playing with Julie, your best friend. Mary Ellen, Julie’s mom, answers. ‘Keep Brenda over there,’ your mother says. ‘Something’s happened.’ Mary Ellen replies, ‘Jean?’ but by then your mother is off the phone. c) If you are fifteen, you spend night after night talking with friends, one friend after another. You still remember their numbers by heart. d) If you are seventeen, you call the police to report an attempted break-in. ‘He had a knife,’ you say. ‘He was trying to get in.’ The police ask if everyone is OK. ‘Yes,’ you say. ‘It’s just me and my mom here.’ The police are on their way to investigate. e) If you are twenty, you call the police to report an actual break-in. ‘No, no one was here. My mom is visiting my brother in Hawaii.’ The police are on their way to investigate. You look around and see evidence – drawers open, candles broken, papers on the floor. f ) If you are twenty-one, your mother calls a real estate agent to sell the house. She no longer feels safe alone here. --- **10) Stairs down.** The treads on the stairs leading down into the cellar are old, worn and uneven. They reveal the age of the house no matter how carefully your mother hides it under coats of paint and wallpaper. a) If you are ten, your mother sends you to the cellar to get her a can of beans from a wall shelf hallway down the stairs. Ascending, you must juggle the need to turn the light off – the cord is hallway down the stairs, too – with the need to climb the rest of the stairs. Ahead of you, there is light in the phone room (9). Below you and behind you, there is dark. You know nothing is actually in the cellar, no monsters, no apparitions, but the fear always gets you, and you race up the remaining stairs towards the light. b) If you are twelve, you stop to admire a nail in the stairs, a flat-hammered nail, from when the house was built. The official date given for the construction of the house is 1910\. ‘It might be earlier than that,’ your mom tells you. ‘That’s the year the city gave all the houses if they were old.’ c) If you are eighteen, your mother sends you to get a vase for the spring lilacs. You walk halfway down the stairs, turn on the light, find a big vase, turn off the light, and try to walk up the remaining stairs. You imagine something grabbing your leg – nothing is going to grab your leg; there is nothing in the cellar – but you race up the remaining stairs. --- **11) Kitchen.** The kitchen juts out into the garden. To your left, the appliances for storing, cooking, washing, preparing and cleaning form an L shape along the southern and western walls. A small maple table is in the centre of the room. a) If you are four, your mother is cooking when she hears a cascade of thuds – boom-ba-boom – what she thinks is snow sliding from the kitchen’s metal roof onto the ground below. There’s another sound, though – a voice? ‘George?’ She hears a sound, low and guttural. ‘George!’ Your mother runs in from the kitchen to the living room couch (6) to find your father in front of it on the floor clutching his chest. ‘George! George!’ She kneels beside him. ‘Oh my god!’ He can’t talk and moans in pain. She races for the phone and dials the ambulance. Hands tearing at his white undershirt, he grips his chest and arches his neck as he tries to pull air into his lungs. She cradles his head in her hands. ‘They’re coming, oh god, they’re coming. Oh, George. It will be… they’re coming. Honey, god no, please don’t, my god George, no.’ The police arrive first and wait for the volunteer ambulance, whose members must come first from their homes to the station and then from the station out to your father. b) If it is the following day, the table is full of casserole dishes covered in aluminium foil, each carried to the back door by sad-looking people. Some give you a dish and leave. Others touch you on the arm or caress your face with their gloved fingers. One after another, you carry the gifts of food to the table, some still warm. You don’t understand why people are giving food. c) If you are six, your brother makes candles in the kitchen. To thin the wax and make more candles, he adds water to the pot. Within minutes the water turns to steam, sending hot wax popping, lava-like, out of the pot and onto the stove, counter, walls and ceiling. You run for cover under the maple table and scramble out towards the phone. Your brother braves the wax, shuts off the gas, and searches for a lid. You laugh until you cry, and your brother does too. d) If you are twenty, you walk in the back door to check on the house to find the microwave on the kitchen table. ‘Why,’ you think, ‘is the microwave on the kitchen table?’ Then you see the Christmas candles broken in half, doors left open, their contents rifled. Room after room, drawer after drawer, it’s the same. Someone has broken in. e) If you are twenty-two, you find red wax under the cupboard closest to the stove. You leave the wax and hope it will still be there when you are old. --- **12) Back door.** Unlike the front door, which has become the name for an entire room, the back door is simply itself, a passage between the kitchen and the back porch. a) If you are three and it is the beginning of autumn, you open the door to see a deer gutted and hanging by its hindquarters. b) If you are four, you open the back door to see a woman holding a casserole dish. Pursing her lips, she hands it to you and says, ‘Give this to your mother, OK?’ You’re puzzled by this request, but agree, and bring the dish inside and set it on the kitchen table. c) If you are twenty, you open the back door to search the porch where the burglar broke in. There, you find a receipt with Paul B’s name on it, someone you know. You give it to the police, but they never make an arrest. Later, Paul B will be charged for a series of break-ins and attempted break-ins around town, all of them using a knife. d) If you are thirty, you think of that receipt when you see Paul B at an AA meeting. ‘Faith without works is dead,’ the Big Book says. You work it. --- **13) Lilacs.** In late March, the lilacs bud on two big trees whose leaves are visible from the northern and western windows. By April, the purple, lavender and white flowers cover the trees, and even the slightest breeze fills the house with their scent. a) If you are fifteen, you wash dishes after dinner, study in the evening, sleep on the couch after school, all of it while breathing lilacs. b) If you are thirty-five, you get a cutting of those lilacs from your sister, Mary Ann, who took a cutting herself when she moved away years ago. She brings it to you in Springfield, Massachusetts, and you plant it in your backyard, watering and willing it to grow and survive. In the spring, it rewards you with two leaves. When you move to Savannah, Georgia, a climate too warm, you leave the plant in Springfield to grow. You hope it makes it. c) If you are forty, you beg your sister to send you some lilacs to Savannah. You just need to smell them. You offer to pay for overnight delivery. She thinks it’s a ridiculous request, and it is, so she never sends them. d) If you are forty-five, you ask a jewellery artist you admire to make you a lilac necklace with one flower darker than the others so that you might remember your mom, your home, and the scent of lilacs that filled the house on a spring day. e) If you are forty-seven, you purchase four lilac trees to grow in your garden in the mountains near Santa Cruz, California. You get a few branches every year, never enough for a bouquet, but enough to tide you over year to year. A gardener asks if you are willing to take a large lilac tree from another client. ‘Yes,’ you exclaim. ‘Yes, of course.’ You hope for bushels of lilacs in your future. f ) If you are forty-eight, you stand in the garden taking a last look at your lilac trees. In the driveway, movers place boxes in a shipping container bound for Ireland. You cannot take the trees with you. g) If you are fifty-two, you back out of the driveway of your new house in Ireland and are surprised to see a single large lilac bloom on a low bush. You stop your car in the centre of the street, park it sideways there. You rush to the bush, cup the lilac in your hands, and breathe deep. ### Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Gushes About Elder Scrolls VI, Does Not Seem To Notice Giant Rat On Bethesda Office Lawn URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-asha-sharma-elder-scrolls-vi-bethesda-giant-rat/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T21:44:38.000Z Today [Xbox CEO Asha Sharma](https://aftermath.site/asha-sharma-microsofts-xbox-instacart-meta-pain-sponge-succesion/) took a trip to Bethesda Game Studios in Rockville, Maryland. She was welcomed with open arms, of a sort. Those arms belonged to [a giant inflatable version of Scabby](https://bsky.app/profile/kerrblimey.bsky.social/post/3msszkewdzk2r?ref=aftermath.site), a rat unions often install near locations where they’re protesting against poor labor practices. This is relevant because Microsoft recently took its shearing scissors to Xbox, [laying off 1,600 workers last month](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/) with another 1,600 to come at some currently undefined point (or points) in the future. Developers also planted red flags outside the studio, one to represent each laid-off Bethesda worker. “We heard that Microsoft leadership was coming to our office this week, and decided to make our presence visible at the office to show how our developers have been impacted by these devastating layoffs,” technical producer and union member Nathan Hahn said in a statement provided to Aftermath by CWA ([first posted by Game Developer's Chris Kerr](https://bsky.app/profile/kerrblimey.bsky.social/post/3msszqzk6ok2r?ref=aftermath.site)). “To show our presence," Hahn continued, "we put up posters around the office, but we were immediately told by management we couldn't have posters facing the outside of our cubes. Then, we brought in balloons so that they could see we were here, but inside our cubes this time. A separate team of laid off developers planted flags outside, one flag for each laid off dev. Each flag was a public reminder of how many people management cut from our teams—not just our colleagues and coworkers, but our friends at the end of the day.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260811_090124.jpg) CWA Previously, Bethesda workers were [forced to take down an in-office memorial](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/) to their unceremoniously dismissed colleagues. Since then, workers at Bethesda's Rockville location and other Microsoft-owned studios around the country have [demonstrated against](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/) the company's callous actions, with [another set of rallies to come on August 18](https://actionnetwork.org/event%5Fcampaigns/save-our-devs-actions?ref=aftermath.site). Sharma, who’s spent basically her entire tenure at Xbox [jingling keys in audiences’ faces](https://aftermath.site/xbox-microsoft-gaming-sharma/) and imploring them to [remember that thing they used to like](https://aftermath.site/fallout-5-bethesda-xbox-layoffs/), responded to all of this pretty much exactly as you’d expect. “Live playthrough of *The Elder Scrolls VI*: \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* this morning,” she [wrote on Twitter](https://x.com/asha%5Fshar/status/2087258678000779664?ref=aftermath.site). “The scale and grandeur are incredible. The story is even greater.” 0:00 /1:01 1× All the flags planted by workers (Credit: CWA) This continues what has quickly been established as a strategy: [Lean on nostalgia-friendly franchises](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-memo-layoffs-july-2026/) so heavily that they creak under the strain and hope that fans just move on from the part where numerous beloved [video game studios with decades of history have been hollowed out](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/). (All the nostalgia, of course, also serves as a convenient distraction from Microsoft's [complicity in an ongoing genocide](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-azure-arkane-israel-palestine-genocide/).) Last weekend’s annual QuakeCon in Grapevine, Texas was [another attempt at playing the hits as loudly as possible](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/thank-you-so-much-for-the-best-weekend-ever-the-id-software-gang-got-together-at-quakecon-and-it-sure-looks-like-everyone-had-a-great-time/?ref=aftermath.site), even though half the band is gone. Meanwhile, during [a recent podcast appearance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA64Ogzm%5FVU&ref=aftermath.site), Chris Hays, lead services programmer at *Doom* and *Quake* developer id Software, gave his appraisal of how things feel behind the scenes, saying that “morale has never been lower.” "It is hard to make a game that is triple-A—that is like we've done before—with half the people. And by hard, I mean impossible,” Hays said. “We're not the same id. We're half the same id. It was the people; what made us special was the people and the relationships that we have. It's not the IP. Our name doesn't matter. It was the relationships we built and the experience that we had together." ## Recommended [Game Workers Rally Against Microsoft Layoffs: ‘Corporate Greed Is Destroying Our Games And Our Livelihoods’Former and current workers and supporters rallied outside ZeniMax offices across the US and Canada to protest Microsoft’s latest cuts![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-c50ce841-8ae8-4cb0-a114-5bd516a8270f.png)AftermathMikhail Klimentov![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_2638--1--2-1-1-1-aa4d1e99-7fd0-43e5-bbc7-82275b62b37d.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/) ### Killer Mike Is Beefing With A Youtuber, For Some Reason URL: https://aftermath.site/killer-mike-fd-signifier-red-bull-freestyle-beef-diss/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T17:14:12.000Z Killer Mike is a rapper who will always have my respect for being one of the last real MCs. Unless he’s sharing a track with my actual favorite rapper of all time, [Andre 3000](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU0SmxKucCw&list=RDkU0SmxKucCw&start%5Fradio=1&pp=ygUWa2lsbGVyIG1pa2UgYW5kcmUgMzAwMKAHAQ%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site), he’s guaranteed to have the best verse on a track in his two-man group, Run The Jewels, or on a feature-packed song off the muscle and wit of his wordplay and cadence. It's a shame that he just did the lamest shit imaginable for a man of his stature: beef with a YouTuber. On August 4th, Red Bull—a brand I’m increasingly forgetting sells energy drinks—uploaded a YouTube video titled Red Bull Spiral Freestyle featuring Mike and fellow Atlanta rappers T.I. and his son, Domani. Like any other freestyle video, it saw the trio of MCs hop on a beat (produced by DJ Toomp) and spit a flow off the top of the dome in a single take. Despite Red Bull’s branded freestyles being a bit of a departure from the all-in-good-fun carnival trick of the sport with beef-adjacent vitriol uttered in barbs—like [Joey Bada$$ and Ab-Soul](https://youtu.be/jp3PLPkjmco?list=RDjp3PLPkjmco&ref=aftermath.site) in the wake of East Coast vs West Coast feistiness from Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s beef in a Spiral Freestyle from last year—they kept it rap, dapped it up, and it was all love. What can I say, Black people love a [healthy dose of roast culture](https://youtu.be/TB5V09Uws20?ref=aftermath.site). Mike, however, started out the freestyle airing out the room through subliminal bars that appear to be lobbied at a political YouTuber and fellow Atlantan F.D Signifier for routinely calling him out for his savior complex as an out-and-proud “Black” capitalist. If you were to have watched the Red Bull freestyle, ignorant of their beef, you might’ve thought Mike’s freestyle was your usual fare of a rapper puffing out his chest and listing all of his accomplishments and the tables he has a seat at with important people as the kind of Black Excellence culture marker young black boys should aspire to. And the Atlanta native raps that he has direct contact with Mayor Andre Dickens, who, while he was a councilman, [awarded Mike his own holiday](https://www.vice.com/en/article/monday-17-july-michael-killer-mike-render-day-atlanta/?ref=aftermath.site) for his music, entrepreneurial work, and for “informally being an ambassador for Atlanta,” according to Vice. Whether Mike has Dickens on speed dial to put anyone he has beef with “in the flames” of the mayor has yet to be seen, but the opening bar accomplishes its goal of flexing by showing that his riches and successes prove he can keep doing what he’s doing—getting richer and associating with people in positions of power. And because he posits that all his supposed philosophical adversary can do is yap and complain online without having enough motion in pinkied-up circles to financially give anything back—going band for band, as it were—to prove they’re making a difference, they don’t mean shit to him. It’s a lukewarm sentiment, enough that the millionaire rapper was flexing on his peers. But, again, he’s beefing with a YouTuber. > “Man, Imma keep it a buck/Imma keep getting rich as fuck/I give a damn or a fuck about your opinions of us” Mike’s freestyle led to many in the Black breadtuber space, if there is such a thing, to believe his not-so-subliminal disses were aimed at [F.D Signifier](https://www.youtube.com/@FDSignifire?ref=aftermath.site). Our evidence is quite a connecting of the dots. In between having white folks put down the [Hasan Piker](https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-bipartisan-house-resolution-candace-owens/) videos for a second and hearing an opinion from a Black perspective, Signifier has released plenty of video essays explicitly mentioning Mike [time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEXq2spIHhE&pp=ygUfZi5kLiBzaWduaWZpZXIgYmxhY2sgY2FwaXRhbGlzdA%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site), [and time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx6tseoM%5Fu0&t=2369s&pp=ygUdZmQgc2lnbmlmaWVyIGJsYWNrIGNhcGl0YWxpc20%3D&ref=aftermath.site), and [time again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2S05eFpp8g&t=1s&pp=ygUfZi5kLiBzaWduaWZpZXIgYmxhY2sgY2FwaXRhbGlzdA%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site) about how Black capitalism won’t be a gateway toward Black liberation. In fact, F.D has gone so far as to specifically title a video “The Problem with Killer Mike,” critiquing how Mike’s been moving lately with the guiding principle of the Black buying power myth—an ideology a seven year old or [Jay-Z might foster](https://www.gq.com/story/jay-z-cover-interview-april-2026?ref=aftermath.site). Killer Mike believes the solution to the political diaspora experienced by impoverished Black communities is to simply buy the land around them and act as their own masters. FD’s also called Mike out for being noticeably silent during police brutality protests. Mike was front and center on CNN alongside Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Police Chief Erika Shields, and fellow Atlanta rap star T.I. in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police officers with the capital message for citizens: “[don’t burn your house down](https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/30/us/killer-mike-atlanta-protest-rapper-trnd?ref=aftermath.site).” Riveting. What makes the matter all the more grating is that we have a hallowed MC spitting capitalist bars in the big 2026, not in a beef with another rapper but with a YouTuber. > “The fuck has you done/Beside let your dicksuckers run bout us cause we rich and famous/top of the back of the list/Move like a capitalist /I’m moving capital, bitch/A rapper’s word gets heard and helps to moves policy under state capital, bitch.” All that to say, their beef, if it could be called that, has been brewing for three years now. But as someone who had Mike’s Netflix documentary about legalizing cannabis carted out to me in college classes, he gave the air that he’s willing to walk into situations with an open mind to hear what the other side has to say, even if it betrays his first instincts or notions. And, with Signifier’s videos coming from a tough-love perspective as an educator, they were less callous shakedowns than[ Dr. Jared Ball-style](https://youtu.be/aRpOFdE8FRs?ref=aftermath.site) teaching moments that reach across the aisle to opposing viewpoints. Instead of taking it in stride, Killer Mike made a subliminal diss track against a breadtuber calling himself the “Negro Magneto.” Brotha, I nearly cringed out of my skin hearing that goofy as fuck bar uttered in full confidence against a YouTuber. > [@complex](https://www.tiktok.com/@complex?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@complex") > > Noname reflects on her back-and-forth with J. Cole and reveals they've been in touch [#noname](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/noname?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "noname") [#jcole](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/jcole?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "jcole") > > [♬ original sound - Complex - COMPLEX](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-Complex-7294391955927223082?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ original sound - Complex - COMPLEX") Diss tracks in rap beefs have historically tended to clear the air and provide reprieve for all parties involved, regardless of whose side their audience is on. Granted, some hate is eternal, as is the case with [Kendrick Lamar and Drake](https://aftermath.site/kendrick-lamar-drake-anime-naruto-bleach-one-piece/). But not all beefs go the diametrically opposed route. More often than not, beefs end with a burying of the hatchet where both sides agree that they had some healing to do once the dust had settled from lobbing scathing poems at each other. We saw it when [Jay-Z and Nas](https://www.complex.com/music/a/dimassanfiorenzo/jay-z-nas-rap-beef-history?ref=aftermath.site) performed together on stage decades after [one of the biggest rap beefs](https://www.complex.com/music/a/dimassanfiorenzo/jay-z-nas-rap-beef-history?ref=aftermath.site) in history. We also saw it with [J. Cole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZa3HyVLimQ&list=RDOZa3HyVLimQ&start%5Fradio=1&pp=ygUQai4gIGNvbGUgbm8gbmFtZaAHAQ%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site) and [Noname](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZDLtB0a6ck&list=RDXZDLtB0a6ck&start%5Fradio=1&pp=ygUQai4gIGNvbGUgbm8gbmFtZaAHAQ%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site), two rappers who had absolutely no reason to beef but did anyway over how Black privileged artists should operate to better serve their communities—coincidentally also during the Black Lives Matter protests. Their beef ended with [both sides ](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/j-cole-noname-snow-on-tha-bluff-1016477/?ref=aftermath.site)admitting the whole thing was [silly in retrospect](https://pitchfork.com/news/noname-on-dissing-j-cole-in-song-33-i-am-not-proud-of-myself-for-responding/?ref=aftermath.site), that they had some growing to do, and expressed a willingness to learn more from one another. And on the low, I feel that experience helped Cole go on to display a level of humility rarely seen in rap when he bowed out of Drake and Lamar’s beef by pulling his diss track, “7 Minute Drill,” from streaming platforms, and called his hollow display of bravado “[the lamest shit I ever did in my fucking life](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/j-cole-kendrick-lamar-apology-diss-track-1235000447/?ref=aftermath.site).” And here Killer Mike is beefing with a YouTuber. I can only hope Killer Mike wises up to how dissing a YouTuber in a rap freestyle—as if folks are supposed to expect a diss track from F.D Signifier in kind—was the lamest shit he’s done, a pile of wack shit he’s gotten up to in his boneheaded conflation of opulence with outreach. I’m talking hit dog hollering goofiness. Leave that sucker shit to [Drake beefing with Anthony Fantano](https://variety.com/2022/music/news/drake-anthony-fantano-beef-feud-explained-1235374908/?ref=aftermath.site) over Instagram DMs, fam. ## Recommended: [The Bell Finally Tolls For Tyler PerryAnd lo, we are free from Madea’s reign.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-4445223e-9528-485e-b829-154ab468b741.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/madea-tyler-perry-47b9ac2a-23b7-42e8-b18a-d0d9052cbd35.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/the-bell-finally-tolls-for-tyler-perry/) ### Watching An Irish Language Game Show Has Given Me An Existential Crisis About Game Shows URL: https://aftermath.site/irish-game-show-an-deis/ Last updated: 2026-08-12T17:13:51.000Z For a while now I’ve been trying to learn the Irish language, one of the big challenges of which is that, as an American, I just don’t encounter it much in my daily life. Putting any [video game](https://aftermath.site/games-from-ireland-steam/) I can in the language has been one way, but I also watch a lot of TV on the Irish language channel TG4\. TG4 recently added an Irish language game show, *An Deis*, and I am as obsessed with the idea of a game show in Irish as I am with what the hell it’s doing as a game. [*An Deis*](https://www.tg4.ie/en/search/?s=an+deis&ref=aftermath.site) (meaning “the chance” or “the opportunity”) is [based on a Welsh language show](https://www.s4c.cymru/en/press/post/new-entertaining-game-show-format-for-s4c-and-tg4-brings-a-dose-of-celtic-luck-to-prime-time?ref=aftermath.site) (*Y Deis)* of the same format. Three teams compete in trivia rounds, but the twist is that major portions of the gameplay are controlled by two oversized dice that roll in a machine placed center stage. In the first round, the dice decide how much progress a question is worth toward moving on to round two. In round two, the color of each die triangulates a position on a board that dictates how much money a question is worth. In the final round, players themselves get to roll the dice to determine the size of the jackpot (in Irish, delightfully, “pota óir,” or “pot of gold”) they’re playing for. A game show has actually been a great way to work on my Irish, which I didn’t expect. For one, the written questions show up on the screen, helping me try to understand them better. Sometimes I’ll pause the show to try to parse out the questions, and other times I’ll use the answers to try to help me get the gist. The game show format also helps because the host repeats the same rules and catch phrases every episode, so there’s a couple phrases I’ve managed to pick up that, while they probably won’t prove useful in real life, are at least helping me make some middling improvement to my absolutely abysmal listening comprehension skills. Since you are probably not learning Irish and so don’t care about any of that, I am utterly fascinated by what this game is as a game. I don’t watch a lot of game shows, but the ones I have seen are strictly American. So it’s utterly baffling to watch a game show from a different country, where the cultural mores and what is considered game show-appropriate knowledge are totally different. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-11-at-10.10.26---AM-1.png) To me, the range of questions is absolutely nuts. In one episode, one team was asked who starred in the movie *Barbie*, while the next team was asked which crop [Jean Nicot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean%5FNicot?ref=aftermath.site) introduced to France in the 16th century. One team can be asked whether a ciabatta is a soup or a sandwich, while another can get a question about a specific word from South Africa or how old Tatum O’Neal was when she won her first Oscar. There are a lot of questions about Irish geography, mythology, and literature (fair enough), as well as a ton of what I feel like are very specific questions about Irish sports like rugby and hurling, like how old a certain player is or how many points they’ve scored over their lifetime. (I was delighted, in one episode, by a team of two Irish language TikTokers debating knowledgeably and at length about the question “Who led the Connacht army in Táin Bó Cualinge?” They ultimately got it wrong, though.) In the final round, a team is split in half and has to answer questions by themselves, and it was sometimes head-spinning to watch one person get questions about pop culture while the other was asked about science or international airport codes or the total sum of all the slots on a roulette wheel. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-11-at-10.09.17---AM-1.png) I wondered if some of the very Irish questions were a result of who one would assume would be on an Irish language game show. There were several teams of Irish language influencers or people who worked at Irish language organizations, and an early episode featured a man who’d translated the board games *Monopoly* and *Scrabble* into Irish. But there were just as many sort of random folks, including one guy who’d moved over from America and had only been learning Irish for a couple years. (He told the host that he can understand Irish but can’t read or write it, which as someone who can only do the opposite made me both jealous and a little shocked.) My favorite team was a couple of glam rock-looking boys who kept winning largely due to the show’s dice structure, which is the other fascinating thing about this game. I get the *concept* of the dice, and they do add an interesting level of chance. In the first round, a team can answer less questions than the others correctly but still proceed, because they get higher rolls and thus more steps toward passing than teams that get less lucky. The second round honestly took me a couple of episodes to wrap my head around, though this isn’t strictly the fault of the dice: in addition to the two dice determining which square players land on, they also lose all their money if they land on certain squares, or if they land on *other* squares, they can steal half the other team’s money. It’s just a *lot* going on, and the host sometimes had to clarify it in the middle of the game. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Screenshot-2026-08-11-at-10.17.15---AM-1.png) The dice don’t matter much in the third round, outside of rolling for the size of the jackpot. This is another thing I find charming about this game, as teams were often competing for something around 1500 euro, far smaller than the kinds of jackpots you see in American game shows. I can’t imagine the show has much money to throw around, but it was still sort of hilarious to see players taking home a few hundred euro for a successful run. My biggest complaint is that while the *concept* of the dice plays a big role in the show, the actual rolling isn’t all that important, so it’s unfortunate that the dice roll around in their machine simply *forever*. A few episodes in I’d started fast forwarding through the rolls because they take so goddamn long. I started assuming it was the nature of the machine, that it needed to build up a certain speed in order to fling the dice; the time adds to the drama of how the dice will affect players’ fates, but it’s far more gripping to watch players answer questions. The show definitely knows what vibe it’s going for, but because of how long the dice roll, the focus feels like it’s set on just the wrong place often enough to make things feel a little weird instead of dramatic. My biggest takeaway from *An Deis* is a renewed appreciation for how culturally specific game shows are, which I had never considered much before. A lot of American game shows feel like they’re played for life-changing sums of money and lean in on people’s stories, how they overcame hardship to learn trivia or how they’re desperate for a new mini-van or washing machine. By contrast, everything here felt very modest, with no tearful or heated moments; at one point, a father-daughter team could have stolen another team's money and won, but declined and lost instead. I don’t know how much of the show's particular vibe was the niche of the show being on the Irish language TV channel, or just the nature of game shows in other countries where people have to rely less on big breaks in order to simply live, but it definitely made me think more about how *gross* so many American game shows are at their core. You can watch the whole thing for free on TG4’s website if you’re curious. My biggest takeaways, beyond now badly wanting to read a book about the role of game shows in our shared cultural imagination (recommendations, please; this must exist), is so many questions about what makes a “good” or “bad” game show; there’s a non-zero chance one of you reading this is a game show designer, in which case, please get at me. *An Deis* has also made me more confident with the Irish words for “right” and “wrong,” something I imagine will serve me well as I progress in my studies and keep getting everything wrong. ### WesterosCentral Memes Were The Real MVP Of House Of The Dragon Season 3 URL: https://aftermath.site/house-of-the-dragon-season-3-finale-memes/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T19:14:21.000Z Despite the girls [fighting on-screen](https://www.vulture.com/article/house-of-the-dragon-s3-finale-alicent-rhaenyra-ending-explained.html?ref=aftermath.site) and [behind the scenes](https://gizmodo.com/george-r-r-martin-blogs-a-melancholy-life-update-2000794413?ref=aftermath.site) over [creative liberties](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-of-the-dragon-seasson-finale-targaryen-book-change-1236669847/?ref=aftermath.site) taken in the *Game of Thrones* prequel, *House of the Dragon*, its third season was top-notch television in my book. I could wax poetic about how the second season of any show is historically a slump, how the poison drips through in its incestuous family drama, or how [Sir Christian Cole](https://aftermath.site/i-fucking-hate-ser-criston-cole-house-of-the-dragon/) finally gave me a reason to [throw something on the grill](https://gizmodo.com/fabian-frankel-is-surprised-by-the-reaction-to-criston-coles-house-of-the-dragon-demise-2000793022?ref=aftermath.site). Instead, I wanna celebrate by going online and checking out all the memes. Like its predecessor and [spin-off](https://aftermath.site/a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-hbo-game-of-thrones/), *House of the Dragon*’s real selling point is that it's a soap opera where the whole house is mad and treats their dragons like high-fantasy dog fights. It’s why [Saturday Night Live alumni Leslie Jones](https://www.buzzfeed.com/shylawatson/because-i-know-you-already-miss-game-of-thrones-heres-a?ref=aftermath.site) became a social media icon with her hilarious live reactions to *Game of Thrones* season 8, treating every episode like new gossip at a funeral, and it's that same spirit the fandom has been so fun to take part in. I, too, am not immune to the predilection for rubbernecking at some tea that’s not mine on a weekly basis. Suffice it to say, [remembering exactly what happened](https://gizmodo.com/10-things-to-remember-about-house-of-the-dragon-ahead-of-season-3-2000769766?ref=aftermath.site) in the two-year interim between its second and third season—and the confusion over who is loyal to the Habsburg blonde babies with the [same damn namesake](https://gizmodo.com/targaryen-names-house-of-the-dragon-game-of-thrones-1849462873?ref=aftermath.site) on [“Team Black” and “Team Green”](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a61141139/house-of-the-dragon-greens-blacks-sides-explained/?ref=aftermath.site)—was a trial and a half getting back into season 3\. Thankfully, a parody Twitter account helped make sense of it all by taking the show’s baked-in sports analogy to its logical conclusion: NBA memes. > The Lakers informed the league Bronny James is being held for ransom until LeBron James returns. > > (Via [@LakersLead](https://x.com/LakersLead?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site)) [pic.twitter.com/EzrjDj67r8](https://t.co/EzrjDj67r8?ref=aftermath.site) > > — NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) [July 4, 2026](https://x.com/TheNBACentel/status/2073540064705953927?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [NBACentel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBACentel?ref=aftermath.site) is a Twitter account best described as [The Onion](https://bsky.app/profile/theonion.com/post/3mgv3inlgve2v?ref=aftermath.site) or [DiscussingFish](https://x.com/DiscussingFish/status/2076036224754573575?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) of sports news. The account—a spoof of the real news aggregator account “not affiliated with the National Basketball Association,” [NBA Central](https://x.com/TheDunkCentral?lang=en&ref=aftermath.site)—posts about athletes, taking the piss out of them with spoofs of what they said during a post-game press conference, the status of their contracts, or trash talk on the court. Often, NBACentel posts are [mistaken for the genuine article](https://www.complex.com/sports/a/treyalston/shaq-kevin-hart-play-nba-centel-or-central?ref=aftermath.site), leading followers, celebrities, and players alike to admit to being [“Centel’d.”](https://x.com/KDTrey5/status/1845841673949188333?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) > Tough first showing from the longtime free agent [pic.twitter.com/FJDmnvWjHV](https://t.co/FJDmnvWjHV?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [June 22, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2069062992738553939?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) As with any successful joke on the internet, *House of the Dragon* has its doppelganger of NBACentel, dubbed [WesterosCentral](https://x.com/WesterosCentral?ref=aftermath.site). Named after the central setting of author George R.R. Martin’s epic, the parody account, which is “not affiliated with the Iron Throne,” has amassed over 143,000 followers by cracking the same type of jokes about the HBO show. Every week, I’ve beelined it to Twitter to check out what new assortment of memes WesterosCentral has concocted after *House of the Dragon*’s ten-episode season. Without fail, WesterosCentral got a good laugh out of me, regaling *House of the Dragon*’s ensemble like an all-star playing at the NBA Finals, highlighting their characters’ triumphs, double-crosses, and fumbles in sports-nomenclatured memes. Here are some of my favorite posts of the season (spoilers, duh): > [pic.twitter.com/JTS0cVcOYw](https://t.co/JTS0cVcOYw?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [June 22, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2068881101024624843?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > [https://t.co/up6S2X9uuW](https://t.co/up6S2X9uuW?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/8j5c918tg3](https://t.co/8j5c918tg3?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [June 22, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2068888758355648686?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Daemon Targaryen put on an absolute SHOW in the takeover of King’s Landing 😳😳😳 [pic.twitter.com/woaGgZK4Md](https://t.co/woaGgZK4Md?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [June 29, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2071418718807068833?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > 😬😬😬 [pic.twitter.com/ykHFjp4Ity](https://t.co/ykHFjp4Ity?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [June 30, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2071996225390313474?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > [pic.twitter.com/3KlXFyVO0u](https://t.co/3KlXFyVO0u?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [July 27, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2081572558608966015?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > BREAKING — Sheepstealer is out indefinitely (got ass beat), per Shams Charania [https://t.co/Sd7VHx3UV9](https://t.co/Sd7VHx3UV9?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/qsoocjSNhe](https://t.co/qsoocjSNhe?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [August 3, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2084092825080156384?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Will Mysaria be able to turn things around? 😬😬😬 [pic.twitter.com/C8FZIjZCIH](https://t.co/C8FZIjZCIH?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [August 5, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2084987820574167546?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > BREAKING — Ulf is fighting for, well, unclear [https://t.co/7jFgzCjBjf](https://t.co/7jFgzCjBjf?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/4kcqszwKtr](https://t.co/4kcqszwKtr?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [August 10, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2086636594182688908?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > [pic.twitter.com/pkX22PIv5o](https://t.co/pkX22PIv5o?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [August 10, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2086632097377132587?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Brutal showing after brutal showing for the “Queen of Bastards” [pic.twitter.com/CXuR5Diogi](https://t.co/CXuR5Diogi?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Westeros Central (@WesterosCentral) [August 10, 2026](https://x.com/WesterosCentral/status/2086647559083221477?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) There’s nothing more beautiful than the internet being used the way it was intended: seeing the collective consciousness gang together to razz a television show everyone’s watching on a weekly basis. Seeing it happen with *House of the Dragon*’s third season, with folks taking the highfalutin and occasionally dense lore of Martin’s books down to Earth in the most “imagine a cheeseburger” way possible through sports analogies is worth all the gold in the Seven Kingdoms, and I look forward to seeing everyone in 2028 for [*House of the Dragon*’s fourth and final season](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2026/08/10/house-of-the-dragon-season-4-release-date/91193781007/?ref=aftermath.site) to meme again. ## Recommended: [We Should Use Social Media The Same Way Manga Authors Write About Their WeekWhy ragebait and engagement farm when you could be posting about receiving head pats from your dentist?![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-81b61371-7621-4095-84e3-1a34d1adf71f.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Weekly-Shonen-Jump-060c409a-7da6-41d4-9bb8-bc1d050312af.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/weekly-shonen-jump-author-comments-social-media-sucks/) ### Players Are Already Beating Big Walk Without All The Big Walking URL: https://aftermath.site/big-walk-speedruns/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T16:18:02.000Z While my group meandered and lost each other in *Big Walk*, we talked about how excited we were to see what speedrunners would get up to with the game. I’ve been keeping my eye on the leaderboards since; while the scene is still developing, runners are already finding ways to do as little big walking as possible. ***Spoilers follow for the end of* Big Walk.** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/bgisp.jpg) This is me, boosting you away from the spoilers. (House House) [Speedrun.com](https://www.speedrun.com/Big%5FWalk%5F?ref=aftermath.site) currently has entries in two categories for solo speedruns of the game, “Big Goodbye Unrestricted” and “Big Goodbye Flightless.” These runs both provide the answer to a question that came up in [my group](https://www.ign.com/articles/big-walk-review?ref=aftermath.site) after we’d played through the game’s final (or semi-final?) tower of puzzles: Could you skip the whole game and just big walk yourselves to the end? Apparently, yes. The final area is gated off by a big green wall and a gate that requires a key, which itself requires getting all the other keys, but speedrunners have already found ways around all that. In the current world-record “[Unrestricted](https://www.speedrun.com/Big%5FWalk%5F/runs/ylwq5vkz?ref=aftermath.site)” run, player OLIVERb beats *Big Walk* in 8:37 by grabbing a light orb in the opening area and then using a glitch to fly over the map. The [glitch seems to work](https://www.reddit.com/r/BigWalk/comments/1vgzbqk/big%5Fjump/?ref=aftermath.site) by continuously picking up and dropping an item while jumping (player Chocler has a [tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk0T-oYgCu4&ref=aftermath.site) if you want to try it for yourself, though they say they believe it only works on keyboard). Oliver then simply flies past the entire game world until they can trigger the ending screen. In the “[Flightless](https://www.speedrun.com/Big%5FWalk%5F/runs/m747xg4m?ref=aftermath.site)” run, player BowBeau picks up a football in the starting area and uses its collision to clip out of the map. (Player hoppy has [a few more details](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKfLLhr0xKk&ref=aftermath.site) on how this seems to work.) This eventually dumps them back into the game world, where they have to walk for a while before using the same trick of holding an item to clip out of bounds again and get around the big green wall. Then, they enter the puzzle tower, use another item to clip out of that, and walk through the game-ending door for a current world record time of 10:33. In the delightful, weirdo nature of speedrunning, I love that both of these make the entire point of the game moot. And I also love that it’s technically a way to play the game solo, though you aren’t really *playing* the game as such. I have no doubt speedrunners will figure out how to play more of the multiplayer-only game on their own; one has already figured out [how to get up ledges](https://www.speedrun.com/Big%5FWalk%5F/forums/i5ntj?ref=aftermath.site) that would traditionally require a second player to boost you, and another has sorted out how to beat some early-game puzzles [solo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHknYs1KiZU&ref=aftermath.site). I’m most curious to see how fast players will be able to beat the game in the more “traditional” way by actually playing through the puzzles. Runners are working on it; the current leader for a two-player glitchless run is a little over an hour and a half, by players [Che\_Da and RNGTime64](https://www.speedrun.com/Big%5FWalk%5F/runs/yw7knk3z?ref=aftermath.site): I imagine with the maximum number of players and some good planning, a group could divide and conquer the map pretty handily to beat the game without relying on glitches or tricks. That’s the kind of thing I’m most curious to see, because it relies on skills that make sense to me, as opposed to the wonderful, bizarre things speedrunners do that often baffle me even in games I’m super familiar with. There are a bunch of as-yet-unrecorded categories on the speedrunning boards, so I’m excited to see what else speedrunners figure out. [Games Done Quick’s Long, Difficult Journey To A Better Gaming FutureProgress isn’t linear, and there are no skips or shortcuts![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-808d12cf-98f8-4da6-a783-50376c4e93b5.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gdq5-56685cca-470e-4764-8a4c-0f30e27cc94d.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/games-done-quick-gdq-speedrunning-community-trans-rights/) ### Denshattack Rules URL: https://aftermath.site/denshattack-impressions-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T19:46:40.000Z Has there ever been a clearer and purer game pitch than "[Tony Hawk but you’re a train](https://aftermath.site/denshattack-demo-steam-switch/)"? *Denshattack* is a game I have been both playing a lot of but also thinking about a lot. About how fun it is, yes, but also about how it's so clearly a game about a weird strain of nostalgia, a heavy word in video games (and the wider culture) these days, but one *Denshattack* is able to sail right past like a speeding train on a grinding rail. Where so much video game nostalgia has us[ pining for eras in time](https://aftermath.site/mixtape-review-game-90s/), or[ squeezing the life out of decades-old intellectual properties](https://aftermath.site/ocarina-of-time-remake-nintendo/), or even just paying direct homage to the genres of yesterday, *Denshattack* feels like a glimpse both backwards and forwards at once, into a better timeline than our own. One where, instead of witnessing stuff like mass layoffs and the slow and agonising death of Xbox, we're all celebrating this as a launch title for the Dreamcast 4. Which OK, is not the strict definition of nostalgia. Maybe we need a different word, one for looking back then pining for a present we never had, something that speaks to the past and draws a line forwards from there. Because I didn't idly name-drop the Dreamcast there; this feels absolutely like a Dreamcast game in all the best ways imaginable, just one that has become something a bit more modern, while losing none of what makes a label like that special. There's a frantic, joyous energy to *Denshattack*, which is actually simpler than the 'Tony Hawk But Train' pitch above, because at least in Tony Hawk you had some freedom of movement. Here you're on rails nearly the entire time--you're driving a train, that's how they work--but what you lose in exploration and 360-degree skating you gain in the precision thrill of an on-rails platformer, and the never-ending assault on your senses because there is *wild shit happening on the screen at all times*. I don't know the last time I played a video game and said "oh that is fucking *cool*" out loud so often. It happens multiple times per level! You can pull off a combo of sick jumps and grinds and spins, only to have the track explode beneath you while you fall into a mountain, only to then blast out of the mountain and have to surf on some waves, only to then land in a ruined city where there are giant robots smashing around the place. There are colours *everywhere*, everything is going **POW** and **WOW** and you're doing skating moves the whole time through and man, it just puts a smile on my face the whole time. Look at this! Fuck, it's so good! Go play it, it rules. ### Restart, Walmart's Gaming Site, Lays Off Entire Editorial Team URL: https://aftermath.site/restart-layoff-walmart-moonrock/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T19:45:59.000Z Restart, a games outlet funded by Walmart, was hit by widespread layoffs today. According to affected staffers, the site’s entire editorial team has been let go. “So we found out this morning that everyone - myself included - from Restart's editorial staff has been let go,” wrote news editor Imran Khan on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/imrankhan.bsky.social/post/3msjbnppvgs24?ref=aftermath.site). Editor-in-chief [Brandy Berthelson](https://bsky.app/profile/brandyberthelson.bsky.social/post/3msjehfgngc2d?ref=aftermath.site) wrote that “The entire editorial team at Restart, myself included, was laid off today. With that, my time in games media has also come to an end.” Associate editor [Jesse Vitelli](https://bsky.app/profile/mamavitelli.bsky.social/post/3msjbx77d2s2u?ref=aftermath.site), deals writer [Myles Obenza](https://bsky.app/profile/mylesobenza.bsky.social/post/3msjc5tsq2c2l?ref=aftermath.site), and senior editor [Henry Stenhouse](https://bsky.app/profile/hensten.bsky.social/post/3msjevkkqe22e?ref=aftermath.site) also confirmed the layoffs on social media. In addition to five editorial staffers, there are also five people listed as management on [Restart’s masthead](https://www.restart.run/about-us?ref=aftermath.site). Aftermath has reached out to some members of management—as well as Moonrock, the strategy and content marketing agency behind Restart—for more information. [Restart](https://www.restart.run/?ref=aftermath.site) launched in December 2024 as a creation of Moonrock and was funded by Walmart. The site’s announcement was met with scepticism for its initial tagline “Independent gaming news powered by Walmart” (which was subsequently changed to “Triple-I gaming news powered by Walmart”), with many wondering exactly how ‘independent’ a site funded by a retailer could be. EIC Berthelson noted in the site’s [announcement post](https://www.restart.run/articles/welcome-to-restart?ref=aftermath.site) that while stories featured Walmart purchase links, Restart didn’t receive commission if readers purchased through them, and rather, the links “help Walmart see exactly how customers arrived at the product” and thus presumably demonstrated the site’s value to the company. “The links will simply tell Walmart where the shopper came from and will help Walmart see whether or not the site is achieving its goal of community building and outreach,” Berthelson [told Aftermath](https://aftermath.site/walmart-restart-independent-video-games-journalism/) in December 2024\. It’s not clear what precipitated today’s dramatic layoffs, and whether they were at the behest of Moonrock or Walmart. (Aftermath has reached out to Walmart for more information.) Berthelson [told Aftermath](https://aftermath.site/walmart-restart-independent-video-games-journalism/) in December 2024 that > We would be naïve to think Restart can last forever if it underperforms, but thus far, through the building of the site and our few months in soft-launch, Walmart has been nothing but a supportive partner… ‘Why would Walmart continue to fund Restart if the site underperforms?’ is a bridge we would cross if and when we had to cross it, but it helps that we – the Restart team at Moonrock – have our own standards and metrics for success we hold ourselves to, rather than being beholden to a list of \[key performance indicators\] from Walmart. The editorial team isn’t even aware of how poor the numbers would have to be before Walmart would consider pulling its funding. [Restart, An ‘Independent’ Website Funded By Walmart, Isn’t Going To Save Games Journalism, But It’s Not Trying To - Aftermath“Walmart money could fund valuable journalism, but it never will”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-03a1599e-9d08-4467-ace1-eb4acbf6ab98.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/restart-3-18767877-460b-4fc1-8f27-17eeb0df29c8.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/walmart-restart-independent-video-games-journalism/) Restart covered news centered around games, reviews, interviews with developers, shorter blogs, and some video content. [Freelancers](https://bsky.app/profile/ohmymithrandir.bsky.social/post/3msjd53f6hc2m?ref=aftermath.site) who had written for the site also mourned the layoffs today, with [Lex Luddy](https://bsky.app/profile/lexluddy.xyz/post/3msje5bprzk2a?ref=aftermath.site) writing that “the editorial team at Restart... fought tooth and nail to publish good games criticism despite the odds.” Layoffs at games sites continue to be depressingly common, most recently with [layoffs hitting GameSpot (again)](https://aftermath.site/gamespot-layoffs-july-2026/) in early July. Several of Restart’s laid-off staffers noted on social media that this wasn’t their first time experiencing what’s become practically a right of passage for anyone who writes about games, or pretty much anyone living through the last few years. **Update, 8/13/26, 3:45pm--**In a post titled "[What's Next For Restart](https://www.restart.run/articles/whats-next-for-restart?ref=aftermath.site)," Moonrock president John Gaudiosi wrote that the site's archives will remain live. He also wrote that, despite no longer having editorial staff, the site will continue writing: > What comes next is a smaller number of much bigger efforts under the Restart banner. Milestone coverage rather than a daily feed. GTA VI is the obvious place to start, and there's a way to cover a launch like that which is still worth reading a year later. That's the kind of thing we want to be making. We're in conversations now and we'll announce the next project when it's ready. Gaudiosi wrote that "When the next project is real, we're going back to our former staff first." ### From The Minds Behind That Chill Fishing Game, A Chill Survival Game URL: https://aftermath.site/wild-n-chill-demo-impressions-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T21:27:24.000Z Last year, developer Wombat Brawler released [*Cast n Chill*](https://aftermath.site/cast-n-chill-demo/), a simple fishing game with complex, gorgeous pixel art. It's a game full of downtime, where the gameplay frequently takes a backseat to just soaking everything in, enjoying the sights and sounds of its simulated waterways. This week, Wombat Brawler released a demo for their followup, *Wild n Chill*, which tries to bring the same vibes to the survival game genre. *Wild n Chill* keeps what to me is the most important part of *Cast n Chill*\--the look. While the [demo](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3847920/Wild%5Fn%5FChill/?ref=aftermath.site) is just a small area, it's evocatively detailed. You can feel the claustrophobic clutter of the woods open up into a small stream or a vast vista while the sounds of the wind and wildlife rustle around you. There's more to do in *Wild* than *Cast*. The survival mechanics are the standard stuff: You manage your stamina, hunger, thirst, temperature, and exhaustion, indicated by a bar divided into different colors. The demo gives you a checklist to complete, serving as a kind of tutorial for how to address these needs, which required walking back and forth picking up stuff until I unlocked relevant crafting recipes. The crafting is also pretty simple--have the correct stuff on-hand and then click to combine it into something new– and it didn't take me long until I had a serviceable campsite near a pond, with a bushcrafted A-frame to sleep in and a fire to warm up beside. As with *Cast*'s bait shop, a bearded old man soon makes an appearance, and he sends you on some fetch quests that give you better tools and teach you more advanced recipes. It's helpful, if not a little heavy-handed, and I imagine what he gives you will prove useful in the full game. Unfortunately, I hit a bug that didn't let me mess around with the demo's cooking (the developers have written that they've[ fixed](https://steamcommunity.com/app/3847920/discussions/0/592937761422615440/?ref=aftermath.site) it, though the problem persisted in my game), but what you get and learn lets you do more than just drink water with your hands and eat berries and raw mushrooms. According to the Steam page, the full game will have 11 areas, plus co-op and advanced crafting. It also seems like the bear that scared the shit out of me but then wandered away will do more than just wander. You can hunt the wildlife you encounter, and there's also a book that records the animals you've seen and information about them, rendered in that gorgeous pixel art that's great just to page through. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/sjg.jpeg) Wombat Brawler/ Aftermath *Wild*'s demo doesn't feel quite as relaxing as *Cast*, and it also doesn't quite rise to [the level of complexity I demand from my survival games](https://aftermath.site/survival-games-rule/), but it does sit in its own unique space. It's not too basic, but it's also not too much. Your needs aren't too pressing, and materials are plentiful. The sidescrolling nature of it can be a little constraining at times, especially when the foreground blocked my view of an item, but it also helps the game feel a little safer and more contained than something like *The Long Dark*'s vast, hostile wilderness. Plus, as in *Cast*, you have a dog, who in addition to petting you can also throw sticks for. The dog *always* wants you to throw the stick. I want to say I spent way too long throwing the stick, but there is no "too long" in the demo. Even though there's a day/night cycle, it doesn't impose any kind of limits or dangers; you can stand there throwing the stick as long as you want, while the sky shifts from one kind of pretty to another. If you like survival games the demo is definitely worth checking out, since it's attempting to do something a little more relaxed with my beloved genre that makes for an interesting spin. And if you [don't](https://aftermath.site/survival-games-are-annoying/), what the devs call its "cozy wilderness survival" vibe might be more your speed than harsher games. There's no release date yet, but I'm definitely curious to see how the full game expands while still keeping the feeling that made *Cast n Chill* so cool. ### Balkanize The Video Game Industry URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-ea-saudi-arabia-rami-ismail/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T17:01:51.000Z The video game industry is in a state of flux, and that’s putting it lightly. Whatever emerges will necessarily look nothing like our current moment’s fissuring landmass, and perhaps that metaphor is not entirely inapt: Maybe it’s time for the video game industry to balkanize. On the latest Aftermath Hours, we talk about what that might look like. This time around, we’re joined by game developer, consultant, and general industry luminary [Rami Ismail](https://bsky.app/profile/ramiismail.com?ref=aftermath.site) to discuss his new [Levelling The Playing Field series of courses](https://courses.ramiismail.com/?ref=aftermath.site) aimed at making “the critical less-spoken parts of indie gamedev accessible away from expensive visa-locked hotel bars.” These come at a time when the industry finds itself in a state of freefall, with layoffs and closures ravaging triple-A studios while indies are forced to appease the ever-changing whims of Steam and penny-pinching publishers. We talk about what it means to release something like this now and whether chunks of it are potentially outdated on launch, as well as the ways indies and publishers—in their attempts to head money troubles off at the pass—often play it too safe and doom themselves to obscurity in the process. Speaking of doom, we then move on to Saudi Arabia’s deal to purchase EA, which [finally went through](https://aftermath.site/ea-saudi-arabia-deal-closing-andrew-wilson-pay/) this week. What will this mean for the company and the many studios under its umbrella? Obviously the future is vast and unknowable, but the answer is layoffs. Finally, we speculate as to what would happen if the world ended tomorrow and, eons later, aliens dug through the ruins (they’d correctly ascertain that *Stardew Valley* slaps). You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can make our own series of courses full of knowledge accessible only if you visit extremely cheap hotel bars (or the floors/couches of friends’ houses we stay at when attending conferences). Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Rami:** One thing I do like—and this is true more so in Europe and Latin America; Asia is sort of its own thing—you’re seeing a lot of local events really flourish at this present time. We’re talking about larger events like Gamescom, which has been expanding into LATAM as well, but also very small, specialized events that focus on a specific genre or a specific region or a specific style of making games. There’s conferences for narrative games. There’s conferences for mobile games. There’s conferences for Spanish games. All of this is happening. That is exciting to me. That is good. From the bottom of my heart, the biggest wish I have for this whole thing is to just shatter. I want this industry to just shatter into a million beautiful shards that all have their own heroes, their own things, their own structures, their own funding methods—instead of everything being like “You’re trying to make a tiny narrative game? Yeah, can you make your budget $500k+? Because we don’t really do under $500k.” And it’s like, I’m trying to build a narrative game that lasts two hours and is about a dog that I saw last week. I don’t need $500k, but then the publisher has no idea how to do that. Let it shatter. **Nathan:** You want the video game industry to balkanize. **Rami:** Yeah, a million different things. I want a million different industries. And we do it \[in some cases\]. You can look at Draknek & Friends for puzzle games. You want strategy games? It’s kinda Hooded Horse. We’re seeing different verticals; different parts of the industry are starting to create their own structures—because fitting everything into one structure is insane. It’s a terrible idea. But we’ve done it. **Nathan:** Now that’s collapsing, which I think brings us pretty elegantly to EA. It’s one of the many major publishers that is now crumbling, and so in swoops Saudi Arabia—and, you know, some private equity, but mostly Saudi Arabia—with a giant bag of money, saying, “OK, we are gonna save you.” But that’s “save” in finger quotes, because Saudi Arabia is actually going to strip EA for parts, and it’s going to be a fucking bloodbath. **Rami:** Pretty much right out of the gate. What was it? [$1.8 billion](https://wccftech.com/ea-55-billion-buyout-18-billion-debt-layoffs/?ref=aftermath.site) in interest every year? **Nathan:** Yeah, their debt has gone from around $2 billion to $20 billion. To account for that, EA is looking to cut $700 million in annual costs. **Rami:** You mean people. ## Recommended [The Ghouls Who Run EA Deserve To BurnSaudi Arabia’s deal to purchase EA is going to cause a lot of pain, but it’s officially happening![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-79325c2c-00af-41c3-a13a-530a0c2e12d0.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ealine-bffbab2d-f391-4f1a-ab9e-d668017bc89d.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/ea-saudi-arabia-deal-closing-andrew-wilson-pay/) ### Hello Local Business, Your AI Ads Are Costing You Customers URL: https://aftermath.site/ai-poster-ad-flyer-local-business/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T17:01:39.000Z Hello \[local business owner\]! I see that you've started posting new ads and menus on Facebook, Instagram and sometimes even outside your store on physical signs, and they're starting to look suspiciously oily, with this weird, caramelised art style. You, having employed artificial intelligence to make the ad, might think it looks great. You’re probably excited (as a struggling small business owner, I empathise!) that it cost you almost nothing. But I am here to tell you, no, to *beg you*, please stop. Why? There are many reasons. Let's go through some! > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaUHg6fgmEU/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by natalie keller pariano 🌈 artist 🎨 joy dealer ✨ maximalist magic (@natterdoodles)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaUHg6fgmEU/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) Firstly, it shows that you'd rather prompt something into a machine than hire a local graphic designer, artist and/or photographer, which tells your potential customers that you don't give a shit about the community you're a part of. Or that you'd rather offload the cognitive effort of coming up with a new poster to a glorified autocorrect, instead of just coming up with something cute, simple and personal yourself. Even the corniest blackboard trivia, or small A4 sign taped to a window made using MS Word on a yellowing printer in the back office, is preferable to an AI-generated ad, because at least *you* made it. Next, it shows to a huge and growing sector of your customer base that you don't care about any of AI's myriad of issues. People– the same people who you are hoping will buy your coffees or eat dinner at your tables--[are now very aware of AI's dangers and downsides](https://www.afr.com/technology/the-world-wakes-up-to-ai-s-dangerous-power-20260420-p5zpcv?ref=aftermath.site). Maybe they used to work in a job where their dipshit boss has laid people off thinking AI could replace them;[ maybe they or people they know live near a data centre and are being radicalised at the speed of light](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/08/02/the-new-luddites-01017824?ref=aftermath.site). Maybe they can just read the news. Whatever the cause of their opposition, every time you [post an AI ad on your Instagram page](https://nygroove.nyc/local-business-ai-slop/?ref=aftermath.site) you're actively telling those people you don't care about any of those very important things! It feels almost quaint, then, to have to point out that every time you post an AI image of a burger or a t-shirt you're also essentially lying to your customers, because those images aren't fibbing like a stock photo of a kebab used to, they're not even real things. They may as well be unicorns. Have you ever seen an AI-generated sandwich on a poster before? It's a computer guessing what human food looks like, and its ghoulish inaccuracies manage to make them look worse than any actual sandwich could ever. Then there are accuracy concerns! I saw this poster (not an ad, but still) below shared on my local subreddit the other day, and it blew my mind. Not only does it mention emergency instructions without actually providing them, but *the phone number is wrong*. If the business owner can't be bothered double-checking that a printed poster has the correct phone number, how can we trust or be expected to have any faith in anything else that business is selling? > [Hawker shops dog wash poster](https://www.reddit.com/r/canberra/comments/1vcjpfn/hawker%5Fshops%5Fdog%5Fwash%5Fposter/?ref=aftermath.site) > by [u/Ill\_Translator7545](https://www.reddit.com/user/Ill%5FTranslator7545/?ref=aftermath.site) in [canberra](https://www.reddit.com/r/canberra/?ref=aftermath.site) Finally, we come to the fact that AI-generated ads simply [look like shit](https://www.404media.co/these-are-the-worst-chatgpt-flyers-youve-sent-us/?ref=aftermath.site). Like, even if this was a genre popularised by human artists, it would still look like shit. Because these ads are made by machines, and machines cannot either think nor produce art. Everything looks the same no matter the prompt. Fonts are always spooky, food and products always have a sheen to them, there's always a weird thing going on in the background, every single thing about them just looks bad. AI ads are, if nothing else, just a terrible look for your business! You're undermining every cent you've spent on decor, fittings, fixtures and stock by using them! The reason I'm pointing all this out is that I feel, in the most generous corner of my soul, that a lot of small businesses (like yours!) aren't using AI to make their ads with genuine malice in their heart. There's this fancy new tech that every email and social media platform and mainstream reporter has told you is world-changing, and you’re trying it out and saving money in the process. I can't hold that against you like I would, say, a cake shop refusing to make cakes for gay weddings. Those people are beyond saving. But if you own the café down the road, or the pub that does pretty good schnitzels on a Tuesday night, and you otherwise do good things and have loyal customer bases and would, if we had a polite conversation about this, maybe agree that AI poses a massive threat to our economy, environment and collective cognitive abilities? And that even if you’re not personally endorsing any of the sector's ruinous politics and policies, you’re still sending a message of support to them by embracing the tech's usage, and that matters to a growing number of people? I feel like you can be very gently persuaded that hey, we know things are rough right now, but you don't need to make them rougher for *everyone* by using this shit. ### I Wish They Could Have Called It Super Monkey Souls, But Otherwise Hell Yeah URL: https://aftermath.site/marble-souls-steam-pc-super-monkey-ball/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T20:07:27.000Z Rare is the game that can sell you on its concept with just a brief glimpse. *Marble Souls* is absolutely one of those games. I mean, look: > MARBLE SOULS coming 2026 wishlist now - store.steampowered.com/app/4531440/... > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ldrka4rm5sivfqhk4nguq4wh/post/3msg7ayvxxc25?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Stuffed Wombat ([@stuffedwomb.at](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ldrka4rm5sivfqhk4nguq4wh?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 6, 2026 at 7:00 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ldrka4rm5sivfqhk4nguq4wh/post/3msg7ayvxxc25?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) You, a dark fantasy knight-type, roll around a series of Soulsian landscapes in a giant ball—reminiscent, of course, of Sega’s beloved *Super Monkey Ball* series. This is a brilliant concept in part because every popular game setting should have its own *Monkey Ball* equivalent, but also because it sounds genuinely well thought out. From [*Marble Souls*’ Steam description](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4531440/MARBLE%5FSOULS/?ref=aftermath.site): > Bringing back lost souls allows you to level up a wide range of stats that change how your character sprints, jumps and rolls, allowing you to create ridiculous builds and break out in unintended ways. Unlocking new paths is as much about exploring and opening doors as it is about your willingness to experiment and take risks. > Mapping out your surroundings, collecting useful equipment and learning the ins and outs of your Marble are not easy but MARBLE SOULS is more about exploration and experimentation than rage-inducing progression loss. I might be [more on Team Luke](https://aftermath.site/i-hate-souls-games-bloodborne-elden-ring/) than [Team Chris](https://aftermath.site/souls-games-punishment/) when it comes to Soulslikes, but I will absolutely check this out when it rolls onto Steam later in 2026\. ## Recommended [The Definitive Ranking Of FromSoftware Farming Locations I LikeDark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Elden Ring, Sekrio, Bloodborne, AC6 and more. I have been thinking about farming for weeks now.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-c214dd30-cc9c-4f22-b899-30822467ce73.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_6002-c7bc47ba-f9ee-4042-95b7-d8cedd7a2819.JPG)](https://aftermath.site/dark-souls-elden-ring-sekiro-ac6-souls-runes-farming/) ### Big Walk's Hardest Puzzle Is Scheduling URL: https://aftermath.site/big-walk-multiplayer-only/ Last updated: 2026-08-07T18:22:22.000Z I know I’m writing about [*Big Walk*](https://aftermath.site/big-walk-impressions-review/)a lot this week, but that’s because it’s taken up most of my non-work time. Chris and I helped Nicole play through it, and because the host of a game hangs on to the save, if we wanted to see the end of our game, we had to play with her. This meant we always had to play together, and while you’d think a bunch of people who work at the same job that involves playing video games wouldn’t have a hard time with that, you’d be surprised. *Big Walk* is multiplayer-only, a design decision I understand and, after having finished the game, agree with, even if I also get that that might not work for a lot of people. Likewise, because there’s no random matchmaking and the save belongs to one person, it forces you to play with at least one of the same people every time, meaning you just have to work your schedules out. This, too, might be more challenging than some people are interested in–one of the appealing things about games like *Fortnite* is that you can play with your friends or just jump in on your own, meaning you can at least always play the game when the mood strikes you and your schedule permits. With *Big Walk*, as eager as I was to play more, if Nicole wasn’t around, I was out of luck. On a personal level, I hate this kind of thing. One of the ways my years of being a manager has bled into my everyday life is that I have lost almost all patience for scheduling. After a day of dealing with deadlines and writers’ personal foibles, I have zero desire to do the same thing in my own life. As such, I do a lot of things on my own–camping, going to plays or the opera, riding my bike, checking out a new restaurant. Some friends of mine even pointed it out to me recently, asking why I never invite them to things–no offense to them, but sometimes it doesn’t even occur to me. I get frustrated during debates about where everyone wants to eat, or trying to arrange when everyone can go to a movie; if I want to do something, I just go do it. This isn’t a good thing! I’m proud of the fact that I can do things on my own–I know plenty of people who have never travelled because they have no one to go with, and who think the times I jetted off to Iceland and Norway all alone were very brave. But I also fear it’s a tendency that might calcify over time. One of my big existential fears is becoming a “weird old man,” getting too set in my solitary ways to let other people into my life. And obviously it hurts my friends’ feelings, which of course I don’t want. I struggle to find the line between doing what I want to do and making sure that doesn’t tip over into a selfishness that will ultimately drive my friends away. But I can’t be that guy in *Big Walk*. Over the past week I’d find myself with a few hours to play, only for Nicole to not be available. Yesterday, when we were *literally* at the end, I fucked everyone up by mixing up the recording time for Aftermath’s podcast and making Chris and I leave the game, only to realize I’d misjudged the time by several hours. But by then, Nicole wasn’t available; when she was, Chris and I weren’t, and we couldn’t get together again until much later in the night. There I was, knowing there were only a few climactic moments of game left, and I could do *nothing* about it on my own; I simply had to wait until other people were ready too. I’m terrible in those kinds of situations, which bring my whole “am I a solitary weirdo” crisis into full view. At the same time, I think it’s *good* that the game forces me to sit in my impatience and reminds me that, whatever I tell myself, I am in fact sometimes dependent on other people. The whole game is about this; puzzles have to be solved collectively, and the lack of shared save means the rest of the group is quite literally dependent on the host to keep playing. The way the game is built emphasizes the themes inside it, and if you want to play it, you just have to work that out. It’s a bold decision in our era of live service games and “friendslop,” and I think it’s effective at conveying the game’s message. But it can be a total drag; it might have worked better during the [early days of covid that inspired the game](https://aftermath.site/big-walk-puzzle-timer/), but now that life is proceeding at a worse, more crushing pace than it was before 2020, I can see it being simply insurmountable for many people. Despite the challenges of getting Chris, Nicole, and me together, we are still people with relatively flexible schedules who don’t get in trouble with a boss for playing games between 9am and 5pm. For other people, especially those with families and other responsibilities, I can see making progress feeling akin to trying to schedule a doctor’s appointment, planning play sessions for weeks out with no room for flexibility. Or I can see a host and one or two other players in a group making progress on their own if everyone’s schedules just can’t line up. I think *Big Walk* wants you to wrangle with all this and make your peace with it, or to play the game at a slower pace than you might personally like just so you don’t leave your friends behind. That just isn’t going to work for a lot of people, which I get can be [disappointing](https://kotaku.com/not-everyone-will-be-able-to-play-big-walk-and-thats-okay-2000721206?ref=aftermath.site), but is also another way *Big Walk* is doing something different in a games industry often obsessed with forcing games to cater to every player. Of course, I can praise that from my position of being a guy who ostensibly gets paid to play games, and even *I* struggled to make the time. Respect to anyone who is having a great time with your friends and not, like me, logging off and then lying in bed desperately wondering if you’re actually an asshole. Being forced to play the game on other people’s timelines was a good chance for me to try to flex my rapidly atrophying “doing things with others” muscles, and a tiny reassurance that maybe I’m not too far gone yet. ### I Am Playing Midnight Moments And Having A Lovely Time URL: https://aftermath.site/midnight-moments-impressions-review-cyberpunk-city-builder/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T22:11:28.000Z Remember a couple of years ago[ we talked about a cyberpunk city-builder called *Dystopika*?](https://aftermath.site/dystopika-cyberpunk-city-builder-pc/) A game where you only made things, and didn't have to worry about any of the money or resources or unhappiness you expect from the genre? [*Midnight Moments*](https://www.midnightmoments.io/?ref=aftermath.site) is like that, but for just a single block instead of a whole city. The[ chill, sandbox building genre](https://aftermath.site/summerhouse-steam-game-architecture/) has been one of my favourite niches to emerge in video games over the last few years, simply because it narrows its focus to the one thing I (and a lot of people) love most about city-builders: the building. While[ I am an enormous fan of city-builders that are full of networks and challenges](https://aftermath.site/whiskerwood-review-impressions-pc-city-builder-hooded-horse/), I don't always have the time or emotional bandwidth for that. Sometimes I just want to experience the same kind of joy I felt as a kid with some wooden blocks, to let my creativity run wild in the pursuit of building something for nobody's sake but my own, numbers and tax rates be damned. *Midnight Moments* ticks all those boxes. Giving the player enough of a landscape for a few streets and buildings (or one, or none, you can do what you want!), it provides a toybox full of blocks, lights, people, windows and graffiti and just lets you have at it. There's no campaign mode to railroad you, no complex tutorial to overwhelm you; you're given one example building (if you want) and then just left to it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260802161600_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260802161024_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260802161046_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260802161100_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260802161359_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260802161429_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260802161518_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/20260802161530_1.jpg) Which is fine! It takes about 30 seconds to get the hang of this, because all you're doing is dropping blocks, rotating them, adding some toppings to the textures (like windows and signs) and changing the colour of the lights. Which sounds very simple, and I guess it is if you're interested in weighting this game by the quantity of its city-building features. But know that despite its seeming brevity I played this *all weekend long*, the entire time spent on just the one city block, and I'll go back to it tonight and play some more. There's a simple elegance to it all. The rain comes down no matter what, the sun never comes up, the people and cars never move, so you're not so much building a city block as you are a moment in time. And the building itself is as rewarding as it needs to be: Everything snaps and pops into place with satisfying thuds, and I could spend entire days just playing with the lighting tool, which only offers a handful of colours but which breathe life into every corner. Every time I look at my own little cyberpunk diorama, I find something I can add, move or redesign, as though I was hovering over a bonsai tree with tiny scissors and making the most minute--but also transformative--cuts. What's more, the more I build, the more little stories emerge. There's a club around the corner with long lines but the food is worth it, there's a nature park near the office building entrance for the employees who need some time out, there's a city worker near a construction site who's having the worst night of his life. These aren't stories for *you*, or a campaign, or a multiplayer lobby. They're just my little stories, for my own little snowglobe city, which I built one block and lightbulb at a time, and which I am *incredibly* proud of. ### I Love How Differently Folks Are Dealing With This Weird Big Walk Puzzle URL: https://aftermath.site/big-walk-puzzle-timer/ Last updated: 2026-08-06T13:41:50.000Z While playing *Big Walk* last night with Chris and Nicole, we were talking about how challenging it might be to write guides for the game’s puzzles. Not because the puzzles themselves are hard to describe, but because what you call them might be so [personal](https://kotaku.com/big-walk-what-is-this-2000721567?ref=aftermath.site) to your group that it would be hard to explain to a reader which one you’re talking about. I’ve seen some people call the puzzle I want to talk about here the game’s “simplest,” which I think is technically fair, but rather than making it forgettable, that simplicity is what makes it unique. ***Spoilers follow for one of* Big Walk*’s puzzles. Since you might encounter it at any time, I don’t even know how to warn you about it! It’s a house with a timer. Proceed at your own risk.*** [Big Walk Is At Its Best When You Totally Screw Things UpA multiplayer game that’s worth coordinating adult schedules for![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-28138dc4-760c-43c9-9fd1-9272c0c09b15.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bigh-0558816e-7b92-4731-a7e7-0b5c98aabbb9.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/big-walk-impressions-review/) There’s a puzzle in *Big Walk* that’s a small red room with high ceilings, and there’s some furniture in it. There are also some buttons and a big digital timer on the wall. When you hit the buttons, you’re locked in the room while the timer counts down from five minutes. Players have dealt with this moment differently. [Restart](https://www.restart.run/articles/how-a-single-big-walk-puzzle-perfectly-captured-the-game-s-message?ref=aftermath.site)’s players initially thought the room was going to kill them, a possibility that didn’t even occur to my group–it was obvious to us almost immediately that you simply have to wait the timer out. While the folks at [PCGamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/one-of-big-walks-puzzles-is-simple-to-solve-but-still-gave-us-an-existential-crisis/?ref=aftermath.site) went stir-crazy waiting, we had a chill time. We sat on the couches and chatted, messing around with our gestures while talking about how we’d been finding the game so far. I’ve been sick this week, so I ran to get more tissues and water, and others took the chance to do some real life stuff too. When the timer got to zero, the puzzle released its bean, and we were on our way. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/romps2-1.jpeg) As other folks have noted, it’s an unusual puzzle, since unlike all the others it doesn’t require you to really *do* anything. But it also really highlights *Big Walk*’s core themes of communication and togetherness. Where other puzzles get their challenge from impeding your communication, putting soundproof walls or vast space between you and your group, this one gets its challenge from making communication the easiest it can be. There’s no way to walk out of the short range of the game’s proximity chat; you can’t wander off mid-conversation and get separated from your group. After however many hours you’ve played of striving to communicate, or of looking for moments where you *can’t* communicate because that’s what rewards you with in-game progress, this puzzle takes all those barriers away. You just have to sit there and confront yourself and your group, with none of the distractions of the game’s open world or a puzzle’s tasks. *Big Walk* developer House House has said they were inspired to create the game after suffering through terrible Zoom calls [during the start of covid](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/big-walks-creators-reflect-on-their-six-year-journey?ref=aftermath.site), and that they made a prototype to create “a space where we can meet with our friends.” The whole game, then, is about meeting up with those friends, screwing around and doing things together. It’s not always frictionless; solving problems together can be stressful, and everyone in my group has definitely had one moment of exasperation or another when something went wrong or someone (usually me) didn’t understand what the group intended to do. This timer puzzle could exacerbate those tensions, if you’ve found it a moment when patience is wearing thin. It could also give you a break from that tension, letting you go AFK without the fear of being left behind. Or, as it did in our group, it could be a lovely little moment of respite, a forced chance to pause and take stock. That reaction might have come more naturally to us than other players because we’re games journalists who are playing *Big Walk* with an eye toward writing about it, so being locked in the room was a good chance to share our analysis and take some notes. But the puzzle also inherently fosters reflection, stripping away the rest of the gameplay and focusing your attention right on the game’s main theme. In light of this, people have been doing interesting things with the room. I was charmed to see that Restart [filmed a talk show](https://bsky.app/profile/mamavitelli.bsky.social/post/3msc22z25wc24?ref=aftermath.site) in it, very cleverly called “Big Talk.” The developers shared some [reflections on the game’s audio](https://bsky.app/profile/ashellinthepit.com/post/3msbexzimgc2q?ref=aftermath.site) in it as well. These kinds of moments could technically happen anywhere in the game outside of the other puzzles–most of your gameplay time is spent trekking around shooting the shit. But I don’t think a talk show or developer thoughts would hit the same if they happened on a beach or the top of a mountain. Besides the layout of the room itself inviting conversation and the couches making the talk show idea practically write itself, the being locked in is what makes the moment work. > Big Walk is out today! We've been SO lucky to get to work with @househouse.com on it, what an incredibly special experience. Here are some of @emaudible.bsky.social and @nicholaszhangaudio.bsky.social highlights that came up in one of our play tests, on working on the sound for the last 5 years 🔴🟡🔵 > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jb7pkbkezat353xrkzj6y3hu/post/3msbexzimgc2q?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — A Shell in the Pit ([@ashellinthepit.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jb7pkbkezat353xrkzj6y3hu?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 4, 2026 at 11:59 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jb7pkbkezat353xrkzj6y3hu/post/3msbexzimgc2q?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) There are so many distractions in *Big Walk*, and so many moments where everything goes to shit. For instance, in our gameplay session last night, no sooner had we unlocked a feature we’d been striving toward and were setting off toward a much-anticipated goal than I jumped off something at the wrong time. I didn’t just fall; I slid down a mountain that felt endless, screaming as I ended up god-knows-where and turning our triumphant moment of progress into a search-and-rescue mission. All this would be funny in a talk show or YouTube clip, sure, but it would make the moment about the game’s humor, rather than the connections fostered by the ways it plays with communication. The timer room forces you to stop and really look at what’s going on under the surface, both in the game and in the dynamics of your group. So it’s no surprise that it’s led to some lovely moments and creations, or that it’s driven some players crazy. It has an intimacy I’ve seldom seen in multiplayer games, something *Big Walk* does well but that can be easy to lose track of among the game’s activities. It can be a moving puzzle if you let it be, bringing your group closer together, or just a chance to run to the bathroom and prepare yourself for more adventures. ### Music, Fashion, Film, Existentialism URL: https://aftermath.site/charli-xcx-music-fashion-film-cronenberg/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T15:00:56.000Z I’m writing a novel, which has been making me think about my legacy, and inevitably, death. The best cure to my existential crisis was Charli XCX’s Lollapalooza set. I’ve been listening to Charli, born Charlotte Aitchison, since I discovered her on Tumblr when I was in college. At that time she was singing about boys and partying—which she continued to do as I descended into alcoholism and struggled, like she did, to find the success she craved in her career. All that changed for her with [*Brat*](https://aftermath.site/charli-brat-kamala-vibes/), the neon green album she released two summers ago, which turned her from a kind of a niche, underground pop star into a worldwide sensation. *Music, Fashion, Film* is her first follow up to *Brat*, after Charli composed the score and soundtrack for the film *Wuthering Heights*. It is a swerve in the absolute opposite direction from *Brat*, ditching her dancefloor-ready beats for crunchy guitars and fuzzy vocals. It is also about what to do once you *have* the commercial success you’ve always wanted. Watching Charli headline Lollapalooza this weekend felt, in some ways, like a celebration of myself, given that I’ve used her music to soundtrack my life. In 2025, she wore a sash that read “little miss should have been headliner” at her Coachella afterparty; now, she is one. It’s honestly so strange to see someone living out a bigger version of the feelings you feel in yourself. A few years ago, I was considering giving up writing and changing careers. Now, I am achieving a childhood dream: a novel, with my name on it. The last track on *Music, Fashion, Film* is called “No One Lasts Forever.” It’s a simple enough song, one that eschews metaphor like in a lot of Charli’s recent work. It’s got my favorite lyric on the whole album: “I’m sitting on the floor of a Parisian apartment with a French girl talking about reality.” If you are kind of an adventurous person, a kind of person who at least used to stay out all night making new friends you’ll never see again, this is a familiar late night setting. It’s one of the most enjoyable parts of being a person who likes to go out—to have an intense, clarifying, existential experience with a complete stranger. This song is about, of course, mortality. No matter what I achieve in this life, I will die, which has frequently been my motivation for working so hard. But now, things are actually working out. I don’t have to struggle as much as I used to. I am not constantly shouldering a burden. It’s been difficult to adjust to this new reality, one where I can think further ahead into the future than the next week. You’d think the idea of my eventual death would put a damper on my achievements, but I’ve actually started to find it quite comforting. After Charli repeats the chorus over and over like a mantra, the song fades out and into an interview with the director David Cronenberg. In an interview with [the podcast Tape Notes](https://www.tiktok.com/@tapenotes/video/7665317307153009950?ref=aftermath.site), Charli says that this song has changed the way she thinks about her life, as it has done for me. “I had this really interesting conversation with David when I met him in Toronto in October of last year,” she says. Cronenberg went on to tell her “quite intricately” about a near death experience he had. “I was like, were you thinking about your art and your work? And he was like, no, of course not.” As Charli was working on this song, she flew back to Toronto to interview Cronenberg again and incorporate it into the track. After Charli’s voice fades out of the track, Cronenberg’s voice replaces hers. “I mean, we can talk about immortal artists of various kinds,” he says, his voice deep and occasionally cracking. “And it can turn out that, yes, some artists have created art that has really survived thousands of years, and that's fantastic, but experientially, for them: They are dead, they are gone, they are not experiencing that. These are true things and thank goodness for them. I really feel, and you hear me assuring you that oblivion is freedom.” At the end of Charli’s set at Lollapalooza, it started to rain. She couldn’t have asked for better weather. “No One Lasts Forever” was the last song on her set, and she stood in the rain with her dancers, her blown out hair slowly turning into soft waves, as the entire interview with Cronenberg played out, his words transcribed on a screen behind her: “They are dead, they are gone, no one lasts forever.” After I first listened to *Music, Fashion, Film*, I watched the Cronenberg film *The Shrouds*, which I had not seen when it was released in 2024\. It’s a movie about a man named Karsh who is so deeply in grief about his wife’s death that he has created a new burial method that allows people to watch their loved ones slowly decompose. He already has a plot prepared for himself, next to his wife. He dreams of her every night, dreams that she keeps going to a doctor that takes away parts of her, her body so frail that an embrace breaks her hip. The lack of her physical presence drives him crazy. All he has left is a decaying body and his desire to eventually join her in death. Cronenberg’s wife died in 2017 from cancer. [He told RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/david-cronenberg-interview-2025?ref=aftermath.site) that making this film wasn’t about catharsis. “To me, art is not therapy, and there’s no catharsis. It’s not cathartic to do something like this film, for me,” he said. “Doing the movie was more because, as an artist, you tend to shape your experience of life into some kind of art, and that’s your impulse to do that. But, as I say, it’s not for catharsis, and it’s not for therapy. I mean, listen, if there’s some sculptor or painter who said, ‘No, what I do is therapy,’ fine. I’m not going to argue. But for me, I don’t see art as being that; it’s something else. I’m the same as Karsh. You’re looking at it, but that doesn’t make it less painful.” I think I’m like that too. Art helps me understand myself better, process things—I do have that tendency to shape my experiences into art—but I go to therapy for my therapy. In multiple interviews promoting *The Shrouds* Cronenberg also says “the body is reality,” a line taken from another recent film of his, *Crimes of the Future*. His focus on *this* world, this moment, this reality, not any other possible realities, has been incredibly clarifying for me these days. I cry when things are hurtful. My heart feels warmed when I feel joy. And some day, all these neurons will stop firing and I’ll die, and I’ll never know what happens after that. That used to scare me a lot, but now it just feels like a miracle that I’m alive at all. “You need to discover that feeling of the crushing highs and lows of ego,” Charli sings on the last track of her album, “where one minute you know you're the worst, and the next minute you know you're better than everyone in the room. But know that nothing's gonna last forever.” No pain lasts forever. No love lasts forever, either. No art will last forever, but also fascism won’t last forever. The whole world will turn over and forget me, some day. And thank god for that. ### Corsair Cove's Pirates Get In The Way Of A Good Time URL: https://aftermath.site/corsair-cove-impressions-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T22:40:55.000Z Because[ I am duty-bound to play every single city-builder that crosses my desk](https://aftermath.site/game-of-the-year-2025-aftermath-luke-plunkett/), I've spent the last week or so with *Corsair Cove*, a pirate-themed game from Hooded Horse. I have mixed thoughts. As a pirate game, I don't like it. This is a city-builder with a very specific design in mind--namely following the *Frostpunk* blueprint of adding quests and decisions atop the building of cities--and with pirates (or at least the pirates written for this game) it's just a really awkward fit. There's all this writing and story and impetus for the player to set the city-building aside every few minutes and do all this *other stuff*, and I found nearly all of it to be an intrusive bore. The characters and writing are deeply annoying, and the quests you're sent out on are resolved with a basic and quickly repetitive card+dice system. The more games try to cram this kind of experience into a city-builder, the more tired I'm getting of it; I think it worked in [*Frostpunk*](https://aftermath.site/frostpunk-2-impressions/)because the narrative was built so coherently around it (and because it was generally very well-written and thought through), but with games that aren't able to pull it off (like this one), the quests just get in the way of the thing you're *actually* here to play. And in this case, that thing is *great*. The city-building aspect of this city-builder is one of the most unique I've played in a long time, because instead of giving you a grassy plain and asking you to build outwards, it gives you islands full of precarious rocks and mountains and asks you to build *up*. Look at this! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-30-115033.png) That is *so cool*. Nearly everything you can build in this game can be stuck to the side of a mountain, then linked together with precarious cliff pathways and rope bridges. It means that once you get the hang of the game and need to start worrying about your resource chains--*Corsair Cove* will track where every piece of timber and rum is coming from and going to, and make sure pirates aren't having to walk too far to deliver them--the flexibility you have is fantastic, because you can optimise your routes horizontally *and* vertically. It's just so much fun stringing all that together! *Corsair Cove* isn't pedantic about your placement *at all*; you can just slap stuff to any rock it'll fit on, you can rope everything together and it all works, in ways that are extremely satisfying to just *play with*. Buildings 'snap' to the rocks, and[ as a lover of Little Guys](https://aftermath.site/strategy-game-turn-based-tactics-movement/), the way the pirates are continuously moving and working and partying all across your city is a joy to just sit back and watch. Yeah, there's a complex and rewarding city-builder here, if you are serious about this genre and want to truly optimise every inch of resource collection and item delivery. But I enjoyed *Corsair Cove* mostly as something to *play with*, a construction set full of sick precarious shanty suburbs and Little Guys doing funny stuff. I think that might be why I'm so down on the story and quests. Every time they pop up (or are necessitated to unlock things) it feels like an intrusion, a forced diversion from the stuff I *really* want to be doing here: sticking a pub to the side of a mountain, building an intricate little supply network for it then watching some bald pirates dance a little jig. ### Christopher Nolan, Cinema's Manic Street Preacher URL: https://aftermath.site/christopher-nolan-odyssey-film/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T20:30:16.000Z Odysseus stands on the beach, unsure of who he is. He knows his name, he knows the story: the things everyone knows, thanks to songs and bards. A face, a fleet, a war. But he has forgotten much, because he has chosen to forget. There is something inside of him he cannot bear to face. He speaks to Athena – or is it just himself? – about the gods, and why they don't speak in a way that he can understand. "Who doesn't understand thunder, or fire, or a good harvest?" Athena responds. She's speaking to Odysseus' hubris. Odysseus, who, in Christopher Nolan's adaptation of *The Odyssey*, does not believe in the gods the way others do. Does he not find meaning in all this brilliant light and sound? Do you? These primal images are important to keep in mind when discussing Nolan. Thunder and fire are apt comparisons for the British and American filmmaker's approach to the medium. He makes films meant to [light up the biggest screens](https://aftermath.site/the-odyssey-emily-wilson-christopher-nolan-action-movie/), with scores that make full use of premium sound systems. The modern Christopher Nolan film is a wildfire and a storm, one that is always felt but not always understood — but it always brings a good harvest. Like a figure from the Homeric myths he adapted in *The Odyssey*, Nolan is a titan. Widely considered [the most powerful director in Hollywood](https://www.vulture.com/article/100-most-powerful-directors-in-hollywood.html?ref=aftermath.site), he is one of the few filmmakers who can, essentially, get a major studio to sign off on whatever he wants. Bankability gets you that kind of power: When your grim biographical drama about J. Robert Oppenheimer grosses nearly a billion dollars and wins seven Academy Awards, executives are happy to write you checks as long as they think you can keep pulling that off. Nolan wields this power with a sense of noblesse oblige, speaking with a remarkable awareness of the rarity of his position and his intent to make the most of it. “I’m drawn to working at a large scale because I know how fragile the opportunity to marshal those resources is,” he[ told *Time* in 2024.](https://time.com/collections/time100-leadership-series/6589108/christopher-nolan-oppenheimer-oscars-interview/?ref=aftermath.site) “I know that there are so many filmmakers out there in the world who would give their eye teeth to have the resources I put together, and I feel I have the responsibility to use them in the most productive and interesting way.” That sense of responsibility is palpable in the subject matter of his films of late. So burdened, Nolan forges *The Odyssey* into a modern exhortation to those who would deny others their dignity, deluding themselves into thinking their plunder abroad will never come to haunt them at home. The creation of the atomic bomb is rendered as a dirge for the grandest destructive act done by people in *Oppenheimer*. [*Tenet*](https://aftermath.site/tenet-christopher-nolans-best-film-inception-memento-odyssey/) depicts characters caught in a conflict between humanity's destructive past (a carelessness indifferent to the eventual destruction of climate change) and vindictive future (where those struggling to survive send their fury back through time). There is an urgency to Christopher Nolan's latter-day oeuvre, made the more desperate and despairing by his turning to larger and larger canvases to tell these stories. Nolan brings a manic street preacher's messageof fire and brimstone to a megachurch platform, standing behind the largest pulpit in the secular world, imploring us to listen. --- In an interview with political philosophy lecturer and doctoral student Zhong Shu, Nolan is [asked outright](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa4I8Ch2TRo&t=4s&ref=aftermath.site): "Are you a bard for a civilization at dusk?" Typically, Nolan evades the question's personal dimension and moves the conversation to the text: He's interested in the 400 year gap between the historical Trojan war and Homer's telling of it. The poet and he are not doing dissimilar work, Nolan argues, wrestling with a time where civilization as the storytellers know it seemed to be on the rise while situated in a present that can't live up to history's imagined greatness. Myth arises from that dissonance: there are times where it is easier to believe that giants built monuments than it is that humans were able to cooperate to do what seems impossible. Reluctant as Nolan is to engage directly with the question, when one considers the films Nolan has made in the current decade – *Tenet*, *Oppenheimer*, and finally, *The Odyssey* – it's hard not to find the diagnosis accurate. With every film, each more thunderous and technically impressive than the last, Nolan constructs stories that call attention to their own architecture. *Oppenheimer*'s twin timelines converging on the moment that its protagonist admits to Albert Einstein that he has doomed the world; *Tenet*'s war between Earth's past and future reaching its climax on a barren landmark of Cold War nuclear proliferation; *The Odyssey*'s rueful positioning of the sack of Troy as original sin for the civilization it depicts. These are invitations to gaze more deeply, the silver screen polished to a mirror, a palpable effort to wield the emotional power of cinema to try to find where we went wrong. While the scale, urgency, and directness with which the filmmaker prods at this disquiet in his latter day films is new, his fascination with it is not. Nolan has, with his penchant for nonlinear storytelling, always been asking: Is the end coming, or is it here? And at what point does it become inevitable? *Memento* isn't quite a skeleton key for the rest of Nolan's filmography, but it is a fisheye lens to peer at it through. The story of a man with an inability to form new memories trying to investigate his wife's murder, *Memento* features many of the director's preoccupations in raw form. There is a non-chronological split between color vignettes that begin at the story's end and move backwards through the narrative, and black and white scenes that move forward from another point. Across both we learn how protagonist Leonard Shelby navigates the world. Unable to remember anything once his attention moves elsewhere, he relies on polaroids and notes and tattoos, lessons he's learned but can't remember why or how. Shelby builds his history every day with images he regards as truth, only for us to learn at the end of the film, when both timelines meet somewhere in the middle of the narrative, that he is manipulating that truth, lying to himself and therefore the viewer. Giving himself a story to chase, knowing he will forget that he is its author. "The world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes, does it?"Shelby (Guy Pearce) muses in the neo-noir's narration, although for him, it very much does. Shelby, like the viewer, places incredible, powerful trust in the images that have been assembled for him, believing them to hold truth. In *Memento* (and to a lesser but still palpable extent, Nolan's debut, *Following*) the director takes an immediate and enduring interest in a cinema of responsibility, contemplating film's power to mold perception, give abstractions material shape, prod at reality — and ruminate on what it means to be someone wielding that power. "Are you watching closely?" the engineer John Cutter (Michael Caine) asks the audience at the start of *The Prestige*, articulating the source of that power: an audience that wants to be fooled. In its tale of dueling magicians is a war over how to use that power – for one's own achievement and mastery, like Christian Bale's Alfred Borden? Or for the delight of those audiences, like the dapper showman, Hugh Jackman's Robert Angier? And what of *Inception*'s protagonist, the dream thief Dominic Cobb, whose original sin is planting an idea in his wife Mal's mind that unmoors her, leading to her death by suicide? The guilt Cobb feels over violating Mal's trust with her subconscious ultimately compromises his own subconscious mind, leaving him unable to discern what is real or not. Eventually, like Odysseus on the beach, or Leonard Shelby with his photographs, Dom Cobb is not sure of who he is anymore, or if his world is real. --- 2014's *Interstellar* is the inflection point on which Nolan's body of work pivots from inward-facing psychological thrillers to outward-facing genre exercises, searching for human connection in the exploration of grand themes. It's also his first film about humanity staring down a clock ticking down on its survival, as climate change has left the planet barren and hungry. The film follows pilot Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConnaughey) as he becomes a member of a final desperate attempt to find a new home for humanity among the stars, but its focus is far from cosmic. It's a film about love and faith in future generations, about believing in children's ability to surpass their parents, the debt owed to them and the failures they inherit. It is also thoroughly optimistic, a deeply-felt expression of faith (in the mechanics of the universe, as one of his characters in *Tenet* would say) that Nolan runs at in a different way in his next film, 2017's *Dunkirk*. A World War II film about a moment of utter despair, when the British and French armies were pinned between the Axis and the ocean, it's a story with few characters and little hope. But in Nolan's telling, the Dunkirk evacuation, in which 300,000 soldiers escaped across the English Channel thanks to the efforts of a largely civilian volunteer fleet, becomes one of the most moving moments in a horrible conflict, where people do what's right because they can and because they must. Noblesse oblige defines the latter half of Nolan's filmography. Those resources that only he can marshal deployed to tell stories that speak to the moment in which they arrive, because to use them for anything less than that would be irresponsible. This is a burden that Nolan seems to have placed on himself, one that he's been working towards for some time, accepting the mantle of the bard at dusk. This is why *The Odyssey* arrived with potency and immediacy, weeks after release in a world where few things in pop culture can sustain even a few days of discussion. It's not solely due to the timelessness of the source material, or the ongoing culture war that finds it convenient fodder for outrage. It's because this filmmaker has been setting up shop at every multiplex around the world time and time again, contemplating film's role in the modern world, and the messages those with power ought to heed. This is the gospel of Christopher Nolan, delivered to a cacophonous world he knows is unlikely to hear him. But some might, if he can speak a language that enough people can understand. Thunder and fire. A good harvest, if we're lucky. ### Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave Gave A Nun A Gun URL: https://aftermath.site/fire-emblem-fortunes-weave-gave-a-nun-a-gun/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T15:41:53.000Z Nintendo showed a [preview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5FRaZiSBaJfU&ref=aftermath.site) of what to expect in the upcoming *Fire Emblem: Fortune*’s *Weave on Tuesday*. Apparently this includes a gun. *Fortune’s Weave* looks fucking fantastic. While there’s another *Fire Emblem* game between this one and the wonderful *Three Houses*, this game feels so far like a real successor to the fan favorite boarding school tactics sim. It’s got all the things I was hoping for: multiple main characters with different stories to play through, a new world full of political intrigue, and a hot evil guy with long hair. It’s also got something I wasn’t expecting at all: a gun. In a description of the combat mechanics of the game, Nintendo’s video calls out mystical weapons like “swords that can call down lightning” and “gauntlets that look like firearms.” I’m not sure these gauntlets (the terminology that *Fire Emblem* games use to refer to fist weapons) just *look* like firearms, though. As far as I can tell, this woman who is dressed like a nun has lept into the air and shot a mook in the fucking face. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/nun-with-a-gun-2-1.png) Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave I was already really excited for *Fortune’s Weave*, being a *Fire Emblem* sicko. Now I cannot wait for this goddamn game to come out. As I am surrounded by knights and sorcerers and women armed with spears riding flying horses, I would like to have the ability to use a gun on them. Thank you. [Astarion With A Gun - AftermathHappy weekend, folks. (Thanks, IGN.)![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-b8f8ea75-f12f-4539-b66f-82bd0c033e7a.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gunstarion-3-a8dd6126-9814-409d-b407-19c93ac95314.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/astarion-with-a-gun/) ### The Samurai And The Prisoner Sees Kiyoshi Kurosawa At The Height Of His Powers URL: https://aftermath.site/the-samurai-and-the-prisoner-kiyoshi-kurosawa-movie-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T02:39:57.000Z When *The Samurai And The Prisoner* was first revealed, I was tentatively sold when writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s name popped up in its official trailer, with all the pageantry of Moses descending Mt. Sinai to bring the good word. Why? Its feudal premise struck me as a bit more buttoned-up than the spectral wonders I’ve grown accustomed to from the acclaimed director. After watching the film, I’ve never been more delighted to have been proven wrong. Unc’s still got it. For longer than I’ve been alive, Kurosawa has built a career directing iconoclastic films. From a frustrated detective solving a mystifying string of murders in 1997’s *Cure*, to a detective playing *Lorax* with a vampiric tree in 1999’s *Charisma*, to spectral oddities invading the human world via the internet in 2001’s Pulse, to a scalper fucking around and finding out the folly of reselling at folks’ expense in 2024’s *Cloud*, Kurosawa’s propensity to imbue mesmeric stories with hypnotic, existential dread behind the lens of a camera never fails to stand and deliver “last of a dying breed” worth acclaim. *The Samurai And The Prisoner* is the latest testament to Kurosawa’s gift to astound. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SamuraiAndPrisoner_image_08-1.jpg) Masaki Suda as Kanbei Kuroda and Motoki as Lord Murashige Araki in **The Samurai And The Prisoner*. © TBS Pictures / Shochiku Film Studio / Janus Films Based on writer Honobu Yonezawa’s 2021 novel *Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner*, Kurosawa’s adaptation breathes new life into a chimeric tale born of historical events and a festering mystery within long-held, academically opposed affairs. Set against the backdrop of Nobunaga Oda’s ambitious and tyrannical plot to unify Japan, which serves as the film’s ever-present ticking time bomb, Lord Murashige Araki (Masahiro Motoki) faces a scourge within his castle walls. After holding a wise strategist from Nobunaga’s rank, Kanbei Kuroda (Masaki Suda), prisoner in a dungeon and denying him the Samurai-coded death before dishonor custom—be it out of pacifism or feigned benevolence—a domino effect of mysterious murders shakes the fabric of order in his court, plunging it into chaos. With a newer string of unexplainable murders occurring—each more bizarre than the last—the story unfolds as a feudal procedural in which Murashige attempts to illuminate the inexplicable with the help of Kanbei, his forlorn wife Chiyoho (Yuriko Yoshitaka), and his dwindling circle of loyal generals. Eventually, suspicion over these strange occurrences overtakes him, threatening to bring a premature end to his reign as castle lord long before Nobunaga ever invades his castle. Living off the promise of its premise, *The Samurai And The Prisoner* is nothing short of a pristine period-piece drama, shot with blocking rivaling that of Akira Kurosawa’s, and featuring serene cinematography, letting its actors chew scenery in wide shots that invite viewers to deduce its stranger mysteries alongside Murashige and company. But what’s immediately striking about the film is how it gives all the esteem of a period drama without glorifying the past in the ways moviegoers have grown accustomed to. Throughout the film’s methodically paced runtime, *The Samurai And The Prisoner* establishes a rhythm across its four acts: Murashige encounters an abnormal murder within his fortified castle, then goes feudal *CSI*, reconstructing the events, interrogates potential culprits in court *Columbo*\-style, and—with the boom of his phone-a-friend life hack for his imprisoned trump card—delivers a logical conclusion; they aren’t divine intervention or wrath, but the folly of wounded human pride. The whole spectacle is lean-forward-in-your-chair viewing so enveloping you don’t feel the film’s runtime. But after a while, Murashige descends from a wiser-than-thou lord to a man completely out of sorts, leaving his demystified court to throw logic out the window for the easier truth that the dude might actually be cursed. Despite how clinically and logically he investigates, the movie’s otherwise rigorously historically accurate cinematography gives way to the spooky cinematic mysticism Kurasawa is known for, to the point where you’re left believing something more cosmic is at play off the muscle of the cast’s larger-than-life performances and the film’s bespoke cinematography. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SamuraiAndPrisoner_image_02.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SamuraiAndPrisoner_image_03.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SamuraiAndPrisoner_image_04.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SamuraiAndPrisoner_image_05.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SamuraiAndPrisoner_image_06.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/SamuraiAndPrisoner_image_07.jpg) © TBS Pictures / Shochiku Film Studio / Janus Films When the action picks up in the nearly 2-hour-30-minute feature, it's handled remarkably matter-of-factly. That’s not to say it’s half-assed. The staging and blocking of the film are executed with near-theatrical stage-play precision, with masses of armies fighting in static, far-away shots, allowing one’s eye to dart around the screen and soak in every delicious detail. What’s more, Motoki, Suda, and Yoshitaka are an absolute tour de force, stealing the scene in every moment of screen time with powerful performances that make “characters talking in a room” scenes more exciting and moving than any action scene another director would’ve highlighted as the film’s pièce de résistance. The universal quality of all its battles is that they’re quicker than a hiccup and never embellish or glorify decisive sword slashes with dramatic close-ups or erupting sprays of blood, as we’ve grown accustomed to in any tale depicting men with swords, let alone one set during one of the bloodiest periods of Japan’s war-torn Sengoku period. I found this deliberate choice distracting at first, until Kurosawa folded it into Murashige's warring ideology as a stubbornly pacifist ruler in a time of war, unwilling to commit murders in his name to ruin his reputation, regardless of how the war shakes out, as an impossible gambit liable to turn his castle into sand. It also doesn’t hurt that the film strikes a chord with Macbethian levels of reality-bending mysticism, putting Murikage’s convictions and the waning faith of his subjects into question, transforming the film from a buttoned-up period-piece drama into arguably the most mesmerizing and prescient epics to come out this year. While the culprit behind the string of murder mysteries plaguing Murashige’s castle may sit comfortably in your top three suspects—as it did for me in the film’s opening 40 minutes—the philosophical tension between *The Samurai And The Prisoner* in the third act thunders into a resounding crescendo, paying off those four‑season‑spanning incidents in ways my brain is still buzzing over long after the credits roll. The film carries unassuming yet arresting multitudes, delivering the finest cinematography from a director with nothing left to prove and everything left to impress, crafting a truly remarkable epic. *The Samurai And The Prisoner* is playing in select theaters. ## Recommended: [Kokuho Has The JuiceKokuho is a blistering look at how far an artist will bleed, bend, and break in pursuit of perfection![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-9f5f5329-1833-45dc-8091-637c11df59b7.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/kokuhou-movie-review-1-69975ec5-a63b-45c3-8304-7d0e41ab8fa1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/kokuho-has-the-juice-movie-review/) ### Big Walk Is At Its Best When You Totally Screw Things Up URL: https://aftermath.site/big-walk-impressions-review/ Last updated: 2026-08-05T15:55:19.000Z There are a bunch of things in both video games and real life that I’m no good at: following directions. Staying with a group. Thinking through how to get where I’m going instead of just navigating [based on vibes](https://aftermath.site/no-quarter-bike-race-despelote-nyu/)*. Big Walk*, a new multiplayer-only game from *Untitled Goose Game* developer House House, requires you to do all these things, but in my six hours with it so far, *not* doing any of that is what makes it fun. [*Big Walk*](https://bigwalk.game/?ref=aftermath.site) can be played cross-platform with up to 12 people, but must be played with at least two. Whoever hosts the lobby holds on to the save game, meaning you’ll need to play with that person if you want to make progress. Depending on your schedule and how social you are, this multiplayer requirement might be a turn-off, but once I was able to get a group together (after a good couple hours of messaging on Slack with some of my Aftermath colleagues), I can see why it’s like this. Working together is what the game is about, or at least *trying* to work together. The basic premise of *Big Walk* is that you wander a realistic-looking open world that’s dotted here and there with brightly-colored cartoon buildings. These buildings are puzzles that can’t be solved on your own, and they reward you with what my group decided was a red bean. If you bring enough beans to what my group came to call a Bean House, you unlock a key that opens up new features of the world. Chris and I played with Nicole on a save she’d already begun, in which she’d amassed some vital equipment: a pair of walkie-talkies to communicate if we were too far away for proximity chat, a flashlight for the very dark night part of the game’s day/night cycle. We set off hunting for a Bean House Nicole remembered visiting, but things almost instantly went wrong. While climbing a hill, Nicole punted her walkie-talkie off a cliff; for some reason I promptly did the same with my flashlight. We fell off the hill to retrieve them (there’s no [fall damage](https://aftermath.site/i-hate-fall-damage/), but if you fall from high enough you drop your items and could lose them), and I immediately got myself stuck in a hole between some rocks and had to whimper “I’m in here!” over voice chat until Chris and Nicole found me and lifted me out. Things went wonderfully downhill from there. I kept running off and then getting turned around in the forest. During one puzzle where Chris and Nicole spotted me from a ridge while I went to different platforms to report on their contents, I’m ashamed to say I mixed up the perspective on my lefts and rights and *then* completely forgot how to get back to the ridge and basically wandered the woods until they found me again. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/Desktop-Screenshot-2026.08.03---16.02.15.35.png) Aftermath In my favorite moment, if over an hour counts as a moment, Chris went one way while Nicole and I went another, looking for that Bean House. (I will spare you the humiliating details of how we found it almost instantly while playing later with more people.) Suddenly, Nicole and I realized that we’d taken both walkie-talkies, meaning we had no way to contact Chris. Eventually, we came upon a stalled monorail and honked its horn rhythmically; at some point, we heard the sound of Chris setting off a flare, but we couldn’t see it lighting up behind the mountains that surrounded us. We honked, Chris flared, but there was no way for either party to tell the other what to do. Finally, worried Chris wasn’t having any fun setting off flares by himself, he and I exchanged purposefully vague Slack messages to come up with a plan for us to go to him. (I would recommend against this; of course you can use Discord or another external chat, but the game is way more fun without it.) Stumbling through the dark, we *finally* saw a green burst of light; I crashed through the brush and scrambled up mountains until I could trace its arc to Chris. We celebrated being together again–before Nicole and I revealed we hadn’t been able to see Chris’ flares, and Chris revealed he hadn’t even heard our honking. Our communication across the game’s vast island had been totally in my head. > the worst (best?) part of this is that riley and i wandered off together holding both of the walkie talkies > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ngixp5ab4bvfayehc23q2mja/post/3msb6v6fswk2m?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Nicole Carpenter ([@nicolecarpenter.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ngixp5ab4bvfayehc23q2mja?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [August 4, 2026 at 10:10 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ngixp5ab4bvfayehc23q2mja/post/3msb6v6fswk2m?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) *Big Walk* feels designed to force you into these moments where you’re outmatched. Everything is just a little bit bigger than your bulbous guy; you have more items than you have ways to carry them; puzzle solutions are physically out of reach or need multiple sets of eyes. Beyond this design being the reason the game requires multiplayer, it also gives *Big Walk* the feeling of being (sorry) a big walk–you and your friends are small things in this giant, often baffling world. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/bisea.jpeg) Aftermath But rather than being frightening, it feels joyous and exciting. The bright colors of the landmarks and your goofy guys help, as does the fact that you can’t get hurt. You have to overcome your limitations by working together, whether that’s narrating someone through a puzzle or boosting them up a high ledge. You would be hopeless on your own, and you’re sometimes still hopeless together, but by making do with what’s around and lending each other a hand, you steadily make the world more hospitable. The puzzles I’ve done so far have ranged from simple (including “didn’t even have to do anything” simple, which was a lovely moment) to semi-maddening scavenger hunts to anxiety-inducing obstacle courses to Chris leading us on a massive trek across the map that I honestly can’t believe worked out. Besides not being solvable on your own, I also don’t think they’d be as fun–what makes them rewarding is deciphering them and executing the solution as a group, not the personal cleverness or twitchy execution of a *Portal* or other puzzle game. Many of them rely on the limitations of your communication: puzzles where you can’t see each other or can only hear muffled voices, puzzles that play with the togetherness that’s core to the game. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/bigpuz.jpg) House House I’ll be honest that the need to play with at least one of the same people is a barrier that I worry will wear, but this is what *Big Walk* is going for. I’ve [seen](https://kotaku.com/big-walk-the-kotaku-review-2000720861?ref=aftermath.site) [others](https://www.pcmag.com/news/big-walk-review-beyond-the-friendslop-label-a-quietly-brilliant-game?ref=aftermath.site) reference “[friendslop](https://aftermath.site/friendslop-peak-lethal-company-social-media-discourse/)” when discussing it, and while I get the instinct, having to always play together feels like it moves the game beyond the somewhat disposable nature of that label. It’s been a while since I’ve been excited enough to play a multiplayer game that I’m willing to deal with the schedules of other working adults; I’m dying to reach some of the strange things we’ve spotted across the map, and I can only do that with the people I started the game with. But there are still *so* many beans between us and those sights, so many cliffs to fall off and items to lose and bad, hilarious choices to make. There’s puzzles to solve and new things to find, and it’s exciting to know we’ll have to do it together. ### We're Still Running A Sale On Subscriptions URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-sale-subscriptions-august-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T04:14:46.000Z 💡 ****UPDATE:** SALE'S OVER! [But you can still subscribe here](https://aftermath.ghost.io/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal/signup). Good news everyone![ Hater Week was a *big* success](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week-stories/); we loved bringing you all the stories, you (hopefully) loved reading them and *loads* of people[ took advantage of our sale](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscription-sale-2/) to become paying subscribers. In fact it was *such* a success that we're extending that Hater Week sale for another week! [Hater Week Stories - AftermathIt’s Hater Week here on Aftermath. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-dd9a23d6-d1b6-4cc0-a02d-10babf753c80.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Untitled-3-3-ec155d1a-10d6-4e28-95af-25d8406ad144.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week-stories/) That's right, until midnight on Sunday, August 9 you can take advantage of two offers. You can subscribe to us on a monthly basis for just **one dollar** for the first month, an *incredible* value proposition in these trying times (it's a buck!), or for an even better deal you can become a 'Member' tier subscriber **for just $75**, which is *25% off its normal price*. Both tiers let you read and comment on stories, but 'Member' subs get the works; they get an invite to our community Discord, enjoy merch discounts and can even read the site via their own private RSS feed. And remember, every subscription is so much more than just a transaction;[ we have big plans for this site](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/), and the more of those we achieve, the better your subscription gets. You can redeem these offers below: ****Get your first month of Aftermath for just $1:** [REDEEM OFFER ](https://aftermathghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/ClaurdcQIf?ref=aftermath.site) ****Get 25% off a 'Member' tier annual subscription:** (If you're an existing paying subscriber but aren't logged in, [****please login first!**](https://aftermath.site/#/portal/signin)) [REDEEM OFFER ](https://aftermathghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/EmqXLH8fk2?ref=aftermath.site) ### Tie Me Up, Stare Me Down Is A Romance Manga Where Liberation Through Bondage Is The Real Kink URL: https://aftermath.site/tie-me-up-stare-me-down-bsdm-manga-interview/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T20:32:11.000Z I’m a strong advocate for manga's power to [enlighten readers about walks of life](https://aftermath.site/the-climber-shin-ichi-sakamoto-seinen-sports-manga-climbing/) they would otherwise know [only through stereotypes](https://aftermath.site/how-do-we-relationship-yuri-manga-tamifull-viz-media/). I’m also a fan of unflappable mangaka diving into [kinky subject matter like capital-S Sex](https://aftermath.site/ushimitsu-gao-beastars/) that readerships are prone to pearl-clutching at the thought of reading in private, let alone admitting to in writing, [as I have so often](https://aftermath.site/i-roved-out-in-search-of-truth-and-love-is-an-erotic-fantasy-saga-that-has-more-than-just-spice/). We’d be much happier people if we stopped hiding who we are, and many such cases. So when I heard about [Manga Mavericks Books](https://bsky.app/profile/mangamavericks.bsky.social/post/3mm5kysablj2b?ref=aftermath.site)' English release of a series that shines a light on Japanese sadomasochism culture, I got involved in that. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/5e535921-25ce-4b88-b466-ceed7a4e9396.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/ba06a2a3-eade-4b6f-8feb-22da41c6d9a0-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/f2fd26f8-c2ad-4466-8f39-0ed35b59fee5-1.png) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha [*Tie Me Up, Stare Me Down*](https://x.com/zwzwyk/status/1814140758313652341?s=20&ref=aftermath.site), by [Zawayuki Taki,](https://x.com/zwzwyk?ref=aftermath.site) follows the relationship between two office workers crushed under the weight of the marketing and sales department. While boss Sawada survives the onslaught of tasks by pinching his brow, his desire to be free from his shitty job is outpacing his ability to hang in there. But deep down, buddy just wants to be freed from the ties that bind him in the corporate grind. So, on a lark, Sawada waltzes into a new bar on the way home from work to get some new stimuli in his day-to-day malaise. SM bars like this are familiar to Taki, who spoke to Aftermath over email via translator Michael Jokoh. “In my twenties, I had a friend who worked as a dominatrix at an SM bar. That’s where I first learned about SM bars, and my first visit after I had become a working adult was the first SM experience I ever had,” Taki said. “Up until that moment, I had always believed that eroticism is something to feel shame and guilt over. I had become sick of people around me who would react negatively to me for having just a little knowledge of it,” Taki continued. “So when I experienced bondage for the first time and had a venue to have erotic conversations in a healthy, non-judgmental environment, I felt that for the first time I found a place where I belonged. It was this experience that became the basis for the *Tie Me Up and Stare Me Down* one-shot.” > 本日公開！ > 中間管理職のウブなおじさんが、縛られて新たな世界を開いちゃうお話描きました♥️ > > 【続きはくらげバンチより】[https://t.co/kHbs7c7Baj](https://t.co/kHbs7c7Baj?ref=aftermath.site)[#縛って見つめて](https://x.com/hashtag/%E7%B8%9B%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%A4%E3%82%81%E3%81%A6?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#漫画が読めるハッシュタグ](https://x.com/hashtag/%E6%BC%AB%E7%94%BB%E3%81%8C%E8%AA%AD%E3%82%81%E3%82%8B%E3%83%8F%E3%83%83%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%82%BF%E3%82%B0?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#くらげバンチ](https://x.com/hashtag/%E3%81%8F%E3%82%89%E3%81%92%E3%83%90%E3%83%B3%E3%83%81?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/Ebd5byknKX](https://t.co/Ebd5byknKX?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 多喜ざわゆき/ Zawayuki (@zwzwyk) [July 25, 2023](https://x.com/zwzwyk/status/1683813340286693378?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) In Taki’s manga, to Sawada’s surprise, the bar he’s wandered into is a fetish bar—more specifically, a bondage bar—where Nana, his mild-mannered subordinate at work, moonlights as its queen. At work, Sawada protects Nana from being too curt for her own good, since men are waiting for an excuse to give a woman shit for speaking her mind. Rather than ducking each other like their obvious game of eye tag was interrupted by the *Men In Black's* neuralyzer, the two enter a power-dynamic role reversal in which Nana gives Sawada the liberation they both have been looking for through the sensation of bondage and the pleasure of being seen and heard. Think [*Smoking Behind The* *Super Market With You,*](https://aftermath.site/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you-is-a-cozy-rom-com-manga/) but replace the intimacy of a slow-burn romance via the drag of a cigarette with the tightening and loosening of ropes, the crack of a whip, and the steady ebb and flow of surrendering oneself to the trust of their captor. ![Sawada and Nana engaging in bondage play.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--19-.png) English translation of [**Tie Me Up, Stare Me Down* via Taki's Twitter](https://x.com/zwzwyk/status/1814140758313652341?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha “I wanted to convey two people connected to each other by a very ordinary, very human, sense of frailty. The thought behind choosing this setting is that I wanted even those who are new to BDSM to enjoy the story; hence, my careful portrayal of Nana, avoiding the stereotypical ‘dominatrix’ vibe,” Taki told Aftermath. “Just like Sawada felt constrained by his title, I got to wondering if people who, because of their ‘dominatrix’ label, find themselves bound by ideals that differ from their true self. I think the desire to be one’s ‘ideal self’ is a beautiful thing.” It was paramount to Taki that their portrayal of BDSM was authentic emotionally to readers, and not just titillating. ![Sawada being cuious about bondage play.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--20-.png) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha “I was inspired by the saying that there are as many forms of SM as there are people; I decided to tackle my own version of BDSM. There’s no doubt that the commonly held conception of BDSM is simply inflicting pain one-sidedly, but I was surprised by how much of an empathetic response I received by simply drawing the kind of BDSM I wanted to see,” Take said. “I received countless messages from people along the lines of ‘This is the kind of SM I’ve been looking for! It’s not just about violence; it’s about how trust is essential.’” That’s not to say the manga isn’t without its bounty of eroticism. But in her pursuit of drawing Sawada and Nana’s newfound relationship, Taki strayed from flattening it to a simple affair of a domineering woman overpowering her boss and getting him off in the process. ![Moar bondage play](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--24-.png) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha “Rather than straight-up eroticism,” Taki said, “I wanted to convey a sense of adult ‘give-and-take’ conveyed through facial expressions, behaviors, and of course, their gazes, as well as a ‘sexual tension’ created by a sense of anticipation and suspense during their intimate state of play.” > 読切「縛って見つめて」のタイムラプスみつけた。久しぶりの原稿で試行錯誤が多い！ [pic.twitter.com/xXYqirUYLq](https://t.co/xXYqirUYLq?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 多喜ざわゆき/ Zawayuki (@zwzwyk) [July 29, 2025](https://x.com/zwzwyk/status/1949999303671341096?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) How does a mangaka find themselves writing an SM series as their debut? Taki’s trajectory to this point can be traced back to the halcyon days of her youth. “I happened upon sadomasochism in novels I read in my teenage years,” Taki said. “I didn’t feel a sense of revulsion to someone appearing to derive pleasure from pain. Rather, I found myself able to readily accept it.” “As a rule, I dislike corporal punishment, but when reading such works,” Taki continued, “I felt that it more resembled the escape one’s mind seeks when cornered by that kind of punishment, or put another way, like the sensation of transforming fear into pleasure when I have a nightmare.” ![Sawada staring into Nana's eyes.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--21-.png) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha Living up to my own lauding of mangaka as sociologists who draw exceedingly well, I was delighted to discover that Taki wasn’t just drawing on her own anecdotes about SM culture in Japan; she also consulted Tokyo-based shibari artist [Takase Shinnosuke](https://shibaraku.info/takase/?ref=aftermath.site) to lend authenticity to *Tie Me Up, Stare Me Down*. “After reading the psychological bondage scenes in the one-shot version of *Tie Me Up and Stare Me Down,* Mr. Takase offered positive feedback, saying that I had nailed it,” Taki said. “From him, I learned that first, there are numerous schools of bondage. ![Nana comforting Sawada.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--23-.png) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha “Interestingly, the way rope is tied and handled reveals specific quirks and individualisms. To those who have a trained eye, the way a rope is threaded and knotted reveals the specific school that rope style belongs to,” she continued. “I decided to focus and lock in on a single school and depict kinbaku through the lens of an individual, with the belief that a person’s philosophy and character are carved in their binding technique, thus giving Nana an even deeper sense of realism.” While reference photos are nice and all, it’s a far cry from inhabiting the same space as a shibari artist to fully comprehend the intricacies of how all the ropes work. After all, no one wants to read a manga where an artist yadda yadda’s such an important and dangerous detail on the pages of a readership liable to DIY their own shibari setup. When Taki needed hands-on experience to get those details right, she trekked to Takase’s studio for live demonstrations. “After the story for each chapter was finalized, I would take a visit to Mr. Takase’s bondage salon ‘Shibaraku’ and ask him specific questions like ‘I want to depict a character on all fours like a dog. How would I go about tying their hands and feet?’” Taki said. “He would then demonstrate the binding right there on the spot, and I’d catch it on video and in pictures.” Writing a manga about BDSM is sure to garner a curious readership, if not for the merit of its story, out of sheer curiosity to see what all the hubbub is about and maybe, just maybe, blush at what they find and have something awakened within them. The pressure in writing such a manga lay in serving as a gateway for readers unversed in SM culture. For Taki, that was a responsibility she didn’t take lightly. ![Nana talking Sawada through it. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--25-.png) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha “Since this manga was read by bondage artists and people involved in the BDSM world, there was a sense of looming pressure on not just me but the supervising team, regarding how things were depicted,” Taki said. “Though, to my delight, some readers even went as far as recreating the bondage scenes from the manga and sent me photos. Having people who are into this recreate the scenes gave me a sense of elation beyond words.” As is the case for most manga—[especially queer manga](https://aftermath.site/green-yuri-nana-shojo-girls-love/) and manga depicting sex—there was a period in which fans of the series weren’t sure it would ever get a localization in English. You can imagine a sexual manga of this nature wouldn’t fare any better unless a publisher that was about it bout it caught wind of the series and christened it in plastic wrap in brick-and-mortar stores. But manga readers are nothing if not resourceful. The domino effect of the 2024 manga not being localized into English led fans to take matters into their own hands, creating fan translations in the corners of the internet for folks willing to seek them out. ![Sawada realizing he likes shibari. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--22-.png) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha “I got the feeling that this is the kind of manga that would be suited for an international readership. The publisher thought the same thing and released a translated version, but due to the social media algorithm and shadowbanning, there was a period where the views weren’t where we hoped they’d be. Then, slowly, fan translations started appearing, and seeing how popular they became convinced me that the manga would be received well overseas, but I was concerned that this attention wasn’t leading to an official release,” Taki said. “That an official English version was finally announced is nothing short of a miracle. I’m overjoyed that I can share this with overseas fans who have supported me until we finally arrived at this point.” [多喜ざわゆき(zawayuki) (@zwzwyk.bsky.social)緊縛の荒縄、手入れしてもらった！MY縄😂![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-97b41932-681c-4451-8657-6dd747339d33.png)Bluesky Social多喜ざわゆき(zawayuki)![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreiey42nj3p7kdmtn3czwkvwu6ebjw5rlcqjbzpv4s26ef6wlvievgu-7a4367b9-d57a-44ee-898c-c039bc2d113e)](https://bsky.app/profile/zwzwyk.bsky.social/post/3kiwka67lm52u?ref=aftermath.site) It goes without saying that Taki is thrilled about *Tie Me Up, Stare Me Down*’s official English release providing a wider readership with the opportunity to experience Nana and Sawada’s love story. But what excites Taki the most about its localization is the prospect of her newfound readership trying SM out for themselves, even casually, and falling in love with it because of her manga. “I often frequent ‘Bakuraku,’ where sometimes I get tied up, but many times I just go there to talk,” Taki said. “It’s a place like many where you can just chat others up and get their views on life, culture, SM, and bondage. If you’ve got even just a slight interest and feel like you might have an affinity to the vibe, I believe taking baby steps in your involvement is a good idea.” ![Nana praising Sawada. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--17-.png) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha While finding a kinky bar in your area might prove a touch more difficult for folks in the States, folks can exercise the core theme of *Tie Me Up, Stare Me Down* by reevaluating the kneejerk reaction one might have reading an entire blog dedicated to a BDSM manga interview. One way Taki recommends folks do so is by not being so precious about eroticism as a topic worth discussing in earnest and with the same level of candor as other creature comforts we call leisure. > See the picture and you’ll see what I love❤[#マシュマロを投げ合おう](https://x.com/hashtag/%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A5%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AD%E3%82%92%E6%8A%95%E3%81%92%E5%90%88%E3%81%8A%E3%81%86?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site)[https://t.co/l3qXVjVII2](https://t.co/l3qXVjVII2?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/SDr0QPkRyx](https://t.co/SDr0QPkRyx?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 多喜ざわゆき/ Zawayuki (@zwzwyk) [August 26, 2025](https://x.com/zwzwyk/status/1960331169251434597?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) “There’s no greater joy than when people tell me that they’re glad they decided to get to know this new world,” Taki said. “The first time I went to an SM bar, I was nervous enough that I nearly turned back several times when I reached that heavy door, but once I took the plunge, it was like a dream.” “I used to wonder if I was weird or if I didn’t deserve to enjoy sexual pleasure, but in that world, it was all totally normal and a part of daily living,” Taki said. “Seeing people casually discuss sex with smiles on their faces made me think, ‘Isn’t eroticism at its heart a part of being human?’” ![Sawada realizing he's into SM. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/08/image--18-.png) © Zawayuki Taki / Shinchosha *Tie Me Up, Stare Me Down* is now available for [pre-order on Manga Maverick’s website](https://store.mangamavericks.com/products/tie-me-up-stare-me-down?ref=aftermath.site), but it won’t be in folks' hands until May 2027\. ### Just After CEOs Praised Netflix's FIFA Game, Its Developer Has Reportedly Been Shut Down URL: https://aftermath.site/netflix-delphi-fifa-layoffs-shutdown/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T18:35:26.000Z Just a few weeks after Netflix praised its game *FIFA World Cup* on [an earnings call](https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc%5Ffinancials/2026/q2/Netflix-Inc-%5FEarnings-Call%5F2026-07-16T00%5F00%5F00%5FEnglish-1.pdf?ref=aftermath.site), and even less weeks after publisher [Delphi Interactive’s CEO Casper Daugaard](https://www.gamefile.news/p/delphi-interactive-james-bond-fifa-michael-eisner-disney?ref=aftermath.site) said the game was “doing extremely well,” *FIFA* developer Refactor Games has reportedly been shut down, according to [Game Developer](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/report-refactor-games-shuttered-by-delphi-interactive?ref=aftermath.site). Delphi is part owner of Refactor, and workers claim the company pulled funding and that employees were let go. “Delphi just pulled the plug on Refactor studios right after we shipped the *FIFA World Cup* game for Netflix. The entire studio was let go today,“ wrote an art director on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7489089038726049792/?ref=aftermath.site). “Last Friday marked the end of my chapter at Refactor Games as I was laid off along with the rest of the studio,” wrote a [senior producer](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7490066460682137600/?ref=aftermath.site). A senior UI artist [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7489769778430046208/?ref=aftermath.site) that “the studio’s parent company unfortunately pulled funding, and the entire team, myself included, was laid off.” A QA lead [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7490013556629848064/?ref=aftermath.site) that the company “is closing its doors after the highly successful launch of *FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition* on Netflix Games.” A technical artist, meanwhile, [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7490088520963776515/?ref=aftermath.site) that the company “had to lay off the vast majority of their studio, including me.” Aftermath has reached out to Refactor for more information. *FIFA* launched in June on Netflix, and while Luke [didn’t like it much](https://aftermath.site/fifa-world-cup-launch-edition-netflix-review-impressions/), a person familiar told [GameFile](https://www.gamefile.news/p/delphi-interactive-james-bond-fifa-michael-eisner-disney?ref=aftermath.site) the game had garnered 1.5 million players in its first week. While it doesn’t appear Netflix had anything to do with Refactor’s shutdown, that company *also* loves to praise the games on its platform and then axe their studios, having previously [closed *Squid Game: Unleashed* developer Boss Fight](https://aftermath.site/squid-game-unleashed-boss-fight-closed/) days after hyping the game in an earnings call in October 2025\. Whether or not *FIFA* was actually any good is somewhat beside the point here. The point is that both Delphi and Netflix publicly *said* it was good, with Netflix claiming in its most recent [earnings call](https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc%5Ffinancials/2026/q2/Netflix-Inc-%5FEarnings-Call%5F2026-07-16T00%5F00%5F00%5FEnglish-1.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) that “*FIFA* and *Unhinged* became our 2 most successful cloud game debuts, really solid numbers that put it in the top tier of game performance for us.” Whatever actual numbers are behind Netflix calling the game “successful,” or what Delphi’s Daugaard meant by it doing “extremely well,” that these companies put up a proud front only for the axe to swiftly fall feels like one more example of the prevailing trend in the games industry today, where layoffs happen and studios get axed no matter *how* a game performs. And while *FIFA*’s popularity was tied to the World Cup, surely the studio had not suddenly outlived its usefulness now that the World Cup is over, if it has in fact been shut down. At the very least, Refactor currently has [an early access football game](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1488560/Football%5FSimulator/?ref=aftermath.site), which has “mostly positive” reviews on Steam. Delphi also had a hand in [*007 First Light*](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/meet-delphi-interactive-the-publisherdeveloper-behind-the-new-fifa-game?ref=aftermath.site). That game’s developer, IO Interactive, recently had [layoffs after Microsoft pulled funding](https://aftermath.site/xbox-io-interactive-blade-arkane/) for an in-development fantasy RPG. **Update, 8/3/26, 7pm–** According to [Insider Gaming](https://insider-gaming.com/developers-fifa-world-cup-let-go-refactor-games/?ref=aftermath.site), some staff still remain at the studio. Insider Gaming reports that "the hope is to hire a number of let-go staff back in the near future for their other projects," and reports that laid-off employees were not offered severance. [Netflix, Just Pay People To Make Video Games, You Are Making This Needlessly ComplicatedThe adults are in the room again![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-0110a991-c9c4-4bc3-937b-e493f7962f50.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Untitled-1-1-7f5a5be9-3e6c-4bd0-9269-98bcf83dddac.png)](https://aftermath.site/netflix-video-games-fifa/) ### Get Ready To Learn More About Namco Games Than You Ever Thought Possible URL: https://aftermath.site/namco-museum-video-game-playstation/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T18:35:06.000Z Artist, designer and ([disclaimer](https://aftermath.site/indulge-us-behind-the-scenes-of-aftermaths-branding/)!) Aftermath logo creator [Andrew Elmore](https://www.patreon.com/cw/mythicresonance?ref=aftermath.site) has for the past three years been working on an absolutely *monumental* feat of video game history: a complete catalogue of every *Namco Museum* release, and as part of that, every game featured within. This video goes for over two hours for a reason: Andrew isn't just comparing every *Namco Museum* release (compendiums of the company's classic back catalogue) of the last three decades, but after "researching, importing, interviewing, and studying with characteristic hyper-fixation" he walks us through each specific game in turn as well. There's a *lot* to learn here! I, for example, had never seen *Wonder Momo* in action before, and am now in *awe* at the animation work found in a 1987 arcade game. Andrew describes his motivation for making the video as: > In 2023, I wanted to watch a deep dive video on every Namco Museum release. Not just one release or series, but all of them. 33 months later, I now know why no one else had done this before! > > I've been researching, importing, interviewing, and studying with characteristic hyper-fixation to bring you the most thorough and comprehensive presentation that I possibly can! > > This is quite literally the single largest creative project of my life. Could it be better? Of course! Don't think I don't still have pages of production notes for known shippables! But I can sleep soundly knowing I gave you the best I could. Anyway, enough introductions, here's the video! Like I said, it goes for over two hours, so make yourself a cup of tea, get a cushion and settle in: Amazingly, Andrew also made a soundtrack to the video, [which is available on his Bandcamp page](https://satellitesound.bandcamp.com/album/the-namco-museum-museum-original-score?ref=aftermath.site): [The Namco Museum Museum (Original Score) by Andrew Elmore](https://satellitesound.bandcamp.com/album/the-namco-museum-museum-original-score?ref=aftermath.site) If you enjoyed the video and/or soundtrack, [you can help support more of Andrew's work at his Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/cw/mythicresonance?ref=aftermath.site)! ### They Could Never Make Me Hate Dark Souls II URL: https://aftermath.site/dark-souls-ii-is-good-actually/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T23:18:21.000Z When *Dark Souls II* came out in 2014, I previewed and [reviewed it for Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/dark-souls-ii-the-kotaku-review-1540752877?ref=aftermath.site). After I played the Looking Glass Knight demo at E3, I gushed to a friend [that they had not fucked it up.](https://kotaku.com/dark-souls-ii-is-dark-souls-thank-god-513806441?ref=aftermath.site) This had been a going concern at the time, with many fans and press expressing valid concerns with the direction envisioned in the first trailer and [comments from the first director about making the game more accessible to players](https://web.archive.org/web/20140227101006/http://www.edge-online.com/news/dark-souls-iis-new-director-on-making-one-of-the-toughest-series-in-videogames-more-accessible/). I played the game in the partial vacuum of review, and minus the windmill puzzle in Earthen Peak I loved it then, as did many reviewers at the time. But the fan outcry stemming from the final game looking much simpler primed the fanbase to think of it as a lesser game. In the intervening 12 years, the most YouTube-ass contingent of near sighted pedants have come to paint this game as a flawed tragedy, a diminished step backwards when compared to its predecessor. And while I will fully admit that *Dark Souls II* does things that are counterintuitive, bizarre, and abrasive, it is also the game in the trilogy I am most likely to replay and the one nearest to my heart. Haters be damned, I love *Dark Souls II*. This is all front of mind for me as I started several FromSoft games for my most recent piece on [the best farming locations in the company’s modern offerings](https://aftermath.site/dark-souls-elden-ring-sekiro-ac6-souls-runes-farming/). Inexorably, I was drawn to replay *Dark Souls II*. Of the series, it is the game that gives me the most comfort, the one I find the most beautiful and that works in the most bizarrely specific way. It is painterly and open-ended, less forgiving in some ways and more easily broken in others. *Dark Souls II* was also laying the groundwork for some of the company’s most significant work, and the choices that it made are proof that sometimes you just need to trust people to swing for the fences and see what works. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6345.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6128.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6348.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6371.webp) Some of the sickest locations in any game. ## **Impossibly beautiful vistas** When you first emerge from the starting zone of Things Betwixt, you enter into the hub world of Majula. It is a ramshackle seaside town perpetually at dusk, with cooing music playing in the background. While *Souls* and *Souls*\-adjacent games would have hub worlds before and after (The Nexus, Firelink Shrine, Hunter’s Dream, The Roundtable Hold) there is simply no better hub world than Majula, and no better fire maiden than the Emerald Herald. She is constantly looking off into the distance, full of heartbreak and grief. As the town slowly populates with cursed people like yourself, it begins to feel lived in but no less hollow. I will think of the empty stone huts and perpetual twilight of Majula in my dying days. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6149.webp) It's hard not to see Siofra River in this area. Even the haters will concede that Majula is iconic, but *Dark Souls II* contains many locations that are among the series’ best. The starting area, Things Betwixt, is a subterranean cave area illuminated with a stunning crack of sunlight to the outside world. Heide’s Tower of Flame is right next door from Majula, flooded stone architecture erupting from almost mercurial waves. Huntsman’s Copse is a nasty cliff face with a gargantuan ramshackle bridge leading to the Undead Purgatory, a colosseum-like structure. In the background you see a distant forest with tiny visible birds, and the sun occluded by the clouds into an unearthly yellow green light. The Iron Keep is a castle submerged in lava, and both that and the attached Belfry Sol are among the best locations to PvP in I’ve ever experienced. Dragon Aerie and the attached Dragon Shrine are a shocking surprise reveal, a roost of busy and impossible dragons in the sky that would rhyme with later locations in From’s catalogue like Archdragon Peak and Crumbling Farum Azula. This is to say nothing of *Dark Souls II*’s DLC, where the palaces of Shulva, the Old Iron King's realm and Frozen Eleum Loyce look like high fantasy art rendered accurately. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6368.webp) Elden Ring doesn't exist in a vacuum. ## **History has vindicated Yui Tanimura** *Dark Souls II* is noteworthy for being supervised but not directed by Miyazaki while he went to work on *Bloodborne*, something that was used as a point of derision among fans. But while the development itself had a lot of ups and downs, including an initial trailer that was not indicative of the final product and an initial worry that the game was being made too easy, trust that was put on that team bore fruit. It is particularly noteworthy that director Yui Tanimura, who took over *Dark Souls II* development from director Tomohiro Shibuya, would go on to helm not only the best DLC of *Dark Souls II* and the best DLC of *Dark Souls III* (The Ringed City) but also co-direct *Elden Ring* itself. Both Tanimura and Shibuya were not new; both had worked on several FromSoftware projects like the *Another Century’s Episode* series. But *Dark Souls II* was a pivotal release in the company’s history. A game company is not one person, it is the collective talents of a group, and thankfully nobody seems more aware of that than Hidetaka Miyazaki, the person who helped shepherd the company into being a powerhouse. “Without \[*Dark Souls I*I\], we wouldn’t have had a lot of the connections and a lot of the ideas that went forward and carried the rest of the series,” Miyazaki told IGN in [an interview last year](https://www.ign.com/articles/elden-ring-shadow-of-erdtree-director-hidetaka-miyazaki-look-back-interview-profile?ref=aftermath.site), where he also stressed the importance of trusting new directors with projects going forward. “We were able to have that different impetus and have those different ideas and make those different connections that we otherwise might not have had….there’s really no way of telling how or if the series would have continued the way it did without *Dark Souls 2*.” Shoutout to **Otogi 2*. Much of what works about *Elden Ring*, from the breathtaking vistas to the breakable nature of the world, feels directly indebted to this game. While *Dark Souls* and *Dark Souls III* are dank and dark, *Dark Souls II* and *Elden Ring* are much more varied. *Dark Souls II* is far more open-ended and able to be done out of order than the first game, something that *Elden Ring* enabled to an absurd degree through both sheer open-ended scale and shortcuts. *Elden Ring* is a synthesis of the games that preceded it, to the point where the joystick dead zone in the game is a happy medium between *Dark Souls/Sekiro* and *Dark Souls II/Otogi 2*. Though games must be judged on their own merits, the work of a company, and From’s work specifically, should ideally be seen as a continuity. And seen from that perspective, *Dark Souls II* is the point at which much of the boldest work was done at a point in time when the company’s future was not a sure bet. ![A still showing the windmill in Earthen Peak](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6349.webp) "The elevator doesn't make sense, blah blah blah." ## **People who complain about the *Dark Souls II* map need to calm down just a little bit** A beloved element of *Dark Souls* is that the map all fits together perfectly. If you see something in the distance, it is very likely there in some capacity. The *Dark Souls* map is a marvel, a maze of circuitous and beautiful shortcuts. Most of these work, and a few of them (like Blighttown, [as Hbomberguy pointed out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRTfcMeqhig&ref=aftermath.site) in his *Dark Souls II* video years ago) do not. Fast travel does not exist for the majority of your *Dark Souls* playthrough,and soyou are hoofing it for the most part. *Dark Souls II* does not do this. If looked at in a strictly top-down, literal way, the world fits together in bizarre and nonsensical ways with many areas overlapping. I will admit that this complaint is not entirely meritless. *Dark Souls II* seemed to change quite a bit throughout the development process and earlier cut versions of several locations can be found in the code. The Gutter, which in the final game is a series of ramshackle huts floating in a cave, originally was a gargantuan space with an entire town underneath it. How Grave of the Saints was conceptualized and placed originally changed dramatically, and YouTuber Illusory Wall has a fantastic breakdown of those prototypes. There are also places like Forest of the Fallen Giants that feature interactive memories, and incredible care was taken into where those memories fit spatially into the world. But people have taken this quirk of the game as some unforgivable betrayal, and I’m sorry but that’s the most pedantic, CinemaSins ass complaint I have ever heard in my life. For starters, video games are creative artifice and often employ tricks and illusions to achieve that impact. Complaining that a game makes use of fantastical and nonsensical space is sorta like complaining that a magician did not actually saw a woman in half. And while it would be nice to achieve that same degree of interconnectedness that is in *Dark Souls*, you sometimes just have to ship the game you have. The surreal nature of the space in *Dark Souls II* is sometimes additive and thematically resonant. As many have pointed out before, a key theme of *Dark Souls II* is the loss of memory, something that the game directly tells you in the opening cinematic. Before the events of the game, the main character, the Bearer of the Curse, had a family that we see melting away like wax. Other NPCs slowly lose all sense of self. As an example, the merchant Maughlin the Armourer starts off by telling you that he came to this land because his home was bustling but competitive, and he traveled here in the hope that he would strike it rich. As the game progresses, the details of why he was there fade away. “I’m rich, I’m rich!” he cheers once he’s made a sufficient amount of money. “I don’t need to go home any more…home…home? Where…where is home?” This theme is by design. “As we move to the end of the game the characters all begin to lose their memory, they remember their ultimate goal but they can’t remember why they’re working towards it,” *Dark Souls II* artist Kota Tonaki [said in an interview.](https://www.barnardtranslations.com/post/dark-souls-ii-design-works?ref=aftermath.site) “It’s quite sad.” *Dark Souls II* is a game about not having firm ground under you, even if you assume you know better. It is a game about questioning your world down to the very geometry. This may not have been the reason for why the creators decided upon their locations, but it does function narratively. The most infamous example of how the world does not fit together is Earthen Peak. Earthen Peak is a quarry with a disgusting windmill in it. At the very top there is an elevator which goes upward to what appears to be a lava level known as Iron Keep. Many players found this confusing, assuming that Iron Keep was deep in the earth’s crust, but the creators have stated that they indeed did intend to place Iron Keep above the windmill. [Dark Souls II Design WorksA complete translation of the Dark Souls 2 design works interview. It features the director Yu Tanimura as well as artists Daisuke Satake, Masanao Katayama, Hiroaki Tomari, Kota Tonaki and Shin Ou.Firstly, I’d like to ask director Tanimura to give an overview of the Dark Souls 2 design process. This was your first role as director and you had some difficult shoes to fill in those of Mr Miyazaki, who was really the cornerstone of both the previous entry Dark Souls and its spiritual prequel Demon’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/pfavico-e7f1c0f1-8f7e-4ab7-8937-53edeb4ae9d2.ico)barnardtranslationsPeter![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/93216c_7be922cec6fb44e48a2a0aed3b38bc3f~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_720,h_406,al_c,lg_1,q_80/93216c_7be922cec6fb44e48a2a0aed3b38bc3f~mv2.jpg)](https://www.barnardtranslations.com/post/dark-souls-ii-design-works?ref=aftermath.site) “The idea is that the lake of magma is actually on the upper strata, like a caldera lake on a plateau,” director Yui Tanimura stated in an [interview](https://www.barnardtranslations.com/post/dark-souls-ii-design-works?ref=aftermath.site). You see a similar idea executed better in the Volcano Manor in *Elden Ring*, the closest clear successor to Iron Keep. However, even Tanimura will cede the haters a little ground. “However, looking down from the top it was far too wide, that and the fact that there isn’t an adequate transition between locations meant we didn’t really communicate the idea as well as we could have.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Elden-Ring-Key-Art.jpeg.webp) You know what other game took a lot of swings and ultimately paid off? **Nightreign* ## **Making something counterintuitive and abrasive is often a path to growth** I remember *Demon’s Souls* coming out, which many younger fans of the genre never got to experience. I still have my copy. It was a baffling and unique game, one full of tiny eccentric and counter-intuitive choices that was constantly screwing with you. Unless you played a lot of *King’s Field,* you probably had no idea what to expect. Some of the mechanics were so deeply obtuse that they required access to the game guide. There was no assurance of a million YouTube guides filling in the void, and you were often just relying on GameFAQs and the many contextual, in-game messages. [Nightreign is Uneven And Counter-Intuitive. Good. - AftermathWildly uneven and counter-intuitive, Elden Ring Nightreign is FromSoftware throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks, and I love it.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-3b8ff8fa-67cf-4b34-ac38-f779dd18a549.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/main-image-3-4ba455a1-fd3a-4e64-bec0-58d26b9b2bfc.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/neightreign-is-good-but-lumpy-counter-intuitive-and-experimental/) *Dark Souls* would go on to expand and refine on what *Demon’s Souls* laid down, and FromSoft could have simply made a conservative but improved version of that game. Instead, they took a lot of swings. Going from *Dark Souls* to *Dark Souls II* will completely fuck with you. Though many of the items and stats are similar, how they function on a basic level feels designed specifically to mess with fans of the first game. Whereas *Dark Souls* lets you load up on armor and tank mega bosses, its successor nerfs that immensely. The entire Havel Set of armor, which in the first game makes you a living mech, will not save you, and you can gain the same amount of damage reduction from the Ring Of Steel Protection +2, which can be obtained by beating the Looking Glass Knight twice. Poise, the stat that dictates if a character is staggered, is significantly reduced, with many bosses in the game being able to vaporize it in one hit. This makes it far easier to be overwhelmed and ganked by many enemies, and while many see this as a bad thing I do not. The inability to tank through encounters forces you to carefully consider each enemy tactically and also contributes to *Dark Souls II* having some of the best PvP in the series. It also makes light armor much more viable, which is fantastic because that’s where all the cool outfits are. Fashion Souls forever. Another addition people whine about is the adaptability stat. Adaptability dictates many tiny elements of the character – it contributes to elemental resistances, poise and poison values, is semi-mandatory and useful across build types, and is the stat that adds the most (in conjunction with Attunement) to Agility. Agility is a secondary stat that dictates not just the speed at which you chug your Estus flask, use items, switch weapons, and raise your shield, but also the duration of frames you are invincible for during a roll (known as I-frames). Making Agility a combination of Adaptability and Attunement (which dictates the number of spells able to be held) actually increases build variability. You also don’t need that much Agility to meet the number of I-frames you had in *Dark Souls.* This mechanic is also offset by the fact that leveling in *Dark Souls II* is not that difficult, but the simple fact that players have their precious fast roll taken away from them made a lot of them steaming mad. It’s the most “shut up and eat your vegetables” move I’ve ever seen in the series, and I have nothing but respect for it. It forces you to consider spacing in the early game much more intentionally, favoring slowly drawing enemies out into one-on-one encounters. Metalhead, along with some documents from the Dark Souls 2 subreddit, do a way better job at explaining how the game actually works. An additional departure from the previous game is that weapon infusions are way more powerful. Most enemies have fairly low elemental defense and so much of the game can be demolished by infusing a weapon with lightning. In addition to this, spells like Dark Weapon or Sunlight Blade work better on infused weapons due to the way that damage is calculated. This also means that the base AR (Attack Rating) of the weapon matters a lot more, and rings like Flynn’s Ring or Ring of Blades are actually a lot more useful than you would think. A complaint I heard early on is that enemies in the game will eventually despawn if killed a sufficient number of times. Though this can be offset by joining the Company of Champions covenant (which also makes the enemies harder, makes you less powerful, and disables co-op all without telling you), I have always respected this move immensely. One of the biggest issues with *Souls* games is getting stuck at choke points. *Elden Ring*, to its benefit and subsequent success, solves this by allowing for a more open-ended experience that does not trap the player. The seeds of this are in *Dark Souls II* to some extent. Not only is the game more open-ended than the previous one, if a player is constantly getting their ass beaten, then reducing the severity of the runback by despawning enemies gives them an inch more wiggle room. It also discourages endless farming by pushing the player forward, while the Covenant of Champions and bonfire aesthetics can be used as a fallback for farming items and souls. There are so many little quirks that I love about how *Dark Souls II* works. Jumping in the game just straight up improved from the first game, you now can jump by clicking the left stick while running. They added a mechanic called “powerstancing,” which allows you to pair two similar weapons into a new and unique moveset. Powerstancing is beautiful in PvP, and there are few moves quite as fun as pancaking an invader with two gargantuan *Flintstones*\-style clubs. Eventually, powerstancing would be brought back in (of course) *Elden Ring*, although in a much more limited and organic way. ![A woman coming out of the Gender Coffin with a big club and it says "The nature of your being has changed"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6159.webp) GAS way easier to schedule in Dranglic you just need to defeat two cyclopes and get in a coffin. There’s also an invisible statistic called “sin” which has complex PvP implications, the mechanic itself being a holdover from the previous game. Sin carries over between playthroughs, a detail with amusing theological implications. There’s an NPC in a church attic full of spiders named Cromwell the Pardoner who claims to absolve you, the game’s version of Oswald of Carim from *Dark Souls*. At launch, he actually did not pardon your sins but simply their consequences, but following a glitch in the DLC that caused accidental sin buildup they patched it so that he pardoned your sins exactly once, which is a hilarious hotfix to solve that problem. Similarly, it is speculated that the beloved coffin in Things Betwixt that changes your sex when you enter it may have started its life as a hotfix for a glitch where female characters became male when entering New Game+. Zullie the Witch is one of my favorite YouTubers period. Some of these mechanics were never fully baked. The torch mechanic used to be way more important in earlier versions of the game and the entire game had a pitch black contrast meant to be offset by carrying a flame. The torch mechanic still exists in the game but at launch was a bit confusing, although its utility eventually improved in *Scholar*. But even though some parts of it do not work as envisioned, these mechanics taken as an aggregate lead to a game with a ton of texture that encourages build variability, decreases the reliance on maxing out poise and armor, teaches you proper positioning and spacing, and completely fucks with people who have learned to break *Dark Souls*. Stats have real tradeoffs, and like in *Armored Core* there are real, concrete pros and cons to certain builds. *Dark Souls* as a series is ultimately about, [as my colleague Austin Walker pointed out](https://bsky.app/profile/austinwalker.bsky.social/post/3mrkyrfr22c2h?ref=aftermath.site), “hunting down and beating a bunch of stupid people who think they've cracked the code on *Dark Souls* but have only just gotten themselves stuck as shitty knockoffs of older, actually important beings.” There is nothing more *Dark Souls* than being forced out of your comfort zone. Everyone who pursues this goal is eventually owned. *Dark Souls II* is still the closest I’ve ever felt From has gotten to the baffling, abrasive confusion of the original *Demon’s Souls*, and that’s why I’ll still play it to this day. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6158.webp) Hell yeah, brother. ## **Demon of Song rocks** I just need to state for the record that I love the Demon of Song boss. He's a big frog with a giant skull inside his mouth. I don’t care if he’s too easy, I love that guy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/screenshot.webp) To dust we return. ## **Vendrick is the emotional peak of the series** While the plot of all the games in the trilogy concern endless cycles of flame and darkness, stemming from countless champions rekindling a force known as “The First Flame,” *Dark Souls II’s* plot feels slightly more intimate and a little bit more explicit. The backstory of *Dark Souls II* concerns Vendrick and his mysterious wife from a far away land named Nashandra. The so-called king traveled to a far-off land and returned with a mysterious power that he turned towards the creation of mighty golems. Angered by his theft, giants waged war with Vendrick, a war that Vendrick ultimately won. From that victory, a kingdom was born. But while the kingly confrontation in the first game was an epic confrontation with Gwynn, Vendrick’s fate is far more tragic. When you reach the castle, the king is not on his throne. Queen Nashandra is present, but her words about him are full of venom. You fight your way deeper into the bowls of the castle, into the Undead Crypt and past the king’s champion Velstadt. When you finally confront him, Vendrick is a husk. Once a proud and towering ruler, he is mostly naked save for a crown, his sword, and some rags covering his shame. His armor is on the ground, and his limp body drags his weapon as he paces in circles. This feels like a refinement of the true fate of King Allant in *Demon’s Souls*, a monarch disgraced and turned into a pitiable form. Vendrick's memory may be entered through his armor. His words are those of a broken and sad man. The reveal of Vendrick’s fate is the most devastating in the entire series. Attempting to fight him initially does not work, as he has an incredibly high defense stat. You can defeat him by gaining the souls of giants by going in their memories, but even if you do the boss fight against him is rote, mechanical, optional and sad. Killing him yields no soul, because he hid his soul away from the scheming queen Nashandra in the one place she could never enter. The true identity of Nashandra is also masterfully executed, a fragment of lore that is elaborated on in the DLC. Vendrick’s fate is the emotional core of the series, a reminder of the true cost of power. ## **Aldia, Scholar of the First Sin, is the hardest motherfucker who has ever lived** Aldia as a tangible character was added in a later patch along with the *Scholar of the First Sin* edition. The king's older brother, his current form is misshapen and warped. He appears sporadically, exploding out of bonfires in the late game and scaring the living shit out of you. He speaks in cryptic, evil riddles which actor David Gant delivers the ever-loving shit out of. The effects work they do on his voice is so wild that it would not be fully understandable if not for subtitles. His presence actively improves the pacing and plot of the game, adding an emotional resonance that was lacking with the game at launch, while perfectly dovetailing with the DLC. No character in any FromSoft game has gone as hard as Aldia. He perfectly sums up the inescapable futility of the choices you have, and his theme is debatably the best single composition in any From game aside from Gwen, Lord of Cinder. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6350-2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6353.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6380.webp) The DLC is so good. ## **The DLC is some of the sickest shit FromSoftware has ever produced** On the whole, FromSoft has a tremendously good track record for DLC. But the three expansions that were put out for *Dark Souls II* — *Crown Of The Old Ivory King*, *Crown of the Sunken King* and *Crown of the Old Iron King* – are peak. Each is stylistically gorgeous and expands upon the lore in the game immensely. All three of them contain fairly complex geometry and mechanics that gatekeep you in certain areas. *Sunken King* has ghost enemies that suck to fight unless you find their corpse statues and complex elevator puzzles. *Old Iron King* contains Fume Knight and Sir Alonne, two incredible fights, as well as a great mechanic involving idols. *Ivory King* is probably my favorite and also has entire areas that are initially frozen and inaccessible, only to thaw out later on, forcing the player to mentally note and return to parts of the level they’d missed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6357-1.webp) This is the meanest runback in history and you gotta respect that. In a history of dick moves, this one is the king. *Ivory King* also contains, without question, the single meanest section FromSoft has put in any single *Souls* game, worse than any poison swamp: Frigid Outskirts. This is an optional part of the DLC that is difficult to access unless you find an obscure key hidden in a secret cave that you open by lighting four torches. This unlocks a bonfire next to a coffin. When you enter the coffin, it slides out of the tower and into a snowy tundra. There are three NPCs that you can summon near the beginning of this stage, and you will absolutely want to do that. From there, the game will intermittently snow blind you for huge spans of time. In order to beat the level you have to point your character at a building you see in the distance and run until you approach it. While you are doing this, the game throws gargantuan, evil, miniboss-level reindeer at you that shoot lightning. These things suck so bad and you have to fight them and some bizarrely difficult enemies for the entire duration of your trip across the snowy wastes. There are no bonfires in the entire area, and exactly one area where your NPC phantoms can heal. If you manage to make it to the end you have to fight a boss fight that’s two giant dogs, and while individually they are not that difficult, if you fuck the fight up you have to do the entire thing over again. Frigid Outskirts is the ultimate “well, you asked for it” challenge, I loathe that snowy field so much, but also they have nothing but my undying respect for putting it in the game. ![A PvP screen that says "to the death" and "begin duel with PS3 Veteran"](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6361.webp) Back in the pit. ## ***Dark Souls II* has the best PvP** More than any game until *Elden Ring*, *Dark Souls II* is the one with the PvP I’ve enjoyed the most. Individual duels, the covenant system, how character builds function, and the dueling locations in the game all contribute to a system that was rarely matched before and after. Unlike the previous game, you can invade people even when you are hollowed. Covenants like the Bell Keepers and Brotherhood of Blood, along with locations like Belfry Luna, Iron Keep Bridge and the Undead Purgatory arena, are all-timers. And while Soul Memory, the complex and poorly-explained matchmaking system, is annoying and has real flaws, it was still a massive improvement on how matchmaking had worked previously and solved a lot of problems. Perhaps this is arbitrary, but something about how PvP in *Dark Souls II* feels was singular and special. Soul memory could have been implemented better and clearer, but it solved some real issues with Dark Souls. ## **You know what? *Scholar Of The First Sin* is fine** *Dark Souls II’s* mechanics being baffling and abrasive to people is one thing, but there’s an additional layer to this, which is the remastered version of the game known as *Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin*. *Scholar* not only revamps the graphics a bit, but radically changes enemy placement, adds more invaders and increases the number of statues/fragrant branches of yore. Some people dislike *Scholar* tremendously and take issue with the new placements, but I think a ton of them make sense. The addition of a Wyvern before the Dragon Rider in Heide’s Tower of Flame scans narratively, that’s his ride. It also serves as a check to prevent players from accessing that boss too early unless they are ready. Many of the new enemy placements are also easier to take one-on-one, and the balance is not as unforgiving as people make it out to be. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_6381.webp) This the only change I really think is bad. I liked the out of place knight there! But the change works lore-wise so whatever. They add the Pursuer boss a bunch as a field encounter, which is pretty funny to me. It can seem annoying, but his actual aggro range is fairly narrow, and if you run past him ten feet he will melt into the ground. The one thing I’m only slightly sentimental about is that they moved the lost, tired Heide knights back to Heide’s Tower of Flame. That also makes sense narratively, but there was one tired knight in Forest of the Giants under a tree that people really loved, myself included. If any of this actually bothers you, they still sell the original game online, but if I’m being perfectly frank I think people have overreacted to *Scholar* just as much as they did to the original game, and, like the original game, a lot of that is overblown. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-28bcd4be-6b5c-4dbf-9b6e-3602ca42c28d.png) Well, well, well... Credit: YouTube ## **Never let them make you doubt yourself** In the last few years, it feels like *Dark Souls II*’s reputation has been rehabilitated a little bit. Aside from Hbomberguy’s “[In Defense Of *Dark Souls 2*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRTfcMeqhig&ref=aftermath.site)”video published nine years ago, there’s an entire generation of players now who came to the *Souls* series via *Elden Ring* and did not live through the drama and aftermath of the game’s release. *Dark Souls II* will always have haters, but Elden *Ring’s* success and distance from its development have come to vindicate the people who hold it closest in their heart. And in those intervening years, I never gave up on it. Fuck the haters, I was right. *Dark Souls II* rules. ### I Am Here To Defend The Noble Action Movie From The Classicist Emily Wilson URL: https://aftermath.site/the-odyssey-emily-wilson-christopher-nolan-action-movie/ Last updated: 2026-08-04T14:26:37.000Z Emily Wilson is an accomplished academic and a renowned scholar in the field of Homeric epics. Her 2017 translation of *The Odyssey*, which shaped the text into iambic pentameter, has sold over a million copies. She is clearly a very intelligent woman. One thing she is not, however, is a film critic. Christopher Nolan’s *The Odyssey* is the biggest film in America. I enjoyed it, despite not much liking [Nolan’s filmography](https://aftermath.site/tenet-christopher-nolans-best-film-inception-memento-odyssey/). He is too interested in the solitary pain of hardened men to really capture my imagination, though I have always admired and been impressed by his technical ability. The man’s love for the cinema is not in doubt. I’m quite fond of his appearance in Keanu Reeves’ documentary *Side By Side*, which examined the history of analog and digital film. In it, Nolan speaks quite passionately about his preference for film over digital. “I am often asked to justify why I want to shoot a film on film,” he says at the start, “but I don’t hear anyone justify why they want to shoot a film digitally.” As much as I love video games, movies are my most cherished art form. I love a European art house flick as much as I love a tawdry comedy as much as I love an action movie as much as I love a silent film. I have a degree in cinema studies, but more importantly I watch as many movies as I possibly can. The opening lines of Pauline Kael’s essay “Trash, Art and the Movies” put it perfectly. “Like those cynical heroes who were idealists before they discovered that the world was more rotten than they had been led to expect, we’re just about all of us displaced persons, ‘a long way from home,’” she writes. “When we feel defeated, when we imagine we could now perhaps settle for home and what it represents, that home no longer exists. But there are movie houses.” > Was she opposed to the movie being loud? Just like Wilson feels protective of *The Odyssey*, I feel protective of movies—especially movies that are considered “low art,” like romantic comedies and action movies. Action movies are maybe my favorite kind of movie, often because it allows directors to get really creative with their framing, and also to blow things up. The recent Hong Kong action film *The Furious* has a bare bones, kind of stupid plot, but the last half hour is a stunning three way fight that’s impeccably choreographed. Those kinds of things are, I think, just as valuable as subtle human dramas—as much as I love narrative, my interest in cinema is all about what the camera can do. That Wilson would dislike Nolan’s take on this epic poem isn’t a huge surprise. She has dedicated her life to studying and translating Homer—how could she possibly be able to see another person’s interpretation clearly, let alone like it, especially when that interpretation is on screen and not in words? Wilson’s [rather nasty pan of Nolan’s *The Odyssey* in The London Review of Books](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n14/emily-wilson/an-uncomplicated-man?ref=aftermath.site) then is also not a surprise. Its meanness is pretty much on par for academia (“Unlike some of Nolan’s other films, *The Odyssey* is not boring, thanks to the source material”), and people have been calling it out for reasons I find both useful (her racial analysis is dubious, and she has since apologized) and less than useful (she should apparently be more grateful Christopher Nolan). I do think if this were written by a male academic, the tone would not even be discussed. Wilson is an accomplished person in her own right, and she owes nothing to Nolan. What has made me feel defensive over *The Odyssey*—a film I really liked but didn’t quite love—is that her disdain appears to extend to Nolan’s chosen form of the action movie. Nolan has made a lot of action movies. I think they encompass the majority of his career. While I think the movies he makes are largely pretty dumb, he has a real talent for spectacle which is enhanced by his technical ability. What I’m saying is: whenever I see that real, actual 747 crash into a building and explode in *Tenet* I hoot and holler like a child giddy on lemonade. Seeing that kind of stuff, artfully composed, is one of the reasons why I love movies. It is apparently not among the reasons why Wilson likes movies. Many of her criticisms of Nolan’s *Odyssey* center on the things that make an action movie an action movie. “Without a tub of wax for my ears,” Wilson writes, “I was exposed to the full din of thumping sticks, staffs, swords and clashing armour, thunderbolts, crashing waves, grunts, screams, toppling palaces and burning temples.” The paragraph goes on to explain that these sights and sounds did not inspire in Wilson “any agony of emotion,” which is fair enough. But one would expect an action movie based on *The Odyssey* to contain grunts, screams, crashing waves and thunderbolts, right? Was she opposed to the movie being loud? Wilson appears opposed to spectacle in this film entirely. In the first paragraph she writes that the film is “a family-friendly audiovisual spectacle.” A few paragraphs later she writes, “Nolan’s spectacle threatens to drown out his story.” She compares the movie unfavorably to 2024’s *The Return*, which depicts only Odysseus’ return to Ithaca, writing that it has a “stylish sparseness” that Nolan’s film lacks. But choosing to be spare where another director would not is not a marker of quality. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/the-odyssey-2.png) The Odyssey *The Return* is an intimate human drama from a director who basically specializes in that. Nolan isn’t that guy. He’s never been that guy. Even when he does a biopic about Robert Oppenheimer, the film centers around a massive explosion. You can like or dislike these qualities, but they do not make a movie good or bad. They are simply choices. Later on, she compares *The Odyssey* to *Lord of the Rings*. “In looks, this *Odyssey* is often reminiscent of other 21st-century screen ‘epics’, not least Peter Jackson’s *Lord of the Rings* trilogy,” she writes. “The visit to the Land of the Dead reminded me of the excursions beyond the Wall in *Game of Thrones*.” I truly do not know what she is talking about here. *The Lord of the Rings* is a series of films that become remarkable because of how huge and expansive they feel. That famous shot from the *Fellowship of the Ring*, where the titular fellowship crests a mountain, the score swelling as the camera pans around them, is designed to make us understand the hugeness of the world, how small they are as actors within it. Comparatively, *The Odyssey* is an extremely claustrophobic film. Nolan is not interested in sweeping pans of mountains and the wonder of nature; he is more interested in the discomfort that happens when you spend a long time with a bunch of dudes on a boat. Even though Odysseus and his crew are on an epic journey, *their* world feels small. As the boats are rocked by the sea, the audience is placed on the boat, alongside the crew, the night so dark that the viewer can’t see beyond the boundaries of the boat itself. This imagery is reinforced elsewhere, like the scene depicting Odysseus and his soldiers within the Trojan horse, stacked on top of each other and slowly drowning as the tide comes in. The comparison to *Game of Thrones* similarly baffles, because the treks beyond the Wall in the television show are notably in a frozen wasteland, whereas *The Odyssey*’s journey to Hades takes place on a beach. They’re not even tonally similar. If you end up beyond the Wall on *Game of Thrones*, you’re in a lonely, desolate arctic climate, notable for its monsters and lack of people. It’s brutally physical and suffused with danger. In *The Odyssey*, the Land of the Dead is more a spiritual location, a dream-like non-place where the dead may speak to Odysseus. If there’s any pop cultural comparison to draw, it's probably Ryan Coogler’s *Black Panther*, with its spirit realm that allows Wakandans to speak to their ancestors—another dreamspace that mimics physical spaces but leans into their uncanniness. > A script is not a sacrosanct document. Much of Wilson’s criticism of the film focuses on the script and the writing, calling elements she dislikes “underwritten” or “underdeveloped.” I can see why a translator of an epic poem would place so much emphasis on the words being spoken on screen; that is her area of expertise. She writes that “I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script,” which is a really weird thing to say when you didn’t work on a script and were not invited to do so. Complaining about the script is a kind of cinema critique from laypeople that I have honestly grown to despise. A script is not a sacrosanct document that is used like a bible to guide every aspect of production. A lot of the time, a script is a suggestion. Some movies are shot without a script, which can be a disaster in some projects (the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and revelatory in the hands of a true artist, as in the case of George Miller’s *Mad Max: Fury Road*. Even in cases where a script is more important to the production of a film, that’s a document that passes through *a lot* of hands while a movie is being shot and edited. There will be new lines and scenes added by the actors and director (though probably not the writer, because there’s no reason to have the writer on a shoot most of the time). Conversations, scenes, or even entire performances will be tweaked and shaped during the editing process. The difference between a script that’s being used during a film shoot and the end product that ends up in theaters is kind of like expecting a fully grown adult to be the same person they were when they were three. A lot of shit has happened in the meantime! And Nolan has not really been interested in dialogue in his films, pretty much ever. Nolan is a huge believer in the power of the montage, that by placing sounds and images together you can create new meaning. *Tenet* is basically an exercise in montage taking precedence over story and plot. It trusts that the audience will feel at the very least wonder, if not anxiety or grief, over the images they see. Famously, Nolan’s movies often have dialogue mixed very low, sometimes making it unintelligible or inaudible. I don’t think this is an error on his part—he just doesn’t find spoken language all that important. That isn’t to say that no writing goes into making films. The writing is everywhere. Scripts are also descriptions of what shots will look like, clues into the characterization of the parts that actors will play and make their own, markers of mood and tone. A scene in a movie in which no characters speak is a “written” scene, even if, at the end of the day, movies are made of images rather than words. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/rpatts-1.png) The Odyssey Even if *The Odyssey* is based on an epic poem, when it’s translated into a movie it can become many things, depending on genre. In reading Wilson’s essay, I feel like her main criticism of Nolan’s *The Odyssey* is that it is an action movie at all—that it has spectacle, that it's loud, that Agamemnon’s armor is a visual reference to Darth Vader. But it is the bigness and the loudness and the striking images that action movies create their meaning. One of the most loaded and exciting images of all time is Will Smith emerging from a KKK robe during an undercover sting in the opening of *Bad Boys II*, orange light dancing off his dark skin as his body mirrors the burning cross behind him. The movie is really dumb, but that doesn’t have an absence of meaning. Honestly, I think most of Nolan’s movies are really dumb, especially the ones that strive to have a deeper meaning. *Interstellar* I found interminably dull, some of the worst of Nolan’s depictions of women, nor did the spinning top of *Inception* capture my imagination. The images are the stuff I chew on after his film. I think that’s why Nolan’s movies make such great memes—they are urgent and not overcomplicated. Robert Oppenheimer clutching his face in horror can now stand in for every time every one of us has had a terrible revelation, in the same way that Will Smith pointing downwards at Martin Lawrence from a scene in *Bad Boys II* will now and forever be translated as “that’s some funny shit.” A deeper, more intellectual take on the story appears to be what Wilson wanted. She calls the overall thesis of the movie—that society is breaking down due to a social contract being broken—as “relentlessly didactic.” I do pretty much agree. Nolan’s movies are about as subtle as a brick. A lot of people don’t like this—don’t like his bad dialogue and flat characters—but I try to appreciate the qualities about his work that excites me. It’s okay to enjoy a stupid movie. And stupid movies aren’t always bad ones. > The moving image is a language of its own. “Perhaps more surprising from the director of *Oppenheimer,*” Wilson writes, “\[Matt\] Damon’s lummoxy Odysseus also seems to lack technological intelligence (*polymēchania*). He does not build a marriage bed out of a tree growing in his house (it would be a waste of effort, since he so rarely seems to sleep or have sex).” Why should Nolan’s depiction of Oppenheimer mean that his depiction of Odysseus must possess technological skill? Should he also be able to invert his boats and weapons as the characters do in *Tenet*? This is the trap of believing that Nolan strives to do anything other than make movies that make you say “hell yeah brother.” He does have an interest in lofty ideas, but mostly as a basis for creating spectacle. It’s true that Damon’s Odysseus is “lummoxy,” feeling a little bit like Jason Bourne in armor, but that way he embodies the Odysseus that Nolan has sculpted for this film is honestly really enjoyable. My mom texted me and told me that she loved the way he ate the lotus flower, like a little mouse. For me, I love the way he tells Eurylochus that he wants to be tied to the mast so that he can be the only one to hear the siren’s song. He sounds like he’s about to do a stunt on *Jackass*. The casual arrogance of his speech, his harsh American accent, the Bourne-ness of it all seem to be the point of this portrayal. He’s an action hero, and we’re seeing what happens after the big battle when everyone goes home. Near the start of this essay Wilson writes that “Adaptations needn’t and shouldn’t follow the original with anything like the exactitude of a translation,” but the rest of the essay doesn’t really support that notion. If that were true, she would not take such an issue with the things that denote that *The Odyssey* is an action movie. She seems not to get that the moving image is a language of its own, with its own grammar and syntax, and learning how to read cinema is its own skill—one that she lacks. ### The Hater’s Guide To Hating (With Ed Zitron) URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-hater-week-ed-zitron/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T23:18:59.000Z There’s more to being a hater than blindly hating on the mob target of the week. In fact, that tendency is directly at odds with haterism as a philosophy and an intellectual pursuit. On a very special [Hater Week](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) episode of Aftermath Hours, we bring in one of the internet’s foremost experts to show everybody how it’s done. This time around, we’re joined by the crown prince of haters himself, Ed Zitron, writer of [numerous 8,000-15,000-word Hater’s Guides](https://www.wheresyoured.at/?ref=aftermath.site) to a rogue’s gallery of awful tech companies. We talk to Ed about what it means to be an effective hater in his wheelhouse—going after the motherfuckers that are taking everyone for a ride (to hell) on the AI Express—and beyond. But whether the topic is games, tech, or whatever else, one truth pervades: To be a good hater, you must also, at your core, be a lover. You’ve got to be equally studious whether you’re obsessing over something genuinely cool or something that deserves to be ground to pulp by a thousand garbage disposals. In that spirit, we also discuss our greatest hates and our greatest loves. And of course, we decide which JoJo from *JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure* is the biggest hater. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can travel to Ed’s ancestral homeland and be transformed into the kinds of people who can regularly pen 8,000-15,000-word Hater’s Guides. Then, finally, Hater Week will be unstoppable. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Ed:** The reason a lot of my hating is appealing—and Aftermath does this very well as well—\[is that\] people are so used to decorum, people are so used to being told “Oh, you can’t say that; that’s not fair.” And fair usually means “I’m going to give an exact balance of both sides and give affordance to none of the criticisms. I’m going to pull my punches unilaterally, and I’m gonna talk up the positives way more—and that, to me, is balance.” I think that readers and viewers and listeners are fucking tired of it. If they need sterile, market consensus bullshit, there are nine million outlets that can do that. There are a million games outlets that can do that. If they need something that is just ruinously hateful—that is not from a place of enjoying video games but is just being mad about them—that’s most of YouTube. But if they need people who are lovingly upset with stuff or hating on stuff, that’s why Aftermath rocks. That’s why my work rocks. People appreciate people who give a shit. I think that is actually hating—when you’re a good hater, when you’re a well-defined hater—that’s why people read you. It’s not because you’re mad; it’s not because you’re angry. It’s really easy for detractors to describe it in that way, because it’s a cheap out. If you say, “Oh, someone’s just angry, someone’s just mad,” then you don’t have to deal with their views. I think hating’s marvelous. I think hating is something everyone needs to do. I think if you hate, it means that you know the reasons that you’re mad at things. Because there’s a very big difference between being a hater and being hateful. **Nathan:** You were talking about the idea of hating versus just hate, and I think even at the outset of Hater Week, we got some of this. I think people’s expectation or assumption was that we were just going to be doing a bunch of hatred for hate’s sake—as opposed to what we’ve been engaging in, which is much more built around the idea of understanding something and talking about it from a place of that sort of knowledge. But I think that just goes to show what the internet has become on that front—that that is the default expectation, that is what people tend to see, that is how people tend to interact. **Ed:** Yeah, I also don’t think people tend to realize that being a hater is an intellectual pursuit. It genuinely is. My Hater’s Guides are 8,000-15,000 words. **Nathan:** They’re mindblowing to me. I cannot believe how many of these you’ve written. I mean, I’ve written a book, and there are a scant few times when a single piece—a chapter, even—has been that long. And you just do it regularly. What the fuck, man? How do you manage it? **Ed:** Austim’s a beautiful thing. But also I find this intellectually interesting. I don’t write about anything I find boring. The amount of times I’ve talked to my editor, and he’s like “Why don’t we do this,” and I’m like “I don’t fucking care about that.” Probably my most disliked company is Oracle. I think I may be one of the few people who truly understands Oracle outside of the company. I do that because I fucking hate \[Larry\] Ellison. I think he’s a twat; could’ve said a much worse word there, but I’m growing. I didn’t say the word I wanted to. But learning about that company—and actually being a hater, truly hating—gave me stories that no one else had. Oracle’s revenue has been flat for 15 years. I’d have never been able to find that. But because I was like “Huh, wonder how much of a big piece of shit this company is?” \[I found out\] that they buy companies every few years to keep their revenue from declining. It’s hilarious. That’s not a story that was out there, but that’s a story I got through hating. That’s something I got from being a hater. Because I was like “I’m not gonna do the disservice to my readers—or, indeed, Larry Ellison—of just being mean. I’m gonna be mean with style.” I’m gonna know why I’m hating, and I think people need to realize that. It’s the same pathway as love. It’s an intellectual pursuit. It’s lazy to just hate—to just be mad. It’s the only criticism I get that genuinely frustrates me. People are like “He’s just negative for the sake of it.” Fuck you, no I’m not. I’m negative for very defined reasons that I will list at length. I have many reasons I’m negative about this. I can talk about them for hours. That’s my job. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Franchises Are Fine, Calm Down URL: https://aftermath.site/franchises-are-fine-calm-down/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T14:08:14.000Z It is my duty as part of [Hater Week](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) to defend franchises. I’ve not read Nathan’s piece, but I’m sure he’s going to go all in on them as being repetitive, infinitely inbreeding, and responsible for much of the creative death of the industry. I’m sure he will posit that resources are better spent on creating new narratives and stories. And while I will concede that franchises can get disgusting, I think that is less a function of franchises so much as the system and the companies that produce them. And yes, while franchises can lead to companies trying the same trick over and over again, eventually dying a stale death, you also get a ton of outliers. Franchises are fine, calm down. 🎥 This piece is a companion piece to Nathan's ["Franchises Are A Blight."](https://aftermath.site/why-franchises-are-bad/) There’s like five million ways franchises can bankrupt creativity. But they also pay the bills and let designers iterate on concepts and worlds through a combination of player feedback and hindsight. You know what franchises get us? *Mario 3*. *Dark Souls 2*. *Pac-Man Championship Edition*. The really good versions of *Tetris*. The various *Rhythm Heaven* titles. *Mother 3*. *Baldur’s Gate 3\.* If you hate franchises, then you should go back and play the original *Witcher* because that shit is ROUGH, my brother. You really think they should have stopped at *Street Fighter*? Are you sick? The original *Assassin’s Creed* is stodgy as hell*.* You think it would have been better if they’d stopped at the original MSX2 *Metal Gear*? And while the series spun its wheels after Keita Takahashi peaced out, if I’m gonna play a Katamari game I’m gonna play *We Love Katamari* and not the original. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/MV5BNDJjMjQ4ODctOGY4My00OWQxLTgxNTUtOTkzNzA4YWFmOTA3XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/images.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/MV5BMDNlY2ZhYmYtNmNmNS00YTI0LTg2NjAtZGVjZjg0OTBmNDdlXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/SFIICoverScan.webp) Certain people named Nathan would have you believe that they should have stopped at the first game here. Credit: Nintendo, Bandai Namco Games, Interplay Entertainment, Capcom While franchises can often become sprawling, evil things, they are often a thinly veiled excuse to do something entirely new. *New Vegas* tells a far more interesting story than *Fallout 3\. Dragon Age II* and *KotoR II* do some real wackadoo shit. *Freespace II* is one of the best games period and only got the runway to do that after *Descent: Freespace,* a game that itself is unrelated to the game *Descent* but used the franchise for legal reasons. And while franchises are often used to create endless crap that we don’t need – little bits of useless plastic, endless special editions of games that barely exist in physical form, movie adaptations that almost uniformly suck ass with limited edition Claptrap popcorn buckets – there’s rare instances where this is done in a way that kinda rips. [Fangamer rocks at making merch](https://www.fangamer.com/collections/deltarune?ref=aftermath.site). That one D&D movie was kinda tight. You don’t have Gunpla the same way without the existence of *Gundam* as a franchise. Warhammer’s expansion outside of tabletop miniatures and into games has been more or less a net good, and they’ve been on a hot streak in the last few years. You think you’re better than franchises? You think you’re Mr. Fancy Pants One And Done? Look into your heart and tell me that. Hide your limited edition merch and tell me you’re fine with that. Once again this week, Nathan is wrong as hell. I even bet he had a poster from a franchise behind him as he was typing that blog out. ### Franchises Are A Blight URL: https://aftermath.site/why-franchises-are-bad/ Last updated: 2026-08-03T14:08:32.000Z When I was a kid, I loved *Star Wars*. I religiously watched and rewatched the original trilogy. I collected action figures and toy ships. I even played *Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire* for Nintendo 64, which is neither underrated nor overrated, but rated exactly right. But eventually, around the time the prequel trilogy began its wobbly run, I grew out of it. That’s natural. All things must end. ⚔️ This piece is a companion piece to Chris' ["Franchises Are Fine, Calm Down."](https://aftermath.site/franchises-are-fine-calm-down/) Many share some variation of this story, both older than me and, in some cases, much younger. Some remain wedded to their nostalgia, as though they clutched a safety blanket so tightly that it fused with their skin. Others, like me, moved on. I bring up *Star Wars* in particular because it created the blueprint for modern franchises, revolutionizing movie merchandising back in the ‘70s and plotting a course toward all manner of spinoffs and stories. Then came the Disney era, in which *Star Wars* was milked for every conceivable penny to progressively diminishing returns. There have been bright spots, like *Andor*, but they’re surrounded on all sides by comparatively pointless prequels and other drek. Darth Vader [got transformed into a *Fortnite* AI chatbot](https://aftermath.site/fortnite-ai-darth-vader-star-wars-epic-games-sag-aftra/). There is no greater insult. Now *Star Wars* is a worn-out husk, a shell of itself, hobbling along and praying for a merciful end accompanied by a Wilhelm scream. Unless you are one of the people who made millions off the *Star Wars* franchise, this is a tragic trajectory. It is also the one countless games, movies, and shows are on these days—except at light speed. Execs across numerous industries have decreed that everything must have franchise potential or it’s not even getting across the starting line. Did your first season fail to find a mass audience or even fall out of the top ten *too soon*? You’re done. Did your game win awards but not hit the magical dollar amount that spawns a sequel, spinoff, or both? Good luck testing the waters of independence, not that you have a choice. Microsoft, as alluded to in the previous sentence, is an easy and obvious target here, given that it just [cut thousands of employees and multiple studios](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/) in the name of focusing on its “[strongest franchises](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-memo-layoffs-july-2026/).” Even those that had carved out inventive, prolific, and critically acclaimed niches doing their own thing, like Obsidian, are now [back in the franchise mines](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/). (Speaking of, the *Fallout* TV show spends way too much time revealing everything about how the series' apocalyptic wasteland came to be. I didn't need to know all of that! It detracts from the intrigue of the setting!) The desire for everything to be a franchise, structurally, leads to one of two dead ends: Either a series or setting gets cut down before [even reaching its prime](https://aftermath.site/kaos-cancelled-netflix/) or it drones on and on and on until it’s a [Marvel-like](https://aftermath.site/marvel-thunderbolts-movie-im-so-tired/) red thread conspiracy board tangle of interlocking setups and letdowns. Moreover, franchises bring out the worst tendencies of fans: tribalism, obsession, fixation on fan service and stories being made to satisfy them (rather than to explore themes or allow an artist to connect with the world), rampant theorizing over the scantest of breadcrumb trails in trailers, and a general lack of perspective beyond their chosen franchises, because franchises are intentionally all-consuming. They’re built to hook you and continually reel you in, little by little, until you forget what it was like to ever not have a giant hook in your mouth. Good stories end—often quickly, and without explaining or resolving everything. That’s why they stick with us. That’s why they burble up in our brains months or years later, and the absence of more, more, more gives us *time* to really consider what we’ve experienced. That’s what originally drove people to write fan fiction and form communities—not an ever-expanding tapestry of glorified explanations for how a character ended up a certain way or a giant hand appearing in the sky. Blanks aren’t meant to be filled in. The best notes aren’t the ones you can barely discern competing in a cacophony; they ring out in empty air before going permanently silent. Then the show ends, and the audience realizes with mounting disappointment that they have to re-enter the real world. But they walk out of the venue nonetheless elated because they’re equally aware that they just witnessed something special, something one of a kind. Endings are painful, but that’s why we remember them. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### I Hate Fall Damage URL: https://aftermath.site/i-hate-fall-damage/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T17:35:03.000Z I love *The Witcher 3*. It's one of my favorite games, and I fondly remember the first time I played it: My husband was away on a three-month work trip, and I stayed home in our tiny apartment in Massachusetts. I didn't know a ton of people in our city at that time, so Ciri and Geralt were my company. I look back on it remembering loving absolutely everything about that game. When I booted it up to replay for a second time, many years later, I remembered that there was one thing I hated—fall damage. *The Witcher 3* is one of the more egregious examples of fall damage. Geralt, despite being a brutal man, could not handle a relatively short fall. When *The Witcher 3* was released, falls that would have just twisted my ankle in real life would kill Geralt instantly. You could do a well-timed roll to break his fall, but I still died a lot to gravity. [When CD Projekt Red released the current console generation patch](https://www.thewitcher.com/us/en/news/47105/next-gen-update-list-of-changes?ref=aftermath.site) in 2022, it adjusted the height at which falls would kill Geralt, so people could survive more easily. Geralt still takes damage, I'm sure—I haven't played since then—but won't get annihilated by a short tumble. Unfortunately for me, it's not just *The Witcher 3* that uses fall damage. A lot of games do. I understand why: Some people want a lot of realism in their games. Other people are looking for a technical challenge. Sometimes that person is me, but the majority of the time, it's not. Fall damage feels reasonable in games that are based in some sort of reality; I get it for *Red Dead Redemption 2*, for instance. Arthur Morgan is a normal guy, and he should take some damage and perhaps die if he falls off a cliff and breaks his neck. (I don't like it, but I get why it's there. I still wish it wasn't there.) But if I'm the Dragonborn in *The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim*, I don't want to die if I jump off a cliff. I don't care how high it is! Let me take the shortest route possible by flinging my character around. I like to explore in these big, open-world games, and I don't want to have to worry about tripping and falling. I don't want to tiptoe around. I want to fall, and fall a lot. Then just get back up. I'm fine! Recent *Assassin's Creed* games are a good compromise, I think. Climbing and jumping from high points has been key to the series since it began. For the earlier games, you could die from fall damage, but Ubisoft adjusted that in later games, beginning with *Assassin's Creed Odyssey*. And die from fall damage in those earlier games I did. Like, a lot, because I often missed those hay piles. But in *Odyssey*, there's an ability that lets you, essentially, ignore fall damage. I like the change, and it didn't impact how it felt to play the games for me. You may still take some damage from the fall, but it won't kill you, and it's automatically unlocked. Fall damage death came back in *Assassin's Creed Valhalla*, but [Ubisoft added an ability](https://www.polygon.com/2020/11/9/21556390/assassins-creed-valhalla-auto-loot-fall-damage-skills/?ref=aftermath.site), Breakfall, that automatically broke Eivor's fall. You still take damage, but it's not enough to kill you, and health is easy to come by. I like to push buttons. Some might call what I do spamming buttons, but I've always kind of played like this. It's why, in *Red Dead Redemption*, Arthur Morgan always accidentally punched his horse. (I feel really bad about it!) This sort of playstyle means that I accidentally always pick things up, and, as I've said before, accidentally jump from high places. I *can* play video games with precision, and I do when games explicitly call for it. If I'm playing a platformer like *Celeste* or something that requires precise button pushes like *Baby Steps*, I'll happily do it. But there are some games where I just want to mash buttons. Let me do that, and let me survive all my big falls. Games that kill you for fall damage can fuck right off!! [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### What Aftermath Readers Hate URL: https://aftermath.site/hater-week-readers/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T16:50:08.000Z Today ends [Hater Week](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) here at Aftermath, where you've watched us bemoan [software](https://aftermath.site/i-hate-adobe/), [TV](https://aftermath.site/death-to-beginning-the-story-in-media-res/), [social media](https://aftermath.site/video-game-social-media-manager-community-manager/), [AI](https://aftermath.site/video-games-no-ai/), and so, so many aspects of video games. But you shouldn't just have to listen to *us* complain; we wanted to know what really grinds *your* gears. Below, our readers join the Hater Week fun by sharing some of the things that piss them off, from the major to the mundane. We couldn't include everything you all sent us or we'd be here all day, but rest assured we read them all while shaking ours fists at the sky alongside you. Some entries have been edited for length or clarity. --- ## Games I hate when you want to close a PC game so you go to the menu and choose 'quit game' but instead of closing the game it instead takes you to the title screen, so you have to look at the logos, press any key to continue, wait for the menu to load, navigate down to quit, then say 'yes I would like to quit to desktop.' And that's for the games that don't have autoloading sub menus! Yeah, I hate that. \--Craig --- I hate competitive matchmaking in multiplayer team games. While it helps people get into the game faster, it also has a tendency to make other players seem like NPCs to a very large number of players and groups. When players become interchangeable and almost never seen again from day to day, it creates toxicity that permeates the community at large, making the game much more frustrating to play. We see this all the time in games like *Overwatch*, *DotA 2*, *League of Legends*, and several other coordinated team games. While they fight the resulting toxicity with various gimmicks, from role queues to forcing people into toxic lobbies, it never fully addresses the issue and several games turn into a sort of backfilling or tantrum-fighting hell. These games are wonderful for building connections between people passionate about a game and genre, and instead these players with shared interests become obstacles to one another. These games should be building better tools to foster these existing bonds and help people find like-minded players to play with, but instead they chase after metrics they can easily monetize and measure. \--Daniel --- Stop giving games badass titles based on classic literature and philosophy. When I can't remember the name of Sartre's book and I search "Being and Becoming" I don't want a hundred results about a metroidvania. \--Nick --- I hate the auto-exposure light effect in games. I do not care if it is realistic. I do not care if it accurately recreates the effect of my eyes adjusting to the dark over 0.98 seconds. I do not buy videogames to be temporarily blinded. Do not test my eyeballs. They are fine. \--Brendy --- Doesn't matter which Final Fantasy it is, if a moogle approaches me I know I'm about to get dicked around for hours by a cluster of gormless flying shits and that I probably won't be able to progress the story until they're done with me. I would like to DNI all moogles forever. \--Cami ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-30-at-4.57.54---PM.png) [CGInferno](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFOySfAhYdE&ref=aftermath.site) --- I am not an achievements hater, but they can absolutely be implemented in a terrible way. Bad achievements make me 100% understand people who outright hate achievements. Achievements are at their best if they make you experience aspects of the game you otherwise would not have tried or known about. They are at their worst if they make you try something stupid hard, or are impossible to achieve without some dumb external things. The worst achievements in my opinion are: - "Beat the game in like 4 hours." That is a horribly inconveniently long amount of time for one attempt at an achievement. - Ones that require playing the multiplayer part of a game with a heavy single player focus, which are never separated from the main achievements. (Oh, you don't pay for PSN, or are playing an old game that's either basically dead or literally no longer available online? Too bad!) - Games that have a separate achievement for "beat the game on easy," "medium," and "hard" that don't automatically unlock the easier difficulties upon completing the harder ones. What are we doing here??? - Achievements that unlock at an important or impactful story moment. Thanks for ruining the vibes! - A special f-u to the rare achievement that only unlocks if the player ranks high on the online leaderboards, which are most certainly going to be hacked by the time you play it. \--Maxwell --- On the side of "[Focus, M](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/aaa-mario-focus-m?ref=aftermath.site)" dialog. I'm not a hater, I'm a lover! I love when NPCs explain game mechanics in-character! My heart skips a beat every time Bentley tells Sly Cooper to jump and press the circle button to perform a super sneaky master thief move. It's *game language*, same as NPCs telling you their life story as soon as you meet them, or recording their innermost thoughts and secrets in conveniently placed journals and audio logs. If you can't suspend your disbelief around the storytelling shorthands unique to games as a medium, that's a skill issue. (I must emphasize that this is separate from the phenomenon of characters never shutting the fuck up.) \--Marco ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-31-at-12.28.31---PM-1.png) [RyanStewartVO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMh%5FAPo2Xss&ref=aftermath.site) --- Something I really hate is when there are cute critters as enemies in games. Wolves are likely the most common. It really bums me out to have to fight or kill them! One of the things I love about *Earthbound* is that if you *do* beat up a cute pupper, it simply "becomes tame" rather than being severely injured or killed. \--Rivven --- Games that only let you invert the y-axis (and change any other options really, but the y-axis is usually the worst for me) until after you've played the intro. \--Lionel --- I hate the artwork in *Stardew Valley*. Really I dislike the entire game, as it's taken the default spot of a genre full of *much* better games due to the happy accident of landing during an overall drought in that field, but more than anything I hate the art. The color palette is painfully generic, buildings look like cheap toys, the level of detail everywhere creates constant visual noise, the food is ugly, and the character portraits look like they've chugged even more drain cleaner than CD-i Zelda. I don't want to pick on a game mostly made by a solo dev, but it's such a big fish at this point that I can't let that be an excuse. I love pixel art but that means I have standards, and *Stardew Valley* fails on every possible level. This game being the face of farming/life sims is actually embarrassing. \--Tom ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/image--8-.png) --- ## **Pinball, specifically** I am an avid pinball player. I love the hobby despite all its incongruities. Pinball is a game that is frequently technically on your control but is also impossible to fully wrangle. So many parts and pieces of it can be out of your hands on any day of the week. It was legalized because you could control it, but only really exists as a competitive game because eventually you must drain. And so I’ve come to accept that I will have my bad days and I will have losses outside of my control. But then there’s the genie. This motherFUCKER. The villain of the 1996 Williams joint *Tales of the Arabian Nights*. Very appropriately, as he’s a piece of shit that murders you for fun. The main objective of the game is to rescue Scheherazade from his clutches by completing various scoring modes. You start the modes by bashing the genie, which temporarily holds the ball in place via a magnet. That magnet proceeds to throw the ball in really any direction with no reason or pattern. Often this means the jerk tosses you straight down the middle without any hope of salvaging. You started a mode, but at what cost? This would be one thing if I could just avoid *TotAN*. But for some reason, multiple other pinball designers thought this was a great concept and reimplemented it wholesale. Are you a fan of Aerosmith? Well Stern’s 2017 Aerosmith table features such a deadly magnet, only instead of your reward for the risk being rescuing a princess you instead get to listen to "Toys in the Attic." Two years later Stern brought the genie back, only in the form of the beloved Frankenstein Herman Munster. In 2019’s *The Munsters*, if you hit Herman and he throws you down the middle you miss out on an entire multiball. Thanks man. It’s really not just that it’s a risky shot, but it’s a risky shot that can kill you if you hit it correctly, and it’s often necessary for progress, AND it’s random whether it’ll send you at a good angle or throw you into the depths. While pinball is a very random hobby, there are usually ways you can influence the game to save yourself. Not with these! So yeah, for Hater Week, I hate the “magnet that kills you” AKA the *Tales of the Arabian Nights* genie. \--Twak --- I am an arcade technician by trade. I go around the Southeast US as a contractor fixing and building games for clients. In this industry, the big 800 lb gorilla is Betson. More than just the biggest distributor in the continent, they have their tendrils in game installs, turnkey operations, site planning, and now they even own the biggest manufacturer of video arcade games in the West, Raw Thrills. And I fucking hate them. No other distributor comes close to their size, and like any monopoly they have made it everyone's problem. I hate every part of their operation. I hate their sales who tack on exorbitant markup if you do not agree to buy in bulk exclusively through them. I hate their parts department who will send me the wrong fucking part even if I email them a god damn photo of what I need. I hate how they've fired most of their techs and now farm out installs to subcontractors who are consistently terrible at it, leading to incorrectly built, malfunctioning games. And I hate what they have done to Raw Thrills, a company I previously had begrudging respect for but now loathe as they make their games increasingly irreparable wherever it's by encrypting their PCs with TPM so you can't so much as swap the GPU on your own or by HIDING THE SCREW HOLES TO A JOYSTICK GRIP BY MELTING OVER IT WITH PLASTIC SLUGS. FUCK BETSON. \--Anonymous ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/1000007151--1--1.jpg) --- ## Internet culture I hate short-form food videos where they rip the food in half, tear into it, squeeze it, or smash all of the juices out. The food looks perfectly fine--you do NOT need to rip it in half to make it look appetizing. Cross section views after slicing are okay. \--Kevin --- Kyle Gordon is weird Al for people who hate music. I said it, and I mean it. Yes, ["Planet of the Bass"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-OgkNgxm3k&ref=aftermath.site) is a bop. But think about it for a second, and you'll realize that despite sounding exactly like the eurobeat of the mid '00s, the song doesn't really have any jokes. It's a cover of a song that doesn't exist, not satire, and the funny moments the song *does* have (the phone conversation, the bad translation) exist in the exact same way in the songs "Planet of the Bass" claims to be a tribute to! "Running in the 90s" has a full verse about cybersex! Once you realize this, that Gordon is an observational comic in the mold of Jerry Seinfeld except without any jokes, everything falls apart. ["Selekta"'s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk-Fum6YMOw&ref=aftermath.site) one joke is that British people sound funny. That [millennial indie parody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKVOeQICi1A&list=RDPKVOeQICi1A&start%5Fradio=1&ref=aftermath.site)'s one joke, "we will never die," might be funny if Peter Bjorn and John, fun. feat. Janelle Monae, and countless other bands of the era didn't make it first. While Weird Al's satire comes from a place of elevated ridiculousness, the thesis of Gordon's comedy, both in his songs and sketches, boils down to "look at me recreate something we both agree is cringe." The thing that really pisses me off about this is his popularity and success are based on the fact that the cringe shit he's making fun of and profiting off of is *good.* If you have "Planet of the Bass" on repeat because you think it's catchy, you should be listening to more eurobeat. If you have "Selekta" on repeat, there's an infinite library of '00s UK garage for you to peruse. And if you like "We Will Never Die," kill the part of you that cringes and dust off that Edward Sharpe LP you bought in college. There is a longer version of this rant that gets into how Elvis made rock 'n' roll safe and palatable for a larger audience, and how about 15 years ago, future funk DJs started doing the same thing with Japanese city pop and motown. Each abstracted genres for their personal benefit while positioning themselves as an acceptable pipeline for listening to a genre that was previously obscure, unpopular, out of fashion, or indeed, cringe, paving over musical history and burying smaller artists. I'll let you fill in those blanks. Kyle Gordon is talented, but he isn't funny, and worse, what he's doing is anti-art. Fuck him. \--Sam --- I hate the "shit on things" economy. It usually is a bunch of young white dudes on YouTube who have little experience with actual problems complaining about how small problems in games means they are complete shit. It's easy to hate things, it's hard to love things. \--Mafuchi --- The Bluesky Discover Feed is a fracking nightmare to deal with. Doesn't matter if you're subscribed to it or not, some rando poster with "follow for follow" in their profile is going to come into your thread about game layoffs and tell you that actually the economy is doing great, your lived experience is just an outlier, never mind your lying eyes. Or whenever you post a joke or do a sportsball post there is always a response about how dare you do so at a time like this 'cause "There is an orange tyrant in the White House!" Just about the most annoying jump scare that makes me want to turn off all notifications on the app and/or throw my phone in the sea. \--Christian --- ## Food I hate that hot chicken has gone from a hearty Nashville meal of bone-in chicken with real sides (Baked mac and cheese! Collard greens! Corn bread! Baked beans!) to the homogenized baby food that is chicken tenders and French fries. I hate that what's happened to hot chicken is now befalling the cheesesteak as well. \--Kevin ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/pexels-razaneadra-15153241-1.jpg) Razane Adra/Pexels --- I hate [Liquid Death](https://liquiddeath.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoo8iCniMTO1FNOJm9piPFh7EqsVdDlf%5FVUhwOTs7HXax3%5FnWbQK&ref=aftermath.site). That stupid fucking seltzer brand. Some douchebag took water, the source of all life, named it LIQUID DEATH, and gave it violent flavor names like "mango chainsaw," all to cater to a certain type of man who believes drinking water is gay. \--Brian --- Nutritional pseudoscience. Most of us don’t need to eat 12oz of steak and four eggs a day. Stop putting protein powder in coffee. Stop putting mushrooms in coffee. Leave coffee alone. \--Emily --- [Papa Murphy’s Pizza](https://www.papamurphys.com/take-n-bake/?ref=aftermath.site) is an affront to the concept of restaurants. The whole point is that *I* walk in and pay for the food, and then *they* cook it. But Papa Murphy’s thinks it’s too good to sit in the frozen food aisle next to DiGiorno. It wants its own real estate so it can violate the basic contract by making *me* pay *them* \[for me\] to cook *their* food. Do they want me to change their diapers too while they’re at it? \--Connor --- ## Technology Fuck the scam era. Fuck crypto. Fuck gambling apps. Fuck every grifter in the White House. Fuck the DNC’s infinite fundraising loops. Fuck AI with a rusty spoon and a cactus. I know I’ll suffer if the bubble popping sets off a global depression, but if all this bullshit gets swept away forever in the process of recovering from it, then I’ll come out the other side feeling like it was worth it. \--Connor --- Everything about generative AI, but especially the idea that we need to “teach students how to use it.” (I am a college teacher.) We fucking don’t. 1. They know how to use it. 2. It’s not hard to use, goddamn it, you type in your homework problem and it spits out an answer that might be right or might be wrong. It’s easier to use than a TI-84 and less reliable. \[I also hate\] the fact that I used to be genuinely excited about technological possibilities and now I’m 100% pessimistic. I used a computer to do symbolic calculations as part of my PhD thesis, I used to give talks about the math behind Google PageRank, I have dreamed of self-driving cars since I got my drivers license! I think it’s human nature to want technology to solve our problems, but right now all technology has been coopted by the oligarchs with the new goal of making them rich, damn the human costs. \--Emily --- A few things I hate: - Typographical inconsistencies, especially in subtitles, and especially when there's a mix of straight and curly apostrophes. - Simple UX/UI options that are not implemented by devs, such as not activating the keyboard that contains the @ symbol when filling out an e-mail field, or not activating the numbers-only keyboard when filling out a field that is only numbers on a smartphone. \--Lionel --- One that's bothered me for near enough a decade now, and I fear it's only going to get worse, and that's the ever-decreasing presence of the 3.5mm headphone jack in portable devices, especially mobile phones. I want to avoid getting too rambly about this (it's something I feel quite passionate about), so I'll try to distill it into a few key points. The removal of the headphone jack in most mobile phones today is a severe backwards step in accessibility. In order to use wired headphones on devices without a jack, you need to use a dongle, which can be both unsightly and ergonomically unpleasant to use, far more so than any angled 3.5mm connector I've ever used. This isn't even accounting for the inherent additional cost of a dongle in the first place. Otherwise, you're going wireless, but wireless headphones are also inherently and unavoidably more expensive than a wired equivalent, on account of needing DACs, Bluetooth receivers and batteries alongside every other thing that makes a headphone a headphone. Batteries also degrade over time with, in many cases, no way of replacing the batteries, forcing the user to upgrade eventually because they won't hold a sufficient charge after a few years of use. By comparison, wired headphones don't have this in-built expiry date and will last long into the future with proper care and handling. I don't begrudge people wanting or even going all in on wireless audio, and indeed, there are benefits to it beyond the convenience of not having to deal with wires. But when wireless audio starts being treated as the default for device manufacturers rather than one of two options for users, all the while most of my own environment revolving around being able to use wires for virtually anything I do, it gets really annoying. People might well say that "wireless is the future," but it isn't my present. \--Daniel ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/pexels-atomlaborblog-845163-1.jpg) Jens Mahnke/ Pexels --- I hate poorly designed automated phone tree menus when you call into a place. Every one of these nowadays are poorly designed, intended to get the caller to hang up instead of actually helping them. Properly designed systems like these and help desks and customer complaint lines can efficiently move callers through and resolve problems, but most of these department heads can't mentally deal with properly running their shit and instead make up systems designed to incite instant violence. Don't get me started on the voice prompt. Let me make a number selection like God intended. \--Joe --- ## Random stuff Love: I love the 2023 Wonka musical. People say it's embarrassing and the music sucks, and to them I say, all musicals are embarrassing with bad music, at least *Wonka* doesn't shy away from that. Hate: Rene Descartes. I think therefore I am? My guy, you forgot that your ability to think came from other people, which you had to discard in order to get to the cogito!! \--Lucas --- I despise the mother of [Theosophy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy?ref=aftermath.site) Helena Blavatsky. She created a racist brand of woo that both inspired the Nazis' weird spiritual/historical worldviews and, like, all new age religions. Anything you see about aryans, enlightened masters, or the Akashic Records is sourced from her, and it's all horrible bullshit. \--Amber ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Blavatsky.010.jpg) Wikimedia Commons --- Lawns are an affront to the planet. I understand the desire for outdoor green space, but if your definition of that is just 800 square feet of nothing but the WORST FUCKING PLANT, we have a problem. Grass is trash; it’s incredibly water-intensive, its roots choke out other plants in the area, and it’s a pain in the ass to manage. You’re telling me you need a whole separate special little car to keep your special little Kentucky Bluegrass at the HOA-approved 2 inches in height? Your grass lawn sucks and you should feel bad. \--Alvin [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### We’re Not Just Mad About Discs Going Away, We’re Mad About Everything URL: https://aftermath.site/playstation-discs-response/ Last updated: 2026-08-01T00:39:12.000Z Amidst all the uproar over Sony’s decision to [stop producing discs](https://aftermath.site/sony-discs-2028-consoles/) for PlayStation consoles, I’ve started seeing an interesting (if relatively minor) counter to the popular narrative. In an attempt to perhaps explain why Sony made the decision, or maybe even to try to placate everyone since folks have got so *mad*, news stories and analyst comments have started popping up pointing to abysmal physical game sales. The stories are all slightly different, and they’re rarely this blunt, but the general implied message is the same: [why are you all so mad, nobody is buying discs anymore! Here’s the data](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/07/the-playstation-game-disc-was-dying-long-before-sony-pulled-the-plug/?ref=aftermath.site)! People are not this mad because disc-based games are going away. Well, I mean, they *are* mad that discs are going away, a decision that has consequences for everything from personal ownership to the second-hand and borrowed games markets. But I don’t think the scale and ferocity of the response, with [change.org petitions](https://www.change.org/p/don-t-kill-the-disc-tell-sony-to-keep-physical-playstation-games?ref=aftermath.site) numbering in the hundreds of thousands of supporters and [calls for boycotts of PlayStation products](https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/jul/28/playstation-blackout-august-sony?ref=aftermath.site), is all down to this one decision. I think people have just had enough. Of everything. And it’s this physical media move that has broken the camel’s back. --- > [ View this post on Instagram ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbUqbPXxXYl/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) > > [A post shared by Chris Kohler (@chriskohlernews)](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbUqbPXxXYl/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed&utm%5Fcampaign=loading) That’s Australian economist, journalist and content creator Chris Kohler (not [*that* Chris Kohler](https://bsky.app/profile/kohler.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site)), with a short video he released the other day that hit me pretty hard. Firstly because I was surprised to see the news hitting mainstream circles like this, but also because, perhaps because he’s an outside voice, Kohler was able to see the forest for the trees by linking the disc decision to digital subscriptions and lootboxes and everything else and just call it all what it is: a “toxic economy”. This stuff has all been pissing us all off, for years. From [horse armour](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/13yiyxw/it%5Fall%5Fstarted%5Fwith%5Fthe%5Fhorse%5Farmor/?ref=aftermath.site) through to *Roblox*, to be alive and playing video games over the last 20 years has been to suffer a succession of indignities as major publishers and platform holders conspire, continuously, to make everything worse. AAA games have gone mad, business decisions are increasingly unhinged, mobile gaming is a slop bucket, layoffs are kneecapping our favourite studios and predatory economic practices stalk our every move, regardless of the platform. We’re all frogs, and the water has been getting a little warmer each year. I saw [a discussion on Reddit the other day](https://www.reddit.com/r/ACBlackFlag/comments/1usyg9n/i%5Fdont%5Fmind%5Fthe%5Fdlc%5Fbut%5Fdoes%5Fthe%5Fpause%5Fbutton/?ref=aftermath.site), where someone who was playing the *Black Flag* remake–[which we don’t need, that’s another problem](https://aftermath.site/ocarina-of-time-remake-nintendo/)–noticed there were advertisements on the game’s pause screen. The reaction from longtime fans? “Been that way since *Origins* my man”. The extent to which this ridiculous state of affairs had been normalised by these people floored me. Gaming in 2026 feels like being trapped in the trash compactor in *Star Wars*, the walls slowly moving in on us, not fast enough to kill us outright, but fast enough to make the tension obvious, the shortening width of the room constantly apparent. It fucking sucks, man. All of it. The monster under the water sucks, the walls trying to kill us sucks, the junk that might crush us before the walls can, the fact it’s on the Death Star, the fact there *is* a Death Star, it’s *all* bad. (I know this is also what it feels like to simply be alive at the moment, since the same forces are at work everywhere from the workplace to the grocery store, but this is a blog about video games.) So if you’re an analyst or games industry executive and you’re still wondering why everyone is so mad about what looks like a rational, sensible business decision, consider maybe we’re mad about all kinds of stuff, and it’s just the discs that made us all realise how far the walls have closed in around us. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### I Am Quietly And Perhaps Foolishly Optimistic About The Future Of Video Games Journalism URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-journalist-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T23:40:50.000Z This job isn’t perfect–what job is–but everything bad I have to say about it ([and that is a lot](https://aftermath.site/video-game-journalism-2026/)) is based mostly on me standing in 2026 and looking back at everything I’ve lost, at everything the field of games media has had done to it and at everything that has gotten worse. 📝 This is a companion piece to '[It's Extremely Frustrating To See What's Become Of Video Games Media](https://aftermath.site/video-game-journalism-2026/)' What I’d love to do *here* is plant my feet in the present and look around me, and more importantly, at what I can see up ahead. And as naïve and foolhardy as it might sound, I see some stuff to like. Having worked at Kotaku for 17 years, by the time I left I’d developed a very good idea of what I wanted a video game website to look like, one that didn’t have to worry about inept ownership or advertising concerns or industry access. And now I…finally have the chance to help shape that vision? What used to be some kind of idle dream is now a (stressful) reality? It rules! We’re [really going after](https://aftermath.site/tag/strauss-zelnick-2/) companies. We’re [running lots of varied and interesting freelance](https://aftermath.site/tag/freelance/) that we might not have commissioned at a website where every click counted. We’re trying to [take our time with coverage and really think stuff through](https://aftermath.site/tag/feature/), something that, again, we weren’t always afforded the opportunity to do at outlets where speed mattered more. [And we have plans, *big* plans, like hiring more staff](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/); there have been more than enough games media layoffs in the last few years, our big dream is to start making more hires instead. This stuff is all not just more enjoyable for us, but we hope it’s a type of coverage that’s more enjoyable for *you* as well. And boy, it’s amazing how fast a business can move when you *are* the business. Nearly every job I’ve had over the last 30 years has had a boss somewhere along the line, or many of them, meaning every time I had an idea or a suggestion or needed something done it would need to be logged, reported and evaluated. Sometimes action would take weeks or even months, sometimes nothing would ever get done at all. At Aftermath, I can have an idea (like, say, for a t-shirt) and just…make it happen? Is this how the mayor feels going into work every day? It’s *great*. One of the great crimes of the blog era ([one I am guilty of!](https://aftermath.site/video-game-blogs-old-media-2000s/)) was taking a business that used to cost money and devaluing it, for so hard and so long that an entire generation of gamers has grown up not knowing that quality writing about this medium is something you should be directly paying for. Because the people writing that stuff need the time and support to…write it, and the two-decade deal with the devil where that money came from internet advertising has proven to be a *very bad deal*. The hell we’re currently living through is at least partly down to the fact we’re going through another market shift. Just as it was clear in 2006 that paying for magazines was a dying business proposition, even as some clung on to newsstands, so too does it look in 2026 that relying on Google search and online ads to sustain journalism is just as terminal. So while things are currently stuck in this painful limbo, where a handful of old websites are dying while new websites struggle to be born, I think the more success you see from subscription-based publications (like our friends and former colleagues at outlets like Defector, 404, Hell Gate, Rascal and Mothership), the more the idea that quality writing has to be paid for will take root among a wider audience, and a rising tide will start lifting more boats. And when it does, and more people realise that websites supported by readers are all the better for it--because they don’t have to worry about offending idiot owners, annoying advertisers or upsetting publishers– hings might look better than ever. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### It's Extremely Frustrating Seeing What's Become Of Video Games Journalism URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-journalism-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T23:40:38.000Z I know we’ve covered some pretty big-picture stuff here so far on Hater Week, but for this gripe in particular I wanted to talk about something a bit more personal. Namely, how much I hate what my job–a video game journalist, critic, whatever you want to call it–has become in the year 2026. 📝 This is a companion piece to '[I Am Quietly Optimistic About The Future Of Video Games Journalism](https://aftermath.site/video-game-journalist-2026/)' For almost as long as there have been video games, there have been people who have wanted to write about them, and people who have wanted to read the stuff they write. It’s an artform *and* an industry, there’s plenty of room for criticism and coverage, just like there is with everything else you can write about on this planet. So for the first few decades of video games journalism, things kept a pretty consistent shape: traditional publishers owned [magazines](https://aftermath.site/guides-writers/), and those magazines employed people to write about video games. Money was made from both advertising and people buying the magazines, and from the 1970s through to the 2000s that was a nice little business! Then the internet came along and ruined everything. It also fixed a bunch of stuff. It’s complicated. By making the stable of games writers more diverse, and allowing for a greater level of introspection of its own coverage, games journalism and criticism [really came of age through the 2000s and into the 2010s](https://aftermath.site/the-new-games-journalism-same-as-the-old-games-journalism/), shedding healthy portions of a previous reliance on access journalism and taking the journalism side of the job title much more seriously. Of course it also fucked a bunch of things up. By making news and criticism free, it helped devalue the work that went into creating them, and by shifting the business incentives from ‘making a good magazine’ to ‘maximising the clicks for this one story’ it resulted in some absolutely [dogshit, clickbait stuff](https://aftermath.site/its-exhausting-trying-to-read-video-game-website-headlines/). All things considered though, the first decade of my time spent in games media (2006-2016), was a positive one. Sure, I miss the more expensive trips we used to get in the [pre-Great Recession](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%5Ffinancial%5Fcrisis?ref=aftermath.site) days, when flights to TGS and GamesCom and E3 were routine, and [ownership drama was never too far away](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollea%5Fv.%5FGawker?ref=aftermath.site) (regardless of [the publication you worked at](https://www.greathillpartners.com/media/news-corporation-to-acquire-ign-entertainment-inc?ref=aftermath.site)), but for the most part writing about video games was still a nice little business. Millions of people wanted to read video game media, we were able to give them what they wanted while attracting advertisers, it was working, if not perfectly, then OK. The last decade, though, has seen the entire thing go to shit. I know games media is hardly alone in this regard, but as tech companies swallowed up the ad market and destroyed search results, and earnings-obsessed market weirdos took over publishing companies and became fixated on the latest Silicon Valley snake oil sales pitch, what used to be a pretty cool job where you were paid to write about video games has become a degrading and/or temporary pursuit. So many websites that once seemed part of the furniture are either [gone, gutted or are on life support](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-giant-bomb-polygon-layoffs-valnet/). An entire generation of editorial leadership has been kicked into the bin. New jobs are almost non-existent, and when they do pop up, they’re [usually for exploitative content farms](https://aftermath.site/the-gamurs-group-games-journalism-escapist-dot-esports/). Generally speaking this is resulting in worse video game journalism across the board: Experienced leaders are no longer around to guide a new generation of writers who aren’t being hired, and [everyone left at the surviving sites](https://aftermath.site/video-games-journalism-2025/) is overworked, underpaid and wondering when, not if, the axe will fall on them like it has so many of their colleagues over the past few years. Personally speaking, it’s also been pretty shit! [I left my traditional games media job in 2023](https://www.lukeplunkett.com/youre-solid-gold-ill-see-you-in-hell/?ref=aftermath.site) because I figured–among other issues–I was eventually going to be laid off or see the site get shut down anyway. And while I’ll forever be proud of the work we’ve been able to do here at Aftermath, that decision has had its consequences. My job used to involve writing about video games. My job now is writing about video games *and* running a small business, which means I am also designing CTA systems, maintaining a website, doing customer service, managing complex customer account platforms, planning marketing campaigns and so much other tedious bullshit that a normal business would have had experts around to do, but which we now have to do ourselves. I don’t know how to do this stuff! We write about fewer games because we just don't have the time to play them, we live in fear of being sued into oblivion (we have lawyers, but still!) and, maybe worst of all, we’re all living with constant anxiety and uncertainty. We’re trying to run a subscription media company during some of the worst economic times in living memory, and so I spend a lot of time begging for money on the internet, in ways that I know are necessary for the business but can also feel slightly degrading (I’m sorry if it ever feels like I’m spamming the sales pitches!). And the pay sucks! My Aftermath pay last year was 60% of what it was in my last year at Kotaku, meaning that I’m having to work a second and sometimes even *third* job just to pay my bills. I’m doing the same job, but doing even more work, for much less money, all because…why, exactly? There are *still* millions of people out there wanting to read video games media, that hasn’t changed. We just had a generation of sickos step in and destroy the economic bridge between the writer and the audience. I’m not out here fishing for sympathy, or trying to say I’m particularly hard done by. There’s a very good chance that if you’re reading this you’re a games industry or games media worker who has found themselves in similar situations, whether you’ve been laid off by a psychotic CEO, are exhausted picking up the load for departed colleagues or spend your days wondering when the axe is going to fall on you. These are bad times everywhere you look in and around video games, and I’m not trying to say I, or we, are any more special or impacted than anyone else. As someone running a site for stories, one that is spending the week focusing on things we hate, I just wanted to add one more resentful (and personal) story to the pile. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### The Ghouls Who Run EA Deserve To Burn URL: https://aftermath.site/ea-saudi-arabia-deal-closing-andrew-wilson-pay/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T22:59:06.000Z Welp, it’s almost certainly happening: EA says it has officially cleared all regulatory hurdles standing between it and a blissful future in the iron maiden-like embrace of Saudi Arabia. This will end poorly for all involved—except those making out like bandits, of course. “As of July 30, 2026, all regulatory approvals required to complete the Merger have been obtained,” EA wrote in [an 8-K form filed today](https://bsky.app/profile/kerrblimey.bsky.social/post/3mrvczeckes2l?ref=aftermath.site). “Electronic Arts currently expects the Merger to close on or about the close of trading on August 4, 2026\. Completion of the Merger remains subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the remaining customary closing conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement.” Once the $55 billion deal closes, EA will be owned by a consortium that includes Silver Lake and the Jared Kushner-fronted Affinity Partners, but [93.4 percent of the pie will go to Saudi Arabia](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/saudi-arabia-will-own-93-4-percent-of-ea-after-buyout?ref=aftermath.site). Members of the US government, including 46 members of Congress, have [voiced opposition to the deal](https://aftermath.site/rep-maxwell-frost-lilsimsie-stream-ea-saudi-arabia-interview/), with US representative Maxwell Frost joining popular The Sims YouTuber Kayla “Lilsimsie” Sims during a livestream to get the word out about its many perilous pitfalls. Since then, the group that helped put the stream together, Players Alliance, has [staged demonstrations](https://www.kqed.org/news/12083135/bay-area-gamers-rally-against-electronic-arts-55-billion-acquisition?ref=aftermath.site) in DC, Redwood City, Orlando, and Madison to show that at least a vocal contingent of EA’s audience do not plan to take this lying down. It has also [collected 74,000 signatures](https://playersalliancehq.org/block-ea-deal-petition/?ref=aftermath.site) on a petition demanding that the US treasury secretary block the deal. EA execs have reacted to this scrutiny by [chirping publicly about how cool they think AI is](https://aftermath.site/ea-layoffs-ai-saudi-arabia/). Earlier this week, Frost sent a letter to EA CEO Andrew Wilson, the contents of which were shared with Aftermath by Frost’s office. It read: > Dear Mr. Wilson, > I am concerned about the proposed acquisition of Electronic Arts (EA) by Saudi Arabia’s Public Interest Fund (PIF) along with Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, the latter of which is managed by Jared Kushner. > I understand that the deal is under review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States within the Treasury Department. Meanwhile, a group of investors has sought EU subsidy approval with a reported decision deadline of July 30, 2026. > If completed, this would be the largest buyout of a publicly traded company to date. Reporting also indicates that his deal would saddle EA with $20 billion in debt. An acquisition of this scale could cause workforce reductions, office closures, and reduced investment in creative development and innovation, including extensive use of artificial intelligence (AI). Already since the deal was announced, there have been three rounds of layoffs. And EA’s partnership with Stability AI, announced just after the deal was announced, will likely be used to replace these employees and cut labor costs. > Additionally, I am concerned about the effects on workers in my district. One of EA's major United States offices is located in Orlando’s creative village, employing over 500 workers who contribute to a number of projects, including Madden NFL and College Football. These employees are artists, designers, and other professionals who contribute daily to Florida’s economy. > Beyond workforce and community impacts, I am also closely following the impacts on consumers. Players worldwide enjoy EA games and must continue to do so, free from any political or religious influence of the company’s investors. I also want to ensure that no acquisition increases prices, adds subscriptions or more microtransactions, or reduces game quality in other ways meant to cut costs. Frost concluded by asking Wilson a series of questions about how exactly the acquisition will play out and impacts it will have on workers, EA games, and LGBTQ representation within said games, requesting that Wilson reply in writing by August 5. It is unlikely that his efforts—or those of any other authentically well-meaning person—will stop the acquisition at this point; too many awful people have stood to benefit from the get go, and as a result, the deal faced little meaningful resistance from anyone with actual power. Now shareholders and those at the top of the company are about to add substantial sums to their already bottomless bank accounts while EA trudges on, saddled with $20 billion in debt (resulting from the structure of the deal) that will almost certainly necessitate large-scale cuts and other concerns outlined above by Frost. This stands to further poison an already very much ailing video game industry. It’s cold comfort in the grand scheme of things, but this probably won’t go great for Saudi Arabia either. While the soft power and sportswashing of EA to Saudi Arabia—especially where the NFL is concerned—were immediately apparent, the aforementioned debt will only add to the woes of a government that finds itself running (relatively) low on funds due to overspending and the war in Iran. 2026 has seen Saudi Arabia [scramble to offload sporting ventures](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-saudi-arabia-liv-golf-ea-deal/), an obvious sign that its strategy of the past several years isn’t paying off. On the other hand, Wilson, EA’s CEO, couldn’t be doing better. Earlier this week, [an SEC filing revealed](https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000712515/68ac2832-b80b-48b9-a4ac-2ceda0cf1d0b.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) that Wilson's "total compensation" for the company's 2026 fiscal year was $38,649,984, an $8 million increase from 2025\. A big reason cited? The success of *Battlefield 6*, which sold more than seven million copies in just three days, only for Wilson and his ghoul squad to [lay off members of the team that made it](https://www.ign.com/articles/ea-lays-off-staff-across-all-battlefield-studios-following-record-breaking-battlefield-6-launch?ref=aftermath.site) earlier this year. Anyway, fuck ‘em all. They deserve to burn. There’s not really much more to say. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Welcome To The Resistance: Meet The Workers Dodging (And Sabotaging) Their Employer's AI Mandates URL: https://aftermath.site/ai-resistance-tips-workforce-llm-workers/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T21:58:53.000Z As more and more dipshit managers[ mandate](https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9314367/workers-forced-to-accept-ai-systems-or-leave-jobs/?ref=aftermath.site) (or at least heavily encourage)[ the use of AI in the office](https://aftermath.site/ai-video-game-development-art-vibe-coding-midjourney/), more and more workers are being confronted with a choice: do as they're told and help contribute to an economic, environmental, creative and cognitive disaster, or find ways to resist. Thankfully, plenty of folks are opting for the latter. [‘An Overwhelmingly Negative And Demoralizing Force’: What It’s Like Working For A Company That’s Forcing AI On Its Developers - Aftermath‘I have had conversations about AI in a professional context that make me want to walk into the sea’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f3872f08-ec06-4e17-832c-1a3ed3527e85.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/robotboss-3-10dee998-2b11-42c4-9b2d-91601e4d97a8.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/ai-video-game-development-art-vibe-coding-midjourney/) Having heard an increasing number of anecdotal stories over the last year or so of people finding weird, wild and defiant ways to avoid using AI in their professional lives, tales I've seen told in fragments across social media and platforms like Linkedin, I decided to speak directly with as many workers as I could to hear their stories in full. What I found particularly interesting was that while some employees are able to duck out from using the technology altogether, a surprising number of people without that luxury are still finding ways to minimise, misdirect or even sabotage their company's AI mandates by using the technology against itself. Given everyone I spoke to was still employed at the place they're talking about, they've requested their names and employers be withheld. And while (since this is a video games website) there are some video game industry workers featured below, I also ended up speaking with many affected employees across a range of other industries, from utilities to finance to cloud hosting. --- "I work for a company that produces luxury items", one worker tells me. "Any time I get prompted that my 'token spend' is too low (0), I go in and ask ChatGPT random gardening questions. So far it has failed to adequately build a rain garden, but I’ve gotten it to describe a sweet potato once." --- A programmer at a small European studio, known for working on licensed games, says their CEO's rapid adoption of the technology has led to issues with their shipped projects. While their own team has been given an “opt-out” by their direct manager, so they aren't using the technology at all, they say a recent release's dialogue and text "was AI-translated, and the quality was so bad humans had to redo it, and it ended up costing more than just doing it by hand \[in the first place\]". --- A team lead at a company that's a "competitor to AWS" says that upper management has begun telling employees they need to "find ways to integrate AI into our daily workflow", without actually providing specifics as to how, or why. It has since become a required objective for their direct reports. "I have made it absolutely clear to anyone reporting to me that I will accept literally even the smallest thing, and I don't want anyone to actually start heavily using AI", they tell me. "If they lie to me saying they used AI when they didn't, I will happily turn a blind eye and still give them full marks on their yearly objective. My managers are on the same page." --- > Most cases so far have proven that there is too much risk in using AI unless the client pays for a service, so we just go back to doing things the old-fashioned way. Not sure how long it will last, but vive la résistance for now! --- "When it was announced that we would start recording all meetings so that an AI assistant could take notes I was pretty concerned", a developer at a Western AAA studio tells me. "I decided to stop attending meetings until I could receive a formal statement from the company about how they would and more importantly would not use our recordings to train AI. I ended up skipping meetings for several months." "There was a mandate for every employee to incorporate AI into their workflow and put it in official writing how they were going to do that. I wrote something sarcastic and ignored it". They were then forced to sign paperwork stating that all employees were required to use generative AI tools, which they say they also ignored. "A lot of AI has been going into our tooling and I've been in a lot of meetings where I'm the only voice against it both morally and qualitatively. The vocal majority is non-critical, and has accepted AI as a standard part of their workflow. I see a lot of people on BlueSky saying that AI use is abnormal in the game industry, but from my experience and what I've heard from many contacts, it's becoming standard in nearly all Western AAA studios." --- A software technician says, "My bosses have gone all-in on AI, and it’s immensely frustrating. Often they give me instructions on a task and the last step is 'run it through Gemini' and I just find some other way to do it and don't tell them I haven't been using it." One example they provide is a task they were assigned, asking them to compile data from client websites and use AI to "add up the numbers". "No joke it was just straight up faster and way more accurate to copy that data into Excel and run two 'text-to-columns' functions to break out just the numbers I needed", they say. "Excel is a magical program and the fact that a lot of people's defaults for, essentially, a calculator is now 'the computer that is bad at math' is baffling to me." --- "We've recently had an influx of 'agentic solutions' for basic tasks, ranging from annoying to counterproductive", a games studio producer says. "Generally speaking, contractors will try the tool so as to not rock the boat in this perilous economic environment, but a team recently got forcibly introduced to an agent that takes 600% longer (not an exaggeration) than their old tool to complete a task, among other sluggish changes". To get around this, someone on the team figured out that they could just ask the agent to...take them back to their old tool. But even that discovery had to be kept secret from their bosses, requiring espionage-like workarounds to share the knowledge (like making direct phone calls), since their keystrokes are being tracked and their video calls monitored by AI agents. --- A worker at a games industry support studio says that "While my company does not force us to use AI (since we work with lots of different IPs we don't own), when someone in Slack mentions using AI I react with 👎🤖 🤮 which has caught on with co-workers." --- A video game artist says that while both clients and bosses are "very hyped" with the technology, it's hard to make them understand that they personally don't want to use AI in their workflow. But rather than counter with ethical concerns, they're taking a legal approach, telling management that they're risking fines for breaking copyright laws, endangering the business by allowing clients to be provided sub-par work, risking confidential content by feeding it into AI, wasting money on tokens and clogging up art pipelines because they work faster *without* using AI. They say this approach, acting as a consultant would and framing the issue in terms that business people understand, "works like a charm". --- > I built lots of inane, rambling prompts, like having the AI write (bad) book reports. I did all the *real* work myself, but my usage showed up on the dashboards and made me an 'AI Champion' --- After "getting a ton of pressure at work to start using AI", a marketing writer for a tech company says, "I just started describing my normal workflow to my bosses as if AI were part of it". "I keep a to-do list in a paper notebook, but my boss believes I have an AI task-keeping assistant via Claude. I no longer say I Googled things (I actually[ Kagi](https://kagi.com/?ref=aftermath.site) things), I say I asked Claude to explain it. When I copy-edit writing I take an extra twenty minutes to double check, then say I had Claude copy edit it as well. Everyone’s really happy with my performance". --- A manager at a tech startup (bleeding cash because of[ the rising costs of using AI](https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/we-created-a-monster-companies-rein-in-ai-as-costs-strain-budgets-20260622-p6093o?ref=aftermath.site)) is another who was forced to use AI by employers who had absolutely no idea how or why, exactly, worker's AI usage was going to be tracked. "As a manager, I knew that there were internal dashboards at the company showing AI usage, so I built lots of inane, rambling prompts, like having the AI write (bad) book reports. I did all the *real* work myself, but my usage showed up on the dashboards and made me an 'AI Champion'", a title for which they received both company-wide recognition and a cash prize. "No one had ever bothered to check if the things I built on a daily basis were AI generated". --- A worker at a major AAA games studio says that while AI use hasn't been mandated, things are becoming increasingly dire. "A couple of weeks ago we had some disastrous 'AI vision' meetings", they say, "where people who were pushing back against the use of AI got really agitated, and it led to at least one person being let go from the company, and a few other got a talking to from HR". "Some of us are vocal about not wanting to use AI tools, and we've basically held our ground by asking for meetings to not be automatically transcribed or have notes taken by AI agents. But it definitely feels like we're swimming against the current". --- "Externally and internally, upper management is pushing hard on AI, but around our team adoption is slow at best", a cybersecurity worker at a major entertainment company says. "Infosec management hates it, and resents the amount of time they need to spend on it. They're being told to find use cases for AI, but none really exist". When they're *forced* to use the technology, they engage in 'malicious compliance', where they use AI exactly as it has been requested by management, and will submit the results directly and unedited, including every inaccuracy and inconsistency. When management points out these issues--which can be serious when it comes to things like incident reports– "we point out that we did exactly what was asked of us, and they get real quiet". "Because I work in cybersecurity, I also have free rein to use the company's internal AI as I see fit, and so far that's been showcasing to others all of the ways it can be abused, to the extent where it's clear it can't be used for anything even remotely useful". --- A senior artist in the video game industry says that "at every step I've made it extremely clear that I won't use it, will never use it and have given all of my reasons why; to the point where my boss became a little upset about it all. I have a zero-tolerance policy towards it because I know that if I give it an inch, it'll slowly work its way into everything." They say that "certain folks" higher up at the studio keep trying to implement AI tools into the artists’ workflow "for the sake of it", even when--[as we've seen before when it comes to AI and art](https://aftermath.site/ai-video-game-development-art-vibe-coding-midjourney/)\--there's no problem to solve. "They always resort to the 'time is money' argument, and that they need to speed up production", they say. "Thankfully, I've been able to keep firm about my position, as well as safeguarding my role and those of my fellow artists, while maintaining the integrity, authenticity and accuracy of our art intact". "Anyway, things are looking up for now, I think leadership are starting to see things my way!" --- "At work they've been pushing AI use for the last two years, and this year it was shared that bosses will be looking at AI usage as part of our performance evaluations", someone in the IT department of a utility company says. "I did some looking into how they're evaluating that, and they pull numbers for submitting prompts.... but they don't collect the prompts." "Which is why earlier today I made sure to ask Copilot 'What year was *Star Wars* released?' And yesterday I asked Copilot the weather. Essentially, I make sure to prompt at least once a day, but the few times I've ACTUALLY tried to use it for work, it either is extremely basic and unhelpful. Or it's flat out wrong". --- A worker at a games localisation studio says that while some of their colleagues have embraced AI usage, "using ChatGPT/CoPilot to write all their emails and effectively sound like a machine in all their responses", the majority of their team keep their use to a minimum, preferring to "remain human, typos and all". "The best tool I’ve found to resist enforced AI use on projects is to raise the security concern over feeding sensitive materials to AI", they say. "Our company doesn’t want to invest in their own AI instance for every project, so we warn employees to not include project-sensitive materials and to ask leadership for permission before they use AI for any of their work". "Most cases so far have proven that there is too much risk in using AI unless the client pays for a service, so we just go back to doing things the old-fashioned way. Not sure how long it will last, but vive la résistance for now!" --- A veteran comms director says that while their workplace doesn't have a *mandatory* AI usage policy, the expectation has been set by leadership that everyone on their team needs to "be open to, and work to implement, AI-assisted workflows moving forward". "Over the course of the last six months, there's been a sharp increase in vibe coding by non-developers, and some members of leadership have praised the increase in AI adoption across the company. As you can imagine, it's been a polarizing issue", they say. Handily, given they work in comms, they've been able to "lean into soft skills", and have provided a breakdown of the ways they've able to object to the use of AI at the office > When leadership presents documentation that was clearly (or majority) generated by AI, I point out inaccuracies in real time. This is most effective when done in a setting with multiple people (Slack channel/group DM/meeting). > > When I share a draft for comment, I disclose that it was not generated or modified by AI, and I ask my colleagues not to run it through AI as a part of their review process. There's no way to know for sure if they don't, but at the very least I'm establishing a clear boundary, and hopefully making my colleagues pause before dumping my work into Claude, GPT, or whatever. > > My favorite: just ask why. If a colleague or manager suggests that something can be easily achieved by using GenAI, a simple "why do you think that?" can really derail the conversation. More often than not, they have a flimsy response and realize it's not more efficient or producing a better outcome. --- > It ultimately saved us time to just sit together and make them right the first time, without AI... --- A worker at an American games studio says that after fumbling along for a few years their company finally implemented an AI policy in 2026, which "strongly encouraged" the technology's use, and asked employees "not to shame" those who chose to make use of it. Which management hoped would be everyone, because despite the policy falling short of *enforcing* AI's mandatory use, workers are also being told that they "have to be open-minded if they want to stay at the company". "I've embraced professional hater status by trying to educate any co-workers who will listen to me, including senior ones," they say. "I am angry enough to keep fighting; not just for my own job, company or even the games industry. AI is a rot at the heart of the world right now". "I just desperately hope the bubble bursts before all these companies destroy themselves chasing the fantasy of 'number goes up forever'". --- More tips! A data scientist at a consumer tech company, working higher up in management than most others I spoke to, was able to share their personal tips on dealing with executives and others obsessed with a seeming need to employ AI, without actually being able to explain *why*. > \- Relentlessly point out how the "positive" examples of AI use internally are not generalizable. "Pilot A worked because the project was simple, and you showered them with extra support and attention AND took away all their other obligations for the duration and shifted them to others. That doesn't generalize." > \- Change the conversation from "lines of code produced" to "does what we're building actually matter to anyone?" We supposedly are producing a lot more code (not actually true – we've looked at the data every which way, but everyone THINKS this is true), but nothing has observably changed about the overall business. This is causing some serious crises of confidence in engineering leaders, because it is shining a light on the reality that more 'features' does not mean more money, and that actually they are not necessary for growth. > \- Try to appeal to their professional pride. "Do you want your job to look like a factory role where you have a code quota and are told precisely what to do and how to do it?" > \- Fight against the inclusion of AI usage mandates in performance reviews. For example: "We have to have an independent perspective on whether people are performing their jobs well, otherwise you will not be able to fire someone who burns a lot of tokens, and you'll be forcing your top team members into performative AI usage just to avoid consequences. Your jobs as managers will get very stupid if you start telling people there is only one acceptable way to do the work, and it's impossible to do good work without using these tools." > \- Oh, and finally: give them what they're asking for. I'm extracting my teams from these AI experiments and saying "If you really think you can deliver entire products without us, have fun." If you think an engineer with an LLM can do design, product, research, and data work, show me. I'm very confident engineers do not want to do this stuff. And if we stop catching them when they fall on these topics, they will revolt. --- A lead engineer at a major UK games studio says, "Our CEO has made a big song and dance internally and externally about how no AI is used on our game content. And he's right, the problem is everything that's not considered 'game content'..." While they and their team are "pretty much all anti-AI", and they're able to shield their colleagues from most prodding coming from above, as time goes on this is getting harder and harder. "At first I tried the whole 'oh but it doesn't work for us' approach, and showed where AI fell down in some examples. This worked fine until third-party vendors like Amazon kept mentioning to executives how they just launched a new AI tool that does our jobs for us, or Cloudflare puts out a blog post showing how they used AI to do something similar to what we do, etc". "Recently I heard about an executive asking why a dev team will take eight weeks to make a prototype, when Claude could do it in a few hours. I'm not sure how the lead of that team handled it, but I know it's absolutely killing morale of developers", they say. --- "My organization is full of people who chase trends", a worker at a health insurance company says. "This includes finding any possible way to adopt AI into workflows, of course, but it has fortunately also meant adopting an AI strategy that includes *some* constraints". Specifically, this strategy includes a policy that anything developed using AI must be reviewed by a human before it's used. "I was recently tasked with creating a massive pile of instructional documents for a new HR system we were implementing, and was specifically instructed to use Copilot to streamline because of the volume of work", they say. "As a junior employee, I realized that all of my work, written by AI or not, would have to be tested and edited for accuracy by people higher up than me. So I was able to refer to the AI standard of human review and convince my supervisor that we would be duplicating work to generate, review, and then re-review the AI-generated documents. It ultimately saved us time to just sit together and make them right the first time, without AI". --- One thing that struck me speaking with so many workers across so many industries was just how quickly AI usage has become thoroughly embedded in their daily professional lives. We're only a few years into the supposed 'boom' of this technology, with questions over everything from its legality to[ its effect on our cognitive ability](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/19/chatbots-critical-thinking-skills?ref=aftermath.site) still very much being asked, and yet its adoption has been swifter than that of the computer itself. No wonder we're left with so many absurd situations like those described above! Managers mandating the use of a technology that their workers are actively conspiring to avoid (or are even turning against itself) should be the stuff of fiction, a workplace satire for the ages, and yet it's becoming an increasingly dire reality for more and more people. When we have games industry employees resorting to Soviet-era tactics just to share tips on dodging AI usage--avoiding an overseer that's literally *recording everything they type at their keyboards*\--what are we even doing here? [When the bubble inevitably bursts](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/24/cory-doctorow-on-elon-musk-ai-bubble-bosses-cruel-fantasies?ref=aftermath.site), what happens to everyone at these companies when they're caught up in the middle of an economic meltdown? Will the short-sighted owners, executives and managers who became so captivated by the latest set of keys being jangled in front of their faces, to the point where it left the entire global economy's ass hanging out, be the ones to take responsibility? After ignoring the repeated protestations and warnings of workers like the ones I've spoken to here? Don't answer that.[ Of course they won't](https://aftermath.site/embracer-layoffs-executive-saudi/). Anyway, rather than end on that downer, I hope the tips and stories that have been shared here are useful to people. Both because they show that the increasing fervour with which AI is being adopted is *still* not resonating with your colleagues in the trenches, and also because there are some great tips to be found here! Asking a boss "why do you think that?" and making them show their ass is some all-purpose advice for the ages. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Game Devs Start Worker Hardship Fund For Laid Off Colleagues URL: https://aftermath.site/uvw-cwa-game-worker-hardship-fund-itch-io/ Last updated: 2026-08-01T01:08:23.000Z *Demonschool* developer Necrosoft Games [is hosting an itch.io bundle](https://itch.io/b/3802/game-industry-hardship-fund?ref=aftermath.site) directing funds to the Communication Workers of America's United Videogame Workers Game Industry Hardship Fund. The bundle pulls together more than 100 games for $10\. It kicked off on Thursday and will run for two weeks. "The game industry has a problem," representatives of the fund wrote on its itch.io page. "Too many people are out of work. Reports say 33% of the industry lost their jobs in the last two years, and the jobs they could fill are disappearing as CEOs try to replace them with AI. It's hard for companies to adjust to the new shape of the game industry, but even harder for the people they should be employing." Any game developer experiencing hardship, in North America or Canada, can apply for assistance from the fund. There are two applications—one for people requesting under $1,000, and one for people requesting between $1,000 to $5,000\. United Videogame Workers said it distributed "upwards of" $25,000 to 30 different applicants. "Many game workers and fund applicants we have spoken to have lost housing, are on food assistance, or have put off necessary medical treatment as a result of these callous layoffs," [the union wrote on BlueSky account](https://bsky.app/profile/videogameworkers.bsky.social/post/3mrv5k5bfv22n?ref=aftermath.site). "Your purchase of this bundle helps us help more devs in this time of need. We have to look out for each other." The hardship fund was officially announced earlier in July, funded originally by union membership dues. All of the funds raised from the bundle—save platform fees—will be distributed to game developers struggling financially. There are lots of interesting, great games in the bundle, among them *Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure*, *A Short Hike*, *Lofty Quest*, and *Wheels of Aurelia.* The games span genres and art styles. At the time of writing, the fund has brought in more than $6,000. [The video game industry is in a layoff crisis](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/). [Independent layoff trackers](https://layoffs.asgc.gg/?ref=aftermath.site) have estimated that more than 9,000 people have been laid off in 2026\. That brings the total number of layoffs from 2022 to more than 50,000, [per ASGC Games Industry Layoffs Tracker's data](https://layoffs.asgc.gg/?ref=aftermath.site). This month alone, Double Fine Productions, ZA/UM, Microsoft, Skybound Entertainment, Scopely, and Midgar, among many others, have laid off staff. Microsoft is expected to cut another 1,600 workers. ### I Love Luxuriating In A Long Ass Game URL: https://aftermath.site/i-love-luxuriating-in-a-long-ass-game/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T00:00:38.000Z My husband loves baseball, and I’ve grown to enjoy it as well. But my favorite way to watch a baseball game on the couch with my husband is with my Switch in hand, playing a game that will take simply one thousand years to finish. 🕘 This is a companion piece to '[All Games Should Be 15 Hours Long (Or Less)](https://aftermath.site/how-long-to-beat-video-games-15-hours/)' I love a long, long game. I love a long game that I am unlikely to ever finish. I love starting up a game that will take sixty to a hundred hours and treating it like a project. Hell, I love starting up a game that’s super long *knowing* that I will never finish it. Sometimes, simply playing the game is the thing I want to do, idly moving my hands while I wait for Yoshinobu Yamamoto to get three outs so the Dodgers can hit again. Short games have their pleasures, but completing something is often not as rewarding as working away at it. I always end up taking a break before the last chapter of a book, not wanting it to end. I do that for long video games, too, taking a long pause before the final boss. *Hades* and *Hades 2* were games that I took to like a knitting project. Those games can be completed quickly if finishing them is the only goal you have. But I got obsessed with completing as many runs as I could with different boons, challenging myself by avoiding boons I liked and trying ones that I usually passed over, unlocking all the various collectibles and finishing the side stories for all the characters. The *Cook, Serve, Delicious* series has a similar effect on me, where I feel drawn to the repetition that it offers me—and the truly enormous options in terms of creating menus and stacking bonuses. But the best kind of really long game is a Japanese RPG. Those games offer you a simply endless expanse of time in which to explore them. Recently I started playing *Xenoblade Chronicles*, and there’s just something special about throwing on a game and letting the cut scenes, which are always too long, play out while I trim my nails or make a snack. A game being a movie that you play sometimes is a good thing; it gives me a chance to ambulate around my apartment. Even better is when a game expects you to grind levels. There is simply nothing like getting a little bit stoned and playing turn-based combat encounters for a couple of hours. It’s about pleasing the part of my brain that gets excited by matching patterns, and which can stack blocks or organize categories or account for elemental resistances for hundreds of hours. There are very, very few things I can do for long periods of time that pleases that part of my brain—eventually they get too boring. But video games are explicitly designed to make these tasks luxurious and exciting. So why not let them ride for a hundred hours? Even if I never reach the end, I will be satisfied. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### All Games Should Be 15 Hours Long (Or Less) URL: https://aftermath.site/how-long-to-beat-video-games-15-hours/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T23:59:52.000Z These are difficult times for the video game industry—and that’s putting it lightly. Normally, when faced with a rat king of existential threats involving tastes, economics, and generational turnover, I’d be the last person to subscribe to a simple solution. But in this one instance, I think I’ve found the silver bullet everyone’s been desperately scrambling to pick up off the floor: Make all games 15 hours long (or less). 🕘 This is a companion piece to '[I Love Luxuriating In A Long Ass Game](https://aftermath.site/i-love-luxuriating-in-a-long-ass-game/)' Let’s start with the easy part: This would immensely improve 99.9 percent of games—single-player and/or co-op games, at least. Far too many games begin with the assumption that players are looking to get their money’s worth via quantity rather than quality and, as a result, are positively loaded with padding. I would’ve finished the 2018 *God Of War* reboot, which I really enjoyed, if it wasn’t 30-40 hours long. Most of *Final Fantasy VII Rebirth* could’ve been an email. I have what I call an “OK, I get it” point that I hit with every *Far Cry* and *Assassin’s Creed* where I feel like the mechanics have largely unfurled themselves, and everything else I do beyond that point will be a repetition of what I’ve already done before. Wanna know when that occurs, almost without fail? At the 15-hour mark. *Resident Evil 4* is very nearly a perfect video game. Guess how long it lasts. That’s right: very nearly 15 hours. The appeal of co-op games is exploring new landscapes with your friends; they don’t need to last longer than 15 hours. [Friendslop](https://aftermath.site/friendslop-peak-lethal-company-social-media-discourse/) games, especially, are thimble-deep and a dime a dozen. They’re spiritually 15-hours long already. You might tell me that some non-*FFVII Rebirth* JRPGs—or more systems-driven Western counterparts like *Baldur’s Gate 3*—benefit from longer runtimes. I’m here to reply: nah. I still haven’t finished *Baldur’s Gate 3*, and though I did complete its predecessor, *Divinity Original Sin 2*, I did so for review, and by the end I wasn’t sure I loved or hated it because I just wanted so badly for it to wrap things up already. I’ve already [said it once this week](https://aftermath.site/starting-games-bad/), but I adored *Trails In The Sky 1st Chapter*; I still spent the last 15 or so hours wondering when it would finally end. I love hanging out with party members and all, but that could have been such a tighter, more affecting story without all the standard JRPG fluff—the fetch quests, the multitude of “Oh, so-and-so isn’t here after all” moments, etc. There’s no getting around it: Many video game stories are bad, but within those too-long tales are shorter, better stories. Cut the rough, give me the diamond. Depending on genre, I think many people—at least, those of us with jobs, lives, responsibilities, and possibly families—would agree with some version of this argument: Games should be shorter, for all our sakes, and a lot of games would benefit from it on a basic quality level. But, you might reply, most regular people only buy a few games per year, or they’ve been sucked into the infinite vortex of a forever game like *Fortnite*, *Roblox*, or *Grand Theft Auto Online*. What I’m advocating for is simply not practical. And so, this is where I propose something more radical: When I say all games should be 15 hours or less, I mean *all*. The rest should be eliminated. I’m aware that this sounds extreme, but consider the alternative: The video game industry continues in its current death spiral, with only those few forever games surviving while indies die on the vine and triple-A publishers make a feast out of their own tails. If we simply destroy the forever games and mandate that all games from now until the end of time must be 15 hours or less, this will incentivize people to purchase more than just a few per year, thus solving everyone’s problems. Nobody wants to spend $70 on another *Call Of Duty* or *Madden* rehash anyway. They will be *grateful* that they get to spread those dollars between a plethora of inventive indie games on Steam—where the meta, if you’re not a triple-A publisher, is already to price your game well below $70 anyway. Meanwhile, triple-A games, no longer burdened by the need to win an arm’s race against forever games and each other by giving themselves the longest possible legs, will become significantly cheaper to make. As a result, there will be no need for eye-popping price tags or exploitative microtransactions. Now, whether C-suite types will act accordingly, that’s another matter. Does this plan require a revolution of the proletariat to fully succeed? Maybe, but we’re overdue for one of those anyway. And really, can you argue with the results? By making all games 15 hours long or less, I just saved the video game industry and, with it, the world. I sincerely doubt that Gita can offer you anything so lofty. Vote Grayson 2028 (if we are still allowed to vote by then). [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Do Not Buy The War Crime N64 URL: https://aftermath.site/war-crime-n64-palmer-luckey-m64-modretro/ Last updated: 2026-07-31T17:01:36.000Z Palmer Lucky is an evil fucking worm and dipshit beneficiary of [government contracts](https://www.businessinsider.com/palmer-luckey-entire-career-army-contract-22-billion-anduril-goggles-2025-2?ref=aftermath.site). He’s the Oculus jackass with a shitty soul patch who runs a military defense company called Anduril. I could continue to talk about the general ways I dislike him on a personal level, but I’ll instead focus on a specific one: He shares many of my hobbies, including an enthusiasm for retro gaming and FPGA hardware. If you see the company ModRetro, know that’s his company. ModRetro recently released an FPGA-based machine in the shape of the N64 called the M64\. You do not, under any circumstances, need to buy a war crime N64\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/03_M64_45_RT_No_Cart_Prp.webp) If I can be super petty for a second: the knob on that thing looks atrocious. You're mixing matte and glossy! Credit: ModRetro. First let’s just talk about the practical: There’s no shortage of ways to play the N64\. You can get original hardware and a CRT or an upscaler like the [Retrotink](https://www.retrotink.com/?ref=aftermath.site), a piece of hardware that’s made by people who really care. You can also mod an HDMI port into an old N64 if you aren’t a coward. If you want something FPGA-based that plays cartridges, the [Analogue 3D](https://store.analogue.co/products/analogue-3d-black?ref=aftermath.site) works. [The Superstation One](https://retroremake.co/pages/superstation%E1%B5%92%E2%81%BF%E1%B5%89?ref=aftermath.site) runs FPGA cores just fine. Or to hell with it, just get a [MiSTer](https://aftermath.site/mister-pi-de-10-nano-clone-board-taki-udon/) or even just download a god-fearing emulator. Nobody needs Palmer Luckey’s evil little device, particularly when the market has never been more saturated. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Nintendo-64-wController-L.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot_20260730_124924.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_4986_ea50cd10-7b6d-4f78-9d49-8107c409a90b.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/SS1-ProductLaunch.21.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/black2.a6b13f5d4fa5cd17a32de784a5e381e8.jpg) The Analogue 3D Works! Or get any number of MiSTer derivitives like the Superstation One! Or upscale your N64, or mod an HDMI port in there! There's so many ways to play the N64 these days. Credit: Wikipedia, [Retrotink](https://www.retrotink.com/?ref=aftermath.site), [MiSTer Addons](https://misteraddons.com/?ref=aftermath.site), [RetroRemake.co](https://retroremake.co/pages/superstation%E1%B5%92%E2%81%BF%E1%B5%89?ref=aftermath.site), [Analogue](https://www.analogue.co/3d?ref=aftermath.site), This is not the first product ModRetro has put out. They also put an evil Game Boy out, and specifically put one out in “[attack drone metal](https://kotaku.com/modretro-anduril-chromatic-attack-drone-metal-luckey-2000654868?ref=aftermath.site).” I hate these winking little shits. Not only are they using retro gaming to be fascists, they’re doing it in the corniest way humanly possible. Former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé took to X, The Everything App twice in one day to signal boost that evil dipshit’s pet project. In the spirit of Hater Week, I’d like to officially state that Reggie can go fuck himself as well. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/reggie_2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/reggie1.png) Fuck off Reggie. Credit: @reggie on x.com Argonaut Games also announced they’d be [rereleasing *Buck Bumble* in collaboration with ModRetro](https://bsky.app/profile/argonautgames.com/post/3mrrk5v4ltl25?ref=aftermath.site), and immediately got dragged for it in the replies. Buck Bumble can also fuck off. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot_20260730_125301.png) Credit: Argonautgames on BlueSky We cannot let these people feel comfortable in our hobby. Even if it’s just on a personal level, I’m sick of seeing them. The Video Game History Foundation’s [Frank Cifaldi said it best last December](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:pwr6abquzsshkgorh3bwxyn7/post/3mae65fq75s2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref%5Furl=https%253A%252F%252Fkotaku.com%252Fmodretro-anduril-chromatic-attack-drone-metal-luckey-2000654868&ref=aftermath.site): “I say this with zero irony: if you are even tangentially a part of a retro video game community, it is your civic duty to push back against this company and shun anyone who doesn't. This is fascism tapping gently at the door and as soon as you let it in, it's going to invite its friends.” If we do not draw a line somewhere, they will continue to bring their hatred to us. There’s no better time than the present. ### I Hate That They Closed My Local REI URL: https://aftermath.site/soho-rei-close-union/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T13:40:50.000Z Last week, outdoor equipment store REI closed its downtown Manhattan location after 15 years. It’s not the only brick-and-mortar REI to close–the company is also shuttering stores in Boston and New Jersey–but its closure is notable, not just for having been one of the few places a New Yorker could buy stuff to escape New York, but for being [the first REI to unionize](https://www.ufcw.org/actions/victories/rei-workers-in-new-york-city-join-rwdsu-ufcw/?ref=aftermath.site), back in 2022\. While I try not to be the kind of person who has feelings about a store, I’m super bummed about this one. It’s not clear why REI is closing these stores; the company told [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/style/rei-soho-closing.html?ref=aftermath.site) there was a “need to adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs.” The Times writes that the company has been losing money after a demand for outdoor stuff during covid cooled, and it’s not hard to imagine the multi-floor Soho space came with exorbitant rent. It’s also not hard to wonder if the union could have had something to do with it: Despite professing liberal politics as a co-op, REI has [pushed back against its unionized workers](https://www.ourrei.com/boycott?ref=aftermath.site) at every turn, which unions have responded to with worker actions including a multi-day boycott. For a lot of my New York life the REI largely served as the landmark by which I oriented myself when I got out of the subway at Broadway and Lafayette streets. My relationship to it changed when I got sober in 2019 and, like many sober people, started filling the time I used to spend at the bar with sports. I bought my first climbing shoes and climbing harness at that REI; when I left Kotaku in 2021 and started spending all day at the climbing gym, I went there for a [grigri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GriGri?ref=aftermath.site) to learn to lead climb. As a worker talked me through my options, he politely noted that I’m very small, which could be a safety hazard if I was belaying someone much larger than me. He suggested a variety of strategies to deal with this, and I remember being struck that none of them were things he was trying to sell me–he just seemed to earnestly want to make sure I was safe. When I moved to DC and got into bikepacking, I practically lived at the REI down there, constantly needing bike tubes and dehydrated meals and gas canisters for my stove. Ahead of one trip I realized at the last minute that I’d need a water filter, and just like back in New York, a worker spent far more time than necessary helping me find the right one. I was again struck by the fact that he wasn’t trying to upsell me–the filter he recommended was actually cheaper than the one the internet had suggested I get, but he talked me through how to use it and why he personally liked it better. He even remembered me the next time I came in and asked me how things had gone. Cashiers frequently saw the bike and camp stuff I was buying and told me about their favorite routes or trips they went on, and one, when I was very new to the area, even drew me a map of DC’s layout to help me orient myself. (The map she drew was so baffling that I actually thought it was a prank, but when she proudly pushed the paper over to me and said “See? It’s easy!” I realized she was serious. I lied and said I understood it.) Again, I don’t want to be a guy who has feelings about a store, but maybe because the outdoors came into my life alongside my sobriety, my visits to REI always felt a little more weighty than just a shopping trip. And the best part was always the people who worked there: how knowledgeable they were, how they earnestly seemed excited that I was doing something outside, how much time they would spend talking to me about gear. When the Soho store won its union vote, I put on my WGAE hat and biked over for running toe socks I didn’t strictly need, just so I could congratulate the person checking me out on their win. I was horrified by the company’s union-busting, and I sent letters and boycotted the store and made a stink to REI leadership about its betrayal of the supposed values that had inspired me to become a co-op member in the first place. I can, of course, still buy everything I need from REI online, even though I now won’t have anywhere to easily return or exchange things. But for me the main value of the store was actually *going* to the store, talking to an expert about equipment that I’m literally trusting with my life, or even that might just make my trip more comfortable or less annoying. It was good to have a place where I could actually try stuff on or feel how heavy it was before I bought it. And while it feels a little embarrassing to admit, it was also a place that felt like an embodiment of the different person I was becoming after I got sober. It felt good to use the money I would have spent on booze on bikepacking bags and running gels, to spend an evening browsing climbing shoes the way I once browsed the beer case at the bodega. It felt like a kind of personal growth to feel at home there, to be the kind of guy who needed what that place sold. And it felt good to know I could walk in and get real help from real people, and even more so when those people unionized. The Soho REI was situated in the Puck building, which hosted New York University when I first moved to the city, and which currently also houses an [OpenAI office](https://edc.nyc/success-stories?ref=aftermath.site) on its upper floors. The building is owned by Jared Kushner’s Kushner Companies, who are [reportedly seeking $6.3 million in annual rent](https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/whats-next-kushner-cos-puck-building-soho-manhattan/?ref=aftermath.site). Whatever takes its place (and here’s hoping it’s not more OpenAI, though with [REI embracing AI slop](https://www.businessinsider.com/rei-backlash-ai-ad-instagram-blamed-meta-ai-tool-2026-6?ref=aftermath.site), it might be hideously fitting) won’t possibly have the same draw, either for me or for people just looking to use its [bathroom and water fountains](https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/rei-nyc-closing/?ref=aftermath.site). So many places that I’ve loved and relied on in this city have closed over the years, from the [tea lounge](https://ny.eater.com/2014/12/11/7378705/park-slopes-beloved-tea-lounge-to-close-saturday-thanks-to-mooching?ref=aftermath.site) I warmed up in while dogwalking to my [special occasion Ethiopian spot](https://ny.eater.com/news/406331/nyc-restaurants-closed-november-2025?ref=aftermath.site) to the place I [used to buy saxophone reeds](https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/sam-ash-new-york-city-manhattan-location-closing/?ref=aftermath.site). Even the gym where I first learned to climb has [changed hands](https://www.climbing.com/travel/brooklyn-boulders-sells/?ref=aftermath.site), and the new one nearby has [engaged in its own union-busting](https://climbingbusinessjournal.com/workers-united-files-new-unfair-labor-practice-ulp-charges-against-private-equity-backed-movement-gyms/?ref=aftermath.site). Losing the REI feels like one more reminder that everything sucks a little more than it used to these days, that so many things are getting narrowed into interactions through screens. It feels like there are less and less places to go, and less ways to talk to a real person when you need to buy something. RIP, REI. Thanks for letting me return climbing shoes so many times. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### I Love Getting Demolished By Souls Games URL: https://aftermath.site/souls-games-punishment/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T19:18:23.000Z It’s Hater Week here in Aftermath and I have volunteered to defend *Souls* games because I am a masochist. I’m not going to defend the genre writ large because, with the exception of *Lies of P,* most companies that are not FromSoft suck at making them. I’m just gonna defend the games that FromSoftware makes because those are the ones I love, respect, and know better than half of my relatives. 🤝 This is a companion piece to Luke's '[I'm just not into Souls games, I'm being tested enough as it is](https://aftermath.site/i-hate-souls-games-bloodborne-elden-ring/)' Luke is offering the point to my counterpoint in this argument because *Souls* games are the most anti-Luke shit I could possibly imagine. I know Luke very well, having worked with him for over a decade, and he dislikes needless, sadistic pain in his games. He likes games about football and sicknasty (but not scary) shooters but also grand, slow moving strategy games named some shit like *1215: Britannia Abostum* where you look at a big map for several hours. He plays games for “fun.” It’s not that he does not like difficulty, he’s just got a family and solar panels and shit to do like run a website. He has come to the quite rational realization that we have a limited time on this earth and there are better things to do than having a fastball lobbed at your nuts. Many people are like this; they tried these games and simply cannot be bothered, and I respect that in the deepest pit of my being. I, on the other hand, love being hounded like an escaped convict by my games. I have come to the conclusion that life and to some extent comedy are defined by suffering and that there is a purifying element to earning a win. I want the most fucked-up creature a Japanese fantasy illustrator can conjure to ruin my entire day. I want the most cryptic, unknowable secrets and the most counterintuitive game mechanics humanly possible. I want stories with no happy endings in a world full of pain where you have to read like 500 item descriptions to figure out what the hell is going on. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/alonne.jpg) Eat lumpy mace Sir Alonne. The simple fact is that nobody does it like FromSoftware. They are some of the hardest working people in the business and somehow stagger their projects so they’re giving fans red meat on average once every other year. In a world where much of the industry is having difficulty capturing that old magic, From’s transformation from the developers of *Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor* to this has been nothing short of astounding. A good portion of this is that they have endlessly and smartly upcycled selected assets and animations for over a decade. You will see an ancestral moose boss in *Elden Ring*, be stunned by it, and then only realize years later that it has the same animation as a reindeer enemy in the most wretched runback in history from *Dark Souls II: Crown Of The Ivory King.* They are so good and efficient at reusing stuff that they have escalated it to a form of high comedy, and even when it gets long in the tooth, the results are difficult to dispute. *Nightreign* is basically what happens when you give a newish director a game and a bunch of assets and tell them to go absolutely nutty stapling them together. It’s a lean game that turns *Elden Ring* inside out and is one of the single most interesting multiplayer games in years as a result. While many other companies have become trapped in development Samsara through no fault of their own, FromSoftware feels like it is constantly building on its previous successes. The stories themselves usually revolve around a continued perpetual cycle of suffering. They're oblique and disquieting, grand fantasy worlds with impossible geometry and old deities that work by not having to explain themselves overtly, a rarity when most games simply don’t have that latitude. Part of this is that From is on an incredible winning streak, and the other part is that they have cultivated an audience willing to meet them halfway, or at least watch a lot of YouTube videos. The success of *Souls* games are as much a story of their audience as the games themselves. Despite the trite git gud stereotype, I do not find *Souls* fans condescending to other people except other *Souls* fans or themselves. These games are hostile by nature, but something the player chooses to engage with, and you can put the controller down at any moment. If anything, the meme I think of more often is “Don’t Give Up, Skeleton!”, an online affirmation that players would put in front of skeletons they found in the environment. Despite the dour backdrop, there is an indefatigable energy that radiates from these spaces. It is the spirit of jolly cooperation, the feeling of truly earning something, of killing a death god with strangers only to have them Y-Pose and drop carved wooden orbs on the ground that shout “VERY GOOD.” HELLO. THANK YOU. VERY GOOD. It also cannot be stressed enough how endlessly funny the games are. Half of this is the perpetual upping of sheer creative malice — transforming basic enemy placement into a batsu game. They’ll drop wolves on you from the sky like paratroopers just to fuck with you. No reveal has ever made me shout “are you fucking kidding me?” like phase two of the Guardian Ape in *Sekiro*. There’s a high fantasy Bugs Bunny bit in practically every room, and your ass is Elmer Fudd. In addition to From’s own comic creativity, there is the seemingly infinite capacity of the player base itself to construct elaborate bits. This week I got raided by a person in *Dark Souls 2* named IFIGHTWITHYOURWEAPON, who respectfully walked up to me, switched to the weapon I had equipped, methodically kicked my ass, then respectfully bowed as I died. I gotta give them credit, that is fantastic nominative determinism. More than anything I’m just shocked at how gargantuan these games have become given what they are. It’s kinda like when you realize *One Piece* is the best selling manga in history despite being inscrutable to outsiders, clearing well over 1100 chapters and featuring some of the most bizarre character designs I’ve ever seen. In the case of *Souls* games this feels like a function of few games hitting quite like that anymore. To play them feels like you are briefly living in an alternate timeline where the difficulty curve did not taper as games expanded their audience. Sometimes it feels like there is very little mystery in modern games, and yet *Souls* games have the capacity to surprise you for years. Nothing is quite like what FromSoftware has built, but I also fully respect anyone who simply cannot be bothered. ### I'm Just Not Into Souls Games, I'm Being Tested Enough As It Is URL: https://aftermath.site/i-hate-souls-games-bloodborne-elden-ring/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T19:18:02.000Z I am taking the opportunity this week to get something off my chest, something I haven’t been able (or willing) to share so publicly before: I hate *Souls* games. All of them. Even the ones that don’t have *Souls* in their name, because they still count. 🤝 This is a companion piece to Chris' '[I Love Getting Demolished By Souls Games](https://aftermath.site/souls-games-punishment/)' Whether it’s *Demon’s Souls* or its sequel, *Sekiro* or *Bloodborne* or *Elden Ring*, if there’s enough Miyazaki and unforgiving combat in it to warrant being called a *Souls* Game, get it out of my face. I don’t want anything to do with it. I would rather punch myself unconscious than subject myself to its trials. I understand this can be a sacrilegious thing to say as a games writer. It is generally held that these games are beloved by all, respected by consumer and critic alike, some of the all-time greats of the medium. I literally cannot think of anyone else I have been able to share my disdain with in professional (or even personal!) circles; everyone else is always “oh this boss was so hard” this and “I died 117 times before getting past this bit, it was AMAZING” that. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-29-085107.png) Weirdos I am a middle-aged man whose life currently consists of a succession of ordeals. I have seen my career [blown up twice](https://abcnews.com/Entertainment/history-peter-thiels-feud-gawker/story?id=39396073&ref=aftermath.site) through [no fault of my own](https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/univision-sells-gizmodo-onion-great-hill-1203183019/?ref=aftermath.site). I am trying to pay off a mortgage with declining income amid an inflationary crisis. To do this, I am working *three* jobs, one of which involves [begging strangers for money](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscription-sale-2/) on a weekly basis, and which for three 16-hour days of the week I have to fit around *another* job. I have two teenage kids. The very last thing I want to do when I sit down at the end of a very long day is to suffer *more* trials. I do not want to have to act fast, to memorise patterns, to beat my head against a boss 99 times in the pursuit of fun. I need my personal time to *relax*, and these games are the opposite of relaxing! And I certainly don’t feel the need to prove anything to myself by beating a "hard" video game either, I am not 12 years old, I know where my strengths (and weaknesses!) are by now, both in gaming and as a person. I can see the appeal there for others, and will never try to tell *you* not to enjoy these games, but for me and my needs and my tastes, the premise of a game built around repeated failure *and* precise timing is torture. ⚔️ One year at TGS, I think it was 2011, I was lucky enough to get a personal walkthrough of the opening section of **Dark Souls II* by Hidetaka Miyazaki himself, and I hated it so much I asked to go and play **Armored Core* on the booth next to me instead. I find this really interesting, though, because as someone who has played hundreds of video games over the last 20 years I can’t think of another major series where I am even remotely as repulsed as I am by *Souls* games. [I love *Yakuza*](https://aftermath.site/like-a-dragon-infinite-wealth-spoilers-kazuma-kiryu-ending/), and it’s got the same menu obsession and (in older titles at least) a more forgiving version of its punishing melee combat. I’ve [always found something to get me through a AAA shooter](https://aftermath.site/call-duty-modern-warfare-impressions/), I like driving cars, [I’ve played too many *FIFA* games](https://aftermath.site/ea-fc-madden-nba-2k-recycled-dogshit/) and even in the handful of Nintendo franchises I’ve bounced off (*Metroid*) there’s *something* to admire. I have even, gasp, found space in my heart to fall in love with a [Hideo Kojima game](https://aftermath.site/death-stranding-2-review/). Fast or slow, easy or hard, I have loved games (or found something to love within them) across the genre and difficulty spectrum. But *Souls* games? It’s like they’re precision-engineered to bounce right off me, in every way humanly possible. I hate *everything*, from the art design (yuck) to the combat to the relentless concentration required to do *anything* to the way that so many people are so slavishly in love with something I detest, a big “we love *Souls*” club that seems to include everyone I know except me and… Ah. As I lean further back into the therapist’s couch I've conjured in my mind while writing this, maybe there's something in that. A lot of the games I truly love, [the ones with little guys and taking turns](https://aftermath.site/strategy-game-turn-based-tactics-movement/), are often relatively niche pursuits, never getting anywhere near the kind of popular critical mass *Souls* games enjoy, something everyone I know can talk about online or at a party. Maybe I don’t just hate the game, I hate the players as well, because everyone always seems to be having so much fun beating things and talking to friends about it and falling in love with a very particular kind of game and I’m left out because I just don’t feel the same way. Bah humbug, etc, and all that entails. Oh well! Fuck it. I still don’t like the games, I’m never going to pretend I do just so I can be part of some online discourse. If that means living the rest of my days as a *Souls* hater, forever on the outside looking in (on the internet), then so be it! [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Death To Beginning The Story In Medias Res! URL: https://aftermath.site/death-to-beginning-the-story-in-media-res/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T21:06:16.000Z This story begins with a man falling through the atmosphere, plummeting towards his apparent doom. This is as surprising to him as it is to us watching at home, because he was asleep at the start of his plummet, and now he is awake and screaming, which is sensible. But hang on! He's resourceful, or as resourceful as you can be when falling from 35,000 feet. He stops screaming and spreads his limbs, slowing his descent like in *Point Break*. He's gonna figure this out. But not before we find out what he was up to 24 hours ago! It turns out he was at his laptop, reading a blog on the internet. Not very exciting, huh? That's okay – soon he will get a coffee! Not sexy enough for you? That's what the pain au chocolat he'll soon be noshing on is about. How will *this* guy find himself up *there*? Guess you'll have to watch 45 to 50 minutes of this middling streaming drama premiere to find out! Wasn't that irritating? Well, I hope you're not planning on watching TV any time soon. Fucking everyone is doing this these days. Like many annoying things writers do, we have borrowed a phrase from Latin to describe what others would call simple buffoonery: *in medias res*. It translates to "in the middle of things," and it refers to the decision to start a story somewhere other than the beginning. *But wouldn't that make it the beginning?* you may ask*.* To which I say: Don't you have laundry to fold or a second screen to look at? Because that's why TV shows even do this nonsense. Netflix, for example, simply [wants you watching long enough](https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/essays/casual-viewing/?ref=aftermath.site) to count your stream as a "view." Look: there are many ways to do this and even do it well, but most television shows are not pulling it off. Most often, it's a tacit admission that what follows the shocking opening isn't compelling on its own without the carrot of the wild predicament dangling over it. It takes the burden of earning the audience's attention off story, and assuming you have the audience when you do not is perhaps the entertainer's greatest sin. But let's say you do not agree with me on a philosophical level. Whatever gets asses in seats ought to be fair game, right? Yeah, sure — except in 2026, it's the biggest cliché, and you ought to abhor a cliché. While there is no governing body deciding what is cliché and what is not (and there really should be; as much as I love writing a cranky blog I don't have the time to straighten *everyone* out), it behooves us all to notice when a new one is forming. If you haven't noticed, let me be the one to tell you: Beginning in medias res is now a cliché. Try something else. Don't think you can outsmart this. Everyone believes that they will be the one to pull off the genius instance, become an exemplar of the form like the *Hannibal* season 2 premiere. That way lies ruin, friend. You know what would actually help you? Writing a really fucking good beginning that starts the story where it is meant to start. It can even be in the middle of things, as a treat – *Disclosure Day* is one of the more divisive films of the year, but most everyone appreciates how the movie starts: immediately opening with a guy getting clobbered in a wrestling match, before revealing that a clandestine handoff is taking place in the stands. At first, this appears to be an in medias res opening but, crucially, *the story continues from there*. No flashing back. If anything before this happened, we didn't have to see it. It is simply the best place to start the story, and a thrilling one at that. Mostly though, my biggest objection to the in medias res opening is that it treats me like I'm an idiot who has to be tricked into a story, and I really dislike being treated like an idiot. Which I suppose might be adequate motivation for me to come to your house, knock you unconscious, and drop you from an airplane – although if the audience watching this scenario learned that this is the reason for your fate in a flashback after the scene where you were in freefall, they'd probably be disappointed. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### All The Video Game Studios That Refuse To Use Generative AI URL: https://aftermath.site/video-games-no-ai/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T18:24:46.000Z AI is a waste of time, money, and resources. AI is a solution in search of a problem. AI is a thief that pilfers on a scale previously unthinkable, in broad daylight. AI drives up the price of hardware that many of us rely on for work and play. AI is a terrible blood altar on which the video game industry is being sacrificed. AI enriches the world’s worst people and immiserates everyone else. AI destroys communities, sans input from the people who live in them. AI is a dead end. We must reject it. This is an effort at semi-comprehensively keeping track of every video game studio that refuses to make a deal with the generative AI devil, despite (thus far unproven) promises of greater “efficiency” or whatever else in the development process. As of this publishing, I’m sure there are many I don’t know of yet. If you run or work for one of them, [feel free to get in touch](https://bsky.app/profile/nathangrayson.bsky.social/post/3mqrszzcfhk2q?ref=aftermath.site)! I plan to update this thing… forever, a commitment I’m sure I’ll never regret making. In alphabetical order, here are the studios, alongside—in their own words—their rationale: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat.jpg) Abandoned Sheep ### **Abandoned Sheep** **Games:** *Schrodinger's Cat Burglar* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/abandonedsheep?ref=aftermath.site) “Our game *Schrodinger's Cat Burglar* is gen AI-free, top to bottom. Our key art was variously accused of being gen AI last year, which was hilarious and depressing considering it was created by hand in 2022, predating genAI of that quality. We had another piece made by the same artist to refresh things; it too was accused erroneously. “But to the point: we won't ever use gen AI in our games, because we want to make something with a human connection. If someone can't be bothered to create their art, why should anyone be bothered to care about it?” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat2.jpg) Alien Fruit Games ### **Alien Fruit Games** **Games:** *Dungeon Bodega Simulator* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/alienfruit?ref=aftermath.site) “I'm committed for the studio to divest itself from AI and actively avoid it wherever possible. Our game *Dungeon Bodega Simulator* was made without any gen AI, and I'm very proud of that! It's also in my contracts with clients that gen AI isn't used on projects that we work on. And similarly for contractors, \[they\] are vetted and sign an agreement that they won't use gen AI.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat3.jpg) Apparition Games ### **Apparition Games** **Games:** *Pinball Spire, Micron* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/apparitiongames?ref=aftermath.site) “There are many excellent reasons to avoid AI, but my main reason is that all of these models are trained on stolen data, scraped off the internet en masse. These tech companies have stolen—and continue to do so—the work of countless people without permission, without compensation, and without even giving attribution, and are using it to obscenely enrich themselves while the artists, writers, journalists, musicians, developers, and other creators whose work they stole are struggling more than ever to make ends meet. It's grossly unethical, and I don't think it can realistically be remedied. As the AI companies themselves have admitted, the mass theft is integral to the technology. It can't exist without it. Therefore, I refuse to use AI.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat4.jpg) The Beauty Cult ### **The Beauty Cult** **Games:** *Nectarmancer* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=The%20Beauty%20Cult&ref=aftermath.site) “We don't use AI because it would result in making a permanent and risky change to our project which is a human-fueled labor of love. The changes may speed us up in some ways, but the complexity trade-offs, risk, and just ICKY nature of these disgusting planet-killing plagiarism machines is completely at odds with what we're trying to achieve as artists in a medium that we care about.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat5.jpg) Blendo Games ### **Blendo Games** **Games:** *Skin Deep*, *Quadrilateral Cowboy*, *Thirty Flights Of Loving* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/blendogames?ref=aftermath.site) “Blendo Games refuses to use AI! We are trying to set ourselves up so we can say ‘No, fuck off’ to genAI forever.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat6.jpg) Blue Bottle Games ### **Blue Bottle Games** **Games:** *Neo Scavenger, Ostranauts* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/bluebottlegames?ref=aftermath.site) “We don't \[use gen AI\]. We discussed it a couple times over the past several years, just to be pragmatic and ensure we weren't simply bandwagoning. And we still came away with ‘no AI’ as a rule. Our reasons are as follows: Business/Legal Reasons - It is unclear who legally owns the copyright of AI output. - It is unclear who is legally culpable for harm caused by AI output. (And at least \[with\] Germany, it appears it may be the entity publishing the output.) - There is no guarantee AI output does not infringe copyrights/trademarks. - Business processes outsourced to AI risk price gouging and service outages/cancellations by AI providers. Practical/Quality Reasons - AI output is not guaranteed to be accurate or to work. - Verifying AI output requires human review time. - Verifying AI output requires a level of expertise equal to or greater than that required to generate the output manually. - AI output cannot be vetted by reputation, unlike a human, because AI output is not consistent enough from instance to instance. Moral/Ethical Reasons - Data used in training AI may not have been obtained legally. - Data scraping to train AI burdens content hosts unfairly. - Training and operating AI increases demand on fresh water. - Training and operating AI increases demand on power. - Training and operating AI increases demand on real estate. - Training and operating AI increases demand on computer hardware. - AI use is driving job loss for humans (even if only temporary). - AI is a force multiplier for undesirable effects like: spam, robocalls, scams, fraud, militarization, and other forms of abuse. - AI content submissions can outpace and drown out human content submissions in communities. And last, but certainly not least: - The whole point of going indie was because we like doing the work ourselves! We don't want a machine doing all the fun parts.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat7.jpg) Can't Get Enough Games ### **Can't Get Enough Games** **Games:** *Cold Calling, The Old Gentlemen* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Can%27t%20Get%20Enough%20Games&ref=aftermath.site) “We do not use AI for just about every reason imaginable, but particularly for the environmental harms of data centers and its effect of cheapening and degrading even the simplest forms of creativity like flyers and restaurant menus.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat8.jpg) Causeway Studios ### **Causeway Studios** **Games:** *The Haunting Of Joni Evers, From The Deep* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Causeway%20Studios&ref=aftermath.site) “Causeway Studios is staunchly anti-AI. We're announcing our next game as part of PAX Rising. We only make 100% human-crafted games for human players.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat9.jpg) Chequered Ink ### **Chequered Ink** **Games:** *Let Me Just Use This For A Second, Decadence, Monoquous 2* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/chequeredink?ref=aftermath.site) From [Chequered Ink’s website](https://chequered.ink/10-things-wrong-with-ai/?ref=aftermath.site): “It doesn’t even work properly: AI chatbots and search tools provide wrong answers so often that almost all of them have now introduced a warning telling users to double-check the information it provides. Google was recently [held legally responsible](https://the-decoder.com/landmark-german-ruling-declares-googles-ai-overviews-are-googles-own-words-and-makes-it-liable-for-false-answers/?ref=aftermath.site) for misinformation spread by the AI overviews on their search engine. Some chatbot responses are even so dangerous that there is [an entire Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths%5Flinked%5Fto%5Fchatbots?ref=aftermath.site) dedicated to deaths linked to chatbots. AI data centres are being built undemocratically: AI data centres use lots of land, energy and water as we’ve already said. They have a huge impact on the local environment and on utility bills. Many of them are being built all around the world without the consent of local communities. Some communities [are now fighting back](https://www.datacenterwatch.org/report?ref=aftermath.site) to block them from being built. It makes its users less intelligent: Early reports suggest that using AI chatbots could be having a [negative impact on users’ intelligence](https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20260417-ai-chatbots-could-be-making-you-stupider?ref=aftermath.site). Offloading thinking skills onto AI means you’re exercising your brain less. Students who use AI to do schoolwork may not be learning the subject matter properly at all.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/labrat.jpg) cirqueSaw ### **cirqueSaw** **Games:** *labRats, You Have Already Won, Void Main* [**Website**](https://www.cirquesaw.com/?ref=aftermath.site) “cirqueSaw doesn't make games in the traditional sense. We make live performances at the intersection of games and theatre. We very proudly don't use AI for any of our work, and our breakthrough project was an invective against AI as a concept. We go the opposite route: We don't cut any corners at all and build all of our work inside a bespoke game engine running a programming language I created for the purpose.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat10.jpg) Daikon Games ### **Daikon Games** **Games:** *Chico's Rebound, Chico And The Magic Orchards DX* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/daikon/?ref=aftermath.site) From [Daikon’s code of ethics](https://daikon.games/ethics.html?ref=aftermath.site): “Daikon Games is firmly against the use of generative AI. Our stance is that it is an inherently unethical technology built on stolen work, undermining trust and democracy, and exacerbating environmental issues from water access to clean air to noise pollution. As such, we pledge that no work produced, sold, and/or distributed by Daikon Games, has or will ever include the use of generative AI at any level. This means when you buy a Daikon Games product, you can be sure that the code, art, music, writing, and designs were all crafted by human beings. We hold any external contractors such as artists or translators to the same standard. If we ever unknowingly ship something created with generative AI, we will take corrective action to remove that material.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat11.jpg) Daydream Gallery ### **Daydream Gallery** **Games:** *Trading Card Inspector, Dragon’s Egg: A Gourmet Fantasy* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45609649?ref=aftermath.site) “We will never use generative AI for any part of the creative process for a few simple reasons, chief among them being: If we didn’t have fun making this, why would we bother? Using a lazy, sloppy tool to take the fun out of game dev sounds like a terrible way to go about creating memorable games that people will love. Games are an art form for us—not simply a ‘product’—and we want our games to reflect ourselves and not anyone/anything else.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat12.jpg) D-CELL Games ### **D-CELL Games** **Games:** *Unbeatable* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=D-CELL%20GAMES&ref=aftermath.site) “Even if I’m just looking at this in the cold mercenary MBA freak way—the ‘I want to generate income as much as possible’ way—you can’t make a thing people want to buy if the thing you want to buy is the same thing everyone else has. And that’s what you fucking get with AI models. It’s definitionally part of how they work. So all using \[AI\] will do is make you compete worse. You have to do laps on a hamster wheel to arrive at the opposite conclusion. Because the only way to actually make money on this shit besides a pump-and-dump is to be the guy selling the shovels. And even the shovels are starting to rust. Even the stuff that sounds good or looks good for a given value of ‘good’ (i.e. it convincingly looks at a glance like it wasn’t generated with a machine, it’s ‘professional’) is only capable of spitting out inputs that existed before. You can feel it in the ‘choices’ it makes, because it doesn’t make choices; it chooses a value with a weight given by a model patched from every work at once on fast forward. The nutritional value of AI work is approximately identical to watching a 2000s horror movie trailer compilation at 4X speed while second-screening *Maury* transcriptions. It might be fun to look at, but it will kill you on the inside." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat13.jpg) Dhamster ### **Dhamster** **Games:** *Mega Knockdown* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/dhamster?ref=aftermath.site) “Even though I don't have a publisher deal or a lot of money, I struck a partnership with a real comics illustrator, and he's been my creative partner bringing the game to life visually with hand drawn art. The AI 'boom' has made a lot of things worse. It's polluted a lot of royalty free resources, turning them into a minefield of slop. It's eroded player trust. Outside of the many general problems with AI usage (environmental destruction, theft, deskilling), I've never been interested in coding with AI. I get a lot of enjoyment out of solving problems in code, and AI generated visuals make me physically sick with how ugly they are. I don't get any value of any process where I can't see how the inputs connect to the outputs. I've taken every AI disclosed game off my wishlist; I wouldn't want to subject my players to anything I can't personally stand. I see a lot of excuses from slop devs, but if I run into something beyond what I or my artist can do, my instinct is to just try and fucking figure it out, or at least adjust my expectations to something more within our wheelhouse.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat14.jpg) Digital Extremes ### **Digital Extremes** **Games:** *Warframe, Soulframe* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/DigitalExtremes?ref=aftermath.site) Via [GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nothing-in-our-games-will-be-ai-generated-ever-says-warframe-director/1100-6539194/?ref=aftermath.site): “We are a very non-AI company, and it is all humans making *Warframe* and *Soulframe*. … Nothing in our games will be AI-generated. Ever.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat15.jpg) Dog In The Machine ### **Dog in the Machine** **Games:** *FriendOS* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/doginthemachine?ref=aftermath.site) “We don't use any AI whatsoever to build our game. From an art perspective, we're pushing hard on the year-2000 abstract CG aesthetic, and generating any of that both feels incredibly icky and doesn't really serve to bring us closer to our goals. From a programming and technical perspective, we're building using Godot and haven't had the need to generate any code. A lot of development time has gone towards building tooling to make authoring content easier, but writing gdscript (and cpp, where necessary) by hand has been more than flexible enough for our needs.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat16.jpg) Downstream Games ### **Downstream Games** **Games:** *Masque: A Trickster Tale* [**Website**](https://downstreamgames.com/?ref=aftermath.site) “Aside from the typical reason why people and studios shouldn't use GenAI (environmental impact, cost, IP theft, privacy breaches, etc), we also believe that AI ‘art’ will never compare to the magic that comes from sentient creation. As is, machine learning algorithms can't have the same explosive creativity that humans—and even animals—have. They can't draw from their senses, blend their lived experiences together in weird and fascinating ways, or have moments of serendipity that elevate art beyond its parts. We have strict No-GenAI policies, and use of GenAI is grounds for termination.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat17.jpg) Eternal Skies ### **Eternal Skies** **Games:** *Eternal Skies TCG* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3133320/Eternal%5FSkies%5FTCG/?ref=aftermath.site) “\[AI\] is expensive, it's not helpful, it makes you dumber and worse at your job, and it's built on theft. There is no demonstrated business reason to use it, doubly no reason to pay for it, and it produces mediocre quality stuff. I'm making a TCG RPG that is an homage to the Game Boy-style card games. It's not pretty, but it has a lot of uniqueness and flair. If I had used AI for art, it would be technically competent and extremely generic and not stand out in any way.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat18.jpg) Finji ### **Finji** **Games:** *Usual June, Overland, Night In The Woods* (published)*, Tunic* (published), *868-Back* (published) [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/finji?ref=aftermath.site) “There are several reasons why we don't \[use AI\]: Using generative AI is theft of the work of others, but it's also anti-labor, destroys the environment, destroys communities, and defeats the purpose of making art at all. It removes the humanity from the creation of anything it touches.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat19.jpg) Funky Rhino Games ### **Funky Rhino Games** **Games:** *Knight George* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4305040/Knight%5FGeorge/?ref=aftermath.site) “Simply put, we reject gen AI because it is a huge theft machine trained on the stolen works (and lives) of billions, depriving many artists of their jobs, all the while exploiting poor people in the Global South to do the dirty work behind the scenes and worsening the environmental crisis with its datacenters. It is also a tool made to make the ultrarich richer, is massively used by fascists and to create naked deep fakes of women. As a studio, we firmly reject gen AI from an ideological point of view. We make neo-retro games that pay tribute to older machines while still adding more modern elements (such as accessibility features), which only makes sense if humans are at the helm.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat20.jpg) Fuzzy Ghost ### **Fuzzy Ghost** **Games:** *Pebble Witch, Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool.jpg, Janet DeMornay Is A Slumlord (and a witch)* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort%5Fby=%5FASC&hwtype=0&supportedlang=english&developer=Fuzzy+Ghost&ref=aftermath.site) “We are resolutely against genAI. Reasons are pretty standard; we don't want to use the theft machine. But also, our shit is queer and deeply ours. AI can't regurgitate what hasn't been made yet.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat21.jpg) Grey Alien Games ### **Grey Alien Games** **Games:** *Forbidden Solitaire, Regency Solitaire, Spooky Bonus* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/GreyAlienGames?ref=aftermath.site) “Why \[not use gen AI\]? - We enjoy creating and problem solving ourselves, so don’t want to relinquish that. - We want to support other creatives, including artists and musicians involved in game development.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat22.jpg) Hawkward Studios ### **Hawkward Studios** **Games:** *Age Of The Deep* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45197436?ref=aftermath.site) “I refuse to use Gen AI because I value artists. When you can tell a person made a piece, it feels valuable. Someone worked hard on that. When you ask AI to make you something, it's like talking to yourself in a mirror. It assumes you are correct. It praises you. It only feeds you back your own thoughts. When you work with an artist, there is an infinite number of things that has happened to that person, that is different than the things that happened to you. An artist can tell you when your idea doesn't work. They can take your request and show you something you didn't even think of. That's a wonderful experience to have. AI also cannot vouch for you. It cannot champion you to the masses. Inherently that also means that it cannot speak up when you abuse it. I find AI to be a shortcut that bypasses the trust-building process. I have to ask myself who would do such a thing? What kind of person is afraid to let another human being learn who they are? You see that quite often in the indie dev space, tea gets spilled. The truth comes out and it kills some projects. I know that when my game is finished and I finally launch it, that I will have dozens of creatives vouching for me. Because I took a chance on earning their trust and I treated them with respect.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat23.jpg) Hinterland Studio ### **Hinterland Studio** **Games:** *The Long Dark* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/HinterlandStudio?ref=aftermath.site) From the opening of *The Long Dark*: “Hinterland is a humans-first company. We believe in the primacy of human creativity, and in the dignity of all human creators. We will never use generative Al for any of our games, nor include any code or content in our games that wasn't created purely by humans. We are opposed to the widespread exploitation and abuse of human creativity, exploitation that underpins the business models of all generative Al companies. We believe that this fight is an existential fight for the soul of humanity, and we see games standing at the forefront of this fight. There is no ethical application of generative Al, as all commercial models are built on the industrial-scale theft and exploitation of workers, as well as the destruction of our environment, to the sole benefit of the billionaire-class. We also do not consent to have any of our work added to any generative Al models, for training purposes or otherwise, and will use all legal means at our disposal to protect our creations and our intellectual property. We believe that our work, and the commitment to our players, demands this of us.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat24.jpg) Hybrid Fiction Games ### **Hybrid Fiction Games** **Games:** *Stratagem Lost* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Hybrid%20Fiction%20Games&snr=1%5F5%5F9%5F%5F2000&ref=aftermath.site) “Despite only having two on staff, we’d rather do everything by hand.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat25.jpg) Impromptu Games ### **Impromptu Games** **Games:** *Influx Redux*, *Stolen Steel VR* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/impromptugames?ref=aftermath.site) “'Cause it's fucked.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat26.jpg) JoyFlow Games ### **JoyFlow Games** **Games:** *Star Spark* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/joyflowgames?ref=aftermath.site) “1\. RESPECT FOR THE AUDIENCE We don't just ‘consume’ art; we experience and feel it in different forms at different levels, and that's why we say that art is human made. Art is a creative endeavor that connects with people in some way. 2\. AUTHENTICITY Part of that creative energy is authenticity, and it's hard to be authentic when you're relying on a machine to go through the creative process for you. Someone who might've connected with a piece of art on some level likely won't be able to when they can tell it's slop that someone couldn't be bothered with, or at the very least they'll feel betrayed when they do notice. It's kinda like Kid Rock being known for his redneck/country boy stage persona, but then finding out that he grew up pretty wealthy. People can tell when you've put time, effort, and love into something. People don't like being deceived. 3\. LOVE FOR THE CRAFT I genuinely like making games. It's fun for me. I like coding, tinkering, figuring things out, coming up with ideas, and reaching out to others for help. It's so cool to be able to combine all these different forms of art and create an interactive experience. That said, I can't do it all, but that's why I reach out to people. I wanted the pixel for the characters in *Star Spark* to look a certain way, so I contracted out a friend to help me with those. I can do pixel art, but he's way better at it than I am and faster at it. I wrote down what the main cast should look like and drew some small stick figures of them in certain poses. He ran with it and brought them to life. Same thing with the music. I couldn't write the music for this; it'd take too long and wouldn't sound good to me, so I contracted it out to another friend and gave him some examples of what I wanted for certain parts of the game. He nailed it. Sure, there have been times when I've gotten stuck, but figuring out how to move past those challenges is part of the creative process. It's also how we grow as people. 4\. IT FEELS WRONG A lot of the data that different AIs have been trained on is stolen in some capacity. I don't want my work stolen and I don't want to associate my work with anything like that. I want to make stuff that I can be proud of and that people might like and have fun with. I want my work associated with joy (hence the name).” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat27.jpg) JuhrJuhr ### **JuhrJuhr** **Games:** *Deep Space Exploitation, Directory Dungeon* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/JuhrJuhr?ref=aftermath.site) “I started doing this because I have a ton of ideas for games that I want to make, and because I'm at my happiest when I can just sit and code whatever I like. These two reasons are enough to make me object to using AI, but I think the main reasons I'm against it are that it's destroying our planet and there are realistically zero upsides to it at all.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat28.jpg) Kalle And Lachlan MacDonald ### **Kalle And Lachlan MacDonald** **Games:** *Butter Side Down, The Linda Society* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Kalle%20MacDonald&ref=aftermath.site) “We categorically refuse to use AI for a bunch of reasons: the fact that it is plagiarism, the fact that it is bad for the environment, the fact that it funnels wealth to the ultra rich, and the fact that what it makes is not art!” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat29.jpg) KO\_OP ### **KO\_OP** **Games:** *Goodbye Volcano High, GNOG, Young Suns* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/ko-op?ref=aftermath.site) “The why I think is primarily due to the way \[AI has\] been developed and shoved down our throats being deeply unethical, but also because it has zero use case for us. We love the collaborative process of pre-production and working together to think of ideas and develop our stories and world.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat30.jpg) Lunoland ### **Lunoland** **Games:** *Dark Cards Of Candlewood* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/lunoland?ref=aftermath.site) “I strongly oppose the big AI companies and the wide adoption of AI in society for a dozen different reasons: copyright, the erosion of authorship, de-skilling and devaluation of workers, consolidation of power by unelected tech oligarchs, gradual disempowerment, epistemic collapse, environmental concerns, automated warfare—the list goes on. As a result, I don't use AI at all in my process, and I'm effectively an AI vegan. That means no AI whatsoever; not for translation, not for research, and especially not for code. I actually enjoy my work as a game developer and I'm not interested in delegating that work to a machine. Many developers, both publicly and in private, are now discussing their use of AI code while simultaneously agreeing that using AI for art, audio, or writing is unacceptable. This double standard is fueling a massive race to the bottom behind the scenes: the margins are so tight and the field is so wide that nobody wants to be left behind and everybody is looking for an edge. We saw something similar happen with mobile and free-to-play, and we're just barely dodging the same bullet with subscription services. The only way we get off this train is by coordinating across the industry and collaborating with players to oppose AI in games full-stop.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat31.jpg) Manzanita Interactive ### **Manzanita Interactive** **Games:** *Dandelion Void* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Manzanita%20Interactive&ref=aftermath.site) “We’re all big fans of Aftermath over here, not just for your stellar coverage but as fellow laid off workers creating a co-op, too. The dev side of games has become just as much a burning building as the journalism side, leaving us with little option but to carve out our own place and hopefully help others do the same. As such, we’re predictably a staunchly anti-AI development studio for probably all the reasons you’ve heard from other indie devs: the stolen labor used to train the datasets; the legally precarious outputs of dubious quality; the environmental harm of data centers; and the devaluing of our art and our livelihood. As a studio of engineers, artists, and composers by trade, that last issue is especially poignant to us, as it would stick around even if all the other issues were magically innovated or regulated away. But we’re keenly aware that just being opposed to AI and relying on consumer tastes to align isn’t enough to build something that lasts. Without an organized effort, people are eventually going to start liking the stuff, either out of exhaustion, or because they grew up with it, or because AI becomes more slyly integrated into all things and disappears from headlines. At that point, AI becomes purely a labor and automation issue, and to us that’s what it’s always been. Manzanita’s extremely involved with the unionization movement in games, and we require in our [Operating Agreement](https://manzanitainteractive.com/operating-agreement/?ref=aftermath.site#article-3---non-members) that all member-candidates must be members of United Videogame Workers-CWA. We’re helping our union create knowledge and support systems for others looking to start game co-ops, especially with layoffs leaving so many workers with no options besides going indie. Resisting AI means rejecting the frameworks of inevitability and productivity and instead centering the well-being and power of workers. We need to collectively respond to the question of ‘How can you integrate AI with your process?’ with ‘Fuck you, make me.’ We don’t win against automation by acquiescing before even putting up a proper fight, and labor needs to be organized to even square up.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat32.jpg) Merlino Games ### **Merlino Games** **Games:** *No Sun To Worship, Under A Star Long Cold, It Comes In Waves* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/31600/Merlino%5FGames%5F%5FPhase%5FI/?ref=aftermath.site) “\[AI\] is terrible ethically, environmentally, and artistically. Makes things in shit quality while destroying the world and destroying society.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat33.jpg) Necrosoft Games ### **Necrosoft Games** **Games:** *Demonschool, Hyper Gunsport, Gunhouse* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/necrosoft?ref=aftermath.site) “Necrosoft Games, maker of *Demonschool*, does not use AI in any capacity. We even switched from Google Suite to Proton for our emails/docs/storage, because Proton's AI stuff is opt in and off by default, rather than on by default and constantly needling you. We do actually keep up with the state of AI just to know what we're up against, and what it means to take a stand against it. But yeah, it has no place in our pipeline, we don't use it to take notes in meetings, nobody says ‘OK, Siri,’ and I would rather go bankrupt than use it in any part of the creative ideation process. As far as reasons, it almost feels silly to list them. But there's environmental concerns with the huge impact of data centers. There's ethical concerns with AI data being used in drone attacks in Gaza, and AI companies being able to just take someone's identity and sell it (I \[Brandon Sheffield\] was one of the journalists that \[Grammarly\] created a ‘review agent’ of, without my consultation, consent, or compensation). There's straight capitalist and tools access concerns with how AI datacenters are raising the prices of RAM, storage, and chips in general. Like companies are seeing how AI is running roughshod over the rules and saying ‘Hey, we could price-fix while all this is going on.’ But over all of that, for me, as a person who works in a creative field, it just makes me sick to see the least creative people in the world attempt to assassinate the very concept of creative work. It's brutal and gross and I won't be part of it.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat34.jpg) Nightwell Games ### **Nightwell Games** **Games:** *Deductopia, The Wolf Of Derevnya* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort%5Fby=%5FASC&hwtype=0&supportedlang=english&developer=Nightwell+Games&ref=aftermath.site) “Nightwell Games doesn't use AI for anything, including code, research, etc.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat35.jpg) No Goblin ### **No Goblin** **Games:** *100ft Robot Golf*, *Roundabout*, *Snap & Grab* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/nogoblin?ref=aftermath.site) “No Goblin will never use generative AI. We put a ‘made in an AI-free home’ \[message\] in our credits, and we won't work with contractors who use generative AI. Games are an art form and every element is a deep expression of the people making it. It's not a bunch of tech feature gruntwork to get a big autocomplete to fill in for you.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat36.jpg) Nonadecimal Creative ### **Nonadecimal Creative** **Games:** *Black Ice, Automata Empire* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/Nonadecimal?snr=1%5F5%5F9%5F%5F2000&ref=aftermath.site) “Ironically, using AI slop would have been thematically appropriate for the corporate ads in \[*Black Ice*\] but, because we believe in supporting workers, we don't use any AI. All the game's art and hacker graffiti is commissioned from fantastic artists, and the corporate ads are artisanal slop made from good old-fashioned stock photos.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat37.jpg) Npckc ### **Npckc** **Games:** *True Love’s Curse, Marron’s Day, You’re Just Imagining It* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/npckc?ref=aftermath.site) **“**I make games with the composer [Sdhizumi](https://sdhizumi.com/?ref=aftermath.site), and we both believe that generative AI cannot replace human creativity—neither in the final game that players see nor the concept and brainstorming process that brings the game into its final form.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat38.jpg) oldflowerGames ### **oldflowerGames** **Games:** *Angel Clicker, Emblems: Sunless Vow* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/oldflower?ref=aftermath.site) “We are strictly anti-genAI in all ways, and neither of us have even gone to chatGPT out of curiosity. While the environmental + ethical + copyright concerns alone are rampantly destructive, and more than enough to reject it completely, GenAI is not compassionate. It is not conscious, empathetic, nor understanding in any way. And yet it simulates a ‘person’ so effectively. This is not only frightening, but incredibly dangerous, as so many people who are desperate for their pain to end will seek out its convincing ‘mercy.’ We do not support this conflation of humanity's core of love and support with a corporate creation meant to sell and ravage. Creatively, spiritually, there is so much to gain from going through the process of building things yourself, from letting the thing you're trying to create take you on an unpredictable ride. We make games in silly and often inefficient ways, but from those honest methods, we feel that we arrive at a unique voice, and create experiences that we're truly proud of. Experiences that are a result of our decades of unique toils, happinesses, and burned-out rotten feelings, all-told.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat39.jpg) Pedalboard Games ### **Pedalboard Games** **Games:** *Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 1 Re-Raptored*, BIGGMAXXING [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Pedalboard%20Games&ref=aftermath.site) “We don't use AI at any point in our process, because a) it's tacky, b) I was laid off by Meta in 2023 and I don't feel like lining their pockets, c) because the whole point of the company was to make games with the friends I made while starting [Wheeljam](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/that-game-jam-based-on-oblivions-terrible-persuasion-wheel-actually-produced-some-good-weird-ideas/?ref=aftermath.site), and d) it's tacky.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat40.jpg) Pistol Shrimp Games ### **Pistol Shrimp Games** **Games:** *Free Stars: Children of Infinity, Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/Pistol%5FShrimp?ref=aftermath.site) We don't use AI anything because AI makes people feel awful, collectively. If people feel awful then how will they do any good work? In my 20+ years of development experience I have never seen so many people feeling so absolutely worthless and like they have no value at all. Ignoring all of the serious ecological, copyright, de-skilling, and power-concentration issues with AI, I will happily concede that AI can ‘make stuff done faster,’ but that's just an overdrive for what Bad Games Industry decisions have been making forever (work more, crunch more, get paid less, destroy your franchises, ship a sequel every year or die, etc). It's a blunt instrument to do what makes a lot of money for some people, not what makes actually better, sustainable, more enjoyable products for the creators and the players. To pull my own quote from [our devlog](http://google.com/url?q=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pistolshrimp/free-stars-children-of-infinity/posts/4715052&source=gmail&ust=1785365866442000&usg=AOvVaw34%5FxAgq1AL%5FDLUl0AsPROq): ‘To put a final, clear pin in it: AI sucks. No AI is used in the creation of this game. I have never willingly talked with a chatbot. AI and its slop can see itself out the door and never come back. If AI is just a tool, then it is a tool for hollowing out your own soul. It is Elric’s Stormbringer: it takes while it supposedly gives, and there is nothing left of you afterward. If AI is just a way of getting things done, then maybe we need to examine why we’re doing these things and what purpose they serve in the first place. We need to understand the disingenuous language being pushed in the name of profit and profit alone.’" ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat41.jpg) Pixel Prophecy ### **Pixel Prophecy** **Games:** *Fine Sweeper* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/pixelprophecy?ref=aftermath.site) “We here at Pixel Prophecy make small games, videos, music, and art in general and don't use GenAI. I feel that fun and fulfillment are inherent in the process, the journey of an artwork, not necessarily in the result. With no journey, there is no learning, no experience. It's like cheating your way through an RPG and never gaining XP.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat42.jpg) Pressed Elephant ### **Pressed Elephant** **Games:** *Elfie: A Sand Plan* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45644233?ref=aftermath.site) “Technically the core team is just me and the game's composer. Early on when we started collaborating together, we established that we were both creatively driven and one of our goals is to be able to retain creative ownership and freedom over what we make. Consequently, the idea of relegating any parts of our work and creative process to generative AI is ridiculous to us. And I'm glad to see such initiative to actively push back against it.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat43.jpg) Red Team Games ### **Red Team Games** **Games:** *Cards And Castles, Cards And Castles 2, Cards And Castles Ultimate* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Red%20Team%20Games&ref=aftermath.site) “Why do we not use AI? Where do I even start: I don't use AI coding because: - As an engineer, I want machines that do mechanistic, predictable, reliable tasks. - I want to know what my code does. - I want to keep my own skills sharp. Prompting could be a skill, but it's not a defensible advantage. If something is so easy anyone can do it, its market value is very very low. - I mostly do this for fun. We don't even make money really. It's a hobby. I don't use AI art because: - It is gross. - I don't want to live in a world where human art has no value. Also above all, I have an actual sense of self preservation. All of this is very clearly a capitalist project to devalue the human mind. I'm not going to be a participant in my own destruction.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat44.jpg) ReRolled Studio ### **ReRolled Studio** **Games:** *Pardon My French Toast, Best Day Ever* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=ReRolled%20Studio&ref=aftermath.site) “We do not use AI for many reasons. We are convinced that games should be created by humans, for humans. We believe in the power of a team to envision ideas, iterate, and get the best out of everyone in our games. AI simply has no place in our team. Its development relies on the exploitation of artists. Its climate impact is devastating. The financial madness surrounding this technology is largely responsible for the crisis currently affecting the creative industries. People are losing their jobs. People are suffering. Their lives are being severely impacted. Creators shouldn't have to go through this.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat45.jpg) Rho Labyrinths ### **Rho Labyrinths** **Games:** *Mars Vice* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Rho%20Labyrinths%20GmbH&ref=aftermath.site) “Our studio Rho Labyrinths is extremely against the use of AI in our works, to the point that during development of our main title, *Mars Vice*, when we found out that assets we'd paid for in advance were genAI, we simply took the loss of near-six grand and made sure none of those would get near a build. “Even though, as a small indie studio, that was a major blow to the budget, like hell we'd add 'em. Our projects are made by humans—from code, art, blood, sweat, and tears.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat46.jpg) Seedy Eye Software ### **Seedy Eye Software** **Games:** *Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Seedy%20Eye%20Software&ref=aftermath.site) “Generative AI operates on theft, both creatively and of our planet's resources, in order to churn out uninspired garbage. *Arzette* as a project, and by extension, Seedy Eye Software is by its nature extremely artist and human-creative driven. One of the main guiding ethos during *Arzette*’s development was to empower the artists, animators, designers, and writers to bring all of their creativity to the table. In many ways it is the polar, direct-opposite to generative AI content. It will never be touched by a ten-foot pole for any part of anything we ever make. Doing so would directly go against the entire purpose of the reason I develop video games.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat47.jpg) Finji / Tunic Team / Spoiled Cat ### **Spoiled Cat** **Games:** [Helped port](https://spoiledcat.com/?ref=aftermath.site) indie hits like *Tunic* and *What The Golf?* to various platforms [**Website**](https://spoiledcat.com/?ref=aftermath.site) “Absolutely no AI allowed in this house whatsoever. Besides the absolute brain cell suicide that using AI would entail, I have to guarantee (to my studio and customers) that the ownership of all of the work produced is traced and known, and having the plagiarism machine spew out stolen code from who knows where under who knows what license or patent is basically throwing the whole business down the drain. I did clean room porting for many years before games—basically reverse engineering existing libraries/apps/tools/engines from their external behavior with ever looking at their decompiled code or sources—to ensure that the resulting port would be clean, legal, and safe to use and that it did not infringe on patents or copyrights or licenses or anything. That requires keeping your brain absolutely squeaky clean of any potential accidental peeks at the original implementation. I can't even imagine trusting anyone these days to do that type of work, with AI tools gleefully spewing out proprietary code left and right for everyone to see. I carry that ethos to the game work I do. People sign publishing and porting contracts all the time, and those contracts have clauses requiring that the ownership and copyright of everything in the game is known and assignable, but if they've used AI for anything, they cannot by definition abide by those clauses. Blows my mind that this isn't being screamed out in every game dev + AI conversation with accompanying enormous flashing red lights.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat48.jpg) Strange Scaffold ### **Strange Scaffold** **Games:** *I Am Your Beast, El Paso Elsewhere, Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?!* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/strangescaffold?ref=aftermath.site) “AI is a ‘can’ button, not a ‘should’ button, and for an industry that already struggles with intentionality, consistency, and sustainability, I refuse to let a tool that undermines all three be a part of our development processes. Strange Scaffold is an anti-AI studio.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat49.png) Superoverweeb ### **Superoverweeb** **Games:** *The Lucid Box* [**Website**](https://superoverweeb.neocities.org/?ref=aftermath.site) **“**I despise AI for how utterly and brazenly destructive it is to the environment, labor, culture, society, education, computers, the internet and so on. These issues are brought up frequently, yet the wanton theft of it all I feel is somewhat under-discussed. I believe GenAI is designed from the ground up as a theft tool that alienates the user from its source(s) and methods so as to convince them that they aren't stealing. Images, music, code etc is edited JUST enough so as to appear original and to make it hard to find the source. It's not like sampling or photobashing; it's unscrupulous lifting of other's work lacking substantial transformation. It's more akin to tracing and other kinds of plagiarism.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat50-1.jpg) Team KAIZEN ### **Team KAIZEN** **Games:** *Shattered Soul, Burst!* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Team%20KAIZEN&ref=aftermath.site) “For our games, all art and code in the game is handmade, and I usually talk with people in the communities I'm in about tech online to try and explain how Generative AI (at least, in its current usage) takes un-credited work from others. When I talk to people about AI, I stress that I think in some scenarios it could be OK, just not in the way people like Altman, Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg want us to use it. For instance, if you're handmaking a forest path in a game, using a small/focused AI tool to take trees you either personally made or bought/properly credited and automatically laying out the rest of the forest (the parts the player can see from a distance, but not actually enter) can be OK, but the whole point in that example is that the stuff the player experiences right in front of them is developer-made and placed, not RNG made, and proper credit/permission still applies. Long story short, in very specific, small and controlled instances (like the trees, or enemy AI in a game) I think AI can sometimes be an OK tool in the toolbox, but it should NEVER be the whole damn carpenter, and I play games to experience human expression, not a computer pantomiming it. As a side note too, with these large cloud-based AI models, I don't think people realize how expensive they are (and how people 'paying' for it ATM are getting a severely subsidized rate that can't be sustainable), so anyone banking on being a game developer primarily via AI is setting themselves up for a rude awakening when the bills start coming due with these companies.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat51.jpg) Threshold Anomaly Games ### **Threshold Anomaly Games** **Games:** *Gridhack* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=THRESHOLD%20ANOMALY&ref=aftermath.site) “I'm also the creator of a free open-source game template for Godot Engine 4 called COGITO. This project was originally hosted on GitHub and grew quite popular, but as soon as it received the first AI-generated/coded pull requests, I completely moved it off of GitHub onto a different platform (Codeberg), to avoid GenAI and stick to the projects’ (and my) principles. Setting all ethical and legal issues aside, my main reasons for not using GenAI at all in any of my workflows is pretty simple: I started game dev to basically tinker, to see what I could make and to learn and grow my abilities while doing so. This process not only shapes my skills, but also the games itself and me as a person. GenAI basically removes all of that, and thus would completely erase the reason for making games for me.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat52.jpg) Turbo Button ### **Turbo Button** **Games:** *Floor Plan, Floor Plan 2, Along Together* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/developer/turbobutton?ref=aftermath.site) “We don't use generative AI for art, audio, code, or anything else. We've been pretty outspoken about our stance, like with [the 200 pins we gave away at GDC this year](https://bsky.app/profile/turbobuttoninc.bsky.social/post/3mgdcdyiuo22l?ref=aftermath.site) or [our studio Christmas cards](https://bsky.app/profile/turbobuttoninc.bsky.social/post/3lcnibchkjk2u?ref=aftermath.site) where we paid artists to draw what they thought AI-generated cards from us would have looked like. We have spent time evaluating/experimenting with tools so we feel informed and understand what they can do, but that just gives us more confidence about not using them in any part of our production or preproduction processes for any of our projects. Among our reasons: - We care a ton about respecting our players' time and attention, so if something isn't worth our time to make, it's not worth our players' time to look at. - It's pretty important to have friction with iteration in creative processes. When ideas are cheap to try, they're challenged and vetted less before the implementation. That's going to lead to a lot of games fully realizing some half-baked ideas. We don't want to be the studio that tries to figure out that process. - Even the cases where gen AI quality might be good enough, it is not worth the toxic association. Our players are very clear that they don't want it. - We worked in VR for a decade. We've seen what happens when people make plans and change all their processes based on potential instead of focusing on the present. It usually doesn't work out.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/image-5.png) Two-Headed Boy ### **Two-Headed Boy** **Games:** *Academic Quest: Legend I* [**Website**](https://two-headedboy.itch.io/?ref=aftermath.site) “I don't use AI because I actually enjoy making games. The other day I was working on some pixel art, and, after much adding and deleting the same pixel, there, suddenly, was the guy I'd been trying to draw all along. It felt incredible. Why would I deprive myself of that feeling by talking at a pile of stolen work?” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cat54.jpg) UmaikiGames ### **UmaikiGames** **Games:** *Skellboy Refractured, Nemizas Verdict, Project Zwilling* [**Steam page**](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=UmaikiGames&ref=aftermath.site) “Our reasons for not using generative AI are: - Uncertainty of training data. Almost all data out there is used without permission. - Its massive environmental impact. - We love our work and don't see a necessity for using this technology.” [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### King Ghidorah Is A Bum URL: https://aftermath.site/king-ghidorah-is-a-bum/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T15:56:56.000Z Not all [giant monsters are created equal](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/godzilla/kaiju-a-go-go-every-godzilla-monster-from-lamest-to-coolest?ref=aftermath.site) in the Godzilla universe. Some, like [the adorable Baragon](https://x.com/ShinEyeZehUhh/status/1733378776157790487?s=20&ref=aftermath.site), exist to [get their ass kicked](https://youtu.be/NXL0LbO-TUA?list=PLmRi0iX289ogXa2xubpmMfpHgBqA5P3%5F4&ref=aftermath.site); others, like Biollante, give Goji a run for his money. But out of all of Godzilla’s foes, King Ghidorah always winds up [near the top of the list of Godzilla’s coolest opps](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/godzilla-monsters-ranked-best-worst-1235730445/?ref=aftermath.site). I, however, think he sucks. ![Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah poster of King Ghidorah constricting Godzilla.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/godzilla-vs-king-ghidorah.png) Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) © TOHO I didn’t always *not* like King Ghidorah. My first encounter with him was spurred by my best friend—who later in life I’d serve as the best man in his wedding—during a college sleepover filled with Malibu rum where we watched Kaiju movies all night. I cheered when [Goji killed Roland Emmerich’s “Zilla”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x%5FrAS%5FxS%5F8&pp=ygUUZ29kemlsbGEga2lsbHMgemlsbGE%3D&ref=aftermath.site) with extreme prejudice in [*Godzilla: Final Wars*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla:%5FFinal%5FWars?ref=aftermath.site), guffawed at the [chicanery of *King Kong vs Godzilla*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4rGq9kyeM0&pp=ygUWa2luZyBrb25nIHZzLiBnb2R6aWxsYQ%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site), and bowed down to the [sheer body horror of Hideaki Anno’s *Shin Godzilla*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYOgIln4cyE&pp=ygUYc2hpbiBnb2R6aWxsYSBmaW5hbCBmb3Jt&ref=aftermath.site). But the pièce de résistance of our sleepover was my friend introducing me to King Ghidorah, his favorite kaiju. The films my friend showed me, introducing me to King Ghidorah, were *Godzilla vs King Ghidorah* and *Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack*—films, in hindsight, didn’t help my disposition toward the kaiju. My main takeaways from watching both films were as follows: King Ghidorah is a golden space dragon kaiju. He has three heads befitting his Hydra-inspired design. He’s on a sick-ass poster. And his powers are whatever the fuck they need to be. In the years since that fateful sleepover, I’ve playfully given my friend shit for liking the kaiju equivalent of Dragon Ball Z’s [Broly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broly?ref=aftermath.site). Now, with more knowledge, I can safely say that I do not care for King Ghidorah. He insists upon himself. He’s a hat on a hat kaiju; the stuff of “This is my OC. Please do not steal” energy wrapped in the most “yes, and” powerset I’ve ever witnessed from a mainstay Godzilla monster. Whenever I see or hear his name, it doesn’t elicit rage or anything that deep. He compels me to shake my head and do a jerk-off hand motion every time his three-headed ass is in my line of sight. The cortisol spike one experiences reading the names Jimmy Fallon, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, or Drake is tantamount to my “get a load of this fucking guy” feelings toward King Ghidorah. Kaiju cinema, like [anime](https://aftermath.site/solo-leveling-impressions-anime/) and [tokusatsu ](https://aftermath.site/kamen-rider-kuuga-tokusatsu/)shows, runs on [professional wrestling](https://aftermath.site/stardom-utami-hayashita-saya-kamitani-aphrodite-toxic-yuri-joshi-puroresu/) rules. There’s a good guy babyface, a bad guy heel, an undercard of lesser threats, and the need to build good “heat” or build up their big marquee faceoffs. As such, kaiju have one quirk that makes them formidable matchups against each other. Let’s call it a signature move. Godzilla has his patented atomic breath; Mothra has reincarnation; Rodan has black Air Force One’s energy. King Ghidorah’s signature move is that he can conjure electricity. All things considered, that’s a pretty powerful feat, given any and all ensuing beam struggles against him would have other kaiju’s singular gaping maw contend with his three. But being an extraterrestrial wyvern with three heads and bending lightning to his will isn’t enough for King Ghidorah. Throughout the entire pantheon of monster cinema, King Ghidorah collects newer and newer absurd signature moves to the point where dude is the Gary Lu of kaiju, and I resent him for it. Here’s a list of powers King Ghidorah also gains across kaiju cinema that make my eyes roll at the audacity of him with every Godzilla anything I’ve watched: - Gravity manipulation and “gravity beams” - Magneto levels of magnetism - Goddamn invisibility - Pre-*Jujutsu Kaisen* domain expansions - Regeneration *and* energy siphoning bites - Spirit projection - Poison gas, because why not? - Fucking mind control King Ghidorah has a Roman Reigns booking problem. He’s a kaiju with a huge push that can, “um, actually” his way into a new overpowered ability to add to [his Swiss army knife of bullshit](https://www.tiktok.com/@theneedletok/video/7049381415087066414?lang=en&ref=aftermath.site). What, pray tell, does a kaiju with a lion’s share of powers hailing from outer fucking space have as his modus operandi for tussling with Godzilla? Well, if it isn’t a simplistic “I’m the alpha” reasoning, King Ghidorah’s mostly being used by aliens and humans to get what they want. It happened when he got rinsed by Godzilla only to come back as Mecha King Ghidorah and MechaGodzilla not once, but twice, both in the Heisei and Legendary iterations of the character. That’s right. He’s a fucking tool. So you can imagine why I got a big laugh at Godzilla playing heel in *GMK Giant Monsters All Out Attack*. King Ghidorah had a grand opening and grand closing in the movie’s final act after watching Godzilla catch bodies the entire film, virtually no-selling the space alien’s sanctimoniously overpowered bullshit, in a handicap battle, no less, which is what King Ghidorah deserves. His chain fake, and Godzilla should expose him for the fraud he is. That’s not to say I’m above enjoying seeing King Ghidorah do his thing. I’m especially partial to his inspired iteration in the Legendary Monsterverse, where [each head had its own distinct personality](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters-director-on-figuring/1100-6467231/?ref=aftermath.site). But outside that one clever twist in an otherwise beige kaiju résumé, King Ghidorah is a bum with way too much going on under the hood and nowhere near enough to actually wow me without feeling needlessly over-specced at every turn. He’s all style, no substance—my favorite kind of kaiju to hate for looking cool on paper and collapsing the moment he’s asked to rise to the occasion and be interesting. Fuck him, and the asteroid he came in on. ## Recommended: [Fuck This Anthropomorphic Diesel Engine In Particular - AftermathThomas and the Magic Railroad’s Diesel 10 gave me nightmares![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-1d11ed7c-e34f-4b5b-9096-f0ea887b0423.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/thomas-the-tank-engine-3-7abdf899-c4f1-4a25-ab7d-1c6e4dbc80ef.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/thomas-tank-diesel-10-scary/) [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Survival Games Are Comforting URL: https://aftermath.site/survival-games-rule/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T19:52:19.000Z I am known to be a lover of survival games. It’s important to understand here that I *don’t* meansurvival horror or survival crafting or all the other genres that call themselves “survival” when they’re more about running away from zombies or punching trees. To me, a true survival game can have *some* of those elements, but the key feature is the kind of nitty gritty, daily life mechanics that feel more like chores than play: feeding yourself, dealing with being tired, dressing for the weather, and moving your body through space. You know, *boring* stuff–the very best kind of video game stuff there is. For me, the absolute pinnacle of the survival genre is [*The Long Dark*](https://aftermath.site/tag/the-long-dark/), but there are other standouts too. [*Subnautica*](https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-early-access-impressions/)gets it right with your oxygen meter, and with the way traversing its underwater depths requires so much planning and effort. Recent cozy game [*Winter Burrow*](https://aftermath.site/winter-burrow-demo/)has its brutal cold that makes short journeys outside intense. *Don’t Starve* is a little heavy on the crafting but makes up for it with its day/night cycle. Games like *Project Zomboid* and [*Neo Scavenger*](https://kotaku.com/fantastic-survival-game-neo-scavenger-is-now-on-mobile-1797317819?ref=aftermath.site)have absurd levels of detail that see you worrying about the kinds of things video games usually make trivial, like being bored or thinking about the physical item–shopping cart, plastic bag, your hands–in which you’ll carry your inventory. I get why people might not be keen on this stuff. Feeding yourself or packing a bag are annoying in real life, the kind of tiresome stuff you probably don’t want to think about in a video game. Being too cold or too hot is one of the worst things about having a physical body. Video games invented fast travel for a reason: because having to tediously walk across a map, especially if you also have to worry about hunger and thirst and weight and stamina, is usually the interstitial stuff between the “real” gameplay and not the game itself. I understand why you hate it. I do. But you’re also wrong. For one, I love feeding my guy. The way I frame this is probably telling–I remember a debate somewhere on social media a while back about whether, in a survival game, you are meeting your own needs or whether you’re caring for someone else like a tamagotchi. In my mind, I’m caring for a little creature that is also kind of me. In *The Long Dark*, I often talk back to my character when they complain about the cold or being tired– “I’m working on it, Astrid;” “Here’s a cup of coffee for you, Will.” Like maybe some of you, I’m not great at taking care of myself in real life, but I am quick to care for others, and I get to play out this instinct in a game without having to talk to my therapist about self-care. And hey, maybe I benefit from it too–that whole “talk to yourself the way you’d talk to a friend” thing can find a new expression in a video game. But beyond the potential psychological benefits, I also like how seeing my character as a little guy gives me a place to anchor myself in the vastness of a hostile survival game world. I have this little home base of a body to always return to, one that has predictable needs I can strive to achieve. I find a lot of comfort in this, even when everything is going wrong. There might be a bear outside my *Long Dark* cabin or a terrifying fish outside my *Subnautica* base, but my character still needs to eat and drink and breathe, a bit of safe repetition in an ever-changing world. No matter what a survival game is about or what’s going on in it, you also always have that same set of tasks to return to. And unlike other video game skills that require timing or complicated button presses–boss fights in games, combat moves–, it’s not that hard to get good at the basics in survival, where it’s at most a handful of button presses to cook some food, or an in-game evening spent managing your inventory. Survival games, stripped down to their very core, are easy to understand and to master: the whole game is built around these same set of elements that don’t change much. You don’t get some escalating series of recipes the way you get harder and harder *Hollow Knight* bosses. Once you know how to boil a pot of water in *The Long Dark*, you’ll never face some new variation that will have you throwing aside your controller in outrage. Of course that doesn’t mean survival games are easy. A great thing about them is the way all their challenge and drama springs from these easily-mastered basics. Their repetition and reliability is what makes them so hard; the fact that your character always needs to eat means *your character always needs to eat*, and you have to venture out into a dangerous game world sooner or later. It’s these needs that push you out of your comfort zone, and it’s that same soothing regularity that makes them drive a survival game’s gameplay. This pushes you to get creative and think ahead, to problem-solve and take chances. A survival game isn’t always you against a boss or horde of enemies; it’s you against yourself, your appetite for risk or your ability to plan ahead, or–as is so often the case for me in *The Long Dark*–your ability to sit with boredom or to make good choices, to embrace your curiosity without letting it drive you into doing something stupid. Most survival games feature permadeath, which can sting when a long run ends and you lose your high-level gear or bustling survival economy. It can feel dispiriting to start again in these moments, but unlike non-survival games where you have to level up your character more or grind through low-level fights again, the gameplay available to you at the beginning of a new survival run is *essentially* the same as at the end. You might not have the best shelter or clothes, but you get to dive right back into *the game*. At its core, when you die in a survival game you get to just *keep playing*, instead of having to earn your way back to where you were when you died. In a way, each survival game run is an episode in one long game; you aren’t so much starting overas you are carrying on. For me, the more granular all of this the better: the more core needs I have to always return to, the more little moments I can take to find comfort and care, the more opportunities to push myself into adventure and exploration. I can put down a survival game and come back to it without having to watch a lengthy YouTube explainer to remember the story, or dig through my settings to remember a bunch of controls. My survival needs are always *there*, never solved but also never changing, both a comfort and a challenge in a world of endless new video games and endless new real-life horrors. My little guy will always need a snack and a nap (much like me in real life), and I’ll always feel better–in game and in real life, both for my character and for myself–when I give it to them. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Survival Games Are Annoying URL: https://aftermath.site/survival-games-are-annoying/ Last updated: 2026-07-29T19:52:37.000Z Eating. Sleeping. Staying hydrated. All things I struggle to achieve in my regular life, and all things that, for some reason, survival games also ask from me. In real life, I struggle to meet the daily needs of my body. Night time is the best time to write because I have so little distractions, but then I wake up exhausted every day. When I’m in a groove writing, it can hard for me to tear myself away from the page and fucking eat something. And don’t get me started on remembering to have water instead of coffee—someday I will die wondering why I’m so thirsty after drinking nothing but coffee all day. Part of the escape that video games offer me is relief from these obligations. A video game character does not need to eat, drink, or sleep. They do not need to take their meds every day. They don’t go to the bathroom, or get hair cuts, or trim their nails—all these tiny chores that take up time in my life that I never think about but must complete. So why, *why*, would I play a video game where doing all these chores is not only necessary, but the point. Survival games will make you play as a character who gets hungry and who needs sleep. It’s kind of the point, I gather, to simulate the things you’d be facing if you did need to stay alive in, say, the arctic tundra. But video games don’t need to accurately recreate each and every aspect of life to be compelling. Having to pause every now and then to make my character take a sip of water often becomes more distracting than intellectually engaging. At its worst, having to manage thirst and hunger only reveals how bad of a job I’m doing taking care of my real life body, which absolutely shatters any suspension of disbelief. That in-game body is not a real body—it does not have the urge of hunger. But *I* do, so when I make my little video game man eat some food I just feel like I’m trying to convince someone my invisible friend is real. You can’t trick me, that’s just some pixels. Gamifying life has always been interesting to me, but I think survival games do so in a way that’s too close to the functions of life as an individual. I love games that look at human life from just a little bit more of a remove, exploring it as a series of interlocking systems. Even in *The Sims*, you act as a third party observer, managing Sims’ needs but not acting explicitly as any one character. If you go off to play with another Sim, the Sim you left behind will have autonomy. In *Dwarf Fortress*, all your dwarves have needs, but your job is simply to make sure the things they need are there when they need them—they will be able to eat and drink and sleep on their own schedules. Something about managing the needs of a virtual person that are identical to my needs, the needs of a real person, just gives me the ick. Part of it is that it can never go far enough, really. In order to survive, you need more than just food and water. You need to jerk off, or read a book, or look at sunset, or fart really loudly, or figure out how to scratch the inside of your ear. The mechanics of human life are too vast for a video game, and survival games end up feeling like a lackluster imitation. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### I Hate Adobe URL: https://aftermath.site/i-hate-adobe/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T22:39:49.000Z It’s one thing to hate software, but that hate takes on new dimensions when you have to use it for your job. To choose software and have it fail is unfortunate; to be chained to it for sustenance and be unable to walk away is torture. Because of this, I have nothing but hatred for Adobe. They are one of tech’s greatest villains, the software has gotten worse to use, and if you don’t like it fuck you there’s the door. From every visible sight line Adobe is vile, starting with just trying to pay for the software. You can’t just buy their software and be done with it until you need an upgrade–instead, you rent the software monthly or yearly for an obscene amount of money relative to the creative industries that depend on it. As I write this, the Creative Cloud Standard costs $659.88 a year billed in 12 monthly installments, and $82.49 a month if you want to go month to month. This is assuming you don’t want the “Pro” subscription, which includes more generative AI tokens and is prominently listed on the top of the sales page while Creative Cloud Standard is on the bottom. Adobe frequently hides these costs by offering aggressive promotions, and a trick every poor artist knows if they try to take away your discount is to call tech support and say that you’re going to cancel to bait them into renewing the old rate. I’ve done this before and can confirm it works. ![A listing showing all the various apps you can get from Adobe, and their monthly cost.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/creative_cloud.png) The version on the top has 4000 generative AI tokens in it, the standard version is at the bottom and is not as aggressively discounted. Very few software companies outside of Microsoft have the kind of leverage over entire industries. Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom and After Effects are all load bearing to some extent within their respective fields despite the fact that many people I know loathe using them. Creative Cloud as an app sits on your computer’s tray like a sleep paralysis demon, while the individual apps make your laptop hotter than the sun and your GPU fan spin louder than it needs to, countless years of shitty legacy code attaching itself to the apps like barnacles. There are a few notable exceptions. Their free camera app Indigo is quite nice albeit computationally intensive. I liked Audition when I used it, but that was years ago. But I had to use Premiere for years and years and it ran like garbage while not implementing basic features that would have saved me months of work over the course of my life. After Effects was even worse, because it’s laid out in a bizarre way that nobody would implement if you asked them to make a motion graphics program today. (Most good compositing and animation programs are node-based, but After Effects is not). It is also irreplaceable, because nothing works in the specifically weird way that After Effects works. A guy I used to drink with had to do compositing in After Effects, and the degree to which that program did not work had serious consequences on his mental state whenever I talked to him. I think he’s better now, but the strain clearly took years off his life. There is an additional element to this, and that’s Windows. For many, Photoshop and the Creative Cloud apps are some of the most significant pain points keeping them from seriously embracing Linux. There is no universe in which Adobe embraces Linux, and much in the same way that we must rid ourselves of Adobe, we must also rid ourselves of Windows. But that is a blog unto itself. It would be enough to earn the ire of countless freelancers if the software simply ran like shit and you had a proverbial gun to your head making you use it. But add to this that Adobe loves generative AI and has hitched the success of the company to it. Artists and workers should not be economically induced to haggle with tech support for the privilege of renting garbage software below the asking price, but to know that the money you send them is feeding a machine that is suffocating your livelihood is insulting beyond measure. ![A window showing an episode of Highlight Reel in the process of being edited. Both clips are from AC Black Flag Resynced, and CJ has been modded in on the rightmost window.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Resolve_still.webp) Let's give it up for Fusion. ## **Alternatives** I have not paid for Adobe Creative Cloud for a while now, on account of my loathing. The biggest shift was moving my entire workflow away from Premiere, Adobe’s non-linear editing software. For most serious film and television work, Avid is still the gold standard outside of some indie film productions because, despite working in a clunky and retro way, it has worked consistently for decades and you can set your watch to it. But for tons of indies, freelancers and YouTubers, Premiere has a significant market share. ![UI showing a node tree for animations I do for Highlight Reel. Several producers are listed.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/export_still.png) How Fusion handles motion graphics is shockingly efficient once you understand nodes. I edit, record audio, apply VSTs, do motion graphics, and subtitle in the same program. And yet for that exact same demographic, DaVinci Resolve is a much more compelling offer. I cannot say enough kind words about Resolve. It’s functionally free to download and use, and the free version is shockingly feature complete. They consistently ship features I care about before Adobe, and I actually started using it because the way it handled subtitles worked seamlessly well before Premiere. You can pay $295 once, or a key comes packaged for free if you buy a Blackmagic camera, like the one G/O Media purchased for Kotaku years ago. I have been riding that same Resolve Studio license for years and they haven’t asked me for a single red cent since. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/image-2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/image-3.png) This is older hardware at this point but this is how I got my Resolve license originally. Or just download the free version and pay $295. Resolve in its current form only exists because of Apple’s hubris. Apple used to own the go-to software suite for both non-Avid video editing (Final Cut Pro 7) and color grading (Apple Color). In 2011 Color got killed off and the tools got rolled together into Final Cut Pro X, a totally rewritten software suite which every person on Earth hated and caused many people to switch to Premiere. Though DaVinci Resolve had existed since the early 2000s, Blackmagic Design has owned the company that produced it since 2009\. It started its life as color grading software, gaining market dominance, and in 2014 they built out a feature-rich non-linear editor. They went on to incorporate software from Fairlight ([a digital audio workstation that began in a primordial capacity 1979](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight%5F%28company%29?ref=aftermath.site)) as well as Fusion (motion graphics software that [traces its roots to DOS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmagic%5FFusion?ref=aftermath.site)). The pricing changed over time, but the software has gotten consistently better and more feature-rich. I learned this software in film school and killed it in the sloppiest way imaginable. Fusion’s inclusion also fills a similar role to a different program that Apple killed in 2008: Shake, a node-based compositing program that was the industry standard before Nuke. When I switched over a few years ago, I was pleased to discover that Resolve’s default keyboard was Final Cut Pro 7, which I had not budged from since the first Obama administration. Resolve is a piece of software for haters who have never forgiven Apple for their repeated transgressions. I love it deeply, and do everything from recording audio with post processing to motion graphics for my show Highlight Reel directly in Resolve. This was not a niche piece of software, it was used on The Matrix and The Lord of The Rings. Other pieces of software are harder to get off of, the biggest one for me being Photoshop. Though I know GIMP has shooters, it is hardly a replacement for a commercial piece of software. Affinity is the closest replacement for the Adobe suite, offering a fairly robust replacement for software like Photoshop as well as InDesign, and recently they were purchased by Canva who subsequently made new versions of the software free. Although I do not trust Canva as a company that has also embraced AI, the only features that seem to be gated off in the free version are AI ones, and that’s ultimately a fairly OK deal. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/image.png) I need to fix the UI sizing because I'm running this via Wine in Linux, but Affinity is fairly robust as an alternative. Also it's free. “Switching off Photoshop has been a lot more difficult. It took years,” Illustrator [Aurahack](https://aurahack.ca/?ref=aftermath.site) told me via DM. “When my career shifted more towards illustration, I cut my CC subscription and opted to learn Clip Studio Paint instead. It was around 2018, I think, and the conversation about Adobe killing Flash was still going around and I was just like ok fuck this. They're exerting absurd monopolistic practices, my software is getting shittier and more bloated every year, it crashes constantly, and I'm still paying hundreds for this. I need to switch.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/bin4ot.webp) A work in progress illustration in Clip Studio Paint EX. Credit: [Aurahack](https://aurahack.ca/?ref=aftermath.site) Like myself, Aurahack was fighting decades of muscle memory and habit. Though Affinity’s InDesign replacement is almost one-to-one and combining software for different tasks works for her, she understands it's trickier for others because it has to be many things to many people. “After about a month's worth of daily use I felt really at home in \[Clip Studio Pro\]. It doesn't do everything I need it to--it's not image editing software--but with a combination of things like Photopea, Mosh Pro, and more creative workarounds like using stock photography or embracing sketching over vector art, I've basically cut \[Adobe\] entirely out of my workflow.” “It's not a path that works for everyone,” Aurahack told me. “I'm sympathetic to artists in other professional capacities who are locked into that ecosystem for business reasons and I'm very fortunate to exist in the freelance capacity that I do, but the end result still feels like my best expression of self. If anything, it forced me to get a little creative with how I approach my own versatility and that mentality has done me nothing but good.” Though switching can be difficult, being rid of Adobe is bliss. To know that your software is either free or buy once feels like walking on solid ground after drowning. Our lives are full of countless rotten little thieves that have access to our credit card information and, in the case of Adobe, our careers. Adobe has earned my nothing but my deepest contempt. I hate you, Adobe, and I hope the whole company gets dragged to hell when the AI bubble pops. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### 'You Should Try Making Funnier Posts': The Shittiest Parts Of Being A Video Game's Social Media Manager URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-social-media-manager-community-manager/ Last updated: 2026-07-30T21:40:39.000Z Because it's[ Hater Week here on Aftermath](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/), I thought it'd be fun to take[ my usual 'What I Do' feature](https://aftermath.site/tag/what-i-do/)\--which is normally a very positive look at what it is, exactly, that people working in the video game industry do for a living--and instead see if anyone wanted to talk about the stuff they *hate* about their job. And Kristoph Zandecki was kind enough to take me up on the offer! Zandecki has been working as both a community manager and social media manager in the video game space for the last five years. He doesn't *hate his job*, but when I asked people for specifics on *aspects* of their job that they hate, he was able to go into the kind of detail that a) we love to see here on What I Do, and b) is extremely relatable to someone who spent 17 years writing at Kotaku and had to deal with Kotaku haters on social media almost the entire time. "The work of a Community or Social Media Manager is one people have a lot of opinions about, probably because it’s the most visible to people outside of the studio", Zandecki says. "It’s very easy to just go on X or TikTok, watch one video and form your entire opinion on my work from that. I’ve had random people online tell me that my marketing efforts sucked because they haven’t heard of the game (despite them literally interacting with my posts about that game)". He says the most hurtful comments, though, can come from inside the studio itself. "Everybody on the team who isn't working on socials has an opinion on socials. One person came up to me once and straight up told me 'You should try making funnier posts', with no warning or even so much as a 'hi'. That's why I hate this part of the job: how visible it is, how each failure comes under the scrutiny of everyone, how tiring it is to keep having to explain what you do to people who think they know better". Another part of Zandecki's job that he hates is the expectation. He says that recruiters and hiring managers will be looking for posts that go viral, or can get a certain number of followers in a very short timeframe. He says studios are thinking they can hire a unicorn, when really they're hiring a worker. "Would anyone ask a single artist to make their game a 'masterpiece', a single programmer to code 24/7?" he asks. "With this expectation comes an overwhelming focus on results, and if you fail to meet them, then the whole game's failure can be put on your shoulders, because you didn't do a good enough job promoting the game. But if you do a good job and the game does succeed, then suddenly it's not because of your community events or posts, it's because the team made a great game. The double standards are apparent". All of which must be extremely frustrating and an understandably negative aspect of the job, but like I've said, Zandecki doesn't hate his job, just those parts of it. "I love talking to people about games; being around so much passion for games, especially indie titles, is very satisfying and revitalizing", he says. "Whenever I’m having a bad work day or the imposter syndrome takes over, I only need one positive community interaction to put me back on track. Seeing the impact I have on the people in those communities cannot be easily replaced by other positions, even in gamedev - that’s why, despite all the negative aspects, I still stick with this". Zandecki says it's also great getting to be the “voice' of a game”, or company, as is the fact he can make an impact on a game and how it's perceived "despite me not being a programmer or designer". "Figuring out new ways to connect with people, new events to bring people together, new content to showcase the game in different light; it’s all an outlet for my creativity, and I’m so grateful to be able to work in this industry", he says. All of which leads up to the biggest reason he's in the job: the fact he gets to work around video games all day. "I love all manner of games no matter the platform, and being able to work with so many of them on a day-to-day basis is incredible", he says. "My dad would say to me that I cannot make playing games my career, and I want to thank my younger self for not fully believing that. Technically, I’m not 'playing' games as a career, but close enough for me!" [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. We're getting everything off our chests; we're writing about the things we hate, the things we're annoyed by, the things that are making our lives worse. And yet...there can be no hate without love, so we're finding time to write about that too. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### I Love Starting Games URL: https://aftermath.site/i-love-starting-games/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T20:12:41.000Z There is no greater joy than playing the first couple of hours of a game. All of the unfinished games in my various libraries that have only a couple hours of playtime are a testament to this. My favorite part of playing a game is the moment when everything clicks, when all the mechanics that have been slowly, slowly tutorialized lock into place, revealing a new whole. In my brain, it’s a physical sensation of pieces falling, one that shows me an elegance to a manufactured universe where before there was only chaos. There is only one way to experience that feeling of discovery: starting a new video game. For instance, I remember the first time I truly Understood *Dwarf Fortress*, after only a few hours. The economic systems had finally settled themselves and I had a bustling fort, wondering if that was all there was to see. Then, a werelizard attacked, killing a dozen dwarves. I cleaned up the mess and went about my way. About a month later, the dwarves who had been bitten and not killed transformed into vicious werelizards. It was a complete bloodbath, no survivors. I understood the game in its totality in that moment—it is a game about inevitable and hilarious failure, and the stories you tell about those failures afterward. That gut level *understanding* is such a delicious feeling for me. More recently, I’ve had that moment with *Marathon* as I’ve started playing its Vault Breaker mode, which is an experimental PVE mode that allows not very good players like me to get a look at the end game content. For me, it unveiled the way that *Marathon* is built on interlocking puzzles, both literal ones and social puzzles that you’ll have to learn to navigate as a player. I still absolutely suck shit at *Marathon*, but now I feel as if I’ve conquered it conceptually. I’ve also had this experience when confronting the first big boss in a game. In *Control*, I don’t think I really understood how the game wanted me to play it until I figured out how to beat Tommasi, who spams the player with enemies and fucking throws rocks at you until you learn how to best use all the abilities available to you. *Returnal*’s first boss, Phrike, has a similar quality. You *will* end that fight understanding exactly how to use the game’s jump and air dash, or you will not complete the fight. Roguelikes in general are good at creating this kind of feeling within me because these games rely on repetition, on going out and gathering new knowledge until you know enough to defeat what has challenged you. There is another reason why I love starting new games, though. It is because I have ADHD and I constantly crave novelty. A new game presents new experiences. Sure, some of those experiences are going to be a tutorial, but learning something is the price you pay for something *new*. The clumsiness and trial and error that comes from learning new systems are a part of the fun for me, too. The older you get, the harder it is to do something you haven’t done before, just by the virtue of having lived a life. Microdosing newness—new things to learn and new ways to use my brain—in the form of a video game is a little bit like smoking the butt of a cigarette hoping for a hit, but it gets the job done, more or less. Eventually, though, the contours of a new game become familiar. Its systems have been mastered. There’s no new understanding to be gained from continuing to play. I remember a moment in *Cult of the Lamb* where I realized that I had so aggressively min-maxed its resource management systems that I would never run out of resources and that I would handily unlock everything I needed to reach the boss. The game instantly became less interesting to me now that I could see the path to completion. There wasn’t anything left to figure out, only a short path to victory. Whenever that happens to me in a video game, when it starts to feel boring because there’s nothing else for me to learn, I start a new game. There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of video games I haven’t tried yet, all of them representing brand new things for me to experience. Isn’t that just a vision of heaven? Every day, a new thing to learn to love. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### I Hate Starting Games URL: https://aftermath.site/starting-games-bad/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T20:12:34.000Z While, for obvious reasons, we cannot interview one to confirm this, I have to imagine that being a baby is terrible. You try to take a step. You fall over. You attempt to explore, only to be met by playpen walls or a parent’s “loving” arms. After months with little in the way of clear instruction, you think you’ve finally got basic bowel control down, but then you shit yourself. Again! Everyone’s always trying to explain things to you, but not the *right* things. Frustration suffuses your entire existence. You scream about it—regularly, at the top of your feeble little lungs—to no avail. This is what starting a new video game is like. Every (traditional, non-live service) video game has two worst parts: the start and the end. Vanishingly few games nail either, and I can count on one hand the number that manage to pull off both with any modicum of grace. But where conclusions often fall apart catastrophically or fizzle wimpily, beginnings drag. To be fair, I appreciate the dilemma here: Some tutorials have to operate under the assumption that they’re not just teaching the player the specific game’s mechanics, but how to *play a video game*. This is not an easy medium in which to craft a dazzling, propulsive takeoff; I don’t envy game designers at all. Still, even the best intros often serve as snags for me. Everybody praised the hell out of *007 First Light*’s boot camp tutorial as an exemplar of the form, and while I did appreciate the way it used movie-like montage cuts to depict Bond’s progress and—mercifully—hurry things along, I still wanted it to end asap. Moreover, it was sandwiched between a hyper on-rails, also tutorial-y opening mission and a bunch of slow-as-molasses character intros. I want to sneak around and do cool spy shit! You can show me Bond being [a seductively roguish scoundrel later](https://aftermath.site/the-james-bond-of-first-light-is-hot-in-a-grown-up-way/). That’s how I feel starting an action game, a genre designed to launch you into the thick of things as expeditiously as possible. JRPGs, meanwhile, are torture in this regard; I really, really hope that *Trails In The Sky 2nd Chapter* assumes [I put over 50 hours into the first game](https://aftermath.site/trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter-final-boss-regret/) when it comes out next month, because I did, and I just want to hop right back into a story that ended on a huge cliffhanger. I don’t want to be taught to play the game I already played again. All this in mind, you may be wondering how I, [an avowed *Warframe* fan](https://aftermath.site/warframe-digital-extremes-community-tennocon-wedding-funeral/), ever began a journey whose [first 70 or so hours](https://kotaku.com/warframes-big-twist-knocked-my-brain-clean-out-of-my-he-1844882545?ref=aftermath.site) are considered by the community to be a tutorial. I’m not sure myself. I was a different person back then. You might, upon hearing this, believe me to be the kind of person who loves it when a game just sets you loose in a gigantic open world and allows you to run free. You’d be correct! And I love the early-game sense of discovery—or in the case of more difficult games like *Elden Ring*, menace—that accompanies it. I'm willing to concede that that part of starting games rules. But even some of the standard bearers of the genre—*The Elder Scrolls V:* *Skyrim* and *Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild*—first hem you into constrained kiddie pools while tantalizing you with what lies beyond. Sure, they’re building to that moment when you’re finally able to survey the landscape and awe-strickenly think “I can go *anywhere*,” but my (tears of the) kingdom for a game that just gives me that moment right at the start. Again, though, I’m not trying to debate the merits of any specific game’s opening; I’m demonstrating the stumbling block that prevents me from starting new games. I flip through my Steam library on my Lenovo Legion Go after a long day of work, and I think “I should play that game. Oh, and that game. That one too!” But then I realize how blah the first 30 minutes to an hour will be—and moreover, that they will feel like *more work*—and the idea of frictionlessly scrolling on my phone begins to whisper to me like the One Ring Of Power. Before I know it, my evening is gone. I do think the allure of The Infinite Scroll plays a role here; I remember myself having a more functional attention span as recently as 2020, and now I don’t. And so, I’m going to argue against myself by encouraging you to start more things. Succeed where I’ve failed! Pick up a new game, or a new book, or a new TV show—or skill or hobby or whatever else! Life does not have to be a rut or a dead end. You can just do a new thing any time you want to. I’m definitely trying, even if so far I’ve yet to entirely break out of my comforting but also limiting old habits. All you can do is keep trying to muster the energy and the will. Eventually, you’ll start to start—to *actually* start, and perhaps even continue. After that, the rest is easy. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. We're getting everything off our chests; we're writing about the things we hate, the things we're annoyed by, the things that are making our lives worse. And yet...there can be no hate without love, so we're finding time to write about that too. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### I Hate Doing Anime Interviews URL: https://aftermath.site/i-hate-doing-anime-interviews/ Last updated: 2026-07-28T15:09:37.000Z In all my years as a journalist, anime interviews have become the one assignment that makes me audibly sigh immediately after the rush of excitement at an email in my inbox. Why? They’re increasingly proving to be a behind-the-scenes headache that’s quite an affront to my craft, and a huge hassle with pyrrhic payoff long before an article is published. I’ve found that the anime industry tends to be discussed online in a similar fashion to parasocial tabloid articles of the early aughts. Fans glom onto tidbits of information from shoddy sources and hearsay, leading to an infantilized—if not periodically mischaracterized—notion about a production studio or creators spread in perpetuity with the gait of a retweet. That’s not good. The only solution to upend this phenomenon is good journalism: conducting interviews with creators, which I often have the opportunity to do, where I channel my expertise by asking pointed questions about how the art sausage is made, work culture, and the pervasiveness of AI in the space. As much as I feel a journalistic obligation, I hate doing anime interviews; every time I conduct one, I’m met with the desire for good public relations, not good journalism. Not discounting the circus and occasional farce that is a 7-to-10-minute time-crunch breakout-room press Zoom interview, there are standards and practices within journalism that routinely become a nuisance whenever I conduct an anime interview. These are all basic functions of the job—building blocks which cannot be ignored. Usually, a subject is given an idea of what topics will be brought up in an interview, not the explicit questions. When the day comes, and a question is asked, if they do not want to answer, they can simply say they don’t wish to. Likewise, unless an interviewee explicitly states that information is off the record, whatever answers they give are fair game to be included in an article. After which, if there is a flagrant error—be it the spelling of a name, position and title of a person, or the recounting or characterization of events in a published article is inaccurate—it's common for a subject to request a correction and for the editorial of said publication to run a correction stating the error and correction at wherever relevant, and the journalist eats a little shit for it. That’s the way the cookie crumbles. ![You're Under Arrest still of Yoriko making a silly face. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/You-re-Under-Arrest.jpg) You're Under Arrest © Studio DEEN Anime interviews typically start one of two ways: I reach out to a company or studio with a pitch for an interview coinciding with a new release or a culture critique I’d love their firsthand account input on. The correspondence and the hit of endorphins at a reply where we flirt via emails hammering out scheduling is pretty fun. But, after an inordinate amount of time, should I get the green light, the following sequence of events is where my Sisyphean headache sets in with anime interviews: - I’m asked to send my interview questions beforehand for ease of translation purposes. - I get word back that the questions are “approved,” but the interviewee requests some questions be omitted. - Bonus: I’m given a rubric of questions not to ask. In the past, these no-nos have revolved around the limited criteria of avoiding questions comparing an anime to the manga, anything outside the anime, personal life, politics, international affairs, the career of the interviewee or other projects they’ve worked on, comparing a work to another series, or anything outside the anime itself. - The interview, if in person or over Zoom, is given a limited window of 5-10 minutes if it's a press event with other journalists queued up in waiting rooms and thusly limited depending on if the person ahead of me went over their time, leading to an improvised reshuffling of questions to ask briskly while taking translation time between questions and answers into account. - If the interview is at a convention, either live or over Zoom, it’s given a 20-minute window if I’m lucky. If it’s an exclusive interview spurred by my own volition, I'll be given upwards of 30 minutes again, if I’m lucky. The aforementioned time-for-translation phenomenon still applies. - Interview ends, and I get to writing my draft. - Interviewee requests to review my draft to check for “accuracy” and “tone.” This isn’t usually a requirement for English-language interviews, but when you’re working through a translator it’s generally a good practice. - Bonus: Interviewee requests to have answers omitted from the draft because they feel it isn’t pertinent to the conversation about the anime. - The subject takes issue with the fact that the questions they answered are in the article I wrote. They want some of the answers that they gave on the record removed. This takes the editing process to a dead halt. - We have a back-and-forth where I tell the interviewee I can't allow a subject to peer review an interview before it is published, which leads to a deadlock where an article is in limbo for weeks of correspondence and I’m not paid because it isn’t published yet. - The interview is published as originally written or acquiesced to the interviewee’s above demands by an editor or me. - I’m paid either $85, $100, or $200 (depending on what publication I’m writing for) while juggling five features a week in tandem with this interview (or other anime interviews) at the same time. - The process begins again. It’s within reason for a Japanese studio to request questions early ahead of an interview for translation purposes to alleviate the bottlenecked amount of time we’ll have to chat. But it invariably leads to a slippery slope where the journalism I showed up to conduct is treated as optional, a hurdle for the studio to jump over nearly every step of the way before any of my anime work gets published. At my most sardonic, I find humor in the challenge of asking pertinent and provocative questions, given that the above process only yields questions like whether my interviewees liked the colors, shapes, and sounds they saw in a show. At my most exasperated, I ask myself what we are even doing here, grumble about how the integrity of my work is being compromised, and wonder whether I should just slide my keyboard to my interviewees so they can write it up themselves, since I’m a middleman whose journalistic purpose feels ground to dust. ![Frieren: Beyond Journey's End still of Frieren inside a mimic. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Frieren-Beyond-Journey-s-End--2-.png) Frieren: Beyond Journey's End © Madhouse/Crunchyroll There’s probably more to be said about how journalistic culture and practices in Japan differ from those in the United States, how members of a company aren’t individuals, but representatives of their company at large, and anything said needs to be refined, and also that the language barrier is not insignificant. But when the subject knows questions ahead of time, cherry-picks what they don’t want to answer, gives an interview in a limited window of time, requests to peer review an article like a middle school English class where you pass papers around to classmates, and then asks to have answers they gave to questions they knew were coming omitted, what are we even doing here? That’s not journalism; that’s public relations. I’m not an anime studio's public relations receptacle. I’m a journalist, and boy do I hate doing anime interviews sometimes. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Stop Talking To Me, Google Search URL: https://aftermath.site/google-search-ai-conversation/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T21:31:41.000Z At this point it would be easier to list the things that *haven’t* been enshittified by AI, but on a case-by-case basis, I can often avoid it. Yeah, I think Stripe and my health insurance and my internet provider are all forcing me to waste my time with an overly-sympathetic bot before I can talk to a human who can actually solve my problems, but I don’t interact with those services all that frequently. But one place I am forced to encounter AI tens of times a day is Google search, which accelerated its race down the drain [back in May by “reimagin\[ing\] what Search can do with AI.”](https://aftermath.site/google-search-ai-changes/) What this means is that my Google search results are now constantly trying to talk to me, and I fucking hate it. In addition to the AI overview of results Google’s had for a while now, in which Google has [eaten every website’s traffic](https://www.wsj.com/business/media/google-search-publishers-ai-content-0fb06e41?ref=aftermath.site) in order to spit out over-simplified and frequently incorrect summaries, Google now frequently tries to use those summaries to funnel users into conversation with its bot. This is, I guess, an effort to seem “agentic,” AI’s favorite buzzword, but in practice mostly feels like when some guy won’t stop trying to talk to me at a bar. If I Google “What’s the weather in Charlotte in August?”, the AI overview ends with “If you'd like, I can help you plan a packing list or suggest the best times of day for outdoor activities in Charlotte during August.” When I recently had jury duty and on a whim tried to search [if anyone had said if it was cold in the courtroom](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3mqomoarbak2m?ref=aftermath.site), Google asked “Could you share when your summons date is, or let me know if you need help finding accessible public transit routes to the courthouse?” When I search for tips for running in the heat, Google offers, “If you'd like, let me know 1) What is the temperature and humidity where you are? 2) How long or far do you plan to run? I can help you build a custom hydration and pacing plan for your run.” One thing that bugs me about this is the assumptions these offers make about why I’m searching for something. This is by design–Google wrote in the [blog post](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/search-io-2026/?ref=aftermath.site#powerful-ai) about its May update that the new search is “\[d\]esigned to anticipate your intent.” Google doesn’t push its bot for all searches, just, as far as I can tell, the ones that seem like they could be funneled down a solutions-oriented path. This isn’t necessarily a bad assumption–it is probably not general intellectual curiosity that has led me to search for the weather in Charlotte–but it bothers me with the way it inherently presumes my searches are transactional or can be forced to be. It stinks of capitalism, of the belief that my questions are simply roadblocks to be overcome in a quest for productivity. And in this presumption, Google tries to narrow and direct my search behavior in a way that infuriates me as a library science nerd. No database is neutral, but they generally tend to stay out of your way. When you go to your local library catalogue, your desires (and your skill at using a particular repository) are what move you through, not the library catalogue nudging you toward what *it* thinks you should be searching for. Google, uninvited, attempts to steer me down the path it boldly presumes I mean to go, in the process inherently attempting to limit the information I encounter by pushing me toward itself instead of actual results. Google has always done this with its opaque and changing priorities, but that priority has changed from making websites conform to its whims to trying to force *me* to conform to its obsession with AI. These presumptions of intent can also be maddeningly wrong and insulting. Recently, I searched for a phrase from the Irish language version of *Heartstopper* I’m reading, “focáil leat,” which I was 90% sure meant “fuck you” but wanted to doublecheck. Google [got the translation right](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3mqlbcoq2hk2v?ref=aftermath.site), but then it also offered “If you are looking for the vastly more common, polite, and friendly Irish greeting instead, you might be thinking of ‘Go n-éirí leat’ (pronounced guh nye-ree lyat), which means ‘Good luck!’” This “If you are looking for” and “you might be thinking of” made me froth with fury. What in my search query could possibly have led Google to believe that’s what I was looking for, when the phrases are neither spelled the same nor mean the same thing? It read more like it was correcting me, as if it imagined I’m either very stupid or that someone had pulled a “póg ma thóin” style [linguistic prank](https://www.bitesize.irish/blog/happy-april-fools-day-in-irish-video/?ref=aftermath.site) on me. It felt like Google had invented a narrative for my search to justify keeping me engaged with it, presuming I must be mistaken simply because it couldn’t otherwise figure out how to keep me talking. It’s sycophantic in the way of all AI, overly helpful while not actually having much to offer. Focáil leatsa (fuck *you*), Google search! I’m aware that I’m falling into the AI trap of personifying these results, writing as if Google’s AI imagines and presumes. Google the company, of course, wants this too–it wants me to see my search results as a conversation with a helpful problem-solving buddy. The company has aims down the line to introduce actual agents that can search for you, jumping on the latest [Silicon Valley obsession](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-bots-claude-openclaw-285ac816?ref=aftermath.site) to basically make a version of Google Alerts that are worse for the environment. Maybe its current version of search is something of a test balloon for an eventual service it can charge for. But the same way it drives me crazy when Stripe’s AI customer service tells me it’s *so sorry, omg that must be so hard* to hear about whatever utterly mundane, thoroughly unemotional issue I’ve brought it that day, Google search’s hollow facsimile of the human desire to help lays bare how badly its inventors misunderstand what regular people want and how we feel when we’re searching for information. (Full disclosure: I wrote my library school Master’s thesis literally about this, so it *really* riles me up!) It exposes how Google sees its users: helpless and intellectually lazy, longing for machines to solve our problems for us, unable to sit in the sometimes uneasy space of unknowing that motivates information searching in the first place. Shortcutting yourself out of this space–or, worse, letting AI do it for you–robs you of the chance to explore and discover, to let your search take you to new places and learn new things. Or maybe all this just shows how desperate Google is to juice the interaction time with its AI. [Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/google/2026/07/google-just-had-its-first-negative-cash-flow-quarter-ever-due-to-massive-ai-spending/?ref=aftermath.site) reported last week that Google “is actually spending so much on AI infrastructure that it has negative cash flow for the first time” in its history. When Google jammed AI into my business suite back in [January 2025](https://www.404media.co/opting-out-of-gmails-gemini-ai-summaries-is-a-mess-heres-how-to-do-it-we-think/?ref=aftermath.site), I speculated to my Aftermath colleagues that it was mostly a ploy to make it look like people were using Gemini, by counting its non-consensual deployment as people actively using its offerings. I think the same can be argued of Google’s conversational search results, an effort to entice or trick users into engaging in order to show some kind of positive on whatever line graph the company needs to justify its disastrous spend. But mostly, I just don’t want to talk to my fucking search results. I want information that I can explore and evaluate on my own; I want to see what’s out there and what experts say, not what a bot can regurgitate and poorly summarize. I don’t want so many of my queries to be presumed to be problems I’m looking to solve, and I especially don’t want AI to try to solve them for me. I do not want any agents; I do not want to tell Google the weather in my area or when I intend to leave for the courthouse (not that the company probably doesn’t know this already, via my weather app or Google maps). If it simply *must* provide AI results, I want to be able to [scroll past them as quickly as possible](https://aftermath.site/google-ai-search-god-no-why/) and move on with my day. Take the hint, Google search. Leave me alone. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Welcome To Hater Week URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-site-hater-week-announcement/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T14:55:13.000Z Don’t hate the haters. Hate (extremely specific elements of) the game. Typically if someone calls you a “hater,” they mean it in a pejorative sense. You’re indiscriminately raining on other people’s parade. You’re yucking their yum just because you can. You’re the perpetual party pooper. But in truth, a functioning society requires haters—and I don’t mean people who larp at the idea of hating. I’m talking dedicated haters, those who know the objects of their derision more intimately than so-called fans. With scalpel-like precision, they cut through bullshit and explain—in the clearest terms—why something is Bad. You don’t have to agree with them, but you do have to respect them. In an era of toxically positive AI, companies serving up vapid slop and acting like we’re supposed to be excited about it, marketing buzzwords suffusing daily parlance, and every content creator under the sun tripping over themselves to sell out, haters are more needed than ever. They’re the last line of defense between us and the hollow existence that the powers that be are trying to sell us. Moreover, in a time when it’s considered cool to hate for hate’s sake—to dismiss something out of hand because some mob or another has turned it into a target—true haters set an example. They invite us to consider both our actions and our thoughts. *Why* is a game, show, book, movie, or even person worthy of hate? Is it actually, or are you just following the herd? Also, it’s fun to hate on things that suck. Everybody knows this. This week on Aftermath, we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. We’re painting an especially big target on the back of something we all despise, AI, with the debut of our continually updated list of game studios that refuse to use it, as well as features about defiance against AI in the workplace. Lastly, each day we’ll take aim at a very specific element of games we dislike, but with a twist to hopefully quell accusations that Aftermath is too negative all the time: Another writer will be publishing a counterpoint about why they love that same thing. Remember [our great](https://aftermath.site/i-hate-double-jump/) [double jump debate](https://aftermath.site/double-jumps-rule-actually/)? Or [the one](https://aftermath.site/parrying-bad/) [about parrying](https://aftermath.site/parrying-good/)? Get ready for a whole week of that. If you’ve been with us through other theme weeks like [Woke Week](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) and [Inside Baseball Week](https://aftermath.site/tag/inside-baseball-week/), you probably know the drill by now: We’re having [a sale on subscriptions](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscription-sale-2/), so if you’re not already a supporter, there’s no better time than the present. You can get your first month of our Reader tier for $1, or you can get *an entire year* of our higher Member tier for 25% off. We’re hoping this will allow us to [smash through even more of our subscriber goals](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/) (we’re so tantalizingly close to the return of [You Are Error](https://aftermath.site/tag/you-are-error/)), which will allow us to bring you the biggest, best website in all of human history. And if you *don’t* end up liking what you read, watch, or listen to, well, you know the concept of a hate follow? Do that, but [with your money](https://aftermath.site/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal/signup). [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### We're Having A Sale! URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscription-sale-2/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T04:15:33.000Z **UPDATE: *The sale has been so successful we're running it for another week! These discounts will now apply until midnight on August 9.*** **UPDATE 2: *Sale's over!*** [**But you can still subscribe here**](https://aftermath.ghost.io/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal/signup)**.** To celebrate [Hater Week](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-site-hater-week-announcement/)/our latest subscription drive, we figured hey, why not have a sale at the same time. 💵 Keep reading for **two* sale offers, on both our monthly and annual memberships! Because we don't have investors or owners aside from *us*, everything we do here at Aftermath is only made possible because, at time of writing, **5400 people are paying to read the website**. We couldn't be more appreciative of those folks (thank you!),[ but we have big goals for this website](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/), and that involves getting even *more* people directly supporting our work. To help kick that along, we're running this sale. Actually, to be more exact, we're running *two* sales. Our 'Reader' tier subscription, which lets you read every Aftermath story and comment underneath them, normally costs $7 a month (if you're paying monthly). **If you sign up *this week*, though, your first month will only cost $1**. A whole month of Aftermath for a buck! If you're a 'Free' member curious to see what the paid experience is like--[and we know there are over *25,000* of you](https://aftermath.site/weve-hit-30-000-members-thank-you-to-celebrate-were-dropping-a-ton-of-new-merch/)\--this is a great chance to find out. And our 'Member' tier subscription, which normally costs $100 a year (if you're paying annually) and gives you everything in the 'Reader' tier plus an invite to our community Discord,[ full-text RSS](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-rss-feed/) *and* [a discount on Aftermath merch](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/?ref=aftermath.site), **is now just $75 for your first year if you sign up during the sale. That's a savings of 25%**! You can redeem these offers below: ****Get your first month of Aftermath for just $1:** [REDEEM OFFER ](https://aftermathghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/ClaurdcQIf?ref=aftermath.site) ****Get 25% off a 'Member' tier annual subscription:** (If you're an existing paying subscriber but aren't logged in, [****please login first!**](https://aftermath.site/#/portal/signin)) [REDEEM OFFER ](https://aftermathghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/EmqXLH8fk2?ref=aftermath.site) [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Untitled-3-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ****It's Hater Week here on Aftermath**. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/hater-week/) ### Weird Al > Hideo Kojima URL: https://aftermath.site/weird-al-saudi-arabia-riyadh-comedy-hideo-kojima/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T16:49:44.000Z Rare is the auteur who manages to pave a singular path through multiple decades, constantly reinventing themselves while achieving household name status across multiple generations with work that presciently critiques society—and manages to have *fun* while doing so. Truly, we are lucky to be alive in the same era as Weird Al Yankovic. And I guess Hideo Kojima is also, you know, around. I put these two titans in conversation not to argue the merits of their respective work (Weird Al’s is better), but because Weird Al passed a test that Kojima failed spectacularly. Weird Al recently revealed that he was offered seven figures to participate in last year’s Riyadh Comedy Festival, which [attracted a whole raft of comedians](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-ea-saudi-arabia-riyadh-comedians/) who decided their principles very much had a price tag. Here’s what ended up happening, as revealed by Weird Al in [an interview with TribLive](https://triblive.com/aande/music/weird-al-yankovic-gets-bigger-and-weirder-in-a-tour-headed-to-pittsburgh/?ref=aftermath.site): > I was invited to the Riyadh Comedy Festival (in Saudi Arabia), which is something that I obviously did not want to do. They offered me, I’m not going to say how much, but it was seven figures to do one show, which is way more than I’ve ever been offered in my life to do a show. But I just couldn’t be part of that. I’m not dissing anybody that took the money because I’m sure everybody that went there got a lot of money. I’m sure they had their own reasons and justifications for doing it. But I’m doing enough that I don’t need to take any amount of money if it makes me feel icky, and that kind of did. I respect Weird Al’s restraint here, but also those people deserve to be dissed! They took money from a government with [numerous human rights abuses](https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026/country-chapters/saudi-arabia?ref=aftermath.site) on its record that relies on popular entertainers ([and athletes](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-saudi-arabia-liv-golf-ea-deal/)) specifically to cover up those abuses. Which brings us to Kojima, who—alongside other video game bigwigs like Activision COO Joshua Taub, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, Sega president Shuji Utsumi, and former *Tekken* director Katsuhiro Harada—[was a speaker at the 2025 Esports World Cup’s New Global Sport Conference](https://aftermath.site/esports-world-cup-new-global-sport-conference-2025-hideo-kojima/), another Riyadh-based, Saudi-government-backed act of reputational whitewashing. He did not need to! None of those executives did. They chose to. It’s unclear whether or not money changed hands, but that’s kind of beside the point. (Let’s be real, though: Considering that Saudi Arabia is [about to fork over billions to complete its purchase of EA](https://aftermath.site/esports-world-cup-new-global-sport-conference-2025-hideo-kojima/), it probably did.) Weird Al, if you’re wondering, is also [“not down” with AI](https://variety.com/2026/music/news/weird-al-yankovic-rejected-ai-commercial-money-offer-1236800794/?ref=aftermath.site). As for Kojima, [well….](https://aftermath.site/hideo-kojima-ai-prada/) ## Recommended [Come On, Guys - AftermathHideo Kojima and others like Twitch CEO Dan Clancy and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot are speaking at The New Global Sport Conference.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-961a6e9d-b8a8-41dd-9dbe-7318160eac81.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/kojima-3-447e391e-7b84-4600-8fc8-af28ea77da77.png)](https://aftermath.site/esports-world-cup-new-global-sport-conference-2025-hideo-kojima/) ### The Steam Machine's ePaper Faceplate Is Open Source And Full Of Possibility URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-epaper-inkterface/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T16:49:53.000Z When the [Steam Machine](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/) was first announced, a non-zero number of people zeroed in on a single accessory in the video. The Steam Machine takes swappable faceplates, allowing for customization, and the team at Valve had internally created an ePaper display that showed off the various internal statistics of the device: fan speed, temperature, memory and CPU performance. When people asked “will you be selling that?” Valve quickly said no and that it was primarily a tool for internal testing. But a few weeks back, in the most Valve move possible, they released the full files for the device, called the “Inkterface.” If you want to recreate an ePaper display on the front of your Steam Machine, you can buy the parts yourself, solder them together, 3D print a case, download the files from Gitlab, build the firmware, flash the device, and do it yourself. So I did. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot_20260724_150921.png) The Inkterface as it was originally shown off to the press. [Still via Gamers Nexus](https://youtu.be/bWUxObt1efQ?si=ihF7Ga5PIsdlJ4au&t=954&ref=aftermath.site). ## **The Inkterface’s beginnings** The Inkterface started as a functional tool to test the Steam Machine’s performance across multiple units quickly and easily. “We’re a small team so we try to do a lot of automated testing and monitoring. Having some kind of screen-less feedback on the Machine was always something we wanted,” NaKyle Wright, who worked on the Inkterface for Valve, told me. “I made iterations with small LCD screens, mini-displays, and other mechanisms, but really I was never quite happy with the way they looked and fit on the Machine.” “When I found the 5.83” EPD fit so perfectly in the faceplate footprint I quickly put together a prototype that was barely held together with tape and hot glue. That’s the unit folks saw in the first press event,” he told me “The same aesthetic choices drove me to give it a battery, even if it is annoying to charge, but at that first iteration I also had it automatically switching connections based on signal strength so I could swap it between units on desks, lab benches, etc. and just automatically get stats. I turned that off later, as it’s a little impractical with the use case of just a single unit or several units close together on a test rack.” The Inkterface itself is not hard-wired into the Steam Machine, although people have already engineered solutions to make it work that way. It instead is a battery-powered face plate with sandwiched magnets that snaps to the front and communicates via Bluetooth. The upshot is that you don’t actually need the device to be attached to your Machine to use it. It needs to be charged occasionally, and works by installing a light service on your Machine in Linux that runs in the background. Eventually this program will just be downloadable for free from Steam, but for now both the AppImage and the firmware must be downloaded and built locally from the Inkterface repository. By default the Inkterface shows the basic values that you would expect: OS/Bios/Steam versions, CPU/GPU temperature, fan speeds, overall load and memory consumption, but each of these values can be customized to report different values like the number of apps installed or total machine uptime. “Once I saw how folks were interested in it with even just the 15 seconds or so of footage it got, we decided to open source it,” Wright said. From there he told me that his priorities shifted from building out every potential feature and instead making it approachable to the broadest number of people possible. “I locked the design down to a single board, EDP breakout, battery, fastener size, and magnets that were readily available. I tried to simplify the wiring and soldering, making the backplate an easy way to hold the boards in place while you make the connections, and the connections mostly just along one side. I ruled out using any highly customized or niche libraries for the firmware. I kept the data collection and control software standalone and included so folks wouldn’t need to join up into any unknown ecosystem. I spent a lot of time trying to make the PDF and video guides concise and clear. All with the hope it would be approachable enough that folks who might have never soldered anything would take a shot at it. Not sure if I really achieved that or not!” With the exception of some minor hiccups, I believe that he did. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/A015_05230236_S043-1.webp) The Inkterface is battery powered and does not need to be attached to the Steam Machine provided it's in range and has power. ## **Getting started** [The bill of materials for the Inkterface](https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/SteamHardware/SteamMachine/inkterface?ref=aftermath.site) is not complex. Building it requires magnets in a specific form factor, some wires, a handful of parts you can print yourself, some m2.5 screws, an LP803860 battery, an Adafruit ESP32-S3 Feather, an ePaper “breakout friend” board and a 5.83 inch display from Adafruit. The case is meant to be 3D printed, and .stl files are provided. Unfortunately, ePaper is still a little pricey, and so the entire bill of materials as built is about 100 bucks plus shipping, because you are functionally cobbling together a weird Kindle that snaps to your computer. I could see saving some money down the line by using parts from Waveshare or Aliexpress, but I didn’t want to complicate things further, and Adafruit’s strength is that they are both reliable and consistent. Wright included not only very detailed instructions, but also a full build video that can be followed step-by-step. 0:00 /3:55 1× The tutorial video for the Inkterface using the Feather V1\. Credit: Valve Sometimes a project does not cooperate with you, and in this case one small but understandable error complicated the build. The Inkterface relies on an ESP32, a ubiquitous chip that’s in a huge number of smart devices. Similar to the Inkterface, the [Xteink X4](https://aftermath.site/xteink-x4-cheap-hackable-ereader-crosspoint-review/) is mostly just an ePaper screen with an ESP32 and a battery. The specific microcontroller main-board that the Inkterface uses is called a Feather, and the initial instructions for the Inkterface used an Adafruit Feather V1, but linked to an Adafruit Feather V2\. This complicates things because those two boards, though nearly identical in many ways, have different pinouts and handle checking battery levels differently. Due to how the project was hosted initially, flagging this problem was slightly difficult. [One person I talked to on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/steammachine/comments/1utd8y1/i%5Fbuilt%5Fthe%5Finkterface%5Feink%5Ffaceplate%5Ffor%5Fthe/?ref=aftermath.site) ran into the same issue and found a workaround. Eventually, I was able to get in contact with Wright and he quickly pushed a few updates to fix the issues I encountered. All of this is normal in the context of DIY and open source projects, as equipment you use to tinker behaves differently when it’s out in the wild being built by strangers. That’s all fixed now, but just know that I had to solder, desolder, and resolder this entire thing about four times across multiple Feathers so that people who come after won’t. With the now updated instructions, it is a fairly simple and straightforward build if you have the parts and know how to solder. ![A hand showing off a fully built plate with many slightly burnt wires.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IDG_20260721_111439_028.jpg) I had to do this like four times and in retrospect should have used smaller gauge wire. Flashing the firmware is on the technical end, but if you own a Steam Machine and are at all interested in making this, you signed up for some Linux shit. You have to download the firmware using Git. Git is a command line tool that is used to manage software, and in this case you use “git clone” to download the entire repository locally on your computer. From there it’s mostly copy-pasting commands into the terminal, but technically what you’re doing is using [Distrobox](https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox?ref=aftermath.site), which is a tool in Linux that lets you use other, specific, containerized versions of Linux to build the firmware and app. Eventually the app itself will be downloadable from the Steam store so you don’t need to build that part of it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot_20260724_151815--1-.png) The app will run in the background lightly and connect to your device. Once the firmware was flashed properly, the process was seamless. Depending on what version of Linux you’re flashing this from, you may need to make sure that you’re able to use serial control by adding yourself to the dial out group. But once you do, flashing the firmware is a matter of navigating to the firmware folder and typing in a single command while the assembled device is plugged in. The rest is all done for you. The repo also contains an [SVG file of Gabe Newell’s face](https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/SteamHardware/SteamMachine/inkterface/-/blob/main/resources/gaben.svg?ref%5Ftype=heads&ref=aftermath.site), and if you enable that as a build flag I believe it appears as a splash screen, although it appears to be disabled by default for image retention reasons on the display. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/inkterface-screenshot.png) Once installed, panels can be customized to display specific values. Once that’s done, you simply run the app that the computer built, install the service using the UI, and connect to the specific panel. Because Inkterface runs off of a lithium ion battery, you need to make sure it’s charged every once in a blue moon. Once installed, the completed faceplate works seamlessly. The one negative part about it is that, because it is an ePaper display, it has to refresh occasionally to update the information. By default it uses a full refresh, which is a little distracting if you’re using it in a living room context, but building the firmware so that it does a partial refresh is also possible and people have already done that online. But even with that drawback, it does look handsome, and is an object that could only exist with the context of the Steam Machine specifically and open source development generally. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/alt.webp) It's got a lot of quirks and I need to hack in partial refresh, but it is handsome. ## **Raw clay** The Inkterface is a niche device developed for internally testing a specific piece of hardware. Even people who have a Steam Machine might not find it useful, as the device's appeal is that it minds its own business and just works. Though you could tweak its default values, you probably don’t need to be constantly updated about how fast the system’s fan is going unless you’re doing something really perverted with the Steam Machine. But the strength of the Inkterface is the strength of the device itself: openness. You technically do not need a Steam Machine to make an Inkterface, and the device itself might be ideal for non-Steam Machine builds where overclocking is common and there’s a lot more variables to track. I have seen [at least one slick DIY 3D printed neon build](https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1uzuayu/55l%5Fplastic%5Fextrusion%5Fbeams%5Fand%5Fa%5Fside%5Fof%5Fvalve?ref=aftermath.site) that integrates it directly into the chassis. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/5-5l-plastic-extrusion-beams-and-a-side-of-valve-v0-1sc4udzxbzdh1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/8e5432fdc05c6834.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/5-5l-plastic-extrusion-beams-and-a-side-of-valve-v0-o5wejqi4czdh1.webp) The Beaminnie, shared on a [reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1uzuayu/55l%5Fplastic%5Fextrusion%5Fbeams%5Fand%5Fa%5Fside%5Fof%5Fvalve/?ref=aftermath.site) by user nicnic-cc, is a 3D printed case that integrates and modifies the existing Inkterface design. Source files [can be found here](https://makerworld.com/en/models/3068288-beaminnie-itx-case-valve-inkterface-front-panel?ref=aftermath.site#profileId-3453836). Created by Reddit user nicnic-cc, the case dubbed the “Beaminnie” is a 5.5L sandwich case. Printed out of PETG and offered in versions with and without an ePaper display, it features cutouts for GPU and CPU fans, and it directly embeds the display in the front for better monitoring of thermals. Nicnic-cc also modified the firmware, removing the battery logic to better run the device wired and changing the logo to reflect the machine is running Bazzite, a different open source Linux distro similar to the SteamOS that the Steam Machine runs on. [As with BC250 builds](https://aftermath.site/bc250-steam-machine-budget-computer/), the Beaminnie is cyberpunk in a sense that I wish was more common: unique, tailored, bold, and uncommercial, like the single shot in *Hackers* where you briefly see them spray their laptops camouflage. It is a stunning build, clean and eye-catching, the kind of object you can only make and representative of the electric excitement that people have for an open computing future. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/4beaa91200a1f0cd-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/cd20596463ebae5d-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/01fc510672c180a5-1.webp) nicnic-cc used a Xiao ePaper display board and a Waveshare ePaper display for the Beaminnie. The board connects directly to the headers on the motherboard instead of using a battery. ## **The future** More than anything, I wonder what the community will do with the raw material that Valve has provided. An app that integrates with Steam and displays the art of the game you’re playing on the front of the device would be great. The Inkterface is also not dissimilar to the work being done by the company TRMNL, a startup that has leaned into Kindle hacking and DIY to create an ecosystem for ePaper calendar reminders. When I reached out to TRMNL, they replied that they had already [publicly committed](https://x.com/useTRMNL/status/1988719497591812278?ref=aftermath.site) to porting their software to work on the Inkterface. While they do not have anything currently, TRMNL’s founder confirmed to me that they would be working to make their software work on the device soon. In addition to this, company JSAUX has already announced that they have [two ePaper Steam Machine face plates in the works](https://jsaux.com/pages/steam-machine?ref=aftermath.site), although what that looks like in practice is another story. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/all-2.webp) TRMNL makes ePaper software for their own devices, but has also embraced DIY displays and hacked Kindles as well. “There were so many ideas and suggestions, but so little time!” Wright said. “I know some folks have added partial refresh, enabling sleep on the ESP32 would be nice, and of course a lot more stats could be collected and displayed. Daily news, weather, notifications–all would be cool! More than anything I’m excited to see how much better the community will make it and the interesting things they might build with the pieces!” ePaper as a technology is entering into a beautiful space. While the displays themselves are still a little pricey, microcontrollers like the ESP32 have gotten cheap and are powerful enough to drive them to do serious tasks. Open source development like the work done on the Crosspoint’s firmware and Kindle hacking are creating new possibilities. What’s more, inexpensive ePaper displays like the Xteink are increasing the flexibility of these devices. Amazon does not own this space anymore, and it was an inevitability that they would not. [The Xteink X4 Is The Cheap, Hackable eReader That’s Just EnoughIt has no touchscreen, no light, and it’s under-powered. But the Xteink X4 has a devoted community that wants to make it sing.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f441cfdb-07fd-4513-bcc8-b71f474a8ae1.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/A014_12252045_S005-1-626da57e-24d8-4fca-86fd-5dbf3f333513.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/xteink-x4-cheap-hackable-ereader-crosspoint-review/) What Valve has done with the Inkterface rhymes with what was already happening organically in the DIY space. To the extent that a video game console can be ideological, the Inkterface perfectly represents what the Steam Machine is: open and overflowing with raw potential that extends beyond the device itself. It is not a product, but rather raw clay to be shaped. People can build, modify, and create their own Inkterface, with or without a Steam Machine. They can modify the firmware, change the form factor, or even have it run on different hardware altogether. People can embed an Inkterface in a custom PC case, run it hardwired, and change the logo to reflect that it’s running Bazzite. The Inkterface is niche for now, a 3D printed product for a specific device, but like many open source projects, it’s impossible to predict what people will build with what they have been given. “Hopefully,” Wright said, “it’s all small and simple enough that if someone is interested they can break it down and understand any individual part, realize they could make something way cooler, and go for it!” ### Can Somebody Get These BEGGARS Out Of Here? URL: https://aftermath.site/robert-pattinson-odyssey-chris-nolan-beggars/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T16:22:59.000Z I don’t know what it is about Christopher Nolan, but his movies have [always made](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-need-to-go-deeper?ref=aftermath.site) [good memes](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oppenheimers-stare-of-regret?ref=aftermath.site)—probably because they are the only movies that you can be sure everyone you know has seen. It’s one of the qualities that make me believe that his movies will stand the test of time, even if I don’t love all of his work. He has created images that stand in for feelings and expressions and have become a part of language, which is certainly an achievement. *The Odyssey* is no different, thanks to the invaluable talents of Robert Pattinson. People have said variations on the idea that Robert Pattinson has been “making up for” starring as Edward Cullen in *Twilight*, but I don’t think he has much to make up for. Pattinson is actually great in *Twilight* for the same reasons he’s a great actor in general: He takes Edward totally seriously, especially his selfishness and emotional unavailability, creating a character who is both authentically charming and loathsome. One of the first movies he made after the completion of the *Twilight* series, *Cosmopolis*, puts his talents for creating a slimy creep on full display. *Cosmopolis* is an adaptation of a Don Delillo novel of the same name, directed by David Cronenberg, and is about a very rich man, Eric Packer, who is trying to make it across town for a haircut, only to be stuck in traffic because the president is in town. It’s difficult to make Packer an interesting character to watch because his wealth has completely scooped him out inside—he is only really concerned with buying things and thinking about things he can buy. But with Pattinson’s skill, he makes Packer’s utterly pointless journey fascinating because he *is* so horrible. Pattinson has played a string of Horrible Guys in the decade since *Cosmopolis*—Thomas Howard in *The Lighthouse*, Connie Nikas in *Good Time*, and he went absolutely freak mode in a small part in the Timothee Chalamet movie *The King* as The Dauphin, doing some vocal work that simply must be seen to be believed. *The Odyssey* offers Pattinson a chance to play another weird asshole—Antinous, one of Penelope’s many suitors in Ithaca. Pattinson, always a troll in interviews, has described his role as like “playing Jacob in *Twilight.*” > Robert Pattinson on how funny it was to play Antinous, a character no one is rooting for in THE ODYSSEY: > > “It’s kind of like playing Jacob in Twilight” 🤭. [pic.twitter.com/y80OUraY91](https://t.co/y80OUraY91?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Robert Pattinson Photos | Fansite (@pattinsonphotos) [July 23, 2026](https://x.com/pattinsonphotos/status/2080434743976300550?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Pattinson clearly loves being Antinous, a character who is truly only concerned with his own wants and needs above everyone else’s. Antinous clearly believes that he alone deserves to be king of Ithaca, and is generous with his disrespect. He said that he thinks [Antinous would wear cheetah fur underpants](https://ew.com/robert-pattinson-wanted-odyssey-character-wear-luxurious-fur-underpants-12021803?ref=aftermath.site) as a way to portray the sensuousness of the character. “This sounds so ridiculous when you say it out loud,” the actor told Today. “This is my job! It’s my job to have these thoughts.” It’s Pattinson’s deep love of creating such a horrible man that leads to the very best line reading in *The Odyssey*. When Odysseus returns home, disguised as a beggar, Antinous cannot hide his contempt. At one point, he says to his fellow suitors, “Can somebody get these *beggars* out of here?” I did not know it was possible to say the word “beggars” in such a way that it sounds like a racial slur, but somehow, vein popping out of his neck, Robert Pattinson manages this. My husband and I have been walking around our apartment, telling each other “can somebody get these *beggars* out of here?” to each other since we saw the movie last weekend, but no matter how hard I try I can’t get the inflection quite right. This line read has clearly made an impression on other people who’ve seen *The Odyssey* too; a blurry screen recording of the moment has become a very popular meme. > How it feels walking past everyone else to use the A-List concessions line [pic.twitter.com/b8NiNYRBWU](https://t.co/b8NiNYRBWU?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Brian (@midsommarz) [July 21, 2026](https://x.com/midsommarz/status/2079565743385940113?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > [https://t.co/gU4CvuWlTd](https://t.co/gU4CvuWlTd?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/eORrZjpUcv](https://t.co/eORrZjpUcv?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Frazier Tharpe II (@The\_SummerMan) [July 23, 2026](https://x.com/The%5FSummerMan/status/2080321944516190698?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Trying to engagement farm in our replies [pic.twitter.com/o9sw2m8Y6v](https://t.co/o9sw2m8Y6v?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) [July 23, 2026](https://x.com/CultureCrave/status/2080107075540324769?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Just as Nolan is clearly an all-timer director, someone whose work has been canonized and will inevitably be studied and discussed for decades, I think that Pattinson is an all-timer actor. Part of that is just because he clearly *loves* it—he *loves* making an audience hate him, he loves doing weird little voices, and he loves finding all the strange contours of his characters to make them truly lived in. Even when I return to *Twilight*, which I do [every hoa hoa season](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/hoa-hoa-hoa-season-twilight-soundtrack-b2618306.html?ref=aftermath.site), I see these qualities in him as an actor. You can see that he kind of hates playing Edward, and he pours that hate into the character, who comes off as whiny and insecure, perpetually a nerd who doesn’t actually want to have sex with his girlfriend on prom night. I love him. And I cannot wait to see what weird shit he gets up to in *Dune 3*. ### A Whole Big, Fancy Book Just About Game UI URL: https://aftermath.site/game-ui-bible-database-book-lost-in-cult-edd-coates/ Last updated: 2026-07-27T14:09:49.000Z Edd Coates'[ Game UI Database](https://www.gameuidatabase.com/?ref=aftermath.site), which[ we featured a couple of years ago on the site](https://aftermath.site/game-ui-database/), is making the jump to the real world, with publisher Lost In Cult announcing today that it's being turned into a book called *The Game UI Bible*. Rather than just being a huge collection of menus and icons--though that would also have been wonderful--the book has been split into two halves, each going deep into the concepts and best examples of UI and UX: > In the first half of *The Game UI Bible*, Coates discusses the foundations of UI and UX design. This section begins in the earliest days of PC, console, and arcade gaming and travels through to the modern day to track continuity and change in the fields’ key tenets as luminary designers elaborated on – and sometimes challenged – them. > > In *The Game UI Bible*’s second half, Coates speaks directly to those luminaries. Across a series of case studies, Coates is in conversation with the key UI and UX designers who brought benchmark games to life, from *God of War* and *Half-Life: Alyx* to *Inscryption* and *Monument Valley*. These interviews are surrounded by essays on topics ranging from Nintendo’s Switch branding to the relationship between game UI and meme culture, all of which illustrate just how significant and far-reaching these fields are. In a very nice touch, Lost In Cult say "select spreads \[have been\] printed across see-through acetate layers allowing you to peel back a game’s UI element by element". ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/render_05-1.webp) It'll cost[ £50 for a standard edition, and £60 for a fancier version](https://www.lostincult.co.uk/shop/p/gameui?ref=aftermath.site) with a slipcase and poster. ### Workers Behind Immensely Popular Game Theorists YouTube Channel Will Get Their Union, With Or Without MatPat’s Help URL: https://aftermath.site/game-theorists-youtube-union-matpat-lunar-x/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T18:56:53.000Z Late last year, workers behind the scenes of Theorist Media took an uncommon step in the YouTube space, verging on unprecedented: They [announced their intention to unionize](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/editors-guild-writers-guild-attempt-unionize-theorist-media-1236426524/?ref=aftermath.site). Arm in arm with the International Alliance Of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Writers Guild Of America West (WGAW), workers sought recognition for the often-invisible labor performed by countless writers, editors, and producers in a Wild West that’s nonetheless [got Hollywood sweating bullets](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/deloitte-gen-z-creator-content-streaming-price-1236171227/?ref=aftermath.site): “By unionizing, our goal is to help raise professional standards and bring them in line with the broader entertainment industry,” a Theorist Media worker [said at the time](https://www.wga.org/news-events/news/press/2025/theorist-media-creatives-announce-joint-union-drive-with-editors-guild-and-wgaw?ref=aftermath.site). “The work we do is real, and it deserves real protection.” But more than half a year later, Lunar X, the parent company of Theorist Media, is still refusing to play ball. Despite a supermajority of cards signed, the company won’t voluntarily recognize the union. "We are at a bit of a standstill," a Theorist Media worker, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, told Aftermath. "We are not planning on staying at a standstill forever.” “We're trying to put more and more pressure on the company to do the right thing and recognize the union, and that has definitely become way more public," IATSE local 700’s Preston Johnson, who’s helping Theorist Media workers organize, told Aftermath. "There’s a lot of power in the story of these workers organizing, because they love what they do so much and they’ve been willing to fight for so long despite management refusing to move.” Theorist Media now represents a constellation of YouTube channels, each with millions of subscribers, but it all began with Matthew “MatPat” Patrick’s [Game Theory videos](https://www.youtube.com/@GameTheory?ref=aftermath.site) back in 2011, which evolved into their own channel and, eventually, a genre of media analysis focused on lore, secrets, and of course, theorizing. The Game Theorists’ videos played an outsized role in popularizing the way fans now scrutinize games and shows—and the way creators often cater to those obsessive fans. Series like *Undertale* and *Five Nights At Freddy’s* might not have achieved generational ubiquity without The Game Theorists. Love it or hate it, the channel’s influence cannot be denied. > "Seeing that these people—who I admire a lot and who worked very hard—were not just making more than me, but are able to retire from working if they want to \[really put things in perspective\].” While Patrick remained the face of Theorist Media for more than a decade, he and his wife/COO, Stephanie, [sold the channel to German media company Lunar X in 2022](https://www.tubefilter.com/2022/12/20/theorist-media-acquired-by-lunar-x/?ref=aftermath.site). Ultimately, Patrick [decided to retire from YouTube in 2024](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming/matpat-retires-youtube-game-theorists-1234984364/?ref=aftermath.site), imparting Game Theorists, Film Theorists, Food Theorists, and Style Theorists to a new batch of creators. By that point, Theorist Media hadn’t been a one-person show for quite some time; modern YouTube videos are often far more involved than a lone person talking at a camera, and while not everyone is MrBeast, they can still require entire teams for writing, editing, and production purposes. On top of that, Theorist Media now also runs a “Theoryverse” subscription service, which necessitates even more shows. The Theorist Union would encompass around 20 Theorist Media workers responsible for writing, editing, production, sound design, and thumbnail imagery, among other things. While they’ve yet to reach the bargaining table, workers to whom Aftermath spoke expressed interest in better pay and greater job security—especially in light of the fact that Patrick, Stephanie, and a manager were able to functionally retire following their time at Theorist Media. "Seeing that these people—who I admire a lot and who worked very hard—were not just making more than me, but are able to retire from working if they want to \[really put things in perspective\],” said a Theorist Media worker. “Pretty much most of us are still on a paycheck to paycheck kind of \[arrangement\]. We figured that something in the math wasn't quite right." This worker also described a situation in which management promoted a head editor to showrunner, only to cancel the show and claim there was no room for them to return to their old job. The terms of their severance were also not great. "We were already organizing,” said the worker, “but that moment was a big fire under everyone's butts to be like 'We need protection.' If they can fire \[that editor\] like that and offer them pretty much nothing, then none of us are safe." Aftermath reached out to Lunar X, but the company declined to comment. > Theorist workers want a union. Supermajority signed union cards. It's time for @teamtheorist.bsky.social + Lunar X to recognize them today! #TheoristsUnite @mpeg700.bsky.social To join the conversation, visit our social toolkit with access to shareable info: docs.google.com/document/d/1... > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uq6takpk2zz4ycqy5c43ogrd/post/3m7no6t7pm22v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Writers Guild of America West ([@wgawest.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uq6takpk2zz4ycqy5c43ogrd?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [December 10, 2025 at 10:17 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uq6takpk2zz4ycqy5c43ogrd/post/3m7no6t7pm22v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) Initially, IATSE, WGAW, and workers mostly attempted to turn the heat up internally—to take a kind of high road rather than dragging Lunar down into the dirt publicly. After the initial announcement, which garnered press attention, this included signing letters and delivering them straight to the CEO of Lunar X, as well as displaying pro-union profile pictures in work Slack. But as days and weeks passed, it became apparent that management would not be easily moved. The company still refused to recognize the union. "One of the major challenges with unionizing in a digital space is the fact that most of us are not physically in a single office somewhere," another Theorist Media worker told Aftermath. "We are all over the world, all over the country, and it isn't as simple as just walking up to your coworker and presenting them with a piece of paper they can sign or physically going to your boss in numbers and making the demand. ... Those are just numbers on a screen. The physical aspect of old-school boots on the ground organizing has been taken away.” Another issue is that as far as a union push like this goes, Theorist Media workers are largely alone in the lawless land of YouTube. "Watching other places within the media space unionize, once there's a call to unionize, a lot of the time \[management\] is just like 'OK,' because they know that unions mean business,” said another Theorist Media worker. “The film sets, a lot of them get voluntarily recognized pretty quickly once there's enough cards. Whereas this space, there's no precedent here. It's not like we could point to ten other groups and be like 'Hey, they also got voluntary recognition.' It's the final frontier of media right now." This worker, who also has experience on more traditional sets, added that the current YouTube status quo makes things harder for everyone, not just those at Theorist. "There's such a range of how people get treated in the YouTube space, whereas working between NBC and HBO on the sets I've been on, there's not much of a difference. They're run by the same people, in the same way,” they said. “Versus social media, you go on A or B set, it's totally different—a totally different vibe, a totally different space, and it's a little bit harder based on the creators themselves. Everything's so personal and there's a face to everything, unlike NBC where it's just, like, a scary businessman who nobody really \[knows\]." In recent months, IATSE, WGAW, and workers have opted to break cover and make the struggle known more widely. But even [videos](https://www.instagram.com/mpeg700/reel/DUjGV8DEshy/?ref=aftermath.site) and [social media posts](https://www.instagram.com/p/DSLrSLwkkkw/?ref=aftermath.site) outlining workers’ needs, in their own voices, failed to make waves on social media or draw Lunar X to the bargaining table. Then all involved came to realize that they were sitting on a secret weapon: fans. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/theory2.jpg) IATSE A couple incidents woke this particular sleeping giant: IATSE made [a public Instagram post in May](https://www.instagram.com/mpeg700/p/DYNVR3KGWVm/?ref=aftermath.site) calling on Patrick—no longer part of Theorist Media, but nonetheless an influential voice—to acknowledge the union push and support “former colleagues that helped you build \[Theorist’s\] success from the ground up.” Years after his departure, Patrick remains nearly synonymous with Theorist Media, and in the world of content creation, one familiar face is worth more than a million impassioned entreaties from people fans haven’t heard of. "I personally think that after MatPat left, a lot of our audience kind of disengaged from the channels,” a Theorist Media worker told Aftermath, “because it was like watching your favorite character leave a TV show or watching the host of a game show you like leave. It's like 'Well, I only stayed for them.'" "In general if you mention Theorist Media, \[people\] are like 'I don't know what that is,'” said another Theorist Media worker. “And then you're like 'Do you know MatPat,' and they're like 'Oh yeah.' So that is a way to get people that might not have engaged with the brand for a while back." This also provides a potential source of leverage: Theorist Media’s viewership dropped following Patrick’s departure, and while workers say that management has claimed it’s since stabilized, that doesn’t mean the company’s metrics can afford to take another big hit if, say, fans pull their support due to outrage over Lunar X’s failure to recognize the union. > "I personally think that after MatPat left, a lot of our audience kind of disengaged from the channels.” But the sword cuts both ways: YouTube is a choppy sea in the best of times, and one or two unfavorable algorithm shifts could send workers careening overboard. "This is a worry that predates \[Patrick\] retiring, that I've heard also across the industry of YouTubers. It's a volatile, volatile industry,” said a Theorist Media worker. “We are very aware that any day it could just all collapse, so that was another \[indication\] that we need to have severance in our contracts." While Patrick still hasn’t publicly spoken about the union, IATSE’s post managed to get fans talking. “The fact that Theorist Media has declined to recognize the union \[is troubling\],” wrote one fan in [a Reddit post that garnered hundreds of upvotes](https://www.reddit.com/r/GameTheorists/comments/1tbw9ep/why%5Fis%5Fit%5Fbad%5Fthat%5Fthe%5Fstaff%5Fat%5Ftheorist%5Fmedia/?ref=aftermath.site), “especially when one of the stated reasons for the union was to achieve fair pay and better working conditions and the other amounts to trying to improve the \[entire\] industry, something MatPat and Steph also seem concerned about right now given their [recent work with Congress](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creator%5FEconomy%5FCaucus?ref=aftermath.site) to establish a committee for creator's rights. The union effort, if anything, should be fully in line with Mat and Steph's goals with that, almost making one wonder if Mat and Steph weren't motivated by some of the issues they were seeing in-house. That's also speculation, but it all paints a troubling picture of what direction Lunar X is pushing the company on the backend.” Aftermath reached out to Patrick but did not receive a reply as of this publishing. Then, in June, Theorist Media parted ways with Fish, a producer who also featured on the company’s livestream. "Very recently, we had our head of production, who was also an on-camera talent for our livestreaming channel, let go,” the Theorist Media worker said. “That was the first time the audience really noticed a big change from behind the scenes, and only then did they actually realize what was going on for this entire time. Then they realized all at once, and a bunch of fans started to catch on." > Send a message to the CEO of Theorist Media/Lunar X to help Theorist writers get the contract they deserve! vist.ly/58wc7 #TheoristsUnite > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uq6takpk2zz4ycqy5c43ogrd/post/3mp2655akwd2v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Writers Guild of America West ([@wgawest.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uq6takpk2zz4ycqy5c43ogrd?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [June 24, 2026 at 7:52 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uq6takpk2zz4ycqy5c43ogrd/post/3mp2655akwd2v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) From that point on, fans began to [make petitions](https://www.change.org/p/petition-demanding-that-lunar-x-recognize-the-unionizing-of-team-theorist?ref=aftermath.site), send emails, share posts on social media, and regularly talk about the union in Theorist-associated subreddits. Now the movement has actual momentum. “Any chance \[fans\] can to make our cause visible, they will take,” said the Theorist Media worker. “It took a while, but they're finally doing it now.” It’s been a learning process for unions and workers alike. "I think we've gotten a lot smarter, especially as our friends at WGA and IATSE get to know our content better, because this is a whole new world for the entertainment unions,” said another Theorist Media worker. “It requires a different strategy, different plans. Within entertainment unions, fans don't matter as much with traditional media. NBC is going to see a bunch of fans be like 'We don't like NBC' \[and think\] 'What are they going to do? Take it out of their cable plan?' For us, fans impact our business way more. They could take away their views almost instantly." Newfound leverage comes at an opportune time, because the Theorist Media Union’s other path to recognition goes through the National Labor Relations Board, an entity that’s not exactly in great shape to expeditiously uplift a nascent union right now—or do much of anything else, for that matter. Trump has [spent much of his second term](https://newrepublic.com/article/211161/trump-wrecking-nlrb-labor-rights?ref=aftermath.site) denying the NLRB the quorum it relies on to make major decisions, which led to [a “historic” backlog of cases](https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/general-counsel-announces-case-reallocation-initiative-to-tackle-historic?ref=aftermath.site). Now, even with the quorum restored and another (Republican, of course) nominee on the way, the NLRB continues to move in slow motion. "In an ideal world, \[Theorist Media and Lunar X\] would voluntarily recognize us, even with the best NLRB,” said a Theorist Media worker. “In a less-than-ideal but better-than-now world, after they rejected us, we would have a much easier time attempting to take an election with the NLRB. But I have personally been following what appointments are happening there, and ... the more recent appointees are less worker friendly." > "For us, fans impact our business way more. They could take away their views almost instantly." There remain additional levers that unions and workers could pull. It is conspicuous, for example, that aside from [a video posted earlier this year](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opQxM8cr6xw&ref=aftermath.site) by a small leftist channel called The Valley Labor Report, the Theorist Media Union has almost no presence on YouTube—despite it being the place where the lion's share of Theorist fans congregate. Theorist Media’s prospective union members have traveled a long road to reach this point, and there’s a decent possibility that no matter which way things ultimately go—voluntary recognition or NLRB—the end won’t come any time soon. But workers are prepared to fight the good fight for as long as it takes. "We are still people, even if we are not on camera, and we need to be treated as such and fairly, because especially nowadays in a very digital industry, it seems like we are starting to prioritize artificial intelligence and cutting corners,” said a Theorist Media worker. “The things that we do and the art that we make for mass consumption is still art, and if at baseline we can get it recognized, then we can actually get down to brass tacks and get a fair contract that we feel we deserve." ## Recommended [Skibidi Toilet Community Goodwill Circling The Drain After Hollywood Studio Takes OverSince Invisible Narratives bought the rights to Skibidi Toilet in 2023, fan creators have faced copyright strikes and clashed with the Creator Alliance trying to “professionalize” their work![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-9104dd32-667a-469b-a305-4a53e976e1d6.png)AftermathSteven Asarch![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/skibidi-thumbnail-1-3ff88e6b-0a49-41f9-ac71-480fc83ef432.jpeg)](https://aftermath.site/skibidi-toilet-creator-alliance-invisible-narratives/) ### Amazon, Like Netflix, Also Wants To Flail Around With Games URL: https://aftermath.site/amazon-netflix-video-games-luna/ Last updated: 2026-07-23T17:27:39.000Z Amazon had a blitz of video game-related press this morning, as it announced that its [Luna game streaming service will now show up on Prime](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/amazons-prime-video-app-is-getting-luna-game-streaming-making-it-easier-to-find/?ref=aftermath.site), instead of being a standalone thing. From Amazon’s point of view, this will make its games easier for users to find. But in further conversations beyond the press release, the move shows Amazon leaning into a strategy that isn’t working for Netflix, but that Amazon seems to think might work for them. Speaking to [GamesIndustry](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/now-luna-is-integrated-into-prime-video-amazon-sees-potential-for-gaming-to-expand-beyond-pc-and-console-that-pie-isnt-really-growing?ref=aftermath.site), general manager of Luna and Amazon Game Studios Jeff Gattis said he wants to unify Amazon’s various games offerings (Luna, Prime Gaming, and the games Amazon makes itself– though not, intriguingly, [Twitch](https://aftermath.site/twitch-ceo-dan-clancy-profitable-layoffs-interview-report/)) into one place. AGS’ games will be published on Luna, though some Amazon-made titles will still show up on other platforms too. Beyond helping people find and play the games Amazon makes and offers, another focus of this move is to reach more casual players, people who may not own a console, but might play an Amazon game if they see it in the same place they look for *The Boys* and *Fallout*. “The thought was we're going to go get people to turn in their consoles and drop their gaming PCs and come to Luna. We've kind of abandoned that,” Gattis told GIbiz, saying the company instead aims to focus on people who “play games, but they're not able to play on a television screen.” With the cost of hardware rising, Amazon sees an untapped market here, instead of trying to compete with the Steams, PlayStations, and Xboxes (where Gattis worked before coming to Amazon in March 2025) of the world. Gattis also highlighted the success of “mass appeal IP” games, like *Hogwarts Legacy*, and said Amazon intends to continue leaning into that name recognition–“A big part of our content strategy going forward is going to be leveraging Amazon IP”--while making sure these games “aren't incredibly difficult to play, the game mechanics aren't super hard to learn.” He also highlighted Luna’s [GameNight](https://luna.amazon.com/gamenight?ref=aftermath.site), a collection of party games subscribers can play with their phones. “\[T\]he idea is that you're not committing 60 hours to a game or watching YouTube videos to figure out how to play,” he said. Sound familiar? As GIBiz also notes, a lot of this sounds pretty similar to [Netflix’s](https://aftermath.site/netflix-video-games-fifa/) endless “[scratching the surface](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3mqsr7chpd226?ref=aftermath.site)” of games. That company has *also* tried to leverage name recognition through games like [*Squid Game: Unleashed*](https://aftermath.site/squid-game-unleashed-netflix/) and [*FIFA World Cup*](https://aftermath.site/fifa-world-cup-launch-edition-netflix-review-impressions/)–the latter of which, [GameFile](https://www.gamefile.news/p/delphi-interactive-james-bond-fifa-michael-eisner-disney?ref=aftermath.site) reported, had 1.5 million players in its first week and embraced a similar casual strategy as Gattis espouses, with *FIFA* developer Delphi Interactive CEO Casper Daugaard telling GameFile that they wanted to make the game easy. Netflix has also experimented with shoving games into the same places people watch TV, as well as leaning into party games, with co-CEO Gregory Peters saying the company had seen “really strong uptake” in its party games in a [Q4 2025 earnings call](https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc%5Ffinancials/2025/q4/Netflix-Inc-%5FEarnings-Call%5F2026-01-20%5FEnglish-1.pdf?ref=aftermath.site). I don’t disagree with both companies’ strategies to stop trying to compete with more robust gaming storefronts and hardware. And it’s an apt, if not depressing, sign of the times to see both companies trying to cash in on how [rising hardware costs](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/) are affecting players. ([Dismally for different reasons](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs-microsoft-ai/), Xbox is getting in on this action too, this morning announcing [a test of ad-supported game streaming](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/07/23/game-streaming-ad-supported-xbox-insiders/?ref=aftermath.site).) But Netflix has flailed dramatically in the video game space, as has Amazon, with both companies [closing studios](https://aftermath.site/squid-game-unleashed-boss-fight-closed/) or having [developer layoffs](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/amazon-games-is-making-major-layoffs-as-it-shifts-focus-away-from-mmos-to-its-luna-cloud-gaming-platform-we-have-made-the-difficult-decision-to-halt-a-significant-amount-of-our-first-party-aaa-game-development/?ref=aftermath.site), [embracing](https://aftermath.site/netflix-ai-garbage-mike-verdu-vp-of-ai-slop/) [AI slop](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/amazon-reportedly-had-a-studio-pivot-away-from-a-game-everyone-was-excited-by-to-make-something-with-more-ai-stuffed-in-it-then-laid-them-all-off-anyway/?ref=aftermath.site), and generally wreaking havoc with workers’ livelihoods as they try to figure out what the hell they’re doing. As Netflix’s continual sidestepping of the numbers could indicate, it’s following a murky, mid-tier playbook, one that’s proved disastrous for game developers and workers when it inevitably fails to immediately produce the subscriber numbers these companies thirst for. Amazon seems to think things will go differently when it runs the same plays… just because? While the covid gaming boom might’ve cooled, non-gaming companies are still suddenly realizing games exist, trying to make money from them by throwing everything at the wall except simply paying people to make good games, and then pivoting to some next doomed strategy when things don’t work out fast enough. Amazon has rolled out a press tour to attempt to inspire confidence, with Gattis lightly acknowledging past failures while touting *this* as the move, like every badly-thought-out games non-strategy before him. It didn’t work for those people, but it might work for us. ### Old World Is A Modern Strategy Gaming Masterpiece URL: https://aftermath.site/old-world-4x-review-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-07-24T18:40:55.000Z [I've been talking a lot of shit about *Civ VII* over the past year](https://aftermath.site/tag/civilization-vii/), and nearly every time I do, I find myself pointing to all its flaws, then pointing over at 4X rival *Old World*\--which is *excellent*\--and saying "See? SEE?! This is how you do it!!!" I've only just realised that I've never actually written about *Old World* on *this* website to explain in detail what I'm pointing at, so let's fix that. First released into Early Access all the way back in 2020, *Old World* is a 4X game directed by Soren Johnson, who had previously been lead designer on *Civilization IV*. Seeking to address some of the issues he ran into on that storied series--[like games going for too long](https://www.pcgamesn.com/old-world/civilization-too-long?ref=aftermath.site) as they try to span 6000 years of human history--*Old World* narrows its scope to just the...old world, letting you play as factions like Rome, ancient Greece, Persia and Egypt, and ending things just before what we'd now call the [Early Middle Ages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early%5FMiddle%5FAges?ref=aftermath.site). [As I've said in other posts](https://aftermath.site/sid-meiers-colonization-pc-windows-game/), I think a focused 4X game is a good 4X game. Why? By limiting its representation of history to a single era, *Old World* is able to invest in much more detailed and interesting diversions within that period than *Civ* has ever been able to manage. Most important of these is a dynasty and relationship system lifted straight from *Crusader Kings*, where every faction is made up of families and clans, and every major individual within them is represented by personality traits and skills, and the relationships they develop as a result. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-23-085152.png) Old World gets the scale of both its maps and its units just right. In ancient times, the world was a BIG place! These values bounce off one another all the time to create a real sense of personality, and add fantastic layers of depth and unpredictability to every playthrough. Every single turn in the game begins with a series of decisions and events you need to resolve before moving units, ranging from settling personal issues (all of them based on characters’ stats and standing) to exploring (even more) ancient ruins, and your decisions here can have far-reaching ramifications. A dispute between a rival king and his heir, for example, can ask you who to support. Back the king and you might maintain cordial relations in the present, at the risk of creating a grudge down the line. Back the heir and you could risk war in the coming days, but count on an ally when the king eventually dies. This makes diplomacy one of the game’s strongest systems; rather than reducing interactions with the AI to a series of barters over numbers, it makes the whole world feel alive, and makes every other faction in the game something you can develop a *relationship* with. Also key to *Old World's* success is the sense of scale it's able to achieve. *Old World* fully understands that the best parts of any 4X game are its earliest turns, where the player must explore the world around them and found their first settlements in the wilderness. In a purely visual sense, *Old World* absolutely *nails* this: its deserts are vast, its mountains often impassable, its oceans intimidating. At all times you feel like a very small civilization just scratching the surface of an enormous, uncharted world. This scale carries through into how it plays, as well. While *Old World* has loosely the same district-building system as recent *Civilization* games, it couldn't be implemented more differently. Your improvements have to be constructed by hand, for starters ([I love worker units!](https://aftermath.site/strategy-game-turn-based-tactics-movement/)), but even when your biggest cities start to sprawl, they never overcome the landscape like *Civ*'s megacities do. There's always so much land around you in this game, reminding you at all times that you live in ancient times, and that moving around that world was *hard work*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/20260716141218_1.jpg) Old World has seen a steady stream of updates over the years, with the most recent (featuring three new playable civilizations) landing in March There are so many other ways this game stands above the competition. The fact developers Mohawk keep adding updates and new factions ([three more dropped recently, *six years* after release!](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4129630/Old%5FWorld%5F%5FEmpires%5Fof%5Fthe%5FIndus/?ref=aftermath.site)) rules.[ The soundtrack is so good it was nominated for a Grammy](https://www.grammy.com/artists/christopher-tin/14405/?ref=aftermath.site). The amount of quality, engaging writing that's gone into its events and relationships is simply mind-boggling. And its "order" system, where the number of moves you can issue per turn is limited to the strength of your bureaucracy (you can rarely move all your units!), is one of the smartest combinations of historical accuracy and interesting game mechanics I have ever seen. Basically everywhere I look with this game, I see something I not only like but, given my long experience with the genre, that I admire. The whole thing is an accomplished understanding of not just what makes 4X games great, but where they can innovate in ways that *add* to the experience, rather than derailing it. It's a game[ I loved when I first played it back in 2020](https://web.archive.org/web/20200429113531/https://kotaku.com/old-world-is-teaching-strategy-games-some-new-tricks-1842871705), and have only grown to love it more since. ### Layoffs Leave The Future Of Xbox’s Award-Winning Accessibility Efforts In Doubt URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-accessibility/ Last updated: 2026-07-24T00:56:11.000Z On July 6, Microsoft leadership announced a new wave of mass layoffs within Xbox, this time affecting [1600 full-time employees](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/), as well as numerous contractors, with another 1600 expected through the company’s 2027 fiscal year. This round of layoffs not only saw the decimation of studios like [id Software](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/); it also targeted many who worked on accessibility across the greater Xbox ecosystem, a relative first for industrywide layoffs. Since 2018, Xbox has proudly and publicly championed accessibility with the release of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, as well as a plethora of innovative, award-winning features like *Forza’s* Blind Driving Assists and *Doom: The Dark Ages*’ game speed and difficulty options. Disabled players have expected robust accessibility offerings created by each Xbox studio. Now, according to former employees and contractors, the vastness of layoffs, particularly surrounding people working on accessibility within games and Xbox services, is going to impact how disabled individuals interact with Xbox. Xbox has restructured a centralized accessibility team, removed all funding for Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Services (MGATS), and eliminated accessibility testers for games and compliance experts for Xbox sites. People who spoke to Aftermath are grappling with uncertainty about how these layoffs will impact future games, services, and even digital access. Microsoft did not reply to a request for comment by time of publishing. ## **The Question of Game Accessibility** Microsoft’s gaming ecosystem covers an array of genres, series, and new ideas. From Bethesda Games Studios, to Turn 10, to Playground Games, disabled individuals have been able to confidently experience most of Xbox’s portfolio alongside able-bodied peers. As one laid-off employee involved in accessibility across game studios told me, accessibility was supported not just across Xbox, but also by individuals within every studio. Xbox’s cuts also impacted researchers, many of them contractors, who tested games to ensure the accessible features and designs were usable by disabled individuals. After these layoffs, the former employee said that disabled players may not notice the lack of proper support for quite some time. “I loved every minute of working on accessibility for Xbox titles, and I’m heartbroken I won’t be around to help anymore,” they said. “The future of Xbox accessibility is going to be something that takes a long time for players to feel. Individual studios still have their accessibility culture that they’ve built up over many years.” It’s not a question of whether each remaining development team cares about accessibility, but rather if they still have the resources to properly implement each feature and design. The former employee explained that games releasing within the next year are relatively finished in terms of accessibility testing and feature roadmaps, but there’s no certainty what the future of Xbox accessibility looks like beyond 2027\. This is in large part due to cuts not only affecting the internal full-time Xbox accessibility team and individual studios’ employees, but also contractors who provided critical services like accessibility testing. They said that without a centralized accessibility support network, the “standards and prioritization frameworks that helped save teams time and energy” no longer exist. “That support structure, while on paper didn’t look like it was doing anything, was actually educating and connecting developers, and providing the framework to take a massive list and then narrow it down to what would be most impactful for disabled players,” the former employee said. “If we think about games like *Forza*, their innovations came from [Game Accessibility Workshops](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/accessibility/accessibility-workshop-toolkit?ref=aftermath.site). But who is left to run the Workshops if Xbox’s research headcount has been cut, and there are no dedicated accessibility researchers?” ## **Shrinking Accessibility Support** The former employee highlighted the Microsoft Gaming Accessibility Testing Services (MGATS), which plays a pivotal role in assisting developers to ensure each game fits within the Xbox Accessibility Guidelines (XAG) for disabled consumers.[ Since February 2021](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/02/16/xbox-accessibility-guidelines-and-testing/?ref=aftermath.site), MGATS has worked with console and PC developers to ensure each game is as accessible as possible by conducting tests and measuring scores found within the [Xbox Accessibility Guidelines](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/accessibility/guidelines?ref=aftermath.site) (XAG). These efforts further culminated in the industrywide[ Accessible Gaming Initiative](https://accessiblegames.com/about/?ref=aftermath.site) (AGI) tag system. Created by the Entertainment Software Association, Microsoft, along with Google, Nintendo, Sony, EA, and Ubisoft now provide a list of tags of accessible features and designs found within each game on their store pages, which helps disabled players identify what accessibility features are given before purchasing the game. While developers ultimately decide for themselves what tags are listed, Microsoft utilized contractors to help determine which tags would best suit a game. Now, cuts affecting contractors who determined and checked tags, as well as what multiple people told Aftermath was the removal of all funding for MGATS, are jeopardizing if Microsoft’s involvement with the AGI will continue to be accurate. “I think the most immediate \[sign of layoffs\] is going to be the tags on the Xbox store,” a former tester for the AGI said. “Many developers who are updating store pages and adding accessibility tags don’t know how the tags work. It was very common for a developer to put 10 or more tags, and their game only qualified for roughly three. With confidence, I can say approximately half of tags would not be accurate, and we would ask developers to please remove them for store accuracy.” For some disabled players, accessibility tags are the difference between whether they purchase a game or not. If someone needs control remapping or subtitles and the store page incorrectly lists those features, that’s wasted money on a game they might not be able to play. The tester said that Microsoft, when compared to Sony and Steam, was the only developer to properly test tag accuracy by playing the games and determining which accessibility features were available to players. This level of moderation, according to the tester, was often praised by disabled individuals. Further, they noted that some developers wouldn’t even include tags, and it was the testers who were responsible for playing games and determining which tags would be appropriate. “We stopped tag moderation on June 30 \[immediately before the layoffs\], so anything going forward, you’re just going to have to trust the developer to get it accurate,” they said. “Throughout the rest of the year, it’s going to be noticeable that tags are less accurate. Beyond 2027, there’s going to be a lot less resources.” ## **A Lack of Accessibility Compliance** Both the former employee and the tester emphasized that Xbox is entering a new era of uncertainty with its accessibility initiatives. Whether it’s games or game recommendations, disabled players will simply have to wait to see how these layoffs will affect their experiences. But as a former program manager noted, the layoffs don’t impact just games. Even accessibility for any Xbox website, a European Union legal requirement, is in jeopardy. “Before I left, there was a large question as to what’s going to happen to compliance testing,” they said. “To my knowledge, the vendors in charge of compliance accessibility testing for \[Xbox\] website owners were all laid off. The plan I heard before I left was that compliance testing was going to be given to website owners for them to do the work themselves. That’s a big challenge because accessibility testing is a very particular skill.” The project manager said that no backfills or future positions will open for their role. As a result, accessibility tools like screen readers, a necessity for blind and low vision users to navigate websites, could cease to function if website owners fail to ensure they work. They said that it wouldn’t take long for disabled users to notice if issues arise. “A lot of the sites were either tested monthly or every two months,” they said. “If the testing is no longer being done by testing experts, I think it could be noticeable within six months.” Since 2018, Xbox proudly advertised its accessible achievements. From [press tours](https://www.ign.com/articles/how-forza-motorsports-next-entry-is-introducing-innovative-visual-accessibility?ref=aftermath.site), to a now delisted [Super Bowl commercial](https://www.businessinsider.com/xbox-adaptive-controller-super-bowl-ad-microsoft-2019-2?ref=aftermath.site), to [award-winning games](https://thegameawards.com/winners/innovation-in-accessibility?ref=aftermath.site), disabled players felt represented by a major developer in the gaming space. According to a person with knowledge who asked to remain anonymous, Xbox's accessibility endeavors post-layoff are unrecognizable compared to previous years. What was once a major developer that championed accessibility has now become a myriad of studios that could struggle to maintain accessible initiatives. What the future looks like is uncertain, but whatever happens, it's not the same Xbox from years prior. ### Saber Interactive Won't Pay Up $3.1 Million In Wild Card Football Licensing Fees, Football Union Says URL: https://aftermath.site/saber-interactive-nflpa-wild-card-football-lawsuit/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T17:58:25.000Z *John Wick* and *Jurassic Park: Survival* developer and publisher Saber Interactive and the National Football League Player's Association are fighting. Last week, the NFLPA filed a petition in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York over missed royalties on *Wild Card Football*. Released in 2023, *Wild Card Football* included lots of NFL players because of a partnership with the NFLPA and sports licensing group OneTeam Partners. (*Wild Card Football* is not named in the petition, but is named in subsequent exhibit filings.) The NFLPA's lawyers wrote that "in exchange for \[players'\] intellectual property rights, Saber "agreed to pay \[the NFLPA and its for-profit arm NFL Players Incorporated\] royalties on game sales subject to certain minimum guaranteed payments to be remitted in installments over the life of the License Agreement." The NFLPA is a labor union that represents National Football League players for contracts and licensing deals. The agreement went into effect on May 23, 2023 and was supposed to end on February 28, 2026, [according to the document obtained by Aftermath](https://www.scribd.com/document/1064987769/Saber-Interactive-Won-t-Pay-Up-3-5-Million-In-Wild-Card-Football-Licensing-Fees-Football-Union-Says?%5Fgl=1%2Aknmv0q%2A%5Fup%2AMQ..%2A%5Fga%2AMTI5MTg0NzczOC4xNzg0NzM2NDc2%2A%5Fga%5FZ4ZC50DED6%2AczE3ODQ3MzY0NzUkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODQ3MzY0NzUkajYwJGwwJGgw%2A%5Fga%5F8KZ8BV0P5W%2AczE3ODQ3MzY0NzUkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODQ3MzY0NzUkajYwJGwwJGgw&ref=aftermath.site) and [reported first by sports business reporter Daniel Kaplan](https://danielkaplan.substack.com/p/nflpa-sues-video-game-developer-for). But on Sept. 30, 2024, the NFLPA acted to terminate the contract because it alleged "Saber stopped paying the guaranteed amounts" the union was owed. The document includes details of the licensing agreement about disputes, though some parts are redacted. By November 2024, the NFLPA demanded the two parties head to arbitration to settle the dispute—that Saber Interactive stopped paying minimum royalties and kept using player likenesses after the NFLPA terminated the contract. *Wild Card Football* is no longer available for purchase on PC or console digital marketplaces. The [game was removed](https://steamcommunity.com/app/1206370/discussions/0/4635986813454915242/?ref=aftermath.site) from Steam and the Epic Games Store around November 2024; at the time, [players surmised](https://www.reddit.com/r/WildCardFootball/comments/1h0hr1a/where%5Fto%5Fpurchase/?ref=aftermath.site) that the licensing agreement with the NFLPA had expired. (Saber Interactive "refused to take steps to stop further sales of *Wild Card Football* until Oct. 31, 2024, according to [the final award document submitted as an exhibit](https://www.scribd.com/document/1064994965/Final-Award?%5Fgl=1%2Artekg8%2A%5Fup%2AMQ..%2A%5Fga%2AMTc5MTUzOTA0Mi4xNzg0NzM3NzMz%2A%5Fga%5FZ4ZC50DED6%2AczE3ODQ3Mzc3MzIkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODQ3Mzc3MzIkajYwJGwwJGgw%2A%5Fga%5F8KZ8BV0P5W%2AczE3ODQ3Mzc3MzIkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODQ3Mzc3MzIkajYwJGwwJGgw&ref=aftermath.site).) In arbitration, Saber Interactive filed a counterclaim, accusing the NFLPA of fraud and breach of contract, among other things. Saber Interactive's argument, per the final award document, is that it "is not liable for any additional 'Minimum Guarantees' or 'Marketing Commitments'" after the contract was revoked. Oral arguments in front of an arbitration panel occurred on Oct. 21, 2025\. By November 11, 2025, the NFLPA was issued "an interim award" that found Saber Interactive's counterclaims "meritless as a matter of law," and they were dismissed. One interesting detail of the arguments at this point is that Saber Interactive and the NFLPA were fighting over helmets in the game ahead of the game's release. Saber Interactive wanted to include a helmetless option. "In the email correspondence, \[the NFLPA\] were criticized for trying to make the game 'a case study in head trauma' and 'remov\[ing\] all of the ‘fun elements,’” arbitrators wrote in the final award document. "Disputed game elements were referenced by \[Saber Interactive\] as 'comically over-the-top gameplay and animations that we believed critical to the success of the game.'" The arbitrators found that the NFLPA was "well within the rights granted" in the licensing agreement to decline the helmetless mode the NFLPA said, according to the arbitrators, said "raised player safety concerns, could result in 'head trauma,' and constituted, in \[Saber Interactive's\] own words, 'over-the-top gameplay and animations.'" The details of why this is included in the final award are muddied by redactions, but it seems this was part of Saber Interactive's claims that the NFLPA were acting in bad faith. Saber argued, the arbitrators said, that it wouldn't have signed the licensing agreement at all if it had previously known about the helmet restrictions. The arbitrators called Saber Interactive's arguments "strained" in the final award document. The next oral argument was on Jan. 15, 2026\. On May 22, 2026, arbitrators found that Saber Interactive owed $1.75 million in royalty payments, interest of $286,774 and $172,947, $878,216 in attorneys' fees, $40,936 in "disbursement and costs," and $102,953 for arbitration costs. (The NFLPA lawyers contend that the final award was delayed because Saber Interactive wouldn't pay the arbitration fee, which was necessary to release the decision. The NFLPA ended up paying it, and wanted to get paid back in the final award.) The arbitration panel did find one of Saber Interactive's claims had merit—that the NFLPA's "appearances" were overstaffed, so it reduced the award by 5%. The total award is more than 3.1 million. The case was closed on June 3, 2026, but, according to the NFLPA's lawyers, Saber has not paid up the full amount and "indicated that it has no intention of doing so." Saber Interactive paid $1,440,500 on May 9, 2026 in what was described as "in purported 'accord and satisfaction'" of its obligations in the petition. The NFLPA's lawyers said they will send the payment back. Now, the football players' union is asking the court to affirm the arbitration award and force Saber Interactive to pay the full amount. A summons of Saber Interactive was executed, but the company has yet to respond. Aftermath has reached out to Saber Interactive for comment. Saber Interactive was founded in 2001 by Andrey Iones, Matthew Karch, and Anton Krupkin. As of 2025, [Saber Interactive had roughly 3,000 employees](https://www.gamefile.news/p/saber-embracer-savvy-games-space-marine-russia?ref=aftermath.site). The company was acquired by Embracer Group in February 2020 [in a $525 million deal](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/embracer-group-acquires-saber-interactive-in-usd525m-deal?ref=aftermath.site), then bought back by Karch in 2024 [for $247 million](https://embracer.com/releases/embracer-group-ceases-all-operations-in-russia-through-the-divestment-of-selected-assets-from-the-operative-group-saber-interactive/?ref=aftermath.site). The company is both a developer and a publisher; it's got a bunch of different subsidiaries, like New World Interactive and Slipgate Ironworks. Some of Saber Interactive's studios stayed with Embracer Group. It had several major successes, including *Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2* in 2024\. Lots of the games it's worked on, lately at least, have been licensed games. Chief operating officer Tim Willits [told The Game Business in July 2026](https://www.thegamebusiness.com/p/saber-we-can-just-do-aaa-games-smarter?ref=aftermath.site) that *Space Marine 2* "changed the way that the team looks at making games, \[and\] it changed how people look at us." The studio has a John Wick game, *Hellraiser: Revival*, *Turok: Origins*, and *Jurassic Park: Survival* on the way. *Wild Card Football*, though, is probably never coming back—unless the branding is removed. *Wild Card Football*'s all-time player peak [on Steam reached only 228 players](https://steamdb.info/app/1206370/charts/?ref=aftermath.site#max). Console numbers aren't available. **Correction, July 22, 2025 at 1:58 p.m. ET:** The original version of this article misstated the total amount Saber Interactive owes. ### OpenAI's Expensive Macropad Feels Engineered To Piss Me Off Specifically URL: https://aftermath.site/openai-codex-micro-macropad/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T14:51:26.000Z It is [well documented](https://aftermath.site/best-split-keyboards-diy-qmk-zmk-corne/) that I have nothing but the utmost respect for tiny customizable keyboards. I have not only built my own — soldering diodes and flashing tweaked firmware — but I’ve tweaked silkscreens and ordered PCBs. I use custom sculpted keycaps printed out of nylon. I know ball, and that’s why I find OpenAI’s little macropad to be tacky, annoying, overpriced and frankly laughable. You can just make (expensive) things. The Codex Micro is a macropad that costs $230 and is only useful if using a mouse and keyboard to talk to ChatGPT was too much work for you. If you don’t know how much a custom macropad costs, the answer is not usually two hundred and thirty dollars. Custom keyboard firmware like ZMK and QMK has been standardized for quite some time now, and there’s countless DIY and commercial offerings from Etsy sellers, products you can get at Micro Center, and random Aliexpress vendors that can be mapped to basically anything. [Keychron has a macropad for 65 bucks](https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k0-max-qmk-wireless-custom-number-pad?%5Fpos=1&%5Fsid=f266fdf79&%5Fss=r&ref=aftermath.site) that is pleasant looking and isn’t designed specifically to talk to one evil, imagination-killing program. Even outside of keyboards specifically, Logitech’s Stream Deck series is fairly affordable and has been hacked inside and out to meet whatever need you could imagine. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Keychron-K0-Max-QMK-custom-number-pad-Fully-Assembled-knob-black-frame-for-Mac-Windows-Linux-RGB-backlight-with-hot-swappable-Keychron-Milk-POM-switch-brown.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/01_ATFs_static_003.webp) Both of these I respect way more. The Stream Deck is arguably the best product Elgato has ever made. Credit: [Keychron](https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k0-max-qmk-wireless-custom-number-pad?ref=aftermath.site), [Elgato](https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/stream-deck?ref=aftermath.site) The Codex Micro, on the other hand, is a 11 key macropad that looks like some rich kid shit from six years ago. It has those scooped, low profile chiclet-style keycaps that I have never liked. Stylistically, it reminds me of stuff that [RAMA WORKS](https://rama.works/?ref=aftermath.site) used to make before that specific company and the market for keyboards that cost [more than four hundred dollars](https://worklouder.cc/knob1?ref=aftermath.site) saturated fully and collapsed in on itself. The pad says “let’s build” on the bottom and “you can just build things” on the right which feels both redundant and increasingly like a bad stereotype of a Bay Area guy who has lobotomized himself with a chatbot and can only speak in memes and internet aphorisms. The top half of the keys are clear and the bottom are white with symbols. It looks kinda bad, like they couldn’t decide between two different keycap types and split the difference. ![A macropad in white with 11 keys, a knob, and a joystick on it. It says "you can just build things", "let's build" and "Work Louder | OpenAI 2026". Half the keys are dimpled PBT and the others are illuminated RGB Polycarbonate.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/HkVNgcwB7n5BW1AUhyku6lIpD4.webp) Why would you mix PBT and Polycarbonate caps? Every part of this annoys me. Credit: Open AI and Work Louder The Codex Micro is designed by a company called Work Louder, which has a respectable Instagram following. That makes sense, because their stuff looks like it’s designed for influencers. They actually have similar macropads called the Creator Micro and Micro Pro, the latter of which has a stated price of 199 dollars, although it’s discounted slightly at the time of writing this. I’ve not personally touched their products because I have plenty of keyboards and almost exclusively use splits, but a quick search of Reddit results here does [not](https://www.reddit.com/r/olkb/comments/1g2gcm2/work%5Flouder%5Fis%5Fhardly%5Fworking%5Fand%5Fscamming/?ref=aftermath.site) [inspire](https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/1uxp74i/work%5Flouder%5Fis%5Fmaking%5Fai%5Fslop/?ref=aftermath.site) [confidence](https://www.reddit.com/r/keyboards/comments/1k5wz5g/very%5Fdisappointed%5Fwith%5Fworklouder%5Fnomad%5Fe%5Fshould/?ref=aftermath.site). Man there's so many good keyboards you can get for that much money. If this was just an overpriced macropad I could ignore it, but this is a peripheral for talking to AI and insulting to me personally. Like [Teenage Engineering and the Rabbit r1](https://aftermath.site/why-would-i-buy-this-useless-evil-thing/), it’s a product that burns the credibility of its collaborators simply by existing. People who are into keyboards often live intentional lifestyles, tweaking their layout for irregular shortcuts hidden under obtuse layers. The whole point of customizing a keyboard is to be specific with your inputs, not having a big sloppy button that lets you talk to an LLM. This is a device that is narrowly aimed when it could be open, expensive when it could be affordable, and all in the service of something that is poisoning my other hobbies. It is the opposite of what I want by every measurable metric. This is a product meant for Twitter Blue Checks and Bay Area cultists with too much money and not enough taste, people who would happily let Instagram decide every detail of their life if they could. I’ve seen the inside of their apartments and lives and they are dull, derivative and lacking in any considered choices. Maybe this thing feels good in your hand. Maybe the fit and finish looks impressive in person. I’ll never know. It’s the Devil’s sloppad, and frankly that alone makes it look like shit to me. ### Xbox Gamer Suing Microsoft For Tariff Refunds As Nintendo Says They're Too Hard To Do URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-microsoft-nintendo-tariff-refund-lawsuit/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T15:57:05.000Z Both Sony Interactive Entertainment and Nintendo are being sued over consumer tariff refunds. Now, Microsoft will join them in court. Trevor Hastings, from California, purchased an Xbox console from a retail store after Microsoft increased the price of the console, according to a proposed class action lawsuit filed in June in Washington Superior Court and [obtained by Aftermath](https://www.scribd.com/document/1064682870/Microsoft-lawsuit-via-Aftermath?%5Fgl=1%2A1nwq4ws%2A%5Fup%2AMQ..%2A%5Fga%2AMTAwMTg1Njk5Mi4xNzg0NjcxMzk2%2A%5Fga%5FZ4ZC50DED6%2AczE3ODQ2NzEzOTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODQ2NzEzOTckajU4JGwwJGgw%2A%5Fga%5F8KZ8BV0P5W%2AczE3ODQ2NzEzOTUkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODQ2NzEzOTckajU4JGwwJGgw&ref=aftermath.site), and wants a tariff refund. The case has since been moved to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, where it became available in an online docket. Microsoft raised the prices of its Xbox consoles sold in the United States three times in the past two years. The [first increase was in May 2025](https://kotaku.com/microsoft-xbox-series-x-s-price-increase-may-2025-185177861?ref=aftermath.site), due to "the macroeconomic environment," i.e., tariffs, [then in October for the same reason](https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/hardware-network/console/may-2025-pricing-updates?ref=aftermath.site). Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox consoles again in June. It now costs $800 for a 1TB Xbox Series X, which launched with a $500 price tag. This lawsuit, however, seemingly will apply only to the tariff-related increases—the last one was due to the chip shortage. Lots of companies increased their prices after United States president Donald Trump ordered massive tariffs on companies bringing products in from other countries. The Supreme Court ruled the tariffs were illegal, after thousands of companies, [including Nintendo](https://aftermath.site/gamers-sue-nintendo-tariffs/), sued the government to get that money back. The government has started issuing those refunds, and by mid-July has[ paid out](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/14/trump-tariffs-us-refunds?ref=aftermath.site) $81 billion in refunds. These console makers may be some of the companies getting some of that money back, though it’s unclear how much has been paid out to individual companies. Aftermath has reached out to Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony Interactive Entertainment for comment. Customs and Border Control told a court in March [it collected $166 billion in tariffs](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/06/trump-trade-tariffs-refunds-customs-border-protection.html?ref=aftermath.site). Hastings' argument is no different from the ones opened against Sony Interactive Entertainment and Nintendo. "If unchecked, Microsoft will reap those tariff payments twice – once in the form of pass-through costs imposed on consumers like Plaintiff, and then again from the federal government through its tariff refund program, including interest," Hastings' lawyer wrote. Microsoft has not yet responded. Days ago, Nintendo's lawyers claimed the company's customers are "not entitled to a \[tariff\] rebate," [according to new court documents filed Monday](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.361585/gov.uscourts.wawd.361585.21.0.pdf?ref=aftermath.site). Two people, Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan, filed a proposed class action complaint in the United States District Court's Western District of Washington in April, asking the court to force Nintendo into paying back customers after it raised prices due to tariffs. [Game File first reported](https://www.gamefile.news/p/nintendo-tariff-lawsuit-response?ref=aftermath.site) the new document, in which Nintendo's lawyers argue that customers who purchased its products—like consoles and various accessories—after it increased prices in April aren't entitled to a refund. (That increase, and the subsequent lawsuit, is seemingly unrelated to the [price increase in May](https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/price-revision-for-nintendo-switch-2-system/?ref=aftermath.site), which bumped the Nintendo Switch 2 up to $500 from $450\. That price increase is due to "various changes in market conditions," i.e., [the chip shortage](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/).) "If a consumer did not want to pay the advertised price, they were free to abstain from purchasing the product or seek out competing products," Nintendo's lawyers wrote. The company was, in fact, "protect\[ing\] consumers, not deceiv\[ing\] them," according to the complaint. [Nintendo itself is sued the U.S. government](https://aftermath.site/nintendo-tariffs-sue/), alongside thousands of other companies, for tariff refunds. The government was ordered, in a separate ruling, to pay back companies for the tariffs then deemed illegal. Hoffert and Sharan's lawyers said in the complaint the money is a "windfall" for Nintendo, since it has already "recouped tariff costs from consumers through higher prices, and it now stands in line to recover the same unlawful tariff payments from the federal government." Nintendo's argument about not refunding that money to consumers is that anyone buying a Nintendo Switch or different product during that time got what they paid for: "Nintendo products that Plaintiffs knowingly and voluntarily purchased at the advertised price," while the company itself "bore the primary brunt of the tariffs." "Nor is there anything 'unjust' about Nintendo retaining money that it may receive from the government as tariff refunds," Nintendo lawyers said. "The fact that Nintendo stands to receive tariff refunds does not give Plaintiffs any legal entitlement to those funds." Nintendo "proactively communicated that tariffs were among the levers informing pricing strategy," lawyers said. Customers knew that, they said, and "decided the Nintendo products they purchased were worth the price they paid, including any tariff-related price increases." Regardless, Nintendo's lawyers argued, it would be simply too hard to refund everyone. "Even confined to this case, Plaintiffs’ theory would require the Court to take each of Nintendo’s products and determine how much of its price was attributable to the tariff, separating that duty from the many other inputs that move a price," they said. "That allocation is difficult enough product by product within a single company." Each of these companies are likely to use a similar defense, should these cases move forward. The [case against Sony Interactive Entertainment was filed in May](https://www.engadget.com/2175588/sony-hit-with-a-class-action-lawsuit-for-allegedly-profiting-from-tariff-related-price-hikes/?ref=aftermath.site), and the company has not yet responded. Some companies, though, have vowed to give that money back to customers. [FedEx said in June](https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/fedex-return-800-million-tariff-170217523.html?guccounter=1&guce%5Freferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce%5Freferrer%5Fsig=AQAAADHgrmlY8wJ%5FhmYtyeSHFTZCvfZA6N10IJ1axYOHkOWMRRBXXilOLM3T74ZWlfUJWkx8xoxbqkfcbo72gF9ku6lTm24NppGpGvb2fltinmgh5IkRzvdTzUOpDvP3B2XYdgQ8XhXWoCAiRdGPIbP-ztMSvvSodM3l-9ZRYEFUm%5Ffi&ref=aftermath.site) that it plans to refund $800 million to customers. That'll begin in August. UPS said it would do that, too—[with a cost of up to $5 billion, according Fortune](https://fortune.com/2026/04/29/fedex-ups-pledging-tariff-refunds-back-to-customers/?ref=aftermath.site). ### I'm Obsessed With Audrey Hobert's Girl Failure Music URL: https://aftermath.site/audrey-hobert-gracie-abrams-girl-failure/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T21:00:00.000Z Last year I shocked myself by enjoying a few songs by JJ Abrams’ daughter, Gracie Abrams, who is a pop singer trapped in [the Khia asylum](https://www.out.com/media/khia-asylum-explainer?ref=aftermath.site). I think of her as one of Taylor Swift’s many children, singers of sad songs about mean men and what it feels like to be perpetually 26\. After not enjoying Abrams’ [new album *Daughter From Hell*](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/gracie-abrams-daughter-from-hell/?ref=aftermath.site) as much as songs like “That’s So True” and “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” I realized that this was because she wasn’t working with her longtime collaborator Audrey Hobert anymore. Once you listen to Hobert’s album, *Who’s The Clown*, you hear her signature styles all over the songs she’s co-written. She loves these bouncy little melodies, and she has a pop punk-ish tendency to end each line with a little “woah-oh.” She’s a wordy songwriter, and she uses her language to create a percussiveness on top of the melody. The bridge in “I Love You, I’m Sorry” is a great example of this, where Abrams releases a flurry of unsaid admissions to her ex (“you were the best, but you were the worst, as sick as it sounds I loved you first”). Untethered from Abrams’ preciousness and penchant for melodrama, Hobert reveals herself to be a very funny songwriter and a powerful storyteller. When describing this album to a friend, I said that it gave me all the feelings that Swifties get when they listen to Taylor. I have never so acutely felt like a songwriter was reading my diary—at least not since I was a teenager listening to Rilo Kiley in my bedroom. She crams every verse with as many details as she possibly can, deepening their specificity. But they don’t feel like these scenarios are ripped from her diary. They’re little stories, slices of life that you might have experienced too. It wasn’t too surprising to learn she has [a background in television writing](https://www.thecut.com/article/who-is-audrey-hobert-gracie-abrams-friend-and-co-writer.html?ref=aftermath.site). Take, for instance, the scene Hobert sets in the song “Sex in the City,” a song where she wistfully imagines what it might be like to be Carrie Bradshaw, a person who wears fabulous clothes and has tons of sex. “The seat is up, the place is haunted,” she sings about a random hookup. “He's heating up and eating up a pizza pocket. I wanted one, but he forgot it. He's off his meds and he's an artist.” I have been in that haunted apartment. I have made this exact mistake! There’s something about the girl failure nature of these songs that really has its hooks in me. Sometimes I get a little worried about the character in Hobert’s songs—that girl drinks *a lot*. But it never gets dour. Hobert has a sense of humor about everything, even things that are depressing. In the album’s opener, the very funny “I Like To Touch People,” she sings, “I grew up with a people pleasing mother, so now I have problems.” Girl, same. Victimhood isn’t something that Hobert is much interested in exploring, unlike many of her women singer songwriter contemporaries. Her songs have a more interesting tension in them: can you have everything you want and not let it change you? The character that Hobert creates on *Who’s The Clown* is awkward and very aware of her flaws. In fact, she’s always drinking and smoking weed to regulate her emotions—after agonizing over a crush, she’s “4/20, so vacant tanning on the roof.” It never veers into “You Belong With Me” territory; she is writing songs from the persona of a fully adult woman for whom high school is a distant memory. Hobert never really lashes out at the world for her insecurities. She tries to embrace them. The most interesting love story on this album is with herself. Unlike Gracie Abrams’ work, I don’t really know what a teenager would get out of this pop album, but it really speaks to me. It’s mostly about being a huge fuck up—wanting to chase your dreams but not being able to put away laundry. “Bowling Alley” is all about not being able to decide if you want to go out or stay in. “It doesn’t need to be about me all the time,” she sings. “But I’ll be honest, the bowling alley felt nice.” I think these themes—failure, embracing yourself despite it—are best expressed on “Phoebe,” the penultimate track. It’s certainly the most blunt about it. Hobert layers a couple of different ideas on top of each other. She moves to New York because she wants to be a star, but she gets her heart broken and her confidence shattered. This character is white-knuckling through reality, trying to convince herself that staying in and watching *Friends* is still satisfying to her. She wants to still believe she can make it, because that idea has become a load-bearing pillar for her mental health. “Why else would he want me?” she sings in the chorus. “I think I’ve got a fucked up face.” This song knocked the wind out of me when I first heard it. I did also move to New York to be a star, and that road has been very difficult for me. I feel like in a lot of ways, trying to achieve my dreams has made me really crazy. I don’t know what else I have to offer the world other than being a really good writer at this point. I kind of put all my points into that skill—too late to start over. Hobert doesn’t leave us there, though. Her songs give you that little shot of cathartic release you get from a good television show. “That thought used to haunt me, until I fell in its warm embrace,” she continues in the chorus. “Now I don’t sweat the acne. It’s a pain, but it goes away.” My favorite lyric, though, is on the album’s closer, “Silver Jubilee.” “I wanna make it,” she sings. “But it’s fun to be a normal girl.” ### If A Company Does Three Layoffs In Seven Months, Maybe It’s Bad At Being A Company URL: https://aftermath.site/disney-layoffs-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T16:32:20.000Z Disney had a round of layoffs today, reportedly hitting Pixar and National Geographic the hardest. This is, somehow, the company’s third round of layoffs in 2026, something that seems to have become so routine that Disney’s CEO couldn’t even be bothered to send a memo about it this time. [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/new-disney-layoffs-pixar-streamlining-1236652502/?ref=aftermath.site) writes that Disney has cut “hundreds of jobs.” In addition to Pixar and National Geographic, ESPN has also been affected, with some [on-air contributors](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7459503/2026/07/20/ryan-clark-espn-layoff?ref=aftermath.site) losing their jobs alongside behind-the-scenes workers. You wouldn’t think it possible for Disney to do worse by Nat Geo, whose iconic [magazine](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/28/national-geographic-staff-layoffs-report?ref=aftermath.site) Disney gutted in 2023, but here we are. Pixar has lost less than 10% of its staff, according to the [Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2026-07-21/pixar-national-geographic-hit-in-latest-round-of-disney-layoffs?ref=aftermath.site), and “the cuts are concentrated mostly in production and operations.” [Cartoon Brew](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/pixar-disney-layoffs-josh-damaro-264800.html?ref=aftermath.site) reports that the company will also shorten its production schedule on movies going forward. As The Hollywood Reporter highlights, this is Disney’s third round of layoffs in 2026\. The company saw job losses in January when it [restructured its marketing department.](https://variety.com/2026/biz/news/disney-marketing-leadership-asad-ayaz-film-tv-parks-1236645021/?ref=aftermath.site) Josh D’Amaro became CEO in [March](https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/josh-damaro-disney-ceo-first-day-memo-1236692415/?ref=aftermath.site), and in [April](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-layoffs-hit-studios-tv-espn-marketing-josh-damaro-1236563751/?ref=aftermath.site) laid off 1000 people. In an effort to explain the reasoning behind today’s cuts, as a news outlet is wont to do in such situations, THR was reduced to quoting D’Amaro’s memo about his April cuts, because, as the outlet notes, “D’Amaro is not believed to have sent a memo about the latest round of cuts.” [Deadline](https://deadline.com/2026/07/disney-layoffs-pixar-national-geographic-1236999275/?ref=aftermath.site) also reported that D’Amaro “is not expected to issue any additional communication about today’s actions.” In fairness, I suppose, to Disney leadership, three rounds of layoffs in seven months–just barely over halfway through the calendar year–has got to be a pretty hard thing to explain beyond “we have no idea what we’re doing.” D’Amaro wrote that April’s cuts “reflect our continual evaluation of how to more effectively manage our resources and reinvest in our businesses,” something I guess he didn’t figure out with his first cuts or the ones before he took over. He also wrote that “Compassion and respect remain at the heart of our company,” another statement that doesn’t quite ring true today, when it appears the boss can’t even be bothered to acknowledge the people whose lives he’s upending. CEO layoff memos are generally bullshit, but one comes to expect them as part of the all-too-common choreography of these things. At the very least, it’s polite to acknowledge that a bunch of people are losing their jobs because of you. But maybe, three layoffs into the year, there isn’t really anything left to say. ### Hearts Continue To Break Over Love And Deepspace URL: https://aftermath.site/hearts-continue-to-break-over-love-and-deepspace/ Last updated: 2026-07-22T16:31:54.000Z There is unrest in Linkon City. Players of *Love and Deepspace*, from Chinese publisher Infold Games, have been vocally upset about the erstwhile love interest Valko. But this current drama is revealing more cracks in the facade. Hearts broke globally as *Love and Deepspace* publisher Infold Games cut Valko, a new love interest, from the game. Some hearts, at least. Others were already fractured when the publisher simply announced the guy. There's always been a bit of pushback when *Love and Deepspace* got a new man; the game was released with just three, Zayne, Xavier, and Rafayel. Sylus and Caleb were added later. The people who love Valko really love him. *Love and Deepspace*'s Reddit page is flooded with art, fan fiction, and video edits. Aftermath's gotten lots of emails about Valko, his fanbase, and their campaign to get him back. And the people who hate him *really* hate him. Infold Games [reportedly had to position security guards](https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-valko-deleted/) and block off parts of the sidewalk in front of its Shanghai-based office. [Even the Chinese government disapproved](https://kotaku.com/love-and-deepspace-valko-chinese-ministry-of-public-safety-2000713766?ref=aftermath.site) of Valko. China's Ministry of Public Security [posted a statement on its official website](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/q-AdZgBtBaSh%5FrR1%5Fh8Okg?ref=aftermath.site): It said that *Love and Deepspace*'s advertising for Valko, in which he breaks into the main character's home, crossed a line both legally and morally, according to a translation of the statement. China's video game market is highly regulated, as [the government must approve](https://nikopartners.com/china-video-game-regulator-approves-173-games-in-august-2025/?ref=aftermath.site) what goes to market in the country. [As Kotaku reported in July](https://kotaku.com/love-and-deepspace-valko-chinese-ministry-of-public-safety-2000713766?ref=aftermath.site), that gives the government an unusual amount of control over the industry and what gets published there. Nearly 100,000 people have signed an online petition to get Valko back, started email campaigns, and [flooded *Love and Deepspace*'s mobile store pages](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/love-and-deepspace/id6443467666?see-all=reviews&ref=aftermath.site) with chants of *Bring back Valko!* (There are lots of reviews, too, that ask Infold Games to instead focus on the love interests it's been seemingly ignoring.) It doesn't look good for Valko, or any other potential sixth love interest. Infold Games said it *won't* be adding Valko [or any other love interest to the game](https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-valko-deleted/). One message that spans a lot of the fanbase, on both sides, is that Infold Games isn't listening to its players. If it isn’t Valko, then it’s how expensive the game has become, and if it isn’t that, then it’s technical problems that players have been asking to fix for over a year. And that’s not to mention the growing tensions between Infold and its gay male players, who have been called out as [not necessarily welcome to participate in the fandom](https://kotaku.com/love-deepspace-gay-bl-ships-men-love-interests-homophobia-2000716290?ref=aftermath.site). [In a translated statement from Infold Games](https://www.reddit.com/r/gachagaming/comments/1uju8rk/love%5Fand%5Fdeepspace%5Fexplain%5Fwhy%5Fnew%5Flove%5Finterest/?ref=aftermath.site), the company said it itself: This isn't an all-gender game. Aftermath has reached out to Infold Games for comment. *Love and Deepspace* players [together spent nearly $1 billion since its release](https://mobilegamer.biz/data-digest-love-and-deepspace-hits-1bn-pokemon-tcg-tops-200m-installs-plus-fresh-funding-and-financial-news/?ref=aftermath.site), and are deeply attached to the game, both emotionally and financially. The nature of the game—nuturing a relationship in this science fiction story—creates a parasociality with the characters, the game, and the makers. And that's seemingly what the game is designed to do: get players hooked on the game, and, as such, on spending money. *Love and Deepspace* is a free-to-play game, but it's also got a gacha system. You *can* play without spending, but it's more difficult to collect enough of the currencies to, perhaps, roll the dice on character memories and cards. Fear of missing out is inherent to these mechanics, and, [as players discussed on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveAndDeepspace/comments/1n7tye1/are%5Fyou%5Fguys%5Fokay%5Fwith%5Fthe%5Frerun%5Fsystem/?ref=aftermath.site), new players are "punished" for not being around at the start of the game. To get the old content and rewards (called reruns), [a player must spend double, or even triple](https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveAndDeepspace/comments/1v00qr7/as%5Fa%5Fnewish%5Fplayer%5Fwhy%5Fdo%5Fi%5Fhave%5Fto%5Fpay%5Falmost/?ref=aftermath.site), the original price. It's too early to say if the Valko controversy has impacted *Love and Deepspace* financially. The game made $49 million in May, which dropped to $38 million in June, [according to Sensor Tower aggregated on Gacha Revenue](https://revenue.ennead.cc/revenue?ref=aftermath.site). Alone, that certainly looks like the player rage in June impacted revenue, but those two numbers don't tell the whole truth. June's revenue is higher than that of April, and just slightly below that of May. Revenue has remained mostly stagnant in 2026, with that little spike in May. (Perhaps because [there was a Sylus memory where you're a cat and Sylus is petting you](https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveAndDeepspace/comments/1thawx2/love%5Fand%5Fdeepspace%5Fthe%5Fnew%5F5star%5Fmemory%5Flimited/?ref=aftermath.site).) *Love and Deepspace*'s last update was released in early July. This was the update that was intended for Valko, called Shattered Quiet, but without a new character, [players found the new content bare](https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveAndDeepspace/comments/1urgzgc/60%5Fupdate%5Fvalko/?ref=aftermath.site). [Infold Games said in its Valko apology](https://x.com/Love%5FDeepspace/status/2071927369653485756?ref=aftermath.site) that it will focus on "developing the stories and long-term companionship experiences of our five existing love interests." Both Caleb and Sylus (two love interests players believe have been ignored) will get main story updates in the fall, and Infold Games is giving the biggest rewards to the player for free. The company hasn't said much about the game on its social media pages, posting here or there about events and the 6.0 update. Players likely won't be satisfied until they see action, not just hearing about it. In October 2025, players rallied to get Infold Games to adjust cutscenes and lighting that was making dark-skinned main characters nearly invisible. *Love and Deepspace*'s cutscenes are often in first-person, but the camera moves back at times to put the character and boyfriend into view. Seeing yourself in the main character is a massive part of *Love and Deepspace*'s fantasy, and not all players are able to experience it. Infold Games responded to a request for comment from IGN and said it has seen the conversations around dark-skinned characters. *We’ve seen the conversations and truly value everyone who has taken the time to share their experiences and thoughts*,” A representative from Infold told IGN over email.“*Every comment, whether it’s about visuals, storytelling, or representation, helps us better understand how our work resonates across different perspectives and cultures. Love and Deepspace is, at its heart, a shared world of emotion and imagination. We hope to keep building it hand in hand with our players, learning and improving together along the way.*” Crucially, there is no promise to fix the issue. Dark-skinned characters were nearly erased from cutscenes for years, and it's still not fixed. [As one Reddit user wrote in a post from early July](https://www.reddit.com/r/LoveAndDeepspace/comments/1upcwcj/its%5Fnot%5Fjust%5Fvalko/?ref=aftermath.site), many of *Love and Deepspace*'s scenes are darkly lit, which means that dark-skinned players are constantly washed out. Many people paid for this content, and for a significant amount of them, it's broken. It shows a serious misunderstanding of what the players want. Despite it all, *Love and Deepspace* players seemingly stay. It can be hard for some people to understand the investment in a game like *Love and Deepspace*, and easy for people to write off. But there aren't many games made specifically for women like this. Infold Games tapped into a market desperate for something for them. They got it, and they've held onto it, but the grip seems to be loosening, at least for some. [Love Turns To Hate As Love And Deepspace Maker Infold Games Forced To Delete New BoyfriendValko is going back into the vault, and won’t ever return.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-17239849-4a5a-4d29-b366-798100d03be2.png)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-07-01-151618-c936e3bd-5c6e-4ef3-87b9-2f35d735c4e6.png)](https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-valko-deleted/) ### If His Shitty AI Movie Is What Finally Taught You Neill Blomkamp Is A Hack, Then So Be It URL: https://aftermath.site/neill-blomkamp-ai-movie/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T00:53:35.000Z Neill Blomkamp, a director made famous for his 2009 sci-fi film *District 9*, has (despite that movie's success) been a peripheral figure around Hollywood, TV and video games for the past 15 years. Mostly because his movies, despite their fantastic art direction, are bad. There's stuff to like in them! I enjoyed *District 9*, and if you simply cut the last 30 minutes off *Elysium*[I thought it was fun too](https://aftermath.site/roblox-gift-card-robux-invalid-code/), but mostly for the same reasons[ I run a regular art feature](https://aftermath.site/tag/showcase/): I can sit through a lot of shit if there are interesting combat exoskeletons and weird prawn aliens to look at, and I can admire and appreciate those things while still realising the movies they were part of sucked. Which, whatever, Blomkamp is terrible at telling stories because he doesn't *want* to tell stories. He's not in this to make you feel something. Neill Blomkamp knows what a cool mech or space gun looks like, and putting those in his movies is all he's ever been good at, which is why most of his major motion pictures--which all employed the same cobbled-together, mildly-dystopian visual signatures--have their fans, but have also seen diminishing returns. And those diminishing returns might be why the last major motion picture he directed was...*Gran Turismo*. Considering he's a guy who,[ like George Lucas, seems more obsessed with film-making technology than in making films](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/15/george-lucas-likens-ai-sceptics-to-luddites-clinging-to-horses-and-carts?ref=aftermath.site), and is also a guy[ who worked on one of video gaming's biggest grifts](https://aftermath.site/gunzilla-off-the-grid-pay-web3/), it should surprise absolutely nobody that Blomkamp is now also very into AI. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Capture-2.PNG) This AI-ass screenshot from this AI-ass short looks like an HD upscale of an FMV cutscene from a 1999 CD-ROM adventure His new short,[ *Nightborne*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wbtt2JxP7g&ref=aftermath.site), was made using AI. It's not augmenting actual footage, it's not providing effects work in the background, *the entire thing*, from the soulless actors to the soulless action sequences, has been spat out by a machine. The fine print of the YouTube description tries to soften this by saying the faces and voices present were used "under likeness agreements", and that "concept art by human artists" somehow features, but he also leads off boasting that "every frame was generated in [Seedance 2.0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedance%5F2.0?ref=aftermath.site)", so fuck that. It's awful in ways I don't need or want to describe to you; simply knowing that Neill Blomkamp spent an afternoon typing prompts into a computer will conjure in your mind a sequence of images that will come very close to what it actually looks like, and that's close enough to save you the 13 minutes it would take to watch it. As bad as it is, and inevitable as it is, it's still a huge bummer, because while I've never really enjoyed a Neill Blomkamp *movie*, I've been a huge fan of the art that went into them. Every combat arm or flying car or talking robot that went into *District 9*, *Elysium* ([which I did a whole showcase on at Kotaku that, sadly, has had its images wiped](https://kotaku.com/the-wonderful-robot-art-of-elysium-1198935336?ref=aftermath.site)) or *Chappie* was designed and modelled and animated and painted and shot by real people, and it was work that I really respected. It sucks that the guy responsible for those movies doesn't have the same respect. ### Things You Could’ve Done With $1 Million Instead Of Spending It On Jensen Huang’s Fuckass Jacket URL: https://aftermath.site/nvidia-jensen-huang-jacket-auction-million-dollars-ai/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T23:35:55.000Z You know that thing people do where, after they give you money, they cheekily say, “Don’t spend it all in one place?” This is the place they’re referring to. This is The Wrong Place to spend all of it—or any of it, for that matter. [CNBC reports](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/07/17/leather-jacket-worn-by-nvidia-ceo-goes-for-just-under-1-million-at-sothebys-auction-.html?ref=aftermath.site) that last Friday, somebody purchased one of billionaire Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s [tacky, hideously uncool leather jackets](https://aftermath.site/hideo-kojimas-commitment-to-acronym-jackets-remains-undefeated/) for $960,000\. That sum would be eye-popping in any circumstance but becomes unforgivable when you consider that the jacket’s original valuation was $40,000-$60,000\. It was being sold as part of a Sotheby’s auction to benefit what initially sounds like a worthwhile cause, but which—when you consider that this particular nonprofit is supported by people who idolize Huang and [call the jacket](https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2026/the-ceos-uniform-jensen-huangs-tom-ford-leather-jacket/the-jensen-jacket-jensen-huangs-tom-ford-leather?ref=aftermath.site) “the uniform of a ‘first believer’” in “the AI revolution”—begins to sound like Hell: > This auction item is a philanthropic initiative organized by Long Journey Ventures to benefit the Edge Institute, a non-profit that convenes people working at the frontiers of tech, science, culture, and society in popup villages (Edge Cities) to live together and experiment towards a brighter future. The proceeds will fund fellowships, grants, and residencies for the next generation of young builders to pursue their passions and projects, supporting them to find their higher purpose. In any case, here are some other things the person who bought Jensen Huang’s ugly, blood money-slick nerd jacket could’ve spent their (roughly) $1 million on: - Several nice cars - A decent house in a smaller city - A one-bedroom apartment in New York City - A bunch of ultra-rare *Pokémon* cards - An election - [Citizenship in Malta](https://immigrantinvest.com/blog/examples-of-citizenship-calculations-in-malta/?ref=aftermath.site) - A [ticket to outer space](https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/virgin-galactic-space-tourism-ticket-prices-b2948786.html?ref=aftermath.site) - A [basketball that’s selling for $320,722 on Amazon, specifically](https://www.amazon.com/Finals-Winning-Signed-Basketball-Celtics/dp/B0BBJFHH8H/ref=mp%5Fs%5Fa%5F1%5F4?channelId=500&clpRedir=Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.pQNXVArDdaxqIx5PxBOt2usrzUaVCVhUfvuWb6IU4-OPyhuBfHU%5FKIMxdgxqsrDbc4bHFq%5FRcN15Kh6z-UwNJ481MdlKAcGz8nGeSWNzAvjmWZJrbFVyL61y2fA4p28X4XyGxHQV19oV%5FxGlwWFE8yDp95TYe2UPaAjghFql1pAmNQiC5JRrTOkbxADvo6OQgpVJ0WTIBFlHI-qru1rwmA.vLCScg8f9jOP%5FnYYkt8EYx7pZGwsGblMC8FyiP0d5VE&dib%5Ftag=se&keywords=expensive+things+over+1+million+dollars&plpRedirect=mhFallback&qid=1784587824&sr=8-4&ref=aftermath.site) - The original [*Breakfast At Tiffany’s* script](https://time.com/4961278/breakfast-at-tiffanys-script/?ref=aftermath.site) - A year’s worth of food and supplies for multiple families in your community (assuming you, the person who bought the jacket, have a community in any real sense and do not instead own, like, a company town—or a prison) - The [Doom bathroom](https://aftermath.site/doom-bathroom-renovation-something-awful-for-sale/) (give or take $88,000) - 101,327 lbs or 50.7 tons of cheesecake bites (according to Isaiah’s math, which I do not feel like double checking) - 1/400 of [Gabe Newell’s biggest yacht](https://luxurylaunches.com/transport/gabe-newell-luxury-yachts.php?ref=aftermath.site) - A struggling indie game studio - Most—but [not quite all](https://steam.seewang.me/?ref=aftermath.site)—of the games on Steam - Other jackets Jensen Huang might want in the future, but you dedicate your life to buying them before he can, filling his days with disappointment - A flamethrower, to burn all of Jensen Huang’s jackets - [Aftermath](https://aftermath.site/tip-jar/) ## Recommended [Hideo Kojima’s Commitment To Acronym Jackets Remains UndefeatedAs does Jensen Huang’s commitment to looking like a huge dork![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-701adf2d-42cc-4c1b-a3ab-5c408c626782.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Untitled-1-e83cfdb9-b6a6-42f1-a20d-c44b2bb0ee32.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/hideo-kojimas-commitment-to-acronym-jackets-remains-undefeated/) ### Anime Finally Caught On To The Restorative Power Of Kirby Kissing His Homies For The Plot URL: https://aftermath.site/i-want-to-love-you-till-your-dying-day-yuri-anime/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T19:28:06.000Z Two things are truer now in anime than they’ve ever been: The eternal need to [riff on *Harry Potter*](https://gizmodo.com/6-magic-school-anime-and-manga-to-discover-instead-of-thinking-about-harry-potter-ever-again-2000738494?ref=aftermath.site) is still going strong, with shows like[*Witch Hat Atelier*](https://aftermath.site/witch-hat-atelier-manga-anime-kodansha-kamome-shirihama-magic-school/) leading the charge and *Mashle: Magic and Muscles* making a delightful farce of She Who Shall Not Be Named’s wizarding world. The second thing is that [queer supernatural series](https://gizmodo.com/the-summer-hikaru-died-this-monster-wants-to-eat-me-queer-horror-anime-crunchyroll-netflix-2000675445?ref=aftermath.site) seem to be at the top of the syllabus for anime studios making up for lost time. I *Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day* is a yuriful dark fantasy anime set squarely at the equator of these two truths, borrowing a long-lost concept from the *Kirby* games for its plot: [kissing your homies to heal them](https://kotaku.com/kirby-forgotten-land-nintendo-switch-hal-multiplayer-ki-1848715380?ref=aftermath.site). I knew I wanted to watch [*I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day*](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GT00374354/i-want-to-love-you-till-your-dying-day?srsltid=AfmBOooa-473fqmZfsDHhbHOU8g7Rp%5FkWoDeyCiQ4ZkGcVLVx06FL4Nq&ref=aftermath.site) the moment Kadokawa blew me away with its [concept trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaKMVPwU3nU&pp=ygU0aSB3YW50IHRvIGxvdmUgeW91IHRpbGwgeW91ciBkeWluZyBkYXkgYW5pbWUgcHJldmlldw%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site) a year ago. Written by [Nachi Aono](https://x.com/aooont?ref=aftermath.site) and animated by studio [Roll2](https://www.roll2.co.jp/?ref=aftermath.site), the series is set in a part boarding school, part orphanage where [child soldiers are sent to the front lines](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPxRs%5FN2Faw&pp=ygU0aSB3YW50IHRvIGxvdmUgeW91IHRpbGwgeW91ciBkeWluZyBkYXkgYW5pbWUgcHJldmlldw%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site) to fight an unclear war that’s been going on for ages. Unlike her fellow classmates who are perfectly okay with how not okay their circumstances are, fourteen-year-old Sheena Totsuki is not built for this. She's what her classmates would call a “pussifest”—pacifist—under their breath whenever she walks the halls, given how weak she is at magic. And to make matters worse, her roommate was killed in action a day before she chastised Sheena for how easy she must have it for being weak. Sheena’s lot in life is perpetually having bad days, but things take a turn for toxic positivity when Mimi Kagari, a bubbly girl covered in the blood of her enemies, mooches off of her for a late-night snack. We learn that Mimi is a big deal: She’s the school’s secret weapon in the war effort. But for Sheena’s purposes, Mimi is as enamored with rice balls and bread as she is with Sheena’s scent, and she is gonna be Sheena’s new roomie. Beyond the apparent FUBAR nature of *I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day’*s world, we learn very early on that there is tenderness to be found amidst the show’s wanton carnage. Roommates who form a close enough bond can heal each other with a lil smooch, just like Kirby and his [friendos](https://youtu.be/YtLQ60WWSuA?ref=aftermath.site). Granted, their kisses are less pecks and more chalant than the pink demigod smooching his homies. When Sheena and Mimi witness classmates kissing on a stairwell the former is embarrassed by it, what with her never having her first kiss, and the latter, not thinking it a big deal, plants her one to heal a scar on her cheek. Mind you, this all happens at the end of the first episode and picks right up in its second episode, leading to [Sheena’s ensuing sapphic panic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ktm6b9gpF8&ref=aftermath.site). When a mock battle goes awry, as they’re wont to do, and Sheena has her arm blown off by a mysterious man whom Mimi makes short work of, she plants a healing kiss on Sheena that—through the power of yuri—magically regrows Sheena’s arm despite it being lost on the battlefield. It’s a phenomenon I can’t stop laughing at throughout the day. Not because their healing act is ridiculous, but because it’s refreshingly tame compared to other indulgent, unabashedly horny fantasy shows I’ve subjected myself to that bend themselves over backward to jerryrig intimacy for the plot. I’ve watched my fair share of indulgent anime where the writer’s thinly veiled fetish flashbangs your eyes in the most horny way imaginable under the translucent veil of plot. Key among them is *Chained Soldier*, an anime run on a teenage boy’s cosmic laws of equivalent exchange. *Chained Soldier* goes about its feedback loop of *JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure*\-tinged battles and fan service by having its hero subject himself on the battlefield as a slave to a harem of superpowered women. Depending on how much effort a battle is, and how many women he assists, they’re in turn contracted to fulfill a subconscious fantasy of his as a reward. Naturally, the anime has uncensored episodes, and its ongoing manga has “special” half-chapters that get into the nitty-gritty of depicting these rewards that the otherwise mild-mannered hero lets viewers live vicariously through. An eerily similar phenomenon occurs in ecchi staple *Highschool DXD*, only in it, its male hero must power up his tokusatsu fists via heavy petting with the show’s ready-and-willing and more-down-bad-for-him-than-he-is-for-them ensemble. Then there’s[ *Darling In The Franxx*](https://kotaku.com/darling-in-the-franxx-doesnt-make-good-on-its-promises-1827628015?ref=aftermath.site)—Studio Trigger, A-1 Pictures, Trigger, and CloverWorks' mecha anime—whose contribution to the anime zeitgeist and this conversation begins and ends on [reverse cowgirl cockpit](https://youtu.be/fLoVx7sg7P0?ref=aftermath.site). If you can imagine it, somewhere way, way, way down the rung on the indulgent Richter scale is a supernatural harem anime called *Tales of Wedding Rings* where, you guessed it, a guy is the epicenter of a harem where the women around him compete to be his number one wife while the show subjects viewers to the mostly weirdly drawn nipples in anime. All that to say, supernatural anime of this ilk run the gamut of failing to deliver a narrative while showcasing how and why they depict intimacy among their characters. By and large, anime offer romance fast‑fashion style, where their catalog promises elegance but what arrives feels flimsy, rushed, and poorly stitched together. But unlike the aforementioned shows—of which *Chained Soldier* is still a fun watch despite it all—*I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day’*s depiction of intimacy, while silly to read on the page, comes off less like intimacy for intimacy’s sake and more like horny, jingly keys. In tandem with its forever-war backdrop, feelings of inadequacy about one’s ability to enact violence, and the contradiction of its high school sorcerers going sicko mode and shooting off killing spells, there’s room to wonder how tenderness could even survive a world that doesn’t blink twice about violence, dispatching students by their serial numbers instead of their names to die on the front lines. Learning that said tenderness manifests in a kiss with the power to heal is downright revolutionary in how it doesn’t make me reflectively roll my eyes. Kissing in *I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day* isn’t an arbitrary power-up whose solution is “kiss more” to solve an equation in the most *Dragon Ball Z* powerscaling sense like the aforementioned shows. That’s why Mimi and Sheena’s first kiss was shocking, yes, but “unremarkable” to Sheena—a sentiment I can lob at other shows with a ‘break glass in case of emergency’ approach to depicting intimacy as plot contrivance rather than a plot essential element to the story they’re telling. But here, there’s a risk to kissing beyond the embarrassment of initiating intimacy. Should you lack the power or the bond to smooch and heal someone, you run the risk of getting hurt the same way they were, or worse. I laugh at the show’s portrayal of magic kisses as healing because their restorative powers and the risk they run should things go awry are pretty damn true to life. A kiss can be an act of intimacy that can feel like it saved your life just as it can be an impulsive exercise in not reading the fucking room. I look forward to seeing how healing kisses prove themselves a boon against the horrors that no doubt await our heroines in the weeks to come. ## Recommended: [I Roved Out In Search Of Truth And Love Is An Erotic Fantasy Saga That Has More Than Just SpiceNot safe for work, obviously.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-52caa136-3f37-47f5-9176-b644eb9c7197.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/I-Roved-Out-Alexis-Flowers-2tarantula-78e3a9cf-8005-4427-bf5d-ffcd0dd0031d.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/i-roved-out-in-search-of-truth-and-love-is-an-erotic-fantasy-saga-that-has-more-than-just-spice/) ### Cum Dungeon URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-dark-souls-elden-ring-farming/ Last updated: 2026-07-21T17:30:52.000Z Need we say more? (OK, we’re gonna say a little more.) On the latest Aftermath Hours, we’re joined by [Tyler Colp](https://bsky.app/profile/tylercolp.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) of PC Gamer to discuss an extremely pressing business matter: Chris wrote [almost 9,000 words about his favorite FromSoftware farming spots](https://aftermath.site/dark-souls-elden-ring-sekiro-ac6-souls-runes-farming/), and somehow, he still has more to say about them. Tyler, a fellow FromSoft sicko, happily indulges him. We discuss all sorts of obscure nooks and crannies in games like *Dark Souls* and *Elden Ring*, as well as larger topics like *Sekiro*’s (perhaps unearned) status as the studio’s dark horse. And of course, we spend plenty of time talking about *Bloodborne*’s legendary Cum Dungeon, a collaboratively discovered farming location whose arcane machinations might be even more interesting than its name. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that Chris can personally hire a team to finally port *Bloodborne* to PC. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Nathan:** I'm so curious about the Cum Dungeon, especially given that when you published your piece, people were reposting it on social media just saying "Cum Dungeon!" There's clearly a legacy here. **Chris:** OK so, there's Chalices. Chalices are these really weird… I guess you would call them bottle dungeons. **Tyler:** They’re basically randomized dungeons, right? Like, mini-dungeons. **Chris:** Depends. And this is where it gets complicated. So there’s Root Chalices, which people assumed were random, but they’re not. There’s 2,300 possible ones that are by all accounts not randomly generated. They made them beforehand because they don’t want to have to randomly generate one every single time. So you can actually repeat them. This led to a sub-group that actively explored those called the Tomb Prospectors. So there’s a group that has a Google doc, and they’ve gone through all the possible permutations; you can just explore “This is what it does, here’s how it goes.” There’s one that if you just put this code in, which is, to be clear, “C-U—” **Nathan:** Says in your piece that it’s “C-U-M-M-M-F-P-K.” **Chris:** If you just put that in \[the game\], it will say, “?Place Name?” on the top, and that will be a dungeon you go into, and you walk in, and it gives you 86,000 Blood Echoes. And then you leave. That’s it. \[Players\] didn’t know why it did that for a really long time. XTrinX, the person responsible for “cummmfpk,” left a comment on Reddit, like, a month ago, fortuitously, where they were like “I’m tired of people getting the Cum Dungeon wrong; here’s what it is.” Basically what they said was, they found it kinda randomly, and then they save edited to change the depth to make it more consistent—and the name is random. So the name is random, but it is a byproduct of community. YouTuber Zullie The Witch figured out why the fuck it does that. So basically, there’s a Hunter that appears in the game, Tomb Prospector Olek. In this Chalice Dungeon, he will spawn on a bridge… under a blade that’s gonna kill him. But, the thing is, normally if you are looking at him, he will just get knocked off. So why does it kill him every time? The answer is: optimization. Because he’s so far away, his hitbox and the hitbox of the blade will spawn, but his body will not. So basically what happens is, the idea of him and the harm box of the blade will just kill him each time, because his physical body is not manifested, so there’s nothing to knock off \[the bridge\]. It can’t load the animation. So basically it just creates “[The Pit And The Pendulum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FPit%5Fand%5Fthe%5FPendulum?ref=aftermath.site)” every single time. He’ll just spawn. His soul will be killed by the soul of the blade, and then he’ll just disappear. You’re torturing this poor NPC every single time, and you never see him. It’s so beautiful. But the fact that it is the byproduct of a community \[makes it special\]. It took them a while to figure out how it worked. **Tyler:** Yeah, I remember when it was spreading around—when people were like “Oh my god, put this code in and you can easily farm a bunch of souls; it’s the only way you can do it.” **Chris:** What’s really interesting is, it’s not. There’s actually quite a few dungeons. There’s a bunch of other ones, and it’s not novel in that regard. It’s just this weird \[confluence of\] the meme coupled with the community coupled with the detective work coupled with how weird the mechanic is. The fact that they had to tamper with it. Somebody was like “Well, technically it’s cheating because you can’t get that Chalice Dungeon organically.” **Tyler:** But they let you put the codes in. **Chris:** Right, and that’s the thing: If they allow it, is it cheating? ## Recommended [The Definitive Ranking Of FromSoftware Farming Locations I LikeDark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Elden Ring, Sekrio, Bloodborne, AC6 and more. I have been thinking about farming for weeks now.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-521b506f-80c0-4616-9205-d366a64423d1.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_6002-d6f3192b-9712-4529-afab-d43132d5cc08.JPG)](https://aftermath.site/dark-souls-elden-ring-sekiro-ac6-souls-runes-farming/) ### Fallout Didn’t Make Itself URL: https://aftermath.site/fallout-5-bethesda-xbox-layoffs/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T19:54:44.000Z Microsoft is in full damage control mode following [last week’s catastrophic layoffs](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-product-teams-fan-criticism/) of 1,600 game workers—[with another 1,600 to come](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/)—and if you observe its efforts (not very) closely, you’ll spot a theme: *Fallout*. Last week, it was [Obsidian pivoting back to *Fallout*](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/)all these years after fan favorite *New Vegas*. This week, it’s Bethesda uttering words gamers have been waiting a decade to hear: *Fallout 5*. In [a lengthy note](https://bethesda.net/en/article/7wrffyXajE4BmCLJVpOkcN/a-note-from-bethesda-game-studios?ref=aftermath.site) published today, Bethesda talked about how it’s “investing more deeply in the worlds players love” despite having just laid off hundreds of employees, touching on *Elder Scrolls VI* and *Fallout 5* without really saying much about them beyond what we already knew: They’re in development, they’re using custom Bethesda tech, and *Elder Scrolls VI* will be the first of the two to release… [at some point](https://aftermath.site/elder-scrolls-vi-trailer-six-years-later/). The note does not mention layoffs nor the many extremely talented people who contributed to the aforementioned projects—as well as *Starfield*, *Fallout 76*, and *Elder Scrolls Online*, [not to mention classics like *Morrowind*, *Oblivion*, and *Skyrim*](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/). It takes on the same tone as notes published by other recently eviscerated studios like [*Doom* and *Quake* institution id Software](https://x.com/idSoftware/status/2075638499412189455?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2075638499412189455%7Ctwgr%5E1fcf19ec17dad186aeb7f2bc6738276c6ff1941f%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2Fdoom-maker-id-software-pushes-back-against-concerns-about-its-future-we-still-have-the-crew-we-need-to-build-the-games-and-tech-were-known-for-2000714747&ref=aftermath.site): Despite layoffs that, in many cases, [cut teams in half](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-id-software-frankfurt-doom/), everything is Fine. Better than fine, in fact; studios are working on sequels to things you’ve heard of! Yaaaaaay. The implicit message? All the bloodletting was—and will continue to be—worth it. This is just the price other people have to pay for your favorite games. Some self-proclaimed fans of these series have even declared the layoffs just punishment after developers didn’t give them exactly what they wanted sooner. Ameliorative non-announcements like these [do not disabuse them of that notion](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs/). But what really got me wasn’t Bethesda’s post about its thrilling future in the franchise mines, but what Xbox CEO and [pain sponge](https://aftermath.site/asha-sharma-microsofts-xbox-instacart-meta-pain-sponge-succesion/) Asha Sharma [had to say](https://x.com/asha%5Fshar/status/2078119482204270711?ref=aftermath.site) in response: > Todd Howard just shared plans for the *Fallout*, *The Elder Scrolls*, and *Starfield* franchises. These worlds have earned a special place with hundreds of millions of people over many years. I'm looking forward to what's next, including the partnership with Obsidian on a new *Fallout* game and closer collaboration with ZeniMax Online Studios on *The Elder Scrolls*. The achievements of these franchises are remarkable: *The Elder Scrolls V*: *Skyrim* has crossed 65 million units sold, becoming one of the 10 best-selling games of all time, *Fallout 4* has also crossed 35 million units sold, joining the top 25, and *Starfield* will soon reach over 1 billion hours played. This statement sucks so bad that it makes my blood boil. Look what the franchises did, all by themselves! Look what they’ve accomplished, of their own volition, thanks to their own intrinsic goodness! So many big numbers, which translate to giant heaps of cash in the bank accounts of execs and shareholders! Never mind the hundreds of people—aside from genius auteur solo indie dev Todd Howard—who spent decades painstakingly crafting the games, stories, and other creative endeavors that corporate ghouls now so happily flatten into “franchises,” erasing themes, meaning, and human beings in favor of empty iconography. Let's talk this way the same week workers are [demonstrating outside studios around the country](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/) in an effort to put faces and voices to exactly what you've callously thrown away. This is how the people running the show at Xbox—and countless companies besides—view games, not to mention everything else in their robotic, colorless lives. Numbers and lines trending ever upward. Fuel for platitudes and faux-inspirational nonsense directed at the LinkedIn hivemind, of which they all paradoxically believe they’re the main character. Another stepping stone toward the next bigger, better thing. No ultimate destination, no camaraderie, no soul. Just an endless ladder that leads to the void regardless of which way you climb. Of course someone like this would survey the current landscape of justified rage and fear—after she, a glorified crony, buoyed by other cronies beneath her, tore crucial organs out of the games industry—and brainlessly burp up a bunch of names and numbers. Sharma is as hollow as her statements, and if things continue at their current pace, Xbox will be too. ## Recommended [Asha Sharma Assigned To Federal Reserve’s ‘Productivity And Jobs’ Task Force The Same Week She Oversaw 1,600 Layoffs (With Another 1,600 To Come)Lol, lmao![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-36112eb0-ca7e-4d4a-810b-eefe8b77c3b4.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/asha-fa17d85b-9cb1-4668-be4d-95ea7df30308.png)](https://aftermath.site/xbox-asha-sharma-federal-reserve-task-force-layoffs/) ### Netflix, Just Pay People To Make Video Games, You Are Making This Needlessly Complicated URL: https://aftermath.site/netflix-video-games-fifa/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T19:35:14.000Z Netflix has been in the video game business for a while now, and for most of that time the company's presence has wavered between 'quiet surprise', 'irrelevant' and 'comedically inept' on the success scale. They invested in[ the concept of having their own development studios](https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/netflix-acquires-boss-fight-game-studio-1235214156/?ref=aftermath.site). They also struck deals where they simply paid to provide excellent, standalone video games (like *Civilization* and *GTA*) made by other companies to Netflix subscribers, free of charge. Which [nobody was playing](https://www.wired.com/story/netflix-mobile-games-no-one-playing/?ref=aftermath.site), so after[ a studio closure in 2024](https://www.gamefile.news/p/netflix-team-blue-socal-studio?ref=aftermath.site), some[ AI slop announcements](https://aftermath.site/netflix-ai-garbage-mike-verdu-vp-of-ai-slop/), another [studio closure](https://aftermath.site/squid-game-unleashed-boss-fight-closed/) and a[ president's departure in 2025](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/netflix-games-confirms-departure-of-former-president-and-vp-of-genai-mike-verdu?ref=aftermath.site) they've since changed course. Now the plan is to host games on Netflix itself, played via devices like phones, and this is *also* not working. The company's[ big, official FIFA game was a *disaster*](https://aftermath.site/fifa-world-cup-launch-edition-netflix-review-impressions/), and performed so poorly that[ in a FIFA press release put out during the early stages of the World Cup](https://inside.fifa.com/organisation/media-releases/packed-stadiums-record-digital-reach-world-cup-2026-numbers-unprecedented-scale?ref=aftermath.site), all they could muster was that it 'has an average player rating of 4.2/5', the kind of thing you say when the player numbers are *really* bad (otherwise you'd be boasting about player numbers!). As for the rest of Netflix's games, things clearly aren't going any better.[ As part of the company's latest earnings report](https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc%5Ffinancials/2026/q2/Netflix-Inc-%5FEarnings-Call%5F2026-07-16T00%5F00%5F00%5FEnglish-1.pdf?ref=aftermath.site), Vice President of Finance, Corporate Development & Investor Relations Spencer Wang was *directly* asked how Netflix's games were performing, and all he could muster was a series of sentences like "*FIFA* and *Unhinged* became our 2 most successful cloud game debuts", "monthly active players for cloud games have increased 11x" , and that there's been "more engagement in kids mobile games, which is up 600% year-over-year". Again, you don't need me to tell you this, but if the actual player numbers were good, they would *mention the numbers*. The numbers are bad because nobody wants this from Netflix! People open Netflix to watch a TV show or movie, that's what Netflix is, they do not want to open it to play a video game, and they especially don't want to play a video game through a TV platform where they have to use their phone as a controller. And even if you *did* want to play them, loads of people can't; the TCL TV I purchased brand new in 2025, for example, doesn't support it. Anyone who knows anything about video games could have told you these were all incredibly stupid ideas. > In earnings today Netflix said it was "scratching the surface" re games, just like it said in April 2026, January 2026, October 2025, and January 2025 > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:25ofi7urzd5uhgzdbq4gqybn/post/3mqsr7chpd226?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Riley MacLeod ([@rcmacleod.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:25ofi7urzd5uhgzdbq4gqybn?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [July 17, 2026 at 1:02 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:25ofi7urzd5uhgzdbq4gqybn/post/3mqsr7chpd226?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) Netflix made over *$12 billion dollars* in the last year. If they want to spend some of that money to make video games, there is no law against that, they would be far from the first entertainment company to try. But if they want to make *successful* video games, there are so many better and more proven ways than whatever the hell they keep flailing around trying to do. Like… just using some of that money to pay people to make normal video games? I know you've tried and bailed on that idea, but you also never really committed to it properly; spreading $500 million out across a number of smaller projects, ones that could be released on actual gaming platforms but carry the Netflix name--and thus contribute to the company's bottom line--would surely generate at least some kind of interest (and revenue), probably enough to let you cite actual sales numbers in your fiscal results. As someone[ who has lived through an "adults in the room" ownership nightmare in media](https://deadspin.com/the-adults-in-the-room-1837487584/?ref=aftermath.site), and can see exactly the same thought process in action here, it drives me mad! Some moron in a suit at Netflix thinks there needs to be *synergy* between the company's efforts, that a streaming app needs to have a *value add*, and that salary costs drag down revenue, so instead of doing the most obvious and proven thing imaginable--paying video game developers to make video games and release them in places people play video games--we get half-assed shit like that *FIFA* game, which I described as "a modern hellscape and an embarrassment to everyone involved". It's especially maddening to consider that[ we're witnessing an extinction-level event rain down across most parts of the video game industry](https://aftermath.site/video-game-industry-crash-26/), where tens of thousands of talented and experienced developers are out of work, and Netflix ([where things are not going great on TV either](https://www.vulture.com/article/how-worried-should-netflix-be-q2-2026-earnings.html?ref=aftermath.site)) are out here dicking around with the cheapest, dumbest shit imaginable. They could be paying thousands of these people a living wage to make very cool video games for them instead. ### I'm Making Ceramics In My Microwave URL: https://aftermath.site/microwave-kiln-and-mini-pottery-wheel/ Last updated: 2026-07-20T19:34:44.000Z After [toying with polymer and air dry clay for a few months](https://aftermath.site/best-in-miniatures-tv-show-polymer-clay/), I got a miniature pottery wheel and a microwave kiln. Why not take on an even more finicky, more painful version of the same hobby? I've been taking lessons on making ceramics on a pottery wheel for a few months, and playing around with polymer and air dry clay. I've made a lot of polymer clay hockey skates since I wrote that last post in May, and I've gotten pretty efficient at it. I'm getting better at observation and creating a more accurate form. I've gotten better at throwing on the normal-sized pottery wheel, too! But what I have learned is that ceramics is an emotionally devastating hobby. I have ruined many pieces at all different stages—on the wheel while throwing, on the wheel while trimming, with a paintbrush while glazing. So, of course, I made it harder by making everything smaller. ![Small pottery wheel with a normal sized thing](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_9353.jpg) Image: Nicole Carpenter The miniature pottery wheel I got is from a company called Small Ceramics, which produces adorable, colorful 3D-printed pottery wheels. You can get less expensive miniature pottery wheels, and I'm sure they work fine. Except for the $5 toy pottery wheel from Five Below. I bought that, and it was a nightmare to use, which I shouldn't have been surprised at. But the Small Ceramics wheel is said to be more powerful; you can throw small, but you can also throw a regular-sized mug without issue. Pottery is not as gentle as it may seem. There's a surprising amount of force necessary to force clay into different shapes, especially the setup of centering the clay on the wheel. This is the part that was impossible on the $5 toy wheel. Any time I'd cone the clay up (a move that sets the clay into a floppy, phallic shape) then back down (into a puck shape), the wheel would stop entirely. The Small Ceramics wheel has no issues at all, even with more than a pound of clay. I got the wheel a few weeks ago, and I've made a whole bunch of different pieces using air dry clay. The problem with air dry clay on the wheel is that it's a lot drier than regular clay. You can do it, and I did a lot of it, but I think it also sort of messed me up on the regular wheel. (There was a gap between my classes, so I had a couple weeks of no regular wheel-throwing.) You have to use a *ton* of force on the air dry clay, and normal clay is a bit more delicate. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_9275.jpg) Image: Nicole Carpenter | Don't buy this! The other thing about air dry clay is that it, like polymer clay, doesn't make the satisfying clink of ceramics that are fired in a kiln. In a kiln, clay becomes vitrified—clay particles get fused together and then science happens and whatever you've made is no longer porous. And so it makes a satisfying sound when tapped. Polymer clay is plastic, and it sounds like it. Air dry clay can refer to clays made of a lot of different materials—but they don’t get vitrified in a kiln so (they may even burn up in the kiln), they don’t make that sound. Before I got my microwave kiln, I started throwing with real clay on the miniature wheel, just to try it. The process is very similar to throwing on the normal-sized wheel—just at a much smaller scale. I used my fingers instead of my arms and hands. It's delicate, and sudden movements are devastating. The tools I'm using are especially small, too. Everything is so cute. It's been relatively successful, but for some time, I had no way to fire anything I made. Everything sat on my work desk in a state called "bone dry," and extremely fragile. That's where the microwave kiln comes in. You need to fire clay in a kiln. It's too fragile in its bone dry state, and the tiny pots, cups, and vases I've been making break easily. I've lost several just from handling them at all. My regular-sized pottery, created in class, gets glazed and fired at the studio I'm taking lessons at. It's a weeks-long process to even get to the painting, then longer as they wait to get fired in the kiln. The microwave kiln makes the process something I can do at my house, in a much shorter amount of time. ![Little pieces of clay drying](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_9590.jpg) Image: Nicole Carpenter | Little pieces of clay drying The process, though, is much more chaotic and unpredictable by nature of the tool. You can't make food-safe ceramics in the microwave kiln, because it doesn't get hot enough to fully vitrify the clay. You also can't really choose what temperature you're firing it to. There are no settings like in a regular kiln. There are a lot of ways you can mess up: Heating it up too fast, taking the kiln out too early, leaving *any* trace of moisture in your pieces. Ask me how I've learned! Though I've watched a massive amount of YouTube videos and read a lot of instructions, you only really get a feel for it—your kiln, clay, and microwave—by trying. My microwave kiln arrived over the weekend, and I wanted to try it immediately. Just to be clear, this is my experience and not necessarily instructions you should follow. I'm new at this! I glazed some of the bone dry pieces I'd already made and immediately started heating up the kiln with no ceramics inside. Heating up the kiln itself, before adding the clay pieces, is necessary to make sure the thing itself doesn't heat up too fast. Rapid temperature changes can crack the kiln. So I heated it in 3 minute increments, increasing the microwave's power level each time. The kiln is very hot at this point, so you need heatproof gloves. I put the pieces in, put it back in the microwave, and started this process over, just at 5 minute increments. Everything immediately exploded inside the kiln. It sounded like popcorn popping. These little explosions stayed contained inside the kiln. ![Shattered pottery](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_9530.jpg) Image: Nicole Carpenter | First kiln haul! I didn't realize that—oh yeah!—the glazes add moisture. I also used water to clean the bottoms of the pieces so that they don't melt onto the kiln base. Unfortunately for me, I was so excited that I put all the best pieces in the microwave kiln first. To the seconds tomorrow! The next day, I put the pottery pieces into the regular oven for an hour or so at its lowest heat, just to really dry them out, then brought them back outside to the microwave kiln. I heated the kiln up in the same way and popped the pieces back in. When I pulled out the microwave kiln immediately after the cycle was over, I lifted the lid with my fireproof gloves. They looked like lava! I let everything cool, though not as patiently as I should have, because the kiln cracked a little bit from thermal shock. (It's still usable.) I've learned I should leave the kiln in the microwave untouched for a half hour or so before even opening the microwave door. The thing about the microwave kiln is that there are very real safety hazards. The fumes, for one, which is why you should do this outside and protective equipment, like a mask. It's also incredibly hot, so the fireproof gloves, fire extinguisher, and, again, protective equipment is essential. I don't know if it's dangerous, per se, but it's something you've got to be careful with. With that said, if this is something you're interested in trying, do your own research! I'm still figuring this out. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_9598-1.jpg) I've fired the kiln now several times, with different glazes, and gotten adorable results. There are lots of mess ups, broken pieces I drop before even reaching the kiln, and bad paint jobs. I'm having issues with underglaze and clear glaze—nothing comes out shiny. This is actually an issue in my regular-sized ceramics, too. If you know what I can do to fix these, please reach out! It’s so satisfying to have these little pieces of pottery jingling around in my hand. I *made* those! I don't yet know what I'll do with the things I've made, which are now up to the dozens. For now, I've put them into my pockets to show friends—and anyone who will listen to me talk about it. My friends and family will certainly receive tiny gifts, too. The important thing to note though is that these really aren't functional in any way. I haven't tested them with water yet, but because they are fully vitrified, the water will eventually soak through the clay. You can't really even use them as vases because of that. Perhaps dry flowers, or as trinket dishes? Just trinkets themselves, even. I think it would be very cute to put a little stand outside my house and pass out tiny pottery to my neighbors, pay-what-you-can or free, especially since there's little to no function to these, except being cute. ### Unions File Unfair Labor Complaints Against Microsoft Over Decision To ‘Unlawfully’ Fire Xbox Workers URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-cwa-unfair-labor-practice-bethesda/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T23:11:51.000Z Last week, Communications Workers of America, the union that helped organize thousands of workers across numerous Microsoft-owned video game studios, [promised that it would](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/) “take all necessary legal and contractual action to defend our members and their rights” following layoffs of 1,600 employees. Now it’s making good on its word. Today CWA and CWA Canada [filed unfair labor complaints against Microsoft](https://www.nlrb.gov/case/16-CA-390759?%5Fsp=7bb97e6e-b1b8-450e-9fa8-82145f937726.1784230304839&ref=aftermath.site), alleging unlawful action on the part of the profitable (but [apparently not profitable enough](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-memo-layoffs-july-2026/)) tech giant. "CWA's position is clear: Xbox management is required to bargain with the union over the decision of layoffs prior to implementing them during the status quo period, and we are pursuing every available avenue to protect our members," a CWA spokesperson said in a statement to Aftermath. The unfair labor complaint, filed in the US to the National Labor Relations Board, lists several allegations: “repudiation/modification of contract,” “refusal to furnish information,” “refusal to bargain/bad faith bargaining (incl'g surface bargaining/direct dealing),” and “coercive actions (surveillance, etc).” [Speaking to Game Developer](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/unions-take-legal-action-against-microsoft-for-allegedly-mishandling-xbox-layoffs?ref=aftermath.site), CWA Canada president Carmel Smyth elaborated on the unions’ misgivings. "The unions CWA and CWA Canada have jointly filed unfair labor practice complaints against Microsoft alleging the company has unlawfully fired people without giving notice to or discussing it with the union as the employer is legally obliged to do when we are in the middle of ongoing bargaining a collective agreement," Smyth said. "Basically the employer cannot arbitrarily change working conditions while it is engaged in negotiating with the union. We will continue to file legal challenges if necessary, and do all we can to defend the rights of Bethesda Game Studios workers." This is not CWA’s first time taking legal action against Microsoft and its subsidiaries. [In 2025](https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/statement-cwa-unfair-labor-practice-charge-against-activision-publishing-subsidiary?ref=aftermath.site), CWA publicly announced that it had filed an unfair labor practice charge against Activision for allegedly disciplining a Raven Software employee for communicating about bargaining. It appears to have been [withdrawn by the NLRB](https://www.nlrb.gov/case/18-CA-361967?ref=aftermath.site) a couple months later. The NLRB’s database also includes a few other open cases filed by CWA against Activision—[one from 2025](https://www.nlrb.gov/case/18-CA-360328?ref=aftermath.site) and [two from](https://www.nlrb.gov/case/18-CA-380124?ref=aftermath.site) [2026](https://www.nlrb.gov/case/18-CA-382139?ref=aftermath.site). Additionally, there are [five open cases against Zenimax](https://www.nlrb.gov/search/case/zenimax?ref=aftermath.site) (not including today's), three from CWA. [Also in 2025](https://cwacanada.ca/2025/03/18/cwa-canada-files-complaints-against-microsoft-bgs/?ref=aftermath.site), CWA Canada filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Bethesda Game Studios for what it deemed unfair bargaining with Canadian employees and “choosing to treat Canada-based employees like second-class citizens.” It is unclear whether or not the case has been resolved. Currently, the US’ National Labor Relations Board is dealing with [a “historic” backlog of cases](https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/general-counsel-announces-case-reallocation-initiative-to-tackle-historic?ref=aftermath.site) after 2025 saw Donald Trump take the then-unprecedented step of [firing Democratic member Gwynne Wilcox](https://www.reuters.com/world/us-court-says-trump-can-remove-democrats-two-federal-labor-boards-2025-12-05/?ref=aftermath.site), costing the five-member board its quorum of at least three members and preventing it from deciding cases for nearly a year. The board has traditionally been overseen by two Democrats, two Republicans, and a chair from the president’s party, and with Trump’s nominee recently [getting cleared by a Senate panel](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trumps-nominee-key-us-labor-board-post-cleared-by-senate-panel-2026-07-15/?ref=aftermath.site), it’s looking like Republicans will soon have a 3-1 NLRB advantage. This [does not bode well for Biden-era NLRB decisions](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/nlrb-poised-major-policy-shifts-2026-with-new-trump-appointed-majority-2026-01-05/?ref=aftermath.site) that encouraged union organizing—nor for unions in general. Additionally, [a recent Center For American Progress analysis](https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-nlrb-is-throwing-out-charges-alleging-employers-engaged-in-unfair-labor-practices/?ref=aftermath.site) found that under Trump, the NLRB has proven 14.2 percent more likely to throw out unfair labor practice charges filed by unions and 10.7 percent more likely to do so when the charges are filed by workers. But that doesn't mean it's pointless. "I'm very proud of the hard work the bargaining committees and CWA staff have put in to evaluate the legality of how the layoffs were conducted," a current id Software employee and union member told Aftermath. "It's important, even for the world's largest and most profitable companies, that there are consequences for violating federal labor law. If we hadn't explored this avenue to hold Microsoft accountable, it would be a sign to all other game executives that they can break the law and get away with it." Legal action is just one part of unions’ larger effort to hold Microsoft accountable for its decision to lay off thousands of workers. This week, CWA also [hosted a series of “Save Our Devs” demonstrations](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/) outside the offices of affected studios like Zenimax, id Software, Bethesda, and Obsidian. “I think we are trying to put pressure on \[Microsoft\] from as many angles as possible,” a current Blizzard employee and union member told Aftermath. “Evidently keeping it internal is not enough.” ## Recommended [Game Workers Rally Against Microsoft Layoffs: ‘Corporate Greed Is Destroying Our Games And Our Livelihoods’Former and current workers and supporters rallied outside ZeniMax offices across the US and Canada to protest Microsoft’s latest cuts![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f3f84785-d7cd-49ad-a760-32893e9a6c88.png)AftermathMikhail Klimentov![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_2638--1--2-1-1-1-28c2efe6-51e3-4cb7-b218-fe787a748648.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/) ### Game Workers Rally Against Microsoft Layoffs: 'Corporate Greed Is Destroying Our Games And Our Livelihoods’ URL: https://aftermath.site/zenimax-save-our-devs-microsoft-protest-layoffs/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T16:29:21.000Z Welcome signs on the road into Maryland bear a slogan chosen by the governor. The last guy went with “Open for business.” In 2023, the new governor updated the signs with his own motto, the one I saw driving to Rockville on Wednesday to cover a rally in support of ZeniMax workers laid off by Microsoft. “Leave no one behind.” It fit the occasion. That day, organizers with the Communications Workers of America union hosted the Save Our Devs March at [ZeniMax studio offices across the US and in Canada](https://bsky.app/profile/videogameworkers.bsky.social/post/3mqcjworgic2t?ref=aftermath.site), including outside one in Rockville. The rally drew current and former ZeniMax employees and a bevy of well-wishers who gathered around noon in the sweltering heat on a strip of grass by the parking lot, a red cluster of activity in an otherwise sedate office complex. Over the next two hours, they would express, in a range of tones, their fury with Microsoft and their determination to win concessions for laid-off workers — better severance, better health benefits, privileged consideration for future openings — who were stepping into the unknown. Maybe more importantly, they milled about, catching up with friends and former coworkers, commiserating, hugging, holding back tears. On July 6, Microsoft announced [massive layoffs](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/) across its games division. 1,600 people lost their jobs that day; another 1,600 are set to be laid off at some undisclosed future point. The ZeniMax studios, which are owned by Microsoft, were [hit particularly hard](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/). By the union’s count, at least 440 positions across the company’s holdings, which include Bethesda and id Software, were eliminated. At ZeniMax Online Studios, the cuts were deep and wide-ranging, hitting studio leadership as well as QA testers, animators, food service workers and others, [GameFile reported](https://www.gamefile.news/p/zenimax-online-studio-head-out?ref=aftermath.site) Wednesday evening. Startlingly, this is ZeniMax’s second brush with cuts in as many years. As people were ambling in, I spoke to a former Bethesda QA tester named Chase Carter. He’d worked on *Fallout 76*, *Starfield*, *Indiana Jones And The Great Circle*, *Deathloop* — “the list goes on,” he told me. It was only halfway through our chat that I realized he was actually a victim of layoffs from [one year prior](https://www.thebanner.com/economy/careers/microsoft-zenimax-layoffs-maryland-GSCXZRZCXZFE5EXD77U3RYK6GI/?ref=aftermath.site): “I was part of the layoffs the year before,” Carter said. “I remember when I found out one of my coworkers got laid off, I’m like, ‘Oh god, if that guy got laid off, I’m done for.’ And I was.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_2641use--1--2-1.jpg) Photo: Mikhail Klimentov As more people arrived, Nathan Hahn, a technical producer at Bethesda and a volunteer with the union, led the crowd through a few sample call-and-response chants: When we fight — *we win!* Whose power? *Our power!* What power? *Union power!* Later, he brought out a guitar, getting the crowd involved in a “Solidarity Forever” singalong. Many attendees came with homemade signs: Don’t Test The Testers; My Trough Runneth Over With Microslop; FUS RO JOBS; Microsoft ~~Gaming~~ Layoff Division. One person wore a keffiyeh. Another wore a tricorn hat. Most people just wore red, the color of the CWA. Every five minutes or so, a passing van or truck would honk, prompting loud cheers and clapping from the crowd. “We’re out here protesting these illegal layoffs, fighting to bring the company to the table so that we can, first off, get our jobs back,” said Tyler Fischesser, a software engineer at Bethesda. He was carrying a sign that read “Bring Back Our Bargaining Committee,” and said he was the one member of his four-person union bargaining committee who hadn’t been laid off. (He nursed a suspicion, he told me, that Microsoft had targeted union members in its cuts. He wasn’t the only person I spoke to who held that view.) “But second off,” Fischesser added, “if the company insists on going forward with this, \[we’re fighting to\] get better severance, get better health benefits, get better recall rights, and force the company to place affected workers in news roles throughout Xbox and Microsoft.” [Union Promises To Take ‘All Necessary Legal And Contractual Action’ To Fight For Laid-Off Workers As Impacts On Blizzard, Id Software Become Clear“Entire teams have been gutted or even outright eliminated with institutional knowledge lost that can’t be replaced”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-910ff6f3-7505-491c-ac23-efaada26cfd7.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/doom-6dee7867-23b7-49ae-a02f-67597f5b7a11.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/) He said the cuts — and even just the rumors of cuts before July 6 — had made it difficult to focus on work. “Knowing that the ax is about to fall, and knowing you’re about to lose a lot of your friends and colleagues, it’s very difficult,” Fischesser said. “Going forward with these cuts, the future of our projects are in jeopardy. There’s a lot up in the air across all the studios.” The mayor of Rockville offered brief and quiet remarks in support of the workers, and a [Rockville city councilmember](https://bsky.app/profile/marissavaleri.com/post/3mqpd7r3skp2i?ref=aftermath.site) attended. One speaker drew muted, confused applause when he mused aloud: If Donald Trump wants to save jobs in his backyard, why doesn’t he come out here? > I was proud to attend the ZeniMax protest this afternoon, at their headquarters in Rockville. I stand with the workers who were layed off, calling on Microsoft to do the right thing: reverse the layoffs and support your game developers. #SaveOurDevs #OneBGS #ZeniMaxWorkersUnited #RockvilleMD > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5v3knp7pchtsgtkcsaeb7ouc/post/3mqpd7r3skp2i?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Councilmember Marissa Valeri ([@marissavaleri.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5v3knp7pchtsgtkcsaeb7ouc?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [July 15, 2026 at 2:14 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5v3knp7pchtsgtkcsaeb7ouc/post/3mqpd7r3skp2i?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) While he’d retained his job, Hahn told me the layoffs were a major disruption. “As a producer, my role is to build roadmaps that help us see when we’re gonna get the game done. And obviously, all of those are out the window if you no longer have the people there to do that work.” “Our studio has a custom game engine that is built upon that legacy of people with a vast amount of experience being able to update it and build it. And a lot of those folks were kicked to the curb,” Hahn said. “So now there’s folks standing around, not sure who to ask that question that they would have asked that person who had those decades of experience.” When asked, every attendee could point me to a former coworker whose contributionsto ZeniMax had been invaluable — and whose talents Microsoft had chosen to walk away from. Talk to her, they’d say; she designed the armor worn by the Dragonborn in the *Skyrim* key art. Talk to that guy, with the cowboy hat and handlebar mustache; he designed a bunch of Bethesda’s iconic weapons. In a July 6 [statement](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/07/06/resetting-xbox/?ref=aftermath.site) announcing the layoffs, CEO of Xbox Asha Sharma groused that “in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management.” But on the ground in Rockville, that claim was viewed skeptically. (One person wondered how 14 layers of management would even work.) The people who had lost their jobs were, in many cases, beloved long-time coworkers responsible for some of ZeniMax’s most profound successes — the sorts of games and features Sharma said Xbox should be pivoting back to. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_2639--1--1.jpg) Photo: Mikhail Klimentov “Id \[Software\], they’ve just been through a 10-year period of three absolutely fantastic *Doom* games. Critically acclaimed. Everybody loves them,” said Jay Woodward, a 19-year veteran of Bethesda Game Studios. “And this is the reward. It seems very strange.” When I asked Woodward, an AI designer who was caught up in last week’s layoffs, to share something he was proud of working on at the studio, he kicked it all the way back to *Skyrim*. “If you did any work with the AI system in *Oblivion*,” he said, “everything was a very small set of predefined packages. And then in *Skyrim*, we have the customizable package system where you can sort of build procedures and branching nodes and whatnot into your own, essentially, behavior tree.” Woodward and another tools programmer, Shannon Bailey, built that system, he said. Woodward did see something of a silver lining, though. “I am the father to two wonderful kids,” he said. “And I am happy to be in the role of dad, and doing dad stuff for a while here.” Christiane Meister, who started at Bethesda in 1999 and designed the Elder Scrolls’ iconic Khajiit and Argonians (“they’re kind of my kids,” she said), began to notice a change after ZeniMax was acquired by Microsoft in 2021. “It was like a corporate business trying to take over art,” she said. “A video game is art. It’s not TPS reports, you know? And that’s the way we were headed.” Stephanie Zachariadis, a former quest designer at Bethesda, was hired after working as head writer on *Fallout: London*, a *Fallout 4* mod. In her five years at the studio, she was one of a small team working on the Lombardi Family and the Munis faction in the Atlantic City DLC for *Fallout 76* — and was excited for a “big piece of content” she was working on for one of the studio’s “current projects,” she said. Last week, she was laid off. Zachariadis said she was dismayed to see sometimes-hostile reactions to the laid-off workers online. “I do a little doomscrolling,” Zachariadis said. “And I see people saying, like, ‘the devs, they just don’t care.’ … We cared a lot. And sometimes it’s so devastating because we can’t say, like, ‘trust me, there’s things you don’t know are happening, I wish I could tell you, but — we are fighting for this game to be amazing, and we care a lot.’” The workers at the rally were, of course, immediately concerned with securing people’s livelihoods. But more broadly, the union rally was part of a bigger fight “for the spirit of the studio,” she said. “Corporate greed is destroying our games and our livelihoods.” “I think what’s important to understand is that we were all very close friends,” she said. “And while we’re all still going to see each other, we were really looking forward to releasing a game together. And now we’re not sure what’s going to happen.” Before we parted, Zachariadis said I absolutely must speak with Dane Olds, a lead weapons artist who got laid off. (Reader, I missed him.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_2636-1.jpg) Photo: Mikhail Klimentov By 2 p.m., the crowd had thinned considerably. After remarks from the mayor, union organizers and a handful of workers, and a smattering of songs and chants, the not-yet-but-maybe-eventually laid-off had returned to the office. A few small clusters of former employees, organizers and supporters remained, chatting in the shade, sipping on water and Gatorade. Last week, Microsoft hit half of its target of 3,200 cuts. 1,600 workers remain to be laid off. Already, the ZeniMax studios have been bled of swaths of talent. Those who haven’t been cut will have to contend with the constant looming threat of more layoffs, another total disruption coming down the pike, inscrutable and unpredictable to anyone outside of Microsoft’s executive suite. “There should have been a sign that said ‘Microsoft, what the fuck are you doing?’” someone muttered, prompting weary laughter. ### Lowlands Away, Me John URL: https://aftermath.site/assassins-creed-black-flag-resynched-sea-shanty/ Last updated: 2026-07-17T15:28:59.000Z I've been playing the *Assassin’s Creed* *Black Flag* remake this week, and one thing that struck me beyond[ the pointlessness of the whole thing](https://aftermath.site/ocarina-of-time-remake-nintendo/) was how, in one small way at least, it was good to be back. [I Don’t Know If We Need All These Remakes, GuysEvery game you’ve ever loved is a product of its time, and a reflection of the limitations placed on its creators.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f043f5c8-de77-4b38-b354-f51f1ed92095.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Capture-3-b534593d-8098-4f7d-847d-a5efe595228f.PNG)](https://aftermath.site/ocarina-of-time-remake-nintendo/) *Black Flag*, originally released in 2013, sticks out like a sore thumb in the *Assassin's Creed* back catalogue because the things it's most remembered for, and the things it did best, had little to do with *Assassin's Creed*. While this is a mainline *AC* game in intent, saddled as it is with so much lore and so many scripted missions designed around following men around and stabbing them from a bush, the highlight of *Black Flag* is without a doubt all The Pirate Shit. By giving the player command of a ship, dropping them in the middle of an open-world Caribbean and then throwing in stuff like ship-to-ship combat, naval missions, boss fights and a basic trading economy, Ubisoft inadvertently (or advertantly, I don't know!) also gave us[ a modern version of the classic *Sid Meier's Pirates*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid%5FMeier%27s%5FPirates!?ref=aftermath.site). Which, if you've never played it, is basically everything *Black Flag's* best pirate stuff was, only older, and without any fancy lighting or ocean effects. There was so much to do here, and it was all so much fun, that I can barely remember the actual *Assassin's Creed* storyline from this game, because I probably spent 80-90% of my total playtime just sailing around doing the pirate stuff! I always thought that was such an incredible achievement for the developers– to ship a big AAA blockbuster is hard enough at the best of times, but to juice its diversionary side content to the extent it becomes the main attraction? And it becomes so popular that[ Ubisoft commits itself to a whole new game based *just* on that pirate stuff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull%5Fand%5FBones%5F%28video%5Fgame%29?ref=aftermath.site)? That's incredible. I can't think of another game like it. The reasons The Pirate Shit was (and is, if this is your first encounter with the game) so good are many! The game's exaggerated, almost cartoonish depiction of the Caribbean is one of the most idyllic works of art direction in video game history; everything from the lapping waves to the smooth, warm sunsets makes you feel like you're *right there*. Ships handle well, the segue to hand-to-hand combat is wonderful, naval combat is both easy to learn but difficult to master and the extra missions and trading stuff (not to mention the always-excellent fort challenges) mean that you can abandon the *AC* storyline entirely at points and just play the Pirate Game forever and it truly feels like its own game. All of which is important stuff to keep in mind when playing and talking about this game! But also, let's be honest: the thing that tipped this game over from "good *Assassin's Creed*" into "one of my all-time favourites" was the sea shanties. While hardly one of the most expensive or flashy parts of the game, Ubisoft's decision to go and hire a bunch of real sea shanty experts to lend their voices to a game about pirates was a stroke of genius. It's a beautiful thing to sail a ship in this game during its quieter moments. The sea rolling against the hull, the wind blowing gently through the sails, the moon rising softly into the early evening sky. It all looks and feels great. But to have all that going on, and then have *this* come over the top, is *transcendent*. It doesn't matter that this game's shanties and songs are wildly and wilfully historically inaccurate ([most of those included in the game date from the 18th, 19th and even 20th centuries](https://kotaku.com/assassins-creed-ivs-sea-shanties-are-a-treasure-1486865100?ref=aftermath.site)). They *feel* like pirate sea shanties, in the way so much else we associate with pirates has[ more to do with movies than history books](https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/pirates-history-golden-age-piracy?ref=aftermath.site), and if their presence makes the game cooler without doing much actual historical harm, I think that's fine. The work vocalists like Sean Dagher, Nils Brown ([watch him belt one out on a stormy beach!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia2iRxYuGUQ&ref=aftermath.site) Amazing!) and Michiel Schrey were able to put together for this game is astounding. Even listening to these shanties in a YouTube thumbnail on a website is giving me goosebumps. Hearing them in the game, with the lights off and the seas at your fingertips, is a video game sensation so immersive I will take it with me to my grave. It's so funny to me that for all the time and money Ubisoft have spent remaking a video game that I don't think needed to be remade at all--I've still got the original on PS4 and it still looks and plays great!--the icing on the cake, the thing that made a very good game into a great one, was something so simple and so divorced from the AAA industry's obsession with fidelity and visuals and scale that you don't even need to play *Black Flag* to enjoy them, you can just pull up a playlist and listen to them in the car or on the way to work. And they're all just as good in 2026 as they were in 2013, no remastering needed. ### There's A Tiny Speck Of Light At The End Of Civilization VII's Tunnel URL: https://aftermath.site/civilization-vii-test-of-time-impressions-review/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T21:29:01.000Z My feelings on *Civilization VII* have, I hope,[ been made very clear at this point](https://aftermath.site/civilization-vii-review/): I don't like it. I think it's an extremely disappointing video game, one that doesn't just fail to understand or build on the series' legacy, but actively takes several steps away from it. [Civilization VII Is, Well, Hrm, Um, Yeah - AftermathLook upon this work, and despair![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-05b9a219-aa80-488e-af71-419eea6dcbdf.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/0cb48aa6-civilization-7-greece-screenot-3-25f305ec-52c9-4d54-b2ee-6e010b2073c2.png)](https://aftermath.site/civilization-vii-review/) [The last time I wrote about the game](https://aftermath.site/civilization-vii-civ-firaxis-update/), when a number of big announcements had been made promising key updates, I said that while there's a lot of stuff Firaxis can and should be doing to tidy it up around the edges, most of its biggest issues cannot be solved through updates, because those issues are baked into the game's foundations. Having now played through a few games featuring those changes (most of them bundled into the *Test of Time* update, released a few weeks ago), my point still stands. *Civilization VII's* most frustrating pitfalls are still there, and will always be there. Diplomacy, once an antagonistic joy you'd have thrust upon you by exuberant characters, remains a lifeless bartering system more interested in numbers than emotion. The 'Ages' system, which breaks every playthrough into three distinct chapters, is still creating weird bottlenecks and is forcing you to play the game in certain ways. And the city-building meta remains a farce, both for how disproportionately important it is and how ridiculous it makes the game map appear. [Turning A Big Dial Taht Says “Civilization” On It And Constantly Looking Back At The Audience For Approval Like A Contestant On The Price Is RightFiraxis has spent too long listening to the wrong fans, and Civilization is paying the price![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-3938e062-3e95-44fd-8f4a-ac5bd5c0c629.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Civ7_Prussia__1_-fd6f2de9-0dc0-44b4-a09f-aaf4f1291f8b.png)](https://aftermath.site/civilization-vii-civ-firaxis-update/) What *Test of Time* (and other, smaller updates in the months prior) have tried to do is address some of the stuff they *can* address. The most noted of these (it's in the name!) is the fact the player now has the option of playing as the same Civ across all three eras. Previously, you (and your opponents) would be forced to change twice, robbing your games of any sense of continuity. I know this sounds minor, but it's a big deal; *Civ VII*, and *Humankind* before it, really suffered from this because decoupling the faction from the leader meant you were really just taking on some guy, instead of a whole civilization led by some guy. It feels really flat! This was especially disastrous for *Civ VII*, where the leaders are so juiceless compared to *V* and *VI's*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/20260705114916_1.jpg) Civ VII's obsession with megacities continues to be, and will always be, a major annoyance. It's just clutter, as far as the eye can see. Now, when it's time for an Age to tick over, you're given a choice: stick with your current Civ, or change to a different (though usually somewhat related) one. You're not really disadvantaged either way, but it certainly felt more satisfying to have selected Rome at the start of the game and be able to keep playing as Rome throughout, rather than branching off into some other nation. Another priority for these recent updates is trying to bring the game up to a more polished and complete state. One of the weirdest things about playing *Civ VII* at launch was that the whole thing seemed so *unfinished*. The interface looked flat and temporary, and was missing a ton of features, while a lot of the game's art--including pieces making it into key cutscenes--looked more like rough lunchtime sketches than polished, in-game paintings. Some of this is better now. Stuff like loading screens containing more information is a step in the right direction, while the game's resources and trade systems have been improved via clearer functionality and more information being displayed via pop-ups. A panel of advisers can be toggled on and off (though they're not *terribly* useful), while changes to triumphs (which replace legacies) and win conditions were so minor I barely noticed they'd been altered. That said, there are still gaping holes in the game's presentation; a loss will still trigger a cutscene, for example, that is astoundingly cheap for such an expensive and important video game: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/20260712215721_1.jpg) The game's defeat cutscene--which is just a camera slowly zooming out of this image--is just so disappointing. This sketch isn't even finished! The sum total of all this is that over the last few weeks I played three games from start to finish, something I struggled to do at launch even when "reviewing" it (or whatever we call it on this site). The tweaks to resources and trade especially made a difference, as they gave me more mid-game busywork to indulge in (important in the absence of builders), and throughout all three games I found myself caught in that "one more turn" loop that shows, at the most basic, functional levels at least, there's a 4X video game here. That *Civilization VII* is now approaching the state of being a "functional" 4X game is hardly praise, but it's something. A common mantra among *Civ* fans over the last 15 years (and this is more true of *V* than *VI*) has been that the games seem to launch OK, but *really* start to sing once they've got a couple of expansions under their belt. I don't have the same hopes for *Civ VII* because as I keep saying it's far from being "OK", and I don't think anything they paper over the top through expansions can cover the holes left gaping in the middle of its design. But *Test of Time* does at least show there's a serviceable 4X game to be salvaged here, which is a depressing sentence to have to type given the context--we are talking about the biggest game in the genre here--but an optimistic one regardless. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/20260703192438_1.jpg) At the end of every age you're now given the choice between sticking with your original Civ or switching to one that has been deemed to be somewhat related ### Wait A Minute, Is This Fucking Book About Me? URL: https://aftermath.site/franz-kafka-the-metamorphosis/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T16:21:58.000Z I highly recommend becoming best friends with someone more versed than you in a shared hobby, as I have with a bosom buddy who works at a bookstore. Out of the blue, they recommended I read Franz Kafka’s *The Metamorphosis* after recounting, for the umpteenth time, how much of an extinction event the [thankless job of journalism](https://aftermath.site/1000x-resist-anniversary/) and the landscape I cover have become since we last spoke. “I think you’d like it,” they said. Little did I know their recommendation was a gentle call-out. **7/15/26 4:28PM:* The original version of this article misstated Kafka’s nationality.* I was vaguely aware of the Czech author before my friend’s recommendation. At least enough to include the clever allusion to the phrase “Kafka-esque” in an anime review of [*Kaiju* *No. 8*](https://www.ign.com/articles/kaiju-no-8-premiere-review?ref=aftermath.site). But after finally reading *The Metamorphosis*, I understand why my friend called this story the opposite of Peter Parker. *The Metamorphosis* follows Gregor Samsa, a weary salesman serving as the sole support for his family, comprising his portly, sunsetting father, his asthmatic mother, and his musically inclined 17-year-old little sister. His job is a suck. So much so that being late to work prompts a representative to take a trip to his doorstep, inquire about his tardiness, and snitch on him to the higher-ups. After suffering a night terror, Gregor’s tardiness is one he can’t wordsmith his way out of: He’s woken up as a giant bug. ![Rich Johnson artwork of Gregor Samsa.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Rich-Johnson-The-Metamorphosis-Franz-Kafka.png) Art: [Rich Johnson](https://www.richjohnson.co.uk/drawing/pen/gregor-samsa?ref=aftermath.site) Although waking up with a platelike back, an extra row of legs, and the proportional strength of a beetle can sometimes be a superhero origin story, Gregor’s absurdist predicament is the stuff of nightmares. Gregor’s unexplained transformation isn’t one that improves his life; it makes it worse by highlighting that his sacrifices were more of an appendage in other people’s lives than a mainstay. The discovery of his insectoid transformation repulses his own mother, provokes his father into defensive violence, and corrodes his empathetic sister—who, of the bunch, takes things the most in stride by visiting him and leaving meals in the prison that is his bedroom—into begrudging exasperation. But what twists the knife of the otherwise perfect three-chapter story is the private, unspoken embarrassment Gregor faced when a liaison from his work visited his home to see what all the fuss was about. Despite being the literary precursor to the meme “If I turned into a bug, would you still love me?” Gregor still has the mental faculties to understand English. Meaning, counter to his family’s quick consensus that he’s just a dumb beast who they can’t communicate with, he can perfectly understand everything they’re saying about him, especially the hurtful things they’re muttering under their breath. Their most pressing concern, heightened by the rousing visit of a rep from his work, is how the bills are to be paid in his absence. To his family, Gregor was just a bug with beady, insect eyes and no real thoughts behind them or their pending plight. To Gregor, this single concern was the only matter of utmost importance. No matter what, he had to get to work. That lone obligation drove him so feverishly that, instead of rightfully panicking over the waking horror of becoming a giant insect, he spent his entire morning locked in his bedroom, straining to lift himself upright and get out the door. It didn’t matter how futile the effort was—making it to work on time was impossible, and showing up tardy as a giant bug would’ve been worse. And he fails. Instead of being granted even an iota of empathy or grace by work, the man from work sent to fetch Gregor puts his sacrifice into perspective in the harshest way possible. Unbeknownst to his family, Gregor’s years grinding away at a respectable job, keeping their world turning through sheer effort and exhaustion, didn’t earn him tenure and respect at work. To his employer, he was less than dirt—he was the bugs beneath it. His inevitable tardiness, after days, months, and years of showing up and working himself raw to earn enough for his family to live comfortably while his sacrifices went unnoticed, was all the excuse his job needed to be rid of him. Gregor’s metamorphosis is a curse that forces him to silently confront the reality of his existence. Instead of gaining sympathy from those he had courteously given handouts to until his bag was empty, his new form further alienated him from them, highlighting the monstrous weight of societal and family pressure. His grappling with the inner conflict and guilt of wanting to fulfill his responsibility as a worker and provider is dragged across the coals of the truth: his struggle to maintain a sense of humanity in a truly insane bottlenecked scenario was as goofy as looking at an oversized bug struggling to get out of bed. In a way, Kafka’s three-chapter shower thought of a novel reaches through time and touches on the profoundly relatable toll that relentless labor and emotional sacrifice can take on an individual. Long story short, I enjoyed my bookish friend’s thinly veiled literary call-out recommending I read *The Metamorphosis*. I look forward to getting my lick back by having them read Kate Chopin’s *The Awakening*. ## Recommend: [Carmen Maria Machado’s Carmilla Is Sapphic Bullshit, But I Believe ItMachado’s edition of the vampiric tale is prime Mandela Effect, spreading misinformation on the internet in book form![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-09386e19-66a1-44e7-9f33-3b847f1b3b17.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/carmilla-lantern-fish-press-vampire-1-1-a0c51054-63f1-46d3-bb4f-689138d604b5.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/carmen-maria-machados-carmilla-vampire-book/) ### Fans Rail Against Xbox Layoffs, Which Also Did A Number On Teams Responsible For The Platform URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-product-teams-fan-criticism/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T16:21:44.000Z The craterous impact of last week’s Xbox layoffs [continues to ripple outward](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-id-software-frankfurt-doom/), sending shockwaves through numerous sectors of the industry. Microsoft executives, for now, are standing firm in their haphazard decision making while [workers](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/), [unions](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/), and increasingly, fans beg them to reconsider. It’s not just thousands of game makers who found themselves on the chopping block, either; it’s also many of those behind the platform itself. Current employees speaking to Aftermath on the condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to speak publicly, noted that internal Xbox product teams were also hit hard by last week’s layoffs, with some losing 30-40 percent of their staff. This includes, one current employee said, “people who were responsible for the original Xbox and Xbox 360.” “Xbox in general had a lot of incredible people who stuck around for a very long time,” the current employee told Aftermath. “It’s the only way that we’ve been able to ship consoles which work well despite us always being on a shoestring budget. Tons of institutional knowledge, people stretched thin, and not enough time to properly document things, and Asha and her new leadership team have no trust in or respect \[for\] the value those people brought to the business. While they correctly diagnosed a shitshow, they don’t know or care to learn about why it’s so bad, and so they’re wildly blowing everything up since they’re too lazy or uncurious to actually listen to the teams who have struggled under the previous incompetent leadership teams.” Aftermath reached out to Microsoft for more details but did not receive a reply as of this publishing. [A WARN notice](https://esd.wa.gov/employer-requirements/layoffs-and-employee-notifications/worker-adjustment-and-retraining-notification-warn-layoff-and-closure-database?ref=aftermath.site) from last week specifies that Microsoft eliminated 493 positions at its Redmond headquarters, along with 112 remote roles tied to the same location. Many, according to current employees, worked in gaming, and recent LinkedIn posts bear that idea out. “I will add my name to the list of people who were laid off today at Xbox,” former Xbox platform VP Kevin LaChapelle [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7480112628762161152/?ref=aftermath.site) last week. “This ends my 37 years at Microsoft. I have worked in many different parts of the company, and I will say my fondest memories are of leading the team of very talented engineers who built the Xbox Backward Compatibility program. Sitting in the auditorium when Phil announced the program at E3 2015 was incredible. The audience's reaction was unbelievable.” “‘20 years I’ve been doing this, and I’ve seen a lotta other games come and go.’ A favorite *Wreck It Ralph* quote; OK, I changed it from 30 to 20, and now it’s my turn too—first layoff in 20 years,” [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brian-k-hudson%5F20-years-ive-been-doing-this-and-ive-share-7480675008785063936-ACRk/?ref=aftermath.site) former principal product manager lead Brian Hudson. “It’s really hard to work in chaos, and sometimes change is needed for the business to survive, yet that’s little consolation for the folks who were let go along with me.” Many engineers also lost their jobs, some with [multiple decades of experience at Microsoft](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adam-smith-345ab110%5Fas-with-others-from-team-xbox-this-week-share-7480415819416481792-kes6/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop&rcm=ACoAAAGs78MBAu8ABzhFGUjynFfCNjxCGUPune0). “Well, after 21 years of time invested, working hard, shipping great products, and pouring my heart and soul into Xbox, Xbox has decided that is a good number to stop at,” [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7479967688828538881/?ref=aftermath.site) former lead principal software engineer Matthew LeClair. “This month marked my 12-year anniversary at Xbox, and today I learned my role was eliminated,” [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7480143953074245632/?ref=aftermath.site) software engineering manager Christian Macedo. “Twelve years is a long time, and I mean that in the best way. There were hard moments, proud ones, and everything in between. But what I'll carry with me most isn't a title or a project, it's the people. The team I had the privilege of leading for the past eight years. The mentors and colleagues who challenged me, believed in me, and made me a better engineer and a better leader.” While these people were crucial to making Xbox, well, Xbox, they're not so visible to fans, who largely remain fixated on layoffs across studios that make the games they play. The current top trending post on Xbox’s player voice feedback portal is titled “[End studio closures and stop the cycle of layoffs](https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/69b8ec0b-7479-f111-9b47-6045bdbd0989?ref=aftermath.site).” It reads: > The layoff of 3,200 workers at XBOX (across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, Obsidian, id Software, and XBOX Game Studios) is unacceptable. This continues a pattern that has led to 10,000+ layoffs at XBOX in as little as two years. Multiple studios have been closed or had their futures jeopardized (Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios) and numerous games have been cancelled. The developers and players agree that This Can Not Continue. A true reset that meets the needs of the XBOX community looks like the following: > Transparency for Players - Showcasing games from studios they intend to sell or close weeks later feels bad for players. > Keep Teams Together - No layoffs for the next 2 years and end studio closures. Studio closures hurt the fans of that studio. > XBOX is already profitable without reaching a billion people every day - Stop constraining XBOX by the unrealistic profit expectations of the Microsoft Accountability Margin. > Trust the Developers - Negotiate in good faith with unions and developers, so they can better represent the needs of both developers and gamers. > Layoffs are a Failure of Leadership - No executive bonuses when there is a layoff. > Invest in the Future of Gaming - Invest in the future generation of video game developers instead of unpopular technologies like AI that players don’t want. Game development expertise is the biggest asset of a video game company. Those still working for Xbox agree that this cycle needs to end. “In general what we saw \[last\] week is emblematic of Xbox history for decades,” said a current employee. “Leadership will spend billions on marketing, or content, or acquisitions, or other things they think will attract customers, but completely neglect the actual people building the products. Hardware, software, features, etc continually beg and plead for more people, and meanwhile they spend millions on a confusing marketing campaign to try to sell people on a vision that they won’t hire people to actually build.” ## Recommended [Reset Xbox To What, Exactly?“What part of Xbox are you wanting to delete, and which part of Xbox do you want to go back to? Because I’m very suspicious of which part of Xbox it is”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-4ed7c2bd-7663-4f4a-a3dd-2c96bc59ed4c.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/halojohnson-1-32699eee-ea56-4e6f-a849-d6a9e053850a.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs/) ### The Definitive Ranking Of FromSoftware Farming Locations I Like URL: https://aftermath.site/dark-souls-elden-ring-sekiro-ac6-souls-runes-farming/ Last updated: 2026-07-18T09:12:02.000Z To play a modern FromSoft game is to experience many forms of pleasurable discomfort, but the one talked about with the least affection is grinding. Because these games allow you to ameliorate your deficiencies via leveling, repeating the same tedious loop over and over is an essential part of the experience. Eventually, once you have played a loop enough, the space imprints on you. Some places are trusted friends; others are nasty and ruthless. Each space gets hammered into your psyche via repetition, and phrases like “Mohgwyn Palace Cliff” or “*Bloodborne* Lecture Hall” become a Proustian madeline. If you are like me, you have ranked them capriciously in your head. These are my favorites in most of the modern FromSoft games, starting with *Demon’s Souls* and ranked in order of how much I enjoy each of them. Thank you to Souls Speedrunner [Karl Germ](https://bsky.app/profile/karlgerm.com?ref=aftermath.site) for additions when I reached out. You can see Karl beat *Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition* last year in 34 minutes and one second here: Shoutout to my man Karl. ## **Honorable Mention – The Dark Souls brightness dupe glitch** I didn’t want to include duplication glitches because that feels more like cheating than farming, although the distinction between the two even in this list is murky at best. This one is noteworthy due to it being useful in glitched speedruns. It can be used even in console versions of *Dark Souls*, and involves displaying 999 arrows from a vendor, rearranging your items so a large soul appears at the top. You then go into your system settings and then press both enter and right bumper so that the brightness slider and the item you selected are layered over each other. You then press B, followed by down and right on the d-pad. You then go right to defaults and click enter again. If you did everything correctly, you can use whatever item you selected 999 times, which means that you will have infinite souls. Much respect to this method, but I prefer to grind. ## **#28 *Dark Souls 2* – Infinite ghost ditch** Though nowhere near as good as the Giant Lord memory farm, the Undead Ditch in the Undead Crypt in *Dark Souls 2* is reliable and infinitely repeatable. It first requires you to make your way through the level carefully, unlocking a platform that leads to a quick shortcut to the Undead Ditch bonfire you started at. From the bonfire, return over the shortcut bridge you just raised and take one of two possible routes. If you go right, you enter a really ugly room with a bunch of disgusting headstones, a few ornate headstones, and dirt in it. Wait for an undead prisoner to spawn on your right, drag his ass across the room, and ring a bell. Ringing the bell will start spawning Leydia Pyromancers from the ornate headstones in the room. These big scary ghost magicians throw fire at you. The advantage here is that they will be spawned endlessly, so if you hang back near the door you can just fry them with magic endlessly. The downside is that if you are using melee attacks it’s possible to destroy the headstones permanently, which messes up half of the farm. The other potential route you can take from the bridge is to the left. You’ll instead go into a big cavernous space. Under the stairs is another bell and another undead prisoner. Even if the prisoner dies, you can just ring the bell yourself to spawn enemies at will. I have spent a good chunk of time in this area the last time I played *Dark Souls II.* It’s reliable and gets the job done, and it gets points for being a modest farm right before a boss. But it loses points because it’s scary down there and you are mostly farming in a claustrophobic dirt hole with ghosts. ## **#27 *Dark Souls*/*Dark Souls 3* – The Hellkite Drake/Lothric Wyvern kills a bunch of guys with fire** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/ds.jpg) These two places are low tier souls farms, but they’re both useful early in the game if you are a newbie and running into a wall. Both involve getting a huge-ass dragon defending a castle breathing fire and killing a bunch of dudes for you. The first is in *Dark Souls* with the Hellkite Drake. You unlock the bonfire directly under him, run up a ladder, peek your head out, then run back inside. Because there are a bunch of guys outside on the bridge, the drake will vaporize them, giving you their souls. After it does that, drop down and repeat the process. Eventually you may want to kill this guy because he drops a Drake Sword that’s conditionally useful early on but scales badly relative to other weapons. If you don't, it can be a meditative farm that’s useful for beginners. It's also useful for securing the Crest of Artorias, which I will mention later.. A similar farm exists in *Dark Souls 3*, and the main tutorial video for it has like 400k views on YouTube. That video was read by me a decade ago and included in a [tips article](https://kotaku.com/tips-for-playing-dark-souls-3-1770600428?ref=aftermath.site) Patrick Klepick did for Kotaku. There are multiple ways to do it, and some are more optimized than what I initially suggested, but you basically run to where the Lothric Wyvern is, poke him with an arrow, and watch him vaporize a bunch of guys on both sides of the ramparts. No matter which path you take, the same basic principle applies. Hey, that's my voice. This is [an alternate route.](https://youtu.be/f3xZrWiRaUc?si=unRqGqSDRZkEh4K3&ref=aftermath.site) I have a fondness for this one for personal and slightly nostalgic reasons. It felt like I was contributing something early on in the release of the game, even if superior methods were found almost instantly. I also find that the loop of having a dragon eternally vaporizing the same bunch of guys has an enjoyable mental texture, even if the utility of both is limited and far better farming methods exist. ## **#26 *Nightreign* – Flame Chariot camp** Flame Chariots in *Elden Ring* are nasty fire-breathing vehicles shaped like the giant head of an ugly guy made out of oxidized green metal. Traditionally there are two ways to take these out. You can either spin behind them and backstab the guy operating the machine, or you find a way to drop on top of one to stab them on top of the head. That second way is faster, but unless you find a cliff or outcropping it’s harder to pull off reliably. However, because *Nightreign* is a much faster game than *Elden Ring* and has a lot more verticality and aggressive jumping, the second way of killing the Flame Chariot is not just faster but also more reliable.“The wall kick mechanic in *Nightreign* makes it very easy to one shot the Flame Chariots to get early runes (or two shot them if you play as Recluse and don’t have a melee weapon like I did way too much early on),” Karl Germ told me. “Exploding zombies also give a good amount of runes for early levels, especially with a golden fowl foot.” ## **#25 *Demon’s Souls* – Shrine Of Storms manta rays** I tried to find the oldest upload I could for this one. *Demon’s Souls* is replete with farming locations, and one of the best farming locations is in the Shrine of Storms. This is a sick-looking rainy area with a semi-gimmicky boss and weapon combo. If you’ve not played the game, a huge component of it is the [Storm Ruler,](https://www.demonssouls.com/Storm%5FRuler?ref=aftermath.site) a bigass sword that lets you slash a tornado into the air in this specific zone. The sword is used to beat the Storm King, a boss that looks like a [big manta ray](https://www.demonssouls.com/Storm%5FKing?ref=aftermath.site). You’re mostly not using this weapon in another context, but you can use it to kill all the baby manta rays known as [Storm Beasts](https://www.demonssouls.com/Storm%5FBeast?ref=aftermath.site) in the area repeatedly and farm souls in the endgame. Once you optimize for maximizing souls and making sure you aren’t ganked by strangers by going offline, it’s a thoroughly soothing farming location. Not a lot of stress. It’s really relaxing and has a good yield. It’s the Souls equivalent of fishing. In the *Demon’s Souls* remake, you are pelted by rain and you’re swatting flying monster fish out of the sky. The calming mood and low difficulty make it a wonderfully placid place to turn your brain off and listen to some jazz or a podcast, although by the time you hit the farm you might be overpowered after farming reapers. You can also kill the Storm Beast using magic, but where’s the fun in that? ## **#24 Demon’s Souls – Ritual Path Reaper farm** Like the Storm Beast farm, this *Demon’s Souls* farm is also in the Shrine of Storms. You get fewer souls but it’s earlier, before fighting the Old Hero, and individual runs are much faster. You start off at the Ritual Path archstone and run forward, jumping down between two staircases. You then turn around and run down a hallway. In the room ahead of you and down below, you will see a Reaper that sucks to fight one-on-one. Luckily if you take these things at range they will collapse like a bag of laundry and net you a tidy amount of souls. You’re going to take a bow and flaming arrow to this guy’s head and he’s going to die. The route itself is deeply efficient, and though you need arrows to kill the Reaper, the tunnel features a vendor known as Graverobber Blige that sells them. This makes the entire farm self-contained. If you ever manage to run out of arrows, just dump some of the souls you’ve been farming directly into ammo and continue as planned. ## **#23 Dark Souls – The baby skeleton humanity nursery in Tomb of the Giants (also rats)** [Humanity](https://darksouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Humanity%28Consumable%29?ref=aftermath.site) is both a consumable and a concept in *Dark Souls.* Most bosses drop it, it’s used for summoning other players, and if you want to attack a boss full strength you need to use it. Aside from bosses, rats drop it, which I like to think is a compliment to rats as creatures. Everyone knows that one sewer farm because it’s reliable and early on. But there’s a way funnier enemy that drops humanity, which is Skeleton Babies. They are literally tiny skeletons that spawn endlessly and rapidly in one specific part of Tomb of the Giants, right before Gravelord Nito. It is unclear if they are the children of skeletons or the reanimated skeletons of babies, and I am unsure which is more unethical to harvest. The babies drop Humanity at around a two percent drop rate, although that can be boosted by raising item discovery with the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring and the fact that these little fellas respawn at machine gun fire pace. Unlike other enemies, there is an endless supply of them, so you can just spend hours stomping Skeleton Babies back into the grave. Poor guys. They net you about 4000 souls a minute just due to how many you kill in the aggregate. The sheer absurdity of the area raises it in my esteem as an all timer, although like other farms on this list it’s kinda spooky down there. ## **#22 *Dark Souls* \- Farming the Black Knight Halberd in Deep Root Basin** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/halberd.jpg) A speedrunner favorite, the Black Knight Halberd can be gotten very quickly and can carry you through the entire game. “Knight in Dark Root Basin,” Karl told me via DM. “If you know what you’re doing you can get there within five minutes of starting the game, pop a couple Humanity for good measure and try and get that \~24% chance to get an immediate OP weapon.” You’re going to book it to a specific cliff and try to make the knight face the direction of that cliff. Black Knights are immensely strong mobs, and while you can’t kill them with pure backstab damage yet, you can backstab them off the cliff and to their death. Because the chance of getting the item is not 100% this technically qualifies as a farm. Even conceptually, the image of a naked weakling player nudging an ominous knight that hits like an F150 off a cliff like Wile E. Coyote is a beautiful mental image. ## **#21 *Dark Souls* – Phalanx** Phalanx is a nasty little creature that only appears in a snowy courtyard in the Painted World of Ariamis. If you have never played *Dark Souls*, this section is quite literally a nested painting that you enter, created by using the First Flame and the Dark Soul as pigments. It was constructed as a sanctuary for the half-dragon known as Crossbreed Priscilla. The Phalanx you are hunting are slime guys with shields and spears that look suspiciously like the first real boss of *Demon’s Souls* that shares the same name. You can run in and slam through the slime warriors with a heavy weapon, or if you have fire magic just totally vaporize them endlessly with an AOE, running back and forth and netting yourself a lot of souls. Ariamis is one of my favorite locations in *Dark Souls*, which makes it a thoroughly enjoyable farming location. The courtyard itself also gets bonus points for being fairly close to Crossbreed Priscilla, which is not a hard fight but I just think she looks super neat. ## **#20 *Lies of P* – the Lobster Inn** Look, this is my list and I can put any FromSoft game on here including *Lies of P* which, despite being made by a different company in a different country, is the only Soulslike good and specific enough to be a proper FromSoftware game. There’s a whole bunch of good places to farm Ergo (the souls of the game) in *Lies of P*, but the one I’ve personally spent the most time in is the three guys in The Lobster Inn. Starting from the Malum District stargazer (*Lies of P’s* version of a bonfire) you run into the inn, preferably with a fire weapon. There's three freaky carcasses inside you want to focus on, notably an easily stabbable [maw carcass](https://liesofp.wiki.fextralife.com/Fat+Claw+Carcass?ref=aftermath.site) and two more normal carcass enemies. Don’t bother going upstairs; it isn’t worth the grind. Just run back to the Stargazer, rinse, and repeat. It nets a consistent amount of Ergo that will float you through the trickiest part of the game, and it’s right before a semi-irritating boss. It’s also right next to a vendor that you’ll go back to fairly frequently, so its utility extends beyond. Much love to the Lobster Inn and much love to *Lies of P*. [You Know What Ruled? Lies of P - AftermathWith Lies of P: Overture’s announcement, it’s time to appreciate one of the best surprises of 2023, a game that lived up to its influences.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-d94edaa1-9e0b-45a0-98e0-9d46f3624ed4.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/lies-of-p-1-4-112ca2a6-6396-453a-b4f4-17107d040e97.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/lies-of-p-is-good-overture-annoucement/) ## **#19 *Dark Souls 2* – Kill The Rotten five times** 23 minutes into this is the farm. This one farm is specifically used by speedrunners attempting to beat *Dark Souls 2* glitchlessly without beating all the bosses. There is a choke point called the Shrine of Winter that prevents you from going to the absolute last part of the game. There are two specific ways to get past this shrine: defeat four specific bosses or gain one million souls. There used to be a geometry glitch that let you bypass the shrine entirely, but FromSoft patched that out. The Rotten is a nasty boss at the bottom of Black Gulch, a gross but small swamp area. He’s a bunch of dead dudes lashed together with chains to form a really big dude holding a cleaver. You light the bonfire right before him and defeat him as normal, but when you eventually come back you have to bring a bunch of an item called a Bonfire Aesthetic. Bonfire Aesthetics are items that radically change an area. If you throw one into a bonfire it functionally raises the area surrounding that bonfire a level in New Game Plus. This means enemies are harder, drop more souls, and if you use it prior to a boss, that boss will respawn. By killing The Rotten five times overall and using his boss souls repeatedly, you can massively level yourself up while also skipping several bosses altogether. There’s little rational reason to do this if you are normal, but it’s immensely useful if you are trying to do one specific type of *Dark Souls 2* speedrun. ## **#18 *Sekiro* – Ashina Outskirts – Stairwell late game** ## ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/stairs.jpg) FromSoftware’s environmental storytelling in *Sekiro* is significantly different from many other FromSoftware games. The basic geography of the world changes a lot over the game, with new enemies replacing old ones, the world transforming as the plot progresses and the balance of power politically shifting. You will often return to a place only for the context to radically change as events overtake it. Some slight context spoilers in this, but here is the farm. With this in mind, one of the best ratios of XP and Sen is returning to the stairwell where you fight the Chained Ogre initially, but at the end of the game. In the intervening time since killing the Ogre, opposing soldiers have laid siege to the castle. From the Outskirts Wall - Stairway Idol, you rappel up to the tower and take out a watchman. You then drop down, taking out the soldier at the base of the tower. Keep going through the door and take out the third near the gate. From there, you will see two more enemies climbing the stairs, one with a big flamethrower canon and another guy. Take out the flamethrower guy first, and there’s a 50-50 chance the second guy will spot you. You can either Ichimonji him in the forehead, hit him with an axe, or just go to town on him with regular attacks. When you are done, Spider-Man back up to the Sculptor’s Idol and reset. When you get it all done, it’s the most efficient farm in the game for both Sen and XP. The endgame stairs will net you more money than you know what to do with and fulminated mercury, which is otherwise a gargantuan pain in the ass to farm but required if you want to max out your prosthetic tools. It’s also a little nostalgic because you very probably know this spawn point intimately from dying to the Chained Ogre like a hundred times when you first played the game. The two enemies climbing the stairs can also be backstabbed and puppeted using the Golden Vortex to assist you with fighting Shigekichi of the Red Guard in the courtyard on top. The downside of this farm is that it’s so late in the game that you’re mainly using it to finish upgrading your tools and round your skill tree out, but if you are trying to kill the Demon of Hatred you are gonna need it. Overall, it’s easy, soothing, and lucrative. It is not, however, the best farm in the game for XP. I have done the math. That comes later. ## **#17 *Sekiro* – The one soldier and the three little tiny guys by the tree** You can see the little dudes being farmed at the start of this video. Second farming spot is later in the article. The third one I disagree with. This farm is located after you beat the horseback rider Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa, one of the most beloved characters in any FromSoft game, because he shouts “*My name... is Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa! As I breathe, you will not pass the castle gate!”* This is every *Sekiro* player’s activation phrase. The loop that follows becomes the go-to farming location for a really long time, because it’s simple and gives you a metric ton of upgrade materials. You start at the gate, run in, kill the guy in front of the second gate, then grapple your way to the top and into the courtyard to the right. You’re then confronted by three tiny little guys with black hats, one near a tree by himself and two next to each other. You’re able to backstab two of them but not the third one. If you’ve never fought these little guys, they are two feet tall and have big straw hats that your sword just slides off. They have one of the sickest grab animations in the entire game, where they grab the back of Wolf’s head and kick him in the back with both feet while wearing geta. It hurts every time I see them do that. However, you can use your axe tool to just split the third guy’s hat in half pretty consistently, exposing his soft, misshapen head. That last kill takes a second to get down correctly, but once you have the momentum down it’s tremendously satisfying like cracking an egg. Once you are done, you jump over the wall down back to the Sculptor’s Idol to reset it. This is honest to god a load bearing farm location in *Sekiro:* no razzle dazzle or tricks, just real solid and it does what it says on the box. It’s also quite pastoral to look at, with the light of the afternoon on the battlefield. ## **#16 *Dark Souls 3* – Anor Londo Stairs for Proof of Concord Kept** In *Dark Souls 3,* the Anor Londo stairs have these two guys on them. They’re Silver Knights, enemies that look strikingly similar to the Black Knights you farm halberds off of in *Dark Souls*. In addition to the two on the stairs, there’s a third around the corner with red eyes, and I’ve seen people attack or not attack the third guy depending on their mood. Apparently you can fire an arrow at him to get him to run off a cliff, [which is not really effective](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smzOakZjg%5Fk&ref=aftermath.site), just really funny. Anor Londo isn’t an XP farm but a farm for a specific item you need to advance a covenant — [The Proof of Concord Kept](https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Proof%5Fof%5Fa%5FConcord%5FKept?ref=aftermath.site). These drop at around a three to four percent drop rate. I have a real soft spot for this one because it’s a challenging farm that teaches you the specific momentum of their attacks and you can easily fuck it up after hours. Or you can use magic like Crystal Soul Spear to microwave these guys every time, which is also funny and much more efficient. It’s also one of the most gorgeous locations in the game, a majestic stairwell draped in moonlight at night. Classico. Anyway, this is still one of the funniest clips in From’s entire history: lol ## **#15 *Dark Souls 3* \- The Archdragon Peak endless guy farm/Ascended Winged Knights** Archdragon Peak is one of two endgame farms in *Dark Souls 3*, and what makes it tremendously useful is that one specific enemy keeps spawning over and over again because he’s being summoned by a wizard. This is the second “guy being summoned infinitely by magic only to die moments later” farm in this list, although I am sure I’m missing one. Start from the Dragon-kin Mausoleum Bonfire. You can just equip a big ass hammer, stand behind where he spawns, and hit that little freak whack-a-mole style in perpetuity. Archdragon Peak is kinda annoying to get to, but it’s worthwhile either way, and the convenience factor here really does set it apart. It’s also worth mentioning the Ascended Winged Knights in the Grand Archives. They have the best overall yield, I don’t enjoy them conceptually as much as Archdragon Peak whack-a-mole. The Knights are a good farm but just not conceptually as funny as perpetually turning the same Knight into knight-flavored ground jelly without moving much. ## **#14 *Armored Core 6* – Attacking the dam over and over and over again** To be honest I don’t spend a lot of time farming in *Armored Core 6*, which is a testament to the design of the game. FromSoftware did a lot of things to make the game less grindy and tedious than their other titles, and it’s one of the main reasons I think of it so fondly. There’s a lot of forward momentum and you can just get by with what you have. The possible exception here is early on, where extra COAM can help a lot. Doing Chapter 1, Mission 6, Attack The Dam Complex over and over again is a soothing and simple way to build your mech up. It takes two minutes overall, there’s really no trick to it, and it helps you through the one part of the game where you might need some creds. Just a nice little farm in one of From’s best and most interesting games. ## **#13 *Armored Core 6* – Killing the Dafeng Student Pilot a bunch of times until you are sad** Time to go murder the most sympathetic character in the entire game. OK, there’s one possibly better farm, which is the one just before Attack the Dam Complex, called “Destroy The Tester AC” mission. It is a super tragic mission that involves murdering a Dafeng Student Pilot in cold blood. When you kill him he will say “I... just... I just wanted a callsign of my own." Killing him also nets you 95,000 COAM each time for not a lot of work, and you can expedite the process by building your AC out for speed specifically to kill this kid. Doing it once makes you feel like a monster, but doing it five million times in a row to get infinite COAM feels like art, somehow. At one point he shouts, “I can’t die to a merc who only kills for credits!” Bad news friend, you can and you will. Me too. ## **#12 Bloodborne - Pig farming** Bro.... The boars in *Bloodborne* are gross as hell and giant. They will stomp you to death easily. They appear in multiple locations but are easy to destabilize and yield a shitload of blood echoes. If you do manage to destabilize them they are easy to get a visceral attack on them and kill them. Because of how their model is arranged, however, the animation looks like you are killing them by shoving your fist in their ass. I can’t say that’s a good thing, but it’s definitely memorable in a game full of memorable events and creatures. ## **#11 *Elden Ring* – The big dumbass Elden Ring boulder(s)** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/boulder.jpg) I am not a "boulder" person when it comes to farming but respect those that are. There’s this one big boulder that spawns out of thin air in the northern end of Caelid and instantly tries to murder you. The big stone appears just west of Lenne’s Rise in *Elden Ring*. It’s noteworthy because it just a big fuck-off rock that appears like magic and then rolls away and nets you some Runes, so if you keep running back that way you can complete the process without having to actually engage in combat. The runs themselves are quick and easy, although you need to make sure you hug the cliff to get the runes. Most people only know the first boulder, but there’s actually a second boulder down the way so you can really juice your runs by going further out and warping back. It gets points because you don’t ever have to get your hands dirty and for being really funny. You can just book it here the second you get your mount, and it’s even faster if you warp to the Bestial Sanctum. You can do it constantly without getting off Torrent to fight. It’s a great way to just go from fairly low level to higher fast, but I find it kinda tedious and I prefer killing tiny freaks nearby that you can kill on horseback, so that one wins out. Shoutout to the big rock. Well, rocks. ## **#10 *Elden Ring* – Those vulgar freaks in northern Caelid** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/this_guy.jpg) Eat magic sword, freak. This list is full of nasty little freaks that you have to kill a whole bunch, and this farm is no exception. This farm is actually directly next to the north of the previous farm. The Vulgar Militia near the Bestial Sanctum are a relaxing and reliable farm once you kit up correctly. Starting at the Farum Greatbridge site of grace, you hop on Torrent with Carian Greatsword equipped and something you can cast it with. Carian Greatsword is a giant magic sword spell that you can swing around that has gargantuan range, and it also works while riding. Just go through and demolish these guys with your big magic sword and warp back to the site of grace when you are done. The Vulgar Militiamen are nasty little imps that will ruin you early on if you attempt to engage them directly. I despise these little knee-stabbing bastards with my life because they are tiny as hell and harder to see, and so harvesting them like elfin livestock is an emotionally rich experience. Be prepared to have five million evil little elf outfits in your inventory when you are done, although the helmet they drop is a great piece to style with because it’s just a big long cone-shaped helmet covered in rags. You can attack them physically if you don’t invest in magic, or you could just play magical horse polo with their skulls. Like the tiny guy farm in *Sekiro*, the strength of its farm is its utility early even to mid game. You can combine this with killing Elder Dragon Greyoll, a dragon on death’s door that is easy to finish off and that nets you 50,000 runes. I don’t consider Greyoll a farm per se because you can only do it once, but it goes hand in hand with the two other farms in the area. ## **#9 *Bloodborne* \- Central Yharnam blood vial farm** More than any other FromSoftware game, *Bloodborne* starts by running at you full force and kicking you in the crotch. There’s not a ton of places to go, it is brutal at the start for newbies, and you’re forced to just figure that shit out. The part that makes it rough is that blood vials are consumables that need to be farmed, and the economy is kinda tilted in a medium shitty way. Most new players are constantly getting turned inside out by the Cleric Beast and thus they need a solid way to farm blood echoes (Souls) and vials that is not far away. The easiest farm for here is just near the Central Yharnam Lantern. I have seen many variations on this farm, but you’re going to start by running down some stairs and killing the first guy you see. From here you usually go down and kill the big trolls under the bridge that want to bash your skull in with bricks. Brick Trolls is a great practice for learning parry timing in *Bloodborne*, which you will need to do because the parry window in the game is very tricky and slightly different from most other games. You can either choose to end there, or go into the building to the right and wipe out everyone in there including the weirdly elderly man in the wheel chair. Don’t feel bad about killing him because if you don’t he will shoot you in the head. The wheelchair guy is a useful farm for quicksilver bullets, which you will need because in *Bloodborne* you parry by shooting people with a gun. If you want to, you can also go up to the top of the building and kill the werewolves and Brick Troll at the top, but it really depends on what you’re trying to get out of this farm and how powerful you are at the time. While you won’t be using this farm after you take out the Cleric Beast and maybe Father Gascoigne, Yharnam is one of the coolest-looking locations FromSoftware has ever made, and it’s a fantastic place to learn the fundamentals of one of the greatest games of all time that also happens to have a super annoying approach to consumables. ## **#8 *Sekiro* – Interior Ministry Ninja in the narrow stone passage in Mibu Village** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/ninja_kill.jpg) Hello, again. Once you hit Mibu Village in *Sekiro* you basically don’t need to worry about getting XP for a really long time because there’s this one random ninja that you can kill forever. The Interior Ministry Ninjas suck a whole lot to fight and are similar to the Lone Shadow Longswordsman mini-boss you fought earlier but turned into a regular guy. You start at the Mibu Village sculptor’s idol and go down and around to a narrow passage between the cliffs. You have to sneak up behind him and do a deathblow, but doing so requires that you hug the wall SUPER close. This can be easy to mess up, but once you get the timing right you net 784 xp and a decent chuck of change on your first run through. If you DO fuck it up it’s not worth fighting him because he’s moderately annoying to kill in a direct confrontation at this point and the idol to reset him is like right over there. This fight is an absolutely perfect mid-game farm: it’s super fast to repeat with a satisfying tempo, it’s mega lucrative, it helps you nail backstab timing, and I hate these guys so much. Getting to perpetually shove a katana into this dude’s back is super satisfying. ## **#7 *Sekiro* — Anything involving Senpou Temple** ## ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/sempou.jpg) Say your Nembutsus, pal. Senpou Temple is a sick Shaolin style monastery in *Sekiro* where all the Buddhist priests are infested by disgusting centipedes that make them immortal. There’s three distinct ways I’ve seen people farm this section. You can farm the bottom by running around pissing off as many monks as you can and then climbing up a tree branch. Once enough monks are sufficiently pissed off at you, you activate the Golden Vortex, which is a golden fan tool that robs basically every enemy it hits. For lore reasons the fan causes monks specifically to be spirited away to the Hall of Illusions, so functionally they are killed although I like to think that they are simply hanging out with apsaras next to a placid lake and achieving enlightenment. You gather up these dudes, make them all vanish, and they leave their possessions, which makes sense given they are Buddhists. My body is a machine that turns monks into Ako's Sugar. This is a pricy farm unless you cut yourself with the ceremonial tanto, a specific knife that gives you spirit emblems in exchange for health. It does have the added benefit of being the best place to farm Ako’s Sugar, a vital item that increases health and posture damage significantly for 30 seconds. If you make a specific choice in a quest in the game, you may miss the chance to purchase those later from a vendor, so this is unfortunately a useful farm to a lot of players in the endgame. I love the Senpou temple farm a lot because the concept of grinding for materials while also sending a bunch of weird monks to the FromSoft equivalent of the Pure Land makes it an all timer, despite not being the most efficient farm. The second farming method is to just start up at the top at the Main Hall Idol and then make your way down backstabbing a bunch of monks, wolves, lizards and weird spider guys. That’s a real meat and potatoes farm and doesn’t cost any emblems. The third method starts from the same location but you run outside of the Main Hall, use the Golden Vortex on the two spear adepts in the straw hats to rob them and then run back inside because you really don’t wanna fight those guys directly. This is useful if you are attempting to seriously farm for materials to upgrade your prosthetic arm mid to late game, and if you use the Tanto you can make a shitload of money in the process. Senpou Temple also contains the Demon Bell, which is a bell that makes all the enemies in the game harder but also makes them drop way better loot until you dispel the curse. You will almost certainly warp back here every time you seriously want to farm items in the game for any extended period of time. This alone makes Senpou Temple indispensable. Gotta get that bell. ## **#6 *Sekiro* – The blue-robed Fencer in Ashina Castle for Divine Confetti, a humble farm that transforms into the best XP farming spot in the entire game.** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/interior_ministry.jpg) The guy that replaces the blue guy. An annoying element of *Sekiro* is that there are several bosses that functionally require a specific item to beat: Divine Confetti. Divine Confetti covers your sword in an ethereal purple flame. It technically increases damage to all enemies, but it mainly makes it easier to kill various ghosts and ghouls that you might encounter. With some of these haunted bosses like the Shichimen Warrior, this helps immensely to have but is not strictly needed. With others, like that freak Headless, it’s basically required. Headless is one of the worst mini-bosses that FromSoftware has ever designed. He’s an optional mini-boss who has a slowing aura. If you don’t take contact medicine or use the purple gourd he inflicts a terror status that kills you. Even if you use tools and proper items to defeat him, the timing on his attacks has an inhuman cadence to it, the slow effect makes it feels like you are fighting in mud, his teleporting grab attack is disgusting, and he appears five times including twice underwater. Even speedrunners hate this guy. *Sekiro* is one of my favorite games of all time, but seriously fuck these guys. With that said, there’s a few places you can farm Divine Confetti early on, but the most noteworthy one is in Ashina Castle in the Upper Tower - Antechamber Idol. Up the stairs there’s a blue samurai just hanging out waiting to be stabbed in the back. You can also sneak into the room just behind him and stealthily kill two more fencers, and an old woman screams if she sees you. Doing this will net you a lot of Confetti as well as a respectable amount of XP. This specific way of doing this farm is the best I have found. The really nice part about the Ashina Castle farm is that it improves as the plot moves forward. Eventually the hallway samurai gets replaced by an Interior Ministry Ninja which nets you way more Sen and XP. By the time you can buy Divine Confetti from a vendor in the endgame, it will transform into the best XP farming spot in the game as plot events replace the Fencer with another Interior Ministry Ninja. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/ogre.jpg) The ogre under the bridge will stomp those guys if you whistle at him. The farm is simple. You run in, kill the Ninja, then run into the next room on to the bridge, and use a whistle while looking down. Due to recent plot events, a second Chained Ogre should have appeared along with a few Red Guards. Using the whistle while looking down will cause the chained ogre to break free, killing the two Red Guards. Due to how *Sekiro* is optimized as a game, you may have to look down to see him kill the guys as well. I did the math last weekend and if you optimize the whistle route it nets you about 9337 XP/min. Not only is that the best rate I’ve found in terms of pure XP, the idea of a farm that evolves over time is simply delightful to me. [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)If you get the whistle timing down correctly it looks like this and nets about 3776 xp/21.5 seconds or 9337 xp/min vs. the stairs which is 3972 xp/35 seconds or 6809xp/min on the first play. It looks like this. Anyway that’s what I’ve been up to lately.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-7fb52a06-c1c1-474f-ab17-1f147e22d328.png)Bluesky SocialChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/thumbnail-3adf925e-3d1d-4c7e-b082-6322ce504ac5.jpg)](https://bsky.app/profile/papapishu.bsky.social/post/3mptsjhu74c2p?ref=aftermath.site) ## **#5 *Dark Souls 2* — Giant Lord Memory farm** In *Dark Souls 2* if you go into The Place Unbeknownst bonfire you can enter into a Giant’s memory called the Memory of Jeigh. It’s directly outside the bonfire and involves touching a giant that also is shaped like a dead tree. The memory is a scene where there’s a big rampart under siege with several giants. It’s a very short run and at the end there is a boss called the Giant Lord. His movements are short and predictable and mostly amount to him stomping and flailing. Stab him in the ankles and you will net 75,000 souls as well as a Giant Lord’s Soul for an additional 25,000\. What really elevates this boss is that he’s repeatable and easy. Like The Rotten, he can be respawned by using a Bonfire Aesthetic, and conveniently one of those spawns in every memory on the ramparts to the left. Each new level increases the amount of souls. Repeatedly farming this guy will net you more souls than you know what to do with and is tremendously quick and repeatable for most people. Conceptually, the idea of repeatedly killing a giant in a memory of another giant that looks like a tree to gain strength sounds like either magical realism or Hungarian folklore to me. ## **#4 *Bloodborne* – Lecture Hall (and by extension *Sekiro* – Palace Nobles)** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/data-src-image-933aeb89-e3d5-4764-a922-c23b3d5bf2c5.png) credit: [@dankgdl](https://x.com/dankgdl?lang=en&ref=aftermath.site) If you have ever had a rough time in academia, this is for you. The Lecture Hall in *Bloodborne* is full of [Slime Scholars](https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Slime+Scholar?ref=aftermath.site) all attending a lecture, so you can roll up and just dump their books. It’s a pretty lucrative XP farm but it’s more enjoyable because you get to go to town on them. It kinda reminds me of this one post from this guy Dan I know about his friend going into a classroom and kicking his brother’s ass. School is in session. Because I don’t want to write two entries, I'm also including the Palace Nobles from *Sekiro* in here. They’re kinda similar to the Slime Scholars in the sense that they are weak, low to the ground, and wear robes, although instead of being academics they are Nara Period nobles playing flutes and instead of being slime based they are fish-based. Unlike the Slime Nobles they are actively more dangerous because they often have escorts and they play a flute can makes you elderly, but if you plan your attack you can make bank, because they drop an assload of Sen, in a way that’s debatably more consistent than even the monks in Senpou Temple. I will always approve of any farm that involves destroying a disgusting, slimy, and non-human academic. Mainly including this because these guys are also slimy. ## **#3 *Elden Ring* – *Mohgwyn Palace*** Albinauric **massacre (and also the dumbass bird)** ## ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/crop_crow-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/farm_top-1.jpg) Two farms, one Site of Grace. Everyone who has done endgame farming in *Elden Ring* knows this one. It’s a cliff in Mohgwyn’s Palace where there’s a bunch of nicely lined-up Albinauric. Mogh is the lord of blood and his palace looks like if the Parthenon was on asteroids in space and gushed lakes of blood. It’s the coolest location in the game by any objective measure. Albinauric are a race of artificial people. The young ones are little bald guys that look like you put a gray alien in a wine press. Some of the ones in Mohgwyn Palace are called Sanguine Young Albinaurics and they’re red, probably on account of all the lakes of blood. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/guys.jpg) These sad little dudes are a prime source of runes. There’s a bunch of ways to murder these freaks, but the best is actually after you’ve beaten the game already and can use the Sacred Relic Sword to do a tidal wave attack that generally kills all of them. There’s also a related farm at the exact same location (Palace Approach Ledge-Road) where you walk two feet from the site of grace, shoot a single arrow at a giant evil Blistered Crow and it responds by jumping off a cliff and dying. The bird arrow farm is useful far earlier, but both methods are valid and hilarious. This Albinauric farm is probably the one everyone subconsciously expects to get on the top of this kind of list and for good reason. It’s the most visually absurd looking one, it is in *Elden Ring*, and when you get it going it looks like you’re murdering a small village with a tidal wave. Where it loses points, however, is the fact that it's gotten way too late in the game (and often in the postgame due to the Relic Sword) to be useful for too long and only has conditional use in the DLC. It rips though; I’ve spent hours killing those little cartwheeling freaks. ## **#2 *Dark Souls* – The one where you make those guys jump off a cliff in Darkroot Garden** ## ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/bonk.jpg) These guys are about to do a skateboard trick off my head and into a clip for an hour while I listen to podcasts. I am being completely serious when I say this was a really tough call that I internally debated for a week, but I had to concede that my favorite was bested. In my heart, however, this one is the GOAT, the original, the farming route that has a little bit of everything: The Darkroot Garden farm when you make three guys jump off a cliff. The farm requires accessing a bonfire hidden behind a breakable wall and buying the Crest Of Artorias. The Crest costs a lot of souls upfront but you get that investment back very rapidly. Here’s how it works: You start off by spawning in, running around, and pissing off the three enemies that are there, including one ghost. You then run back to the entrance and stand in the small space between the stairway and the cliff. Due to how the game paths enemies, they will attempt to jump down towards you but instead fall into a bottomless void. Occasionally they will stomp on your head like Mario briefly before falling to their death. This will net you 7,000 souls a run (more if you equip a ring) and takes about a minute. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/crest.jpg) This is worth every penny, no joke. This is my personal favorite farm of all time and a load bearing farming route when playing *Dark Souls*. It nets you a shitload of souls at a crucial point earlyish on and carries you through the game. It requires no combat, and you accomplish it by running around like a dickhead and causing enemies to do *Looney Tunes* shit. It is clever, immensely useful, and will never stop being funny to me. I know those woods better than some childhood schools I went to, and will remember them in my quiet, final dying hours. But unfortunately, there’s a better farm. ## **#1 *Bloodborne* – “*Cummmfpk*” Chalice AKA the Cum Dungeon** There’s an obtuse mechanic in *Bloodborne* called Chalices – optional dungeons in the game that are accessible from the Hunter’s Dream and spawned from cups. Though the dungeons themselves are different, they follow fixed patterns. Any Chalice Dungeon with the word “Root” appears, at least to the player, to be randomized and procedurally generated. These Root Chalice Dungeons can then be shared and accessed by other players by using a randomized code. In 2017, [YouTuber Zullie The Witch discovered](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRzYb3Xx%5FHM&ref=aftermath.site) that these dungeons are [not in fact randomly generated each time but fixed,](https://www.bloodborne-wiki.com/2019/12/tomb-prospectors-project-all-2300-root.html?ref=aftermath.site) though it is possible that they were randomly generated prior to the game’s release. Each Root Chalice has either 100 or 200 possible dungeons, yielding 2300 possible Root Dungeons each with a fixed loot and enemies. This led to the formation of a community known as the [Tomb Prospectors](https://old.reddit.com/r/tombprospectors/?ref=aftermath.site), with the goal of [documenting each of the 2300 Root Chalice Dungeons](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1psfenhcQJ06EUQgcEHBIQcfLD5Iq-kyKGTZINvy6228/edit?gid=1131786800&ref=aftermath.site#gid=1131786800), which they have since done. This is a general overview of chalices. There is a specific dungeon that you can only get if you are on PSN+ (even if you only use a trial). You first must defeat the Blood-Starved Beast boss to unlock the chalice mechanic. You then type “*cummmfpk*” in the glyph search. You know you’ve done something correct if you see “?Place Name?” at the top of your screen. The resulting dungeon is constructed in such a way where the dungeon automatically gives you 86k blood echoes simply by walking a few steps because something dies instantly whenever you enter. Leave and repeat. This has led people to refer to this dungeon as the “Cum Dungeon” or the “Cum Chalice”, due in part to both its name and all of us being mentally 12 years old. Eventually Zullie the Witch also figured out exactly how and why the Cummmpft Dungeon yields its souls. Using a debug mode in the game, they discovered exactly what specifically was getting killed, namely a hunter with the same ID as [Tomb Prospector Olek](https://bloodborne.fandom.com/wiki/Tomb%5FProspector%5FOlek?ref=aftermath.site). The enemy spawns directly in the path of a swinging blade, which would normally knock him off a bridge before killing him. But because of how *Bloodborne* specifically is optimized and loads different enemies in, the hitboxes and harmboxes for both Olek and the blades respectively are both loaded into the game without the models, meaning he cannot trigger the animation that staggers and knocks him off the bridge. This means that his essence is functionally trapped in front of the concept of a swinging blade, giving him no choice but to die every single time. His body cannot move because his body isn’t being rendered. This means that the Cum Chalice recreates an ethereal version of the plot of Edgar Alan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” from first principles every single time that it loads. The Cum Dungeon was originally discovered by user XTrinX. By Trin’s own telling, it is by no means unique. “The Cum Dungeon map itself is something anyone can generate, it's simply a Sinister Ihyll Root map with a convenient NPC placement,” XTrinX posted on [the r/bloodborne subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/bloodborne/comments/1u0wpck/comment/oqli5d2/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=web3x&utm%5Fname=web3xcss&utm%5Fterm=1&utm%5Fcontent=share%5Fbutton) earlier this month. It is also not the only dungeon where an NPC Hunter dies this way or even spawns outside of the map, simply the most convenient. “One day I wanted to run a random dungeon with a friend and while waiting for them I noticed I suddenly received quite a large sum of echoes. I knew it had to be an enemy dying somewhere and there's a high chance it's replicable,” XTrinX continued. The resulting dungeon was save-edited to make it accessible to other players as well as increase the amount of echoes received. The depth was also altered to maximize the speed that the blade kills Olek at, as trap damage increases with chalice depth. The rude name itself was a simple coincidence. Despite my love of Darkroot Garden, *cummmfpk* is not simply a farming route but something far more complex and important. It is the pairing of random chance coupled with a fan community painstakingly taking the time to reverse engineer one of FromSoftware’s most convoluted mechanics in debatably its best game. The Cum Chalice is the child of a community, the baby of the Tomb Prospectors. The sheer precarious nature of the space, its status as a semi-living and semi-premade place, and the complexity of both its discovery and its mechanics make it without question the greatest farm of all time in any FromSoftware game. All hail *cummmfpk.* ### Yoshitaka Amano Is More Centrist on AI Than You’d Hope URL: https://aftermath.site/yoshitaka-amano-is-more-centrist-on-ai-than-youd-hope/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T16:13:41.000Z Yoshitaka Amano is a [legendary creative](https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-interview-yoshitaka-amano-art-angels-egg-1850834933?ref=aftermath.site) who makes [bespoke human art](https://kotaku.com/batman-yoshitaka-amano-dc-comics-final-fantasy-variant-1848977241?ref=aftermath.site). So you might expect him to have strong feelings against AI, like [Guillermo del Toro has expressed](https://gizmodo.com/guillermo-del-toro-ai-frankenstein-netflix-2000676639?ref=aftermath.site). In a recent conversation with him, I found him to be more centrist on AI than I anticipated. Amano is a veteran on the shortlist of "your artist's favorite artist," so you'd think his stance on AI would be nothing short of "fuck AI" for anyone audacious enough to ask him his take on it. At Anime Expo in early July, I spoke with him about [*ZAN*](https://gizmodo.com/zan-yoshitaka-amano-anime-expo-premiere-interview-2000783638?ref=aftermath.site), an upcoming “completely hand-drawn” anime series [based on his 2010 artbook](https://gizmodo.com/anime-expo-2026-manga-books-2000782631?ref=aftermath.site) from his U.S.-based studio, [Yoshitaka Amano Inc](https://www.yoshitakaamanoinc.com/?ref=aftermath.site). Also present were Yoshitaka Amano Inc. CEO Hiroaki Ikegami and secretary Shiho Kaneko. After watching *ZAN*’s delightfully Toonami-ass trailer a day before our interview, I was struck by how it wasted absolutely no time establishing the project as a comfort to the afflicted and an affliction to those comfortable with AI in the arts by declaring it would take animation back to its roots through complete hand-drawn animation. So my penultimate question to the man many consider to be the quintessence of artistry—making awe-inspiring artwork for [*Angel’s Egg,*](https://gizmodo.com/angels-egg-anime-mamoru-oshii-gkids-retro-review-2000692231?ref=aftermath.site) [*Vampire Hunter* *D,*](https://gizmodo.com/vampire-hunter-d-bloodlust-anime-madhouse-vampire-yoshitaka-amano-2000773073?ref=aftermath.site) and [*Final Fantasy*](https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-10-yoshitaka-amano-art-egm-2000672858?ref=aftermath.site)—was to ask his thoughts on how AI has impacted his craft. “If AI makes everything, then that’s fine. But it can’t make zero-to-one,” Amano said via a translator. Pulling at the thread a little bit further, Ikegami added that, although *ZAN*’s pilot trailer prefaces its [main creative overture as being completely hand-drawn](https://kotaku.com/legendary-final-fantasy-artist-talks-about-his-new-anime-and-the-importance-of-drawing-by-hand-2000713808?ref=aftermath.site), the company may search for ways it could add digital animation to its production pipeline. “If we use digital or AI, and it becomes better than hand-drawing, then \[Amano\]’s yes to AI and digital. But he doesn’t think so. Hand-drawn comes first,” Ikegami added. ![ZAN artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/ZAN-Yoshitaka-Amano-2.jpg) © Yoshitaka Amano / Yoshitaka Amano Inc. Amano expanded upon Ikegami’s point, drawing an analogy to Disney’s *Snow White*. In his analogy, he noted how Disney’s implementation of [rotoscope animation ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAMvEosUe7w&ref=aftermath.site)to animate the titular princess and seven dwarfs yielded “realistic human movement,” thanks to its animators tracing live-action footage. For Amano, rotoscoping in the 1930s was not dissimilar to AI’s implementation as an artistic tool. “At that time, that was the latest digital production process,” he said. “At this time too, the latest thing is AI and how we combine and deal with it.” When I asked Amano how he reckons artists should “deal with it”—more specifically, if he views AI as a threat to human artists in animation or as a useful tool to bring animation to a new frontier as he inferred with the rotoscope as the digital art paradigm shift of the late 1930s—his response was a middle-of-the-road refrain on GenAI. “AI is human-made, so we can deal with it. It depends on how you use it. All technology is made by humans. It becomes a weapon if you use it incorrectly; it becomes helpful if you use it correctly,” he said. As a follow-up to that follow-up, I asked Amano if he’s used AI before and what concerns he has about artists using it as a tool. “The big difference between AI and humans is that humans can create from scratch—zero to one—but AI, right now, can’t create from scratch. But in the future, if AI could make zero-to-one, that might be a threat,” he said, echoing his previous point. “Only two types of things exist in this world: human-made and nature-made. And in this space, these are all designed by humans.” ![ZAN artwork by Yoshitaka Amano. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Yoshitaka-Amano-ZAN.jpg) © Yoshitaka Amano / Yoshitaka Amano Inc. Amano assured me he isn’t ignorant of AI concerns, especially in the United States, where he remarked that use is surprisingly rampant. This prompted me to give him an example of how Ghibli-style art was being used to send political messages that its original creators didn’t endorse, and how [Japanese organizations have called on Sam Altman’s OpenAI not to train its models on their artwork](https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/03/studio-ghibli-and-other-japanese-publishers-want-openai-to-stop-training-on-their-work/?ref=aftermath.site). Amano asked me, “Have you interviewed those creators?” Not sure if his question was posed as a gotcha or as a genuine inquiry, I responded that I had talked to people at Studio Ghibli about their work, but that my questions weren’t specifically relating to AI. Although my interview with Ghibli vice president, Atsushi Okui, pertained to [*Princess Mononoke’*s 40th anniversary](https://gizmodo.com/princess-mononoke-4k-interview-atsushi-okui-2000579990?ref=aftermath.site), I told Amano I have interviewed many others who seem opposed to AI in the arts. Key among the folks I’ve spoken to are the [*Look Back* director Kiyotaka Oshiyama](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2025-06-11/look-back-director-discusses-artistic-struggles-anime-adaptation-philosophy-and-ai-role-in-/.224661?ref=aftermath.site), [*Adventure Time* creator Pendleton Ward](https://aftermath.site/ai-pendleton-ward-adventure-time-the-elephant-animation-cartoons/), [*Primal*’s Genndy Tartakovsky](https://aftermath.site/genndy-tartakovsky-primal-season-3-black-knight-ai/), and [*The Ghost in the Shell* director and character designer Mokochan and Shuhei Handa](https://gizmodo.com/ghost-in-the-shell-science-saru-mokochan-shuhei-handa-interview-2000782410?ref=aftermath.site). Those conversations resulted in them largely saying AI acts as a threat to their craft more so than as a boon. Here’s exactly what they had to say: Oshiyama described AI as kind of being like a washing machine. “Back then, people washed their clothes by hand. Now that the washing machine exists, telling people to go back to hand washing their laundry is out of the question. I wasn't there at the time, but maybe some people complained about the jobs of hand-washing laundry being taken away by this machine. I completely agree that this AI technology, or this AI art, would take the jobs of people who work in the creative industry. I strongly believe it's something to be talked about,” he said. But he, too, was a little less hostile to AI than some of his animator peers. “On the other hand, as you said, the latter camp of people who say that creating AI art ‘[democratizes](https://kotaku.com/anime-rock-paper-scissors-corridor-digital-ai-animation-1850186624?ref=aftermath.site),’ makes it more available to the common people who can't express their creativity through art—I don't want to take that away from them,” he continued. “When I made *Look Back* as a movie, the story itself is about the creative efforts of these artists and how their efforts bloom into creative art. It's a story that portrays and celebrates the growth of art. I didn't make this movie to deny the possibilities of people gaining creativity or the opinions of people who say that AI art enables them to grasp their creativity.” Tartakovsky told me that the cure for AI, and the way to destroy it, was to keep creating unique art. “AI can copy, but can it create something truly original?” he said. “We wanna push human creativity to a level where it can’t be copied. And that means doing original things, pushing boundaries, and trying different things.” Mokochan and Shuhei didn’t take a moral stance, but made it clear that “human made” art was their preference. “One of the concepts of the original \[[*Ghost in the Shell*](https://gizmodo.com/i-really-hope-the-new-ghost-in-the-shell-anime-keeps-the-majors-manga-goofiness-2000717983?ref=aftermath.site)\] manga is about the mysterious part of the human being,” Mokochan said. “We wanted to follow the same concept using the same method to show humanity by using hand-drawn art. We prefer to just use our arms to draw all of the animation.” “It’s because the main concept is about the human body, so that’s why we prefer hand-drawn art over AI,” Shuhei added. Out of all the animators that I spoke to about AI, Ward was the most pessimistic about what AI is going to do to animation as an industry. While he sees it as inevitable, it’s also not a cheery prospect for him. “It’s gonna be heinous in many, many ways, and it’s gonna destroy the industry—but I think people are gonna like it, ultimately,” he said. “Yeah, we’re cooked. AI will be implemented at some point because it saves studios money. It just has to happen at some point.” ![ZAN artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/ZAN--1-.jpg) © Yoshitaka Amano / Yoshitaka Amano Inc. After highlighting Oshiyama’s take, I also noted to Amano how MAPPA had made a statement about AI use in [*Chainsaw Man —The Movie: Reze Arc*](https://gizmodo.com/chainsaw-man-the-movie-reze-arc-review-anime-mappa-2000675933?ref=aftermath.site)’s post-credit scene, writing, “No part of this work may be used or reproduced for the purpose of training any artificial intelligence technologies or systems.” But AI is something Amano, as well as Yoshitaka Amano Inc., aren’t going to turn down the prospect of implementing. “He’s really interested in making new stuff instead of past works,” Kaneko said. “So if AI can read his past work and then create Amano-style art, then that’s fine. He’s only focusing on the new stuff in the future.” ### Grand Theft Auto VI, The Last Blockbuster URL: https://aftermath.site/gta-vi-grand-theft-auto-6-aaa-billions/ Last updated: 2026-07-15T16:13:19.000Z For the last year or two I've been obsessed with the idea of '[hypernormalization](https://adbusters.org/articles-coded/what-is-hypernormalization?ref=aftermath.site)', the way we're all going through the motions like we always have because this is the only world we've ever known or can conceptualise, even though the ground is actually shifting *rapidly* beneath our feet. This is affecting everything around us, from politics to technology, but I've been especially interested in the ways it's shaping how we experience and talk about video games. [We’re Really Just Going Through With All This, Aren’t We - AftermathWe’re trapped in the belly of the machine![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-698a9701-fdbe-4207-b8c6-9b0c8b28aeb4.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/skull-e1469212448748-3-706e2146-7a2a-404e-b9f1-4971c52591c0.png)](https://aftermath.site/summer-game-fest-2025-switch-2-launch-geoff-keighley/) From[ hardware pricing](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/) to the[ collapse of the AAA games market](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/), alongside the rise of backyard indie blockbusters and[ all-consuming juggernauts like *Roblox*](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-roblox-grow-a-garden-geoguessr/) (with[ mass layoffs taking place throughout](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-layoffs-prince-of-persia-remake-canceled/)), video games are changing faster than we can adapt, but whether it's the Summer Games Fest advertising hype, the preview -> review cycle or new hardware launches, we just keep on pretending that huge swathes of the industry just keeps going the same as it's always been. [*Grand Theft Auto VI* is the culmination of this](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/). We are witnessing the AAA machine roar into life as we have always known it to: long announcement windows, trailer drops, multiple delays, [leaks](https://aftermath.site/the-great-grand-theft-auto-vi-trailer-caper/), preorder bonuses. It's a game whose presence is everywhere, that other big games will [get out of the way of](https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/944229/grand-theft-auto-6-release-calendar-summer-game-fest?ref=aftermath.site), that you can talk to someone at a party and know that they'll know what you're talking about, even if they're not as into video games as you might be. It is a Big Video Game in the way we've always known singular, Big Video Games to be. And it feels like the last of its kind. Let's consider the AAA video game industry as it both exists in 2026 and the direction it's heading in. The market has abandoned any form of risk-taking whatsoever in favour of an ever-slimming roster of formulaic sequels, live-service games and remakes.[ A *God Of War* game starring a mum instead of a dad](https://aftermath.site/god-of-war-laufey-mothership/) is still a *God of War* game. A promising *Star Wars* racing game is a licensed title that's a spiritual successor to a 1999 release. Sony is pledging to release more live service games even as[ live service games bleed them dry from repeated gut shots](https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-playstation-performance-reviews/). This year's big *Assassin's Creed* release was also 2013's big *Assassin's Creed* release. Almost everything AAA is doing is an attempt to wring the final drops of blood from[ a brittle and exhausted stone](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/). [I Don’t Know If We Need All These Remakes, GuysEvery game you’ve ever loved is a product of its time, and a reflection of the limitations placed on its creators.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-c76ac038-a50f-4463-8bfc-6e8696ecc31d.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Capture-3-a040d40d-8854-464b-ab8e-38896d4ea60a.PNG)](https://aftermath.site/ocarina-of-time-remake-nintendo/) [The specialist retail space is disappearing](https://aftermath.site/gamestop-trading-card-game-problems-scalpers/). The[ end of games being printed on discs](https://aftermath.site/video-game-physical-release-disc-playstation/) will damage player numbers as it erases sharing, borrowing and pre-owned sales. The touchstones we associate with AAA (and *GTA*) releases, things like lavish physical editions and midnight launches, are now consigned to the history books.[ Console prices keep escalating](https://aftermath.site/ps5-price-hike-increase-europe-australia-sony-tariffs/) while the people making their games live in constant peril. Everything is different now, and *Grand Theft Auto VI* landing right in the middle of it all, same as it always has, feels almost perverse. It's a game, and a release ordeal, from another age, like[ Dutch begging Arthur for one more big score](https://youtube.com/shorts/h%5FBLp1WhjTU?si=JLNiWIq4LjviREcC&ref=aftermath.site). To look past *GTA's* release, among the crumbling walls and poisoned air of the AAA space, it's almost impossible to conceive of any future video game being this, or doing this, in the same way ever again. Other traditional AAA competitors, whether they're shooters (*Call of Duty*),[ sports games](https://aftermath.site/ea-fc-madden-nba-2k-recycled-dogshit/) (*EA Sports FC*) or action titles (*Assassin's Creed*) are tired, old series that simply don't capture the public's imagination the way they once did. Many of the smash hits that dominate spending and headspace now come from [two-man releases on Steam](https://aftermath.site/meccha-chameleon-sales-steam-pc-streamers/) with zero marketing, or 'Simulator' games on *Roblox* that you've never even heard of, but have nine million kids playing them while you read this. Even looking at the trajectory of *Grand Theft Auto* itself, things are bleak. *GTA III*, *Vice City* and *San Andreas* all came out between 2001-2004\. *GTA VI* will be coming out [*13 years*](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-v-was-released-on-september-17-2013/) after *V*. If you extrapolate that increase in development time and budget I might be dead in the ground by the time *Grand Theft Auto VII* comes out, and that's assuming there's even a market, or a machine, for it to come out on by then.[ The industry as we know it is collapsing and reshaping itself so fast](https://aftermath.site/video-game-industry-crash-26/) that it'll be unrecognisable in five year's time, let alone 15, and so for all we know there might never be another *Grand Theft Auto*. We could all just be playing *GTA VI* *Online*, forever, until the seas reclaim us and the sun dims for the last time over the horizon. [There Is No Such Thing As The Video Game IndustryVideo games aren’t an industry, they’re a medium![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-ebf2d687-1621-4c6d-8110-0779eacd1144.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1579373903781-fd5c0c30c4cd-f7bb702a-2146-47a2-8fd4-16de1d913a46)](https://aftermath.site/video-game-industry-crash-26/) Note that I am not *mourning* this; if cowardice has been the defining trait of AAA gaming's executive class for the past decade, then obscenity has come a close second. The fact *Grand Theft Auto VI's* total spend will be over[ *one billion dollars*](https://www.ign.com/articles/gta-6-estimated-to-have-cost-take-two-1-billion-to-15-billion-so-far-ceo-strauss-zelnick-says-it-was-expensive?ref=aftermath.site) while everything else collapses around it is an embarrassment to Rockstar, publishers Take-Two and the entire medium of video games. It's Sodom and Gomorrah type shit, and some would be forgiven for thinking maybe God is right to smite this sector of gaming in its wake. And maybe, in the broadest most history book sense, it's for the best! If we're going through the most tumultuous period for video games since the early 1980s, we are not going to tumult forever. At some point we're going to emerge into something *else*, something beyond what we know as now, and when that happens can you really see a world where prohibitively expensive consoles and dim-witted executives still preside over a AAA industry in the way we know they still desperately cling to today? Where games are pitched, made and sold the same way they were during the Bush years, and the only thing that matters is the next quarterly result? Of course not. The madness we are currently living through, where layoffs are a weekly occurrence and prices and budgets careen out of control, simply cannot be sustained. If *Grand Theft Auto VI* ends up being the last great blockbuster of its age, then its arrival might at least bring us closer to the end of it, and closer to the start of something new. ### Workers Protest MindsEye Playtest For Bringing In Fans To 'Do Jobs That Would Otherwise Have Been Theirs' URL: https://aftermath.site/mindseye-protest-build-a-rocket-boy-iwgb/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T14:35:53.000Z On Saturday, former employees of *MindsEye* developer Build A Rocket Boy protested outside an event the studio held for fans at its Edinburgh office. The protest, organized by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain that represents some BARB employees, was to draw attention to the company spending money on what the union called an "extravagant playtest event” after having laid off over 250 employees surrounding the game’s poor launch in June 2025. According to a press release from the IWGB, BARB flew *MindsEye* fans to Edinburgh and paid for their lodging in order for them to test new features of the game. The union claimed BARB was “misusing funds after so many mass layoffs for the ‘playtest day’, with fans being flown in and given accommodation in order to do the work that now-fired staff would otherwise be doing.” “Today's playtest is little more than a grandstanding gesture from managers who continue to treat both the company and its employees as props to support their own ambitions,” said former BARB employee Ben Newbon in the press release. “Their conduct, both before and since the disastrous launch of *MindsEye*, makes a mockery of the sweat, skill, and dedication that we poured into making their vision come to life.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/87359--1-.jpg) IWGB *MindsEye* most recently got a new mission called “Blacklisted” in [April](https://news.mindseye.game/?ref=aftermath.site#update-#7.1:-consoles-and-pc-13400-90590b). “Blacklisted” purported to explore what BARB CEOs [Mark Gerhard](https://www.ign.com/articles/new-mindseye-mission-will-reveal-evidence-the-game-was-sabotaged-claims-ceo?ref=aftermath.site) and [Leslie Benzies](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gzn34gwvwo?ref=aftermath.site) have claimed was ‘sabotage’ by people both inside and outside the studio to try to tank the game. That mission featured what [former employee Isaac Hudd](https://bsky.app/profile/chrisbratt.bsky.social/post/3mqjlolljxs22?ref=aftermath.site) called in a speech a “leather-clad, sexist stereotype,” saying that in leadership’s search for saboteurs “they were too busy to look in the mirror and see that it was them all along.” > I'd encourage you to watch this speech from former employee, Isaac Hudd. Also, given this is yet \*another\* Edinburgh-based studio at the heart of \*another\* controversy affecting game workers in the UK, you'll spot some familiar faces from Rockstar who turned up to show their solidarity on the day. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uy24a4pvhe2r4bpil6symtoy/post/3mqjlp2djic22?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Chris Bratt ([@chrisbratt.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uy24a4pvhe2r4bpil6symtoy?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [July 13, 2026 at 7:30 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uy24a4pvhe2r4bpil6symtoy/post/3mqjlp2djic22?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) Hudd claimed BARB has replaced community managers with fans, and now has flown in fans “on BARB’s ever-dwindling dime to playtest an online game that can be played from anywhere. It would be a nice gesture at most companies, but after the lies and the fear, the stress and ignoring damn near every attempt to make things right from their ex-employees, it’s nothing more than a kick in the teeth to those they’ve abandoned. And now we’re here to show them that jobless does not mean toothless.” Aftermath has reached out to Build A Rocket Boy for comment. The union claims that in addition to [several rounds of layoffs](https://kotaku.com/mindseye-studio-hit-with-more-mass-layoffs-just-as-it-was-promising-a-turnaround-2000693274?ref=aftermath.site), BARB created a “toxic working environment, \[with\] overwork, and excessive surveillance.” The company [reportedly installed monitoring software Teramind](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/can-build-a-rocket-boy-save-itself?ref=aftermath.site) on employees’ computers in February, which was ultimately removed in March following backlash from employees, and over which the IWGB took [legal action](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/union-workers-take-legal-action-against-build-a-rocket-boy-over-alleged-privacy-violations?ref=aftermath.site) regarding data collection. IWGB also took legal action against the studio for how it handled some of its layoffs, and employees [filed an open letter ](https://aftermath.site/mindseye-igwb-game-workers-open-letter-layoffs/)detailing crunch and other negative working conditions at the studio. “This extravagant playtest event is a waste of money, and a kick in the teeth for the fired workers who are seeing fans brought in to do jobs that would otherwise have been theirs," said IWGB Game Workers Branch chair Spring McParlin-Jones in the press release. "The members teaming up to fight back are an inspiration. They already forced BARB to stop spying on them with invasive surveillance software. Now, refusing to take their foot off the pedal, they are continuing to stand up to these rogue bosses both in the courts and on the streets." “As workers we gave everything we had to create a studio that had the potential to bring real prestige to Scotland's games industry,” said Newbon. “Instead, BARB has been hollowed out by years of poor leadership. The people who built BARB deserve respect, accountability from leadership, and a workplace that values the people who make its success possible.” Build A Rocket Boy was founded in 2016 by Benzies, formerly president of Rockstar North. It was initially working on an MMO tool called *Everywhere* before shifting focus to *MindsEye*, which Hitman developer IO Interactive signed a deal to publish in [2024](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/hitman-maker-io-interactive-will-publish-the-new-action-thriller-by-leslie-benzies-build-a-rocket-boy?ref=aftermath.site). (IO [cut ties with the studio in March 2026](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/io-interactive-ends-mindseye-publishing-agreement-with-build-a-rocket-boy?ref=aftermath.site).) Workers claimed that during development Benzies frequently demanded new things be added to the game and refused to listen to employees, with one worker telling [GamesIndustry.biz](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/can-build-a-rocket-boy-save-itself?ref=aftermath.site) that Benzies “may have had a winning formula if he'd have listened to the advice from the literal hundreds of fantastic, insanely talented, and hard-working industry professionals they spent so much time and money hiring.” Two senior executives [left the studio](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/senior-execs-leave-build-a-rocket-boy-days-ahead-of-mindseyes-release?ref=aftermath.site) a week before launch, and the game was ultimately[ badly-received](https://aftermath.site/mindseye-rocket-boy-impressions-review-pc/), with Hudd saying at the protest that it was “Metacritic’s worst game of 2025.” “Whilst the goingson at BARB sound extreme, game workers know that shocking treatment from bosses is rife across the sector,” said McParlin-Jones. “But we can see a different future, and the union is gaining momentum every day as we move towards it.” ### Games Done Quick 'Excited' To Work With Saudi-Owned SNK For Around Three Hours Before Pulling Sponsorship Deal URL: https://aftermath.site/gdq-sgdq-snk-saudi-games-done-quick-controversy/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T05:14:15.000Z Earlier today Games Done Quick, the charity speed-running organisation whose Summer Games Done Quick event was this year raising money for [Doctors Without Borders](https://msf.org.au/?ref=aftermath.site), sent out a press release saying SGDQ had raised $2,408,701 for the international group. Not long after they made another announcement, [saying the organization](https://bsky.app/profile/gamesdonequick.com/post/3mqhxh3453v2w?ref=aftermath.site) was 'excited' to be working on a sponsored speedrunning showcase with SNK, a company that is now owned by (as this Kotaku story is headlined) '[one of the worst people in the world](https://kotaku.com/snk-saudi-arabia-mohammed-bin-salman-mbs-king-of-fighte-1848754233?ref=aftermath.site)', Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Capture.PNG) The post about the SNK sponsorship instantly [sparked widespread criticism](https://bsky.app/profile/gamesdonequick.com/post/3mqhxh3453v2w?ref=aftermath.site). With good reason! The Saudi sports and culture-washing program fucking *sucks*, for reasons ranging from concerns over monopoly ownership to *humans right violations and murdering people*, but was especially troubling in this regard since Doctors Without Borders have had to repeatedly work to[ provide support to people killed and wounded in Saudi airstrikes](https://www.msf.org/yemen-%E2%80%98unjustifiable%E2%80%99-saudi-led-coalition-air-strike-prison-kills-and-injures-hundreds?ref=aftermath.site), including[ a 2015 missile strike on *a Doctors Without Borders hospital*](https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/yemen-hospital-hit-by-saudi-led-air-strikes-msf/38c4ojmuc?ref=aftermath.site). [Saudi Arabia’s Strategy Is Working Because Of Greed And Cynicism - Aftermath“Money plus persistence wears people down”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-a324cb20-e728-46d9-90a2-aa34d7683a4a.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ewc-1-b7b13e53-2ef1-4adc-95f8-eaa959935e33.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-ea-saudi-arabia-riyadh-comedians/) That criticism, coming both in the comment sections of social media posts and through emails made directly to GDQ organisers, resulted in a fast about-face; less than three hours after originally announcing the deal, GDQ [issued a statement](https://bsky.app/profile/gamesdonequick.com/post/3mqiaiawa4k2w?ref=aftermath.site) saying that the deal was off, and pulled the plug on the sponsored stream while it was being broadcast: > We have canceled our sponsored stream with SNK. > > We have heard the concerns from our community regarding this partnership, specifically the company’s majority ownership by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and the human rights concerns tied to the Saudi government. > > We will not accept the funds from this sponsorship or continue to work with this sponsor again. > > GDQ is committed to supporting human rights and inclusivity, and we recognize that this partnership conflicted with those values. > > We failed to conduct the level of review our community should expect from us and that was an oversight we deeply regret and take full responsibility for. > > We especially want to apologize to the runners and our host on this stream, who had nothing to do with this decision and whose runs were disrupted as a result. This isn't a reflection on them and we are grateful for their understanding. > > Going forward, we will review and strengthen our process for evaluating future sponsors and partners, including closer examination of companies’ ownership, to make sure they're aligned with our values. Which, fine, that's the right thing to do. Sometimes people make mistakes, and owning up to them is an important part of making up for that. [I should know](https://aftermath.site/forza-horizon-6-story-characters-dialogue/)! But Saudi's ownership of SNK [is hardly a secret](https://sea.ign.com/snk-vs-capcom-svc-chaos-svc-chaos-snk-vs-capcom-volume-7/183876/news/controversial-saudi-crown-prince-almost-entirely-owns-snk?ref=aftermath.site), nor is[ their continued acquisition of other live gaming events like EVO](https://www.ign.com/articles/saudi-owned-rts-takes-full-ownership-of-evo?ref=aftermath.site), so fans are still understandably questioning the lack of due diligence that led to the deal being signed off on in the first place. We’ve reached out to GDQ organisers for comment on the sponsorship, and will update if we hear back. [Come On, Guys - AftermathHideo Kojima and others like Twitch CEO Dan Clancy and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot are speaking at The New Global Sport Conference.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f589ed3e-22a2-4127-aba8-7e49443f08a8.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/kojima-3-477dae78-9e88-4ba9-a331-af1ed055f822.png)](https://aftermath.site/esports-world-cup-new-global-sport-conference-2025-hideo-kojima/) ### As Video Game Industry Burns, Warframe's Devs Aren't Taking Anything For Granted URL: https://aftermath.site/warframe-tau-tennocon-2026-interview/ Last updated: 2026-07-14T18:10:59.000Z After over a decade of building to this moment, *Warframe* is finally headed to Tau, the solar system where its vast, endearingly strange narrative began. Tau isn’t just a quest or an area to roam; it is, like the Origin System that comprises much of *Warframe* to date, a series of planets that players will do missions across. Today at TennoCon in London, Ontario, Digital Extremes debuted the first region of that interconnected pocket of space, Fornax. It’s a truly momentous occasion—perhaps the game’s most ambitious addition yet. But at the end of a TennoCon preview event earlier this week, creative director Rebb Ford let some relatable hesitation show through: "It's obviously a huge, scary time for us,” she said, “because the games industry is super stable right now, and it's awesome to show something that may or may not impact the future of the company." *Warframe*, which began as a humble co-op space ninja shooter and evolved into a sprawling sci-fi epic with [too many gameplay systems to count](https://aftermath.site/warframe-digital-extremes-balatro-vampire-survivors-interview/) and [one of the most dedicated communities in video games](https://aftermath.site/warframe-digital-extremes-community-tennocon-wedding-funeral/), has proven remarkably resilient in an era where live-service games drop like flies. Even *Destiny 2*—to which *Warframe* is often (if erroneously) compared—met [what basically amounted to its untimely end](https://aftermath.site/destiny-2-developers-favorite-parts-bungie-ends-support/) earlier this year. > "Games as a service, it's a scary world. We've been doing it for 13 years, and we have no secret formula. We have no cheat code." And of course, [Microsoft’s latest round of layoffs](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/) remains all too fresh on everyone’s minds as hardware prices skyrocket and [Sony adapts by killing physical discs](https://aftermath.site/sony-discs-2028-consoles/). Change is afoot, with traditional triple-A games looking more and more like a potential casualty. No one is safe and nothing is sacred. Not even a seemingly unshakable pillar like *Warframe*. “It’s fucking awful, what’s happening in this industry,” community director Megan Everett told Aftermath during a recent interview. “I feel very lucky to be working on this game and to have this dev team and the community that we’ve built, because I’m no stranger to the fact that it could all end tomorrow. Games as a service, it's a scary world. We've been doing it for 13 years, and we have no secret formula. We have no cheat code. We have just stayed in our little Canadian homebrew lane, put our heads down, and really tried to make this game what we want and what our community wants it to be.” 0:00 /1:40 1× Digital Extremes For developers at Digital Extremes, that has at various points meant eschewing trends and sticking to their many, many guns. "I think back to when *PUBG* and *Fortnite* were popping off,” said Everett, “and everyone was making a battle royale game, and I remember internally we all looked at each other like 'We're not doing that.’" “We’re not good at that!” Ford added. "That's not what our expertise is, and we know where our strengths are,” Everett continued. “We know where we can stray a little bit and get wacky and weird, and so we do that. But it would be a disservice if we went so crazy that \[we lost sight of *Warframe*'s identity\]. Like, we've tried the PvP thing; we've tried Conclave. It didn't work, and we know that's not what we're about, so we shifted to focusing on the story and the narrative. I think that has been a good thing for us in that we know where our strengths are." The TennoCon Tau demo leaned into those narrative proclivities, with cinematic flourishes aplenty. An intro to the new solar system that—if you’re a longtime *Warframe* player—was frankly chill-inducing gave way to a perspective switch to an all-new Warfame, Brysko, a creation of Albrecht Entrati, the Void-harnessing scientist who set much of *Warframe*’s story into motion. Brysko’s whole thing is that he’s basically an old-timey noir detective in Warframe form. Lacking a mouth to call his own, he monologues about everything that happens to him in his head—which, of course, the player can hear, even though no one else can. > "The unknowable inner monologue of this character felt very extreme, but in my heart and soul, I feel like it works. And if it works for at least just me, then you know what? Happy early Christmas to me." But why a noir detective to introduce a new solar system? Because there are mysteries afoot in both the cosmic and more immediate senses. And also because Ford really liked *Law And Order* as a kid (Brysko = Briscoe, by the way) and *Blade Runner* as an adult. "I wanted \[those inspirations\] in *Warframe*,” said Ford. “It's kind of that juvenile, but I wanted *Warframe* to explore gangs, addiction, \[and\] lifespan of constructs. All of these things are super relevant to Sentients, who as a construct were created by man—no different than androids. So this was essential for the tone of Tau's first reveal." The idea of a monologuing Warframe followed shortly after. "Credit to Adrian, our lead writer, because we were trying to think of how to go noir and tell the world of Tau from a perspective that needs to feel new, and he really put his heart out on his sleeve and was like 'I really think we could get an inner monologue working for this,”' said Ford. “We proved it within a day. We were like 'That's it, that has to be it.' Because nothing else would work in the world with the pieces we put on the chessboard. It's too bleak, it's too dark, it's too weird, and the unknowable inner monologue of this character felt very extreme, but in my heart and soul, I feel like it works. And if it works for at least just me, then you know what? Happy early Christmas to me." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/WF_TauPromo_Keyart_1080p.png) Digital Extremes What ensued in the TennoCon demo was a stroll through a grimy, goopy noir slum—if H.R. Giger was in the business of imagining such places. Sentients, addicted to a drug called Bloom, writhed and in some cases attacked as Brysko waxed nihilistic about their dead-end lives in the universe’s rock bottom. “All dreaming or dead,” he said of the Sentients at one point. “Until the rains come.” But in his cheery estimation, things could always be worse: “At least I’m not out on one of the old battlefields,” he growled mid-combat, voiced by the inimitable Matt Mercer, who made the hammy dialogue a lot more convincing. “Warframes and Sentients lurching back to life, fighting old wars over and over again. Mindless. Heartless. Dead.” It’s a far cry from some of *Warframe*’s more lighthearted endeavors, like the *1999* expansion that featured a dating sim and an in-universe boy band or even last year’s Old Peace quest, which—in setting up the journey to Tau—still contained a few moments of levity. Fornax won’t be all doom and gloom, either; the Tau update will also introduce an entire Sentient card game, Portau, to *Warframe*. > "That's the eternal struggle of Digital Extremes no matter what point we are at in history: You either set your sights too small and you disappoint, or you go too far in the other direction and you disappoint, because it was too ambitious and there were too many moving parts." But *Warframe*’s great strength has always been its ability to bullet jump between tones and accommodate all manner of inspirations. It’s part of what makes the game so special to those who regularly play it but also gives it an imposing air to those who don’t. There is just *so much*, and there’s about to be a whole lot more. "The whole sequence of flying through Tau—that, I hope, is going to be a very big moment for our players,” said Everett. “Finally seeing Tau and understanding that it's not just another planet; it's a whole new solar system. That's touched upon in this demo and is something we'll get into more as we do future in-depth streams and stuff: making it very clear that this isn't just one little planet that you get to go to; it's a whole other solar system. ... Really trying to have players understand how big this is actually going to be." After 13 years of existence, *Warframe* constantly has to cater to the demands of new and old players alike. For example, a recent update to Railjacks, giant ships you can fly with a crew of NPCs or other players, put those who’ve maxed theirs out [at odds](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warframe/comments/1u97wdf/de%5Fcompletely%5Fgave%5Fup%5Fon%5Frailjack%5Fprogression%5Fand/?ref=aftermath.site) with those who’ve barely touched the system. It’s a constant balancing act, as is the ceaseless demand for new content that comes part and parcel with a live-service game. Case in point: the recent Jade Shadows quest, which was met by some players with concerns that Digital Extremes had rushed its release a bit. "That's the eternal struggle of Digital Extremes no matter what point we are at in history: You either set your sights too small and you disappoint, or you go too far in the other direction and you disappoint, because it was too ambitious and there were too many moving parts,” said Ford. “In this case, there's no bad news for me; it's just better planning and knowing what we know about developing out characters like the Protoframes. We got the harder non-Tau things out of the way, and the way we've structured the rest of the year has been in response to the past three weeks in terms of 'How do we make sure Tau is undistracted? How much room can we give ourselves to have a more comfortable landing rather than undergo the turbulence that no one ever wants to feel?'" ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/WF_TauDemo_Screenshot_Universe_3840x2160.png) Digital Extremes With Tau, set to release near the end of the year, Ford and Everett have no plans to let themselves get pulled in multiple directions. This update is not for tourists. "You've gotta earn it,” said Ford. “It's not gonna be an instant unlock. You need to get through the means of story to access Tau. That's the current philosophy." In some cases—like with last year’s Old Peace quest—Digital Extremes has made new content more immediately accessible to new players. But in so doing, the *Warframe* team has found mixed success, and Tau is different. "I would say that's a crisis-level decision every update, because anyone with an opinion is like 'New players, new players' and then you're like 'Well, what do we do?'" said Ford. "You weigh that: Would you rather have a player play it but be confused, or ask them to have that commitment and not be confused,” said Everett. “That's something that we toil over all the time. But our players have waited 13 years to go to Tau. It would be a little wrong to be like 'It's at the beginning now!' ... You make a player really earn that Tau experience, and I think it's way more impactful if you understand the Lotus lines that are being fed to you and see all those planets you've played through." Ultimately, for now, in the absence of data that suggests any particular method is unilaterally better than another, Digital Extremes has settled on a back-to-the-basics approach: Make something good, and players will show up. "We've tried everything at this point: Give \[new content\] to new players right away, give them an instant unlock, and nothing has proven better than actually making a good game that gets people in,” said Ford. “There's no cheat sheet for engagement. It's the biggest curse in running a long game—putting content at the end of the railroad. But if you can make a game that's good enough to play, you can make a game that's good enough to continue." > "It's the biggest curse in running a long game—putting content at the end of the railroad." Can that approach keep *Warframe* going indefinitely, though? Ford is aware that we’re seeing a generational schism in terms of how games are made and what a video game even is to people. *Warframe* might be a free-to-play online game, but its roots are intertwined deeply with cinematic triple-A traditions. As time and changing tastes—alongside greed and mismanagement—wash away what we currently call the video game industry, how will *Warframe* stay afloat? In some ways, especially business-model wise, *Warframe* is already ahead of the curve, but Ford believes it’s crucial to stay on top of an ever-shifting landscape. "I'm not afraid of TikTok and *Fortnite*,” she said. “I engage with those all the time, and I enjoy that type of game. I think you just need to be able to see where the marketplace is shifting, right? This is the CD-to-MP3 era for a lot of video games, which is a nightmare on its own, but even if you look at things like games only being digital in the future, we're already that. What does that mean for everything we hold dear about being physical media collectors? ... But *Warframe* isn't physical, and it's given me everything I have in life. So how do you reconcile \[all of that\]?" During TennoCon, Digital Extremes announced a *Warframe* collaboration with *Fortnite*, which has been met with mixed reactions from fans. > [@rebbford](https://www.tiktok.com/@rebbford?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@rebbford") > > WAKEY up > > [♬ original sound - Rebbford](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7653489984346884871?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ original sound - Rebbford") That doesn’t mean Ford is cheering for the end of the more traditional video game industry, though. "The mobile games and the gacha games and the people who make games the fastest and most accessible to the next generation of gamers are the ones who are not worried right now,” she said. “That is a terrifying reality, because the $70-$80 game title—where are those and what are those and who's playing them? It's wild." > "If the Steam charts go down, as a YouTuber would like to point out, we're still going to be here." Nor does it mean that *Warframe* is suddenly going to get *Roblox*\-ified, though Ford doesn’t hate everything that game—which is actually more of a platform—is doing. "I actually like user-generated content a lot. I think we kind of have it with Dojos and clan obstacle courses, but I would like to do more of that, to be honest,” she said, noting with a grin that somebody created a *Warframe* ripoff in *Roblox*, which [she has played and enjoyed](https://www.tiktok.com/@rebbford/video/7653489956547005717?ref=aftermath.site). “So who knows. But no, \[we probably won't make a *Roblox*\-style user-generated content platform\].” For now, Ford and Everett are sticking to the path they, themselves, helped map out. “We've had our schedule of what we want to do planned years in advance,” said Everett. “We just maintain the course and really try to put our community first and make sure that they know we're here, we're behind them, and we'll keep making this game. If the Steam charts go down, as a YouTuber would like to point out, we're still going to be here, and we're still going to be trying. Hopefully \[players\] want to try with us." ## Recommended [Life (And Death) In WarframeThe stratospheric highs and craterous lows of 13 years of births, graduations, weddings, and funerals![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-4d48a07d-a407-4c74-8e82-be59df93b1c9.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/warf14-9e7f1177-ddfb-41c6-9918-20d00bc18dbf.jpeg)](https://aftermath.site/warframe-digital-extremes-community-tennocon-wedding-funeral/) ### Layoffs Hit id Software Frankfurt URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-id-software-frankfurt-doom/ Last updated: 2026-07-10T23:24:46.000Z Among the many studios affected by Microsoft’s layoffs this week, id Software, the legendary house that built *Doom* and *Quake*, was [hit especially hard](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/). More than 90 workers lost their jobs, effectively chainsawing many teams in half. Today, id Software released a statement insisting that it still has the capacity to make games–the same day as layoffs hit its Frankfurt office. Current and former id Software employees informed Aftermath of layoffs at the Frankfurt office, saying that six of twelve of id workers were let go, in line with what happened to the rest of id earlier this week. Layoffs also affected Bethesda employees working out of the same office. Even prior to layoffs, id's Frankfurt operation was small, comprising a dozen employees across multiple departments like art and programming, with the majority working on id’s engine team. The remaining six, current and former employees told Aftermath, work on the engine. Following layoffs, Frankfurt is now home to the majority of id's id Tech engineers, with two others residing in Dallas. That said, other Zenimax studios also work on the id Tech engine. The id Tech engine, regarded by many as a miracle of optimization, has been a point of concern following recent layoffs. Some employees have claimed that Microsoft [tossed crucial institutional knowledge](https://kotaku.com/the-cuts-at-doom-maker-id-software-go-shockingly-deep-i-dont-see-how-they-make-a-game-with-that-team-2000713860?ref=aftermath.site) about its basic functions out the window, effectively killing it. In [a statement posted to Twitter](https://x.com/idSoftware/status/2075638499412189455?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2075638499412189455%7Ctwgr%5E1fcf19ec17dad186aeb7f2bc6738276c6ff1941f%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2Fdoom-maker-id-software-pushes-back-against-concerns-about-its-future-we-still-have-the-crew-we-need-to-build-the-games-and-tech-were-known-for-2000714747&ref=aftermath.site) today, id contested that characterization of events: > While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we're known for. The team today is about the same size we were when making *DOOM* (2016). We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward. > We are focused on supporting each other and the team members impacted. We're going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years, and we're looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August. In [a statement to Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/the-cuts-at-doom-maker-id-software-go-shockingly-deep-i-dont-see-how-they-make-a-game-with-that-team-2000713860?ref=aftermath.site) earlier this week, Microsoft claimed that the id Tech engine, specifically, is in no danger of going extinct: “There are dozens of people working on id Tech across multiple locations,” an Xbox spokesperson said. “Reports that there’s only one person left in Texas are inaccurate.” (A Microsoft spokesperson sent the same statement to Aftermath today following a request for comment.) Frankfurt was one of those locations, and now its team has been downsized. Ex-id employees, meanwhile, have taken to sites like LinkedIn to express fear and confusion about what comes next for the studio that popularized the first-person shooter genre—especially after layoffs hit the same week as the release of *Doom* DLC that [necessitated “significant” crunch](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/). “Nothing says business success like nuking a team into the dirt and relegating them to support studio size while also throwing out massive technological achievements,” [said one](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7480289238220034048/?dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd%5Fcomment%3A%287480314092600078336%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7480289238220034048%29&ref=aftermath.site) earlier this week. Next week, CWA, the union that helped organize numerous studios across Microsoft—including id—is hosting [a series of Save Our Devs demonstrations](https://bsky.app/profile/videogameworkers.bsky.social/post/3mqcjworgic2t?ref=aftermath.site) outside id Software, Bethesda, and Obsidian offices. All are invited to attend and show their support. ## Recommended [Microsoft’s Parade Of Indignities Continues: id’s Future Unclear, Obsidian On Fallout Duty, Bethesda Forced To Take Down Memorial“Nothing says business success like nuking a team into the dirt and relegating them to support studio size while also throwing out massive technological achievements”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-6013c7e9-448c-4669-bc6c-39e16ae3b7e4.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/memorial-1-717b8e84-826d-46ca-9d0d-260b6e466e3f.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/) ### Reset Xbox To What, Exactly? URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T14:36:38.000Z If you work (or worked) at Xbox, it’s been the longest week in recorded history. But for all the haphazard action that’s been taken, it remains difficult to explain why. CEO Asha Sharma has repeatedly spoken of [her plan to “reset” Xbox](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/?ref=aftermath.site). OK, sure, but to what? Where is this all headed? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we attempt to make heads or tails of a truly baffling strategy. This time around, we’re joined by [Kotaku’s Rebekah Valentine](https://bsky.app/profile/duckvalentine.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) to discuss that which has long been prophesied (derogatory): The Xbox layoffs finally happened, and they’ve somehow proven even worse than expected. Thousands of jobs lost, seemingly [with little regard for institutional knowledge](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/) or [what the people in question actually, you know, *did*](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/). Now remaining teams—cut to the bone—are left to pick up the pieces. Why did Microsoft choose to go about things like this? What happens to the studios that got hit the hardest, and is the decision to put Obsidian, in particular, on *Fallout* a sign of things to come? And who, really, is to blame for this catastrophic unforced error? Then we talk about a small handful of bright spots in our week—for example, Summer Games Done Quick, which is just the best. Lastly, we—joined briefly by Chris Person—rave about the new version of *Ghost In The Shell*. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can launch a procession of various executives out of [that nice, big cannon we’ve been eyeing](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/). Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Rebekah:** Asha Sharma keeps talking about resetting Xbox. That’s her big line. Maybe someone has already interrogated her about this and she gave a business response—I don’t know. But I have yet to see a competent answer to \[the question of\] ‘Reset it to what?’ What part of Xbox are you wanting to delete, and which part of Xbox do you want to go back to? Because I’m very suspicious of which part of Xbox it is. **Gita:** I can only imagine, but given what it was like to talk to business people about video game journalism, I’m assuming the conversation went something like this: “Do you remember *Halo*? *Halo* made a ton of money, right? Can you make us another *Halo*?” Or like “*Call of Duty* is really popular. Why can’t it be more popular? Can we make *Call of Duty* more popular? Make that happen for us, please. And we want everything to be cheaper to produce, also.” **Nathan:** “And faster to produce, so AI’s gotta be able to do a lot of it. We don’t need all those people. They’re pesky and keep demanding rights.” **Gita:** *Halo* is the cultural reference point that executives are probably asking for, because that is a moment in time when Xbox had incredible brand penetration across the globe, and one of the most beloved video games of all time was a Microsoft product. **Nathan:** But even then, they got lucky. Historically at that point, Bungie had made games for Mac, and Microsoft decided \[to take a chance on them\]. And even then, instead of getting rid of talent and trying to cut down, Microsoft acquired a studio and let the creatives do their thing—which resulted in a game that became an instant classic and gave Xbox its mascot. **Rebekah:** I think you’re right, too, because I believe in Asha’s email \[to employees\] somewhere, there’s a line about how they have really recognizable IP, and I remember reading that line and thinking “What? Which ones? What are you talking about?” *Minecraft* and *Halo* are probably the two that she means. Maybe also *Fallout*. **Nathan:** Do you not know the iconic car from *Forza Horizon*? You know… car? **Rebekah:** I’m not saying they don’t have stuff that is popular; obviously they do. But it’s all stuff that they’ve taken from other places and sort of cobbled together that we associate with itself. Like, I play *World of Warcraft*. I associate *World of Warcraft* with itself and with Blizzard. I don’t associate it with Xbox. **Gita:** The Blizzard suite of games all have such a consistent style in the gameplay and especially the art that they don’t feel like Microsoft games. They feel like games that are being held hostage by Microsoft at this point. ## Recommended [Union Promises To Take ‘All Necessary Legal And Contractual Action’ To Fight For Laid-Off Workers As Impacts On Blizzard, Id Software Become Clear“Entire teams have been gutted or even outright eliminated with institutional knowledge lost that can’t be replaced”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-7e7090f3-921e-4e0a-b672-5b98d45cd0e8.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/doom-f71ce33e-4986-4b1d-98dd-1be6d63ad30e.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/) ### It’s The Perfect Time To Watch GDQ URL: https://aftermath.site/sgdq-2026-speedruns-good/ Last updated: 2026-07-13T14:36:25.000Z Everything is bad, with new horrors [revealing](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/) [themselves](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/) [by the day](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/). But you know what isn’t bad? [Speedrunning](https://aftermath.site/games-done-quick-gdq-speedrunning-community-trans-rights/). [Summer Games Done Quick](https://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick?ref=aftermath.site), the balmy, beachy (at least, by Minneapolis standards) edition of GDQ’s bi-annual charity mega-marathon, has been in full swing since Sunday. It could not be happening at a better and also worse time. The [video game industry is on fire](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/) in the conflagratory sense; if not for this 24/7 reminder of the fact that games can be good and be used to *do* good, I’d be losing my mind. If you’ve never tuned into a GDQ event or think that speedrunning is exclusively the domain of obsessive freaks (complimentary), let me spell out the appeal for you: People try to complete games as quickly as possible, often by way of routes, glitches, and strategies even developers never thought of. This makes for fascinating viewing because runners inevitably end up reverse-engineering how extremely specific portions of games function—albeit only after they’ve spent thousands of hours exploring well beyond games’ intended bounds. Seeing it all come together on a stage in front of a live audience is just the sickest shit ever. Runners maintain a degree of composure that borders on remarkable while explaining the mind-bogglingly complex maneuvers they’re pulling off. Surrounded by friends and scene compatriots, they laugh, joke, and—when necessary—lock in. Then the run ends, and both the runner and the audience exhale. Occasionally, runners even break world records on stage, defying countless points where everything could go horribly wrong to do so. All the while, people regularly chant things like “trans rights,” the organization itself [tells ICE to fuck off](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lm3gy2mk56bassf4aol6yct7/post/3mpvx7getws2j?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref%5Furl=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.thegamer.com%252Fsummer-games-done-2026-ice-banned%252F&ref=aftermath.site), and viewers donate millions of dollars to [Doctors Without Borders](https://give.doctorswithoutborders.org/campaign/816105/donate?c%5Fsrc=ADD2606U1U66&c%5Fsrc2=google.cpc.CKMSF-BRAND%5FDWB-GS-ALL-DWBBrand%5FE-BO-18t65P-RSA-VENEZUELAQUAKERR26%5F2-ONETIME&utm%5Fsource=google&utm%5Fmedium=cpc&utm%5Fcampaign=CKMSF-BRAND%5FDWB-GS-ALL-DWBBrand%5FE-BO-18t65P-RSA-VENEZUELAQUAKERR26%5F2-ONETIME&gad%5Fsource=1&gad%5Fcampaignid=791446267&gbraid=0AAAAACM3OZXzw1JdAeOUYb7Yrso00KqN9&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjb3SBhDgARIsAMKiWzjEEdU%5FR2L6a-nzNRI-NjrYEf-t0LN6MK8QrXqY44y3de2W8oak5pcaApH3EALw%5FwcB). GDQ [may not quite have speedrun reaching this point](https://aftermath.site/games-done-quick-gdq-speedrunning-community-trans-rights/)—and it still has its issues—but the totality of the event stands in stark contrast to the cesspit that comprises much of modern online gamer culture. With all that said, if you’d like to catch up, here are some of my favorite runs from this year’s SGDQ: World record on the big stage! Afterward, the runner, Bdud, nearly in tears, reveals that he spent a month training for this moment every day—that’s how badly he wanted it—and thanks his rival turned best friend, who is on the couch, for pushing him to improve. This is what speedrunning’s about. A unique twist on a race: One runner is playing the original version of *Spyro: Year Of The Dragon* while the other is playing the remake. Really cool way to experience all the little differences between the two. Not only is Strange Scaffold’s *I Am Your Beast* an ideal speed game because of how cool it looks when somebody plays it at an ultra-high level, but director Xalavier Nelson is (virtually) on the couch for this one, providing all sorts of interesting commentary about the creation of the game. If you’ve ever wanted to hear an audience shout “wheeeeeee” 100 times, you’re in the right place. Same as above, but replace “wheeeeeee” with “awoo.” Also, the skill on display here is truly dazzling. It’s always fun to watch someone run a newer game, because they’re still in the process of discovering skips and working out an optimal route. You get to hear people excitedly (or confusedly) chatter about their learnings. Sometimes people don’t understand why what they’re doing works, but it does, and that’s OK. Worth it for the final sequence alone. Pinball machine speedrun! A heartfelt run of a bizarre game that inevitably won't get enough attention, so let's give it some. One of those runs that will constantly leave you asking "How did they even figure that out?" Anxiety inducing. Brain breaking. Probably the best run of the entire event. Not a run, but an incredibly affecting, humanizing portrayal of people in Gaza—and the urgency of their plight. [Cool shirt](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/products/destroy-ai-t-shirt-women?ref=aftermath.site). Look, it’s *Mr Bones*. What else is there to say? ## Recommended [Games Done Quick’s Long, Difficult Journey To A Better Gaming FutureProgress isn’t linear, and there are no skips or shortcuts![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-79ecc226-cfe1-4e28-b78e-1bdac7dd2d70.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gdq5-f0bbfd8c-1152-4e3a-9889-62457a504a7d.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/games-done-quick-gdq-speedrunning-community-trans-rights/) ### Asha Sharma Assigned To Federal Reserve’s ‘Productivity And Jobs’ Task Force The Same Week She Oversaw 1,600 Layoffs (With Another 1,600 To Come) URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-asha-sharma-federal-reserve-task-force-layoffs/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T21:12:22.000Z In case you were concerned that we didn’t live in the Onion parody version of an actual, functioning universe, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is now leading a Federal Reserve task force dedicated to “productivity and jobs.” Yes, [that Asha Sharma](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/). Sharma, whose hobbies include [masochism](https://aftermath.site/asha-sharma-microsofts-xbox-instacart-meta-pain-sponge-succesion/), [weird natalist bullshit](https://bsky.app/profile/jeffgerstmann.com/post/3mfdtqu5wjk2x?ref=aftermath.site), and collaborating with other execs to [sort of just wing](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/) [their way through the wanton destruction](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/) [of 3,200 people’s livelihoods](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/), will be one of three heads of a [task force](https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20260709a.htm) designed to “assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve's policy judgments.” Sharma used to be president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product, and I guess she still is at heart. She’ll be joined by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and Stanford economics professor Charles I. Jones (who is, notably, on leave to work at [Anthropic](https://www.wheresyoured.at/premium-the-haters-guide-to-anthropic/?ref=aftermath.site)) . Other Federal Reserve task forces will center around communications, balance sheet policy, data, and inflation frameworks. They will be headed up almost exclusively by C-suite ghouls and economics professors—aka, the people who train tomorrow’s C-suite ghouls. "The Federal Reserve's commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering. As is our resolve to pursue our mandate with rigor," said Chairman Kevin Warsh in [an announcement](https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20260709a.htm). "The US economy has changed significantly over the last generation, and never more so than right now. Each task force will carefully consider whether policymakers' means and methods, analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved upon. I am honored that the best minds from a range of disciplines have agreed to work with us to sharpen our performance as an institution. The goal is straightforward: to ensure the Fed is best positioned to achieve our objectives in this consequential time." The Asha Sharma portion of the equation looks goofy in headline form but makes perfect sense in the context of our country’s current direction. Businesspeople and politicians have decreed that the line must go up at all costs, and AI—which is inevitable, if you haven’t heard—will further that goal *not* by replacing human workers (definitely not! never!), but by pushing jobs, uh, somewhere else. I’m sure Xbox, where freshly cut-to-the-bone teams are despairing over their inability to do things as simple as [continuing to use their own proprietary game engines](https://kotaku.com/the-cuts-at-doom-maker-id-software-go-shockingly-deep-i-dont-see-how-they-make-a-game-with-that-team-2000713860?ref=aftermath.site), will make an excellent testbed for this philosophy. ## Recommended [Asha Sharma Is Microsoft’s Pain SpongeSuccesion is a documentary![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-cb6d0487-576d-49ce-a73c-6fa096db1c4c.png)AftermathGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/matthew-macfadyen_3-ce6f10c6-ea8c-49b7-96f1-c153bae49bef.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/asha-sharma-microsofts-xbox-instacart-meta-pain-sponge-succesion/) ### Layoffs Hit GameSpot Again URL: https://aftermath.site/gamespot-layoffs-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T20:43:02.000Z Layoffs once again hit games outlet GameSpot on Thursday. Owner Fandom cut the site’s entire commerce team, as well as vice president of games and entertainment Chris Grant. According to an affected worker, the cuts to commerce affect four staffers and five freelancers, who covered deals posts, buying and preorder guides, and on occasion other topics. “I just got laid off from GameSpot while on paid medical leave recovering from a gunshot wound,” deals editor Brendan Hesse wrote on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/brendanlh.bsky.social/post/3mqa2lmw4us2p?ref=aftermath.site), who had been on leave since July 1 after [sustaining an injury during gunfire in his neighborhood](https://bsky.app/profile/brendanlh.bsky.social/post/3mpms5fzprs2o?ref=aftermath.site). Commerce editor [Colette Bennett](https://bsky.app/profile/hellococobee.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) was also affected, “along with the rest of my commerce team,” and added that “I was so excited to work \[at GameSpot\] and so sad that I only had a few months there.” Writer Jaina Rodríguez-Grey wrote on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7481043547249463297/?ref=aftermath.site) that “My entire team at Gamespot has been fired.” Also laid off today was Chris Grant, who joined Fandom in [September 2025](https://www.linkedin.com/in/charstring/?ref=aftermath.site) to oversee GameSpot, as well as other sites including Metacritic, GameFAQs, and TV Guide. Grant was a co-founder of Polygon, and went to Fandom after Vox Media [sold Polygon to Valnet](https://aftermath.site/polygon-layoffs-sale/) in May 2025. Fandom did not reply to a request for comment in time for publication. Layoffs are nothing new at GameSpot, with editor Mark Delaney [noting on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/blueskynoise.com/post/3mqa4e3y3k22c?ref=aftermath.site) that the site has had five [layoffs](https://aftermath.site/fandom-gamespot-screen-junkies-layoffs-restructuring/) since Fandom purchased it, alongside other sites, from previous owner Red Ventures in [October 2022](https://about.fandom.com/news/fandom-acquires-leading-entertainment-gaming-brands-including-gamespot-tv-guide-and-metacritic?ref=aftermath.site). Founded in 1996, GameSpot has been through multiple owners, including ZDNET, CNET and [CBS](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/cbs-to-acquire-gamespot-parent-company-cnet?ref=aftermath.site). In May 2025, sister site Giant Bomb saw several [high profile departures](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/future-of-giant-bomb-website-in-doubt-following-prominent-staff-departures/?ref=aftermath.site) after a podcast episode that featured staffers mocking Fandom’s brand safety guidelines was taken down. [Giant Bomb went independent](https://aftermath.site/giant-bomb-sold-new-owners-jeff-fandom/) later that month. ### I Gave My Steam Machine A Second Stick Of RAM Because Valve Couldn't URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-ram-upgrade/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T20:36:41.000Z The Steam Machine came out in [sub-optimal times](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/) not just when it comes to storage and RAM pricing, but also when it comes to its basic configuration out of the box. The PC uses DDR5 SODIMM memory, the kind normally found in laptops, but due to supply chain restrictions Valve were only able to ship the machine with a single 16 gig stick of memory instead of two 8 gig sticks. Basically no PC builder ships with a single stick of memory when two would suffice. Doing so has a significant cost in CPU-bound tasks, although for many games this is less impactful. In a rational market this would not be a problem, and upgrading to 32 or 64GB of RAM in an ideal configuration would be both cheap and simple. But we do not live in a rational market and that’s how it shipped, so I paid out the ass for a single stick of compatible memory to try to see how annoying it is to put in there and how much of a difference it actually made. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/A015_05090501_S017.jpg) An exact matching SK hynix 16GB SODIMM. Note the ribbon cables on the side if you are attempting this. ## **A single channel situation** Valve has said that, while the single stick isn’t ideal, it is what they could get currently and that this configuration will not impact the majority of games. For the most part that’s true: Most games are more bound to GPU performance and the amount of VRAM is a more significant deciding factor. RAM being single channel mostly impacts CPU-bound tasks. But for some games, like *Baldur’s Gate 3*,and CPU-bound tasks like productivity software and file compression, there is a noticeable performance hike from having two channels of RAM or more memory generally. In theory, the idea of shipping a single higher capacity stick of memory has benefits. If a user wants to upgrade to 32GB, then adding a single 16GB stick instead of having to buy two 16GB sticks has upsides. The part where this issue gets more complicated when you factor in matching the existing stick of RAM. It is not simply enough to throw a similar stick of DDR5 laptop RAM of the same capacity into a motherboard; you actually have to make sure it has the exact same specs and speed as well. To not do so causes instability down the line, and sometimes a machine won’t even boot at all. In any remotely sensible environment where RAM is cheap and plentiful this is a non-issue, as you usually just buy two or more of the same matching sticks of RAM. But the situation is what it is, and since we are fairly early into the lifecycle of the Steam Machine, people are still testing the waters with upgrading. Because I did not wish to purchase and return RAM and Aftermath does not have “two sticks of matching DDR5 RAM in 2026” kinds of money to throw around, I opted to try to match the existing RAM as closely as possible. This leaves two routes: either try to match the specific specs of the Steam Machine’s RAM using another vendor, or get another stick of the exact same SK Hynix RAM. The former is riskier, although since buying the RAM a week ago I have seen reports of people [attempting this with Crucial memory](https://www.reddit.com/r/steammachine/comments/1upv8nh/steam%5Fmachine%5Fram%5Fpairing%5Fdefault%5Fsk%5Fhynix%5F16%5Fgb/?ref=aftermath.site). The RAM inside of the Machine is non-ECC, DDR5-5600 and operates at [CAS latency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAS%5Flatency?ref=aftermath.site) of CL46. Instead of taking a risk I opted to match the existing stick in the device, which as of launch is SK Hynix DDR5 SODIMM HMCG78AGBSA095 AA. Writing this article personally cost me 225 dollars plus tax for something that would have cost nothing a year ago. Please subscribe to Aftermath if you have not already. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/A015_05090509_S038-1.jpg) Look I am aware this is kinda messy but sometimes you just kinda have to go for it. Please do not take this as an official guide. ## **I’m in.** While the Steam Machine is a marvel of engineering, it takes a bit of work to get everything into a compact little cube. The entire device is a tiny sliver of baby computer attached to a server-style cooler and a single, purpose-built fan and shroud combo. Unlike a full PC build where you would simply pop the side open and, provided the CPU cooler is not in the way, just snap some RAM in, the Steam Machine has to be taken almost entirely apart if you want to service the RAM. Thankfully you do not need to do this if you want access to the hard drive, as the entire thing is on a breakout board attached to the bottom of the device. The RAM, on the other hand, is a bit trickier to reach. While it mercifully does not involve removing the board from the cooler and thus needing to reapply thermal compound, it does require you to remove both the fan and the power supply. It is best not to conceptualize this as upgrading a PC, but something closer to a weird stationary handheld. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IDG_20260621_193416_138.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/A015_05090437_S005-2.jpg) In order to access the RAM you need to remove the fan, disconnect all four ribbon cables, and disconnect the antennas. It's actually laid out fairly intuitively, but harder than a regular PC upgrade. Valve’s history with the Steam Machine is visible in many of the choices they made. Removing the shell is fairly easy, involving two screws on the back, four screw-off feet on the bottom, and a few on the rear fan. From there the internals just slide out. The front and rear I/O are individual breakout boards that are modular and easy to replace if they break, and Valve is historically fairly good at providing replacement parts. Both the front and rear I/O panels and two breakout boards on the bottom are attached with ribbon cables that are lightly glued down. These are the parts that you super have to worry about, as ribbon cables are delicate and prone to tearing. You do not want that. Fortunately, Valve opted for the good ribbon cable connectors that just snap in and out, and the amount of glue keeping them on is slightly more than gaffer’s tape. You will still need to remove the metal protectors holding the snap-in ends on, but if you are methodical, take your time, follow a guide (preferably one sanctioned by Valve) and set your screws apart then you should be fine. There is some variation between these screws, but mercifully you are using the same torx driver for the entire machine. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/A015_05090440_S014.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/A015_05090438_S007-2.jpg) There are four ribbon cables that need to be removed. Most of these are hidden under metal shields that pop right off. Thankfully, Valve used the good ribbon connectors that snap off and the glue is not that intense. Removing the fan is a tiny bit irritating but not the worst for someone following instructions. You will need to unplug the fan power as well as the antennas that snap into some of the breaker boards. It is worth making note of which antenna cables go into which port. Though some of the modules are glued directly to the fan unit, the actual antenna connectors just pop off. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IDG_20260708_171557_090.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IDG_20260708_172843_819.jpg) The most annoying part of the entire disassembly and reassembly is actually one screw connecting the fan that is a little annoying to reach, and you may need a slightly longer screwdriver to get to it. Once you remove the fan, disconnect everything connected to the PSU (including fan power and antenna) and make sure every ribbon cable is clear, then unscrew the four longer screws that attach the power supply to the rest of the computer. There, you’re in. Installing SODIMM RAM takes two seconds, and the process of reassembling the device is just the disassembly but in reverse. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/A015_05090511_S044.jpg) This post cost me $244.97 ## **Do you really need it?** Gamers Nexus has entire testing rigs devoted to this stuff whereas I am one guy. I roughly agree with their conclusions. Thankfully, everything worked out. The Steam Machine booted and I did not experience any instability. Though I did do some minor benchmarking before and after installing, it was not a like-for-like comparison. [Gamer’s Nexus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JElBQ3ooHY&ref=aftermath.site) did much more comprehensive benchmarks than I possibly could and noted significant uplifts in *Baldur’s Gate 3* and compression. For my own part I loaded in Act 3 of *Baldur’s Gate 3* and noted much more stability with the additional channel of RAM. Unexpectedly, *Zero Parades* of all games seemed to run significantly better with additional RAM in an ideal configuration, although I would need to rerun a comparison with the stock single 16GB stick of RAM against two 8GB sticks of RAM. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/before2.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/after1.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/before3.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/after2.JPG) **Baldur's Gate 3* was singled out for being a use case where more RAM in two channels could help and in my own testing it was more stable around the Lower City. Other games like **Cyberpunk* and RE9 saw some improvements, but were not as dramatic. (Left is before/right is after at 1440p with no FSR and medium settings) In normal times, upgrading the Steam Machine’s RAM would be totally unnecessary but cheap if desired. In times before 2026, you didn’t second guess throwing as much as you could afford into a rig, because it was one of the cheapest components and you could just go to town on it. Unfortunately for Valve, the configuration they were forced into does leave performance on the table in hyper-specific instances, and the path to upgrading is slightly thorny. Valve clarified to Gamers Nexus that “it is possible that this might change in future builds ” but that currently shipping units are all 1x16GB. Down the line if RAM prices ever recover then maybe upgrading might become a no-brainer. For now, purchasing the RAM is more complicated than it needs to be, you may not notice a difference, the process itself is slightly tricky and getting that upgrade might blow a two hundred and forty five dollar hole in your wallet. From every angle, this is slightly sub-optimal. There’s not much we can do but hope for a very different world in the future. ### It's Time To Admit I Have Too Many 'Start The Day' Games URL: https://aftermath.site/puzzle-games-daily-oh-no/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T15:44:02.000Z Thanks to running a growing business, I have very little free time or spare energy in my day, which is an unfortunate situation for someone who loves to [collect](https://aftermath.site/irish-now-youre-talking/) [new](https://aftermath.site/rugby-20-oh-no/) [hobbies](https://aftermath.site/oh-no-a-mandolin/) and then stress out about which ones to prioritize. I go through jags of trying to rigorously schedule my time between 6 and 9am to cram in as many non-work tasks as possible, but that sometimes has the ironic effect of feeling extra stressful instead of relaxing. To counteract *this*, there’s a bunch of little games I like to play every day to make sure I have some chill-out time. But *of course* I’ve now collected too many, and they’ve become a stress in themselves. A few years back, I replaced the time I’d have spent on The New York Times’ games with–sorry, I hate it too–LinkedIn’s slate of daily offerings, which are [surprisingly good](https://aftermath.site/linkedin-games/). At first, it was mainly word puzzle Crossclimb and the logic puzzles Queens and Tango. Queens is a [star battle](https://www.puzzles.wiki/wiki/Star%5FBattle?ref=aftermath.site) puzzle, which for a while got me playing star battles obsessively, but unfortunately/luckily the free website I went to for them got randomly enshittified, so I stopped. But then LinkedIn started adding more games. Maze-like game Zip showed up in [March 2025](https://news.linkedin.com/2025/linkedin-announces-zip-?ref=aftermath.site), and I liked it well enough to add it to my rotation. A year later [Patches](https://news.linkedin.com/2026/LinkedIn-Announces-Patches-A-New-Thinking-Oriented-Game-Inspired-by-Zip/LinkedIn-Announces-Patches-A-New-Thinking-Oriented-Game-Inspired-by-Zip?ref=aftermath.site) came out, and even though I sometimes get frustrated with it depending on how much coffee I’ve had before I start, I play it every day too. In early June LinkedIn added [Wend](https://news.linkedin.com/2026/LinkedIn-AnnouncesWend?ref=aftermath.site), a word-finding game that I find compelling for the same draw-a-line reason as Zip and think-of-words reason as Crossclimb, even though there are sometimes multiple words that fit the game’s letter requirement that for some reason are just not the word the game wants, which can be frustrating. (I cannot believe I’m admitting to how much time I spend on *LinkedIn*, but let’s breeze past that, shall we?) Then there’s the games outside of LinkedIn. After Gita wrote about [Clues By Sam](https://aftermath.site/clues-by-sam-wordle-daily-puzzle-game/) I started playing that every day. And despite my better judgement and morals, I’ve grown humiliatingly attached to my cursed [Duolingo](https://aftermath.site/duolingo-gamification/) streak; every day I tell myself this is the time I put the [hideous app](https://aftermath.site/duolingo-ai/) away for good, but then my lizard brain craves its blips and pings, and then the basest part of my nature gets sucked into the leaderboards and I’m voluntarily watching ads for more energy to climb just a little higher in some stupid fucking league. Thanks to those ads, and to the [concussion](https://aftermath.site/concussion-review-impressions/) I got in May, I’m now a daily visitor to [Magic Sort](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magic-sort/id6499209744?ref=aftermath.site), a mindless and utterly predatory mobile game that I saw in a Duolingo ad. It is full of leaderboards and mini-competitions and side goals that are baffling to me in both their requirements and their purpose, but a few nights ago on a whim I joined its “Sky Jump” sidequest where you earn in-game currency for passing levels on the first try. When I failed a level I started using my coins for a re-do, and even when I realized this is exactly what the game *wanted* me to do–enticing me to burn through my free money so I would give it *actual* money, which I must stress I did not–I kept going, until finally the price for a retry was steep enough that I came to my senses and hurled my phone to the other side of the couch. But I still at least play its daily puzzle every day, and sometimes get sucked into a run of the rest of its offerings. So here’s the extent of my daily “just a little break for games” habit, which must be followed in this precise order or I feel like I’m wearing an itchy shirt: Crossclimb, Patches, Zip, Wend, Tango, and Queens, then a hop over to Clues By Sam, then to my phone for the daily Magic Sort puzzle, then to Duolingo for what is usually one lesson but sometimes becomes more depending how things are going on the league leaderboards which *I must remind you that I do not care about* except obviously I care about them a lot. Laid out like this, it’s clearly a much bigger chunk of my morning than I ever intended it to be, and clearly runs counter to the purpose of the games being a little treat between tasks. The problem is that there are always new little games. Last night I saw people talking about a new word game by [Hank Green](https://bsky.app/profile/hankgreen.bsky.social/post/3mq6ac6eccs2x?ref=aftermath.site) called Smush, which is a game about using letters to find words. The letters can only be used a certain number of times, which inspires a lot of strategic thinking. I gave it a quick try last night and then went to bed, but this morning I found myself poking through its archives, lured by the siren song of high scores. It's a clever little game and you should totally check it out if you like that kind of thing, but part of me is hoping I forget about it soon so that I don’t add it to my rotation. (No offense, game! It’s me, not you!) I feel like I cannot live like this, that I have way more to do with my precious pre-work time than play a bunch of games that run the gamut from “fun and charming” to “playing this is making me a worse person.” But at the same time, they are a nice antidote to the crushing pressures of schedule optimization and limited free time that makes me crave them in the first place. I’m probably not the only person who feels like my life could be more fulfilling if I could just achieve the kind of self-mastery that lets me get done everything I both need to do and want to do in a day, only to have moments when I zoom out and look at the structures around me and think, no, it’s the system itself that’s causing this, the demands of life and work and capitalism that want to convince me that *I’m* the problem when really it’s that so many facets of life are just so frequently impossibly hard. That’s a big crisis to have about a bunch of free games, and maybe you are just a normal person who takes normal little breaks and is not as obsessed as me with all the things you want to do with your one and only life. If that is you, please tell me your secret, because this morning I’ve been thinking “well maybe if I start getting up at 5 instead of 6…” and, despite what the hustle culture bros of LinkedIn say, that is simply no way to live. ### Goodbye, The Bear, I Thought You Were A Good Television Show URL: https://aftermath.site/the-bear-season-5-review/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T23:43:00.000Z What I'm about to say isn't based on any kind of hard evidence or statistics, just *vibes*, but stick with me: I think it's fair to say that the trajectory of *The Bear* was one of a TV show that started really strong, got a bit carried away, annoyed a lot of people as a result then faded from wider public consciousness. It began as a series about a Chef With Problems (played so *intensely* by Jeremy Allen White), so defined by its moments of tumult and disorganisation that I would start anxiously sweating before an episode had even started. Allen White's Carmy Berzatto would always fuck *everything* up, and everything around him would fuck up as a consequence, but it was all shot and acted so deep into the trenches that it felt like watching an excruciating personal documentary, one where I would learn a ton about how restaurants worked at the expense of my own happiness and blood pressure. After a few seasons of acclaim and awards, *The Bear* got a bit high on its own supply. It got too cute with its time and space, became too reliant on flashback sequences with the emotional subtlety of a fistful of broken glass and introduced too many corny musical touchstones and too many annoying celebrity cameos. By the end of its third season, when Riley correctly pointed out it had gotten "too up its own ass", I feel like many people not only bailed on the show, but would go on to talk shit about it at any given opportunity for years to come. Which to a point was fair, it had become obnoxious television! [The Bear Season 3 Asks How To Be Less Fucked Up About Work - AftermathThe season’s slow plot shows how stuck its characters are![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-61ced08d-8610-438a-b464-8e6f13bf9ecc.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/screenshot-2024-07-03-at-2-21-47-pm-3-01dc3d9b-4e99-4946-8e8f-e5287c4d94d6.png)](https://aftermath.site/the-bear-impressions-review/) That's a shame though, because *The Bear's* final two seasons are a wonderful example of a creative redemption arc, a rare case of a TV series stepping back from the brink to re-examine what it did so well, where it could go and most importantly how it could wrap all that up. If you punched out during the show's wildest excesses, let me fill you in on what you've missed. Seasons four and five of *The Bear* realised that Carmy had become insufferable, a tragic and seemingly irredeemable figure, a man whose constant thirst for self-destruction wasn't telling a story so much as beating the viewer to a pulp with the same bloody hammer, show after show. And so it pivoted, turning away from being a show about a predictable, angry man into one about a pensive, brilliant young woman. Ayo Edebiri's Sydney Adamu is, and I do not say this lightly, maybe the single best acting performance I have ever seen on a television screen. She is so human, so nervous and imperfect and anxious, so bursting with expression and detail and relatable charm that every scene she's in feels like I'm watching her in 4K while everyone else is in 720p. It's her journey from self-doubting cook to \[spoilers\] that becomes more interesting, and so it's her story *The Bear* rightly shifts its spotlight onto. Season five especially benefits from a narrowing of its focus. It sheds the fat of flashbacks (one episode-length detour aside, though this was released as a pre-series standalone episode) and other restaurants and other countries to just be about The Bear and its staff. The way a single day in the restaurant's life plays out across seven episodes, in almost real time, gives each character ample time in the sun to point themselves towards a future beyond this show, and for us all to get a chance to say a proper goodbye. And it's a goodbye to relish. It's corny in so many ways, with every bow tied and every T crossed, but you know what? So many seasons of this show were about tension and catastrophe that it could never sustain that indefinitely. For *The Bear* to end, everyone involved needed to reach their own finish line, and the way everyone manages to get there, in ways that show all the hardship they endured for so much of this series had been worth it, was great. To be clear, not everyone here emerges as a better person. That would betray the entire point of the show, which fed off people's imperfections, the sparks that fly when personalities clash under pressure. But their experiences have been worth something, and are now taking those imperfect--if now a little happier--characters to better places. It felt sad to say goodbye to these raw and fragile weirdos, which if anything is a testament to how successfully this show has pulled off its recovery. For most previous episodes in most previous seasons it felt like a relief to reach the credits sometimes, so tense and unbearable had their key scenes been, so it was lovely to get some closure and happiness at the very last instead. ### Microsoft’s Parade Of Indignities Continues: id’s Future Unclear, Obsidian On Fallout Duty, Bethesda Forced To Take Down Memorial URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-obsidian-fallout-bethesda-memorial/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T22:03:42.000Z Each day this week has been in competition with the others to bring us the worst possible news out of Microsoft. Monday was [ugly numbers](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/), Tuesday was [dismal details](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/), and today is sheer indignity. The most eye-popping headline comes from [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-08/microsoft-s-xbox-to-shift-obsidian-studio-to-new-fallout-video-game?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4MzUzMzE2NSwiZXhwIjoxNzg0MTM3OTY1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUSFZBWklWVFRDWk0wMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.9UWhy-Whti5Meu89-fQ5LQd%5FZHqAtJVbXoWOcVtFkkU&leadSource=uverify%20wall&ref=aftermath.site), which reports that Obsidian has been forced to cancel—or at least backburner—a sequel to the brilliant *Avowed* in favor of a new *Fallout*. There are, of course, arguments in favor of this move: Back in the day, Obsidian created what is now the most revered *Fallout* of the modern era, *New Vegas*, and if Microsoft is [going all in on existing franchises](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-memo-layoffs-july-2026/), it could have picked worse places to start. But under Microsoft’s prior stewardship, Obsidian blossomed into a seedbed for homegrown creativity, with clever, critically acclaimed curios like *Pentiment* sandwiched between more traditional (and also original) triple-A fare like *Grounded*, *Outer Worlds*, and the aforementioned *Avowed*. Obsidian was thriving in its own lane. Now, down 52 employees according to a WARN notice obtained by [Game File](https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-cuts-texas-california?ref=aftermath.site), it’s being shoved into the shackles of an existing IP with all the restrictions and TV tie-ins that entails. The WARN notice paints a grim picture in terms of the talent that got cut loose, with 19 senior-level staff carelessly tossed aside, as well as an art director, a principal producer, and a principal character artist. It gets even worse when you look at the WARN notice for id Software, also obtained by Game File, which shows that in total, a whopping 136 employees were laid off—72 of them senior or principal. Many of them also worked in technical roles, potentially hamstringing the studio’s vaunted id Tech engine, a hallmark of its games. And again, this comes just as id released substantial DLC for the latest *Doom*, which [necessitated “significant” crunch](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/), according to current employees to whom Aftermath spoke. [According to CWA](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/id-software-workers-form-wall-to-wall-union-in-response-to-mass-xbox-layoffs?ref=aftermath.site), the union that helped many game workers at Microsoft organize, id Software had 185 employees as of last December, 165 of whom joined the union. [The majority of those laid off this week were CWA members](https://bsky.app/profile/kerrblimey.bsky.social/post/3mq5hniceus23?ref=aftermath.site); a cynical mind could come to the conclusion that Microsoft ripped and tore this specific studio to the bone for a reason, especially after it spent years [stalling contract negotiations](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-union-workers-layoffs-blizzard-zenimax/) with a plethora of studios under its umbrella. Then again, most id employees were union, so it could also have just been a simple numbers game. Regardless, id is now in tatters. “I'm still in shock at how brutal the layoff cuts were,” former principal VFX artist Derek Best [wrote on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7480289238220034048/?dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd%5Fcomment%3A%287480314092600078336%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7480289238220034048%29&ref=aftermath.site). “Collectively decades of knowledge was wiped out of the studio. The VFX team was eliminated down to one single artist with no lead or producer. The engine programmer responsible for the massive gains in VFX pipeline improvements (like all the particle editor work) was let go as well. All devs that had Houdini knowledge for procedural modeling or cached animations were wiped out, so all the work for *Doom: The Dark Ages* in that program has gone to waste with no one to carry it on.” “Great job, Microsoft,” he added. “Nothing says business success like nuking a team into the dirt and relegating them to support studio size while also throwing out massive technological achievements.” Prior to the layoffs, id was [reportedly working on](https://gamesbeat.com/inside-a-studio-layoff-big-questions-for-microsofts-intentions-for-id-software/?ref=aftermath.site) multiple project pitches, including a Western-style robot game, a cyberpunk Chicago “gun fu” game, and a new *Perfect Dark*. Now nothing is certain. “We have gotten no studio-wide announcements on what our expectations are going forward after these awful cuts,” a current id employee told Aftermath. “I wouldn't say no one knows how to use the engine anymore, but there are large gaps now. Our colleagues at id Frankfurt as well as Machine Games both have much stronger labor laws and haven't seen the layoffs we have. But within id many things will have to be relearned by new people or outright abandoned.” > Unfortunately, HR made our office manager take this down almost immediately. They said because it's in a common area, it had to be removed. We've used common areas for many things as a team, including fan works, but HR seems to believe that a Celebration of Service is inappropriate. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:r3kj5d7z5t4meneb6dhpt3qh/post/3mq5dxfol7k2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Bethesda Game Studios Union ([@bethesdaunion.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:r3kj5d7z5t4meneb6dhpt3qh?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [July 8, 2026 at 7:39 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:r3kj5d7z5t4meneb6dhpt3qh/post/3mq5dxfol7k2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) But the greatest indignity might have been reserved for remaining workers at Bethesda Game Studios in Rockville, Maryland, who this morning set up a memorial to laid-off workers in their office’s common area, only for HR to force them to take it down. “Unfortunately, HR made our office manager take this down almost immediately,” the Bethesda Game Studios union [wrote on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/bethesdaunion.bsky.social/post/3mq5dxfol7k2g?ref=aftermath.site). “They said because it's in a common area, it had to be removed. We've used common areas for many things as a team, including fan works, but HR seems to believe that a Celebration of Service is inappropriate.” According to a WARN notice, Bethesda’s Austin office laid off 22 employees this week. As of now it’s unclear exactly how many were let go from the Rockville location, though an ex-employee estimated to Aftermath that at least 70 lost their jobs across Bethesda’s locations. They all deserved better. ## Recommended [Union Promises To Take ‘All Necessary Legal And Contractual Action’ To Fight For Laid-Off Workers As Impacts On Blizzard, Id Software Become Clear“Entire teams have been gutted or even outright eliminated with institutional knowledge lost that can’t be replaced”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-d6526a0d-9ed9-41b2-98ae-4f29cd0c8312.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/doom-4a6e18cc-ab1e-4117-bd4e-2cdb832a3f11.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/) ### Taika's Reason Is A Murder Mystery Manga Where Your Dog Can Speak URL: https://aftermath.site/taikas-reason-paru-itagaki-manga/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T16:14:11.000Z It’s [Paru Itagaki](https://aftermath.site/my-favorite-mangaka-disguises-ranked/)’s world, and we’re fortunate enough to experience her amassing her catalog in real time. Be it [*Beastars*](https://gizmodo.com/beastars-caps-off-netflixs-fall-anime-season-in-spectacular-fashion-2000535938?ref=aftermath.site) going even further beyond [Disney’s *Zootopia*](https://aftermath.site/zootopia-2-fan-comic/),[*Sanda*](https://gizmodo.com/sanda-prime-video-science-saru-anime-paru-itagaki-beastars-premiere-review-2000669543?ref=aftermath.site)’s unhinged interrogation of the [deification of adolescence](https://gizmodo.com/sanda-paru-itagaki-science-saru-beastars-science-saru-2000688271?ref=aftermath.site), or [*Witching Hour*](https://www.viz.com/manga-books/manga/witching-hour-volume-1-0/product/9048?ref=aftermath.site)’s hot-and-heavy tale about ghost cuckoldry, Itagaki is a tour de force who knows what she’s about. So when I was at Anime Expo and I heard that Viz Media had early copies of her latest manga, *Taika’s Reason*, which will be released to the general public on July 21, I got involved with that. **Light spoilers for that.** ![Taika's Reason manga page of a protest over humanized animals. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/taika-s-reason-3.png) © Paru Itagaki / Viz Media Off the bat, *Taika’s Reason* answers a *Cars*\-ass question that’d been itching at the back of my mind with *Beastars*: What if humans were there? To combat Japan’s declining birthrate, science has engineered a way for household pets to become “humanized members of society.” Dogearing all the exclamation marks about [what **that** could imply for later](https://gizmodo.com/the-plot-of-the-darwin-incident-is-bananas-but-ive-gotta-see-what-this-monkey-does-next-2000718445?ref=aftermath.site), *Taika’s Reason* hits the ground running by introducing our hero, Ao, a high school girl who walks home to find her dog, Taika, looming over the mauled body of her father. ![Taika's Reason manga page of Taika standing over Ao's dead father. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/taika-s-reason-2.png) © Paru Itagaki / Viz Media Ao’s got questions. We all do. But time is of the essence. Instead of losing her father and having animal control put her pit bull down, she decides to get rid of the body and keep the horrors of that day a secret between her and her oblivious doggo. Just when Ao feels ready to return to society after taking a few months away from school, her mother reveals that she humanized Taika. Now Taika, who’s excited to be alive, can sit at the dinner table with them, wear clothes, and, most importantly, talk. Unfortunately, the first thing Taika says to Ao in private doesn’t put her mind at ease. It nearly sends her into orbit. > “Let’s turn ourselves in together!” Dear reader, the following scene prompted a genuine, out-loud “Ah!” moment for me as I realized, in real time, Ao’s plight with her: Taika is a dog. Dogs have short memories. Dogs are also agreeable to a fault. If someone tells a dog it was naughty, the dog will believe them. [She’s fucked](https://youtu.be/eiV8FYOEjdw?ref=aftermath.site). The rest of the manga is a rousing game of cat and mouse where Ao integrates Taika into her school life in an attempt to shoo away the thought of him narcing on her. That, and she theorizes that if given enough time to enjoy life as a dogperson, Taika would eventually gain the long-term memories of human beings and be able to explain why he killed their dad—or at least why that logical conclusion didn’t match what actually occurred. Naturally, their plan encounters a carousel of anxiety-inducing obstacles. Key among them is the tension between Taika and Ao’s boyfriend over her romantic affections, and the [Louis-coded](https://beastars.fandom.com/wiki/Louis?ref=aftermath.site) German Shepherd cop-dog classmate, Tsunayoshi, who's getting dangerously close to sniffing out their deadly secret. ![Taika's Reason illustration of Ao and Taika. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/taika-s-reason-1.png) © Paru Itagaki / Viz Media I've said it a thousand times, but it bears repeating: In a landscape of manga where many works feel derivative or lack bite, Paru Itagaki stands head and shoulders above her contemporaries as a creator who delights in letting her creative freak flag fly. It’s not lost on me that my recommending yet another of her works has once again put my status as a non-furry into question; it’s a sacrifice I continue to be willing to make because this morbidly hilarious murder mystery is setting up to be a wildly fun time. Who doesn’t want to solve a murder mystery with man's best friend, who may or may not have committed the crime? If you’re still an Itagaki holdout because of her out-there tales and disturbing artistry, which are of the scaring-the-hoes variety, I implore you to keep Simon Pegg’s [Criterion Closet](https://aftermath.site/criterion-mobile-closet-picks-peter-decker-interview-chicago-international-film-festival/) words of wisdom about David Lynch’s *Blue Velvet* and [entertainment being an overrated function of art](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIYr2eAlazo&pp=ygUbc2ltb24gcGVnZyBjcml0ZXJpb24gY2xvc2V0&ref=aftermath.site) in mind: > “Sometimes being made uncomfortable is the point.” ## Recommended [Ushimitsu Gao Is A Ghost Cuckold Romance Manga For Folks Who Defend Beastars (Me) - AftermathParu Itagaki let her freak flag fly with Beastars. She’s firmly planted it with Her Face at the Witching Hour![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-262853e0-6c03-4062-8bce-82fb395c5ca8.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ushimitsu-gao-paru-itakagi-manga-her-face-at-the-witching-hour-3-51aa0588-65a6-4fa4-814b-72840d1f4f83.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/ushimitsu-gao-beastars/) ### How AI Is Ruining Education, In One Handy Chart URL: https://aftermath.site/ai-education-inside-higher-ed/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T16:54:08.000Z Of the many things AI is ruining, [higher education](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/if-ai-is-writing-the-work-and-ai?ref=aftermath.site) is up there–[graduation speakers](https://aftermath.site/eric-schmidt-ai-boo-university-arizona/) are urging students to sacrifice their futures to a handful of rich guys, [school systems are shoehorning](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/magazine/ai-university-college-california.html?ref=aftermath.site) it into every possible crevice, and even students [fear it’s rotting their brains](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/15/pupils-fear-ai-eroding-study-ability-research?ref=aftermath.site). It’s not news that students are using AI to cheat, but I’ve never seen it summed up so neatly until today. Inside Higher Ed ran an article Wednesday titled “[Brown Professor Suspects Majority Of His Class Used AI To Cheat](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/learning-assessment/2026/07/08/brown-professor-suspects-most-his-class-used-ai-cheat?ref=aftermath.site).” It tells the story of Roberto Serrano, an economics professor at the Rhode Island school who noticed a huge discrepancy between his students’ grades on their take-home midterm and their in-person finals. Before we go on, I just need to highlight this bonkers lede, which states that “Quite a few students had expressed anxiety about being in a classroom after a gunman killed two students and injured nine in a [December mass shooting at Brown](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/safety/2025/12/14/brown-university-reels-after-deadly-shooting?ref=aftermath.site), and so ‘it was appropriate,’ \[Serrano\] said, to allow students to take their exams at home.” Students got a take-home midterm *because they were afraid of being shot*–and then they used this both reasonable and horrifying accommodation, Serrano suspects, to use AI on their tests. Students scored an average of 96 on the take-home midterm, where Serrano said grades traditionally fell between 65 and 80\. The unusually high grades and some odd arguments students made led Serrano to suspect AI, so he told students that the final would be taken in class. If the final grades matched the midterms, no problem; if they didn’t, he’d void the midterm grades and make the final count for more. Eighteen students dropped the class, nine just didn’t take the final at all, and here’s how the rest of them did: > absolutely insane story, and yeah, just looking at this chart... with the exception of maybe two people, this entire class was cheating like motherfuckers > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:brnnpb6x3pdapjeqqs275gbd/post/3mq4zsmio4k2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li ([@sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:brnnpb6x3pdapjeqqs275gbd?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [July 8, 2026 at 7:38 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:brnnpb6x3pdapjeqqs275gbd/post/3mq4zsmio4k2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) First, let’s [shout out](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wyylw3fkelfztdgh3c3u3svw/post/3mq54kjoxyc2s?ref=aftermath.site) Student 22, who got a 55 on the midterm and a 59 on the final, the only student to show improvement. As someone who worked their ass off in a few grad school classes only to just barely pass, I feel confident this is the real human work of someone who is in way over their head. Keep on trying, buddy. Let’s also give a nod to Student 1, whose 95.5 on the midterm and 95 on the final feel like a real kid who’s good at this class. If you simply *must* cheat on a test, sitting next to them and trying to see their paper would have been the classic, and more environmentally friendly, choice. There’s a few other plausible spreads here, so it seems likely the entire class didn’t cheat. But then you get the mind-blowing bits: students who scored 100 on the midterm only to get in the 40s and below on the final. Student 41 went from 94.5 to 37\. Student 52 went from 100 to 19\. Student 54 went from 100 to 16.5\. A couple students went from 100 to *zero*. Inside Higher Ed writes that “the average score on the final was 48.6 percent—by far a historic low, \[Serrano\] said. Previously, the average final exam score had never dropped below 65 percent.” Serrano made the final worth 80 percent of the students’ grades, and passed anyone who got a 40 or above, lowering his traditional cutoff of 50\. Nineteen students subsequently failed the class. The bigger point of this story is Serrano’s efforts to get Brown to address the cheating. He claims the university has shown little interest in dealing with his situation, and this also highlights the lack of systems many schools have for addressing mass cheating as opposed to looking at each individual case. But I simply cannot get over seeing the situation laid out like this: the stark visual evidence of exactly how little students are doing their own work, and how much AI seems to be doing the mental lifting for them. AI is often touted as a tool of convenience, doing the scut work around knowledge tasks to free people up for the more interesting bits. But that’s so obviously not what’s happening here. Many students didn’t *struggle* without AI; they *failed spectacularly*, or, maybe more damning, didn’t even bother to try, dropping the class or just not showing up. This is at Brown, one of the nation’s top schools, and students are paying [hundreds of thousands of dollars](https://admission.brown.edu/tuition-aid/tuition-fees?ref=aftermath.site) not just to not learn anything, but to humiliate themselves in the process. My own higher ed grades were occasionally sub-par, but at least I did it to myself. Have some self-respect, kids. [Brown Professor Suspects Most of His Class Used AI to CheatBrown University leaders’ response to the alleged cheating incident has been “meek,” the professor said.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-2435a5fe-3751-431d-97bc-2dc7ded69c68.ico)Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and JobsEmma Whitford![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Roberto_Serrano_Brown_University-3e9ed36a-8aec-4f94-b46c-bbc0399981e5.jpg)](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty/learning-assessment/2026/07/08/brown-professor-suspects-most-his-class-used-ai-cheat?ref=aftermath.site) ### Union Promises To Take ‘All Necessary Legal And Contractual Action’ To Fight For Laid-Off Workers As Impacts On Blizzard, Id Software Become Clear URL: https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-blizzard-id-software-unions/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T16:53:49.000Z It’s been a day since Microsoft aimed a cannon at its own foot and [laid off 1,600 workers](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/)—with another 1,600 to come at some point in the next year—but the dust is still settling. While the company separated from several studios, massive cuts also [hit Zenimax, Bethesda, Obsidian, Activision, and id Software](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/). Blizzard, meanwhile, seemed to be safe, but as it turns out, that’s not entirely true. CWA, the union responsible for organizing thousands of Microsoft workers, has vowed to fight back. Today Blizzard employees received an email from president Johanna Faries (shared with Aftermath) revealing that layoffs impacted its China-based operations: > As a follow up to my previous email, yesterday we consolidated a very small number of roles on our team in China to better align with the evolution of our operating model in the region. These changes serve to continue to strengthen our regional publishing and product management capabilities going forward. I want to acknowledge the employees who were notified of this change and the contributions they each have made to Blizzard and to our players in China. We are currently prioritizing their transition support. Thank you for your patience while the members of that team were informed directly. > The broader XBOX actions announced yesterday can be challenging to navigate. At Blizzard, our forward-looking strategic initiatives and priorities remain in focus. Thank you again for the respect and care you have shown for our games, communities, and each other throughout. Since yesterday, specific impacts of layoffs on Obsidian and id Software have also come to light, with [Kotaku reporting](https://kotaku.com/avowed-the-outer-worlds-pentiment-studio-obsidian-xbox-layoffs-2000713032?ref=aftermath.site) that the former is losing 25 percent of its staff—corroborating what Aftermath has heard—while current employees tell Aftermath that id Software is losing 90 members of its union bargaining unit plus several additional people in management, totaling out to “about half the studio.” “Today was actually the launch of our DLC for *Doom: The Dark Ages*,” a current id employee told Aftermath. “What was supposed to be a celebratory day after a long effort including significant crunch is now largely a day of mourning. Entire teams have been gutted or even outright eliminated, with institutional knowledge lost that can't be replaced. I don't even know our ability to put out fixes for today's launch if they are needed, let alone new projects.” “All but one person who helped run all our old titles was let go,” they added. “Passionate fans of id since before working there trying to keep our legacy alive now won't be able to do so, and for some that has been as painful as the job loss itself.” CWA, which was bargaining with Microsoft over contracts and layoffs protections until the eleventh hour, plans to push back in every way it’s able. “Our union will take all necessary legal and contractual action to defend our members and their rights,” said Mike Davis, vice president of CWA District 2-13, in a statement received by Aftermath. “We will demand immediate bargaining—over fair severance, over vendor-contract decisions, over internal placement so that qualified employees can move into open roles, and over recall rights. That’s the difference a union makes. Organized workers have a seat at the table on the decisions that affect their lives and families, and that includes layoffs.” Microsoft has spent the past couple years [stalling out contract negotiations](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-layoffs-zenimax-activision-blizzard-cwa-union-statement/) with many of its studios’ unions, even as they’ve continued to multiply, resulting in [demonstrations outside the headquarters of companies like Blizzard](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-union-workers-layoffs-blizzard-zenimax/). It is unlikely that the relationship between Microsoft and unionized workers will become less contentious anytime soon. “Although our union signed neutrality agreements with Microsoft, we have been extremely disappointed by a company that has slow-walked our members at the bargaining table, making CWA members wait for the protections of a union contract,” CWA president Claude Cummings Jr said in a statement. “But make no mistake: whether our members have a contract in hand, or are still at the bargaining table, CWA members at Xbox have the power and protection of union membership. When Microsoft decides to treat the workers who built Xbox as expendable, it should know who they’re dealing with. This is not just a fight with the thousands of workers across Xbox; it’s a fight with each and every member at CWA—hundreds of thousands of people strong.” ## Recommended [Microsoft Layoffs Hit Bethesda, Obsidian, And Id Hard As Workers Brace For More“It was already excruciating \[to wait\] over the long weekend—which made it impossible to relax. Now we have it indefinitely, and nobody knows who it will hit”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-7bb5e81f-5596-4796-9f93-8f307eae6306.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_2559480729-1-ee50d3f0-516d-47dc-bb7e-11d6a96e898f.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/) ### Tenet Is Christopher Nolan’s Best Film URL: https://aftermath.site/tenet-christopher-nolans-best-film-inception-memento-odyssey/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T19:33:01.000Z I have been both a Christopher Nolan hater and a Christopher Nolan lover throughout the years. Seeing *Memento* as a teenager was part of the spark for my love of cinema; I also think that his *Batman* films are regressive, jingoistic garbage that manufacture consent for some of the worst war on terror-era political ideas. I think I would have given up on Nolan as a filmmaker entirely if it weren’t for *Tenet*. I am convinced that if *Tenet* had come out in theaters and hadn’t had its theatrical run interrupted by COVID-19, it would have been a phenomenon. While the movie has gotten a lot of flack for being difficult to understand and kind of stupid, to me these are part of its charm. I am one of the most irritating kinds of movie lovers—a formalist. And like *Memento*, *Tenet* is more an experiment in form than it is a movie to be understood. That said, *Tenet* is an absolute thrill from front to back. I initially watched it at home, because of the ongoing pandemic, but this weekend I had the chance to see the movie in 70MM, and it’s just a feast on the big screen. The audience broke into applause at least three times, and frankly some sequences left me breathless. In particular, bungie jumping up the side of a skyscraper, and a later scene that involves crashing a 747 into a building, made me gasp with delight. *Tenet* is based on a simple principle: shit looks really cool when you run the tape backwards. In the world of the film, there’s a technique for time travel that involves inverting the entropy of objects and people. Inverting a gun, for example, causes a gun to “catch” bullets, essentially firing them in reverse. Inverting a person causes that person to experience time backwards as well. The inversion of all entropy, causing a backwards timeline to overwrite the forward march of time we all experience, is the goal of the film’s villains. Thus, it falls to the Protagonist, played by John David Washington, and the mysterious Tenet organization to stop them. If none of this makes sense to you, don’t worry; the film hands you an instruction manual for how to watch it early on. When the Protagonist meets a scientist who first explains the concept of inversion to him, she says, “Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.” It is, certainly, a film that relies on one’s innate ability to read the visual image superseding one’s personal desire to understand the images on the screen. It’s always been fascinating to me that viewers of the moving image understand how to read images on a screen before they understand the phenomena that makes those images move. When Nolan is really cooking, he uses that instinctual understanding of the moving image to novel effect. When inverted and un-inverted characters interact with each other, the simplicity of seeing a gun reassemble itself and devour bullets is so much more interesting than knowing who is fighting and why. While Nolan has gotten much better at fight choreography over the years—his *Batman* films are full of sauceless, unclear action scenes—more than the spectacle of a fight, what he really nails is capturing a single image or action in a deeply unique way. An inverted mook crabwalking forwards like a jerky puppet while Ludwig Gorranson’s booming score thuds through my body is something I’ll never forget. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/tenet-image.png) Image Source: Tenet While the movie is pretty dumb—it’s shamelessly stupid, the main character is named the Protagonist and the plot is mostly connective tissue between bigger and bigger fight scenes—I love that it embraces its own nonsense. I think Nolan has for too long held a reputation as a thinking man’s director, mostly because he is interested in making movies that fuck with the viewer’s perception of images moving over time. *Memento* takes time-based media and asks the audience to piece things together from snippets, experiencing time like the film’s main character, who has retrograde amnesia. *The Prestige* gives the entire movie the structure of a magic trick, performing sleight of hand so that the audience does not see the obvious clues in front of their eyes. I don’t think these movies possess big ideas—mostly they rehash tired ideas about lonely men. In fact, up until his World War II film *Dunkirk*, Nolan was narratively obsessed with sad men plagued by dead wives or aloof daughters, some of the most tired story beats you can throw on the screen. But *Memento* and *The Prestige* don’t really need the viewer to think too hard about them. The moving image is felt before it’s understood. The plot is a contrivance to get the viewer to the next cool thing Nolan wants you to see. That said, there are actually some ideas in *Tenet* that I’ve been chewing on over my many, many viewings of the film. Eventually, it’s revealed that the future is irradiated and has been devastated by ecological collapse, and that’s what the people who are trying to invert all of time are trying to escape. They want to colonize the past, erase human history so that they can experience Earth as a place meant for life to grow. Their herald in the current day is a Russian oligarch billionaire named Sator, played by Kenneth Branagh. He’s dying of cancer, and he loves the feeling of having a gun to the head of the entire world. His wife, Kat, played by a wonderful Elizabeth Debicki, understands his desire to destroy what he cannot own innately. It’s how he treats her and their son. I do feel like I am living under the rule of a group of billionaires who have a gun held to the head of the entire world. In *Tenet*, Kat gets to have her revenge on her husband, and the film treats it as both just and liberatory. If there’s any emotional throughline of this film, it’s Kat’s journey from terrified captive to utterly free of both danger and fear. I think she’s one of Nolan’s best characters, and she clears all of his other women characters by a mile. Notably, Kat is the only character who has a child—her stake in the future is personal. In this most recent viewing, I thought a lot about the rights of those colonizers of the past versus Kat’s desire to raise her child. Sure, the villains of the film didn’t create the dead world they live in. Of course they’d make this one, last, desperate grasp for survival. But who has the right to say who lives or dies? The ones with the most money and firepower? The Protagonist has hope that the future can be changed with foreknowledge. I think that’s the ultimate desire of any parent, really. We can do better next time, now that we know. ### Well At Least The Future’s Looking Bright For Bethesda’s *Checks Notes* ‘Strongest Franchises' URL: https://aftermath.site/bethesda-memo-layoffs-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T14:46:58.000Z Monday’s Xbox layoffs [hit the studios the company owns hard](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/), and are set to continue to do so as the cuts roll through the next year. Workers who remain have to pick up the pieces, including at Bethesda, where a memo from president Jill Braff sets out a new direction for the studio that’s pretty uninspiring. Published in full at [IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/we-need-to-change-course-bethesda-boss-tells-staff-the-company-must-focus-on-our-strongest-franchises-as-xbox-layoffs-hit-hard?ref=aftermath.site), the memo tells Bethesda staff that “For decades, Bethesda has organized its business around the individual roadmaps of our largely independent development studios, supported by centralized publishing and corporate teams… To best position Bethesda for future growth, we are shifting from a planning model primarily centered on what's next for each independent studio to one that focuses on our strongest franchises and determining the content roadmap that best serves our players and Bethesda as a whole.” This echoes what Xbox head Asha Sharma wrote in [her first memo](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/?ref=aftermath.site) in early June, where she suggested Xbox had “over extended” itself around games and had “not adequately funded” its “industry defining franchises.” Braff wrote, “By working more closely across the organization, sharing expertise and capabilities, and focusing our investments on the opportunities with the greatest potential, we believe we can better support our franchises and IP with meaningful long-term potential.” So what does Braff think these “strongest franchises” are? She doesn’t say. There have been large cuts at *Doom* studio id and *The Elder Scrolls Online* team. Xbox is interested in [capitalizing on the television success](https://aftermath.site/xbox-interview-entertainment-weekly/) of *Fallout*, but with *Fallout 5* existing mostly as SEO-baiting speculation online and [no sign of any remasters](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/summer-game-fest-no-shows-the-big-games-that-were-absent-from-2026s-showcases/?ref=aftermath.site), there isn’t much to work with there beyond *Fallout 76* or mobile game [*Fallout Shelter*](https://www.ign.com/articles/even-fallout-shelter-is-getting-a-boost-from-the-fallout-tv-show?ref=aftermath.site). *The Elder Scrolls 6* is [basically a meme](https://aftermath.site/elder-scrolls-vi-trailer-six-years-later/), and I can’t imagine anyone is excited to pay for [*another* version](https://www.ign.com/articles/all-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim-editions-in-order?ref=aftermath.site) of *Skyrim*. There’s a [*Wolfenstein* TV show](https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/wolfenstein-tv-series-amazon-kilter-patrick-somerville-1236469609/?ref=aftermath.site) in development, which could light a fire for a new *Wolfenstein* game, and Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier [wrote](https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3mpy7il55qs2a?ref=aftermath.site) that Bethesda still plans to work on “*Wolfenstein*, *Doom* and *Quake*.” But as things stand right now, it’s hard to imagine which faucet labelled “successful series” remaining workers are meant to crank on the double until money gushes out. Of course, this is likely part of what has inspired Xbox’s [badly-named “reset](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-asha-sharma/),” where the company’s games take a long time to make and can go a long time between new entries. And I certainly understand the business case for “do more of what works.” But even if Schreier writes that Bethesda “will NOT be reduced to only *Fallout* and *The Elder Scrolls*,” Braff’s memo feels like it heralds a more risk- and experimentation-averse Bethesda, one where games might be evaluated less on their own merits and more on their potential to become series and media crossovers. Braff writes that Bethesda will bring its “studios’ and teams’ identities, talent, and expertise… together around our franchises and IP,” a bit of requisite [business lingo](https://aftermath.site/games-writing-words-that-are-bad/) that I find it hard to get excited by. Reading the memo, I can’t help but think about Arkane Lyon, whose [fate is currently in flux](https://www.eurogamer.net/marvels-blade-arkane-lyon-xbox-layoffs?ref=aftermath.site) as Microsoft negotiates under French labor laws. The studio is making a *Blade* game, and previously made *Deathloop* and the *Dishonored* series. Its US arm Arkane Austin, which made the well-received *Prey* and less well-received *Redfall,* was [closed by Microsoft in 2024](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-closure-microsoft-arkane/). I don’t personally care much about *Blade*–the [MCU is impenetrable](https://aftermath.site/marvel-thunderbolts-movie-im-so-tired/) to me–but *Dishonored* is one of my favorite series: the kind of immersive sim gameplay that’s seen me spend days of my life replaying its levels, set in a distinctive, unique world. The games might not have been [breakout hits](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/former-arkane-designer-says-dishonored-2-cost-more-to-make-than-skyrim-and-while-it-didnt-meet-bethesdas-sales-expectations-the-series-reputation-still-saved-the-studio/?ref=aftermath.site), and I’ve long given up on any serious hope of more of them, especially when the games I do have will [last me a lifetime](https://aftermath.site/stealth-game-no-detection/). But whatever happens to Arkane Lyon, it’s hard to imagine this new Bethesda or this new Xbox being willing to put its money into games cut from the same cloth, into niche genres or wholly-new worlds that might not pay off. This shift isn’t entirely unique to Xbox–as money gets tighter and making things gets more expensive, games, [movies](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/oscar-studios-fewer-risks-1236129225/?ref=aftermath.site), [TV](https://aftermath.site/kaos-cancelled-netflix/), and more are playing things safe and looking for whatever is closest to a sure-fire hit. And I don’t think this newly-focused Bethesda will sacrifice the quality or creativity of its studios in pursuit of success. But as a fan of the kinds of games Bethesda has been divesting itself from for years now, it’s hard to feel inspired by whatever the company is planning to transform itself into. And it’s hard to see from here how the loss of so many peoples’ jobs could be worth what could come out on the other side: less interesting games, and more profit for Microsoft. ### Chainsmoker Cat's Anime Opening Is Absolute Cinema URL: https://aftermath.site/chainsmoker-cat-anime-opening-is-absolute-cinema/ Last updated: 2026-07-08T14:46:38.000Z Big tobacco is making moves in anime this year. Whereas Crunchyroll’s [*Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You*](https://aftermath.site/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you-is-a-cozy-rom-com-manga/)has cornered the market on unproblematic age-gap slow-burn romance, released in [smoke-break-length, piecemeal premiere episodes](https://aftermath.site/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you-mini-episodes-crunchyroll/) for maximum nicotine mise-en-scène, *Chainsmoker Cat* is taking a page out of *Chainsaw Man*’s playbook with its anime opening to get folks on board with its wacky premise: An unexpected dose of absolute cinema. Anime openings are a big deal. Even if an adaptation has the mandate from heaven to be amazing, anime openings are an important hurdle for shows to clear. In the same way Netflix shows must have an action sequence within the opening moments of a show for viewer retention, it's an anime opening’s job to encapsulate a show's vibe long before viewers give a show the ol' three-episode test to see if you want to commit to it or banish it to your backlog. Back in 2022, [*Chainsaw Man*](https://kotaku.com/chainsaw-man-anime-review-mappa-denji-pochita-makima-1849631447?ref=aftermath.site) turned heads when MAPPA’s anime premiered and revealed its opening theme at the start of its second episode. It’s a narrative with a fairly convoluted premise, so to get folks on board, *Chainsaw Man* leaned into creator [Tatsuki Fujimoto’s cinephile inclinations](https://www.polygon.com/23324559/movies-like-chainsaw-man-influences-watch-streaming/?ref=aftermath.site) by referencing a bunch of movies, which the folks at IGN were kind enough to list out in a video. So, what’s *Chainsmoker’s Cat*, the most as-advertised-on-the-tin anime about a smoking catgirl, to do to get word-of-mouth circulating online? Why, pull a *Chainsaw Man* and reference cinema with iconic and superfluous smoking scenes in Western movies and shows, of course. *Trainspotting*, *Chinatown*, *Breaking Bad*, hell, even *Fallen Angels* and *A Better Tomorrow* made the cut for this OP. While the jingley keys of a movie referencing anime OP are hard not to snap your fingers at, behind all the beautifully realized animation that Bibury Animation Studios put into the show lies an obvious question: Is the show worth watching? Hmm. Well, the opening moments show the anthropomorphic catgirl Yani dumping her tar juice on her landlord, only for him to storm into her apartment, see her changing, evacuate the premises, and jerk off to the peek he got of her sideboob. After which, Yani spots a long cigarette at the bottom of a trash bag in her “damn bitch, you live like this apartment” and smokes it despite the mysterious liquid on the cigarette, leading to her violently shitting on her toilet cowgirl style. It’s one of those kinds of anime I regret turning on while eating breakfast. And this is only the first of what looks to be a herd of smoking catgirls the show has yet to introduce. > These gifs are gonna hit transfem circles like cocaine in the 80s. [https://t.co/aye6Y6pC9r](https://t.co/aye6Y6pC9r?ref=aftermath.site) > > — dead domain (@DomainDead) [July 3, 2026](https://x.com/DomainDead/status/2073073572831244448?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) That’s not to say the show doesn’t impart sage wisdom here and there. Key among them is that removing the first five cigarettes from a fresh pack leaves enough space to fit your lighter inside the box. Beyond that, you’ve got a gross-out comedy where its titular catgirl is a complete menace to her town in the most *It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia* season one ways possible as she careens from one odd job to another to make enough money for rent and not scare her friends and family away at the disgusting way she lives. Regardless, its opening is cool enough to have tricked me into watching it, and I look forward to what side of the fence Yani lands on as the new anime social media AVI. ## Recommended [Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You Is A Cozy Rom-Com MangaNow that’s what I call a good slow burn romance![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-0b6f822b-9fc4-417a-867d-ea1070d6b01c.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Smoking-Behind-the-Supermarket-With-You-750bb195-a320-4f77-b51e-48c6479e786f.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you-is-a-cozy-rom-com-manga/) ### Microsoft Layoffs Hit Bethesda, Obsidian, And Id Hard As Workers Brace For More URL: https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-bethesda-obsidian-activision-blizzard/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T23:09:48.000Z Today Microsoft [laid off 1,600 people](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/) from its games division—[roughly the same number](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-unions-microsoft-layoffs-mmo-elder-scrolls/) it unceremoniously showed the door last year. As part of this, the company is cutting loose four studios either via independence or new ownership, with one more, Arkane, now in a period of required consultation due to French labor laws. But that still [leaves over a thousand](https://bsky.app/profile/stephentotilo.bsky.social/post/3mpyb5737bc2q?ref=aftermath.site) on the chopping block today with *an additional 1,600* in the coming year. Workers are overwhelmed, disheartened, and unsure how anyone could make good video games under these conditions. Current and former employees who spoke to Aftermath anonymously, as they were not authorized to speak publicly, identified several places where the scythe struck grievous blows: Zenimax (which includes *Starfield* and *Elder Scrolls* maker Bethesda Game Studios), *Doom* mainstay id Software, the [quietly ultra-prolific](https://kotaku.com/obsidian-grounded-avowed-outer-worlds-game-pass-xbox-1851760964?ref=aftermath.site) Obsidian, and Activision. Zenimax, according to several, has seen many teams halved (or more), [leaving the future of *Elder Scrolls Online* in flux](https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/695707/an-update-from-the-eso-team?ref=aftermath.site). Bethesda Game Studios, meanwhile, has lost dozens of employees. In Zenimax and BGS’ case, especially, LinkedIn posts paint a grim picture, with [over 50 publicly saying](https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/content/?keywords=zenimax&origin=FACETED%5FSEARCH&sortBy=%5B%22date%5Fposted%22%5D&ref=aftermath.site) that they’ve lost their jobs since the day began. Some worked there for only a couple years; others [nearly 20](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7479945649128452096/?ref=aftermath.site). It’s noteworthy that Zenimax’s QA department, Zenimax Online Studios, and BGS [all](https://www.polygon.com/23495140/microsoft-zenimax-media-union-vote-qa-workers/?ref=aftermath.site) [have](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-online-studios-union/) [unions](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-union-unionize-fallout-elder-scrolls-starfield/)—only the first of which has so far [managed to secure a contract](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-union-contract/). While unionized workers have managed to avoid layoffs in previous years ([especially 2024](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-activision-blizzard-layoffs-survival-report/)), they were not so fortunate this time around, with multiple organizers and unionized workers to whom Aftermath spoke saying they’d been pulled into brief group meetings and let go. The BGS union [took to Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/bethesdaunion.bsky.social/post/3mpycvctdsk22?ref=aftermath.site) to post a statement railing against Microsoft’s long history (and apparent future) of cuts: > In what is becoming a stressful annual routine, Microsoft has decided to lay off thousands, including MANY of us at Bethesda Game Studios. With over 10k developers already cut from previous rounds, those at the top have deemed that insufficient in fixing their mistakes. > Today we say goodbye to many of our friends and colleagues and to hundreds more across Xbox, including folks that have worked at Bethesda Games Studios for decades. When will this cycle of cuts in pursuit of ever-greater profits end? > Because of our One BGS union, we have the right to negotiate over the impacts of these layoffs, helping secure stronger severance packages and better support for those leaving the company. We will do everything we can to make sure our friends are properly taken care of. id also finds itself against the ropes, with one current employee saying the studio was “severely” impacted, while a former employee told Aftermath that it had been “obliterated.” The exact scope of layoffs at Obsidian is difficult to discern, but the number seems high proportionately speaking—an assessment once again born out by LinkedIn, with [over 20 saying](https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/content/?keywords=obsidian&origin=GLOBAL%5FSEARCH%5FHEADER&sortBy=%5B%22date%5Fposted%22%5D&ref=aftermath.site) that their jobs have been eliminated today. Similar to Zenimax and BGS, experience levels run the gamut. One engineer [started at Obsidian a couple months ago](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7479953469492301824/?ref=aftermath.site); a now-former Obsidian artist, Daniel A, had [been with the studio for 21 years](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7479948466803339267/?ref=aftermath.site). “Obsidian wasn't just a workplace, it was where I built a career, formed lasting friendships, and had the opportunity to work alongside some of the most talented and passionate people in the industry,” he wrote. “We are clearly at a turning point in the games industry. These past months have been difficult for so many talented people, and unfortunately, it seems the challenges aren't over yet.” Activision, according to a current employee who’s been tracking emails and Slack posts, lost close to 100 employees today, while Blizzard, according to multiple current employees, appears unaffected for now. This means that Blizzard’s biggest unions, which [do not yet have contracts and could therefore potentially strike](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-union-workers-layoffs-blizzard-zenimax/), are, at the moment, in the clear. That, however, did not stop the *World of Warcraft* union from [posting](https://x.com/WoWGG%5FCWA/status/2074206874346627332?ref=aftermath.site) a statement of its own: > As the gaming industry shrinks, Microsoft Gaming is uniquely positioned to take responsibility for the pressures it created and agree to much-needed job security measures for game workers. > Disappointingly, leadership has instead decided once again that their mistakes should be paid for by the workers. > We stand in solidarity with our colleagues at Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, id Software, Bethesda Game Studios, Zenimax Online Studios, and all other affected studios. Those who remain employed face a challenge that is hardly unique but continues to worsen: With teams cut to the bone, how can developers be expected to bear the weight of a triple-A video game production? But now Microsoft has lobbed a terrible new curveball at their un-helmeted heads in the form of 1,600 additional cuts to come… at some point. Will they happen gradually or all at once? Next week? Next month? Next year? Microsoft has not provided specific details. Developers, for the time being, will just have to wait and see. “It was already excruciating \[to wait\] over the long weekend—which made it impossible to relax,” one current Blizzard employee told Aftermath. “Now we have it indefinitely, and nobody knows who it will hit.” “I’ve worked in roofing, construction, insulation, house building, glass factories, pallet shops, group homes for disabled and violent adults, gas stations, food service, customer service, and jobs involving gas meters,” said a current Activision employee. “Out of every industry I’ve worked in, I have never struggled financially or mentally as hard as I have working here.” ## Recommended [You Don’t Have To Hand It To Microsoft For A Well-Planned BloodbathPeople are being laid off in a horrendous job market. You do not have to praise the muddled prose of the rich and insulated.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-6f0c6f12-ca17-4eed-ac64-ca7ad1faab9c.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1621259183018-5a0fd57fcfd3-4522409a-db72-4607-8bcf-52313c9a43b9)](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-asha-sharma/) ### You Don't Have To Hand It To Microsoft For A Well-Planned Bloodbath URL: https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-asha-sharma/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T18:28:35.000Z Today, Xbox was gutted. About [1600 people](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/) are being shown the door right now, with another 1600 to be affected in the coming year. Everybody knew this was in the works and has been bracing for it. But because Double Fine and Compulsion are being given independence and Undead Labs and Ninja Theory are being sold off (with the fate of Arkane Lyon still up in the air due to labor laws in France), some people are patting Xbox on the back. I have seen apologia for this move and praise for CEO Asha Sharma specifically for her candor. Fuck ‘em–you don’t need to hand it to these people. [Xbox Will Lay Off 3200 Workers And Cut Four Studios LooseCEO Asha Sharma called it “the most significant restructure in XBOX history”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f3d72104-74fc-4648-bac4-c72167c6ebd9.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-07-06-at-7.46.55---AM-1-1b68bb9a-c581-4a3c-b6a6-e4d9d378bb4c.png)](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/) Sharma’s “[Resetting Xbox](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/07/06/resetting-xbox/?ref=aftermath.site)” memo is a masterclass in annoying and meaningless drivel. It speaks authoritatively in the first person as though Sharma has been there for longer than a handful of months, and the prose is muddy, tasteless, and confused. At one point Sharma ends one paragraph discussing Xbox’s ballooning portfolio and losing 64 cents for every dollar invested with “…we will help independent creators succeed by providing open development tools and audiences to realize their vision.” OK, I am sure that will help all the people out of a job right now. She coyly returns again and again to the metaphor of “resetting” Xbox, a gaming metaphor I am sure she is smugly satisfied with because she uses it six times in what is ultimately a quite short missive. She talks broadly about the general profitability of Xbox while also stating that “the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history.” Hey Asha, quick question: [could you elaborate on what is contributing to the hardware crisis?](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/) Could it perhaps be the company that you work for? [I’m Tired Of These Useless Jackasses Making The Computer ExpensiveRAM, flash memory, and HDDs are unaffordable because of a bunch of greedy idiots that do not love the computer.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-d0abe22c-31ab-4faa-9607-d97578e7164c.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1633589218187-daa8e52741f1-efcd2038-afe3-4833-9689-bbc99286bcc3)](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/) The entire thing is full of the typical “move fast and break things” pablum you see in people who don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about but pretend like they do. At one point in the memo, Sharma states, “We will deliver success through a flatter organization that is built around makers (individual contributors focused on building), player-coaches (leaders who remain deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible individuals (DRIs) who own key decisions and outcomes” rather than what she sees as the company’s previous redundant layers of management. These are not the utterances of a person; these are false words delivered in a pitch only millionaires and billionaires understand. These are the words of a [pain sponge](https://aftermath.site/asha-sharma-microsofts-xbox-instacart-meta-pain-sponge-succesion/) whose primary interest in games extends to less than a year and whose main leadership experience is with Instacart and Meta. And while laying the blame largely on bureaucracy is a nice line–people hate red tape–I don’t think 1600 bumbling middle managers are losing their jobs today. It’s people who make games like [*The Elder Scrolls Online*](https://kotaku.com/elder-scrolls-online-team-seemingly-halved-xbox-layoffs-2000712920?ref=aftermath.site) and *Doom*, or the people responsible for [accessibility](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-layoffs-heavily-impact-the-accessibility-team-too/?ref=aftermath.site) (a hallmark of Xbox). [Asha Sharma Is Microsoft’s Pain SpongeSuccesion is a documentary![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-21a768f6-3943-44bc-b952-21593e578c67.png)AftermathGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/matthew-macfadyen_3-fcdc308d-2f80-47fc-9939-f08b3dac2160.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/asha-sharma-microsofts-xbox-instacart-meta-pain-sponge-succesion/) The entire memo is full of such wonderful brain gems such as “We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger” and “It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio. We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio.” At one point Sharma states, “I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect.” A BILLION PEOPLE A DAY, Asha? Creating and connecting, via Xbox? You just sent 1600 people into one of the worst job markets in history for the industry, and you’re talking about an install base of a billion, are you fucking high? These are delusional, careless, and tedious people who will never suffer consequences like these, attempting to massage a bad message so they can get patted on the back for it. It speaks of austerity and profit margins with a ruthless, mercenary logic that they refuse to apply to the other, money-burning parts of the company. And while I do not doubt Xbox could have been run more efficiently, the problem isn’t Xbox; it’s Microsoft. Nobody has ever loved Microsoft; it has only been tolerated, and increasingly less so with its embrace of AI and [enabling of genocide in Gaza](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/). It is a B2B SaaS company wearing a person costume and demanding love like Scarlett Johansson in *Under The Skin*. This entire charade is all in the service of a scam, the livelihoods of countless people being thrown into a furnace so Satya Nadella can continue to dick around with Copilot, an AI product so bad that I have no evidence to suggest that anybody has used it on purpose including AI perverts. You do not have to grant the upper management of Xbox plaudits for a kindly-worded bloodbath. They have done nothing for you and even less for the people who work, and worked, for them. ### Xbox Will Lay Off 3200 Workers And Cut Four Studios Loose URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july-2026/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T16:53:30.000Z Xbox began widespread layoffs today, around which fears and rumors have swirled since CEO Asha Sharma and CCO Matt Booty announced a “reset” for the company in early June. In what Sharma calls "the most significant restructure in Xbox history" in a new memo, 1600 jobs have been cut today with more cuts planned, and some studios will transition to new ownership or become independent. "After careful consideration, I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27\. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave Xbox to new management," Sharma wrote in a [memo](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/07/06/resetting-xbox/?ref=aftermath.site) titled "Resetting Xbox." Studios Double Fine and Compulsion will become independent, with Sharma writing that they will "return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games." Compulsion confirmed on [social media](https://bsky.app/profile/compulsiongames.bsky.social/post/3mpy7kyn54s2k?ref=aftermath.site) that it will retain the rights to its games. Double Fine wrote on [social media](https://bsky.app/profile/doublefine.com/post/3mpyb5dufcj27?ref=aftermath.site) that the move "preserves our history and culture, and returns ownership of our games to us." Undead Labs and Ninja Theory "have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow *Senua* and *State of Decay 3*." [GameFile](https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-to-cut-20-of-workforce-plans?ref=aftermath.site) reports that the studios' new ownership will be announced later in the year. At Arkane Lyon, where it was [reported](https://www.theverge.com/report/959467/microsoft-xbox-cancel-blade-game-arkane-studios-closure?ref=aftermath.site) that Xbox was considering cancelling its in-development *Blade* game or closing the studio, Sharma wrote that "management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options." This is due to labor laws in France, and it's not clear yet what will happen to the studio. Microsoft closed Arkane's US arm, Arkane Austin, in 2024. Game File's [Stephen Totilo](https://bsky.app/profile/stephentotilo.bsky.social/post/3mpyb5737bc2q?ref=aftermath.site) reports that these spinoffs affect around 350 employees of today's 1600, excluding Arkane. "It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio," wrote Sharma, who runs a company that has gobbled up and spit out a huge number of studios over the years. "We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio; in a typical year, we lost 64 cents for every dollar we invested." Sharma wrote that there will also be "reductions across other units, and in some cases, shifting investment to focus on higher priority projects. These changes vary in size across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and Xbox Game Studios. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions." Xbox will also see layoffs at the management level on the platform side, with Sharma writing that "Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined... We will reduce management layers to no more than 5, and where possible, 3." Helen Chiang, currently the corporate vice president of *Minecraft*, will become Xbox's first chief operating officer. Sharma wrote that, "To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset Xbox." The wider Microsoft organization is also seeing [layoffs](https://www.theverge.com/news/961528/microsoft-layoffs-july-2026-sales-xbox?ref=aftermath.site) today, primarily in commercial sales. These layoffs follow after recent [voluntary buyouts](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/23/microsoft-plans-first-voluntary-retirement-program-for-us-employees.html?ref=aftermath.site) for long-time employees. The effects of today's layoffs were felt at Xbox before they even started, with employees of [Compulsion](https://aftermath.site/compulsion-microsoft-xbox-layoffs-closure/) openly looking for new work following Sharma's [first "reset" memo](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/?ref=aftermath.site), and word spreading that the studio, alongside other Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and others could face closure or a sell-off. *Hitman* and *007 First Light* creator [IO Interactive](https://aftermath.site/xbox-io-interactive-blade-arkane/) saw Xbox pull funding from an in-development project, leading to layoffs. Kotaku reported some [contractors losing their jobs](https://kotaku.com/contracts-already-cut-xbox-eve-mass-layoffs-2000711688?ref=aftermath.site) ahead of today’s cuts, and reports spread that [some third-party Game Pass deals were on hold](https://www.eurogamer.net/microsoft-xbox-game-pass-deals?ref=aftermath.site). Microsoft made a similarly devastating round of layoffs at nearly exactly this same time last year, in which it laid off four percent of its 228,000 employees, or around [9,100](https://www.theverge.com/news/693535/microsoft-layoffs-july-2025-xbox?ref=aftermath.site) people. That [included hundreds of workers across Microsoft's Xbox studios](https://aftermath.site/xbox-layoffs-july/) and projects, including King, Turn 10 Studios, Blizzard Entertainment, Sledgehammer Games, Halo Studios, and Compulsion Games. It shuttered The Initiative, which was working on a *Perfect Dark* game, and canceled Rare's *Everwild*. Microsoft never confirmed how many Xbox workers were impacted, but [Game File reported](https://www.gamefile.news/p/microsoft-slashes-workforce-as-scores?ref=aftermath.site) that it was less than half of the 9,000 number. Later that month, Microsoft announced in its yearly earnings report that its hardware revenue had decreased by 25 percent, but said that its games revenue was up 9 percent to $23.5 billion. It bragged, too, about being the "top publisher on both Xbox and PlayStation this quarter," [per the report](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/microsoft-becomes-playstation-s-top-publisher-and-game-pass-revenue-nears-5-billion?ref=aftermath.site). The company also saw layoffs in January 2024, a few months after completing its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, in which [nearly 2,000 people lost their jobs across Microsoft's games division](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-activision-blizzard-layoffs-survival-report/). The company also had layoffs in [May](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-closure-microsoft-arkane/) and [September](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-lays-off-another-650-people/) of that year. The subsequent precarity for workers inspired a wave of unionizing at studios including [Double Fine](https://aftermath.site/double-fine-union-microsoft-cwa-xbox/), [Bethesda](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-union-unionize-fallout-elder-scrolls-starfield/), [ZeniMax](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-online-studios-union/), the [*World of Warcraft*](https://aftermath.site/wow-activision-union-microsoft/) team, and [id Software](https://aftermath.site/id-software-union-doom-microsoft-cwa/). [With Layoffs Looming, Microsoft Unions Plan To Battle To The Bitter End: ‘It’s A Fight For Dignity And Respect’“This fight, in my opinion, is not just a fight for unions, but a fight for working people”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-1dc08146-406d-495b-87a9-43aea1dd4705.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/zeniprotest2-fc1bb470-aebd-4e2c-bc4f-f2ad9fd6040a.png)](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-union-workers-layoffs-blizzard-zenimax/) Xbox continued to try to find ways to increase profit and cut costs following the July 2025 layoffs. The company [upped the price of Xbox Game Pass](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-game-pass-price-increase/) by $10 a month, or $120 a year—the second increase within just over a year. At this point in time, Microsoft was set on making [everything an Xbox](https://aftermath.site/xbox-marketing-campaign/), turning focus from its expensive consoles to the ability to play Xbox games anywhere, including on its competitor's consoles, like the PlayStation 5\. This did not go well; Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball, who joined the company earlier this year, [said the price hike decreased Game Pass’ subscriber count](https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-game-pass-shed-millions-of-subscribers-following-october-2025-price-hike?ref=aftermath.site) by millions "over a span of a few months." Microsoft chief financial officer [Amy Hood continued to push unrealistic profit margins](https://www.theverge.com/news/805280/microsoft-xbox-gaming-profit-targets-layoffs?ref=aftermath.site)—30%, according to [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-23/microsoft-pushes-xbox-studios-to-hit-higher-profit-margins?ref=aftermath.site), which is higher than other companies in the industry. Ultimately, Phil Spencer, who ran Microsoft Gaming from 2022 to 2026, [stepped down from his role](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-phil-spencer-retires/), and [Sharma was put in his place](https://aftermath.site/asha-sharma-microsofts-xbox-instacart-meta-pain-sponge-succesion/). Just 100 days into her new job, Sharma [wrote in a message to staff](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/?ref=aftermath.site) that Xbox would undergo a "reset" in its next 100 days. The console maker and game publisher had spent $20 billion during the last five years (excluding the Activision purchase), but revenue declined by "nearly half a billion during that time,” she wrote. "Going forward, this cannot continue." The message seemed like a warning: Changes were coming at Xbox, and that would lead to layoffs as the company reassessed how it spends money. She wrote that Xbox needs to "move faster," leaving behind its "overly complex" systems that she called part of its “platform infrastructure.” Sharma is certainly moving fast. Some of her decisions were relatively well-received; she [lowered the price of Game Pass](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/04/21/xbox-game-pass-update/?ref=aftermath.site) (albeit removing Call of Duty from its day-one release program), [rebranded Microsoft Gaming as Xbox](https://aftermath.site/xbox-microsoft-gaming-sharma/), and [axed shoehorned-in AI features](https://aftermath.site/xbox-copilot-ai-dead-asha-sharma-microsoft/). [Exclusives are back](https://www.theverge.com/report/945639/xbox-exclusives-strategy-complicated-confusing?ref=aftermath.site), too, despite the company's success on other platforms. While Sharma's insistence on speed has been popular with some fans, not all Xbox employees are convinced. The Game Business reported in early July that "numerous employees" said Sharma [is listening too much to social media](https://www.thegamer.com/xbox-asha-sharma-listening-to-twitter/?ref=aftermath.site), as well as analysts and external consultants, and not the developers who are actually making Xbox's games. Microsoft is working on its next generation Xbox console, [which is codenamed Project Helix](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/03/11/project-helix-building-next-generation-of-xbox/?ref=aftermath.site). With computer component prices so astronomically high, Project Helix will likely cost a ton. (Microsoft [upped the price of its current generation Xbox consoles once again last month](https://aftermath.site/xbox-price-increase-again-and-again/).) [In an interview with Fortune](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0hMSekk4XE&ref=aftermath.site), Sharma said Xbox needs to "think about other ways to think about the cost construction of a console." She continued: "We must think about how we create different plans, so more people can participate in the console. We must think about partnerships that will allow us to have better distribution and reach." *This is a breaking story and will be updated.* ### What Is The Point Of A Video Game Console Now? URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-playstation-discs-console-why/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T19:04:57.000Z PlayStation is [done with physical discs](https://aftermath.site/sony-discs-2028-consoles/). Xbox appears done with… [video games](https://aftermath.site/asha-sharma-microsofts-xbox-instacart-meta-pain-sponge-succesion/)? Especially with hardware prices [rising](https://aftermath.site/xbox-price-increase-again-and-again/) and [not falling](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/)—a trend that’s sure to continue in the coming years—it’s hard not to wonder: What’s the point of even owning a console? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we ponder the console-shaped elephant in the room. This time around, we’re joined by [Wes Fenlon](https://bsky.app/profile/wes.readonlymemo.com?ref=aftermath.site) of PC Gamer to discuss his new project: [Warp Point](https://www.warppoint.games/?ref=aftermath.site), a web 1.0-style webring of video game blogs for the modern era. We discuss how the current internet is dying while a new one struggles to be born and whether or not newer generations will take to a format with which most millennials are intimately acquainted. Does that even matter, though, or is a fixation on numbers and scale one of the main reasons the modern internet turned out so rancid in the first place? Then we move on to the news of the week: Xbox layoffs haven’t even happened yet, but they’re already [causing turmoil](https://aftermath.site/xbox-io-interactive-blade-arkane/) for companies like *Hitman* and *007 First Light* maker IO Interactive. And on the other side of our rapidly escalating industry collapse, Sony announced that it’s phasing out physical discs entirely, a quake that will surely be followed by countless ripples. To cheer ourselves up, we close out by inventing the ultimate video game controller, which doubles as the world’s most complicated guitar. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can bring my *Steel Battalion*/*Guitar Hero* controller mashup to life (and then immediately regret it). Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Nathan:** \[Removing disc drives from consoles\] is a band-aid over a much, much larger problem. You’re gonna knock a small amount of money off the cost of a console, but the prices overall are still gonna keep going up. It’s still gonna be the same problem. **Wes:** And we don’t know what the timeline is for these crazy storage costs. But a disc is way cheaper to make than a one-terabyte SSD, for example. So even though the disc drive itself might add complexity and cost to the console, being able to produce those discs and play a game from a disc and install only a portion of the files—that is a cost saving \[measure\] in some sense. My bigger issue with this change is: What is the point of a video game console now? I know what a Nintendo is for; a Nintendo is for playing Nintendo games, and that is its own thing. But like, what is the point of a PlayStation? There’s no games on the PlayStation that I would buy a PlayStation for. *Bloodborne 2*, maybe, I would buy a PlayStation for, but I don’t think that’s happening. **Riley:** They said recently that they’re [not gonna be putting their games on PC anymore](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/sony-retreats-from-pc-gaming-robbing-us-of-maybe-4-games/?ref=aftermath.site). Is that right? **Wes:** Yeah, the single-player stuff, they’re pulling back from. They’re still gonna put their live-service games on PC because they saw that [*Helldivers*](https://aftermath.site/helldivers-2-impressions-steam-playstation/)money, and they want more of it. But I’m just like ehhhh. That new Naughty Dog game will probably be good, but I don’t need to buy a now-$900 PS5 Pro to play it. **Riley:** I had a PS4 briefly before it broke, and then I didn’t get a PS5, and they put their big games on PC, so it was great. But now I think I’ll just go back to my life before, where I just watched a Let’s Player play a PlayStation game. Oh well. **Nathan:** I also think that’s what a lot of people are doing now. And this is actually a good point surfaced by Imran Khan, who’s over at [Restart](https://www.restart.run/?ref=aftermath.site). He [said](https://bsky.app/profile/imrankhan.bsky.social/post/3mplx2ybc5c2b?ref=aftermath.site): “Ultimately I think Sony is following the market, and the market is older, less willing to go to a store and buy a disc, and more willing to just buy new. And the younger generations that run counter to that are not filling in the blank spaces. The trends are what suck here. To be clear, the market being older and younger people not taking their place *is* a five-alarm fire that no one is noticing.” And I’m not sure that nobody is noticing; it’s just that they don’t know what to do about it. But yeah, I think that a lot of younger people now, the way they interact with the lion’s share of video games—especially triple-A video games—is by watching a streamer or YouTuber play them. They don’t spend money on them, and so you have a lot of games that still have a profile, and younger people will tune into things like Summer Game Fest or whatever. But it’s not to play the games. It’s because the games are part of a larger entertainment apparatus that they participate in indirectly. And that’s how they’ll continue to do it, because they don’t have money. No one has money. **Wes:** Aka, being introduced to *Silksong* as a meme rather than the sequel to a video game that you played and were excited for the sequel to. ## Recommended [Sony Will Stop Making Video Game DiscsAll new first and third-party games will be digital only starting in 2028![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-96d7ceb9-519d-4601-96d9-e13bdfce817b.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/5f161667-1430-49e1-8bf6-b2e34d82ea8f-2-1ec97d53-57fc-48f3-8791-88e04bbc3fe0.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/sony-discs-2028-consoles/) ### I Guess These Are The Games, And Memories, I'm Stuck With For The Rest Of My Life URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-physical-release-disc-playstation/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T17:20:58.000Z The news Wednesday that[ Sony was going to stop printing video games on discs](https://aftermath.site/sony-discs-2028-consoles/) has turned into quite the monumental event, finally making good on threats that date back as far as the launch of the Xbox One: namely that one day, and that day is very soon,[ we will no longer be able to truly own the games we are paying for](https://aftermath.site/video-game-piracy-playstation-disc/). [There Is No Piracy Without Ownership - AftermathIs it stealing if we can’t pay for the thing in the first place?![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f98d28fc-9ecc-427c-898c-8dae1f1b6e52.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/pexels-photo-7000094-e1701669561681-jpeg-3-6da8c161-5fbc-4a56-867b-0399042cb387.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/video-game-piracy-playstation-disc/) Anyone who has paid attention to this kind of stuff for longer than yesterday will know we've been most of the way there for years. On console, many customers are buying games digitally ([and have been doing so for a while](https://kotaku.com/93-percent-of-capcoms-game-sales-are-digital-and-the-company-expects-that-number-to-grow-2000695728?ref=aftermath.site)), and even many disc-based releases have long been little more than glorified download keys. As for the PC, when was the last time any of you had a disc drive even installed, let alone bought a game that shipped on a disc? (My personal answer is that I haven't had a disc drive on my PC since 2015, and that I think the last game I bought on DVD was...*Dawn of War II*?) So this week's news is less of a bombshell and more of a milestone on a miserable journey, one that trudges us towards a future where we are all cultural tenants, forever renting products from a handful of companies and never truly owning anything. That sucks, but for now at least, the news compelled me to cheer myself up by going and cataloguing the depths of my remaining physical games collection, to take stock of the last video games I may ever own, and let me tell you: there are some stories, and some bangers, in here. As someone who's worked in games media for 20 years now, and was obviously buying video games long before that, I have played more video games than I could possibly ever remember, let alone count. From a plastic box of half-forgotten C64 games that we got for free when I was four years old from "a friend at Dad's work", which are now long gone, through to the thousands of Steam releases I've downloaded in my current career but will never actually *touch*, most of that elusive tally are basically vapour to me now, games I may have played, but no longer *own*. Everything in two drawers under the TV in my living room, however, are my keepers. For various reasons--some are all-time favourites, others just happened to come out on consoles released at a time I had both disposable income and a console that relied on physical media--taking a stock of them all today, in light of the news, has made me appreciate (maybe for the first time!) that owning these games has given me something more than just ownership. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/PXL_20260702_012901739.jpg) Like, on one level I own these games so I can play them again if I ever want to, sure. But I've owned a lot of games over the decades that I don't own anymore, and I think what's kept some of these around is that there are so many cool stories and memories associated with them, which carry weight beyond the 1s and 0s held within their cases. I imported (at great cost) the Japanese version of *Odama* on the GameCube, a medieval pinball strategy game where you could issue voice commands using a special, included microphone. Voice commands I could never get right, because I do not speak Japanese. I couldn't get some GameFAQS-translated soundbytes right either, and so for the most part it was basically unplayable. Still, cool box! I've got two press packs for two different *Uncharted* games that recall a time when publishers would put some effort into the major game releases they sent to traditional games media, instead of just sending out a download. Both shipped in custom packages that spoke to the game's theme (*2* in a Tibetan-inspired wrap, *4* in a pirate-themed book). They are both, I think, worth a *lot* of money. If there's ever an *Uncharted 5*, I probably won't even get code for it. There's *Wing Commander III*, a PC game I saved up AUD$125 for in 1993, which in 2026 money would be AUD$300, or USD$207\. This was a game whose minimum specs demanded a PC with a DX66 processor; I knew I didn't meet that, with just an SX33, but I was so into *Wing Commander* and wanted this game so badly that I spent all that money anyway. When I finally got it home it of course wouldn't work, but after two days of[ tinkering with a literal boot disk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot%5Fdisk?ref=aftermath.site) I actually got it to run! And was able to finish it, despite missions taking around 15 minutes to load! It remains maybe my finest *ever* technical accomplishment when it comes to video games. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/IMG_1742-1.JPG) *Advance Wars Dual Strike* is a game I played so much that tapping on its units permanently scarred the touchscreen of my original Nintendo DS (see above). I played it so much that, at my first proper office job, while others were taking smoke breaks, I used to sneak it into the men's toilets and play a mission or two. Until one day I came out of the cubicle after finishing a battle to find my boss standing there washing his hands. He looked at me, at the DS in my hand and asked why I, a 25 year-old man in a corporate setting wearing business attire, had a camera in the men's bathroom. I couldn't find an answer beyond "uh it's not a camera it's a Nintendo". I never tried that again. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/DSC02081-1.JPG) I got *Minish Cap* the same time I got a Game Boy Micro. It's the only game I ever played on my Game Boy Micro. I must have got that thing over 20 years ago, and after I finished the game I don't know if I have ever had to charge its batteries since. Every year or two I flick it on to see if it still works. And yes, I just did it and yes, it still works. My PlayStation Vita, another handheld with an excellent battery life, was basically my personal *Persona* device, because most of its life was spent playing Persona games on it. I was halfway through the latter when, in March 2013, my son was born, and as my wife recovered from the birth he slept on my lap for most of his first night, while I passed the time playing *Persona 4 Golden*. I cannot think of the game without thinking of that moment. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-02-122848.png) Most of these games have stories like this behind them. *Guitar Hero II* wasn't just played at parties, it was the reason *for* the parties. *Animal Crossing*, and the GameCube memory card within its case, is home to a character and a town that I cherish like something I'll pass down in my will. I played *Wind Waker* as a co-op experience with two friends, huddled around a TV and sharing a Wavebird, in a way that made us brothers for life. Holding these boxes now, feeling their cartridges and discs in my hands, I realise that still having them after all these years doesn't just bring back memories of the games themselves, but physical stories about owning and enjoying them as well, and owning these games is part of keeping memories about family, friends and… work toilets alive. And in a way that makes me even sadder. To think that if things keep heading the way they're heading, future generations (or this generation, really!) won't be able to experience and tell the same stories because everything they play--and both my kids play a *lot* of games--can't ever be held in their hands, passed around friends or kept in a drawer so you can dig it out every decade or two, like a photo album or family heirloom, and let some memories wash over you. If companies like Sony and [Microsoft](https://www.theverge.com/report/960173/microsoft-xbox-disc-to-digital-feature-physical-game-collection?ref=aftermath.site) want to take away our ownership of video games, to break our tangible connection with the classics we play and love, there's little we can do to stop them other than refusing to buy their games going forwards. But everything in these drawers, all these physical boxes containing lived memories and games I can still play? They can never take *those* away. ### Asha Sharma Is Microsoft’s Pain Sponge URL: https://aftermath.site/asha-sharma-microsofts-xbox-instacart-meta-pain-sponge-succesion/ Last updated: 2026-07-07T14:15:54.000Z Maybe you’ve heard something called the glass cliff. It’s a phenomenon discussed in a 2007 [research paper by Michelle K. Ryan and S. Alexander Haslam](https://www.jstor.org/stable/20159315?searchText=glass%20cliff&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dglass%2Bcliff%26so%3Drel&ab%5Fsegments=0%2Fbasic%5Fsearch%5Fgsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A8e050972d56c94756055fee8c2185048&ref=aftermath.site) that posits that women are overrepresented in leadership roles that are considered “risky or precarious.” You break through the glass ceiling, only to be pushed off a cliff. A pretty good example of this is the role Sarah Bond played at Microsoft—especially the way [she was retroactively blamed for everything that went wrong with Microsoft’s gaming division](https://aftermath.site/xbox-sarah-bond-ai-microsoft/). Now, you might think that Asha Sharma, the woman who became CEO of Xbox instead of Bond, is playing the same role. But I think she serves a different purpose. Asha Sharma is a pain sponge. A “pain sponge” is how the character Tom Wambsgans describes himself in the series finale of the television show *Succession*. The show is fictional, though its observations about the world of business and the way that very rich people do not care about the wellbeing of anyone other than themselves, often felt prophetic while it was on the air. When Great Hill Partners began dismantling the network of websites they had christened G/O Media, Deadspins’s then-editor in chief Megan Greenwell wrote [an incisive essay](https://www.megangreenwell.com/the-adults-in-the-room?ref=aftermath.site) about the inherent cruelty of businessmen who consider themselves the “adults in the room.” “The tragedy of digital media isn’t that it’s run by ruthless, profiteering guys in ill-fitting suits; it’s that the people posing as the experts know less about how to make money than their employees, to whom they won’t listen,” she wrote. “‘It’s still a killer business,’ Kendall Roy tells his father Logan in the latest episode of *Succession*, in which Logan debates whether to pull the plug on Vaulter, a digital media company run by the family business. ‘The platform, the brands, ethos and culture are leading edge, and in my view, it’s fixable. All they need is adults in the room.’” The terminology of pain sponge becomes similarly useful [preceding another tragedy that is going to ruin the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people](https://aftermath.site/xbox-io-interactive-blade-arkane/). Sharma appears more or less qualified for her job. She has a business background that makes her promotion make a kind of sense, especially given that was previously president of CoreAI at Microsoft and [the company appears to be going all in on AI](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/02/microsoft-launches-its-own-ai-deployment-company-with-2-5-billion-commitment/?ref=aftermath.site). But what really stood out to me on her resume were her previous roles at Instacart and Meta. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/matthew-macfadyen-sarah-snook.jpg) Image Source: David Russell/HBO While Sharma left her role as COO at Instacart in 2024, a year before Consumer Reports’ [investigation into the company’s experiments with AI-driven dynamic pricing](https://www.consumerreports.org/money/questionable-business-practices/instacart-ai-pricing-experiment-inflating-grocery-bills-a1142182490/?ref=aftermath.site), she *was* there when Instacart acquired the AI company Eversight. “In 2022, Instacart’s business model underwent a fundamental change with the acquisition of a tech company called Eversight, whose AI technology enabled Instacart to start experimenting with prices,”[ reads a research paper from Groundwork Collaborative](https://groundworkcollaborative.org/work/instacart/?ref=aftermath.site). “In a section of its website titled ‘Eversight: Optimize your pricing with AI,’ Instacart advertises its Eversight tools as a way to ‘continuously drive growth with dynamic pricing.’ Instacart’s CEO reiterated this on a 2024 earnings call, explaining that new AI-powered pricing algorithms help ‘to really figure out which categories of products our customers \[are\] more price sensitive on’ and set prices ‘based on that information.’” This is not to say that AI dynamic pricing is something that Sharma implemented herself. But as chief operating officer, executing a scheme where you fuck over your customers by changing the price of bread algorithmically happened under her tenure. Sharma was also VP of Product and Engineering at Meta between 2017 and 2021, and her[ LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aboutasha/details/experience/?ref=aftermath.site) says that she was “Head of Product across Messenger + Instagram Direct and GM of calling, video, + kids experiences.” In 2021, [an article in the Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739?ref=aftermath.site) reported that Meta’s own internal research showed that they knew that their products created mental health issues in teenagers. “We make body-image issues worse for one in three teenage girls,” one slide obtained by the Wall Street Journal said. In 2026, Meta was brought to trial over concerns about social media creating a mental health crisis in teenagers and children. While Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied the claims, saying that children under 13 are not allowed on the platform, there is a lot of evidence to the contrary. “‘If we want to win big with teens, we must bring them in as tweens,’” [read one internal document presented at the trial](https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/metas-zuckerberg-faces-questioning-youth-addiction-trial-2026-02-18/?ref=aftermath.site). Zuckerberg called this a mischaracterization. Again, these aren’t necessarily Sharma’s vision. But they are things she was in some way party to. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/alexander-skarsga-rd-matthew-macfadyen.jpg) Image Source: Macall B. Polay/HBO When Tom Wambsgans is asked to describe himself by Lukas Mattson, a potential buyer of the company at which Tom is a high powered executive, he says that he has a great capacity for taking pain. “I have a very, very high tolerance for pain and discomfort,” he says, and as if to test this, Mattson goes on to say that he’d like to fuck Tom’s wife. After humiliating him, Mattson offers Tom the role of CEO of the American branch of the post-merger company. “Honestly, I’m not looking for a partner,” Mattson says. “I’m looking for a front man. Cause, we’re gonna cut shit close to the bone. We’re gonna get right in there. It’s gonna get nasty. So I need a pain sponge. Would that be a problem?” It is not a problem for Tom, a man who has spent most of the run of *Succession* taking the blame and being abused. He becomes CEO. It’s possible to imagine Sharma having a similar kind of conversation. Who better to be the face of Xbox when it [lays off thousands of people and destroy the studios that it’s acquired](https://aftermath.ghost.io/ghost/?ref=aftermath.site#/posts/analytics/6a46d1f4dea2ae0001b3db7d)? She will absorb a share of the hatred, pain, and anger people will have at Microsoft in that moment because that is the job that was handed to her. It is also a glass cliff—gaming as an industry in general seems pretty precarious—but creating a receptacle for everyone’s displeasure is specifically what this job is right now. She’s the CEO overseeing this massacre. Her name is attached to it. Her name will appear in the articles about these layoffs. It’s her responsibility to both carry out and absorb the pain of the public and of the workers who will lose their jobs. She better have, like Tom Wambsgans, a high tolerance for pain and discomfort, because she will be doling it out and then receiving all the blowback. Whatever else is going to go on at Xbox after this ultimately doesn’t matter for Sharma. Every company eventually needs a pain sponge. That’s how the adults in the room operate. ### With Layoffs Looming, Microsoft Unions Plan To Battle To The Bitter End: ‘It’s A Fight For Dignity And Respect’ URL: https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-union-workers-layoffs-blizzard-zenimax/ Last updated: 2026-07-06T13:49:56.000Z In the past few years, [thousands of games workers under Microsoft’s many umbrellas](https://aftermath.site/battle-net-workers-unionize-blizzard-entertainment-cwa/) have unionized due to a neutrality agreement Communications Workers of America (CWA) bargained while the company was in the process of swallowing Activision Blizzard whole. But that doesn’t mean Microsoft has made things easy. Months ago, for example, *World of Warcraft* developers and those supporting their ongoing contract negotiations demonstrated outside Blizzard’s offices in Irvine, California to let higher-ups know they wouldn’t stand for any more stalling. When I relayed that anecdote to Alison Veneto, an editor of cinematic content on *Diablo* and *Overwatch*, during a call this week, she replied, “We did that again yesterday.” Now, with [yet another round of historically horrific layoffs looming](https://aftermath.site/xbox-io-interactive-blade-arkane/), the broader map of the landscape does not exactly favor unionized workers: Microsoft hasn’t officially informed unions about layoffs, and recent negotiations around layoff protections have yet to bear fruit. The clock is very much ticking. "Our *Warcraft* team put a layoff proposal on the table a couple weeks ago, and the company had rejected a lot of it,” Veneto told Aftermath. “But now that it's a lot more applicable, the union and Microsoft were negotiating over the weekend on some of the layoff proposals we had on the table." As for specific protections, top of the list, considering the circumstances, is “really strong severance.” “We would also like a voluntary severance program, where people who might want to take that severance because they're close to retirement or have other life situations can take it, and so that would reduce the amount of people who are laid off involuntarily,” she said. “We would also like two years of recall rights if your position reopens, which actually happened a good deal after the previous layoffs—and that you would be able to keep your seniority if you come back in a recalled position. But one of the big things is that they own all of these studios. Can we just transfer people into open roles not only at your studio, but other Xbox studios?" There is precedent here. Zenimax senior encounter designer Morgan Goin said that “many” direct transfers happened after the studio’s second MMO, *Project Blackbird*, was cancelled last year, and “several” people from Arkane Austin transferred [when that studio closed](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-closure-microsoft-arkane/) as well. “The problem is that they generally treat those \[potential transfers\] as if they were new hires entirely coming into the ecosystem, rather than an internal transfer,” Goin told Aftermath. “There's no reason to re-interview a lot of these people if you know that they're good workers. Almost all of their skills are transferable; they might have even worked on the same engine, depending on which studio it is.” Recall rights are another big sticking point—again, with precedent. “In the January 2024 layoffs, a lot of my team was laid off back then,” Mahreen Fatima, a senior environment artist on *Diablo*, told Aftermath. “Then later in the same year when other environment art positions were opened, we have some recruiters who are super kind, and they did actually try their best—even though we don't have recall rights—to reach out to folks who had been laid off to try to get them positions or interviews first. I know some people who were hired back in.” Veneto added that Blizzard’s cinematics unit has also rehired many people who were previously let go, but as temp hires rather than full-time. “It’s very unfair to people who worked at the company for ten years or more,” she said. But all of this is contingent on higher-ups actually playing ball, rather than prematurely taking their ball and going home. The *Warcraft* union has been negotiating its contract for almost two years, putting it ahead of other Blizzard unions. But the company is doing its damndest to keep the process in first gear. “\[The *Warcraft* union\] is into the big issues now, but it's not moving as fast as we would like, and it's moving really slowly for the other tables,” said Veneto. “Even when we're asking for stuff that's already been approved at the *Warcraft* table, \[the company\] is dragging their feet on it, and it really feels like the rest of us should be moving faster.” “I've personally made statements at the \[*Diablo*\] bargaining table to our leadership, to the folks on the other side, like, ‘Hey, you're giving *World of Warcraft* these agreements so far; you should also give them to us, because it doesn't make sense for Blizzard to suddenly be having an imbalance or disparity in the workplace conditions that they have across their franchises,’” said Fatima. “Never before has there been any question about ‘Oh, I get this much PTO or holiday on *World of Warcraft*, I'll get the same if I'm on *Overwatch* or *Diablo*,’ so for them to hesitate at all … it's going to be obvious that you have a favorite child, and then it's going to cause issues in morale.” It goes further than that. In some cases, Microsoft is also keeping the act of negotiating itself to a minimum. “The big thing for \[us\] is that they have reduced the amount of time that they're bargaining with us per month, so the amount of time we have at the table asking questions, sending proposals back and forth \[has decreased\],” said Goin. “That time is really vital for getting language that both sides can live with, because ideally the best compromise is one that you're both kind of unhappy with, right? … At the start, we were getting on average about 12 hours of bargaining time over the course of several days \[per month\]. We’re down to four at \[Zenimax Online Studios\].” Microsoft has thrown other wrenches in the process besides. In some cases—for example, at ZOS—Microsoft is refusing to pay salaries of employees while they bargain, forcing CWA to instead make up the difference. At Blizzard, that’s not an issue (albeit only after unions fought higher-ups over it), but the company is keeping all the different studios separated, while Zenimax studios are sometimes allowed to bargain together when they’re discussing the same issue. And all the while, policies that would tremendously benefit workers in this current moment go untended. "\[A cross-unit session\] is where we proposed the reduction in force (RIF) proposal that has been sitting on \[the company’s\] desk since February,” said Goin. “We have not heard a peep—no discussion, nothing from them." Zenimax’s QA union, one of the few Microsoft shops that already has its contract, was [previously able](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-unions-microsoft-layoffs-mmo-elder-scrolls/) to secure 60 days of bargaining for laid-off workers, as well as improved severance. There’s now also a grievance and arbitration process in place. “This means that if there's any violation in how layoffs are executed on the Zenimax QA bargaining unit, we can grieve it,” Autumn Mitchell, a senior QA tester at Zenimax, told Aftermath. “We actually were able to open some grievances over how layoffs were executed last year and were able to fight on behalf of working people and working game developers as a result. That's not something that these other units who are in open bargaining have.” But units that remain mired in the bargaining process have a different, exceptionally potent tool in their toolbelts: the ability to strike. “\[Zenimax QA\] agreed to a no-strike, no-lockout clause, which effectively says they can't lock us out of work and we can't stop work,” said Mitchell. “That keeps the peace while the contract is alive. But these other units that are still bargaining don’t have those terms, so they have a pretty credible strike threat right now.” “One interesting thing is that because all of our development units are still in bargaining, currently they all still have that credible strike threat,” Goin added. “That means that the development teams behind *World of Warcraft*, *Elder Scrolls Online*, \[Bethesda Game Studios\]—which includes the *Elder Scrolls* and *Fallout* IPs—could all theoretically make a credible strike threat, and we are all part of the same parent union.” That, of course, would be a particularly drastic course of action, but short of that, union members have already—just this week—[held a press conference](https://kotaku.com/unionized-workers-xbox-respond-layoff-reports-will-not-be-treated-disposable-2000711455?ref=aftermath.site) and spoken out publicly, actions that would have put non-union workers at risk. Meanwhile, CWA continues to negotiate with Microsoft over layoff protections even as the clock ticks down. “I will say, this should be a galvanizing moment for anyone who's not in a union right now,” said Fatima. “Layoffs are going to happen. If they don't happen now, there's going to be more layoffs in the future. We work at Microsoft.” Even so, unionized workers are trying to fight for everyone at the company—not just themselves. “We would love for there not to be layoffs, but if there are layoffs, we would like to get protections, and we would like to see that for every worker under Microsoft, if possible,” said Veneto. “We're trying to use the leverage of the bigger teams to push for the smaller teams, because we all want a video game industry that has *Call Of Duty* and *South Of Midnight*.” “This fight, in my opinion, is not just a fight for unions, but a fight for working people,” said Mitchell. “It's a fight for dignity and respect. The issue is that Microsoft has shown over and over again they don't care if you're union or not, they don't care if you've been there for 20 years, or if you've been there for two years, or if you've been there for two months; they're going to treat you like you're disposable, they're going to treat you like you're fodder for their fuel, and that's that. It needs to stop. Period.” ## Recommended [Xbox Cuts, Which Haven’t Even Happened Yet, Are Already Causing Turmoil In The Games IndustryIO Interactive announced it lost Xbox funding for an upcoming game, and a new report suggests Arkane and its Blade game could be on the chopping block![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-c492b26a-155a-47b8-9475-4e060da6911f.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/hitged-417bec74-95af-4763-906e-6675a12b6f5d.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/xbox-io-interactive-blade-arkane/) ### Negative Space Is A Weird And Honest Portrait of Watching All Your Friends Get Hooked On Drugs URL: https://aftermath.site/negative-space-is-a-weird-and-honest-portrait-of-watching-all-your-friends-get-hooked-on-drugs/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T13:00:47.000Z People don’t understand Connecticut, which I don’t blame them for. The state where I grew up has offered the world influential cultural products like John Mayer, Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, and people who really want you to know they went to Yale. At one job, after someone found out I grew up in Connecticut, they insisted that I must have owned horses. But the truth is a lot more depressing than that. When I came of age the opioid epidemic was in full force. Almost everyone I knew and hung out with was taking OxyContin, usually stolen from their parents' medicine cabinets. Some of them moved on to harder drugs. Some of them died. No piece of fiction has accurately captured what it felt like to live and grow up around so much death and depression in the way that the novel *Negative Space* by B. R. Yeager has. I read this book in two days, and then went back to the beginning and read it again. It is a book about young people pushed and pulled by their own compulsions: sex, drugs, magic, getting out of their depressed town. Initially published in 2020, I discovered it after it had been recommended several times on the subreddit Weird Lit, which has had a high hit rate with me in the past. It is not only a truly horrifying book—viscerally disgusting in some places, leaving me with images I’ll never forget and sometimes still dream of—but an affecting portrait of a kind of town I know all too well. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/pawel-czerwinski-wZHDa7cD7Ps-unsplash.jpg) Photo by [Pawel Czerwinski](https://unsplash.com/@pawel%5Fczerwinski?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/a-red-and-black-painting-with-lots-of-bubbles-wZHDa7cD7Ps?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) Taking place in the fictional town of Kinsfield, New Hampshire, *Negative Space* is the story of Tyler, told through the viewpoints of his friends. There’s Ahmir, who’s known Tyler the longest and is territorial about their friendship, one of loose boundaries that largely revolves around doing drugs together. Then there’s Jill, the girlfriend Tyler met in a mental hospital, who he treats worse and worse as the book goes on. Lastly, there’s Lu, born Lou, but on the internet message boards where she talks with Tyler she calls herself Misty. All these people love and hate Tyler, sometimes at the same time. But they’re also drawn to him and his obsessions, unable to escape the web he’s spun around himself. Ultimately, they all try to know Tyler, to be a person who could save him from his eventual self-destruction. On the first page of the novel, Ahmir says, “It was the way he just threw his body away. … Everyone knew Tyler was going to die young.” In Kinsfield, people constantly commit suicide. According to Lu, starting in 1954, over a hundred people killed themselves in this town in one year, and every year dozens of people do the same. When Ahmir and Tyler find a crowd surrounding a hanging corpse outside a decrepit bowling alley, it doesn’t phase them. They take pictures, hang out until the cops show up. It is the 31st suicide in Kinsfield that year. Looking at the body, Ahmir thinks to himself, “All the world blurred, a vibrating hemorrhage, and it was fine because I could finally feel how little impact I’d ever have on the world. Losing that dread that one day you’ll somehow ruin everything, for yourself and everyone else. The realization that I could simply leave and the world wouldn’t miss me.” The only thing to do in Kinsfield other than gawk at the suicides is drugs. In particular, Tyler is obsessed with a gas station drug called “whorl.” He buys whorl in tiny silver packages, and it comes in the form of dry, purple grey leaves that you can smoke or ingest. What whorl does to a person when they smoke it is hard to determine. When Ahmir smokes it, he sees the entire world unravel into millions of thin black strings. Other characters use it as a magical catalyst, giving them the ability to transcend material reality, or to see forwards and backwards in time. For other people, it simply turns them insane. Honestly, it’s not dissimilar to the old wives' tales my friends and I used to tell each other about salvia, a then-popular not-quite-weed gas station drug that makes people hallucinate, only this one does something to your soul that you can never really recover from. “just smoked whorl for the first time,” one person writes on the message boards where Lu and Tyler talk about the Kinsfield suicides, “saw my dad and my dog (both died last year). they were folded up on the bed like a pile of clothes, or draped on the door like a towel. worst thing that’s ever happened to me. anybody got tips for dealing with this shitty come down :(((((“ ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/scott-webb-TOmVNJZN1AA-unsplash.jpg) Photo by [Scott Webb](https://unsplash.com/@scottwebb?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/red-and-white-abstract-painting-TOmVNJZN1AA?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) *Negative Space* drowns in dread. All of these teenagers are doomed, in big and small ways. They never recover from knowing and having loved Tyler. Some of them end up trapped in their grief both literally and metaphysically, chained to Kinsfield as a ghost, doomed by the way that Tyler intersected with their lives. The whole novel is an exercise in trying to know someone who refuses to be known, who is so damaged that they run head first at self-destruction every day. Its plot weaves itself together slowly, packing on recurring images and symbolism until you feel the other shoe about to drop down, smashing all the characters flat. I have never felt so much anxiety about a Volkswagen Passat, which Jill dreams about dying in repeatedly. Every time she got into a car, I waited for a mention of its make or model, wondering to myself, “Is this the time? Is it now?” Throughout the book, Tyler grows crueler and crueler. The meaner Tyler acts to his friends, the more psychedelic the book becomes. At times, chapters will intercut between Ahmir’s suicidality, Lu’s deep trauma from having to mask her true self, and Jill’s esoteric monologues. “The world has been emptied,” Jill says, late into the book. “All space. No footing or oxygen left. I’m not even here. I was only here a long time ago, when there was still blood and stars and buildings. Eyes that see and insects with barbed ends. The stench of shit and rot, and the wind roaring in your ears to remind you you’re falling. Serpents beneath the mud slumber and names you could give to things. All that was so long ago and will never be again.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/pawel-czerwinski-TEVf_yT5A5o-unsplash.jpg) Photo by [Pawel Czerwinski](https://unsplash.com/@pawel%5Fczerwinski?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/red-and-white-abstract-painting-TEVf%5FyT5A5o?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) Despite how little hope exists in the world of *Negative Space*, I grew to love these teenagers deeply. Ahmir, a black teenager doing hoodrat stuff with his friends, was frequently a standout just because of how familiar his patterns felt to me. He raps to his friend’s homemade beats in his car while they drive around. He is constantly picking up, dropping off, or ditching his bike. He has a younger sister who he loves but is distant from, not wanting her to repeat his mistakes. He and Tyler go out to the woods to smoke weed and hang out, in a patch that they call Blood Swamp, which sounds sick as hell until you realize that it basically is just a quiet patch of forest where no one will bother them. It reminded me of being a teenager and accompanying my friends to a place they called “Bong Falls” to smoke some weed. I had imagined a place in the woods–-it was actually an alleyway between two apartment buildings with a leaky pipe, where they broke up weed on a broken sled. Jill’s story is probably the most tragic out of the three, if only because you watch her slowly slide into tragedy. She’s smarter than her friends Cindy and Kennedy, and with a much stronger survival instinct, but her love for Tyler becomes an anchor on her, dragging her down. It’s her ability to overcome that makes her passages hypnotic, makes you believe she can defy fate. Despite how much loss she experiences throughout the novel—at one point, her childhood home is flattened into a vacant lot—she refuses to give up her hold on life. It’s what makes the inevitability of what happens to her all the more painful. You can see the pieces come together before she does. Lu’s an outcast, and she uses her outsider status to see people as deeply as she wishes she to be seen. It’s what attracts her to Tyler initially, that he sees how much she knows about the suicides and wants to share that interest with her. The more she sees Tyler—truly sees him—the more apprehensive about him she becomes. Lu’s voice is a mostly successful experiment in form, and watching her grow from “a robot programmed only to feel sorry for itself,” as Ahmir describes her in an early chapter, to a deeply independent and resilient person is the only morsel of hope in this entire novel. On top of being trans and not yet completely out, Lu is extremely neurodivergent and lives with parents who refuse to understand her. She has her own vocabulary for her feelings. When she’s sad, she goes “all the way wet.” When she feels steady she is “alabaster and lukewarm.” When people are angry they’re “full of knives.” Her emotions have colors and textures, and it takes all her energy to not express them as bodily as she feels them. These passages are often the most lyrical, thrusting the reader into Lu’s mind and asking them to accept her as herself, even if her mind can sometimes be a maze. I loved the incidental characters who wander in and out of these teenagers’s lives throughout the novel, too. I love Marlon, who works at a shitty pizza place called Pizza Utopia and smokes “pretty okay” weed with Ahmir behind the store. The jovial juggalo who takes an interest in Lu is another stand out. Despite being dumb as a cinderblock, his heart is huge and open, a wild contrast to the strained friendships that Ahmir and Jill experience. Near the end of the book, Ahmir is shocked to discover that Pizza Utopia has closed—the already nearly empty town is even emptier, as if all of Kinsfield is also committing suicide. Ahmir says that it feels like someone dropped a bomb in the middle of town, but Marlon says it’s always been this way. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/pawel-czerwinski-_Ycx-1p6Gyg-unsplash.jpg) Photo by [Pawel Czerwinski](https://unsplash.com/@pawel%5Fczerwinski?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/red-and-black-abstract-painting-%5FYcx-1p6Gyg?utm%5Fsource=unsplash&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcontent=creditCopyText) I feel that way when I visit Connecticut now. It’s not a place I ever enjoyed living in, and as a teenager I tried to escape it in the ways I had available to me: drugs and alcohol. I never got into Oxy, but a lot of my friends did, and over the years it became the only thing they were ever interested in. I remember my friend Billy, who used to bond with me over music, and the way he cut his hair and started wearing oversized clothes so that dealers wouldn’t think he was gay. I remember his girlfriend, Damara, who I used to get drunk with in the mall, who once got kicked out with me in the middle of the night because we had liquor in a water bottle. I remember Matt, who did die, whose house I still don’t like to drive past. I remember kids shooting up in the band room and nodding off. I remember reading a Facebook post warning people about a bad batch of heroin going around, telling people to be careful. Whenever I visit my hometown I feel like I’m surrounded by ghosts, like I can feel them pressing in on me and stealing the air in my lungs. In my second week of school, literally everyone I had just met at high school got suspended for selling Oxy on school grounds. Billy found the one table in the cafeteria that the cameras couldn’t see, and used to snort Adderall off a textbook there. Once, I sold him a stray Adderall pill that a friend gave me, and he got annoyed because it was extended release—harder to break up all the little beads. Another time, I gave him a few pills of Oxy I found in my kitchen cabinet, and he told me they wouldn’t sell for much because he knew this brand had a weird taste. He still gave me eight bucks for it. Given how much he and his friends loved the drug, I kinda figured I could get more. About a decade ago, my mom saw Billy working at an auto-repair shop. She said he goes by Bill now. At the end of the first chapter, Ahmir talks about the difference between the legend and the truth. “The myth is clean and sensical because it needs to be,” he says. “The truth is stupid. The truth never makes sense unless you force it to, just like anything.” Making sense of this truth and the other truth—that I was kind of a loser, that I didn’t have a lot of friends, that I never did anything harder than smoke weed and drink underage—makes my head hurt. I can see a version of myself, a diverging path I narrowly avoided, that never left Connecticut, followed my high school friends deeper and deeper into their self destruction. I was caught up in the fear that Ahmir described early on, the fear of ruining everything for yourself and everyone else. The fear of my life mattering. The fear of having a destiny. I kept my head above water trying to escape that fear, not knowing how pointless it was to hold onto that. Like Lu says late in the book, “All the world is water. It’s always been. It took me eighteen years to drown.” Reading *Negative Space* filled me with love as much as it filled me with sorrow. Ahmir, Jill, Lu, Tyler are all the kinds of people that end up in the dregs of society. They are wastoids, junkies, kids destined to die young, whose funerals are sparsely attended. But even amongst all the pain, they loved, were loved. They held each other. They comforted each other through each new loss. They transformed each other, were transformed. Their lives were not for nothing. ### There Is No Piracy Without Ownership URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-piracy-playstation-disc/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T00:32:26.000Z If there's been one depressing theme to a lot of popular culture news lately--beyond the obviously bad stuff like [AI](https://aftermath.site/tag/ai/) and [labour conditions](https://aftermath.site/tag/labor/)\--it's been the increasingly dystopian way that rights holders have begun treating creative works as rentable assets and disposable tax breaks. *This story was originally published in December 2023\. It has been updated in light of* [*recent decisions made by PlayStation*](https://aftermath.site/sony-discs-2028-consoles/)*.* We've seen Warner Bros. cancel the release of *Batgirl*, a movie that was finished. In May 2023,[ Disney deleted *Crater*, a movie that had only been released seven weeks prior](https://kotaku.com/disney-streaming-crater-tax-rort-scam-writeoff-delete-1850604861?ref=aftermath.site). It's now available to rent or buy from other, non-Disney platforms. More recently, WB also binned *Coyote vs. Acme*, allowing its creator to shop the film--as a Looney Tunes cartoon, one of the most Warner Bros. things imaginable--to rivals. It will [finally be released theatrically in August 2026](https://au.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/coyote-vs-acme-trailer-warner-bros-battle-94009/?ref=aftermath.site). All three decisions were made because the projects were more valuable to Disney and Warner Bros. as tax breaks than they were as pieces of art. Meanwhile, other films and TV shows--like *Westworld*\--across various streaming services have also been taken down,[ some for tax reasons, others so that companies don't have to pay licensing fees for them](https://www.fastcompany.com/90878957/streaming-services-removing-tv-shows-platforms-hbo-netflix-disney-cost-cutting?ref=aftermath.site). [Ditching Spotify Has Been A Bleak Experience To Say The LeastIt’s bad out there![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-fb96da69-02a2-420d-8c65-3b5a1762ca33.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1623018035231-ebe361a64c76-77865f46-29dd-4060-8028-26d74fba26cb)](https://aftermath.site/cancel-spotify-wrapped-ai-ceo-apple-music/) Spotify, meanwhile, pays artists a pittance--[if it pays them at all](https://www.musicradar.com/news/spotify-royalty-model-1000-plays?ref=aftermath.site)\--so that we can listen to all the music in the world instead of buying albums. In video games, Microsoft continues (despite setbacks and strategic disasters) [its colossal Game Pass service at all costs](https://www.ign.com/articles/phil-spencer-denies-plans-to-bring-xbox-game-pass-to-playstation-and-nintendo?ref=aftermath.site), seeking to emulate Netflix's streaming success while simultaneously ignoring all the perils and pitfalls Netflix has run into over the past few years, while PlayStation [has just made the decision to stop selling games on a disc altogether](https://aftermath.site/sony-discs-2028-consoles/). The dipshit executive class in charge of all these companies, and all these decisions, are all cut from the same executive cloth: they're doing this because they're far more interested in making short-term cash than they are in securing the long-term future of the companies they're in charge of, and the industries (and mediums!) they're a part of. These moves all have something else in common, too: they're about stripping us of ownership. Instead of letting us buy discs, cartridges, records and box sets of DVDs that are *ours* to do with what we like, to keep forever, the push for streaming (where we're forever just borrowing) and digital purchases (which are licenses, not products) is turning us all into cultural tenants, forever on the hook to rights holders for access to our favourite things, and forever at the whims of the decision-making (and accounting) apparatus of profit-hungry corporations. At any given time and for any given reason--though most times it'll simply be because there's money to be made or saved somewhere--movies, shows, games and albums can just *disappear*. It happens all the time. PlayStation has [now done](https://kotaku.com/sony-ps4-ps5-discovery-mythbusters-tv-1851066164??ref=aftermath.site) it [multiple times](https://www.techspot.com/news/112919-sony-deleting-551-movies-tv-shows-you-bought.html?ref=aftermath.site) with films and TV shows purchased on its digital shopfront. Even though people paid for them: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/stealing-w-595-1.png) Image: [Tyler James Hill](https://bsky.app/profile/tylerjameshill.bsky.social/post/3kflw2lvam42n?ref=aftermath.site) Tyler is onto something there! If the concept of ownership of modern media is changing, then so too should our treatment of its counterpart: piracy. Piracy as we understand it is a crime. Modern media piracy as it has been established under law used to be pretty clear: if you illegally copied a DVD or a game disc or a cartridge or an album, or you downloaded a digital version of something normally purchased in a store in order to avoid paying for it, you were a pirate. That was theft. As a legal concept, that made sense! The thing in question--a CD, a DVD, a game cartridge--existed in the marketplace, you could buy it and more importantly *own it*, so trying to get it for free was wrong. But what do we do now if in an increasing number of cases we can't really own the thing we're paying for? And even the ones we're borrowing--or, in the case of those PlayStation movies, we purchased!--disappear and can't be paid for *at all*? Just as importantly, what do we do if the companies making and selling this stuff can't even be trusted to look after it? The whole point of streaming services (at our end, anyway) was that we'd have everything at our fingertips. We traded ownership for convenience. Now "content" is disappearing, and without CDs on our shelf or DVD boxsets under our TV it's at risk of disappearing forever. Any hope that corporations would hold up their end of this convenience bargain was a fool's hope, especially when it comes to video games.[ As the Video Game History Foundation is getting tired of reminding us](https://gamehistory.org/87percent/?ref=aftermath.site), often the only way to preserve important works of human expression is to...well, technically break the law and pirate them. And even when loopholes *can* be found to ensure this, video game industry groups like the ESA have lobbied to work against them, as the VGHF's Phil Salvador [said earlier today](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philsalv%5Ftheres-understandably-a-lot-of-concern-about-share-7478170525371092992-Dmf6/?utm%5Fsource=social%5Fshare%5Fsend&utm%5Fmedium=android%5Fapp&rcm=ACoAAAGKgkgBAOVY8Y5QGfavSjX0Xx5EAfD5LNg): > There's understandably a lot of concern about the news that Sony is shutting down their legacy game storefronts and ending physical disc manufacturing. The truth is that museums and archives have been anticipating this for a while. > > The preservation community has been exploring other options for preserving digital-only games for years. For example, our colleagues fought for and won an exemption in copyright law that allow archives to jailbreak their consoles in order to run legally acquired digital games, which is an important step. > > The problem is that representatives of the US game industry have opposed these reforms that make it possible for us to do our jobs. The Entertainment Software Industry has repeatedly attempted to block minor, heavily regulated exemptions that would allow legitimate archival institutions to break copy protection in order to preserve and provide access to digital games. Over and over, the ESA has claimed that looser restrictions for archives would jeopardize the game industry, which obviously hasn't happened. > > So, what alternative is the industry proposing? Are we supposed to just download a copy of GTA6 and hope that it's going to work in 50 years? If a game gets delisted before a museum acquires it, is it just gone forever? > > If this is the future of gaming, then groups like the ESA (and their members) need to come to the table to work on meaningful proposals for how archival institutions can work with digital games. If we can't own anything anymore, and everything created in the modern world is only made available at the privilege of a few greedy assholes, then downloading something and sharing it to keep it alive isn't piracy. It's all we've got left. ### Love Turns To Hate As Love And Deepspace Maker Infold Games Forced To Delete New Boyfriend URL: https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-valko-deleted/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T22:43:25.000Z Goodbye, Valko. The boyfriend who left us before he was ever released into the world of [*Love and Deepspace*](https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-beginners-guide/). Developer Infold Games announced the new love interest on June 22; just over a week had passed before the studio posted to social media that he won't come to the game after all. In fact, *Love and Deepspace* will receive no new love interests ever. "Because of our actions, the joy you should have found in Linkon City became a source of distress, and the feelings you hold most dear were hurt," [Infold Games wrote from the Love and Deepspace X account](https://x.com/Love%5FDeepspace/status/2071927369653485756?ref=aftermath.site)t. "We are deeply sorry for the hurt and disappointment we have caused." The company vowed three things: That Valko won't be released, and no more love interests will be added, ever. Everything else scheduled to go live on July 9 with Valko will still be released. And, finally, *Love and Deepspace* players will get some in-game currency for 30 days, each time they log in. Valko is not necessarily universally hated, but the backlash to his design was both swift and intense. Chinese players, especially, hated him.. The thing about Valko is that he's a werewolf, and not in an abstract sense. He has a tail and ears, and is literally muzzled in the announcement video. He does not really fit in with the rest of the guys, who are not all technically humans, but who *look* entirely human. The wacky stuff—like when the guys were turned feral and were locked in cages—is not part of the main story, but the alternative timelines. The people who hate him *really* hate him. In China, where the Infold Games office is located, *Love and Deepspace* players made visits to the office—and the wolf paw sculpture outside the building. [Chinese media](https://gamingonphone.com/news/love-and-deepspace-controversy-escalates-as-angry-chinese-players-send-funeral-flowers-cow-dung-and-ritual-items-to-papergames-office/?ref=aftermath.site) [reported](https://www.reddit.com/r/gachagaming/comments/1ui1tae/extreme%5Fchinese%5Fplayers%5Fsend%5Fcow%5Fdung%5Ffuneral/?ref=aftermath.site) that some people brought items symbolizing funerals, took photos giving the office the finger, and dropped off animal poop. Images circulating on social media show security at the office, with the wolf paw sculpture cordoned off with police tape. Infold Games expanded more on the complaints of the Chinese fanbase [in a post on Xiaohongshu](https://www.xiaohongshu.com/explore/6a425bec000000001c024c02?app%5Fplatform=ios&app%5Fversion=9.35.1&share%5Ffrom%5Fuser%5Fhidden=true&xsec%5Fsource=app%5Fshare&type=normal&xsec%5Ftoken=CBO1zGVAgFH2CXJfNpnJa1oruC%5FQB1XFrBRAEebyKEc40=&author%5Fshare=1&xhsshare=CopyLink&shareRedId=ODpHODo5RUA2NzUyOTgwNjY0OTg1ODhA&ref=aftermath.site) (also known as Red Note). That note is much less apologetic than the one posted to the English-language social media accounts. There, Infold Games addresses rumors about hidden meanings in some of the game's content, including "trivializing historical trauma and crossing a line of national sensitivity," [according to a Reddit user translating the document](https://www.reddit.com/r/gachagaming/comments/1uju8rk/love%5Fand%5Fdeepspace%5Fexplain%5Fwhy%5Fnew%5Flove%5Finterest/?ref=aftermath.site). Players found some files and characters that seemingly referenced the Japanese army's human [experiments during World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit%5F731?ref=aftermath.site), as well [as a convicted Japanese war criminal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwane%5FMatsui?ref=aftermath.site). A second piece addressed controversy around promotional materials that seemingly included violence towards women. Players objected to Valko (called Ao Yin in the Chinese version of the game) breaking into the main character's house, something that players said implied he may sexually assault her. That's on top of the usage of a phrase in promotional materials that players suggested referenced a real life murder, according to the Reddit user. Infold Games removed the pieces of controversial material, the company said in the statement. The last piece refers to rumors about *Love and Deepspace* that have circulated online, like that certain regions may get different characters, or that Infold Games is courting men to the game. Infold Games said in its statement that with every major update, players often circulate fake screenshots and rumors that cause confusion on what's real and what's not. It said these rumors and allegations violate its legal rights, and that Infold Games will pursue those responsible, according to a machine translation of the statement. > Dear Deepspace Hunters, > Recently, the development team has received a great deal of feedback and many suggestions regarding the game. We have also heard your concerns about the team's capacity to consistently deliver high-quality content in the future. > > We would therefore like to… > > — Love and Deepspace (@Love\_Deepspace) [June 27, 2026](https://x.com/Love%5FDeepspace/status/2070930161789186181?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Some of the player response is a dramatic reaction to a guy they don't like, to be sure, but players' dissatisfaction with *Love and Deepspace* goes well beyond a werewolf. A lot of players like him, or were curious enough to at least see what his deal is. Now, no one is happy. (A petition to bring back Valko [has reached nearly 175,000 signatures](https://www.ipetitions.com/p/bring-back-valko-as-a-love-interest-as-it-was-intended/?ref=aftermath.site) at the time of publish.) Beyond the controversies outlined by Infold Games in its Chinese statement, players have been criticizing Infold Games for quite some time about a lack of new main story content. Caleb and Sylus are two in particular that players want new content for; the move to add an entirely new love interest gave players the signal that Infold Games was ignoring the love interests that already exist. Infold Games did note in the apology that Caleb and Sylus will "return in their Main Story branches" in September and November, placating a portion of the fanbase. But the Valko lovers are now mad, too—similarly upset about the lack of content in the main story, with the anger towards Valko's cancellation added on top. (For people who play *Infinity Nikki*, also by Infold Games, [there's some lingering anger, too](https://aftermath.site/infinity-nikki-bubble-season-1-5-update/).) What's lost in all this is how big of a deal it is for a company to have a character a week away from release get canned. Valko has likely been in the works for months at least. Infold Games has surely spent millions of dollars on development and marketing, nevermind the time and human energy put towards him. It's not something you see very often. Yes, characters and updates get canceled all the time, but it's not often for an entire character, days away from his introduction to the game, to get axed. It's not entirely unheard of, though. Gacha game *Azure Lane* canceled a character a couple years ago after fans complained that she didn't align with the game's other characters and art style. [Honestly, they were right](https://www.reddit.com/r/gachagaming/comments/1bmhc53/azur%5Flane%5Fpostponed%5Fthe%5Frelease%5Fof%5Fa%5Fcharacter/?ref=aftermath.site). And in 2021, *Honkai Impact 3rd* developer Hoyoverse canceled an event for the game's third [anniversary after complaints that the bunny outfits](https://nichegamer.com/mihoyo-removes-honkai-impact-3rd-bunny-girl-costumes-for-being-out-of-character-and-inappropriate/?ref=aftermath.site)—like classic Playboy bunnies—were not acceptable. The impact of removing just these outfits probably wasn't as devastating as cutting a whole character. The *Love and Deepspace* fandom is known to be passionate, and I think that's a product of the sort of game it is. Because it's so intimate, players feel a sort of ownership over the game and their boyfriends. It's a space that players have invested time and money into, let alone the emotional investment. By deleting Valko before release, despite its major marketing campaign around him, Infold Games is sending a message that it can be bullied into making decisions. That's not great! [Let Me Tell You About Love and DeepspaceThere’s a lot going on, but don’t worry.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-7324c5de-c488-4ad6-a593-f46ab961d10e.png)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-06-11-153220-c792b130-23e0-4e30-b315-7614f54ee63d.png)](https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-beginners-guide/) ### Subnautica 2 Devs Will Actually Get Even More Money As Krafton Drama Ends URL: https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-krafton-lawsuit-payout/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T20:38:40.000Z The legal beef between *Subnautica 2*’s developers and studio Unknown Worlds owner Krafton has been settled, [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-01/krafton-agrees-to-pay-subnautica-2-bonuses-as-developer-s-ceo-resigns?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4MjkxNTU0NywiZXhwIjoxNzgzNTIwMzQ3LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUSEkyRklLR0lGUEUwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.WjwpXH3Q1yC4ZNFhKO0dYP4Ud-b1dypbv-REPIWQvaI&leadSource=uverify%20wall&ref=aftermath.site) reported Wednesday. CEO Ted Gill will leave the company, and the game’s workers will get their long-promised bonus–and then some. Gill told Bloomberg that he and Krafton had “mutually agreed to part ways.” Gill was one of three studio leaders, alongside Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire, who were fired by Krafton in July 2025 and subsequently filed a [lawsuit](https://aftermath.site/unknown-worlds-lawsuit-subnautica-2/) claiming the company had intentionally delayed the release of *Subnautica 2* to avoid paying them an agreed-to $250 million bonus for hitting certain milestones, which they had pledged to share with the rest of Unknown Worlds’ workers. Krafton in turn claimed the three had [abandoned the project](https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-lawsuit-krafton-response/) and stolen data. After a short trial in November, in March 2026 a judge ordered Krafton to [reinstate Gill](https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-krafton-lawsuit-reinstated/), and also move the deadline for the payout to account for the time Gill was unemployed. *Subnautica 2* went on to have a hugely successful early access release in [May](https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-units-sold-250-million-bonus-krafton/), and the bonus seemed assured. As indeed it now is, but the structure has also changed with the settlement. Bloomberg wrote that rather than being paid to the three studio heads, the payout will be paid in three annual installments directly to “everyone at the studio… even those who joined more recently.” Bloomberg also wrote that > Gill said that the developers of *Subnautica 2*, which has sold more than 4 million copies since its early access release in May, will be “compensated significantly more” than called for under the original acquisition agreement and will receive “further incentives” as the game continues to be updated. There’s no public indication of how much that will all turn out to be, but it’s a very funny twist in this whole saga, which saw Krafton exec Changhan Kim [turn to ChatGPT](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/18/subnautica-2-publisher-krafton-ceo-reinstated-ai-chatgpt-failed-bid-avoid-paying-bonus?ref=aftermath.site) for advice on how to get out of the deal. The company “followed most of ChatGPT’s recommendations,” according to the judge’s March ruling, and… well, we can all see how that went. [Sshh, Just Let Me Look At The FishSubnautica 2’s early access is a bit plot-heavy, but also full of weird little guys![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-915a93e5-fe78-4ce9-bdce-9b1c0fb81ed7.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/subff-03db2c6a-9eb4-4754-aa9c-82d8b902ef9f.jpeg)](https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-early-access-impressions/) ### Somehow, Jackass Really Was That Big A Deal URL: https://aftermath.site/jackass-movie-review/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T19:28:00.000Z I can't remember the first time I laughed at some idiot getting punched in the dick. The low blow has been a slapstick comedy staple for as long as there's been slapstick comedy, popping up in otherwise dramatic stories like 1969's *Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid*, to proudly inane boinkfests like 1994's *Dumb and Dumber*. It's classic comedy: surprising, painful, rude, and easily reciprocated. It's also pretty egalitarian as far as comic violence goes. Everyone who has a dick reacts to getting the shit slapped out of it the same way: doubled over in pain, vowing revenge. They'll probably get it, too. Only the biggest fools think they can execute a dick punch and not expect to receive one of their own some day. For 26 years, Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Dave England, Danger Ehren, Preston Lacy, Jason "Wee Man" Acuña and the rest of the *Jackass* cast have elevated hitting each other in the crotch to, if not an art form, then a science. They have attempted, and likely invented, countless ways to inflict testicular trauma to one another, screaming the whole time, laughing even longer. (Let's not sell them short: They are also virtuosos with bodily fluids, angry bulls, stun guns, and collecting concussions.) Over time, this became endearing: What was once a boundary-pushing MTV show about young white guys behaving badly and [a terrible influence on viewers](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/09/arts/tv-notes-full-warning.html?ref=aftermath.site) is now widely seen as a [moving ode to male friendship](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/movies/jackass-best-and-last-review-johnny-knoxville.html?ref=aftermath.site) and positive masculinity. If this shift confuses you, I understand. Are these not movies and TV shows about getting punched in the dick? Yes, they are. They never stopped being that, and worse. A guy drank horse cum in the second film, *Jackass Number Two*, Steve-O invited bees to swarm his dick in the fourth movie, *Jackass Forever*. These dudes are in their fifties now, and still giving and receiving dozens of cock punches, still filming pounds and pounds of shit pushed fresh from the ass, live on camera. *Jackass: Best and Last* does not shy away from that stuff, but it is persuasive that maybe all this vulgar camaraderie really might mean something. The fifth (and by all accounts last) *Jackass* movie is a hybrid celebration of favorite/previously unaired stunts and new buffoonery, and it features a lot more of the *Jackass* cast talking about *Jackass* than any previous film. (In the other movies, there is almost zero talking about *Jackass*, just doing *Jackass*.) Twice, Knoxville is moved to tears because this is the end of the road for him and the gang, forced to hang up their jock straps for good thanks to the tides of time. It's not stated in the film, but a big reason for this is a stunt Knoxville performed in 2022's *Jackass Forever*, in which Knoxville resurrected a running gag in which he gets hit by a charging bull. The hit was violent and frightening, sending Knoxville to the hospital where he was told any more head trauma will kill him. Thus, in this final ride he is forced to mostly sit on the sidelines, taking a few electrocutions like a good sport. From this angle, *Jackass: Best and Last* is about mortality, the cast respectfully saluting Death where past movies rubbed their balls in its face. The stunts are less extreme but themed around aging, with robot prostate exams and a colonoscopy-themed challenge where contestants chug laxatives and play a Twister-like game while shitting themselves. But there's also all the past footage to think about. (Again, all meaning is post-hoc when it comes to *Jackass*; no one is thinking about this stuff while the camera is running.) There's 26 years of stunts represented here, depicting willfully foolish young men growing into willfully stupid middle-aged men. Hair turns gray, teeth are replaced, scars accumulate, and friends are lost. Two cast members are commemorated via archival footage, both the late Ryan Dunn, a core member of the team who died in a drunk driving accident in 2011, and Bam Margera, who is estranged from the cast after he allegedly violated a sobriety agreement during the shooting of 2022's *Jackass Forever*. ![Johnny Knoxville laughs in the foreground as a man in lederhosen and another dressed as a doll are suspended like marionettes](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/07/unnamed-2.jpg) Image: Paramount Pictures There's always been a tricky ouroboros-esque quality to the *Jackass* crew, the knowledge that they'd probably never do any of this crazy shit if they weren't a little messed up, and that doing all this stuff – in addition to the fame that came with it – likely exacerbated whatever their flaws were. *Jackass* director and co-creator Jeff Tremaine, referring to the cast's extraordinary mix of charisma and recklessness, called them "[a collection of exceptional fuck-ups](https://www.theringer.com/2026/06/25/movies/jackass-5-best-and-last-johnny-knoxville-steve-o-interview-making-of?ref=aftermath.site)," noting that the magic of *Jackass* really is in these specific guys coming together in this specific way. This is the subtext to the damage they put themselves through, and the way they help each other up: Who else would do that? *Jackass* is about a group of guys who saved each other, and did so by developing a practice of pulling each other back from the brink of disaster on a nigh-daily basis. Key to appreciating *Jackass* is knowing that, had your life turned out a little differently, you would be this stupid. Or you *are* this stupid, just in ways that are more socially acceptable, or at least more commonplace. Maybe you did well in school and had prospects, or were fortunate enough to have some social mobility, or your brand of stupidity does not involve such a juvenile fixation on penises. The average *Jackass* stunt is still a useful metaphor for the recklessness that makes us feel alive, for the friendship that can make any pain or humiliation endurable, for the vulnerability that comes with every wrinkle of your asshole becoming very familiar to your social circle. *Jackass* is a mirror. You stare into the pale glow of some guy's reflectively white ass cheeks and you see the kind of person you are. Maybe, as Niko Stratis movingly wrote about her transition, it helps you be brave enough [to finally be the person you really are](https://www.anxietyshark.ca/jackass-made-me-the-trans-woman-i-am/?ref=aftermath.site). Writing too much about *Jackass* is its own kind of stunt; the word count creeps up and so does the likelihood you've embarrassed yourself somehow, like you've shit your pants in word form. It is silly to position these clowns and their subsidized chicanery as some form of cultural sin-eaters, as if any of us needs to know what it's like to shove a toy car in our rectum and get it X-rayed. But I think of the bad shoulder I have from the wrestling antics my friends and I pulled as teenagers, how fucking funny it was when Juanmiguel, a full head shorter than I and built like a goddamn Mack truck, ran faster than I thought humanly possible to spear my lanky frame into a swimming pool with such force that the wind blew out of my lungs and my ass skid across the bottom of the pool. I'm not that same kind of moron anymore, but I am still pretty stupid. Stupid enough to do anything as long as I've got my friends with me. Stupid enough to think I've got a chance at a life that I want. Stupid enough to write about it all. And yeah: Stupid enough to laugh when I see someone get punched in the dick. ### Sony Will Stop Making Video Game Discs URL: https://aftermath.site/sony-discs-2028-consoles/ Last updated: 2026-07-02T13:10:57.000Z Sony will stop making discs for new PlayStation games in 2028, the company announced Wednesday morning and [GameFile](https://www.gamefile.news/p/sony-drops-playstation-discs-2028-ps3-vita-stores-closing?ref=aftermath.site) first reported. The change will affect both first and third-party games. "This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs," Sony wrote in a [blog post](https://blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/physical-disc-production-ending-in-january-2028-for-new-games-releasing-on-playstation-consoles/?ref=aftermath.site). "This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today." It's not necessarily a surprising move– a recent Sony financial report noted that [most people buy the company's games digitally](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-just-reported-a-new-record-breaking-high-figure-but-its-unsurprising/1100-6539856/?ref=aftermath.site). And the company's announcement comes on the heels of Rockstar announcing it [won't release a disc for *Grand Theft Auto 6*](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-physical-copies-have-no-disc/)*,* which led many to wonder if more of the industry would follow its lead*.* Sony notes in its post that its digital-only games will still be sold at stores, meaning you could still head down to your local game shop and buy essentially an empty box, but it could certainly spell a blow to retailers and to the used game market, as well as anyone who likes to feel like they own the thing they went to the store to pay for. That sense of ownership has been at the front of movements like [Stop Killing Games](https://aftermath.site/stop-killing-games-petition-eu-pirate-software-ross-scott/), as well as a [2025 California law](https://aftermath.site/sony-digital-transparency-lawsuit-buy-now/) that requires companies to make clear that digital purchases are licenses, rather than outright ownership. However, with disc-based games increasingly requiring further downloads anyway, what you're actually *buying* when you buy a box with a disc in it, and how much permanent ownership that disc really grants you, has become more and more murky. The change also raises challenges for game preservation. Responding to questions about [*GTA 6*](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-physical-copies-have-no-disc/), Library Director of the Video Game History Foundation Phil Salvador told Aftermath that digital-only games don't > have as much of an impact on professional game preservation work as you might expect. Even true physical game releases are now often tied to updates, patches, and internet-enabled features. A game like *Grand Theft Auto 6* will undoubtedly have a day one patch or significant updates, to the point where even if there was data on a physical release, it will not accurately reflect the game that people will actually play. Because the industry has been trending this way for decades, preservationists and museum professionals have been exploring other methods to preserve their data that go beyond putting a disc on a shelf. **(Update, 7/1/26, 4pm–** The Video Game History Foundation released a [statement](https://bsky.app/profile/gamehistoryorg.bsky.social/post/3mpm6jzps6k2i?ref=aftermath.site) about today's news, writing in part that "Museums and archives have been preparing for this future for a while, with the expectation that putting discs on a shelf isn't going to be a long-term solution for preserving new games." The Foundation also took aim at the ESA for "repeatedly oppos\[ing\] the efforts of cultural heritage institutions to reform digital copy protection laws to make it easier to do this work. The industry needs to meaningfully come to the table on this issue, because asking museums to download a copy of *Grand Theft Auto VI* and hope it'll run in 50 years is not a preservation solution."**)** > Statement from VGHF director Frank Cifaldi on the discontinuation of physical PlayStation media, and the closure of the PS3 and PSP digital storefronts. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:32mfz7eoqf5l5nnhahsgoijf/post/3mpm6jzps6k2i?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Video Game History Foundation ([@gamehistoryorg.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:32mfz7eoqf5l5nnhahsgoijf?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [July 1, 2026 at 2:47 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:32mfz7eoqf5l5nnhahsgoijf/post/3mpm6jzps6k2i?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) GameFile notes that this also raises the question of whether future PlayStation consoles will come with a disc drive. Phil Spencer told the outlet in [2024](https://www.gamefile.news/p/microsoft-phil-spencer-xbox-cloud-interview?utm%5Fsource=publication-search) that "Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive," while also noting that said drives increase production costs. As someone who no longer owns anything with a disc drive beyond a PS4 with, well, a [broken disc drive](https://kotaku.com/my-playstation-4-keeps-beeping-but-its-fine-really-wh-1844581797?ref=aftermath.site), this definitely impacts my ability to watch the pile of DVDs I still own, as well as play the PlayStation games I own that I only have on discs. Game consoles function as multi-purpose devices for plenty of people in that way, and potentially removing one of those purposes, alongside [consoles' rising costs](https://aftermath.site/xbox-price-increase-again-and-again/), could make them a harder sell for some people. GameFile also notes that the move away from discs could be a good thing for game developers in some ways, with studios no longer having to rush to finalize games to disc production timelines. GameFile writes that "projects may gain weeks of development time, in the event delivery deadlines for platform approval move closer to release date." All of that remains to be seen, but what seems certain is that this change will make it harder for games to live outside retail transactions and PlayStation's ecosystem. Beyond the ramifications to the used games market, you also can't lend a friend a digital code, and they probably wouldn't be your friend anymore if you lent them an empty box to stare at. It further narrows the ways games move through the real world into a solitary transaction between a player and Sony's digital storefront, a situation that surely stands to benefit Sony, but not so much the rest of us. ### God Of War Laufey Could Be The First Real Mom Game URL: https://aftermath.site/god-of-war-laufey-mothership/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T20:33:03.000Z Hey, quick: name a dad game. Obviously, there’s *The Last of Us*, but that’s too easy. Try another. *God of War* (2018 version)? Pretty good, but also kind of a gimme. This year we have *Pragmata,* that’ll fit the bill. *The Walking Dead* (2012)? Yeah, that’s a good pick if you feel a little retro. We could do this all day! We, the gaming audience, are positively spoiled for choice here. There are dozens of other titles we could put on this list, and dozens more that are close enough to have a fun little argument about. (*The Witcher III*? Sure. *Mass Effect 2*? No, that’s a daddy *issues* game — different beast entirely.) ***This piece originally appeared 6/25/26 at*** [***Mothership***](https://www.mothership.blog/god-of-war-laufey-could-be-the-first-real-mom-game/?ref=aftermath.site)**, *a worker-owned outlet providing gaming coverage for her, for them, and yes, for him. If you like what you see, consider*** [***subscribing***](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal)***!*** Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for the genre of “mom game.” In fact, most of us probably cannot *name* a single mom game, for the simple reason that very few, if any, actually exist. There stands a deep and abiding gulf: Dad games are one of the dominant genres of the century to date, commercial and critical darlings alike. They sell [millions of copies](https://www.ign.com/articles/god-of-war-sales-pass-23-million-copies?ref=mothership.blog) and inspire [award-winning](https://www.televisionacademy.com/shows/last-us?ref=mothership.blog) prestige TV series. Mom games, on the other hand, are somewhere between absent and invisible. As pleasant as it might be to lay the blame for this narrative disparity exclusively at the feet of game developers, the fault is hardly theirs alone. The reality is that we do not have mom games — by any meaningful metric we might use to define the genre — because neither the studios that publish games nor the American public who buy them actually consider mothers to be real people. ## Universal child care(rs) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/image-4.png) Image: God of War Laufey (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment) This is not a problem of conservative or liberal politics; misogyny is rampant on left and right alike, and the concept of motherhood — universal, as all of us must be born to be here — has always sat at its center. The ultra-conservative, fascist-aligned leadership at the helm of the United States in 2026 is almost refreshingly [honest](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/08/14/trump-sexist-vance-republican-misogyny-women/74631430007/?ref=mothership.blog) about how much it hates women, and how much it wants women reduced to the status of [mothers](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/make-america-healthy-again-motherhood%5Fn%5F699cafefe4b0f7641da60f3e?ref=mothership.blog), and *only* mothers — not as people with careers or even interiority, but as neutral vessels to bear and raise (white) children, never to be heard from otherwise. The root of their obsession with gender lies here: In this world view, there is a natural order to things that must be rigidly, even violently, enforced, and those boundaries mean (white) men, and only (white) men, are people. Denigration of mothers and the work of motherhood on the left, among supposed progressives and allies, is the harder to spot and the harder to combat, but no less prevalent. The rich vein of literature examining the role of motherhood in feminism and in society goes back decades and fills hundreds of books — but our shorthand for today is simple: We have the wine mom. The wine mom may drink pinot grigio by the bottle or she may be a teetotaler. Perhaps she actually enjoys a [pumpkin spice latte](https://www.salon.com/2023/08/28/britney-pamela-and-pumpkin-spice-what-the-psl-hatred-was-always-really-about/?ref=mothership.blog) instead of a harder drink. It doesn’t really matter. As Jessica Winter argues [in this excellent New Yorker article](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/progress-report/dont-forget-your-wine-mom-this-midterm-season?ref=mothership.blog), the wine mom is just another name for the soccer mom, the Karen, and any other moniker we might care to fling at middle-aged white mothers who dare to be or to become politically activated. Some wariness is both fair and earned: historically, many instances of white women rallying around motherhood as a political identifier have been, frankly, [racist as hell](https://commonwealthbeacon.org/politics/012-louise-day-hicks-you-know-where-i-stand/?ref=mothership.blog), or their work has [led to](https://exhibits.libraries.rutgers.edu/alcoholstudies-archives/temperance/women-leaders?ref=mothership.blog) broadly negative [unintended consequences](https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/unintended-consequences/?ref=mothership.blog). But the wide public derision is largely not coming from groups such as Black women, who are wholly justified in being skeptical of white feminism. It instead comes from white men and the power structure around them. [Dear Mother, what do you do when the fascists get you down?“When you’re acting in good faith, it’s hard to understand that other people simply aren’t giving you that good faith back.”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/mship-tab-icon-0f7f3193-9b7e-4533-8293-68b3180f8e14.png)MothershipGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1664866651877-b42cea398f9c-e141e0d7-9f44-411a-a40e-4f6e0315d42e.jpeg)](https://www.mothership.blog/dear-mother-5/?ref=aftermath.site) By the time we hit the 2020 election, the “resistance mom” was an entire trope unto herself — though her evolution and repackaging from the 1990s “soccer mom” was a long time coming, as Alexis Sobel Fitts [wrote for Jezebel](https://www.jezebel.com/inventing-the-myth-of-the-white-suburban-woman-voter-1845521630?ref=mothership.blog) on the eve of that election. As Fitts painstakingly lays out, this categorization, which has become widespread shorthand, is really just campaign targeting, a slicing and dicing for messaging (e.g., advertising) purposes. And yet in 2020, the resistance mom, in all her many forms, was everywhere — and nowhere. “While I still know almost nothing about her personal politics, or the specific details that lead to her supposed departure from Trump,” Fitts said, summarizing the media landscape of the time, “I do know quite a bit now about what she means to the media, for whom she serves as both a prize and a scapegoat. She is a woman-sized vessel into which dreams of an ideal voter can be placed and quickly morphed into a strawman if it all goes to hell. She is never particularly real.” In the wake of Renée Good’s murder earlier this year, Amanda Marcotte revisited the idea of the “resistance mom” — this time, [as a hero](https://www.salon.com/2026/01/14/resistance-moms-will-save-us/?ref=mothership.blog), grounded in the reality of one person, one body. Marcotte sorry-not-sorrys her “I told you so” on resistance moms, as she writes, “In the early days of the first Trump administration, the ‘resistance’ took on feminine identity that, as the years went by, became seen as increasingly uncool and embarrassing.” She continues: > The one thing that centrists, MAGA types, and wannabe hipster leftists could agree on was that they hated the middle-aged wine moms in pink knitted pussy hats, with their earnest fears about the collapse of democracy, who watched MSNBC. This loathing of normie liberals was always rooted in misogyny, even when coming from other women, who were usually pulling a ‘I’m sexy and cool, not like those cat sweater ladies’ move, but making it political. And it came at the high cost of signaling to ordinary people that they’re being “hysterical” if they think either that Trump is a serious threat or that it’s important to put up a real resistance to Trumpism. Marcotte writes, correctly, that it is “incredibly unfair that Renée Good is dead, that her wife is a widow and her son an orphan,” before she then describes Good as “a genuine martyr.” It’s hard to disagree, but that narrative didn’t emerge in a vacuum. Self-sacrificing martyrdom is a well-trod story for mothers that we as a culture know what to do with; it’s a tale we know how to tell, a role we know how to assign. And once again, it valorizes a woman who isn’t actually there. ## Between absent and invisible ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/image-5.png) Image: God of War Laufey (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment) And then we have fiction. Dad games are playing into some of the oldest storytelling tropes we know, albeit with modern conventions and expectations. Stories of fathers and sons permeate every inch of western culture, and have for thousands of years. Who among us did not read at least parts of *The Odyssey* or *Hamlet* in high school? The progressive tweak of the 21st century’s dad game is to remember women exist by swapping in that son for a daughter. Although Kratos pursues his adventure with a boy (“Boy!”) at his side, many of our other game dads are walking the world with surrogate daughters — girls they often must masculinize, protect, hand weapons to, and to teach to live in a harsh man’s world. The implication is often that mothers would make these children too soft for whatever war-torn, post-apocalyptic, or monster-infected world they must face. We most often perceive mothers in fiction through a long history of their [conspicuous absence](https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/why-children-s-stories-are-full-of-orphans-evil-stepmothers-and-boarding-schools?ref=mothership.blog): mom is [not here](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MissingMom?ref=mothership.blog). Perhaps she died in childbirth, or took a mystery fever. Perhaps the zombies ate her or the nukes got her. Perhaps she simply does not get mentioned in the text at all. Her absence is why The Dad must step up and take on the child care role that would otherwise be delegated away from the masculine sphere. Her absence also allows the narrative to put her on a pedestal: if no real woman is here, then we can render the imaginary one ideal and untouchable. The other way fiction presents mothers is [as an obstacle](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilMatriarch?ref=mothership.blog). There is something she will not let us do, some way she is domineering, some way in which she needs to be taken down or rendered inert. Thus perhaps the single most common way to meet a mother throughout the canon of video games is: as a boss fight, on the other side of a battlefield. As the parent of an 8th grader, the symbolism is [not lost on me](https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2159541-garth-marenghis-darkplace?ref=mothership.blog). And yet, here in 2026 — is a teen, with youth’s manichean framing of the world, really the audience to aim for? Could our games not, perhaps, grow up a little? ## Goddess of war ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/image-6.png) Image: God of War Laufey (Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment) Video gaming has obviously had a girl problem for a very, very long time. In some ways, nothing has changed since I was elbowing third-grade boys out of the way to get my turn playing *Super Mario Bros* on my neighbor Tommy’s NES. And [in other ways](https://deadspin.com/the-future-of-the-culture-wars-is-here-and-its-gamerga-1646145844/?ref=mothership.blog), everything has. Women are [already under-represented](https://gamedevreports.substack.com/p/gdc-the-state-of-the-game-industry?ref=mothership.blog) in game development; mothers, even more so. It is vanishingly rare to [hear a developer describe the experience](https://www.mothership.blog/seance-of-blake-manors-lead-designer-treasa-mccabe/?ref=aftermath.site) of motherhood, rather than to keep quiet and instead preserve the outer veneer of [remaining in the boys’ club](https://unwinnable.com/2012/07/13/i-was-a-teenage-sexist/?ref=mothership.blog). Outside of gaming, we’re [still saying dumb shit about tech](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/thank-your-mom-she-taught-you-how-to-tech/257040/?ref=mothership.blog) like, “it’s so simple, your mom can use it,” or writing off “grandmas” as a cohort who we’re surprised to find on the internet — even though an internet user who was 18 years old when she got AOL in 1994 is 50 years old today, and perfectly capable of using an iPhone. And into this milieu, Sony has come and paradropped *Laufey*. Approximately the entire internet perked up its collective ears at this [surprise mic drop announcement](https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/941516/god-of-war-laufey-ps5-trailer?ref=mothership.blog), learning the *God of War* franchise — the daddest of Dad Games on offer in the 2020s — is going full mom. Faye was dead, to begin with. Her conspicuous absence loomed over *God of War* and its sequel. Her departure from the mortal coil spurred the events of the games, the motivating force that set Kratos and Atreus in motion. Now, and unexpectedly, Faye — who we have known as a wife and mother — is being given a chance to be a *person*. She has an entire afterlife to fight her own way through, for her own reasons, and my former colleague Ash Parrish [is absolutely right to hope](https://kotaku.com/i-hope-kratos-doesnt-show-up-anymore-in-god-of-war-laufey-2000702440?ref=mothership.blog) the Boy and his father stay out of her way. There is no genre of “mom games” for her to stand tall amid; if we are lucky, she will be the giant on whose shoulders future generations can stand. Until then, the attention on her will always be sharp and harsh — for going first, for daring. The game will not be perfect, because nothing ever is. *She* will not be perfect, because no-*one* ever is. She carries the unfair burden of being a drop of water in the desert, something we are thirsty for no matter how meager the offering. She will face a difficult world, and she will do it alone, judged every step of the way. No matter how *God of War Laufey* turns out on the merits, it really *is* a mom game: Like most American mothers, Faye is expected to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders without any institutional support at all. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/02/MsLogo_2_Black.png)](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal) Mothership is a website, a channel, and a community co-founded by Polygon veterans Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah, where staff and freelancers cover how gender and identity relate to games. [Subscribe to Mothership ](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal) ### Xbox Cuts, Which Haven't Even Happened Yet, Are Already Causing Turmoil In The Games Industry URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-io-interactive-blade-arkane/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T20:33:15.000Z While we’re still awaiting the biggest hammer to fall in the Xbox cuts that have been anticipated since the company’s [“reset” memo](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/?ref=aftermath.site) in early June, the dribble of bad news preceding them continued on Tuesday, as Hitman maker IO Interactive lost funding from Xbox, and as a report suggested Xbox could axe the rest of *Dishonored* creator Arkane. IO Interactive, which released *007 First Light* in late May, [announced ](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7477771296718807041/?ref=aftermath.site)today that “A relationship with an external partner on our own IP, Project Fantasy, has come to an end. This means we have to adapt to this new reality and its short-term consequences, including staffing decisions.” [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-30/microsoft-s-xbox-pulls-out-of-project-fantasy-video-game-from-io-interactive?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4Mjg0MTc5NiwiZXhwIjoxNzgzNDQ2NTk2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUSEdISUtLSVAzSUEwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.%5FX7fWJXMkER0LX8wjbPlqWJNXJqjEfaYkVxpStwD114&leadSource=uverify%20wall&ref=aftermath.site) reported that the “external partner” in question was Xbox, with an Xbox spokesperson telling the outlet that Xbox is “taking a fresh look at where we invest so we’re focusing on our highest priorities.” “[Project Fantasy](https://ioi.dk/project-fantasy?ref=aftermath.site)” is an original IO game that the company announced in 2023, calling it “an online fantasy RPG.” In [2021](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/hitman-studio-io-interactive-is-reportedly-working-on-an-xbox-exclusive/?ref=aftermath.site), it was rumored to be an Xbox exclusive, which led many people today to presume Xbox was the unnamed partner referenced in IO’s announcement prior to Bloomberg confirming their suspicions. IO wrote that, despite this setback, it is “100% committed to \[Project Fantasy\], now and in the future.” IO’s announcement is one knot in a string of bad news that’s been swirling around the Xbox cuts, which both Bloomberg and The Verge report will begin on July 6, following the close of Microsoft’s fiscal year. [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/report/959467/microsoft-xbox-cancel-blade-game-arkane-studios-closure?view%5Ftoken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6Inp0bjNNQk1pVm0iLCJwIjoiL3JlcG9ydC85NTk0NjcvbWljcm9zb2Z0LXhib3gtY2FuY2VsLWJsYWRlLWdhbWUtYXJrYW5lLXN0dWRpb3MtY2xvc3VyZSIsImV4cCI6MTc4MzI3MDkyMSwiaWF0IjoxNzgyODM4OTIxfQ.pOFMRE5pUQgOYGX0scwb6LrEhrfZu%5Fecr50Fysx3fd8&utm%5Fmedium=gift-link&ref=aftermath.site) also reported Tuesday that Xbox is considering canceling Arkane’s *Blade* game, first announced at [The Game Awards in 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=basLDO2bj2k&ref=aftermath.site), and could be looking into selling off the France-based studio. The studio’s American wing, Arkane Austin, was closed by Microsoft in [May 2024](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-closure-microsoft-arkane/), alongside several other studios. Arkane is known for the Dishonoredseries and 2021’s *Deathloop*. All this is happening alongside Microsoft reportedly looking to offload other studios, either through closures or sales, including *South of Midnight* studio [Compulsion](https://aftermath.site/compulsion-microsoft-xbox-layoffs-closure/), *Psychonauts* maker Double Fine, *Hellblade* creator Ninja Theory (which announced the third game in the series at Summer Game Fest, in a move [GameFile](https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-studio-contraction?ref=aftermath.site) reported was to attract potential investor interest in the studio), and *State of Decay* studio [Undead Labs](https://gamesbeat.com/cwa-represented-workers-at-xbox-criticize-microsoft-management-and-pending-layoffs/?ref=aftermath.site). It’s not clear yet what will ultimately happen to these studios, though in Compulsion’s case, many of its employees have been [publicly looking for new work](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/its-not-layoffs-but-you-can-see-them-from-here-numerous-compulsion-games-employees-are-looking-for-new-jobs/?ref=aftermath.site). Whether these studios survive as independent entities or are destroyed by Xbox’s endless [rake-stepping](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs-microsoft-ai/), the lives of an as-yet unknown number of people will be upended once the company finally starts its destruction in earnest. None of this is new for Xbox, which has been inflicting harm on the studios it owns and the workers it employs [for years now](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs-summer-game-fest/). What these studios, the company, and the wider video game industry stand to look like after all this can’t be predicted, but it’s not shaping up to be anything good. ### Saros Is Peak Doom Metal URL: https://aftermath.site/saros-doom-metal-pallbearer-chome-ghost-latituides/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T20:33:25.000Z I was already fully bought into *Saros* by the time I got to the first of the “Eclipse” phases of the game. But when that first, bizarre, undulating alien hand opened itself up to me for the first time, I perked up in my seat even further. Alongside that strangely gentle gesture, a series of extremely compelling and beguiling images flooded the screen. First, the eponymous eclipse but then a land on fire and an eye covered in gold. One final detail completed the picture and I was hooked: a series of echoing, ominous, distorted guitar chords. These seemed to extend the images’ effect well after they themselves receded from the screen.This passage confirmed a suspicion I had from minute one. This game was inspired by, and created in the oppressive light of, doom metal. I’ve been playing video games and listening to metal for pretty much the same length of time, but I had never before seen a game as explicitly informed by doom metal. I was also struck by how weird that was. After all, there are many, *many* video games which use metal as an inspiration, an aesthetic, and as a literal soundtrack but none of them felt *doom metal* before. *Doom* (2016) is probably the example that’s currently the most famous; [I’ve written about it myself](https://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2017/01/13/flesh-metal-the-unholy-marriage-between-metal-and-video-games-in-dooms-ost/?ref=aftermath.site) as an example of using metal’s tonality to underscore a fast-paced action game. The examples continue from there, with varying degrees of game quality: *Enter the Gungeon*, *Killing Floor, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance*, to name a few. The list is very long. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/SAROS_6.jpg) But what do I mean when I say that a game is metal or inspired by the genre? Some video games (and books and movies and so on) *feel* instinctively metal. “Metal” has even become a slang term to describe particularly gnarly pieces of fiction (as in “that’s so fucking metal!”). A definition isn’t always necessary to recognize this, partly because metal has been a part of mainstream culture for sixty or so years now and partly because that’s how aesthetics work—they are largely unmediated by language. But interrogating metal as aesthetics can be an incredibly fruitful exercise, especially in video games. Games are inherently multi-media projects,by which I mean that they blend visual, literary, aural, and other art forms; they are especially reliant on a cohesive aesthetic. When players call a game “cool” or say it has “good worldbuilding,” they often mean that a game’s set of design, color scheme, writing, music, and mechanics all mesh well together, creating a work of art that is greater than the sum of its parts. That’s really hard to pull off and so game designers, writers, and composers often look towards outside influences for an initial palette, for a language to help tie things together. Sometimes that’s Welsh mythology, sometimes that’s cyberpunk, and sometimes it’s metal. *Saros* is a really good example of some of the “primary colors”, or defining characteristics, of the metal “palette”, of metal as aesthetics. Metal’s number one defining character, beyond which no sub-genre, no matter how obscure, might be called metal, is *excess*. While the historical conditions which gave birth to metal are too complex to cover here, suffice it to say y that metal was born in opposition, as part of the general cultural rebellion of the 60’s and the 70’s. It has always defined itself by going *faster* and *louder* and by dealing with themes defined by society as taboo, like death, violence, self-harm. To be “fucking metal” is to be beyond, to laugh in the face of moderation and caution, to grab a subject by both hands and dive wholly into it, to commit fully and passionately. *Saros* has this excess written all over it, from its story and all the way through to the mechanics of the game. When you reach some of the more advanced levels in the game and you are awash with the multi-colored lights of projectiles that Housemarque love so dearly and those projectiles are being shot at you by a dozen different enemy types and those enemies are organic, machine-made, and eldritch, all while you’re firing back with your powersuit mounted alien weaponry? There is very little left to say beyond: “that’s fucking metal." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/SAROS_2.jpg) Image Source: Housemarque However, I am not here to make the point that *Saros* is “just” metal. I am here to make the point that *Saros* is *doom* metal. Doom metal is usually categorized by its type of excess: an excess of slowness. Another way to put that is to say that the way which doom metal generates “heaviness” is by appealing to a crushing, suffocating, and oppressive sort of aesthetic: [massive suns and their alien heat](https://neurosis.bandcamp.com/album/an-undying-love-for-a-burning-world?ref=aftermath.site), [winding, eldritch labyrinths](https://usneadoom.bandcamp.com/album/portals-into-futility?ref=aftermath.site), [distant mountain peaks and their grandeur](https://mountainscapeuk.bandcamp.com/album/acceptance?ref=aftermath.site). Doom metal’s aesthetic places emphasis on weight, on friction, on a molasses-like resistance that comes either from beyond or from inside of us. Sonically, this emphasis tends to manifest in a few different ways. First, and most famously, in the outsized, overtone heavy, feedback-laden chord. For an example, [check out **Pallbearer**’s “Foundations”](https://pallbearer.bandcamp.com/track/foundations?ref=aftermath.site) from 2014’s *Foundations of Burden*. Feel how massive those chords are, especially when combined with the drums and the vocals, which seem hopeless and forlorn. This is classic doom metal, which achieves its excess not by being faster or louder (though it can be *very* loud) but by being slower, to the point of sometimes ridiculous exaggeration. This first element of doom metal’s aesthetic is easy to connect with *Saros*. In fact, we already have. hTis is *exactly* how the chords which play in the background of *Saros*’s eclipse phase, feel: echoing, undulating, substantial. Slow in an ominous way. This also manifests in the scale of *Saros*’s world, full of giant flying monsters, massive machines that operate on a global scale, and world-ending weaponry all create that same feeling of slow, slouching, overwhelming size that lies at the core of doom metal. Doom is also famous for repetition; when something is repeated again and again, we often associate it with a “digging” sensation, an excavation, a pressing down of weight. [**Chrome Ghost**’s “The Diving Bell”](https://transylvanianrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/chrome-ghost-the-diving-bell?search%5Fitem%5Fid%3D3032609039%26search%5Fitem%5Ftype%3Da%26search%5Fmatch%5Fpart%3D%253F%26search%5Fpage%5Fid%3D5481188580%26search%5Fpage%5Fno%3D0%26search%5Frank%3D3=&ref=aftermath.site) is probably my favorite example of this. The main riff from the fourteen-minutes-and-change long track (we’re in doom metal country now, friends) does such a good job of making you feel the crushing weight of the ocean. It does this not just with size but also with repetition, enveloping you and pushing you under as it continues to pummel down that riff. Feels familiar? It’s how *Saros* deploys its core mechanic, one which relies on what often feels like endless repetition. This mechanic, which lies at the base of the “rogue-lite” genres of games, utilizes repetition to upend the “traditional” trajectory of player progression. Instead of a linear, one way journey where the protagonist grows ever more powerful, rogue-lite games force players to return to the start of the journey. From there, often with very little in hand to show from the previous “run”, the player must try again, utilizing the knowledge and resources of previous runs to progress slightly further before, inevitably, being sent to the beginning once again. Some games approach the repetition inherent to this style of game in a lighthearted way (like in *Cult of the Lamb* for example) but not here. *Saros* uses the mechanic to double down on the feeling of limbo, purgatory, or suspended life it can evoke. As the game goes on, with Arjun spinning deeper and deeper into Carcosa’s core, each repetition feels more hopeless than the last rather than more elucidating or fulfilling. Are we really making progress between each run? Are we really learning more about what happened on this planet? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/SAROS_7.jpg) Image Source: Housemarque In some ways, yes. In others, no. *Saros*’s loop is a bit futile from a gaming perspective. This one is subjective, but I felt like *Saros* is a far less generous game than others of its kind in what progression gives us. I never felt like I hit a powerspike in *Saros*; each run felt desperate. I was stronger but so was the world around me, pushing back on the fantasy of Arjun as action hero and establishing Arjun as a desperate Sisyphus the more I progressed. *Saros*’s repetition is just like doom metal’s—reprieve is rare, resistance and friction are a constant. As Arjun’s journey continues, knowledge itself begins to lose meaning, especially self-knowledge. Much of the game, in between its explosive beginning and its beguiling end, is spent in an oppressive excavation, a claustrophobic struggle against forces greater than anything in the protagonist’s toolkit or his capacity for understanding. What is more doom metal than staring at a golden, blazing sun and asking “wait, what exactly is even happening here?” The gameplay loop is used to obscure more than elucidate *Saros*’s lore, emphasizing the inherent folly in trying to “make sense” of things as complex as betrayal, love, purpose, belief, and desire. This is the last facet of doom metal: the futility of the attempt to know oneself or, rather, an anxiety with the unraveling of identity which can lie at the core of such attempts. Doom metal has a propensity for extreme cynicism of self exploration, emphasizing how often the results of such introspection end up being the self, and the self’s body, moving further away from the self-explorer’s understanding. A good example of this is [*Latitudes*’ “Body Within a Body”](https://latitudesuk.bandcamp.com/track/body-within-a-body?ref=aftermath.site), from the masterful *Old Sunlight*. Its lyrics, with their corporeal, infinite corridors, distant and alien sunlight, and ominous, eroding oceans, might as well have been written by a member of *Saros*’s Echelons, lost on Carcosa and witnessing the dissolution of their humanity. Along the four minute mark of this track, you also hear echoing chords that sound like prototypes for *Saros*’s soundtrack to an eerie degree. In fact, the song played in my head again and again as I was playing *Saros*, especially when interacting with my favorite NPC: Stack. Stack is a great example of how both *Saros* and doom metal view the intrepid self-explorer: he’s a lost diver, fumbling in a dark ocean of the subconscious, murky thoughts, biases, nefarious intent, and history. In the story of the game, Stack is the first to succumb to the urge to see the Yellow Shore. He attempts to visualize it, but ends up spiraling deeper and deeper into unintelligible madness and futility. The game and the style of music both are incredibly skeptical of our ability to solve the question of our own life and its meaning. Ultimately, in the music and in the game, these questions cannot be answered but only encountered and worked against. Arjun’s journey *and* the player’s journey are replete with golden suns, formerly human monstrosities, unknowable deities, many unanswered questions and the unbearable weight of many, many, *many* enemies and their manifold weaponry. Like other games before it, *Saros* uses metal’s powerful and distinct palette to paint this vivid world. Housemarque reached for the fecund, blazing, undulating, and massive style of doom metal to create *Saros*. ### You Should Check Out City Of God URL: https://aftermath.site/cyberpunk-edgerunners-2-anime-city-of-god/ Last updated: 2026-07-01T15:36:18.000Z Four years after dragging [*Cyberpunk 2077*](https://aftermath.site/cyberpunk-2077-phantom-liberty-sequel-interview/)’s damaged reputation [out of the muck](https://kotaku.com/cyberpunk-2077-players-edgerunners-netflix-anihttps://kotaku.com/cyberpunk-2077-players-edgerunners-netflix-anime-1849553540me-1849553540?ref=aftermath.site) of its [infamously disastrous launch](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-16/cyberpunk-2077-what-caused-the-video-game-s-disastrous-rollout?ref=aftermath.site), [*Cyberpunk: Edgerunners*](https://kotaku.com/cyberpunk-edgerunners-netflix-review-anime-trigger-2077-1849530790?ref=aftermath.site) is returning with a [second season](https://gizmodo.com/cyberpunk-edgerunners-2-teaser-trailer-2000778744?ref=aftermath.site) this fall on Netflix. And what better way to celebrate the arrival of its[ new quartet of anime characters](https://gizmodo.com/meet-the-new-chooms-of-cyberpunk-edgerunners-ii-2000778684?ref=aftermath.site)–whom we’ll undoubtedly white-knuckle alongside as they meet their neo-film noir end in [Night City](https://aftermath.site/cyberpunk-urban-design/) in novel, heartbreaking ways–than by priming ourselves with a certified classic piece of cinema that inspired the hero [fans hypothesize is destined to die the hardest](https://x.com/BriggBragg/status/2071372956354416838?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). Ever since Studio Trigger and CD Projekt Red showed off silhouettes of its new characters in the *Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2* teaser trailer and its new quartet of heroes in July 2025—which wasted no time reminding folks that [David Martinez is cadaveriffic](https://gizmodo.com/cyberpunk-edgerunners-david-martinez-alternate-ending-anime-netflix-2000778230?ref=aftermath.site)—I clocked something about the little kid with a camcorder, but kept my mouth shut. Now that those silhouettes have finally stepped into the light with four distinct, brilliant, retro character designs by [Kanno Ichigo](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=189739&ref=aftermath.site), I felt confident enough to flee to social media and do what any journalist would: I asked a question. > A witness to every gig’s cost, every fall, and every legend. 🎥 🎞️ > > \[CREW UPDATE\] // +1 EDGERUNNER // ROMAN CARAX [pic.twitter.com/WCnmM8Qyzi](https://t.co/WCnmM8Qyzi?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (@edgerunners) [June 27, 2026](https://x.com/edgerunners/status/2070930176393855400?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) My question was pointed at returning writer (and [Dark Horse spin-off manga author](https://gizmodo.com/cyberpunk-edgerunners-prequel-manga-proves-night-city-still-has-stories-worth-telling-2000758790?ref=aftermath.site)) [Bartosz Sztybor](https://gizmodo.com/cyberpunk-edgerunners-prequel-manga-lets-rebecca-bask-in-the-spotlight-2000564042?ref=aftermath.site). In a post on X/Twitter revealing *Edgerunner*’s aforementioned new crewmate, [Roman Carax](https://x.com/edgerunners/status/2070930176393855400?ref=aftermath.site), Sztybor revealed that the aspiring journalist was he and director [Kai Ikarashi](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=137706&ref=aftermath.site)’s “[love letter to cinema](https://x.com/sztybor%5Fwrites/status/2070937543546159591?s=20&ref=aftermath.site).” Being something of a cinephile myself, I asked Sztybor the question that’s been sitting in the back of my mind for nearly a year: > “*City of God*, yeah?” > I am so smart. [https://t.co/CSqoEjQB3N](https://t.co/CSqoEjQB3N?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/4fAou1RaJb](https://t.co/4fAou1RaJb?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Isaiah D. Colbert is on Bluesky (@ShinEyeZehUhh) [June 28, 2026](https://x.com/ShinEyeZehUhh/status/2071219931685801990?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Sztybor responded with a [GIF](https://x.com/sztybor%5Fwrites/status/2071095479702569330?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) from the very same film, confirming my suspicion: *Cyberpunk* *Edgerunners: 2* would be inspired by one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen. Oh, and that little boy might be even more cooked than David was. *City of God*, directed by Fernando Meirelles, is a 2002 crime drama set in Rio de Janeiro. It's also a political/gangster film based on a true story. But mostly, it’s a coming-of-age tale that follows Rocket, an aspiring photojournalist. Rocket also happens to be in the good graces of *City of God*’s reigning drug lord, Li’l Ze. That relationship is strained, since Li’l Ze used to run with Rocket’s older brother as part of the Robin Hood-esque Tender Trio before the former shot the latter after a job went south and pocketed the money for himself. Their whirlwind relationship is made all the more debilitating when Rocket goes from taking aura-farming photos of his gang and other matters of their criminal monopoly to giving those photos to reporters for publication in newspapers. All the while, gang warfare rises like the summer heat off a car’s dashboard, as cops take bribes to look the other way, egos get bruised with dire consequences, and love blossoms between Rocket and the very taken Angélica. In what I’ve [gone on record arguing](https://aftermath.site/nippon-sangoku-anime-prime-video/) but bears repeating, *City of God* does what Alex Garland’s A24 [(lol)](https://gizmodo.com/a24-wants-you-to-be-nice-about-its-google-ai-deal-2000778542?ref=aftermath.site) political drama [*Civil War*](https://aftermath.site/a24-alex-garland-civil-war-looks-like-a-mess-but-i-see-what-youre-going-for/) doesn’t. It's a visceral, on-the-ground psychological drama about corruption in all its systemic palettes. And unlike that story, told through the whitest lens of journalism and giving the same sanctimonious self-importance as [*The* *Newsroom*](https://youtu.be/ypsQO3dFiB8?ref=aftermath.site), *City of God* sticks the landing with its hard-earned depiction of Rocket’s struggle to decide whether to document the ugly truths he sees through his camera lens and how it affects those closest to him. Translation: it actually hits on the moral quandary of [photojournalist Kevin Carter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin%5FCarter?ref=aftermath.site)’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph [*The Vulture and the Little Girl*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FVulture%5Fand%5Fthe%5FLittle%5FGirl?ref=aftermath.site). To film bros, *City of God* is mostly known for its stand-off between rival gangs, with Rocket, his camera, and a wayward chicken [(whom I still believe was a paid actor)](https://letterboxd.com/eyezehuhh/film/city-of-god/?ref=aftermath.site) caught in the crossfire. If you love the dreamy-meets-grimy cinematography of Wong Kar-Wai, Michael Mann, and Hou Hsiao-hsien’s *Millennium Mambo*, rest assured knowing *City of God* moves within the same frequency. But for our purposes, *City of God* is a masterwork that deserves eternal homage and serves as the perfect blueprint for Trigger and CD Projekt Red to weave a new tale in the FUBAR Night City. As we see in the teaser trailer, much of the anime will reject the modernity of snuff film-equse Braindance chips and embrace the tradition of Roman recording “the truth” of all the horrors that take place in Night City, with all the grotesque gravitas of a LiveLeak video. Great, I can’t wait to see how [not Team 7](https://x.com/Okami13%5F/status/2071191291291922654?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) gets their way out of that jam. I love a “[the city always wins](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OifiVCnFKzM&ref=aftermath.site)” theme and look forward to crying for Roman the moment whatever semblance of faith he has left in humanity is dashed against the rocks and captured in 720p. > [#rkgk](https://x.com/hashtag/rkgk?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#cypherpunk](https://x.com/hashtag/cypherpunk?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) little guy i draw [pic.twitter.com/oZMQ4DMAcl](https://t.co/oZMQ4DMAcl?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 绿植 (@scindapsus114) [June 28, 2026](https://x.com/scindapsus114/status/2071284395261218961?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) For those needing something a little more concrete to hold onto until *Cyberpunk: Edgerunner 2*’s release, here’s a link to [Anime Corner](https://animecorner.me/interview-bartosz-sztybor-on-cyberpunk-edgerunners-working-with-studio-trigger-and-happy-endings/?ref=aftermath.site)’s excellent interview with Sztybor, some stills, as well as the show’s logline: > *Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2* presents a new standalone 10-episode story from the world of *Cyberpunk 2077*— a raw chronicle of redemption and revenge. In a city that thrives in the spotlight of violence, one question remains: when the world is blinded by spectacle, what extremes do you have to go to make your story matter? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/CPER2_EP1_063.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/CPER2_EP1_027-R.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/CPER2_EP1_044.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/CPER2_EP1_020.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/CPER2_EP2_025.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/CPER2_EP1_004.jpg) *Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2* hits Netflix this fall. ## Recommended [Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Was A Welcome Reminder Of The Folly Of Hubris - AftermathThis wasn’t exactly a redemption arc![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-3e8dea68-97fc-45b1-8bc5-7cb486964556.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/20231012202504_1-3-448927c5-7d90-4b0a-a8e9-fbf15bf792e7.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/cyberpunk-2077-phantom-liberty-was-a-welcome-exercise-in-the-folly-of-hubris/) ### I Believe In The Idea Of 'Marathon Steve' URL: https://aftermath.site/marathon-steve-reddit/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T03:39:55.000Z Earlier today the world's attention was[ turned](https://bsky.app/profile/ianboudreau.com/post/3mpgnaiwqes2h?ref=aftermath.site) towards[ a post on the *Marathon* Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Marathon/comments/1uisfms/marathon%5Faccording%5Fto%5Fmy%5Ffriend%5Fsteve/?ref=aftermath.site), and the story about a guy called 'Steve'. Steve's tale is an odd but also familiar one. A long-time friend of the OP, Carpocalypto, the story goes that Steve is an infrequent gamer, but one who recently picked up *Marathon* [under the mistaken impression it was like the original Mac games](https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-singleplayer/) and had been playing it entirely wrong, for hours and hours, weeks and weeks. > Here is a list of things we talked through once we partied up and I discovered something was amiss: > > \-Steve thought the point of the game was to kill as many robots as possible, like the old Mac games. That's it. He had never extracted, at least to his knowledge. > > \-Steve had not completed a single quest (completed/claimed rewards). > > \-Steve had not claimed a single faction agent reward package. > > \-Steve had not done any 'Introducing...' quests to unlock other factions. > > \-Steve had not claimed a single codex entry. > > \-Steve wasn't sure if he'd ever been killed by another player. And it just goes on and on and on. Eventually, after linking up to play together online, Steve is shown how to *actually* play *Marathon*, and enjoys it so much he reportedly ends up texting 'Exfilling while I'm mid fire fight with a huge amount of loot and still smoking fools is next to heaven!" There's a lot to be gained here, a lot to take from this story. There are onboarding issues with modern game design to unpack, there's the beauty of a friend holding your hand and showing you the wonders of a video game. There's the blissful ignorance of how Steve had been playing the game up until Level 45 without understanding some of its most basic concepts, yet had obviously still been finding some kind of fun there regardless. Then, of course, there's the matter of whether Steve is even a real person. He could be real; OP posts a few videos in an update at the end of the post that claim to prove this, but it's the internet in 2026, so who knows. A lot of people[ in the thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Marathon/comments/1uisfms/marathon%5Faccording%5Fto%5Fmy%5Ffriend%5Fsteve/?ref=aftermath.site), and beyond, have serious doubts about it. I don't think it matters if Marathon Steve is real or not, because Marathon Steve is more interesting as a parable than he is as a person. He's a type of gamer who I'm sure we have all met and even played with at some point or another. I know multiple Crusader Kings Steves, who ignore the game's Crusades and elections and research and construction systems to focus only on dynastic politics and locking their enemies in dungeons. I've seen NBA2K Steves in the wild, who will only play the game's league/manager mode, leaving whole swathes of its most polished and focused content untouched. Similarly, I'm a Hearts Of Iron Steve myself; while I at least know about the depth of the game's production, supply and organisational screens, I often just like to jump on as Australia, train some divisions then send them '[I'm helping](https://tenor.com/search/im-helping-gifs?ref=aftermath.site)' style[ off to the front for some quick battlemap drawings](https://aftermath.site/strategy-game-turn-based-tactics-movement/). And that's fine, I love that! Even knowing I'm neglecting entire systems, I am picking my own fun blocks out of this video game's toybox. Whether Steve is real or not, or whether this story is even about *Marathon* or not isn't really the point here. What I think we all got out of reading this story is that we all know a Steve, and we've all been a Steve. ### I Have Diagnosed Myself With Profile Picture Disorder URL: https://aftermath.site/i-have-diagnosed-myself-with-profile-picture-disorder/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T19:34:44.000Z I've worked from home, mostly alone and on the internet, for nearly 20 years now. While to many people I meet in person that sounds amazing, I know in my heart--who else would know it, I work alone, I've got nobody else to tell!!--that it has fucked me up in loads of ways I don't think there is currently a proper scientific way to identify I started blogging for Kotaku in October 2006, meaning I'd done it for 14 years already by the time Covid hit in 2020 and the rest of the planet was introduced, at speed, to the concept of doing your office job from home. And for most it was great! People are rightly campaigning to be able to work like that *forever* if they want! [I wrote at the time, though, that there were huge downsides to working from home](https://kotaku.com/how-to-work-from-home-1842144908?ref=aftermath.site). The loneliness could get you, for sure, and there are health and focus issues to deal with as well. But one of the longest-lasting and most debilitating consequences for me (at least in select circumstances) has been the development of something I call Profile Picture Disorder. Before I started working on the internet, I met and remembered people the same way humans have for millennia, and probably the same way you still do. I would learn their name, see their face and remember those, then everything else I ever said or dealt with in relation to that person would be stored in my brain under that name. This is the best way humans can do this, because it's the way everyone does it and has always done it. If you say to me "hey have you met Tim Timothy", I can say "Sure have, I met him last week", and I remember that because his name is Tim Timothy, and we both know what he looks like. Even if I forget his name, as they saying goes, we never forget a face! 20 years of working online has changed that for me. I've dealt with so many people on platforms like Bluesky, Discord and Instagram, where I'd only communicate via text, that after a while I noticed that I'd stopped filing everything I knew about someone under their name, and had instead starting filing it under the ways I recognised them on the internet: some blurred synthesis of their handle and ever-changing and entirely not-their-actual-face profile picture, in a way that meant I could always remember it, but which made conveying information about them to others verbally (in meetings, interviews, on podcasts, whatever) increasingly difficult! This is even worse in-person, in those times where I have to/get to meet people in the flesh who I've only ever previously spoken to online, because it's frequently led to situations where I initially come across as a complete dickhead, someone who has entirely forgotten every interaction with a person I may have interacted with hundreds of times, when I haven't! It's just that in my head everything I know about you is filed under an illustration of your cat and the name "ShitP0ster420" instead of your human face and regular name, and as soon as I resolve that, we're all good! I'd noticed this happening for many years now, even before Covid, but had kept it mostly to myself because, well, it was something that only seemed to affect me. But in a recent conversation online--with people I've mostly never met IRL, and who I remember as a collection of small round images and usernames--I posted about my "condition" on BlueSky and had quite a few folks reply to tell me they go through *exactly* the same thing. In one way, that's reassuring. I have not cultivated a truly *unique* form of cognitive degradation. Phew. In another, it's less comforting; what if this is something that is quietly afflicting a lot of people out there, in ways that might not be *serious*, but which are at least annoying, and also maybe worthy of further study? The internet has fucked us all up in so many ways. The ecosystems around information, news, social interactions, marketplaces–they've all been upended over the last 10-15 years as the early internet (do your banking, maybe use a forum!) was replaced by the social internet (sell you things, drive you insane). All of that requires further research, and in some cases action, but stuff like my little "disorder" is the kind of thing that sometimes interests me the most. Like, what has the internet done to us? In this very particular case, it's taken an aspect of functional human society (meeting people) and just replaced it wholesale with something else entirely, something that only works for me on the internet, and which is useless at best in the real world and humiliating at worst. That's a net negative for me, and I hate it. (If you have or are experiencing something like this, please let me know below, it's fascinating hearing about everyone's different names and takes for this!) ### Accessory Company Yanks Companion Cube Steam Machine Case Because It Never Actually Asked Valve For Permission URL: https://aftermath.site/dbrand-portal-companion-cube-steam-machine-valve-permission/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T19:34:29.000Z Dbrand, a consumer electronics accessories company with a much longer [“controversies” section on its Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbrand?ref=aftermath.site) than you’d expect from such a thing, now finds itself in hot water again after attempting to sell a Steam Machine case themed around the Weighted Companion Cube from *Portal*. Just one problem: Dbrand did not obtain permission from Valve to do so. This week, after going so far as to send out physical samples of the case to press, Dbrand [announced on Reddit](https://old.reddit.com/r/dbrand/comments/1uivg8m/rip%5Fcompanion%5Fcube/?ref=aftermath.site) that the cube’s flying off shelves and into the incinerator. “On November 12th 2025, the day the Steam Machine was announced, we put up a concept render and sign-up page to see if anyone would be interested in a Companion Cube enclosure,” the company wrote. “It went moderately viral, with over fifteen thousand people signing up to be notified in the first day. In the months that followed, we built the idea into something real without ever asking Valve if we could. We’re going to regret that decision for a very long time.” Dbrand claims that more than one thousand hours of engineering work went into the case, and it was redesigned from scratch more than once. Further, the company says that following the case’s launch on June 22, it quickly became the second-fastest selling product in its whole history. It is, if nothing else, odd that nobody involved in this laborious process thought to reach out to Valve. Valve, according to Dbrand, agrees. “Shortly after \[launch\], Valve’s legal team reached out,” Dbrand wrote. “They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which Dbrand does not have a license. They requested we take down the product and launch film immediately. This was entirely within their rights, and they were direct, fair, and respectful throughout. We took everything down and made an appeal. We asked Valve whether there was any way to keep the project alive: properly licensed, with their blessing, on their terms. They said no. Given our backwards approach of building first and asking permission later, it was a fair answer.” This is not the first time Dbrand has made the puzzling decision to create an accessory for which it could be sued by a gaming giant. Back in 2021, it attempted to release custom PS5 faceplates, something for which Sony had sued another company in the past. At the time, Dbrand even [dared Sony to sue it](https://gizmodo.com/dbrand-dares-sony-to-sue-over-its-new-black-faceplates-1846258088?ref=aftermath.site), at which point the purveyor of all things PlayStation [replied with a cease and desist](https://www.reddit.com/r/dbrand/comments/q94jua/darkplates%5Fare%5Fdead%5Fthanks%5Fsony/?ref=aftermath.site). Dbrand ultimately redesigned the product to avoid infringement. Are these elaborate marketing schemes or evidence of institutional boneheadedness? As is often the case in situations like these, why not both? “To everyone who was as excited about this project as we were: thank you, and sorry,” Dbrand wrote of the Companion Cube case. “Refunds are being issued today. If it hasn’t landed in your account by the end of this week, you know how to reach us. To Valve: thank you for *Portal*, and sorry for the headache. We should’ve asked first.” ### 'Big Three' Chip Makers Set Up 'Coordinated Scheme' To Fix Memory Pricing, Alleges New Lawsuit URL: https://aftermath.site/samsung-micron-antitrust-price-fixing-lawsuit/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T19:04:00.000Z A global memory shortage is pushing computer components, and, subsequently, consumer electronics, to extraordinary prices. All major video game console makers have increased prices—[some as many as three times](https://aftermath.site/xbox-price-increase-again-and-again/)—as the cost of putting together these devices keeps rising. The shortage of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) is often tied to how much memory the data centers that power artificial intelligence need. Now, a group of consumers are suing the big three chip makers—Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix—for what they call a "coordinated scheme" to raise the price of hardware. More so, these companies have been sued under similar price fixing allegations multiple times in the past. One of those lawsuits failed, but the earlier of the two led to hundreds of millions of dollars in fines, and several executives in jail. The [proposed class action lawsuit](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.472931/gov.uscourts.cand.472931.1.0.pdf?ref=aftermath.site), [reported first by Law360](https://www.law360.com/articles/2493985/major-chipmakers-sued-for-price-fixing-amid-rampocalypse-?ref=aftermath.site), was filed on June 25 in the United States District Court's Northern District of California for alleged violations of the Sherman Act, the Cartwright Act, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the Minnesota Antrust Law, the Wisconsin Antitrust Act, and the New York Donnelly Act. All of this legislation is designed to prevent monopolization and anticompetitive business strategies. Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix make up 91% of DRAM revenue, per the complaint. Lawyers allege that these three companies are price fixing "through a series of parallel actions that, taken together, constitute a comprehensive program of supply management by agreement." The scheme, they say, is a supply restriction that began in 2022\. All three companies cut production in 2022 and 2023 when demand dropped; the companies wanted to decrease inventory. In 2023, the companies shifted resources from DRAM to high bandwidth memory (HBM), used to support AI. The availability of "commodity DRAM" for consumer electronics, in response, was reduced. The complaint also alleges that Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix also stopped producing DDR3 and limited DDR4, which is a type of RAM that's older and therefore used for cheaper, entry-level computers. Prices rose in response. It's coordinated, lawyers say, because all of these companies did this in the same time frame. "TrendForce further forecast that data centers will consume approximately 70% of all memory chips produced in 2026, creating supply shortfalls that will spread to consumer, smartphone, automotive, and other segments," lawyers write in the complaint. "The remaining 30% of global memory output must serve billions of devices and hundreds of millions of users worldwide—a structural deficit that guarantees supracompetitive pricing for the foreseeable future." Lawyers pointed out that these three companies (or its predecessors and subsidiaries), which the government called cartels, were found guilty of price fixing in the early 2000s. That shortage was often linked to "a surge in demand for wireless phones and handheld computers," [according to the New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/11/business/mattel-says-chip-shortage-may-cause-lost-sales.html?ref=aftermath.site). The chip shortage impacted technology companies, but also toymakers like Mattel, [who made talking dolls](http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/11/business/mattel-says-chip-shortage-may-cause-lost-sales.html?ref=aftermath.site). Both Samsung and SK Hynix pled guilty; [Samsung paid a $300 million fine](https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2005/October/05%5Fat%5F540.html?ref=aftermath.site). Several Samsung executives were also [found guilty and served prison sentences](https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2007/April/07%5Fat%5F263.html?ref=aftermath.site). SK Hynix [paid a $185 million fine](https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2005/April/05%5Fat%5F207.htm?ref=aftermath.site). Some executives [served jail time, too](https://www.justice.gov/archive/atr/public/press%5Freleases/2006/214843.htm?ref=aftermath.site). Micron avoided fines and jail time by "reporting the cartel and cooperating with the Department of Justice," according to the complaint. Infineon Technologies and Elpida Memory were the other two companies charged. [The European Commission also fined](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip%5F10%5F586?ref=aftermath.site) the companies in 2010. Another class action lawsuit was filed against Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix in 2018 for alleged price fixing from 2016 to 2017\. At that time, the companies controlled [96% of the market](https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/03/07/21-15125.pdf?ref=aftermath.site). The judge awarded in favor of the three companies, [a decision that was reinforced by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2022](https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/03/07/21-15125.pdf?ref=aftermath.site). The judge said in the decision that the claims were conceivable, but that the plaintiffs did not "allege additional facts that push their theory over 'the line between possibility and plausibility.'" The judge said that the companies stockpiled DRAM leading into 2016, then had too much as DRAM prices declined. They all cut production in response. Demand increased, creating the shortage. In 2025, Micron announced its exit from the consumer market entirely. The shortage is expected to last for several more years, [according to SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won](https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/sk-group-chairman-says-memory-chip-shortage-will-last-until-2030?ref=aftermath.site). It's touching all sorts of industries; anything that needs memory. A Microsoft Series X console now costs $800, up from its launch price of $500\. Both Sony and Nintendo have raised their prices, as has Apple, which increased MacBook and iPad prices up to 20%. "The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge,” [an Apple representative said in a statement to press](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/apple-macbook-ipad-price-hike-memory.html??ref=aftermath.site). “The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. Valve's new Steam Machine will launch at a price over $1,000, thanks to the shortage. [A Valve employee told Gamers Nexus](https://youtu.be/66QzlDewigE?si=5wDI8hdkY0JWqD6w&t=788&ref=aftermath.site) in June that the DRAM producers give Valve a price and it must take it or leave it. "It's yes or no," the Valve employee said. "And if we say no, then they never talk to us again." The next major step for the current lawsuit is for the plaintiffs to argue for class action status. A judge must first certify a class of consumers before moving forward. ### In The Right Hands, A Nintendo Entertainment System Can Be A Weapon URL: https://aftermath.site/nintendo-entertainment-system-nes-aew-all-elite-wrestling-forbidden-door/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T17:12:10.000Z In these trying times, when everyone is arguing over the [exponentially growing price tag for an obelisk to play the latest video games](https://aftermath.site/xbox-price-increase-again-and-again/) and whether that price is [worth 14 stacks](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/) before [AI plunges the entertainment industry into the technological Ides of March](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/), professional wrestling—ever the [purveyor of what we should all be focusing on](https://aftermath.site/stardom-utami-hayashita-saya-kamitani-aphrodite-toxic-yuri-joshi-puroresu/)—dared to answer a question no one thought to ask: Can a console be used as a weapon? Yes. On Sunday, June 28, All Elite Wrestling hosted [Forbidden Door](https://youtu.be/ZGyidPTFbCY?ref=aftermath.site) at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The pay-per-view—whose name is a nod to the once-sacrosanct phenomenon where promotions would never intermingle—was truly a wrestling event where everyone was there. There were wrestlers from Japan’s World Wonder Ring Stardom and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Mexico’s Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), hell, even [Sonic The Hedgehog was there](https://x.com/ItsGoodyLuck/status/2071425914882105844?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). But the real star of the night of the four-and-a-half-hour (and some-change) pay-per-view wasn’t the wrestlers; it was the Nintendo Entertainment System. One of Forbidden Door’s “triple main events” was a ten-man tag team match inside of a newly fangled cylindrical steel cage, dubbed “Death’s Door.” This match is what I’d affectionately call AEW’s mandated Looney Tunes match for sickos where anything that could happen did. Men were [flapjacked onto a bed of thumbtacks](https://x.com/AEW/status/2071439258397655222?s=20&ref=aftermath.site), had oranges squeezed into their open wounds, and had [a backpack explode in their face, careening them off the top of the cage onto a two-tier stacked table](https://x.com/AEW/status/2071443235679998378?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). But the spot that got the loudest pop from the crowd wasn’t any of the above; it was when a wrestler upped the ante by pulling out an NES and started using it as a weapon. > “He’s got a Nintendo!” > WHAT’S IN THE BAG?! An NES?! > > Watch [#ForbiddenDoor](https://x.com/hashtag/ForbiddenDoor?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) LIVE on HBO Max PPV [pic.twitter.com/FskNX807ht](https://t.co/FskNX807ht?ref=aftermath.site) > > — All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) [June 29, 2026](https://x.com/AEW/status/2071438267107492014?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) The wrestler we have to thank for Nintendo’s console making an appearance at Forbidden Door was [Kyle O’Reilly.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle%5FO%27Reilly?ref=aftermath.site) And boy howdy, did O’Reilly get every imaginable use out of the NES as a blunt-force object. Out of the many ways O’Reilly inflicted pain on his adversaries with the retro Nintendo console, the one detail I’m especially tickled by wasn’t him blowing on the cartridge before inserting it (of course) into the NES and bashing it into Kyle Fletcher’s bald head, nor was it Tony Schiavone begging O’Reilly to “bring us back to the 80s with *Donkey Kong*” on commentary. My favorite part was the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail of the rectangular controller being wrapped in barbed wire. Turns out that makes it even more effective as a weapon when used as a nunchuck. Hopefully, [Nintendo’s legion of fun-hating lawyers ](https://aftermath.site/pokemon-lawyer-cease-desist-fan-project-pikachu-movie/)don’t catch wind of the extracurricular use of their retro console and give AEW grief for it. Instead, they should take it as a compliment to how timelessly versatile their hardware is. ## Recommended [How Kenny Omega’s AEW Wrestling Theme Came To Life - AftermathAhead of AEW: All In Texas, Little V Mills shares how he came up with “Battle Cry” as Omega’s wrassling anthem![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-b8eece32-1ab7-4c49-84cd-a48811f0c7b4.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/kenny-omega-aew-little-v-mills-battle-cry-3-df880e14-8539-4621-a375-9eff747eed2d.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/kenny-omega-aew-wrestling-little-v/) ## ### Full Steam (Machine) Ahead URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/full-steam-machine-ahead/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T19:06:06.000Z This week on Aftermath Hours, Chris, Gita and Luke get together to talk about Chris's mammoth review for the [Steam Machine](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/). Then, we pose the question: Is *Grand Theft Auto VI* going to be the last big video game? The Steam Machine is $1,049 USD, but unfortunately that's kind of just what computers cost now. Chris *does* make it sound like a really cool little PC, but in this economy? This conversation leads into the looming release of [*Grand Theft Auto VI*](https://aftermath.site/gta-6-physical-copies-have-no-disc/), which hangs over us all like the sword of Damocles. Can the industry support another [huge video game release](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/) after this game comes out? And why does none of it strike a chord with Luke, who is ostensibly a *GTA* guy? Then we hit the mailbag for a surprisingly robust discussion of the merits of the Ghost CMS, among other things. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review! [The Steam Machine Is An Iconoclastic Computer Born In Unforgiving TimesValve has released a tiny, silent, entry level PC that does important work bringing PCs gaming to the living room and desktop Linux to the masses. The timing could not be worse.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-eb2e22d8-06d0-44b8-a13c-c98b98075453.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/A015_04230104_S040-1-8b3f86cf-9dfe-495b-93cd-0c872264dc14.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/) ### Bless The BC250, The Budget E-waste Steam Machine URL: https://aftermath.site/bc250-steam-machine-budget-computer/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T01:51:02.000Z [Steam Machine](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/) costs too much for what it is because people who build computers for fun currently live in hell. There’s no getting around the basic economic math of the situation around RAM and memory, particularly because Valve does not have the same kind of purchasing power and supply chain clout as companies like Apple or Sony. Faced with this reality, people are making do, and one method is an obscure card originally meant to be shoved into server racks to mine cryptocurrency: the BC250. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/bc250.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IDG_20260402_201208_347-2.jpg) This is it. It's basically a neutered PS5 they shoved into servers to make imaginary scam money. Making scam money is no longer profitable. The ASRock BC250 is designed around AMD’s "Cyan Skillfish" APU, an RDNA 2-based board that is functionally a cut down PS5\. It was used originally to mine cryptocurrency. Since it is no longer profitable to run these things in servers to mine bitcoin, many of them appeared on the secondary market as e-waste. I have heard they went for as little as 100 dollars but that is no longer the case, and I got mine for about $177 with shipping, which included a 128gb SSD. Despite having fairly lean performance by gaming standards, the board includes something worth its weight in gold: 16 gigs of GDDR6 RAM soldered right in there that cannot be salvaged and scalped. The cost of that RAM alone is worth more than the board itself. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/733a9c7006dee0d9.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/1d67da96059b75a5-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/16fc9bc86a42a7d1-4.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/2025-03-13_2edb1cdf32e8c.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/AP1GczORyY5kUpY3SW2iY8A-pYWKxE2APNM9nKGfnvjCYz9b8Rp4j79pHMGJ2sTdwwbJ_FfqQMfbRhB3ZGbHMfxkvoBHo3gjAhATWIu3r2h6-M45qRCmmZgmNy-2VLSCE3ZBvhnxDREZdr-V-q1XfJbfpKJlGAw1279-h719-s-no.png) There's so many BC250 cases you can print at this point. Credit: [Janjd](https://makerworld.com/en/models/2354123-noctua-push-pull-mod-for-bc-250-shell-case?from=search&ref=aftermath.site), [Pocket Adventures](https://makerworld.com/en/models/2350219-asrock-amd-bc-250-steam-machine-case?from=search&ref=aftermath.site#profileId-2640428), [Kacikor](https://makerworld.com/en/models/2400574-bc-250-case-internal-psu-2x-140mm-fans?from=search&ref=aftermath.site#profileId-2631139), [Onemorecap](https://makerworld.com/en/models/1206445-asrock-amd-bc-250-shell-case?ref=aftermath.site), [Gadget](https://www.printables.com/model/1746364-the-lanboy-a-bc250-portable-arcade-machine?ref=aftermath.site) Getting a BC250 to work using off the shelf parts is difficult because you’re attempting to use it for something it was never intended for. A BC250 build is thornier than any off the shelf PC build, for something less performant. But the reality is that for many people, “slightly less than or about as powerful as a PS5” is enough. The challenge of building a garbage computer and squeezing every last drop of performance out of it is intoxicating for a specific kind of dork with too much time, or someone who writes about this stuff for a living. It also cuts to the core of what makes PC building fun. The community that has formed around it has come up with several solutions and workarounds that are bizarre, ingenious, and frankly heartwarming. **Warning: this is a trickier build than a PC depending on your build. If you decide to do this, know what you’re getting into.** The card was originally intended to be placed in server racks, which have a specific kind of directional airflow that does not work in a traditional cooling setup. The finstack is bent in a specific directional manner. If you are trying to cool a PC you don’t typically make a cooler like this, with one notable and somewhat ironic exception: the Steam Machine, with its bizarrely powerful and optimized shroud and fan combo. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IDG_20260621_193339_397-1.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_5670-1.jpeg) The Steam Machine (Left) and BC250's Cooler (Right) share a similar kind of fin stack design normally seen in servers. If you want to properly cool the BC250 you have several options in increasing difficulty: zip tie a fan on it and hope for the best, use a 3D printed tool or pliers bend the fins, create a weird plastic shroud to tunnel air through it, or remove the cooler entirely and adapt an existing air cooler or AIO to it. Since I love a challenge and wanted the build to be as quiet as possible, I decided to go that last route. But there are plenty of people online who sell printed cases. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IDG_20260513_220327_501.jpg) The BC250, minus the cooler, and with an adapter I printed out to get the screw holes to fit the cooler I got on eBay because the US sanctioned DeepCool. The case I went with was decidedly larger than many of the others, and was made by a person who goes by [Gadget](https://www.printables.com/model/1652979-bc-250-quiet-case-feat-deepcool-tower-cooler?ref=aftermath.site). Throughout my build and in the Discord, Gadget advised me in my build. Most BC250 cases are 3D printed, and due to the heat generated by the components, this limits the types of plastics you can use to PETG at minimum for the case and nastier plastics like ASA or ABS for anything remotely close to heat-generating components. Because the BC250 was never meant to accommodate a standard tower cooler, this meant I had to drag my 3D printer outside to print a heat resistant bracket that a stranger had put online. After many dead ends, I finally found one that fit exactly. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/PXL_20260329_135206642.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/PXL_20260329_145606047.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/PXL_20260329_161845709.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/PXL_20260403_065734337.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/PXL_20260329_170926123.jpg) Gadget's build is on the larger end, but has great airflow. He used slightly different parts than I did: his PSU does not require an adapter, and he utilized a different CPU bracket. Gadget was nice enough to modify the case for me to fit my parameters. Credit: [Gadget](https://www.printables.com/model/1652979-bc-250-quiet-case-feat-deepcool-tower-cooler?ref=aftermath.site) Gadget’s case checks a lot of boxes: It fits together in two parts and uses heat inserts (screw holes heated and inserted into plastic with a soldering iron) and parts you can get off of Amazon. It has a rear fan for exhaust and a front 140mm fan (I went with a 30mm thick one that pushes absurd amounts of air). I followed Gadget’s build for compatibility issues, but because he is based in France, I ran into the issue of being able to track down a secondhand DeepCool cooler to match the one he used. This is because DeepCool was [sanctioned and banned for US sale](https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cooling/us-sanctions-pc-cooling-and-power-supply-maker-deepcool-for-selling-products-to-russia-fueling-its-war-efforts-in-ukraine?ref=aftermath.site) for selling parts to Russia, although there’s a company called Sudokoo that bears a striking resemblance. I probably could have used a lower profile cooler, but I didn’t want to risk it, so I purchased a secondhand one on eBay. During the build, Gadget tweaked the parameters of the case to slightly improve compatibility with coolers that were not the specific one he used. For memory, appropriately, I used a leftover 512gb hard drive I harvested from my Steam Deck when I upgraded it. Gadget’s case also has space for a front USB hub as well as a latching power button. ![A card with a big cooler on it.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IDG_20260513_221227_771.JPG) OK, sure, it looks kinda absurd. For a power supply I went with this small form factor PSU called a FSP500-30AS. If you’re in the States at this exact moment the secondary market is currently lousy with these; they’re a shockingly good power supply, and if you’re smart with offers you can usually get one for between $10-25\. It is, however, a weird power supply meant for specific small form factors and does not use a 24 pin connector, so I used a special adapter to connect the power button and fan headers made by a robotics student. Figuring all this out — the basic issues of compatibility and slowly printing out versions of the case while working on projects ambiently — took a few weeks of work on and off, as I isolated various issues related to the power button and PSU specifically. The whole thing only happened because of the kindness of strangers. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_3857-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_3849_1-1.webp) There is already custom hardware for this specific PSU adapter when combined with the BC250\. Credit: [mosfet.party](https://mosfet.party/products/adapter-1?ref=aftermath.site) Because of the specifics of how the BC250 works, you need to flash an entirely new bios in order to install your specific variant of Linux (and only Linux; this thing has no Windows-based GPU drivers). The [instructions on the wiki](https://elektricm.github.io/amd-bc250-docs/?ref=aftermath.site) are fairly straightforward although more complicated than flashing a normal motherboard bios, as it requires you to set custom values and [remove a coin battery from the board for a minute to reset it.](https://elektricm.github.io/amd-bc250-docs/bios/flashing/?ref=aftermath.site) From there your choices are usually CachyOS or Bazzite, and I tried installing both for the sake of the piece. CachyOS is what you use if you want to tweak things, and given this was probably going to a friend I don’t want to do that. I personally like Bazzite quite a lot, and it’s significantly less fiddly at this point, which is nice because the BC250 is a fairly fiddly build already. Regardless of what OS you choose, you’re going to need to make several changes to the system after the fact if you want to make it run well. This involves installing a GPU governor so the board can scale between 1000 MHz to up to 2230 MHz instead of being locked at 1500MHz. This results in not only better gaming performance, but also better sustained temperatures and power consumption at idle. You also have to install custom monitoring components, which differ depending on if you want PWM fan control or not (you probably do). The wiki is fairly straightforward on walking you through the steps, but much of it requires working in the terminal to add these components manually. Once you’re done, you have a machine that has perfectly fine gaming performance, roughly a 1060ti, provided you don’t go above 1080p. For more people than you’d think, this is enough. ![Text showing the EFI shell installing custom bios.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_5611.jpeg) Once again, I'm in. ## **Unlocking the cores** The BC250 is functionally repurposed e-waste and features fewer compute units than the PS5 when you get it. This is a byproduct of certain compute units not passing quality control. In total you’re looking at 24 CU instead of the 36 CU of the PS5, but all told there are up to 40 on the board locked off. But just because the cores are locked away does not mean that some or potentially all of them don’t work. The community not only figured out how to find those [locked off cores](https://github.com/duggasco/bc250-40cu-unlock?ref=aftermath.site), but also the means of potentially testing them to see which ones are good or bad. Someone even published an extensive white paper on the topic. The potential gains are significant, and YouTuber ETA Prime clocked an up to +28% gain in performance gain without resorting to overlocking. To me this is mind boggling; they literally turned the graphics on. ETA Prime's breakdown where he tests the BC250's 40 Compute Units, building on work by others like YouTuber [OldLamer](https://www.youtube.com/@OldLamer?ref=aftermath.site). The community has developed a script for detecting the layout of the compute units in the BC250, and thus get a good sense of which CUs are faulty. If you’re unlucky, you may have faulty cores. But sometimes, you win the silicon lottery and they’re all good. While much of this is trial and error and involves stress testing, there is one that the community claimed indicates that you’ve won the jackpot for all 40 cores. The pattern looks like this, and I was pleased to learn I won: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot_20260624_154943.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot_20260626_144356-1.png) My card's compute units vs. the [one in the white paper](https://github.com/duggasco/bc250-40cu-unlock/blob/main/docs/whitepaper-cu-unlock.pdf?ref=aftermath.site). The paper notes that 74% of units they tested had the full 40 available compute units. This is no guarantee and further testing is required to ensure the CUs are healthy. After enabling the missing compute units, doing fan curves, and changing the memory allocation to a static 10GB/6GB split, I was able to pull an average of 58.95 fps out of *Cyberpunk*’s benchmark at 1080p on high settings without FSR or RT enabled. At the same settings, the Steam Machine clocked in at 73.27 fps. This isn’t a thorough benchmark, sure, and it's still a significant edge to the Steam Machine. But one of those costs at least $1,050, and the other costs about 15% of that. Granted it took me well over a month to make it my way, involved a bit of luck, and the experience is definitely less pleasant, but that’s still quite impressive. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/signal-2026-06-25-000100.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/signal-2026-06-25-001502.jpeg) At 1080p High with no FSR, the BC250 with 40 CU turned on was able to put out numbers that could not match the Steam Machine. Not bad for garbage though. This is just a rough benchmark without overclocking on Bazzite. There’s a lot to love about the BC250, but build difficulty aside it isn’t without drawbacks. The CPU is a legitimate bottleneck, and while you may be able to get it in the same rough shooting distance as the Steam Machine currently, it’s nowhere near as optimized. Sleep behavior is basically nonexistent. The Steam Machine is as quiet as the grave and sips a tiny amount of energy at idle, while the BC250 is more energy intensive. The BC250 has a DisplayPort only, so if you want to use it with most TVs it requires an adapter. The Steam Machine also has more RAM overall — 16 GB of DDR5 RAM and 8GB of VRAM vs. the BC250’s 16 GB of GDDR6 memory. The slight advantage here is that the BC250’s memory is unified and can be manually adjusted, but that’s a complicated issue outside of gaming. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/A015_04270210_S019.jpg) The side panel took me like half a week of dialing in settings because it's multi-material and ironed the surface. The BC250 is also one of the most exhilarating and annoying builds I’ve ever done. Much of that is my need for complexity, but as a project you give to a friend who doesn’t have a PC or as something to play indie games, you could do far worse. 0:00 /0:10 1× Soothing. The BC250 is not a Steam Machine, but for many it serves a similar performance point and benefits from the same ecosystem of improvements that Linux gaming has gone through recently. In many functional ways they are polar opposites. The Steam Machine is newer, expensive, and kind of a bad deal because of borderline criminal activities in the AI sector and flash memory pricing, but it’s pleasant, unobtrusive, beautifully designed and just works. The BC250 is recycled e-waste from a time when memory was the cheapest possible component in your build, a high-effort, Frankensteined-together project that represents the ingenuity of overclockers and tinkerers. Yet both are made possible by the strength of open platforms. The only corrective to a proprietary, locked down and expensive world is to open the possibility space of what technology is usable. Do that, and the people will game with whatever they can find, market forces be damned. ### Let's All Disrespect Some Myths URL: https://aftermath.site/canon-lewis-odyssey/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T21:14:59.000Z *Welcome back to* [*The Work*](https://aftermath.site/tag/the-work/)*, a column about resistance in fiction. This month:* Canon*, by Paige Lewis, and reimagining the epic.* There's a land rush on mythology. Tech CEOs are raiding Tolkien's rich vault of proper nouns for their evil ventures, culture warriors following the lead of terminal posters like Elon Musk espouse readings of mythology that are sympathetic to white supremacist ideals, and every jerk with a keyboard has some take on what a Proper Adaptation of *The Odyssey* ought to look like. Spurred on by Christopher Nolan's forthcoming[ film version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f%5FbKjZeJBBI&ref=aftermath.site) of Homer's epic poem, ideas about what myths are and who they're for are being challenged with the dizzying cadence that modern discourse has normalized. As many [critics](https://aeon.co/essays/colonialism-is-built-on-the-rubble-of-a-false-idea-of-ancient-rome?ref=aftermath.site) and [historians](https://www.redpepper.org.uk/political-parties-and-ideologies/history/nowhere-to-retvrn-history-nostalgia-tradwives-far-right/?ref=aftermath.site) have noted, an ahistorical romanticism towards ancient European history and art – one that rewrites them as whiter and simpler than the record shows – is a regular feature of fascism. The modern, extremely online far-right movement and the wealthy idealogues who fuel it are following a set pattern as they culture war over things like [Christopher Nolan's casting of Lupita N'yongo as Helen of Troy](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/elon-musk-christopher-nolan-the-odyssey?srsltid=AfmBOoq4kD6ZBeAD7Xvz9P6jH-b6KI7eXs%5FXatv9AuRmwN94bgvNbcLG&ref=aftermath.site).It's all opportunistic and quite cynical, more a vector for harassment and oppression than enlightenment. Enlightenment, however, abounds in 21st century literature concerning the very same mythology. Some of the most familiar tales in classical literature are finding exciting new life in their translations – Emily Wilson's [celebrated new renditions](https://www.emilyrcwilson.com/books?ref=aftermath.site) of Homer's epics *The Iliad* and *The Odyssey*; Marina Dahvana Headley's[ boldly rendered version](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374110031/beowulfanewtranslation/?ref=aftermath.site) of *Beowulf*. Novelist Madeline Miller has re-introduced a generation to Greek myth via deeply felt [tales](https://madelinemiller.com/?ref=aftermath.site) that take place between the verses of epic poems; Lev Grossman's [*The Bright Sword*](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/554241/the-bright-sword-by-lev-grossman/?ref=aftermath.site) wrestles with what Arthurian myth means in a modern context; and [*Canon*](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/784625/canon-by-paige-lewis/?ref=aftermath.site), the new novel by Paige Lewis, is an absurdist attempt to escape the gender binary in a mythological tradition for which it is essential. Billed as "a nonbinary epic," *Canon* cheekily sets forth a problem for the novel to solve: The epic–at least in the Homeric sense, the sort that the Western literary canon is built around–is essentially all about gender, in that it is overwhelmingly, aggressively male. *The Iliad* and *Odyssey* are tales about men who valiantly act and fuck and scheme; women in these stories mostly just do one of those things, and are rarely celebrated for it. So what if you are neither? Is it still possible to have a stake in these grand power struggles? Maybe those are just another way to perform gender. Yara, the novel's protagonist, is sent on a mission by God to kill Dominic, leader of the Bad Guys. Parallel to Yara is Adrena, a prophet who has fallen out of favor with God, yet believes *she* ought to be the one to slay Dominic, and persuades Harpo, the leader of the Good Guys, to assist her. Which God? Which Bad Guys? Which Good Guys? *Canon* shrugs in response, immediately signaling to the reader that if they care about such things to go read something else until they're ready to let go of these questions. *Canon* is a gleefully irreverent work in a way that at times belies the seriousness with which it's engaging in its project of a nonbinary myth –the novel's ironic millennial voice is a touch too distant, Lewis' Patricia Lockwood-esque inflections too clever by half. But perhaps such levity is the necessary counterpoint to the severity with which gender is regarded in classical mythology, and the way those myths have been and continue to be used to impose a gendered vision of society. Lewis' background as a poet and their choice to structure the novel as a series of brief, wryly-titled scenes ("Where Is God? God Is Busy Judging a Men's Bodybuilding Competition") means that jokes and turns of phrase constructed to reveal character and amuse the reader come at a steady cadence, and if one doesn't work for you there are plenty more that follow. “Canon” is a word with many complimentary definitions mostly related to legitimacy: which texts are accepted, what rules are agreed upon. Canon is a fence, ordering the world within from the wildness without. In calling their novel *Canon*, Lewis calls attention to those fences, the ways our oldest stories are used to construct them, and what it might look like to knock them down. Lewis is most trenchant in this effort when their attention turns to violence, which is often symbolized by the touch of a man. Yara can't stand being touched by men – part of it is their obsessive-compulsive disorder, part of it is their personal history – and most things men touch in *Canon* turn to shit. Men wage wars and hack each other to bits to affirm their status as men, dividing the gender binary in a river of blood. (*Canon* has less to say about the ways women affirm and reinforce gender roles, but given the patriarchal concerns of the myths it riffs on, that seems fair enough.) In Lewis' mimicry of the fables of old, creation is the natural antithesis of such destruction, and as Yara embarks on a grand tour of a bizarre world crafted by a bafflingly masculine God, Yara is challenged to imagine something better. Or to confront why they can't. ![The cover for the novel Canon by Paige Lewis, which depicts a flying whale, a newt changing from blue to pink, and two figures about to launch into battle.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/image002.jpg) Image Credit: Viking Books It's a worthwhile consideration, especially at a moment when the United States government is engaged in an "[unapologetic defense of Western civilization](https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/02/in-munich-secretary-rubio-calls-on-allies-to-embrace-shared-heritage-meet-challenges-of-new-era/?ref=aftermath.site)" – a diffuse theory of culture and governance that happens to have a lot in common with white supremacist ideals. Hence the spree to re-assert dominance over the mythologies of Classical Europe, through which the ideals of whiteness and patriarchal culture are laundered, and resistance to them ridiculed. *Canon* shares this fixation on whiteness and the myths most central to it in a way that can grate. Yara's racial identity doesn't factor into *Canon*'s story at all; their gender, and the way the world around them expresses and imposes gender, is all that matters here. This feels less like an oversight and more like a clarity of purpose: skewer what you know, and whiteness is almost as big a target as masculinity here. And so Lewis roasts all the hits: the minotaur's labyrinth is sort of here as a shopping mall, sirens are men who work the Nuts4Nuts kiosk, beguiling witches are Skin Care Consultants. (*Canon* is set in a strange funhouse version of the '90s in a world that resembles our own only when Lewis finds it convenient.) Like the best Wes Anderson films, Lewis is wrestling with a deep melancholy beneath the whimsy of *Canon*'s brisk, sweeping adventure, contemplating the aggressive way in which we are encouraged to fulfill or imagine ourselves in an archetypal role, or as part of a grand narrative, and how that diminishes our ability to connect with each other and ourselves. When we find a role, the role can take over, and the person can disappear. Myths are power struggles. Textually, they chronicle the larger-than-life struggles of mortals to define themselves against immortal forces of nature. But they also travel with us through history, and become the means by which we argue for our place in it. Myths sew together nations, cultures, ideals. They are fluid and fickle, belonging to no one yet held closer than any prized possession. Who wouldn't want to control such a thing? Least of all the modern right-wing grievance machine, in search of stories to ennoble its crusade against the already-marginalized in the service of a crueler, whiter world. *Canon* isn't an argument for dispensing with myth as much as it is for dispensing with the cruelty with which myths are wielded, violently shunting people into archetypal roles. Yara's journey in *Canon* is from assigned myth to authored myth, a story of ambivalence. Of self-determination but outside of the way that it's traditionally, perpetually defined through conflict. There's one more definition of canon that's useful here. In music, it's a form of composition distinguished by the use of counterpoint, most famously in Pachelbel's *Canon* in D, with its trio of layered parts meeting as the piece progresses before they travel in unison. A canon of this sort gathers meaning in accumulation; its effect lies in the voices that join it. This *Canon* has joined in on the song, adding its sardonic yet ultimately sincere voice to the arrangement. ### Company That Released Over 900 Shovelware Games On The PlayStation Store Thanks Its Players After Being Kicked Off URL: https://aftermath.site/playstation-store-shovelware/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T01:01:13.000Z Brazilian publisher Afil Games, whose entire business model centres around releasing as many bad and cheap games on shopfronts as they can physically turn around, has been kicked off the PlayStation Store as Sony continues cracking down on third-rate companies clogging up its marketplace. It follows[ a similar move made earlier this year](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/sony-removes-hundreds-of-shovelware-games-from-its-digital-storefront?ref=aftermath.site), when German company ThiGames had around 150 titles booted off the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 stores. Afil's statement,[ posted on social media](https://x.com/AfilGames/status/2069431282660958413/photo/1?ref=aftermath.site), seems to suggest that the company knew this day would eventually come: > Hello everyone! > > We would like to share an important update regarding our releases for the PlayStation platform. > > As many of you may already know, since the beginning of this year PlayStation has been implementing stricter guidelines for publishing games on its platform. > > As a result of these new guidelines and their incompatibility with our business model, PlayStation has decided not to continue its partnership with Afil Games for future releases on the platform. > > Additionally, our games will be removed from the PSN Store in the near future. > > We would like to sincerely thank all PlayStation players who have supported us throughout this journey. Your enthusiasm and trust have played a significant role in our growth. We remain committed to bringing new experiences to our players through Xbox One, Xbox Series, Microsoft Store, and Nintendo Switch. > > We have several exciting projects in development and look forward to sharing more news with you in the near future. > > Thank you for your continued support, > > Afil Games Team While there are many different types of shovelware found on gaming shopfronts, including[ those dancing very close to copyright and trademark laws](https://aftermath.site/unpacking-nintendo-eshop-switch/), Afil's in particular[ seemed to cater to a very particular market: trophy hunters](https://www.trueachievements.com/news/afil-games-apology?ref=aftermath.site), who could buy one of their simple/short games, beat them in under an hour and pick up some achievements along the way. As Afil's statement says, at time of posting their games will still be available on Xbox and Switch; whether Microsoft and Nintendo follow suit is anyone's guess. [They’ll Just Let Any Old Slop Onto The eShop \[Update\] - AftermathRules for thee, but not for them![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-7958ae77-b125-4c6d-9744-69f780fe266c.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/774aea096ac6199bc3ae3bafba9b293e9963c5c14e90d113a994d17d67a2dcfb-3-91878156-640b-431a-baa7-73c452fe3c75.png)](https://aftermath.site/unpacking-nintendo-eshop-switch/) ### Video Games Are Changing, And Meccha Chameleon’s Absurd Popularity Is Proof URL: https://aftermath.site/meccha-chameleon-sales-steam-pc-streamers/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T19:53:32.000Z Another week, another [series](https://aftermath.site/bungie-destiny-2-marathon-layoffs-sony/) [of](https://aftermath.site/xbox-price-increase-again-and-again/) [reminders](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/) that the video game industry is in serious trouble. Pillars once thought unshakeable are collapsing right and left as AI renders hardware unaffordable to all but those with deepest pockets. Whatever emerges from this period of terrible tumult will look vastly different from games as we know them now. For better and worse, it might look like [*Meccha Chameleon*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4704690/MECCHA%5FCHAMELEON/?ref=aftermath.site). *Meccha Chameleon* is a multiplayer hide-and-seek game that came out on Steam earlier this month. It has already [sold seven million copies](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4704690/MECCHA%5FCHAMELEON/?ref=aftermath.site), which its developers announced just two days after [proclaiming that it had sold five million copies](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4704690/MECCHA%5FCHAMELEON/?ref=aftermath.site). For comparison’s sake, *Resident Evil Requiem*, now the fastest-selling game in the storied history of a reliable triple-A stalwart, [hit the same milestone after two months](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/resident-evil/resident-evil-requiem-has-sold-7-million-copies-in-2-months-a-milestone-that-took-the-re4-remake-a-year/?ref=aftermath.site). In other words, *Meccha Chameleon* is a sensation. In videos and screenshots, it does not look… good. It also doesn’t need to, instead succeeding almost entirely on the strength of its core conceit: Hiding players can paint themselves to resemble objects in the environment, at which point they must then contort their in-game bodies and otherwise position themselves to look like they belong (relatable). Other players try to hunt them down. Creativity and quick thinking aren’t just rewarded; they’re required. This leads to ample tense moments and—especially when streamers are involved—antics. It’s top tier [friendslop](https://aftermath.site/friendslop-peak-lethal-company-social-media-discourse/), to borrow a term I still don’t entirely love, but whatever, it caught on because ours is an era in which the most careless among us almost unilaterally dictate the terms. I’ve mostly experienced *Meccha Chameleon* through Ryan “Northernlion” Letourneau and his cohort of streamer friends, a pretty ideal way to enjoy something like this unless you improbably have friends who are funnier than Northernlion. In the right hands, the game is [a seedbed for tomfoolery](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZboI8Nb5Mw&ref=aftermath.site), whether that means painting yourself to look like a hunk of meat and curling up on a banquet table plate or copying the colors of a horse statue and attempting to add a piece of—let’s say—anatomy to it that was not there before. Laughs abound. It’s simple, good-natured fun whether you’re watching or playing. Additionally, the iconography of featureless blob people doing their best to hide in plain sight has already lent itself to [memes and IRL recreations](https://x.com/EverythingOOC/status/2069875388302397592?ref=aftermath.site). Did the seemingly two-person team behind *Meccha Chameleon* expect or plan for any of this? Probably not. As of now, the game is pretty barebones. In all likelihood, its staying power will be limited. But neither is it bogged down by microtransactions or other means of predatory monetization. $5.99 gets you in the door, and then you’re good to go. It’s refreshingly reminiscent of a simpler time in that regard, with a custom mapmaking tool to boot. On a day like today, I can’t help but fixate on *Meccha Chameleon*. In many ways, it’s yet another vaguely *Among Us*\-inspired piece of disposable entertainment for the content age. I see [ambitious, decade-spanning labors of collective blood, sweat, and tears like *Destiny 2*](https://aftermath.site/destiny-2-developers-favorite-parts-bungie-ends-support/) disintegrate, and I think about how it’s highly unlikely that there will ever be another One Of Those, but there will almost certainly be another Dozen Or Hundred (Or Thousand???) Of These: small teams armed with a decent idea and some asset packs. It’s not like one is coming at the expense of the other, either—at least, not directly. But what it means to make games—and therefore the allowable shape and scope of them—is changing. Greedy executives and shareholders have decided to do an extinction event to a segment of the medium rich with expertise and tradition, but which was never built with any sort of sustainability in mind. Triple-A looks more like a dinosaur by the day, with those in charge playing the part of the asteroid. It’s a horrific shame, both in terms of the damage done to developers' livelihoods, careers, and futures, and because—on a more selfish note—I personally find something like *Destiny* much more interesting than something like *Meccha Chameleon*. But from the ashes, something else must rise, and even if it’s not my exact kind of thing, there’s hope to be found in that. People want to play. People want to have fun. People want to explore and experience new points of view. They always have and they always will, regardless of circumstance. That’s how you get a game that’s essentially just a dressed-up version of a playground favorite selling seven million units in the span of a couple weeks. This is [not to say that indies will save the video game industry](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/you-are-error-podcast-indie-game-funding-mike-bithell/)—to the extent that [a singular video game industry even exists anymore](https://aftermath.site/gdc-2026-xbox-helix-steam-nvidia-ice/)—but smart, creative people will continue to ensure that games exist, even if they’re not backed by the financial might of ethically compromised mega-corporations. And hey, *Among Us* gave the world Outersloth, one of [a handful of newer publishers trying to facilitate more innovative, less destructive approaches to game development](https://aftermath.site/indie-game-publishers-outersloth-pocketpair/). Obviously, not every developer who hits the jackpot is gonna pay it forward in the same way, but a few might. These days, we have to take our wins where we can get them. ## Recommended [Meet The Unconventional Publishers Trying To Unfuck The Games IndustryDevelopers turned publishers like Innersloth and Pocketpair are leveraging their success to help other indie games thrive.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-6c1cbe69-726a-4da5-820d-6c777286863d.png)AftermathAsh Parrish![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/banner_outersloth-90e01e67-faae-4699-8c01-4c84c2ab08cd.png)](https://aftermath.site/indie-game-publishers-outersloth-pocketpair/) ### Microsoft Raising Xbox Price For A Third—Third!—Time As Mass Layoffs Loom URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-price-increase-again-and-again/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T22:34:12.000Z Microsoft is upping the price of its current generation consoles for a third time in two years. A September price increase made the 2TB Xbox Series X $800; Thursday, Microsoft axed that console entirely, because now the 1TB Xbox Series X costs $800\. The company announced the news amid reports that mass layoffs at Xbox businesses are coming or underway. The 512GB consoles will increase by $100, and the 1TB models will increase by $150, [Microsoft wrote in a post on Xbox Wire](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/25/xbox-console-price-update/?ref=aftermath.site). The pricing goes into effect globally on Aug. 1. "We hoped another price increase would not be necessary, and we have spent the last several months working with suppliers on options," a Microsoft representative wrote in the post. "Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027\. The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles. Unlike phones, computers, speakers, and other consumer devices, consoles are typically not sold at a profit, but instead for less than they cost to make." To break it down, the 1TB Xbox Series X will be $799.99 and the disc-less version will be $749.99\. The 1TB Xbox Series S is priced at $599.99, while the 512GB version is $499.99\. Before the three price hikes, the 512GB Xbox Series S cost $299.99\. The 1TB Xbox Series X launched at $499, and the 2TB version began at $699. Microsoft introduced a couple ways to make Xbox consoles "more accessible," as it put it in the news release. As [reported on](https://kotaku.com/xbox-series-x-klarna-paypal-pay-later-financing-microsoft-2000706625?ref=aftermath.site) recently, Microsoft writes it has "made it easier for players to use" its Buy Now, Pay Later program, as well as "interest-free financing" on Amazon. Companies that offer Buy Now, Pay Later, such as Klarna, have been [criticized](https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/buy-now-pay-later-how-retails-hot-feature-hurts-lower-income-shoppers?ref=aftermath.site) for their practices; it's a loan, and that can mean debt. The nature of the [payments means it's easy to pile multiple Buy Now, Pay Later purchases up](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/buy-now-pay-later-plan-avoid-hidden-risks/?ref=aftermath.site) and risk of overspending without realizing it. And though they're billed as interest free, these companies often have fees if payments are made late. But price increases everywhere incentivize people to look toward these payment plans to afford essential items; [you can even use it for food on DoorDash](https://www.klarna.com/us/store/5130c1b0-9c21-4870-b7ed-b610f1e820f7/doordash/pay-with-klarna/?ref=aftermath.site). Yes, all of this is nuts. Artificial intelligence and the increase in data centers to support it created a major component shortage. (All that energy to create [PowerPoint presentations](https://www.404media.co/the-tokenpocalypse-is-here-companies-are-scrambling-to-stop-spending-so-much-on-ai/?ref=aftermath.site) and [AI slop](https://aftermath.site/we-need-a-word-that-goes-beyond-slop-for-this-one/)!) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) [said recently that inflation is also to blame](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3ez4zzzlvo?ref=aftermath.site). There simply isn't enough memory components to go around, driving the price way, way up. Most technology industries are impacted, and [management consulting firm Kearney expects the shortage to last until 2028](https://www.kearney.com/service/product-excellence-and-renewal-lab/article/the-great-memory-reallocation?ref=aftermath.site), or longer. The other console manufacturers—Nintendo, [Valve](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/), and Sony—have both increased prices, too. On Thursday, even [Apple upped its MacBook and iPad prices](https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/tech/apple-hikes-the-prices-of-macbooks-and-ipads-because-of-memory-chip-shortage?ref=aftermath.site), some by nearly 20%. "The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge,” [a company representative said in a statement to press](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/apple-macbook-ipad-price-hike-memory.html?ref=aftermath.site). “The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.” [A](https://www.wsj.com/tech/apple-price-increases-memory-supply-199845b1?ref=aftermath.site)[pple CEO Tim Took told the Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/tech/apple-price-increases-memory-supply-199845b1?ref=aftermath.site) last week that the shortage is "a hundred-year flood." Game consoles are hardly a necessity, but the increasing unaffordability of consumer technology is devastating. Technology is embedded into every part of our lives: phones, computers, and now even kitchen appliances. The shortage created by AI will touch most industries. [As Chris put it on the Aftermath Hours podcast last week](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs-microsoft-ai/), Microsoft is causing the problems that it's having. Microsoft has pledged to spend billions of dollars on data center leases, [Bloomberg reported this week](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-24/meta-microsoft-lead-850-billion-boom-in-data-center-leases?ref=aftermath.site). Billions! [One hundred forty six billion on AI infrastructure in 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/microsoft-massive-ai-investments-triggering-134849208.html?ref=aftermath.site), in fact, [despite Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella saying at an event in January](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-says-105747621.html?ref=aftermath.site) that AI still has to "get to a point where we're using this to do something useful." "We as a global community have to get to a point where we're using this to do something useful that changes the outcomes of people and communities and countries and industries," Nadella said. "Otherwise, I don't think this makes much sense. In fact, I would say we will quickly lose even the social permission to actually take something like energy, which is a scarce resource, and use it to generate these tokens." Microsoft is one of the major funders of the AI boom causing the memory crisis. "Not only are they stepping on every rake, but they also run the rake factory," as Nathan put it. Meanwhile, Microsoft is facing a "bloodbath" of layoffs, [as Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier put it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfJ8qreLv8k&ref=aftermath.site). The company is reportedly looking [to close *South of Midnight* developer and Peabody Award-winning Compulsion Games](https://aftermath.site/compulsion-microsoft-xbox-layoffs-closure/), as well as Double Fine and Ninja Theory. ([Bloomberg reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-15/studios-in-microsoft-s-xbox-division-brace-for-closures?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4MTU1NDUzNiwiZXhwIjoxNzgyMTU5MzM2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUR09XOTRLSVAzTE0wMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.qu5M4E4sve-8r60rL%5Fe-Xv-LrGJvIGgWiKLxMitTl5A&leadSource=uverify%20wall&ref=aftermath.site) the studios were negotiating their future with Microsoft.) Several employees at Compulsion Games have posted to LinkedIn and other social media looking for new jobs in the past several days. [Insider Gaming executive editor Mike Straw said on BlueSky](https://bsky.app/profile/mikestrawmedia.com/post/3mp4pog74nk2n?ref=aftermath.site) that layoffs may be underway at ID@Xbox, Microsoft's program for independent developers to publish their works. Aftermath has reached out to Microsoft for more information. ### Sony Laying Off 'Most Of The Destiny Team' URL: https://aftermath.site/bungie-destiny-2-marathon-layoffs-sony/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T22:33:55.000Z Sony Interactive Entertainment announced Thursday it's laying off a "significant number of employees," according to a memo by CEO Hermen Hulst. The layoffs include "most of the *Destiny* team and some *Marathon* team members," as well as operations staff that support Bungie. In the memo to staff [then posted on the Sony blog](https://sonyinteractive.com/en/news/blog/an-update-from-playstation-studios-2/?ref=aftermath.site), Hulst wrote, "We have made the decision to reduce Bungie’s workforce, affecting a significant number of employees, including most of the *Destiny* team and some *Marathon* team members. There are also reductions across SIE teams that support Bungie’s operations. Those impacted at Bungie and within SIE are being informed today." [Bungie's social media accounts](https://bsky.app/profile/bungie.net/post/3mp4mq5cnq224?ref=aftermath.site) confirmed the news, writing, "With great sadness, we are announcing a reduction in force as we reorganize Bungie." The company wrote the changes are "necessary to best position the studio now and for the future." In May, Bungie announced that it would [stop support for *Destiny 2*](https://aftermath.site/bungie-sony-destiny-2-end-support/). The game received its final update on June 9; it will remain playable, but there will be no more new content. Many fans feared layoffs would follow after the company's announcement, with [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-21/bungie-plans-layoffs-after-ending-destiny-2-development?ref=aftermath.site) reporting that layoffs were planned. Hulst wrote that the decision was made over the past few months. "Over the past several months, together with Bungie leadership, we reviewed the studio’s long-term direction, development priorities, resource needs, and role within our broader portfolio strategy," Hulst wrote. "We explored multiple alternatives before concluding that a reduction was necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals." Hulst did not expand on what those alternative strategies were, nor did he confirm just how many people are impacted in this layoff. [Forbes estimated](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2026/04/22/more-bungie-devs-are-working-on-marathon-than-destiny-2-now/?ref=aftermath.site) in April that Bungie employed around 800 people, with a rough split between *Destiny* and *Marathon*. A representative for Sony Interactive Entertainment referred Aftermath to Hulst's memo when asked for information about the number of staff impacted. [Bloomberg's Jason Schreier said Thursday](https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3mp4stadbc22h?ref=aftermath.site) that Bungie studio lead Justin Truman, [who replaced former CEO Pete Parsons in 2025](https://kotaku.com/bungie-pete-parsons-halo-destiny-2-sony-2000619244?ref=aftermath.site), is stepping down. On the official Bungie social media accounts, Bungie wrote that leadership recognizes that *Destiny 2* "fell short of expectations" in the past few years. Bungie first released *Destiny* in 2014, and the sequel was released in 2017\. Bungie went independent from Activision in 2019, before *Destiny 2* became a free-to-play game in 2020\. In 2022, Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Bungie [in a $3.7 billion deal](https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-has-completed-its-37-billion-deal-to-acquire-bungie-and-welcome-it-into-the-playstation-family?ref=aftermath.site). > [pic.twitter.com/ceJTcKMs23](https://t.co/ceJTcKMs23?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Bungie (@Bungie) [June 25, 2026](https://x.com/Bungie/status/2070149689127973265?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) *Destiny* and *Destiny 2* sustained a dedicated player base for much of of their lifespan, but the leadership has made some questionable decisions. One of the biggest game-impacting ones was the removal of the base game's story and its expansions in 2020; [Bungie called the removal](https://kotaku.com/heres-everything-destiny-2-is-losing-later-this-year-1844800311?ref=aftermath.site) of these pieces as content entering the "content vault." The removal of key narrative details meant *Destiny* and its story were even less accessible to newcomers, and that existing players could no longer access their favorite missions. *Destiny 2*'s expansion The Witch Queen was a hit, but the Lightfall expansion in 2023 [was widely considered a disappointment](https://www.ign.com/articles/destiny-2-lightfall-review?ref=aftermath.site). That same year, [Bungie delayed its next expansion](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/bungie-confirms-destiny-2-the-final-shape-delayed-to-june-2024?ref=aftermath.site), The Final Shape. Weeks before the delay, Bungie enacted a series of mass layoffs. Bungie cut 100 roles, around 8% of its staff of 1,200 at the time, [Bloomberg reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-31/sony-s-bungie-game-unit-cut-jobs-as-destiny-2-popularity-waned?ref=aftermath.site). The studio was "running 45% below projections for the year," according to the report, as the player base declined. In 2024, Bungie laid off 17% of its staff, accounting for 220 roles. [Then-CEO Pete Parsons said](https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/article/newpath?ref=aftermath.site) the layoffs impacted "every level of the company, including most of our executive and senior leader roles." At that time, Parsons said Bungie had more than 850 employees left working on *Destiny* and *Marathon*. Thursday's mass layoff has seemingly hit all parts of *Destiny 2*'s development: art, gameplay design, analytics, narrative, visual effects, quality assurance, and more. The easier, and equally devastating, question to answer may be which parts of the team *aren't* impacted. It's [a hard end](https://aftermath.site/destiny-2-developers-favorite-parts-bungie-ends-support/) to a project that hundreds of developers have spent more than a decade working on. **(Update, 6/25/26, 5:42pm–** According to a [WARN notice filed in Washington state](https://kotaku.com/at-least-292-laid-off-at-bungie-amid-sonys-latest-cuts-2000710669?ref=aftermath.site), at least 292 people have been laid off.**)** Bungie wrote on social media the studio's future projects are "in early incubation," and it expects to say more in the future. The studio had been reported to be working on several different incubation projects over the past few years, one of which is code-named [Gummy Bears](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/01/11/more-details-leak-about-bungies-gummy-bears-live-game-for-sony/?ref=aftermath.site). It's said to be a MOBA and *Super Smash Bros.* hybrid; it's unclear if it's still in development after the game was moved from [Bungie to a new studio under the PlayStation banner](https://thegamepost.com/exclusive-details-bungie-moba-smash-bros-gummybears/?ref=aftermath.site). Bungie was also previously working on a game codenamed Payback, a *Destiny* offshoot. [Bloomberg reported that game was cancelled](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-08-02/sony-s-bungie-maker-of-halo-and-destiny-faces-reckoning-after-mass-layoff?ref=aftermath.site), months before the 2024 mass layoff, so staff could focus on *Marathon*. Another mystery game, codenamed Matter, was canceled in 2020; a second, similar project was canceled in 2022, [according to IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/bungie-shakes-up-marathon-leadership-removes-chris-barrett-as-game-director?ref=aftermath.site). **Correction, 6/26/26, 12:51pm--**An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the order of *Destiny 2* expansions. [Destiny 2 Devs Bid Farewell To The Game They Spent A Decade Making“Bungie was the most toxic, dysfunctional experience of my professional life. But the incredible people that I got the chance to work with were some of the best in the world”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f1e8d551-7893-487b-ac4e-3f2e6e878e06.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/destiny-c45911f5-99be-48b5-81ea-f256f43e4fd8.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/destiny-2-developers-favorite-parts-bungie-ends-support/) ### You Can Follow Aftermath On Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube & More! Even Linkedin! URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-social-media-accounts/ Last updated: 2026-06-29T18:46:27.000Z If you're reading this post then you already know you can read our work on this website, the place our blogs feel most at home, but did you know you can also follow us on a load of *other* sites? Some of them are great ways to keep up with whenever we're posting new stories in real time, some are home to clips and highlights from our podcast and video work, while others--like Linkedin--we're not really sure what we're doing there. Luke[ likes to hang out there and bully tech weirdos](https://aftermath.site/linkedin-weird-guy-video-games/), but we don't even know if we're reaching any new readers there or not. Here's a complete list of all our social media sites. We'd love it if you could follow us at any that you're currently using/doomscrolling through! - [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/aftermath.site?ref=aftermath.site) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aftermathdotsite/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site) - [YouTube](https://youtube.com/@aftermath%5Fsite?ref=aftermath.site) - [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/aftermathdotsite/clips?range=all&ref=aftermath.site) - [Twitter](https://x.com/Aftermath%5Fsite?ref=aftermath.site) - [Tik-Tok](https://www.tiktok.com/@aftermath%5Fsite?ref=aftermath.site) - [Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aftermathsite?ref=aftermath.site) - Fediverse / Mastodon (@index@aftermath.site) Of course, if you'd rather just follow us here and press F5 all day, that's great too! if that's you, you should also know (if you don't already) [that we've got a special 'latest story mode' just for you](https://aftermath.site/latest/). ### Why Bother Selling An Empty Case? URL: https://aftermath.site/gta-6-physical-copies-have-no-disc/ Last updated: 2026-06-26T20:44:29.000Z Buried within the news of *Grand Theft Auto 6*'s price ($80) was a disappointing note for lovers of physical media: There will be nothing in the box, except a code, when someone purchases a physical version of the game. (Rockstar Games’ [exact language](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260624539426/en/Rockstar-Games-Announces-Pre-Orders-for-Grand-Theft-Auto-VI?ref=aftermath.site) was that there would be a “download code” in the box. They'll likely start showing up in stores ahead of the release date, so players can pre-load the game, Rockstar Games said in the news release.) A majority of video games are sold digitally these days, and it's been like that for a while. In May, Sony [reported in its financial results that 85% of PlayStation games](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/sony-just-reported-a-new-record-breaking-high-figure-but-its-unsurprising/1100-6539856/?ref=aftermath.site) were sold digitally. Capcom, which recently released *Resident Evil Requiem*, reported in May that a massive 93% of its video game sales were digital. Nintendo is the only real outlier; it sells a significant amount of physical game cartridges. In its February quarterly earnings report, [Nintendo reported](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2026/260203%5F3e.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) that digital sales are at 50.4%. Both Microsoft and Sony have console options that don't even have a disc drive at all. Thanks to the AI-fueled technology component shortage, those disc-free consoles are the cheapest option to get a console. Physical media is slipping away, and it's no longer surprising or panic-inducing to open a video game case and find nothing inside. But there is still a market for discs, however small it may be. Circana analyst [Mat Piscatella posted](https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3mg4ghb5qys2d?ref=aftermath.site) on BlueSky in March that, despite reaching an all-time tracked low, physical game sales reached $1.5 billion in 2025\. It's a tiny portion of the video game market, sure, but that's still a lot of money! Niko Partners research and insights director Daniel Ahmad told Aftermath in an email that the remaining 20% or so of Sony's physical sales amounts to 70 million physical discs sold. Ahmad pointed out that there's a big difference between a retail presence and actually selling a physical retail disc. "Going forward, given increased digital adoption and push for higher margins, more publishers will conclude they only need the former," he said. Ahmad said it's a cost-saving measure for companies, "doubly so for a game like *Grand Theft Auto V* that may need to ship on multiple discs." It's not surprising that *Grand Theft Auto 6* is shipping without a disc, and I'm not particularly sad about how this applies to this very game in particular. (Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick [did say on CNBC in May](https://x.com/GameRoll%5F/status/2057815348116623412?ref=aftermath.site) that there would be a "big physical component" for *GTA 6*, but no disc does not line up with that statement.) But I am sad that this is becoming the norm as companies look under the couch cushions for places to save money. There are a lot of reasons I like physical media. I like collecting physical objects. It's better for game preservation. You can let your friends or family borrow your games. [Games writer Imran Khan pointed out on BlueSky that without discs](https://bsky.app/profile/imrankhan.bsky.social/post/3mp257nnbs22v?ref=aftermath.site), *GTA 6* will have no secondhand market: "There will be no way to get that game cheaper than MSRP barring a sale," he wrote. The thing that I'm stuck on is, why even sell a physical version to begin with if you're not going to put a disc (or discs) in the case. It feels like a colossal waste of resources to produce and sell an empty box, something that is effectively a gift card for one specific item. I know that the answer here is that there is still money to be made by video game publishers. People will buy the box! People bought [empty cardboard boxes of the *Animal Crossing: New Horizons* Nintendo Switch](https://www.thegamer.com/nintendo-animal-crossing-empty-box/?ref=aftermath.site)! But I can't get over just how stupid the whole thing is. I keep wanting to write, *No one wants to buy an empty box!* But I suppose some people still do, and will with *GTA 6*. A couple of retailers have vowed not to sell *GTA 6* because there's no disc. On [X](https://x.com/VideoGamesPlus%5F/status/2069773098295910714?ref=aftermath.site), a representative for Canadian retailer Video Games Plus wrote, "For nearly 40 years, VGP has been committed to supporting physical media and preserving the value of physical game ownership. As part of that commitment, our company policy is that we do not carry physical products for video game consoles that contain only a digital download code." That applies to *GTA 6*, even if it is poised to make big numbers. Loot Box Gaming, a Delaware-based independent retailer, [released a similar statement](https://x.com/LootBoxGamingUS/status/2069756247507624039?ref=aftermath.site): "When we started LBG, it was out of a love for our favorite form of media, gaming, as well as the preservation of said media. If a product can’t honor the people who pay their hard earned money to purchase it, then we have no business trying to sell it to our customers whom we value above anything else." In terms of preservation, Phil Salvador, Library Director at the Video Game History Foundation, told Aftermath, “Although not having a complete game on physical media is no doubt frustrating from a consumer standpoint, this doesn't have as much of an impact on professional game preservation work as you might expect. Even true physical game releases are now often tied to updates, patches, and internet-enabled features. A game like *Grand Theft Auto 6* will undoubtedly have a day one patch or significant updates, to the point where even if there was data on a physical release, it will not accurately reflect the game that people will actually play. Because the industry has been trending this way for decades, preservationists and museum professionals have been exploring other methods to preserve their data that go beyond putting a disc on a shelf.” There's [been speculation for a while](https://rockstarintel.com/gta-6-may-not-get-a-physical-disc-copy-due-to-leaks/?ref=aftermath.site) now that *GTA 6* wouldn't have a physical disc as a means to keep leaks from leaking. [Leaks have been a part of *GTA 6*'s legacy](https://www.polygon.com/23989793/grand-theft-auto-6-gta6-leaks-who-leaked-trailer-hack/?ref=aftermath.site) for some time—even before it got a trailer. Rockstar certainly has measures in place to stop leaks, but the company hasn't commented on the reason behind the disc-less physical version. Aftermath has reached out to Rockstar Games for comment. **Update, 6/26/26, 4:43pm--**Added a statement from the Video Game History Foundation. ### On Together Is Helping Me Whittle Down My To-Do List URL: https://aftermath.site/on-together-co-working-body-doubling-productivity/ Last updated: 2026-06-25T19:17:26.000Z Every day, I have to wake up and do my little tasks. With *On Together*, at least I can have cat ears and vampire fangs while I do them. I have severe ADHD and concentration has always been a struggle for me. Getting work done without wandering off or getting distracted has been a trial for my entire life. For a little while, my Discord groupchat—who all also have ADHD—was getting on a silent Discord call so that we could keep ourselves accountable about staying on task. That worked well enough, but ever since my friend Maddy Myers from [Mothership](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site) suggested trying the game *On Together*, I have actually been more productive than ever. *On Together*, which Maddy read about in [a Teen Vogue article about co-working games](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/focus-gaming-apps-that-help-combat-adhd-like-behavior?utm%5Fsource=twitter&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcampaign=dhtwitter&utm%5Fcontent=null), is essentially a chat room where you can park a digital avatar at a desk or a bench and sit next to other digital avatars as they all work. There’s very little game to be had here: You create and dress up a digital avatar, go to a server, walk around a little digital island until you find a good spot and then enter “focus” mode, which has your avatar loop in a little animation of “working,” whether that be typing, reading or making art. There’s even animations for non-work tasks, like eating and meditating. The longer you’re in focus mode, the more tickets you earn to buy new cosmetics for your avatar. So far, I have bought new pants, cat ears and a mouth with fangs. She’s just like me! You can also minimize the game so that it’s just sitting in the corner of your screen, like the desktop pets of yesteryear. My husband keeps calling it my [BonziBuddy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BonziBuddy?ref=aftermath.site). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/on-together.png) On Together and Dropout are a match made in heaven The way that this game has improved my productivity makes me a little embarrassed. Who knew that actually being able to see a cute avatar of myself sitting next to the avatar of a real life friend would make me lock in when so few other strategies have worked? When I see my avatar typing away at a laptop, it actually does remind me that oh yeah, *that’s* what I’m supposed to be doing right now. What really gets me going, though, is [the built-in pomodoro timer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro%5FTechnique?ref=aftermath.site). While I have a real timer—shaped like a mushroom and not a tomato—sitting on my desk, it requires me to manually set how long I’ll be working and how long I’ll be taking a break. *On Together*’s pomodoro timer has intervals of 25 minutes on and five minutes off already baked in, meaning I really just have to sit my avatar in focus mode, turn on the timer, and then listen for the chimes. There are a few more productivity tools in the game, like a to-do list, a planner and a journal, which might be useful for other people but aren’t what I need from the game. *On Together* gives me the [body doubling](https://www.popsci.com/health/body-doubling-focus-benefits/?ref=aftermath.site) that I was missing in my work from home era, and is adorable to boot. Thanks to this game I have finished two somewhat tedious projects I’ve been putting off. Soon, I will be unstoppable. ### I Too Would Like To Spend All Day In The Woods Making Snacks URL: https://aftermath.site/good-folk-cafe-demo-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T21:10:23.000Z Since at least once a day I throw my hands in the air and declare “I am going to run away to the woods!” when I get too overwhelmed, I love living out that desire in a video game without having to give up my apartment. The demo for *Good Folk Cafe* lets me putter around the trees doing simple tasks, while also hinting at bigger mysteries. [*Good Folk Cafe*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4369850/Good%5FFolk%5FCafe/?ref=aftermath.site)is an in-development game by Irish studio Not Here, Not There and has [a demo up on itch](https://not-here-not-there.itch.io/goodfolkcafe?ref=aftermath.site). You play as a person named Aoife who lives alone in a wooded glen, spending their days wandering the countryside collecting real-world plants. The foraging mechanic is a simple timing-based minigame, and once your inventory is full you take the plants home to identify them using your plant book–which, [delightfully for me specifically](https://aftermath.site/games-from-ireland-steam/), includes their names in Irish. At night, you use the plants you’ve foraged to cook meals for various mythological creatures who come to visit you. (The “good folk” of the title is another word for fairies.) Ingredients have flavor profiles, and you have to try out combinations to see what might please each creature. It’s satisfying to chop up plants and arrange them in your bowl, then watch a lovely animation of the creature curling up to eat. A satisfied creature rewards you with materials like wood, nails, and bike parts you use to fix up Aoife’s home. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/gf2.jpg) Fixing things up unlocks useful tools like expanded inventory for plants or a bike to travel further (though using the bike isn’t available in the demo), and also seems to invite a neighbor over to tell you stories. This bit of the game is particularly charming: the stories are meandering and funny in the unique [style](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzP4FM3WqwY&ref=aftermath.site) of [seanchaí](https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/ireland-storytelling?ref=aftermath.site), with one even having people chatting in the background. The art is simple but lovely, in particular the quality of light as you wander the countryside. The description of the eventual full game suggests more of a narrative around Aoife, but I also just really enjoyed the contextless routines of their day, taking little walks and doing little tasks. There’s no release date yet, but I’m curious to see new areas and hear more stories in the full game. [Out And About Sure Is Cute For A Game Where You Can Forage Poisonous Plants - AftermathOut and About wears its “wholesome” inspirations on its sleeve, right down to the word appearing on its logo. Its Steam Next Fest demo has all the bright colors and cheerful local people you’d expect of the genre, but the core of the game is surprisingly realistic, asking you to correctly identify various real-life plants.…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-f0b591e5-1032-422b-ba36-ebffa163491b.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/outbt-3-32811d87-43c6-40f2-b986-de977ec2b23f.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/out-and-about-demo-steam/) ### New York Times Uses Ubisoft Co-Founder's Obituary To Launder 'DEI' Complaints About An Assassin's Creed Game URL: https://aftermath.site/assassins-creed-dei-musk-ubisoft/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T22:40:41.000Z I don't know if this is a saying wherever you live, but when I was a kid and I used to make a joke or something when I wasn't supposed to, my mother would always say "There's a time and a place for that". That's the first thing I thought earlier this week when[ I saw an obituary in the New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/20/arts/claude-guillemot-dead-ubisoft-plane-crash.html?ref=aftermath.site) derail itself talking about a black samurai and Elon Musk. The piece was written for Ubisoft co-founder Claude Guillemot, [who died in a plane crash on June 19](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ubisoft-co-founder-claude-guillemot-has-died-in-a-plane-crash?ref=aftermath.site)). Of course it touches on who he was and details of the crash, but then somehow careens off to include the following paragraph: > But some people online criticized the game for having "gone woke" by creating a Black samurai named Yasuke. Elon Musk, the tech entrepreneur, said Shadows was an example of how "D.E.I. kills art," using an abbreviation for diversity, equity and inclusion. Ubisoft reminded players that its games were works of fiction, even as Yasuke was an actual historical figure. Thank you, New York Times, for[ the latest reminder](https://aftermath.site/new-york-times-video-games-ai-nyt/) that you are a newspaper in steep decline. Despite my mother’s advice, there is *never* a good time (or place) to air those arguments, because they are not arguments made in good faith, they are the deranged rantings of racists, and by putting them in a man's obituary--*a man who had nothing to do with this video game!*\--you are doing their work for them, for free! What the fuck! [Stop Trying To Defeat Racism With Logic - AftermathThe new Assassin’s Creed game stars what appears to be a black samurai, which is cool. Anyone who tries to argue is just not worth your time.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-168aabf4-6aa0-44fd-858c-e8a043e9b020.png)AftermathGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/yasuke-2-3-3f1947d7-522a-42da-936c-4cc8a1841f7c.png)](https://aftermath.site/assassins-creed-shadows-yasuke-racism/) [Ubisoft Has Learned Nothing In The Last 10 Years - AftermathYou do not need to apologize to these people![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-48641b28-2ce1-4e47-886c-c7b7a021be44.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/assassins-creed-shadows-yasuke-explainer-1715770788230-3-c28e6775-e58a-4eac-9b5b-5a4ceaaef58a.png)](https://aftermath.site/assassins-creed-shadows-ubisoft-yasuke-apology-sucks/) [Ubisoft Has Learned Nothing In The Last 11 Years - AftermathYou do not need to patch your game over this![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-849a2433-12da-49e3-9c84-9a9b156ac28f.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/naoe-3-e2b3be2f-e12c-4a74-810e-25f3f696665c.png)](https://aftermath.site/assassins-creed-shadows-controversies-are-for-babies-and-racists/) ### EA Predictably Laying People Off, Chirping About AI As Completion Of Saudi Deal Looms URL: https://aftermath.site/ea-layoffs-ai-saudi-arabia/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T22:40:23.000Z EA, the company that [last year said](https://aftermath.site/ea-saudi-arabia-creative-control-jared-kushner-donald-trump/) there would be "no immediate changes” to workers’ “job, team, or daily work, as a result of” its pending $55 billion sale to a consortium of buyers headed up by Saudi Arabia, sure seems intent on changing things up for reasons that I’m sure are completely unrelated. This week, [Kotaku reported](https://kotaku.com/ea-layoffs-fan-care-recruitment-hyderabad-2000708971?ref=aftermath.site) that EA laid off an unknown number of employees in the US and India, seemingly impacting recruitment, customer support, trust and safety, and IT teams. In an internal email, the company referenced an effort to “adapt how we work to better meet fans’ changing needs.” It’s the third round of layoffs at EA this year, with others impacting developers on [*Skate*](https://kotaku.com/skate-4-full-circle-layoffs-ea-season-3-skateboarding-game-2000673707?ref=aftermath.site)and [*Battlefield*](https://www.ign.com/articles/ea-lays-off-staff-across-all-battlefield-studios-following-record-breaking-battlefield-6-launch?ref=aftermath.site), the latter of which was the best-selling game of 2025 in the US. This follows a 2025 in which EA took the scythe to BioWare, Respawn, and Cliffhanger Games to the tune of hundreds of employees. Meanwhile, at the recent Summer Game Fest-adjacent Game Business Live conference, Electronic Arts' president of enterprise development Laura Miele sang the praises of—what else—AI. Asked if she believes that AI will shorten game development cycles, [she replied](https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/ea-exec-says-ai-has-helped-drive-a-real-rise-of-creativity-at-its-studios/?ref=aftermath.site): > I really believe in what I've seen, that I'm pretty excited about. I've always wanted to help our studio developers remove friction and I've always kind of wanted to be a hero to them and help them create career-defining experiences. > I think that AI, what I've seen, how AI has enabled removing friction from our pipelines and our tools and our workflows, has been pretty exciting,” she said. “It's removed some tedium out of their jobs. And I've seen faster prototyping. I've seen faster creativity and shorter, faster conversations around creativity and coming to alignment. So, we're seeing it and I think there's a real rise of creativity that comes from removing some of the tedious tasks out of development. Even ChatGPT, which I’m sure Miele regularly consults to learn what she wants for breakfast, would probably be able to tell you that moves like these pave the way for EA’s incoming new regime, which—as part of the buyout—will be saddled with $20 billion in debt. EA has said that business as usual will continue for the foreseeable future and that it will retain creative control, but based on how Saudi Arabia has [conducted itself in numerous other areas](https://esportsadvocate.net/2025/10/esports-breakup-why-the-ioc-backed-out-of-saudi-esports-deal/?ref=aftermath.site), that seems highly unlikely. 46 members of congress have voiced opposition to the deal, with [US representative Maxwell Frost recently joining popular *The Sims* YouTuber Kayla “Lilsimsie” Sims](https://aftermath.site/rep-maxwell-frost-lilsimsie-stream-ea-saudi-arabia-interview/) during a livestream to get the word out about its many perilous pitfalls. Since then, the group that helped put the stream together, Players Alliance, has [staged demonstrations](https://www.kqed.org/news/12083135/bay-area-gamers-rally-against-electronic-arts-55-billion-acquisition?ref=aftermath.site) in DC, Redwood City, Orlando, and Madison to show that at least a vocal contingent of EA’s audience do not plan to take this lying down. It has also [collected 73,000 signatures](https://playersalliancehq.org/block-ea-deal-petition/?ref=aftermath.site) on a petition demanding that the US treasury secretary block the deal. “Gamers warned for months that EA going private would exacerbate cost-cutting measures that will put hundreds of Americans’ livelihoods at risk,” Otis East, a member of Players Alliance, said in a statement received by Aftermath. “It’s a reality that’s happening now—as a result of this deal, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as the head of the \[Saudi Public Investment Fund\], will enrich himself precisely because Americans are losing their jobs. If Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent cares more for American workers than the riches of an absolute monarch, he must make every effort to block the EA buyout.” ## Recommended [Suddenly, Saudi (Money Is Drying Up)“The fear is that if the Saudis have come in and propped up a number of these organizations and sports and pastimes with their money, and now that money is in danger of disappearing, it’s basically cutting the legs off the table”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-53d40924-eba8-4ed9-bea9-0de30ee67667.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_1251353494-d9aa224e-9391-4233-a776-ca4ff75d4496.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-saudi-arabia-liv-golf-ea-deal/) ### I Knew Osamu Tezuka Was The Godfather Of Manga, But I Didn't Know He Had It Like That URL: https://aftermath.site/osamu-tezuka-apollos-song-gekiga-manga/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T20:20:10.000Z You don’t earn the moniker “the Godfather of manga” without a decadent body of work to “aht aht aht” from. And nearly 40 years after his passing, I’ve rediscovered how legendary mangaka Osamu Tezuka’s influence persists, not only in the DNA of every bright-eyed, happy-go-lucky modern-day manga, but also in the pent-up works of fiction we don’t dare read in public. I owe the discovery of the latter side of Tezuka to happening across his psychosexual sci-fi manga, *Apollo’s Song,* at my local bookstore. Recently, I’ve found myself deep in what I’ve described to my friends as my “Osamu Tezuka era.” In a way, we all are if we read manga or watch anime. After all, he created seminal series like [*Astro Boy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astro%5FBoy?ref=aftermath.site), [*Kimba the White Lion*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimba%5Fthe%5FWhite%5FLion?ref=aftermath.site), and [*Princess Knight*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess%5FKnight?ref=aftermath.site)*,* to [name a few](https://tezukaosamu.net/en/manga/chronology.html?ref=aftermath.site)—works that continue to influence mangaka and pointedly[ irk creatives like Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki](https://www.polygon.com/2020/5/27/21272080/hayao-miyazaki-studio-ghibli-osamu-tezuka-astro-boy-manga-anime-history/?ref=aftermath.site) to this day. Tezuka’s works are to manga what the Tigris–Euphrates rivers are to modern civilization. They’re the bottomless bedrock of storytelling whose reimaginings, including [Naoki Urasawa](https://www.polygon.com/23940398/pluto-anime-mural-naoki-urasawa-manga-netflix-flower/?ref=aftermath.site)’s [*Pluto*](https://kotaku.com/pluto-netflix-anime-review-1850975057?ref=aftermath.site), Disney [aping his flow 44 years later with *The Lion King*](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/the-lion-king-kimba-the-white-lion-disney?ref=aftermath.site), and Netflix’s anime film, [*The* *Ribbon Hero*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NynEgERoqmk&ref=aftermath.site), drink from in perpetuity. Whereas his most famous works are recognizable to manga readers as meditations on transhumanism, coexistence between nature and humanity, and gender, *Apollo’s Song* is talked about less today because it's pretty damn odd. In fact, it's downright screwed up. But after reading both volumes of the manga, I have an appreciation for its freakish nature as a grimier tale that mirrors the times in which it was written and serves as a looking glass into the future. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/apollo-s-song-3.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/m0017_01.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/m0017_02.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/m0017_main02.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. [*Apollo’s Song*](https://kodansha.us/series/apollos-song/?ref=aftermath.site) is a coming-of-age sci-fi manga whose marrow is seeped into the stew of the adult-oriented manga genre called [Gekiga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gekiga?ref=aftermath.site), which Tezuka is credited with helping spearhead. Unlike other works by Tezuka, whose aesthetics give off a Disney-like whimsy, Gekiga is a genre defined by political unease, film noir, and, more importantly, young boys and men thumbing through manga less for their stories than on the off chance they’d see something titillating. In my humble estimation, gekiga, like Osamu’s own [illustrious list of mangaka he’d inspired](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu%5FTezuka?ref=aftermath.site#Legacy%5Fand%5Finfluence), is the origin point for seinen and josei as an aged-up storytelling genre. And *Apollo’s Song* is the ginger root from which they derive their complex, emotionally volatile storytelling. ![A sea of men-shaped sperm gathering before racing to the egg.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/ap-4.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. *Apollo’s Song* opens with the most arresting depiction of conception in manga. Its prologue sees a troop of burly men—500,000,000 strong—break for it through cavernous fallopian tubes to be the first to reach their destiny: their beloved queen. Those left behind lie in a mountainous heap, dead. Meanwhile, the chosen one receives the queen’s embrace, melts with her into an embryo. Afterward, readers are left with the silhouettes of a man and a woman standing hand in hand before glorious God rays, with a message that serves as both a warning and a premonition for the bereft love story to follow. ![A pile of dead bodies beneath a fertilized embryo.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/ap-5.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. But that’s not important right now. What’s important is the rehabilitation of our far-gone hero, Shogo. Shogo’s a young man whose psychosexual and emotional damage is so extensive that it would kill Sigmund Freud. Early on, readers learn that Shogo’s Freudian plight stems from witnessing his mother being intimate with a Rolodex of men he assumed were his fathers as a neglected child. After one shocking night catching his mother doing the beast with two backs with a gentleman, Shogo’s mother physically abused him. Shogo grows up as a maladjusted adult who loathes love and has a compulsion to kill animals and human beings whenever they display signs of affection. ![Shogo fleeing his mother's bedroom after catching her having sex.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/0000-032.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. Shogo’s baggage is so detrimental that both mortals and the gods are intervening. While a doctor puts Shogo through the paces with human rights-violating hypnosis and shock therapy, the gods have cursed him with repeatedly falling in love with a woman, across time and space, only to have one of them die, [*Three Thousand Years of Longing*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three%5FThousand%5FYears%5Fof%5FLonging?ref=aftermath.site) style. If you’re wondering whether *Apollo’s Song* treats the latter as a dream sequence interplaying while Shogo loses consciousness from the former, or if it’s a real supernatural phenomenon happening to him, the manga answers that binary question with a flat yes—it is real, and it is actually happening. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/0002-005.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/0000-040-1.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. Throughout the five chapters of *Apollo’s Song*, I read as Tezuka brought Shogo’s psyche to a boil and blew away the foam building up over the pot before it threatened to spill over, depicting him and his paramour as a Nazi soldier and a Jewish prisoner during World War II, and as a pilot and a journalist sequestered on a volcanic island run by harmonious and horny animals. Despite how ridiculous their set-ups were, they’d always end with Shogo having his heart ripped from his chest, witnessing his lover die. And each time it happened, Shogo would slowly turn from a jaded, red-pilled disaster to something resembling a human being. But the tale that got the most time, and stuck with me the deepest, was *Queen Sigma*. ![Shogo waking up to Queen Sigma's shadow looming at the door of his bedroom.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/as-2.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. *Queen Sigma* sees Shogo whisked away to the year 2030\. Their homosapiens are ruled by homo lacteans, synth robots made in our image who’ve punched past the ceiling of humanity’s ecological ruin, and are perfectly embodied in their sandblasting half of Mount Fuji to make a data-center [Metropolis](https://gizmodo.com/the-vision-of-2026-in-metropolis-is-spot-on-2000706759?ref=aftermath.site). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/apollo-s-song.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/0004-132.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/ap-2-1.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. Things are so fucked, entire cities and baseball fields are marked by a sea of gravestones in the shadow of skyscrapers. Shogo’s mission is to infiltrate the synth kingdom and kill its eponymous queen using a bomb implanted in his molar. The Queen, however, has other plans. Namely, to witness Shogo make love with a woman to understand human intimacy and complete their mimicry of us. ![Queen Sigma eviscerating a woman with a laser beam. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/0004-039.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. After [Biden blasting](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/biden-blast?ref=aftermath.site) his would-be mate, Shogo and Queen Sigma engage in a hot and heavy tug-of-war where she desires to be intimate with him to learn what love is—going so far as to get human genitalia grafted onto her—and he kills her, only for her to reanimate like a robot from *Westworld*. This goes on for some time until Shogo gives up, and the two have a conversation about love. ![Shogo killing Queen Sigma.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/0004-087.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. It’s here that he flashes back to the day he stormed out after a fight with his mom—only to nearly get clipped by a car the second he hit the street. For one suspended moment, they locked eyes, both terrified for the other, despite having sworn each other off minutes earlier. That’s the moment he finally gets it: love isn’t just dry kisses from a mother, wet kisses from a lover, or sex. Love is messy, contradictory, impossible to disentangle. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/0004-094.png) Things only get uglier from there. The synth kingdom, horrified that Queen Sigma has actually fallen for Shogo, mutilates her, mass‑produces copies of her, and tosses the two of them into the street to be lynched. What none of her loyalists grasp is that every clone of their queen will eventually wake up still pining for Shogo—and each one will be met by a clone of him (don’t ask) created before he ever caught feelings for the mannequin monarch. Things end in tragedy here as well, but in a way that feels so outlandish and poetic, predicting how silly it is for folks today to fall in love with AI while giving bystanders the ick. The chapter ends with Queen Sigma carrying Shogo’s carcass (for the first time in their cursed reincarnations), wishing that their atoms would blend and become one high in the skies before they detonate in a fiery doublespread. ![Shogo and Queen Sigma going out in a blaze of glory.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/0004-158.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. Despite its more temperamental story in comparison to Tezuka’s other works, *Apollo’s Song* isn’t above its own modern-day reimaginings either. In fact, it received a live-action J-drama in 2025 starring [Akari Takaishi of *Baby Assassin*’s fame](https://aftermath.site/baby-assassins-everyday-movie-trilogy/). No back-of-the-book quote quite captures the paradoxical intrigue of *Apollo’s Song's* Western localization by Vertical Inc. in 2010 as succinctly as [Newsweek](https://www.newsweek.com/oddball-graphic-novel-never-stops-surprising-104175?ref=aftermath.site)’s: “Maybe it’s a good thing *Apollo’s Song* wasn’t published in the West \[earlier\]. Had it appeared here when it first came out, its peculiarity would surely have been dismissed. But now comics sit at the table with the grown-ups, and we should clear a space at the head for Osamu Tezuka and his oddball masterpiece.” ![The shadow of a man and a woman standing on a mountain.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/ap-3.png) © Tezuka Productions / Shonen Gahosha / Kodansha / Vertical, Inc. *Apollo’s Song* is a work that’s both slightly antiquated and somehow future‑proof in the way it dissects love and the paranoia‑soaked forces that misshape it, guiding its characters toward ruin and, occasionally, a fleeting embrace. It’s also a psychosexual work so unruly it threatens to burst out of the margins of its own panels and spill onto the floor. Yet, even at its most rudderless, *Apollo’s Song* manages to get there in the end, striking at something moving, true, and ungracefully human. That’s to say, it threads the needle, weaving a tale as stirring as the Greek myth of [Apollo and Daphne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo%5Fand%5FDaphne?ref=aftermath.site) that crowns its final chapters. It’s tragic, horny as hell, a little bit funny, and a testament to Tezuka’s genius storytelling being every bit as worth reading now as it was then. ## Recommended [My First Anime, Which I Thought I’d Lost Forever, Still HitsA childhood glimpse of Android Kikaider on Toonami still defines my tastes![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-117dd0f9-965d-4c8e-8bd2-20b6c8c6b078.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Android-Kikaider-The-Animation-Anime-3c34f71c-1d43-45bd-9372-f083d6577bc5.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/android-kikaider-the-animation-anime-toonami-retro-review/) ### Konami Suing Over Massive Metal Gear Solid 2 Source Code Leak URL: https://aftermath.site/konami-metal-gear-solid-2-lawsuit/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T18:28:38.000Z In May, someone posted *Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty*'s source code online, and publisher Konami is suing over it. The lawsuit, filed on June 2 in a California court, is a way for Konami and its lawyers to uncover who stole and leaked the source code, then punish them for it. Source code for [multiple versions of the game was published on 4chan](https://kotaku.com/the-metal-gear-solid-2-hd-source-code-has-reportedly-leaked-15-years-later-2000692502?ref=aftermath.site), made available through two file-sharing websites. Konami said in the lawsuit that the files included source code for *Metal Gear Solid 2* and its "non-public assets." The company sent cease-and-desists to 4chan and the file-sharing sites to get the source code taken down. They've been removed from the original file-sharing websites, Konami said, but the damage has already been done. "An urgent need remains to uncover the source of the leak and to ensure that similar or further public disclosures do not occur," lawyers wrote in the complaint, [obtained by Aftermath](https://www.scribd.com/document/1054386739/Konami-Suing-Over-Massive-Metal-Gear-Solid-2-Source-Code-Leak?ref=aftermath.site). Konami did an internal investigation, but was not able to identify the leaker, according to court documents. Konami also demanded that the file-sharing sites and 4chan "retain and segregate any data that would be useful for identifying the persons responsible for uploading or otherwise disseminating Konami's content," according to the lawsuit. The three sites removed the links, but have not provided any information regarding the identity of the leaker. Konami has not been able to subpoena the two file-sharing websites, and filed for permission to serve the companies subpoenas by email; that was denied without prejudice, because the judge found that Konami lawyers didn't provide enough evidence to show they've done due diligence in looking for contact information, like a physical address. Konami lawyers can file the application again, if they choose. *Metal Gear Solid 2* was released in 2001, written and produced by Hideo Kojima. Though it's 25 years old, it remains one of the more influential video games of all time. Its source code being posted online is a big deal for Konami and *Metal Gear Solid* enthusiasts. Konami, of course, wants to protect its prized game, and fans want to see under the hood. And *Metal Gear Solid* enthusiasts have been doing just that: There are files for cut scenes, including some that were slashed after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York City, because the game included "both the World Trade Center and the Pentagon," [Kojima said in an interview in 2022](https://www.ign.com/articles/hideo-kojima-interview-new-studio-phase-2?ref=aftermath.site). Modders are "digging through everything," [community group Metal Gear Network posted on X](https://x.com/MGSMGN/status/2050398875324920292?ref=aftermath.site). "This could mean restoring cut content, uncovering unseen material, and gaining a much deeper understanding of how the game was built. On top of that, it gives the community more tools to preserve and refine these games going forward." ### Outlets Don't Have To Do Xbox's Work For It URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-interview-entertainment-weekly/ Last updated: 2026-06-24T13:46:55.000Z On Monday, Entertainment Weekly ran a piece titled “[Out of the (X)box: At 25, the gaming giant seeks to level up with new ways of play and Hollywood adaptations](https://ew.com/xbox-25th-anniversary-hollywood-adaptations-cover-story-exclusive-12003252?ref=aftermath.site),” based around post-Summer Game Fest interviews with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty, as well as people involved in Xbox's movie and TV adaptations and some of its biggest games. EW’s audience isn’t a gaming audience, but even knowing you can’t hold an Xbox story in its pages to those expectations, the whole thing is a masterclass in an outlet getting played. There are all kinds of reasons why stories end up the way they do, and all manner of hands and priorities that shape what appears on the page. Within this story are a few stories that I could even imagine reading differently on their own: Focusing on Xbox’s adaptations makes sense for a general entertainment readership. A story about Sharma, previously in the background of corporate jobs, navigating a distinctly public role in front of a vocal and passionate fanbase could make a useful read for the industry professional segment of EW’s audience, who might find themselves in a similar position. But when all this is mashed together, what you get instead is a forcefully positive profile of a company reinventing itself, with such a glossing mention of looming layoffs that it almost reads more like a puff piece than if they weren’t mentioned at all. In the story’s respectable effort to not shy away from the layoffs, but also without any willingness to actually go into how Xbox ended up here and its consequences–either to not alienate readers who don’t care about gaming, or to not offend its subjects–, the story leaves out a mind-bending amount of context and its real human costs. “Sharma's vision is to turn Xbox into not just the biggest gaming company, but the biggest *entertainment* company,” it reads, without any inches given to how the company achieved its current size (plenty of Activision Blizzard studios are mentioned, for instance, with no mention of how they *became* Xbox studios) and how much of the position Xbox currently finds itself in, both financially and with fans, is a consequence of that quest for growth. Here’s how the layoffs get explained: > But that path has proved a bit leaky. > > Just a couple weeks out from the Showcase (and their interviews with EW), leaks began in the press about potential layoffs at Xbox. Sharma and Booty then jointly announced a "reset" in a memo to staff that they, in the spirit of transparency, [made public directly on the brand's website](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/?ref=aftermath.site). Among various points were mentions of a decline in annual revenue, the "hardware component crisis" (the still-rising inflation of console storage component costs), and how they "overextended" as they executed on changing strategies. > > Amid various reports and online rumblings of entire studio closures, Xbox has not officially commented on the matter. Sources tell EW that restructuring plans are still being finalized. Leadership aims to exhaust all other options before making these decisions, and Xbox will update teams once details are solidified. > > When Sharma speaks with EW prior to the "reset" announcement, she's direct and matter-of-fact about the issues ahead. > > "Technology companies are going through this, entertainment companies are going through this, and certainly gaming is not immune to it,” she says. “When COVID hit, all the demand came forward at the same time that AI happened. The whole industry is in a time of change…. In a couple of weeks, I'll share some numbers with our team and we can share some numbers with you, too, on the state of Xbox and the work ahead for us — and how we're going to make sure that we are a stronger business on the other side." A non-gaming outlet doesn’t *need* to care about layoffs in the gaming space, strictly speaking, and this story is largely about Xbox’s entertainment ambitions rather than the game workers it employs. But I wouldn’t expect a journalist to call them “leaks” rather than what they are: reports, or works of journalism. There’s no need to highlight Xbox’s “spirit of transparency” when surely the company published the memo to get ahead of the PR crisis of its plans becoming public. And I don’t know that I would call Sharma’s quoted response “direct and matter-of-fact”--she says the same general shit every gaming executive says about covid and AI and industry headwinds, though a non-gaming audience might not yet be exhausted by these same old explanations. The piece then briskly moves on to growth, highlighting *Fallout* and the Minecraft movies, marveling at Kojima, and sneaking in chances to “exclusively reveal” a plot summary for the *Gears of War* movie and “also report that *Sea of Thieves* will be developed into a live-action movie.” Twice it makes mention of the Xbox “family,” one of the worst bits of corporate-ese that a journalist simply doesn’t need to take part in. It calls studio King “another jewel under the Xbox umbrella,” which is both cringy and a mixed metaphor. And, after describing Sharma as “the Wisconsin-raised black belt in taekwondo” and highlighting “the green trim of her white Adidas sneaks” during Xbox’s SGF showcase, it ends on a classic Girl Boss Can Have It All kicker: > As she charts the road ahead, Sharma knows it will be difficult and sacrifices will have to be made, but it's all serving the larger mission to make Xbox bigger than ever. How does a self-described introvert shrug off the weight of that responsibility at the end of the day? > > "I go for a walk. I did a walk right in between Showcase and this \[interview\]," she says. "I FaceTime my kids and I just try to get back in touch with the most core part of who I am." > > Juggling her private and public personas has been an adjustment for the newly christened CEO: "I've never really been out there. I've always been the number two. The only three-letter word I aspired to was 'mom,' so it's been a really big change." Xbox’s aims for its participation in this story are abundantly clear. As I wrote [previously](https://aftermath.site/xbox-gamescom-fanfest-layoffs/), the company and its execs can’t sit around being sad about their own decisions. They need to portray themselves as making tough choices to put the company in a better position, aggressively on the up and with a clear plan for the future. This story does that, with the added bonus of not having to speak to a gaming audience who might be motivated to hold their feet to the fire or who might have the context to poke holes in the story they’re laundering through EW. If you’re Xbox, this is a great story at a great time in a great outlet, talking to the new audiences you hope to attract to your movies and TV shows and to the entertainment industry power players you want to get on board. But as gaming outlets [close](https://aftermath.site/paste-games-endless-mode-av-club/) or get converted to [SEO](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-giant-bomb-polygon-layoffs-valnet/) and [AI slop](https://aftermath.site/gameshub-clickout-media-seo-gambling-ai/), and as major [media companies](https://aftermath.site/polygon-vox-media-valnet-layoffs-staff-goodbye/) [pull back](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2023/03/31/launcher-mission-end/?ref=aftermath.site) from [gaming coverage](https://aftermath.site/new-york-times-wordle-connections-puzzmo-games/), stories like this read as painfully tone-deaf to anyone who understands gaming as something that existed before its early covid boom, or who cares about the industry enough to know why it needs rigorous reporting. It is simply telling the story a company wants to tell, at a time when that story is of particular use to that company. That's a job for PR, not a journalist and their outlet. The real story is messy and complicated, and it also involves *people*\--Booty and Sharma, sure, but also the game creatives it speaks to who surely find themselves in the complicated position of hyping their games while worrying about their fates. By going wide without going deep, and by prioritizing the company above the real people involved, the piece not only doesn't tell the whole story, but lets down both the people the writer spoke to and EW's readers. Most of that readership probably isn’t reading this as they wait for Xbox’s next shoe to thunderously drop. But if a journalist’s job is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” [as the saying goes](https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2014/today-in-media-history-mr-dooley-the-job-of-the-newspaper-is-to-comfort-the-afflicted-and-afflict-the-comfortable/?ref=aftermath.site), this story betrays those values, doing sunny PR work for a company that’s raring up to inflict unpredictable damage on the “game creators as artists” whom Booty praises in his interview. Xbox is more than capable of doing this kind of thing for itself; a journalist and their outlet don’t need to lend it a hand. ### I Was Stunned To Discover The New LEGO Batman Game Is Basically A Cute Little Arkham City URL: https://aftermath.site/lego-batman-arkham-city-legacy-impressions-review/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T05:20:53.000Z There have been so many LEGO games over the years, and so many of them follow a familiar pattern--light-hearted takes on big franchises, expressed through the medium of family-friendly platforming--that when I saw a new LEGO Batman game came out recently, I originally couldn’t have cared less. Why would I? I had to Google this one to see it was the *fourth* attempt at a LEGO Batman game. I hadn't played a single one of its predecessors, because after I'd played LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Lord of the Rings, I found my patience for that formula to have pretty much worn itself out. Turns out I have been proven, once again, to be a huge idiot. I was told quite alarmingly last week by a friend that dude, I should play the new LEGO Batman game, it's like *Arkham City* but cute, a sentence I simply refused to believe until I had installed the game myself and tried it out. After which I quickly found that it is indeed just like *Arkham City*, only cute. And it's *great*. Do you need me to introduce *Arkham City*? A triumph of both open-world game design and hand-to-hand video game combat, it was somehow released FIFTEEN YEARS AGO yet also still looks, and plays, like it came out yesterday. It's an all-time classic, and also sadly a game that has yet to be directly succeeded or improved upon, because the market now dictates that its creators must work on[ middling live service games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide%5FSquad:%5FKill%5Fthe%5FJustice%5FLeague?ref=aftermath.site) instead of brilliant singleplayer adventures. Into this void, then, steps...a LEGO game. Which, let's be clear up front, is still very much a LEGO game. Its combat is limited, its story is built around (admittedly quite funny) physical comedy gags, and between repetitive combat and endless crate-smashing it can *sometimes* feel like a bit of a chore. So in some ways this is not a true, bonafide *Arkham City* successor. But in many others it absolutely is, and in ways that are just as fun as the inspiration, if also coming at things from a slightly different angle. You've got a whole city to explore here in ways that are very Batman, including one of the best grappling hooks I've ever used in a video game (you can attach that bad boy almost anywhere, and from surprisingly long distances), a very forgiving gliding wing and a Batmobile whose "summon" button works so conveniently it doesn't just drive up next to you, it is built around you where you stand. Moving around this version of Gotham is effortless. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/image.png) Despite the plastic aesthetic and childish presentation, this still somehow manages to feel extremely Batman. It's a joy just soaring around this version of Gotham, exploring all the funny little shopfronts, grappling through all the surprisingly detailed neighbourhoods. I know this Batman has a weird head and tiny stubby legs, but also that doesn't matter for the most part. Batman has had all *kinds* of different looks over the years, through comics and cartoons and movies and TV shows, so what could have been weirdly distracting here is, in the wake of all the other LEGO games and even a LEGO Batman movie, just another look for the archives. Perhaps helping here is that, like so many other LEGO games, it has the utmost respect for its source material, which in this case is quite a bit of the Nolan trilogy, but also some other stuff, from Tim Burton's 1989 movie to the classic TV series, thrown in as well. This game *loves* Batman; it revels in cramming every square inch of the game with references and homages, something I know sounds annoying and pandering but in this specific context, in this game in particular, calling upon decades of history and variety in the source material, actually means something. As I've said, or at least tried to warn you, this isn't a *direct* successor to Rocksteady's 2011 open world classic. But that's fine; what this is instead is an open-world playground full of excessive jokes about cops eating donuts and bats shitting on everything, and in its own way I can appreciate that just as much. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/image-1.png) ### Computer Was A Mistake URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-controller-bluetooth-007-first-light/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T14:23:47.000Z I finally got around to starting *007 First Light* last week–so far it’s been pretty fun, and even though my PC sits in a nebulous area regarding the game’s recommended specs, it runs fine with most settings on high. I began playing on keyboard and mouse, my default way to play games, but the keyboard layout is a bit clunky: The hand-to-hand combat involves a lot of keys, and having to activate Bond’s watch by holding down the Alt key is uncomfortable. So I decided to switch to controller, and now the game barely runs at all. On Sunday morning I started *First Light* over so that I could go through the tutorials again with the controller prompts, because I have a very humiliating disease where I need controls shown to me instead of just looking at a layout. The Iceland mission ran the way it had when I played it previously, and things certainly felt a bit more intuitive on my Xbox One controller. But while following Moneypenny around the MI6 office, I noticed that this time around Bond was subtly rubberbanding, lagging behind her and then rushing forward. By the time I got to Malta, the whole game was dragging. Literally nothing had changed since I’d last played the game with keyboard and mouse, so I found this very weird. I checked to see if there’d been an update that might’ve broken things, but there wasn’t. I spent a good half hour tweaking all my graphics settings–reducing things back to medium, cranking down lighting and shadow effects, fiddling with DLSS–but nothing made the game run the way it had barely a week ago. Worried something was going wrong with my hardware, I grabbed my mouse to start poking around my system. When I moved my mouse, the game stopped lagging. Shocked, I tried steering Bond with my keyboard. He moved smoothly, and the game played smoothly around him. I picked up my controller and moved Bond up and down the Malta street. He jerked along, and the game flailed and stuttered. I switched to keyboard and mouse; I was playing a normal video game again. I am known, [when faced with PC problems](https://aftermath.site/i-dont-understand-my-pc-which-i-built/), for not quite thinking through the way a computer actually works, inventing narratives to explain a situation that run counter to the cold, logical bounds of the machine. My first thought was “my controller is breaking this specific video game,” but even I knew this was an absurd assumption. I closed *First Light*, updated my graphics driver, and tried again with my controller, only to find the problem persisting. But when I played with my mouse and keyboard, everything worked. This all gave credence to the “my controller is breaking the game” theory, but it still made no sense. For months I’ve had no problems with this controller, a wireless *Multiversus*\-themed Xbox One controller that got tossed my way when we were cleaning out our desks at The Washington Post. It connects to my PC via Bluetooth because Xbox doesn’t seem to sell a wireless adapter anymore, and while I sometimes have to pull out and reseat the Bluetooth dongle to get it to pair if I’ve left a game sitting on pause too long, it generally does what controllers do, and has never once *fully broken a video game* just by existing. Incredulous at my own thought process, I googled “xbox controller causing lag pc.” And I could not believe it when results actually came up: a thread on the [Microsoft forums](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5569976/fps-drop-and-stutters-when-using-controller-but-no?ref=aftermath.site) from 2025, [some](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1m0bxup/weird%5Fbluetooth%5Flag%5Fwith%5Fxbox%5Fcontroller%5Fon%5Fpc/?ref=aftermath.site) [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxController/comments/1noggbw/xbox%5Fone%5Fcontroller%5Fruins%5Fperformance%5Fon%5Fpc%5Fover/?ref=aftermath.site) [posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1msb0bl/pc%5Flags%5Fbecause%5Fof%5Fxbox%5Fcontroller/?ref=aftermath.site), complaints on the [EA](https://forums.ea.com/discussions/star-wars-games-discussion-en/re-xbox-one-controller-on-pc-causes-lag-and-single-digit-fps/10549491?ref=aftermath.site) and [Steam](https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/1743358239827891278/?ref=aftermath.site) sites going back years. Some people pinned it to dual instances of Microsoft’s GameInput program–I only had one installed but did find multiple instances of it running in my Task Manager, though closing them did nothing. Others pinned it to the controller batteries dying, but swapping them out for fresh ones did nothing either. Others suggested it was a Bluetooth problem solvable by wiring the controller up, my preferred method of attaching everything to everything but which would require a trip to the Microcenter for a USB data cable, and I couldn’t let the mystery sit half-solved while I left the house. I took to [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3mot5oeveu22u?ref=aftermath.site) with my discovery, where [multiple](https://bsky.app/profile/thecapybaron.bsky.social/post/3mot66jexo22a?ref=aftermath.site) [people](https://bsky.app/profile/govtweed.bsky.social/post/3moth75odjs2d?ref=aftermath.site) said they’d had [the](https://bsky.app/profile/transparency.bsky.social/post/3mot66mpbz22y?ref=aftermath.site) [same](https://bsky.app/profile/zolfagary.se/post/3mot64hnxrc2b?ref=aftermath.site) [problem](https://bsky.app/profile/conmantheuber.net/post/3motb6i44ks2x?ref=aftermath.site). The Video Game History Foundation’s Frank Cifaldi even helped me narrow the mystery further, [sharing that he’d had this problem when using a controller with games through the Epic store](https://bsky.app/profile/frankcifaldi.bsky.social/post/3mota3s7egk2c?ref=aftermath.site), and this was in fact my first time using my controller with an Epic store game. Here’s how I’m currently dealing: I play for about 20 minutes until the game stops working. Then I disconnect and reconnect my Bluetooth dongle, resetting the whole situation. I play until the game breaks again, then repeat. Besides being a deeply unpleasant way to experience *First Light*, this entire situation is also ridiculous. Is this [how computers work](https://bsky.app/profile/esper.bsky.social/post/3mot5xblxw22s?ref=aftermath.site)? I’ve made my peace with all the tweaks and fiddling required to be a PC gamer, but I’m not willing to accept that performing my gaming computer’s essential function–playing games–could require deleting processes and messing with my registry, or just playing a game in 20 minute increments. I’d be willing to accept a problem with the controller or with Bluetooth that caused input to lag, but *the whole game*? I imagine it doesn’t help matters that I’m still on Windows 10, which I can no longer update, but shit like this is [one](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/) [more](https://aftermath.site/windows-11-nope/) [reason](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-windows-11-debloat-copilot-ultralite-good-version/) why I’ve been dragging my heels on getting Windows 11\. Why would I go *deeper* into an ecosystem that appears to have a known bug with *using a controller to play video games?* I’m even more baffled that this isn’t just a *me* problem, which I could chalk up to my shoddy, aging PC build and my own stupid luck. So many of youhave experienced this, living in this absurd status quo, that I am extra furious on your behalf. It’s not even due to all the new enshittification being shoved down our throats–this is just *how the fucking PC works.* This problem goes back nearly a decade at least, and it seems like if we want to use the computer, we just have to accept it as a thing. This is some first rate bullshit, and I refuse to go quietly. Of course none of my raging is actually *fixing* the problem, which will most likely be sorted when it stops raining here so I can go up to the store and buy a cable to wire my expressly wireless controller to my PC. In the meantime, playing *First Light* like I’m binge-watching episodes of a sitcom is annoying as hell, though the game is pretty good. I just wish I didn’t have to deal with the computer to play it. [‘If A Game Wants Mirrors It Has To Be Prepared To Make A Big Technical Commitment’: Let’s Talk About 007’s Many, Beautiful Mirrors‘Our artists really love the visuals of mirrors and embrace them to a very large extent’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-5006de5d-acf4-4429-a078-0cd433f5ea71.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-06-04-083455-35e06269-ef0a-4019-891a-f4cf8a82d5dc.png)](https://aftermath.site/bond-007-first-light-mirrors-reflections-interview/) ### The Unspoken Harem Manga Romance Trope Has Finally Been Defeated URL: https://aftermath.site/hima-ten-shonen-jump-harem-romance-manga/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T14:23:57.000Z Many anime tropes have become so widely accepted that we [don’t even bat an eye when they play out before our eyes](https://aftermath.site/whats-the-deal-with-rumiko-takahashis-signature-hand-pose/). Shonen anime’s mandate for [one lecherous character](https://www.cbr.com/why-shonen-anime-have-pervert-character/?ref=aftermath.site) in their ensemble, the [*Akira* slide](https://kotaku.com/the-akira-motorcycle-skid-a-celebration-1842234326?ref=aftermath.site) being referenced for cool points, or characters assuming the [Joe Yabuki pose](https://youtu.be/crNafZnse68?si=E8GmImwLKiWmDzQd&ref=aftermath.site) in defeat are just a few examples of tropes that’re so ironclad in anime that they don’t need to be examined. Which is why I popped out of my couch in pure bliss to see a romance trope I’ve come to accept as an unassailable truth be deserted. Reader, blue-haired heroine/childhood friends' stonks are finally up. For whatever reason, anime and manga as a genre has decided that in romance series, the main character will [always reject a confession from a blue or dark purple-haired protagonist](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/s/GMxbELokJL?ref=aftermath.site). In fact, this extends beyond romance to the medium in general, with characters with blue follicles atop their heads having a rough go of it in the romance department. *JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure*’s Jonathan Joestar, *Neon Genesis Evangelion*’s Rei Ayanami, *Chainsaw Man*’s Reze, the list goes on. Have blue hair, tragedy will follow. > [Which hair color is the most successful in harem anime? A look at 100 harem anime endings](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/j08sdt/which%5Fhair%5Fcolor%5Fis%5Fthe%5Fmost%5Fsuccessful%5Fin%5Fharem/?ref=aftermath.site) > by [u/paukshop](https://www.reddit.com/user/paukshop/?ref=aftermath.site) in [anime](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/?ref=aftermath.site) [Color theory](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ShyBlueHairedGirl?ref=aftermath.site) can quickly explain why blue-haired characters in anime embody cool, calm, and collected—sometimes bookish—personalities. However, in anime, that often makes them the most boring character in an ensemble. And in a harem romance series featuring fiery-haired characters, especially the even luckier white-haired characters, the odds are better against the cool, reserved blue-haired maidens (and beaus) in love. That doesn’t make it any less fucked up to read a new series knowing full well it's a wash for them from the jump. The same is doubly true if the misfortune of their birth includes being the main character’s childhood friend. Although I’m more empathetic toward lovelorn blue-haired characters, I’ve no sympathy for characters ensnared in the childhood friends trope. Full transparency, they’re kinda annoying to me on a narrative level. They’ve had all the time in the world with the main character, but didn’t get a fire lit under their procrastinating asses until a new arrival hit the scene. It’s all well and good to have a sense of urgency, but doing so when you’ve blown your lead is clownshoes behavior, which is why, on principle, I never root for them in harem anime. It's a lesson I learned thrice over, reading [*Nisekoi* ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisekoi?ref=aftermath.site)(and malding over [Seishirō Tsugumi ](https://nisekoi.fandom.com/wiki/Seishir%C5%8D%5FTsugumi?ref=aftermath.site)losing), witnessing the dumpster fire that was [*Domestic Girlfriend*](https://youtu.be/ErTEqW1%5F25c?ref=aftermath.site), and laughing my ass off at anime making fun of the trope in [*Too Many Losing Heroines.*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too%5FMany%5FLosing%5FHeroines!?ref=aftermath.site) I’ve since then steeled my heart at the prospect of childhood friends, much less a blue-haired heroine in love, winning in the end. That is, until I came across *Hima-ten*’s [Honoka Kanai](https://hima-ten.fandom.com/wiki/Honoka%5FKanai?ref=aftermath.site) and witnessed her make Stephen Curry moves in the manga’s 11th hour. **Spoilers for *Hima-Ten!*** [*Hima-ten!*](https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/chapters/hima-ten?ref=aftermath.site), created by Genki Ono, is the latest harem manga to grace Weekly Shonen Jump. While its premise evokes *Nisekoi*, it leans less into the madcap farce of its predecessor’s false-love harem romance and more toward a grounded modern-age story about high schoolers catching feelings. The story follows a high school housekeeper named [Tenichi Iemori](https://hima-ten.fandom.com/wiki/Tenichi%5FIemori?ref=aftermath.site) who ends up in the employ of his school’s local celebrity, fashion influencer [Himari Yoshino](https://hima-ten.fandom.com/wiki/Himari%5FYoshino?ref=aftermath.site). It's a job they have to keep secret from their school, especially from Iemori’s childhood friend, Kanai. Things get even more complicated when everyone involved, including [Kanna Aizawa](https://hima-ten.fandom.com/wiki/Kanna%5FAizawa?ref=aftermath.site), the wildcard gravure idol added to the love triangle, realizes it's make-or-break to confess their feelings to the mild-mannered Iemori. All the while, *Hima-ten*’s girlies are pointedly aware of each other’s affections for the otherwise polite but milquetoast protagonist, whose charms begin and end with “he’s nice, thoughtful, cooks and cleans,” as they struggle to be overly considerate of each other or selfish in their pursuit of his affections. Since the series’s debut in July 2024, I’ve been reading *Hima-ten* with cynical interest. Partially because it's a light read following [*Akane-banashi*](https://aftermath.site/akane-banashi-shonen-jump-manga-anime/) and [*Blue Box*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%5FBox%5F%28manga%29?ref=aftermath.site) as the first series in my Shonen Jump new chapter drops, but mostly to see if history would repeat itself. And for the most part, it felt like Kanai’s chances of romance were a wash. I mean, the name of the series is a mash-up of Tenichi and Himari’s names, so that wasn’t helping the girl’s chances. And while her hair is technically black, Ono’s cover art and color spreads of her are drawn with blue highlights, so we count those as markers of her inevitable failure. With the manga approaching its 100th chapter—the point where endgame romantic breakthroughs occur—I wasn’t liking Kanai’s odds. Like so many harem protagonists before him, Iemori finally hit the fork in the road: choosing between the new girl and his childhood friend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/hima-ten-2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/hima-ten.png) © Genki Ono / Shonen Jump In the lead-up to chapter [95](https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/hima-ten-chapter-95/chapter/50435?action=read&ref=aftermath.site), Iemori had done the hard road of interrogating his feelings for the girls. He’d rejected Aikawa, the most upfront of the three, leaving an air of severity to his final choice. The series even questioned the fact that Iemori and Yoshino’s relationship is a bit skewed, with her technically being his employer, which led him to resign as her house cleaner. But still, it felt like *Hima-ten* was setting Kanai up for rejection. While Iemori and Yoshino were doing a photobook shoot and spending time together, Kanai put her hail mary in a letter she wanted Iemori to read later. In it, she included a letter she wrote to herself about her crush on Iemori from middle school as its preface. How her hi-byes weren’t out of disinterest, but because that’s all the words she could muster in his presence. How she’d admired his work ethic and cherished the dates she managed to muster up the courage to ask him on, and even the snowboarding date they never went on. In any other series, her confession would’ve been tantamount to a concession speech, but, when they finally met up and she said the last part she wanted to leave for when they finally met up in person, she finally let her arrow loose and confessed her love. Knowing full well she, like so many heroines before her, is destined for the silver medal. And then she fucking won. > KANAI WON!!!!!!!! [pic.twitter.com/HgjeUOEczT](https://t.co/HgjeUOEczT?ref=aftermath.site) > > — TheMangaAddict ²³ CR: Golden Kamuy (@Th3MangaAddict) [June 21, 2026](https://x.com/Th3MangaAddict/status/2068756344845619329?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) After years of romance series passing over the childhood friend, *Hima-ten* went from being a color in the margins of a harem series to one that took the road less traveled in a surprisingly poignant and mature way. As someone who read the series without fail for the past two years, it's especially cool to witness a series I started out reading cynically surprise me. Moral of the story, communication is *important*. But most importantly, never count anyone out, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. ## Recommended [You win, Rent-A-Girlfriend. I Give Up - AftermathThe ongoing harem romcom that’s become the personification of sunken cost fallacy is at a crossroads, and I can’t be fucked to care anymore![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-36a55aaf-87a9-4f84-bdc1-eaff0df82671.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_1132655234-3-c52011fd-33b2-41d5-8da5-1a6e537bb6a0.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/rent-a-girlfriend-manga/) ### The Steam Machine Is An Iconoclastic Computer Born In Unforgiving Times URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-review-price/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T00:46:40.000Z It’s difficult to talk about the Steam Machine in the abstract versus the Steam Machine that is in my hands right now. The one in my hands is intuitive and easy to use like a console, sets up fast and, for many PC games, it just works. It is one of the most unintrusive and charming pieces of console hardware ever to grace the living room, a tiny industrial cube that allows you to swap the front plates if you want. Design-wise it is in league with the Series X, the Sharp X68000 or Sony’s offerings in the PS2 era. It is also one of most mass market releases of a desktop computer to ship with Linux in history. But it is also a computer released in 2026, when a bunch of [useless jackasses have made the computer expensive](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/). It costs more than the PlayStation 5 Pro for the entry level model without a controller, and is roughly what a prebuilt computer with as much RAM and memory costs. The math is much more charitable when you realize that the Steam Machine is an adult computer you can install your own software on, instead of a weird playpen like the PS5 Pro that charges you $79.99 a year to play games you already own online. On a long enough timeline, the cost might not matter. What would normally be a debilitating launch for a console is sub-optimal but not ruinous for the concept of the Steam Machine. You can build a Steam Machine yourself, and I know because at present I have three Steam Machine-shaped devices sitting next to each other in my living room, all running Linux. The Steam Machine is meant for an alternate present but, barring that, it could lay the groundwork for a more interesting future. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/A015_04230103_S036-1.jpg) ## **Sticker shock** It’s worth letting the air out of the room about what the Steam Machine costs before talking about what it does: $1,049 for the base model with a 512GB SSD, and $1,128 for the same model with a Steam Controller. Bump the SSD up to 2 TB and that goes up to $1,349 and $1,428 with the Steam Controller. Bundling the Steam Controller separately is smart because customers may have already bought a Steam Controller. The most expensive bundle comes with additional face plates in red and walnut. The sticker shock will be met with a chorus of “oof”s and “yeahhhh”s, but as someone who has doggedly watched PC component prices creep up every single day, I’m not remotely surprised. This is straight up what computers cost now. The PS5 Pro costs $900, and Apple [discontinued its $599 256GB base Mac Mini recently](https://www.forbes.com/sites/prakharkhanna/2026/05/02/apple-discontinues-256gb-mac-mini-pushing-the-entry-price-to-799/?ref=aftermath.site), which makes sense because a bunch of dullards kept buying them to run OpenClaw instead of doing anything remotely useful with their lives. You know things are bleak when Tim Cook, Mr. Supply Chain himself, [says](https://www.wsj.com/tech/apple-price-increases-memory-supply-199845b1?ref=aftermath.site) “Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable.” Try finding a comparable Chinese mini PC in stock or price out a similar build to the Steam Machine, and while you might be able to hit a similar price if you get lucky, it is unlikely that it will be in anything approaching the same form factor. If you had the foresight to build a good PC before AI and memory companies threw us all under the bus, try inputting those components into PCPartpicker now. I did: My computer now costs around $5,500 without a case. [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)I tried pricing out my workstation PC which has 64gb of RAM and a few 4TBs I bought on sale before this horseshit and I almost hurled. That isn’t even including the case. \[contains quote post or other embedded content\]![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-914efa5a-3d65-49b2-98d6-e734dbae7ca4.png)Bluesky SocialChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreicchhy5a3u33rnpsi566pjvotbrkrxzws5oq5iaktvvg6ds4bd5ra-b99d6782-e695-4e78-873a-2b915b3f463f)](https://bsky.app/profile/papapishu.bsky.social/post/3mop35d74y22f?ref=aftermath.site) Valve has stated outright that this price point was never their plan. “Our original goal for the price of Steam Machine is no longer viable,” Valve wrote in a blog post prior to release. “So the prices we're sharing today reflect the state of the world for manufacturing; or, more accurately, it reflects the price \[of\] the components as we've secured them over the past 6 months.” This has not only impacted how much the units cost, but also how many units Valve is able to ship based on the components they could secure. Valve also wrote that they do not wish to subsidize the hardware, stating that it runs counter to their idea of the PC as an open platform. “When companies sell their hardware under cost for competitive advantage, or buy exclusive content for it, they're doing that to build a more closed system, one where you don't get to choose what software you want to use.” Valve arranged an interview with engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais and designer Lawrence Yang, and when I asked what they had originally targeted for their price, they said they could not specify, although they did suggest that the [price increase](https://aftermath.site/steam-deck-price-increase-valve-ai/) the Steam Deck OLED recently underwent should give you a ballpark estimate of how much the Steam Machine’s target had moved. But at this point, counterfactuals are cold comfort. It’s hard to fault any console or PC maker for raising their prices in an environment this rancid, but I am still bummed out. The Steam Machine was supposed to do something very important for PC gaming generally and Linux computing specifically: provide a stable and *affordable* goal for others to build on, and to continue the work in the living room that the Steam Deck did with handhelds. If Sam Altman and his cadre of chicken-necked freak friends hadn’t decided to gobble up the global memory and RAM supply, it could have been a slam dunk. For now, it’s a wonderful if modest little computer for those who can afford it, that is doing important work for what comes after. *Disclosure: Valve provided Aftermath a Steam Machine for this review.* ## **The setup** The experience of setting up the Steam Machine is seamless. You input the basic parameters of language and internet credentials and the Steam Machine goes through its little setup process where it shows you in big IKEA-like pictograms on how to set the controller and audio up. After that you’re off to the races. At most, you are installing the latest patch and updating your controller’s firmware. If you have an existing Steam account and the mobile app, linking the device with a QR code takes about two seconds. Navigating the Machine’s menu with the Steam Controller is a joy, and I’ve gotten so used to using it at this point that even after a few days I didn’t bother to move my keyboard’s dongle six inches to switch it from my living room PC for a few days. Not all PC games are compatible with the Steam Machine–some for reasons outside of Valve’s control–but the work done on Proton (the compatibility layer that allows Windows games to run in Linux) has made the need to check ProtonDB and fiddle with settings less necessary every day. Steam is fairly good at visually indicating which games run on the Machine, although to a newcomer the idea of being able to buy a game that you can’t play on your console might sound alien. By default the Machine boots into Steam Big Picture Mode, although you always have the option to go to a desktop environment. Since the Machine I used is pre-release, Valve says they are still working out the kinks and making new improvements to how it performs. I tried playing *007 First Light* and the game humorously defaulted to the native resolution of the Steam Deck. Valve assured me that this is a byproduct of the machine operating in Steam Deck mode and that this will be addressed as new SDKs are released. Valve shipped multiple patches to address issues like VRAM optimization and ray tracing performance in the week I’ve had the Machine. For the most part games ran well natively at 1080p and 1440p depending on the title and settings, although I did end up hitting the ceiling of the 8 gigs of VRAM often if I got too ambitious with settings. ## **Dialing in** The machine sang when FSR or XeSS, AMD and Intel’s AI upscaling technologies, were applied, and I get the sense that this is going to be the default for many high end titles. I was surprised that I was able to pull a respectable, native 1440p at 30 fps out of *Crimson Desert* with fairly high settings. I don’t have the means to benchmark the Machine as rigorously as an outlet like Digital Foundry, in part because the performance of the Machine would change from day to day. If the Steam Deck is any indication, the machine will only be better optimized over the years. But I did run it through both *Black Myth Wukong* and *Cyberpunk*’s benchmarking tests with FSR and 4K, and both ran well enough. Since the Steam Machine uses a custom RDNA 3 GPU, Valve told me it will soon be getting the same FSR 4.1 improvements that AMD [recently announced it was extending](https://www.techpowerup.com/349972/amd-explains-fsr-4-1-upscaling-for-rdna-3-promises-quality-parity-with-rdna-4?ref=aftermath.site) backwards to previous generations of its hardware. This is good news because FSR 3.1 looks like ruddy toilet water and FSR 4.1 is a significant improvement over previous versions of the upscaling tech that approaches Nvidia’s DLSS in performance. A version of FSR 4.1 that ran in earlier hardware actually leaked in the last year, and so it’s trivial to install that even on a Steam Deck, but an official release is imminent and I’m excited to see it officially ship. Some console players used to preset settings like “quality” and “performance” might find the granular nature of PC display settings disorienting, but I have always found tweaking display parameters soothing. It is the sign of real PC gaming, and as easy as the Steam Machine has made the gaming experience, it’s an adult PC. Like the Steam Deck did for handhelds, the Steam Machine finally offers an accessible living room entry point to countless freaky little PC games that have historically never made it to consoles. It is a machine suited for both AAA games as well as early access oddities like *Psycho Patrol R* and *Goblin America* (a real and grotesque looking game which I did briefly play). The Steam Machine does not give a shit if you throw emulators on it, and projects like [EmuDeck](https://www.emudeck.com/?ref=aftermath.site) have streamlined the entire process. The [Heroic Games Launcher](https://heroicgameslauncher.com/?ref=aftermath.site) lets you seamlessly add titles you may own from the Epic Game store and GOG as well. You can throw whatever mods you want on there, provided you have a compatible way to manage them. At this point, the Steam Machine is probably a better place to [play *Bloodborne* than the PS5 if you’re crafty](https://aftermath.site/bloodborne-remake-remaster-ps5/). SteamOS is a fairly straightforward and newbie-friendly variant of Arch Linux. The Discover app functions like a standard app store but for Linux. If you’re new to Linux, imagine if the Microsoft store was mostly full of useful free software, uncluttered, and not miserable to use. Neophytes may also be pleasantly surprised to learn how seamless it is to update every program on your computer at once with a single command. And unlike a Windows PC (and even Mac recently with the atrocious Liquid Glass update), you’ll eventually learn to love and trust your computer updating instead of disconnecting it from the internet and pointing a gun at it every time it tries to perform a system update. The Steam Machine has a lot of pleasant little tweaks that make interacting with it a joy. It contains an internal variant of the puck that comes with the Steam Controller, which helps you to shift the Controller back and forth between computers if you so choose. There’s a tiny LED strip at the bottom of the front of the Machine, which is most useful as a progress bar when you’re downloading huge games from Steam. Like the PS5 there’s a swappable shell component in the form of the front magnetic face plate, and Valve plans on releasing the STL so that anybody can make face plates on their own ([versus Sony, who eventually got lawyers involved when someone did that](https://kotaku.com/sony-threatens-dbrand-with-legal-action-over-ps5-plates-1847881873?ref=aftermath.site)). Valve also put an SD slot on the front, which makes transferring files or sharing games between the Steam Deck and Steam Machine seamless. Given how bad the market for drives is currently, any flexibility in storage is potentially a godsend. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/A015_04230048_S010-1.jpg) ## **The lonely life of the living room PC** As I wrote in my [review of the Steam Controller](https://aftermath.site/steam-controller-review-living-room-pc/), I have long been a “full ass gaming PC in my living room” guy. It has not been an easy lifestyle historically, as it’s often been [hard to find a PC case that isn’t embarrassing](https://aftermath.site/a-full-sized-atx-case-minimalism-no-logos/) let alone build a small form factor PC that runs quiet. Even consoles have become embarrassing eyesores half the time, with both the PS3 (minus the slim) and PS5 existing as grotesque carbuncles that live under your TV. Couple that with the awkward experience of running a desktop on a 65” OLED or projector and it’s understandable why this lifestyle has not caught on yet. The Steam Machine is the most proactively pleasant PC I've ever used in a living room setting. I cannot stress how quiet and unobtrusive it is, a quality I did not realize mattered to me until I’d spent a week with it. I had to put my ear next to it to hear that it was on. As someone who has built a small form factor PC I cannot stress how easy it is to make something this tiny accidentally sound like a jet engine every time it needs to do a moderately complicated task. To design a small form factor PC is to fight nature and physics and often lose. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IDG_20260621_192749_452.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IDG_20260621_193416_138.jpg) The internals of the Steam Machine. The inside of the Steam Machine is frankly beautiful, and I do not say that lightly. The majority of the Steam Machine’s guts is just one big cooler connected to a custom plastic shroud and attached to a single, funky looking 120x25mm fan. “The whole thing is basically a thermal module with a slice of compute attached to it,” Yang told me, and both Yang and Griffais beamed when they talked about the thermal design. The back is connected with two torx security screws embedded in the rear so you don’t lose them and comes off on a hinge. The top and side shell is connected via the four rubberized feet that are also torx screws. You do not need to remove the cooler to replace the SSD, as there’s just a breakout board on the bottom of the thing that is easy to access. The Steam Machine has the exact same design ethos as the Steam Deck and Steam Controller, the spiritual midpoint between repairability and optimizing for a specific goal. You can tell this machine is loved deeply by the people who designed it. Valve has also done a lot of work getting features normally found in HDMI 2.1 to work in HDMI 2.0\. This involves getting VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and HDMI-CEC to work seamlessly across multiple TVs. “In general, integration with the living room is tricky to get right. There's a lot of different TVs. They all support CEC differently. The ecosystem has a lot of interoperability issues,” Griffais said. Though by no means unique to the Steam Machine, it still feels bizarre to be able to navigate Steam and PC games in menus with an LG remote. Audio is seamless with my Denon AVR. The ability to get full 4k120 is currently being worked out (you can currently do that by means of Chroma Sub-Sampling or by using a DisplayPort to HDMI dongle, but it’s not perfect), and Valve told me HDMI 2.1 FRL (Fixed Rate Link) support is in the works, which allows for higher bandwidth modes. The work Valve is doing to solve these issues for the Steam Machine will often benefit other Linux computers, which is the nature of open platforms. When your work is done in the open, everything gets better on the whole. And that’s good, because I don’t have just one Steam Machine, I have at least three. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/A015_04230058_S023-2.jpg) ## **Unlike Xbox, anything really can be a Steam Machine** Linux has gotten good, to the point where even non-Linux people have been admitting it. There are many roadblocks to adoption that have to be blasted through, but for the most part gaming has never been better. There are some notable exceptions to this – games like *Marathon* that feature kernel level anticheat often lack a workable Linux implementation. In my interview with the hardware team, Griffais said Valve is “very aware” of this issue and are attempting to make progress on it, although that progress might be long term. “We definitely are very aware of the tradeoff between security and openness,” Griffais told me. “We don’t want to end up in a situation where we do a bunch of short term work that goes too far in one direction.” But for the most part, this issue is limited to a handful of mostly multiplayer games. Often, most games simply work. Six months ago, I decided to give living with Linux full time a shot. I started by installing Bazzite, a gaming-oriented version of Fedora Atomic similar to SteamOS, on my older living room PC. Like SteamOS, Bazzite is meant to be no-nonsense, instantly parsable by gamers, and easy to run without breaking something randomly. While the experience has had its bumps, in no small part due to uneven GPU support for Nvidia compared to AMD, the day-to-day console experience was superior. I then moved on to my main workstation, installing Bazzite on to my secondary drive to dual boot. Though I am slowly isolating and migrating the tasks I rely on Windows for with my workstation, those are fewer and fewer every day, and the experience is constantly improving. The living room PC is powerful enough to lift its weight playing most indie titles and some slightly older AAA games. For everything else I’m able to stream from my workstation via Moonlight or Steam’s own internal streaming. My relationship to the Steam Machine is almost identical in most functional respects to my living room PC, although the Steam Machine is far better optimized, quieter, and purpose-built for the task. A few months ago, I also became aware of another project for people who cannot afford Steam Machines: the BC250\. A crypto mining card built on a stripped down version of a PlayStation 5, the BC250 started to appear on the secondhand market a while back for around one hundred dollars. It features 16GB of unified GDDR6 RAM that is soldered right onto the board, and features an air cooler oriented to be run in server racks. Eventually, people figured out that you can install Linux – usually Debian, Bazzite or CachyOS – right onto it. The People had turned e-waste into Steam Machines. And though it requires a lot of elaborate work just to get it to run and comes with some serious tradeoffs, the cost of the RAM on it is far more than the price of the board itself even after the word got out and caused the price to spike by 50 bucks. Because I am vocationally addicted to projects, I slowly began a BC250 build that has taken well over a month in my spare time, researching cooling solutions and 3D printing cases. I had to talk for hours on Discord with a helpful stranger named Gadget about his case, and figure out a way to get a discontinued cooler to fit. Since I started, the community has figured out ways to unlock the sectioned compute units on the card, bumping them up from 24 to up to 40 depending on how lucky you are with the silicon lottery. Though still early, the performance boost is so significant it’s absurd. An entire community has sprung up around this wonky-looking bit of hardware with an active Discord and wiki, and people are constantly innovating with different form factors and cooling solutions. I do not intend to keep this machine in my house; I have far too many. But I will write about it in depth, and I fully expect it to live on in the living room of a friend who cannot afford a Steam Machine. The BC250 is a distorted mirror of the Steam Machine. While the Steam Machine is pricier than a console traditionally, it’s ludicrously easy to use for a Linux PC and works beautifully even in beta. The BC250 is a low cost and high effort project, or at least it was for me because I decided to make the most absurd and elaborate air-cooled build possible. But those machines, as well as my converted living room PC, all now exist within the continuity of Valve’s idea for the Steam Machine. All of them benefit from work being done in the open, a rising tide raising all boats. In the same way that the Steam Deck directly improved similar but more powerful products by companies like MSI, Lenovo and ASUS, I can easily see the Steam Machine’s form factor and simplicity of use being applied to the countless mini PCs out there if the market ever settles down. The Steam Machine is not a console in the traditional sense; the economy is increasingly hostile to that idea. It is working towards something that both Valve and the community itself are building on. This makes even more sense when you look at [FEX](https://fex-emu.com/?ref=aftermath.site), a Valve project to have X86 programs run on ARM chips like smart phones and portable devices, and the explosion of support for PC games on devices like the AYN Thor. But Valve’s hardware team also indicated that a part of the Steam Machine’s launch is the extension of SteamOS proper to as many devices as possible, with a goal of improving compatibility with Nvidia and Intel GPUs. The more hardware they can reach, the better. ## **A goal** When Valve tried the Steam Machine the [first time around](https://kotaku.com/a-brief-history-of-steam-machines-1824290873?ref=aftermath.site), it did not have its shit together. The basic underpinnings that make their current ecosystem work wasn’t simply not there yet. Instead of leading with their own hardware, Valve had loose relationships with third party vendors, each offering a boutique product. The idea was half baked, and ultimately fizzled out. This time around, the situation could not be more different. Both Windows and Xbox are in the worst state in Microsoft’s entire history, and the very existence of the latter as a platform is [legitimately in question](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs-summer-game-fest/). The Steam Deck, while still relatively niche compared to Nintendo’s offerings, is beloved by people who use it. The next few years are going to be chaotic, as hardware pricing hits this entire industry like a cement truck, and the difficulty in buying components causes many hardware manufacturers to fold. In this environment, predicting how anything will shake out save for Nintendo puttering along is impossible. But it is very likely that people are going to have to get creative with whatever they have around if we want this hobby to stay alive. E-waste, freak handhelds and older computers – people are and will get increasingly creative. The Steam Machine is not landing where its creators planned it price wise but the core vision has been realized and is something I agree with ideologically. It is a platform in the true sense of the word, a foundation to build on. Like the Steam Deck, it provides a reasonable target for game developers to aim for, a reasonable optimization baseline that can handle basically every indie game and a huge portion of big titles. It is the rare console that does not treat the user like a child, and I have no doubt that it will improve with age. And like Valve’s original vision for the Steam Machine and the reality of the Steam Deck, it is a template that any other manufacturer could easily build a much more performant product on, with an operating system that is, in multiple meanings of the word, free. When I asked the team about the dire context of their launch, Griffais reminded me that the Steam Deck was developed following the supply chain disruptions around COVID. “We’re looking forward to being able to launch hardware in times that are a little bit more quiet,” he told me. Yang agreed, “Less interesting times.” ### The Art Of Marathon URL: https://aftermath.site/marathon-bungie-concept-art/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T20:25:02.000Z Despite coming out [a few months back now](https://aftermath.site/marathon-bungie-soundtrack-ryan-lott/) (March to be precise), Bungie has kept the artwork that went into [*Marathon's* creation](https://aftermath.site/marathon-satire-readergrev/) and development mostly under wraps. Until yesterday. Now, the shackles are off, and around the world, artists both internal (at Bungie) and external (contractors) are showing off the work they contributed to one of the coolest-looking video games in recent memory. I thought I'd round up some of the best of it here in some galleries (click/tap on each image to expand!), but every artist credit will contain a link to their own site/portfolio so you can check out loads more once you're done. ## [Dima Goryainov](https://www.artstation.com/dgoryainov?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/dima-goryainov-dg-marathon-perimeter-relay-14.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/dima-goryainov-dg-marathon-perimeter-relay-06.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/dima-goryainov-dg-marathon-mobile-radar-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/dima-goryainov-dg-marathon-perimeter-branding-03.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/dima-goryainov-dg-marathon-memorial-marker-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/dima-goryainov-dg-marathon-memorial-marker-06.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/dima-goryainov-dg-marathon-assassin-shell-03.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/dima-goryainov-dg-marathon-arachne-11.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/dima-goryainov-dg-marathon-arachne-02.jpg) --- ## [Allan Parker](https://www.artstation.com/allan-p?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/allan-parker-marathon-7.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/allan-parker-marathon-10.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/allan-parker-marathon-11.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/allan-parker-marathon-1.jpg) --- ## [Eric Pfeiffer](https://www.artstation.com/espfeiffer?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/eric-pfeiffer-ep-marathon-destinysparrow-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/eric-pfeiffer-ep-optics-03.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/eric-pfeiffer-ep-arachne-assassin-turnaround.jpg) --- ## [Kejun Wang](https://www.artstation.com/kejun66?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/kejun-wang-kw-ksyk-thief-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/kejun-wang-kw-cryo-thief-00.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/kejun-wang-kw-monoc-vandal-00.jpg) --- ## [Patrick Bloom](https://www.artstation.com/patrickbloom?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/patrick-bloom-pb-thief-04.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/patrick-bloom-pb-thief-00a.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/patrick-bloom-pb-thief-03a.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/patrick-bloom-pb-thief-00.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/patrick-bloom-pb-marsh-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/patrick-bloom-pb-marsh-props-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/patrick-bloom-pb-marsh-props-14.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/patrick-bloom-pb-hard-case-01.jpg) --- ## [Sigurd Fernstrom](https://www.artstation.com/fernstrom?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/sigurd-fernstrom-sigurd-fernstrom-launch016.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/sigurd-fernstrom-sigurd-fernstrom-launch001.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/sigurd-fernstrom-sigurd-fernstrom-launch020.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/sigurd-fernstrom-sigurd-fernstrom-launch019.jpg) --- ## [Taylor E Rose](https://www.artstation.com/tahlwin?ref=aftermath.site) ([Shop](https://tahl.win/shop?ref=aftermath.site)) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/taylor-e-rose-tr-heatgrenade.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/taylor-e-rose-tr-chemlight-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/taylor-e-rose-tr-stimulantrevision.jpg) --- ## [Tobias Kwan](https://www.artstation.com/tobiaskwan?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/tobias-kwan-tk-marathon-artblast-vigi-echo-face-sculpt-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/tobias-kwan-tk-marathon-artblast-uesc-recruit-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/tobias-kwan-tk-marathon-artblast-uesc-ghost-miniboss-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/tobias-kwan-tk-rook-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/tobias-kwan-tk-faction-agent-gantry-01.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/tobias-kwan-tk-faction-agent-gaius-04.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/tobias-kwan-tk-faction-agent-oni-01.jpg) --- ## [karakter](https://www.artstation.com/karakter?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/karakter-glt-m02-arl-2d-005.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/karakter-glt-otp-exp-2d-123.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/karakter-glt-otp-exp-rdr-075-drone-bay-open.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/karakter-glt-otp-pin-2d-014-skt-hallway.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/karakter-glt-m02-exp-2d-003-fd.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/karakter-glt-ma2-exp-2d-fd-005.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/karakter-glt-ma2-exp-2d-025-hb.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/karakter-glt-otp-exp-2d-64-fd.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/karakter-glt-m02-pcs-2d-003-fd.jpg) --- ## [West Studio](https://www.weststudio.com/?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/west-studio-marathon-weststudio-asblast-2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/west-studio-marathon-weststudio-asblast-4.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/west-studio-marathon-weststudio-asblast-3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/west-studio-marathon-weststudio-asblast-1.jpg) --- ## [Daniel Chavez](https://www.daniolart.com/?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/SHOW_World_AlgaePonds2.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/SHOW_World_NewBatchofProps.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/SHOW_World_MarathonEarlyExplo.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/SHOW_Runner_Triage_NewFlyingBot3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/World_SpaceCat.jpg) --- ## [Molly McLaughlin](https://www.mollyanneart.com/?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/MOLL_Concept_Cosmetics_02.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/MOLL_Concept_Weapons_03.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/MOLL_Concept_Graphics_01.png) --- [![CTA Image](https://aftermath.ghost.io/content/images/2025/11/1-1-2.png)](https://aftermath.ghost.io/tag/showcase/?ref=aftermath.site) 'Showcase' is a feature highlighting the work of artists in and around the video game industry. You can see more, for stuff like Homeworld 3, Blue Eye Samurai and beyond, here: [MORE SHOWCASE FEATURES ](https://aftermath.ghost.io/tag/showcase/?ref=aftermath.site) ### Microsoft Runs The Rake Factory URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs-microsoft-ai/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T19:07:34.000Z While the full Xbox oil spill on the horizon has yet to take shape, one thing’s for certain: It’s gonna be ugly. But the truth is, Microsoft has never entirely known what to do with its beleaguered games division, because it’s a tech company—not a dedicated entertainment enterprise. This is how you get creatives under the same figurative roof as those building [software employed by a genocidal vassal state](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/), and it’s also how you wind up in a situation where Xbox’s entire future is being undermined by AI—which the company is all in on. Xbox can’t stop stepping on rakes, and Microsoft runs the rake factory. On the latest Aftermath Hours, we discuss the absurdity of Xbox’s plight. This time around, we’re joined by Post Games’ [Chris Plante](https://bsky.app/profile/plante.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) to discuss an ambitious new episode of his show: [the Earliest Game Of The Year awards](https://postgame.substack.com/p/the-earliest-game-of-the-year-awards). Why now? Because games that release near the beginning of the year often get ignored or forgotten by the time GOTY season rolls around. Also, as of now, nearly 11,000 games have already come out this year. We ask Chris why, despite a glut of same-y industry award shows, he believes we need more—not less—and what the value of those shows could be if they focused more on specific types of games or just generally dared to be weirder. Then we move on to [the latest grim tidings out of Microsoft](https://aftermath.site/compulsion-microsoft-xbox-layoffs-closure/), where multiple studios including Double Fine, Compulsion, and Ninja Theory are now on the chopping block. What’s the plan here? Is there one? Was there ever—at least in terms of building a coherent identity around Xbox? Lastly, I get to talk about [the UFC’s White House card](https://defector.com/ufc-freedom-250-white-hous?ref=aftermath.site), to the surprise and delight of no one. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can erect our own [hideous megastructure](https://aftermath.site/ufc-freedom-250-octagon-white-house-lawn-trump/) on the White House lawn not for any specific event or occasion but just because it would be funny. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Chris Plante:** I think the bet that \[Microsoft\] made—and I don’t think internally this was a thing that everybody was buying into—was first hundred days to build the brand, second hundred days to pull the band-aid. The band-aid I feel like is so much worse because those first hundred days were wasted on “[Should we call it XBOX?](https://aftermath.site/xbox-microsoft-gaming-sharma/)” It would have been horrible for it to just start with all of the pain, but 100 days really matters for the future of these studios, and having to rush this over the course of the next—what—two weeks? Just so bleak. **Chris Person:** There’s also just this \[idea of\] “Hey, I’m not like the old boss. I’m cool. I’m with it.” That shit always felt fake. It always felt like some shit you just said, like “I’m just an AI person, but what if I got into games?” No, I’m sorry. Microsoft has had this problem where it’s wanted this prestige for these studios in the service of Game Pass, I guess, in the abstract—which has not done well. The Activision thing kind of backfired a lot. I don’t think that ever should have gone through. But also, there are these studios you’d normally like to \[support\], like Double Fine. The people who care about the BDS boycott and the people who care about Double Fine are a circle. It has always felt disingenuous because Microsoft doesn’t have an identity that lasts longer than a few fiscal quarters or years. They are always changing shit; they are always burning what they used to be and trying a new thing and never letting things come to fruition. Nobody knows what this console is. It’s posting \[Xbox\] 360 in Shibuya numbers at this point. It’s not a healthy console. Nobody believes in it. Xbox has become a game publisher first and foremost—one that is fraught and refuses to answer for 1) how weird the entire endeavor is and 2) it’s taking the brunt for a huge problem that Microsoft refuses to answer. I don’t know how you reconcile any of this shit. Do you believe that Xbox is going to be a real thing? I don’t. It feels like they inherited the Dreamcast curse. It feels like they inherited the weird third console slot, because people aren’t gonna buy three consoles, because nobody has money, because of AI—because of Microsoft. They are causing the problems that are then subsequently hurting them. **Nathan:** Not only are they stepping on every rake, but they also run the rake factory. **Chris Person:** They run the fucking rake factory! And it makes what they’re doing worse. ## Recommended [Despite Awards, South Of Midnight Studio Becomes Latest Victim Of Microsoft’s ImplosionCompulsion Games could be on the chopping block, months after Xbox hyped up its award wins![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-49529ed0-d60b-438d-95ea-b2dfa862f157.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/comps-49dc1be0-4376-4aac-9993-d78d229f9a16.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/compulsion-microsoft-xbox-layoffs-closure/) ### Netflix's FIFA World Cup Video Game Is A Modern Hellscape And An Embarrassment To Everyone Involved URL: https://aftermath.site/fifa-world-cup-launch-edition-netflix-review-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T22:56:05.000Z Sports gaming fans may have noticed that, as the World Cup dominates headlines and the popular consciousness worldwide, there is no (obvious) official video game to help fans play along at home. *EA Sports FC*, formerly known as *FIFA*, *used* to be the home of such releases, first as standalone titles, then later as expansions to the base *FIFA* game. [But after EA Sports' very public spat with football's world body a few years back](https://www.fastcompany.com/90819402/fifa-ea-sports-video-games-split?ref=aftermath.site), they lost that license, leaving *EA Sports FC's* millions of players across the globe unable to download an official version of the tournament. All they got instead this month was[ a bootleg update called "The World's Game"](https://www.ea.com/en/games/ea-sports-fc/fc-26/news/pitch-notes-fc26-the-worlds-game-update?ref=aftermath.site). [New FIFA Game Looks Deeply EmbarrassingWhat year is it again?![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-a7ceffbb-a855-482f-a168-d7c5185f70f5.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-03-27-130142-89124d3e-ddc0-4959-a59f-8667a16f7c0f.png)](https://aftermath.site/new-fifa-video-game/) (To explain this to non-sports gamers, the official license for stuff like this is *everything*; fans want to be able to recreate what they're seeing on TV, so traditionally the official World Cup game has had the same shirts, trophy, stadiums and even broadcast graphics as the real thing). If EA hasn't got the official license, maybe one-time-rivals Konami were able to pick it up instead? While the days of their *Pro Evo* series being a legitimate competitor for *FIFA* are long gone, the bones of that game live on in a platform called *eFootball*, which basically serves as a reminder of how good *PES* once was, and how despite being gutted and stripped for parts it *still* plays a better game of football than *EA Sports FC*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/image-3.png) I played some **eFootball* while writing this post and man, it is looking **good*; player models in particular look far more realistic than EA Sports FC's But no, Konami doesn't have the license either. Like *EA Sports FC*, *eFootball* also has a knock-off version of the World Cup, and it's so shoddily-implemented that I'm not even going to bother to describe it to you. It's bad. Maybe *Goal*, the new free-to-play arcade football game grabbing some headlines, has some kind of tie-in? Lol, no, I played that game for about ten minutes and hated every second spent with its bizarre and unnecessary tweaks to the most popular sport in the world's basic rules. It also has nothing to do with the World Cup and is exclusively built around online play with fake players and fake teams, so this paragraph is only really here to warn football fans not to play it, World Cup or no. [Please, Tell Me More About The New FIFA Game And The Money Behind ItNone of this sounds exciting, in the slightest![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-d3f6dab7-3888-44be-9e64-a4515460c2cb.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1527871454777-032ec3f75edc-ce6e17aa-1329-48bc-938d-559842a6a3a3)](https://aftermath.site/new-fifa-game-delphi-netflix/) If you want to play an *official* World Cup game in 2026, there is only one place you can get it all, and that's on...Netflix? [As I wrote (with a huge amount of trepidation)](https://aftermath.site/new-fifa-game-delphi-netflix/) a few months back, for reasons known only to the corrupt morons inside FIFA HQ, the rights to the single biggest sports event on the planet have been handed over to these guys: > A16z is Andreessen Horowitz, a terrible company even by venture capital's vampiric standards, [run](https://www.thedissident.news/the-techno-fascist-soul-of-marc-andreessen/?ref=aftermath.site) by[ some of the most overt technofascists](https://www.vice.com/en/article/major-tech-investor-calls-architect-of-fascism-a-saint-in-unhinged-manifesto/?ref=aftermath.site) operating[ in Silicon Valley today](https://www.tni.org/en/article/the-rise-of-the-techno-tyrants?ref=aftermath.site). Refactor's site boasts of hires from rights licensing company OneTeam (whose partners are [currently under investigation by the FBI](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6393997/2025/05/30/federal-agents-investigation-mlbpa-nflpa-oneteam/?ref=aftermath.site)) and N3TWORK (a blockchain studio), and their single published sports game, *Football Simulator*,[ is not exactly a smash hit](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1488560/Football%5FSimulator/?ref=aftermath.site#app%5Freviews%5Fhash). It should be little surprise, then, to find that the resulting game–*FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition*\--is absolute dogshit. It's putrid. It's an embarrassment to anyone who plays it, to the device it's played on, to the people who made it, the people who lent their names to it and the medium of video games in general. *FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition* is available for TVs and desktops. You need to sign into Netflix to play it, then connect 1-4 phones to the account, which are used as controllers, with one half of your phone’s touchscreen devoted to a large touchpad and two buttons, and the other half a virtual joystick. If that sounds bad, you are right. It's bad. Imagine, as you sit down to play this game (please don't actually play it) in the modern age, taking control of teams playing in an event that’s going on *right around you at this moment*, you take one look at the screen and are actually transported back in time to the mid-2000s, to play a game whose animations are so wooden, its gameplay so rigid, its AI so cooked that you'll start worrying about all those sub-prime mortgages you keep reading about in the newspaper. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/image-2.png) I honestly believe that Harry Kane's player model in this game is using Messi's face but with a beard on it? As for Marc Cucurella in the background, well. Look at that screenshot above, which I captured while playing the game on desktop (it's a bit nicer on TV, I'm told, but the game wasn't available on my TV). That's from a replay, a part of sports games where the player models are usually at their *best*. Now look at the calendar on your own computer or mobile device. Note the year, where it says 2026\. Now try and reconcile those two things. I cannot stress enough how terrible this entire experience is. The mobile controls are clumsy and imprecise in the way all virtual joysticks are, and the swiping motions you need to master to pull off certain moves (like shooting!) are extremely stupid and counter-intuitive. The AI will often not do basic football things; I've seen goalkeepers simply watch long shots fly into the net, and defenders lose all use of their feet when only inches away from an attacker. At no point does it feel like you're playing the sport of football. Instead, it feels like you're wrestling with a facsimile of the sport, a half-forgotten idea of it, relayed through a[ rusted telegraph line](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmyBSrQodnI&ref=aftermath.site), transcribed on a whiteboard then dunked in mud. There's an argument that there's a reason the game is so low-fi, that by streaming over Netflix instead of loading from a console or PC compromises had to be made. That we shouldn't expect blockbuster visuals from something you connect a phone to and play on your TV. But that compromise was a *choice*, on the part of FIFA and Netflix and Delphi, and the underlying technology doesn't excuse how awful the final product has turned out to be, regardless of its visuals. What the fuck is this! *EA Sports FC* and *eFootball* already exist in the world, looking very much like AAA video games, and the former [had been home to memorable](https://www.lukeplunkett.com/the-best-sports-video-game-of-all-time/?ref=aftermath.site) (or at least functional) tie-in tournaments for *decades*. Yet here FIFA and Netflix–two of the *richest and most powerful organisations on the entire planet*\--have put their names to a game that looks like it came out on the Nintendo Wii and went straight to the bargain bin. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Untitled-3.jpg) I do not know why the kits were sparkling in this one game, there are no display settings you can chance, it just happened this way This whole thing is so bleak. The greed, the laziness, the contempt, all of it, this video game is somehow the encapsulation of almost everything wrong with modern sports, modern entertainment and the cost-cutting executive class. It's simply astounding that a license and event of this scale has been so mishandled. FIFA has had years to plan for this! And for all the billions sloshing around this tournament, lining the pockets of a corrupt world body running a tournament inside a collapsing empire,[ a generation of football fans raised on perfectly-serviceable updates to annual sports games](https://aftermath.site/england-euro-2024-harry-kane-ea-sports-fc/) has this year had a wet bag of dead fish dropped in their lap instead, and been told this is fine, this is just how it works now. Enjoy. If you're a football fan (or even just a casual observer!) and were thinking of trying to play through your own World Cup this year in a video game, I'd recommend anything *but* the official release. Don't give it a moment of your time, and don't give Netflix a second of your "engagement", or however the hell they'll track the success (or lack thereof) for this disaster.[ We all deserve better, *much* better, than this](https://aftermath.site/ea-fc-madden-nba-2k-recycled-dogshit/). [Sports Gamers Deserve Better - AftermathI found myself playing a ton of sports games last month–it’s the time of year most of them come out–and it has absolutely done me in. I played some Madden 25, NBA 2K25, EA Sports FC 25 and eFootball. All of these have things in common, shared horrors that overlap, season passes and packets of…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-345beb10-9ad5-424d-88fd-b907d81530fd.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bellingham-3-f9ea5c0d-415e-4afd-9fdc-eb584dcc8e1d.png)](https://aftermath.site/ea-fc-madden-nba-2k-recycled-dogshit/) ### A Single Laptop Has Never Served So Many URL: https://aftermath.site/laptop-music-festival-knicks-game/ Last updated: 2026-06-22T18:58:17.000Z Over the last decade and a half a large component of my social life has revolved around electronic music, and over the last decade I’ve gone to several festivals in the New York area. These tend to not be the big corny arena shows that electronic music is associated with, but the marginally more intimate ones you’d associate with venues like Nowadays, Basement, and Bossa Nova Civic Club. The primary one is one known as Sustain Release, a festival which is thrown in on the grounds of an off-season Jewish summer camp, which I have been going to every year since the beginning. More recently one known as Dripping, which happens once every summer in New Jersey, has been happening. That festival coincided with game five of the Knicks vs. Spurs Finals, and nobody knew what the fuck to do. This is not the first time that circumstances outside of the promoters’ control hit the festival. The very first year of Dripping coincided with [historic fires happening in Canada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023%5FCanadian%5Fwildfires?ref=aftermath.site), demolishing the AQI and causing the sky to turn the color of mustard. Dripping is an all-camping festival that takes place on a Ren faire ground, and the fires happened well after anyone could cancel. Everyone involved had to make the calculus about how to approach partying and living in those conditions. Even with masks, it was like suddenly taking up a pack-a-day smoking habit while partying hard. Since then, the festival has evolved and survived a potentially disastrous first year. But this year coincided with game five of the NBA finals, Knicks vs. Spurs. I will fully cop to being a bandwaggoner here, but I am also a New Yorker with blood in my veins, and the sheer gravitational force of the playoffs was inescapable. Even to someone who does not regularly follow the team, the Knicks had had an incredible streak leading up to the finals. It was culturally inescapable, and parsable to basically anybody. The drama of Donald Trump infecting game three when the Knicks were ahead with absolutely rancid vibes only for the Knicks to come back from a historic deficit in game four was completely infectious, and the game that decided this all would happen while I was in New Jersey surrounded by other New Yorkers. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/breadwoman-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/ash_Fure.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/maricon.jpg) The game started around the same time as a live performance by artist [Anna Homler ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna%5FHomler?ref=aftermath.site)as "Breadwoman". Afterwards, Ash Fure and the queer Latine DJ group "Maricón", whose name is a homophobic slur they have attempted to reclaim, would play during the duration of the game. You could feel the anxiety in about half of the attendees in the lead-up to the entire event. Many half-hoped the Knicks would lose just so they would not have to deal with the calculus of missing their victory. Nobody knew how to plan for watching the game in the middle of the woods, or if the event itself was going to provide a contingency plan to watch. Many brought iPads and small projectors for their tents. Would the organizers project the game on to the side of a barn blasting gay latin club music, or do nothing? Is doing the former disrespectful to the performers who have spent months preparing sets, and is the latter depriving a huge portion of the partygoers from experiencing a once in a generation cultural event? This was made worse by the fact that the parking lot closed at a certain hour, so even if you wanted to watch the game in a nasty ass bar in Sparta, New Jersey, you would have to Uber both ways in the middle of prime party times. In the end, the festival decided to do nothing. This ultimately turned out to be the correct call. ![People in the woods surrounding a laptop.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/forest-set-1.jpg) Many people had adhoc setups in the woods. Credit Daniel Crehan. As the game commenced, people made do. If you listened closely you could hear the game being played in select tents all across the campground, with various “ohhs” and “ahhs” punctuating the sound of the woods and distant thumping techno, offset mildly by the speed of each viewing party’s connection. “It was like a rolling time-delayed group of cheers coming from three different places where people were watching it around my campsite,” [Aftermath contributor Janus Rose](https://aftermath.site/author/janus-rose/), who was camping at the time, told me via Signal. “At first I thought someone’s set had just ended, but then I realized it wasn’t coming from any of the stages, and it kept happening every few minutes.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/laptop-1-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/laptop-2-1.jpg) At first I counted two laptops and two phone viewing situations at the tent and near the barn. Eventually, the laptop on the chair won. In the big tent area where food and coffee were served, various ad-hoc setups quietly emerged on phones and laptops during Breadwoman’s set, a slow, haunted ambient performance piece that took place in a wooded grove involving a woman with a face of bread. Eventually these setups winnowed down to two laptops, and over time one laptop won out. The crowd grew and grew, which necessitated putting that laptop on a folding chair on top of the table so more people could see it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IDG_20260613_230703_173-2.jpg) Eventually one laptop on a chair won. It started to look like a painting. In the adjacent building you could hear Ahse Fure, [a teacher at Dartmouth,](https://music.dartmouth.edu/people/ash-fure?ref=aftermath.site) playing an incredibly good set that appeared to involve vibrating a large sheet of plastic over two free-standing speaker woofers on a table next to carefully placed microphones, causing a full body bass feedback that you could feel in your intestines. I have never seen anything like it in a club setting, it rocked, and I would go in and out of it while watching the Knicks. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/top-image-in-the-whole.jpg) I lost count of how many people were watching a single laptop. By the end of the fourth, the crowd had gotten absurd, like a good third or half of the attendees all staring at one Macbook screen. The energy in the tent was electric, everyone exceedingly aware of the absurdity of the situation as it occurred. No laptop in history has ever served more people at once, and even if you could not make out the fine details of the game, basketball is shockingly easy to parse at a distance if you can check the score on your phone and read the reactions of people closer to the screen. When the Knicks won, the entire tent erupted in joy and screaming and shouts of “Let’s go Knicks!” To quote [ernekid](https://bsky.app/profile/ernekid.bsky.social/post/3mo7u3irdbk22?ref=aftermath.site)’s joke about the video, “This is like when people would gather round a wireless in 1945 to hear the news that Hitler was dead.” Though I’m loath to turn this into a corny acid story, it’s worth mentioning that the victory also coincided with the exact moment the tab of LSD I took peaked, and in my decades of taking recreational hallucinogens I do not think I have ever timed drugs better. Afterwards, everyone partied harder. 0:00 /0:47 1× [The moment of truth.](https://bsky.app/profile/papapishu.bsky.social/post/3mo7tljyqvs2u?ref=aftermath.site) It can be nasty work to cover technology these days. The industry that produces computers does not give you valid reasons for enthusiasm, alongside increasingly fewer opportunities to purchase them. The old Obama-era bright future of computing as a transformational force has given way to the inescapable grotesquerie of AI colonizing every part of culture and life. But for one brief second, I saw something beautiful. I saw people making do in unforeseen circumstances with the technology they just had around. I felt that old corny optimism again, a sense of unity from someone’s laptop on a folding chair. I will try to hold on to that absurd joy in my heart, and to remember it when I am at my most cynical. Let’s go Knicks. ### Gamers Sue Sony For Allegedly Breaking California Digital Purchase Law URL: https://aftermath.site/sony-digital-transparency-lawsuit-buy-now/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T18:57:01.000Z Four gamers are suing Sony Interactive Entertainment for allegedly breaking a California law that requires digital storefronts selling games to make it clear people are buying licenses, not actually *owning* the games. Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation store uses language like "Buy Now" and "Confirm Purchase," [lawyers wrote in a complaint filed on Thursday](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.472492/gov.uscourts.cand.472492.1.0.pdf?ref=aftermath.site). It's a proposed class action complaint, meaning the group of four gamers is asking a judge to grant them class action status. "In reality, consumers who 'purchase' digital games through PlayStation do not obtain ownership of those products," lawyers wrote. "Instead, PlayStation grants only a limited, revocable license to access the software, subject to multiple restrictions contained in a separate Software Product License Agreement." It's the same reason that [someone sued GameStop](https://aftermath.site/gamestop-lawsuit-digital-goods-law-buy-vs-license/) in January. That lawsuit has since been voluntarily dismissed. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-18-132654.png) However, the PlayStation store does have a disclosure. Above the "Confirm Purchase" button, there's a note: "By selecting \[Confirm Purchase\], you agree to complete the purchase in accordance with the PlayStation Terms of Service before using this content. You further acknowledge that your purchase of this digital product amounts to a license subject to the Software Product License Agreement." These four gamers aren't satisfied with that; they said in the complaint that it's too small, and that "a reasonable customer completing a purchase would not necessarily notice this disclosure." At the crux of this lawsuit is California's digital goods transparency law, [AB2426](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill%5Fid=202320240AB2426&ref=aftermath.site), which went into effect in 2025\. It requires companies to explicitly tell customers buying digital goods, like games or music, that they're purchasing licenses to access that stuff, not outright buying it. Valve changed [its checkout page in 2024 to include a disclaimer](https://www.engadget.com/gaming/steam-now-tells-gamers-up-front-that-theyre-buying-a-license-not-a-game-085106522.html?ref=aftermath.site): "A purchase of a digital product grants a license for the product on Steam." Lawyers for the four gamers said Sony Interactive Entertainment doesn't have enough of a disclosure on its checkout screens. "As a result, reasonable consumers are misled into believing that purchasing a digital game through PlayStation confers an unrestricted ownership interest, when in fact the transaction merely grants a limited license that may be restricted or revoked," lawyers said in the complaint. The four gamers, according to the complaint, were not aware they'd been given a license to play the games and not buy them. The language, instead, mimics traditional, physical consumer experiences, like when you buy a pen from the office supply store; you buy it, and it's yours. The disclaimer about licensing, not selling games, is in the Software Product License Agreement most prominently. "The License Agreement expressly provides that the software is 'licensed to you, not sold,'" lawyers wrote. The lawsuit walks through the checkout process. When someone checks out and hits the "Confirm Purchase" button, they don't have to check any button to acknowledge they have read the disclosure. According to the four gamers, that's misleading customers. They're asking a judge for a jury trial to determine restitution. The GameStop lawsuit filed in January failed to move forward due to the voluntary dismissal, and it's unlikely that this one will see success: The PlayStation Store does, indeed, have a disclosure. But lawsuits like these continue to ask the big question around games—what should happen to games when they "die?" This is a conversation that's been happening in and around games (and other digital media) for a while, but came to a head in 2023 when Ubisoft announced it was shutting down access to its online-only racing game *The Crew*. [Two Californian gamers sued the company for shutting the game down](https://www.polygon.com/gaming/476979/ubisoft-the-crew-shut-down-lawsuit-class-action/?ref=aftermath.site), therefore ripping access away from paying customers. That lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed in June 2025\. Still, the surrounding situation kicked off California assemblymember Jacqui Irwin's campaign to get transparency around games and other digital goods signed into law. She specifically [referenced the situation with *The Crew*](https://irwin.asmdc.org/press-releases/20240916-assemblymember-irwin-urges-governor-sign-legislation-increasing?ref=aftermath.site) as inspiration for AB2426. While the California law deals with transparency, the Stop Killing Games movement is pushing for an alternative to just shutting a game off when a company no longer wishes to support it. The global organization has been lobbying for legislation in both the United States and Europe. The [European Commission declined](https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/eu-rules-out-mandate-keep-video-games-playable-seeks-voluntary-code-2026-06-16/?ref=aftermath.site) to do much about the issue in a new decision announced this week, but promised to meet with companies to come up with an optional code of conduct. However, [the California State Assembly recently passed a bill](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/the-california-state-assembly-passes-ab-1921-stop-killing-games-protect-our-games-act?ref=aftermath.site) to champion games preservation and the Stop Killing Games movement. That bill will move to the California State Senate, where a [committee will debate the issue some time in June](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw1UhbaqBwA&ref=aftermath.site). ### I, God's Worst Video Game Driver, Played A Bunch Of Driving Game Demos URL: https://aftermath.site/driving-games-steam-next-fest/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T14:29:37.000Z You know how some people can’t [picture an apple](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/aphantasia-visual-memory-minds-eye?ref=aftermath.site) in their minds? I have a problem like that with cars in video games: Throw me in the classic position behind and slightly above a virtual vehicle, and I just lose all ability to conceptualize the entirety of a car and how it moves in space. I smash into walls, I spin out on turns, I will never actually understand what drifting is and when I want to employ it–it’s a disaster. But still, I really *like* the idea of driving games, many of which involve exploring a landscape, one of my favorite things to do in games and real life. A bunch of driving games I’ve wishlisted came up as having demos during this year’s Steam Next Fest, and even as I wondered why I’d wishlisted so many driving games when I’m so shit at video game driving, I was excited to check them out. ## Truck-Kun Is Supporting Me From Another World I watched a lot of folks have fun with [*Truck-Kun Is Supporting Me From Another World*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3642010/Truckkun%5Fis%5FSupporting%5FMe%5Ffrom%5FAnother%5FWorld/?ref=aftermath.site)at last week’s Tribeca Games Showcase, but I didn’t get a chance to try it myself until its Steam demo. You play as a truck driver who accidentally hits a young woman named Carissa, transporting you both to an isekai that honestly seems a lot like the regular world, except in this one you’re supposed to run down people, objects, and other cars. Doing this powers up Carissa in battles against monsters, as you try to help her get home before her big new job starts on Monday. As you might guess from the trailer above, it’s a fast-paced, busy game. You have a time limit during each of your runs through its town, where you try to meet goals like running over a number of pedestrians, sideswiping cop cars, flying through the air, or running over specific objects. At the same time, you need to keep an eye on Carissa, shown in a pixel art bar at the bottom of your screen, and deploy her powered-up abilities to help her slash through foes. While this seems like a lot, and definitely felt like a lot as the tutorial explained it to me, in practice it all just means driving around like a lunatic and smashing buttons. While I wasn’t totally in love with the game’s self-aware humor, I did enjoy playing a game that *rewarded* me for being a shitty driver instead of punishing me. It’s fun to just cause chaos; I never got tired of being encircled by armored cop cars, only to take them out with a dramatic side swipe. *Truck-Kun* is set to come out July 29. ## Slow Roads [*Slow Roads*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3431300/Slow%5FRoads/?ref=aftermath.site) was originally a [browser game](https://slowroads.io/?ref=aftermath.site), which you can still play. You just drive around a procedurally-generated landscape: the road twists and winds, you pass rivers and forests and hills, and that’s all you basically do… forever. You can change the time of day and weather on the fly, and I liked how much this changed the mood of my drive. A sunny day made me want to go fast; dusk and dawn felt meditative; driving through the night or through stormy weather made me cautious. You can’t wreck your car or break anything–it’s just about exploring the road for as long as you feel like. Since this is what I like about driving games anyway, I really enjoyed the demo. I also appreciated the game’s AI disclosure, which is educational while passionately disclosing no AI at all: > No AI has been used to generate any of the code or assets used in Slow Roads; this has been a purely human endeavour from the beginning of the project in 2021\. Slow Roads is a solo-developed project, built with a decade of industry experience. Assets are created first-hand where possible, with most textures hand-drawn or composed from local photography. I believe AI should have no place in artistic exploits, and it will never be used for generating any elements of Slow Roads. Please note that procedural generation is not a form of generative AI; the procedures involved are carefully-designed mathematical functions used to generate the environments according to specific rules, with directed creative intent. The Steam version will have more roads and locations, car customization, and the ability to add your own music to the game. There’s no release date yet. ## Over The Hill I think I wishlisted [*Over The Hill* ](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2929250/over%5Fthe%5Fhill/?ref=aftermath.site)because it reminded me of a different in-development car game I like the look of, [*Garbage Country*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2530870/GARBAGE%5FCOUNTRY/?ref=aftermath.site). Both have these tiny, boxy cars that look *so* fun to smash around a bumpy virtual world. It is indeed super fun to bump around in *Over The Hill*’s wilderness, even if a lot of my time was spent flipping my car over by accident or failing to get the right traction on small inclines. Unlike *Slow Roads*, this isn’t a game that captures the joys of easy speed; most of my progress was painstaking, as I’d tilt over rocks or get beached on trees and have to use my car’s winch to haul myself out. At one point I stumbled upon a “challenge track,” a skinny, rough trail alongside a rushing river, and I honestly couldn’t believe it when I pulled the whole thing off, given how badly I’d done on its regular roads. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/carr.jpeg) See? In addition to the winch that I used way too often, you also have different gearing to help you progress, and you can choose either manual or automatic transmission. (I have never once in my life chosen manual transmission in a game, for the reasons that start this blog.) As you travel, you find crates that give you car customization options, as well as cabins you can fast travel between or which repair your battered car. There are a lot of other tools and unlocks that didn’t seem available in the demo, and you can also play with up to three friends. Despite seeming to be a game literally about having a hard time driving, a situation I face under the best of conditions, I really enjoyed *Over The Hill*. Your blocky car and the blocky landscape remind me of [*Lonely Mountains*](https://aftermath.site/lonely-mountains-snow-riders-demo/), and the whole thing feels like playing with a toy. It’s easy to get yourself out of a jam by just fast traveling back to a cabin, which inspired me to really give its tracks my all. I really liked its slow, effortful pace and am excited to spend more time with the demo. *Over The Hill* plans to come out this year. ### We've Hit 30,000 Members! Thank You! To Celebrate, We're Dropping A Ton Of New Merch URL: https://aftermath.site/weve-hit-30-000-members-thank-you-to-celebrate-were-dropping-a-ton-of-new-merch/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T14:24:10.000Z Having launched this website in November 2023 with a single user (Luke's admin account), we're both thrilled and proud to announce that Aftermath just welcomed our *30,000th* member. Thank you *so much* to everyone for signing up and reading the site; when we started we had no idea whether anyone would ever want to subscribe to a video game website that you had to register and/or pay for, but your love and support so far has been absolutely mind-blowing to us. To help celebrate the milestone, [we've dropped a ton of new stuff on our merch store](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/?ref=aftermath.site), featuring new designs, new items and, *finally*, women's cuts of some of our best-selling shirts (all of which were previously only for sale in a boxier, 'unisex' version). Sorry for the wait on those, they only just became available from our supplier! The new range includes: - A new [Aftermath 'Logo' crewneck sweatshirt](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/products/logo-crewneck?ref=aftermath.site) - Women's cuts of our '[Logo](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/products/logo-t-shirt-women?ref=aftermath.site)', '[Woke 2](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/products/woke-2-t-shirt-women-2?ref=aftermath.site)' and '[Destroy AI](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/products/destroy-ai-t-shirt-women?ref=aftermath.site)' shirts - A 'Destroy AI' [poster](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/products/destroy-ai-poster?ref=aftermath.site) and a [heavy-duty die-cut vinyl sticker](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/products/destroy-ai-die-cut-sticker?ref=aftermath.site) that can be used on car bumpers, etc - A [pack of five Aftermath pins](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/products/aftermath-pins?ref=aftermath.site) featuring a collection of logos and designs - An extremely cool [long-sleeve version of our 'Destroy AI' shirt](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/products/destroy-ai-long-sleeve-shirt?ref=aftermath.site) [SHOP AFTERMATH MERCH](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/?ref=aftermath.site) For the record, that 30,000 number includes[ around 5400 paying subscribers](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/), with the rest being free users who are signed up for additional blogs and a couple of newsletters every week. While we hugely appreciate everyone who counts towards that total, paid or not, paying subscribers are the ones allowing us to keep doing the work we're doing, so now might be a good time to remind everyone else that not only is[ upgrading to a paid sub the best way to support the site](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/) (it costs as little as $5.80 per month on an annual plan), but our 'Member' tier includes a merch discount if you were looking at getting some of this new stuff from the store and wanted to save a few bucks. ### Game Developers Neither Surprised Nor Delighted To Learn That Unreal Engine 6 Will Be Filled With AI Garbage URL: https://aftermath.site/unreal-engine-6-ai-game-developers-react-godot-fortnite/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T21:48:49.000Z Today Epic announced Unreal Engine 6, the latest version of the tech behind games including *Fortnite*, *Clair Obscur*, the *Borderlands* series, and frankly, too many others to count—and of course, it’s crammed to the gills with AI garbage. Developers aren’t happy, with one, *Vampire Survivors* creator Poncle, going so far as to say it’s now “reviewing” a forthcoming *Fortnite* collab in light of the news. Epic development team lead Marcus Wassmer put AI front and center in [a post introducing UE6](https://www.unrealengine.com/news/the-road-to-ue-6?ref=aftermath.site) after it was [teased in a *Rocket League* trailer a few weeks ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5d7y1cbWIk&ref=aftermath.site): > For UE6, we see LLMs, generative AI models, and tools like Claude and Codex playing a central role in helping you build content faster while maintaining the creative control you need. A big part of our effort is going into exposing a broad set of engine capabilities through the MCP protocol, so that developers can mix and match the best leading-edge models and build custom integrations of all sorts on an open Unreal Engine 6 MCP foundation. We are also improving the Epic Developer Assistant (EDA) as an optional turnkey solution, available to all by default. > Our goal for UE6 is to greatly reduce the tedious work in authoring content to leave more time for creative exploration, and increase the amount of iterations a team can make to polish their content. UE6 will ship with tools and workflows where you can choose to bring your own favorite models, battletested against internal development and in UEFN. In other words, yet another tech giant fundamentally misunderstanding how the creative process works. Then again, not a huge surprise coming from the company led by Tim Sweeney, who, earlier this year, [leaped to Elon Musk’s defense](https://aftermath.site/tim-sweeney-x-ai-csam-epic-games-fortnite/) after Grok’s image generation tools allowed users to churn out pornographic imagery of minors. AI guys gonna AI, no matter how inane, objectionable, or potentially illegal the outcome. “AI cannot assign copyright,” video game lawyer and MinnMax community manager Haley MacLean [wrote on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/haleyfax.bsky.social/post/3moivmam6ec2s?ref=aftermath.site). “You will not own the things \[Unreal Engine 6\] makes even if they try and assign it to you. This would technically be in violation of 100% of publisher agreements I have seen.” There’s also the issue of [AI’s business model and surging price](https://www.wheresyoured.at/brokenomics/?ref=aftermath.site), with subscriptions to tools like Claude costing individual users far less than the bills they rack up for their parent companies. For heavy hitters like [Microsoft](https://www.theverge.com/tech/930447/microsoft-claude-code-discontinued-notepad?ref=aftermath.site) and [Uber](https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-coo-andrew-macdonald-ai-token-spending-harder-justify-2026-5?ref=aftermath.site), Claude and similar tools have still proven near-prohibitively expensive to deploy at scale, and recent horror stories have included one company [reportedly spending $500 million](https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/ai-spending-roi-enterprise-costs?ref=aftermath.site) on limitless Claude usage for employees in a single month. Nonetheless, Epic is moving full steam ahead with AI tech internally and externally: “We’ve been doing a lot of investigation to see what works and what doesn’t for code generation,” wrote Wassmer. “We recently opened up pretty broad usage for code generation and AI analysis across our backend, engine, and game development engineering teams. We’ve had particular success with people writing custom tools for their own work, fast code indexing tools for helping LLMs deal with large codebases like Unreal Engine, fast incidence response analysis, automated root cause crash and CIS job failure analysis, automated test generation, and of course the acceleration and parallelization you’d expect on backend service development.” In other words, juggernauts like *Fortnite* and *Rocket League* are now [only partially the work of human hands](https://aftermath.site/epic-fortnite-ai-art/). Relatedly, worth remembering: Epic [laid off 1,000 people](https://aftermath.site/fortnite-epic-layoffs/) in March. But don’t worry, says Wassmer, this is definitely somehow gonna benefit regular people first and foremost, as opposed to the executives, shareholders, and tech overlords trying to hollow out what remains of society. “UE6 is going to change a lot about how games are made,” he wrote. “It will not change the thing that matters most, which is that the people in this industry—the game developers, the filmmakers, our Unreal Engine family—are the ones who make anything actually happen. Thank you for making Unreal Engine really shine.” Many developers see the ill-conceived, machine-generated writing on the wall. "Following today's news about gen AI usage by Epic to create all sort\[s\] of game assets, including *Fortnite* characters, we're currently ‘reviewing’ our collaboration with *Fortnite*,” *Vampire Survivors* developer Poncle [said on Discord](https://bsky.app/profile/wario64.bsky.social/post/3moitvkvj6s2k?ref=aftermath.site). “We'll let you know if anything moves forward." “Godot really is a very good engine,” [said](https://bsky.app/profile/mikebithell.bsky.social/post/3moizfou3ws2v?ref=aftermath.site) *Tron: Catalyst* and *Thomas Was Alone* director Mike Bithell. “Very easy to migrate to.” As if that wasn’t enough, Epic also wants you to know that it hasn’t forgotten the metaverse. “Portable content” is going to be a major UE6 focus, starting with *Fortnite* skins. Wassmer wrote: > *Fortnite* cosmetics will be our first real proof point of portability. We will start by moving the base system to an open UE6 module. This means you’ll have the option to use a player’s entitled *Fortnite* Outfits in your own games, and you’ll get the tools to build Outfits for your own games that work inside *Fortnite*. We’re tackling this problem first because we want to prove things out with a system that’s complex enough to be a meaningful existence proof of the idea, and one that inherently comes with a ton of player value by respecting their purchases across an interconnected ecosystem of games. > We see this as the first step toward building a shared economy for smart assets: functional assets with logic and functionality that work across games, to recognize players’ time and spending in a better way. In the end, this isn't really a *Fortnite* story. It’s about proving that such a mature, complex system can work at scale—and that every game that works with these systems will immediately benefit from them. During [today’s State of Unreal presentation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXGSvLH9zAs&ref=aftermath.site) in Chicago, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney suggested that this is a very “different” vision of the future than the one proposed by *Roblox*, which Sweeney suggested could “grow and eat gaming.” But, at least on paper, it’s difficult to read Epic’s plan for a massive, interconnected ecosystem—for which it will supply the backbone—as anything other than a slight variation on *Roblox*’s pitch. Epic sees that pie cooling on the windowsill, and it’s licking its lips. “All of the UE6 stuff is really exciting news if your idea of a video game is turning it into shitty *Roblox*\-core slurry for *Fortnite*,” [wrote](https://bsky.app/profile/aurahack.ca/post/3moiqkgrlq22a?ref=aftermath.site) artist and game developer Aura Hack. “Seeing the entire industry as pulp to be fed into the machine of a company's vision of the monoculture is unconscionably evil, but I suppose is fitting of someone who’s long been a loser and hater of human labor.” ## Recommended [Epic Releases Fortnite Video That’s Trying To Launder The Company’s Use Of AI In The Art Pipeline, But Artists I Spoke To Simply Aren’t Having It‘Experienced devs openly admitting they’re hacks that use generative AI in their workflows cured my impostor syndrome’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-8ac9e57e-b067-4bf3-94a5-c2dac3f4eced.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Capture-4-cbe10755-acca-4894-b2c8-8e48c5416bdd.PNG)](https://aftermath.site/epic-fortnite-ai-art/) ### Well This Is Awkward URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-gamescom-fanfest-layoffs/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T18:59:14.000Z On Wednesday, Xbox posted to [social media](https://x.com/XBOX/status/2067231219608096990?ref=aftermath.site) about its [planned attendance](https://bsky.app/profile/xbox.com/post/3moieyr267s2m?ref=aftermath.site) at Gamescom in August, hyping up visitors to “Be among the first to play what’s next - including the *Gears of War: E-Day* campaign.” It’s really not the time. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-17-at-12.27.09---PM.png) [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/xbox.com/post/3moieyr267s2m?ref=aftermath.site) Xbox recently announced a “[reset](https://aftermath.site/compulsion-microsoft-xbox-layoffs-closure/)” that seems certain to involve layoffs on a mass scale. Studios like Double Fine, Compulsion Games, and Ninja Theory are reportedly [in discussions](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-15/studios-in-microsoft-s-xbox-division-brace-for-closures?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4MTU1NDUzNiwiZXhwIjoxNzgyMTU5MzM2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUR09XOTRLSVAzTE0wMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.qu5M4E4sve-8r60rL%5Fe-Xv-LrGJvIGgWiKLxMitTl5A&leadSource=uverify%20wall&ref=aftermath.site) to try to save themselves from closure. It’s particularly awkward in Ninja Theory’s case, where the studio announced a third Hellblade game, [*Senua*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91LAY9B6lUc&ref=aftermath.site), at Xbox’s Summer Game Fest showcase, just days before Xbox released the [memo](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/?ref=aftermath.site) about its big changes. According to Stephen Totilo at [GameFile](https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-studio-contraction?ref=aftermath.site), Xbox knew Ninja Theory was on the chopping block as the trailer played, reporting > The thinking was that the promise of a newly announced game would help draw investor interest in the studio, a source familiar with Microsoft’s plans told Game File (it’s unclear if anyone atop Ninja Theory was involved in this plan). Summer Game Fest [attendees](https://bsky.app/profile/jessicogs.bsky.social/post/3mnxqgfo5wc22?ref=aftermath.site) have already highlighted the clash between Xbox’s showy event presence, where the company doled out [free consoles](https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/06/xbox-fans-go-wild-as-asha-sharma-gives-free-consoles-to-everyone-at-fanfest-la?ref=aftermath.site) and other swag, and its subsequent wordy-yet-vague pronouncements about the dire straits the business is in. Gamescom will happen after whatever the company plans to do–while we don’t know how that will look yet, it’s sure to cast a pall on the Gamescom show. Announcing the whole thing like it’s any other day while news of potential studio closures is very fresh on everyone’s minds, and while the workers who make the games Xbox wants to hype to fans are surely worried about their own jobs and those of their colleagues, not only makes the company look either cruel or stupid, but makes it look like it thinks the fans it’s talking to are cruel or stupid as well. I can get that the company can’t just cancel an appearance at one of the biggest gaming events in the world. If the purpose of this reset in executives’ minds is to create a stronger company, that company needs to go out and *show* that it’s stronger afterward. It would be bad for business to sit in mourning over decisions the company itself made for whatever [justifications and strategy](https://superjoost.substack.com/p/sharmas-next-100-days?r=12uzl&utm%5Fcampaign=post-expanded-share) it’s telling itself. It needs to show the fans at its fest that what it’s doing is working, that the destruction it’s going to wreak is good for both the company and its fans. CEO Asha Sharma has been making an effort to appeal to those fans, or whatever her conception of the ideal Xbox player is: [rebranding the company to “XBOX” after a Twitter poll](https://www.ign.com/articles/xbox-is-apparently-rebranding-to-xbox?ref=aftermath.site) (as well as [changing the entire name](https://www.polygon.com/patch-notes-we-are-xbox/?ref=aftermath.site) to “Xbox” from “Microsoft Gaming,” along with its [logo](https://www.theverge.com/news/917852/microsoft-new-xbox-logo?ref=aftermath.site)), [lowering the price of Game Pass](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/04/21/xbox-game-pass-update/?ref=aftermath.site), and doing away with the company’s unpopular “[This Is An Xbox](https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/why-did-microsoft-end-this-is-an-xbox-marketing-microsoft-responds-it-didnt-feel-like-xbox?ref=aftermath.site)” campaign. She’s active on social media, frequently [replying](https://x.com/asha%5Fshar/with%5Freplies?ref=aftermath.site) to blue check Twitter users. So it makes sense for her image, and the image the company is trying to portray, to full steam ahead with a FanFest at Gamescom, making a show of putting these “fans” first, even as layoffs loom. But hyping the whole thing *now* isn’t necessary unless Xbox hopes it can bulldoze through it all, that “fans” will be too dazzled by the chance to play a new *Gears of War* to reflect on the question of what Xbox will be by the time they have that controller in their hands. Maybe the people Xbox is talking to with these posts don’t know or don’t care about the situation workers at the company are facing; maybe Xbox thinks they only care about their games, about the hype for [Project Helix](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/03/11/project-helix-building-next-generation-of-xbox/?ref=aftermath.site), about a renewed “XBOX” that’s all about *them*. On [Twitter](https://x.com/XBOX/status/2067231219608096990/quotes?ref=aftermath.site), those fans seem pretty hyped, while the response on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/xbox.com/post/3moieyr267s2m/quotes?ref=aftermath.site) is more skeptical. I feel for whatever social media managers are triaging the fallout of these posts while surely being worried about their own jobs and those of their peers. But just as players have done with [BDS’ boycott against Microsoft](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/), the audience for this announcement can keep peoplein their minds over products, refusing to let a shiny new game distract them from the human cost of the company’s decisions, and holding executives at Xbox to account for the consequences. ### I'm No Angel Is A Gentle Plea To Check In On Your Strong Friends URL: https://aftermath.site/ai-yazawa-im-no-angel-nana-shojo-manga-viz-media/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T18:59:25.000Z As a [romance manga girlie](https://aftermath.site/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you-is-a-cozy-rom-com-manga/) routinely drafted into [shonen jury duty](https://aftermath.site/solo-leveling-impressions-anime/), I’ll never get tired of [the goody-two-shoes-falls-for-the-delinquent trope](https://aftermath.site/anime-manga-disney-jail-netflix-fragrant-flower/). However, even without the old-school pompadoured Yankee and floral princess shorthand, the opposites-attract premise usually leans on the “don’t judge a book by its cover” moral of the story, happy ever after. *I’m No Angel* takes a left turn. Its come-to-Jesus moment doesn’t blossom from its titular goody-two-shoes saying “I can fix him.”It comes from putting her through the wringer and landing on a sharper, universal truth beyond romance: you really need to check in on your strong friends. It’s no secret that I love mangaka [Ai Yazawa](https://www.viviennewestwood.com/en-au/westwood-world/news-and-projects/vivienne-westwood-x-nana---in-conversation-with-ai-yazawa/?ref=aftermath.site)’s works down bad. I love [*Nana* ](https://www.fanbyte.com/legacy/nana-teaches-readers-how-to-mourn-a-friendship?ref=aftermath.site)so much that I have a [fan scanlation panel of Nana Osaki](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/features/2024/6/10/11-black-fans-share-anime-tattoos?srsltid=AfmBOorpF%5FENX219cB61Sm%5FhHmbjciPBakl1dWgM9n4zBxPfvkEvzYqN&ref=aftermath.site) tattooed on my arm. Despite the [indefinite hiatus of her best-selling shojo series persisting](https://kotaku.com/hunter-x-hunter-berserk-nana-vagabond-hiatus-manga-1849184744?ref=aftermath.site), I’ve been fed by Viz Media’s recent spree of localizing her earliest works, from anniversary editions of her runway chic tales like [*Neighborhood Story*](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/neighborhood-story/manga-volume-1/.204793?ref=aftermath.site) and [*Paradise Kiss*](https://kotaku.com/best-queer-gay-anime-gundam-sailor-moon-hunter-x-hunter-1850582981/11?ref=aftermath.site) to her long-forgotten supernatural romance, [*Last Quarter*](https://www.gamesradar.com/comics/ai-yazawa-last-quarter-paranormal-romance-manga/?ref=aftermath.site). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/i-m-no-angel-ai-yazawa-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/i-m-no-angel-ai-yazawa-2-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/i-m-no-angel-ai-yazawa-3-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/i-m-no-angel-ai-yazawa-4-1.png) © Ai Yazawa / Shueisha / Ribon Mascot Comics Although Viz Media’s recent release of the first volume of her equally lesser-known work, *I’m No* *Angel,* gave me the impression *I’m No Angel* would be a story where her characters would get a break from Mitski-tinged melancholy and instead see Yazawa deep in her sugary romance bag. Ironically enough, what I got was a sheep in wolf’s clothing. It is instead a manga that used the usual trappings of shojo romances to get at a deeper truth about how much pressure we put on folks to put on a mask and thanklessly assume a role for our benefit. *I’m No Angel* is a rom-com about a first-year high schooler named [Midori Saejima](https://ten-nai.fandom.com/wiki/Midori%5FSaejima?ref=aftermath.site), who has caught the love bug for [Akira Sudo](https://ten-nai.fandom.com/wiki/Akira%5FSudou?ref=aftermath.site), an aloof boy at her high school. The girl was a goner the moment she saw him caring for a stray cat left in a cardboard box in the rain. Love-at-first-sight, shojo-beat type. After returning to school from her summer vacation, Midori is shocked to learn she’s been voluntold by her classmates to represent them on the student council. Ever the people-pleaser, Midori goes through with it despite being bombarded with platitudes about how happy-go-lucky, cheerful, and responsible she is, and about her infectious ability to light up a room as she walks in. Though, it certainly doesn’t hurt to know she’ll be running against her crush. Even if she loses, she’ll get to serve under him as his vice president. [This is how she wins](https://youtu.be/rd5mo2IGmd4?ref=aftermath.site). ![I'm No Angel manga page of Midori tripping in front of her entire school. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/INA_GN01_body_print_28.jpg) © Ai Yazawa / Shueisha / Shojo Beat / Viz Media / Tenshi Nankajanai Ultimate Edition After giving a bubbly speech about wanting everyone to feel as happy as she does, Midori trips on stage, revealing her panties to the entire school. Mortified, Midori prepares to storm out of the auditorium before Akira runs defense for her by making an ass of himself in his speech, distracting the school so she can make a swift exit without prying eyes. While the manga presents itself as your typical slow-burning school council romcom, where the motorcycle-riding Akira takes a liking to Midori, the yearner of all time, Yazawa twists the knife as she’s wont to do by putting her heroine through it. Midori is a character *I’m No Angel* drags across the coals as a flattened trope of the cute girl, whose sole purpose is to boost the serotonin levels of everyone around her. In fact, *I’m No Angel*’s entire ensemble treats her less as a person and more as a conduit through which everyone around her derives happiness, solicited or otherwise. This manifests as Midori cultivating space for everyone else in her life—going so far as to overwork herself by playing *Hitch* with her fellow student council members—while her own happiness ranks as a sorry third in her own life. Evidently, according to Yazawa’s author note, she took it personally when her editor at Ribon told her that she loves the boys in her early works, but the girls are totally unattractive, and decided to make a story where her cutiepie goes through the meat grinder. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/INA_GN01_body_print_39.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/INA_GN01_body_print_38.jpg) © Ai Yazawa / Shueisha / Shojo Beat / Viz Media / Tenshi Nankajanai Ultimate Edition In a lot of ways, Midori is the blueprint for what would later become Nana Komatsu’s baggage in *Nana*. Lord forbid Midori feel crestfallen when the melodramatic heartbreak of her bittersweet love story takes a left turn, with her catastrophizing that Akira might have a history with her older, prettier instructor. Rather than face the music when the saxophones get louder in her life, Midori routinely pushes her emotions aside to make sure everyone else is attended to, as is her role as the Angel of her school. Midori is the embodiment of [the Kobe Bryant system](https://youtu.be/76uL8-zza9U?ref=aftermath.site): a different animal and the same beast who can always give more. Midori represents the put-upon. She’s someone whose love language is acts of service, and she’s being politely taken advantage of by everyone around her. What’s worse, she’s often the one initiating the kindness, only to be taken advantage of. Her stereotype as the kind friend is as damaging as what Akira gets as a stereotype of the bad boy. In anyone else's hands, Midori’s plight as a strong friend would go unexplored, treated as the lofty prize in Akira’s journey. She’d be a virtuous doll who smooths his edges the moment their romance takes off, and in turn transforms him into the well-adjusted, sentimental guy he’s always been deep down, in the eyes of those who wrote him off as a hoodlum. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/INA_GN01_body_print_08-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/INA_GN01_body_print_07-1.jpg) © Ai Yazawa / Shueisha / Shojo Beat / Viz Media / Tenshi Nankajanai Ultimate Edition Yazawa opts to swing *I’m No Angel*’s story off Akira’s hang-ups and interrogate [why Midori refuses to get angry for herself](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/are-you-tired-of-being-nice?ref=aftermath.site). Why is Midori so adamant about keeping up the appearance of everyone’s angel, who's simply thrilled to be alive and not be a bother to anyone, when everybody’s got her at her wits' end? That’s a lot of responsibility to live up to. It's easy to finger-wag at Midori for falling back into the loop of being everyone’s giving tree without getting any gratitude in return, until you start seeing bits of yourself in Midori. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, not just in love but in life. ![I'm No Angel manga panel of Midori climbing out of a window.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/INA_GN01_body_print_49.jpg) © Ai Yazawa / Shueisha / Shojo Beat / Viz Media / Tenshi Nankajanai Ultimate Edition Midori isn’t an angel, and *I’m No Angel* is as much a story about her figuring out her own agency as it is about her holding hands with Akira. And their romance isn’t one where Akira teaches Midori not to be so uptight either; it's one where she goes through the long road of making space for herself. By highlighting how strong friends come in all shapes and sizes and deserve a break too, Ai Yazawa finesses *I’m No Angel* from being a by-the-numbers old-school romance into one that has a lot to say about how sometimes that strong friend isn’t a big, tough Yankee. Sometimes, it’s the cottagecore cherub. It’s a manga that asks, instead of putting girls on a pedestal, turning them into a maternal force of nature that can fix you, maybe we shouldn’t? And that’s why Yazawa is the goat. ## Recommended [The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All Is the Answer to Your Queer Manga Prayers - AftermathIf Nana left you broken and queer baited since its 15 year hiatus, The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All will leave you whole.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-6f802744-a00b-4079-82a0-c0cf6d0163ee.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/20241017_111627-3-cd436268-9c9b-4840-bd2b-b20db9a3166c.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/green-yuri-nana-shojo-girls-love/) ### Epic Releases Fortnite Video That's Trying To Launder The Company's Use Of AI In The Art Pipeline, But Artists I Spoke To Simply Aren't Having It URL: https://aftermath.site/epic-fortnite-ai-art/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T01:05:24.000Z I got an email from a friend yesterday with the subject line "check this shit out", and I can confirm he was absolutely correct about the "shit" part. The body of the email was simply a link to a video titled "[A Look At Epic’s Art Concepting Process](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR2xbcf3Xyw&ref=aftermath.site)". While the title may *suggest* it's a look at Epic's art concepting process, the fact it's being hosted by a VFX guy and technical artist, working at a company[ helmed by Tim Sweeney](https://aftermath.site/tim-sweeney-its-not-too-late-to-log-off/), might give you a tease as to what its true purpose is: If you don’t want to watch all six minutes of this, what basically happens is that a couple of artists attempt to walk you through the creative process of getting something into *Fortnite*, from an initial sketch through to a finished asset/piece of art. While *slightly* informative in that it does at least show the outline of the process, it’s also riddled with instances where the work of others, and the shortfalls of AI tech being used, are what I will generously call “glossed over”. This video is really just Epic trying to launder its use of AI in its asset pipeline, and doing a *very* poor job of it at that. This video, scripted and cleared for release as it is, is obviously *supposed* to allay people's fears, get out ahead of any "discovery" or criticism;[ as we saw just yesterday](https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-made-by-a-team-including-over-a-dozen-talented-and-experienced-artists-used-ai-images-all-through-its-reveal/), the presence of this junk in a video game is increasingly becoming a huge "no thank you" from the audience. But it fails miserably! A guy saying "oh, we draw a character, but then I press a button and the machine draws loads more of the same character, only this time with heaps of mistakes we need to edit out" does not make me think that art is being created here, it makes me think this is truly some god-awful shit I am looking at. That, however, is just the opinion of me,[ a guy who might very much be into video game art](https://aftermath.site/tag/showcase/), but who is not a video game artist. So I put a call out yesterday for people who *are* video game artists to share their thoughts, and their thoughts range from damning to very funny: > I see absolutely no reason to use the AI in this process. All it does is add the mushy “painter of light” effect and stuff you have to paint out. Just weird. --- > The worst part is despite the promises of "speeding up the process" it takes longer to do everything! Fixing issues, trying to get a prompt just right, not to mention the frankly insane copyright & ethical implications. > > It's very telling that[ if you go and look at the agenda for UnrealFest](https://unrealfest.unrealengine.com/event/46281576-79df-4821-8d6c-01c67e89bbb8/agenda?rt=nM0bKYzvUECquKNIarn5zQ&ref=aftermath.site), which is this week, I counted 15 (!!!!) AI talks. --- > Experienced devs openly admitting they're hacks that use generative AI in their workflows cured my impostor syndrome. --- > I would've been heart-broken if any other studio was caught doing this. Not the company known for crunching its staff on top of a CEO who is very openly pro-AI and pretty much uploading a propaganda piece on how actual Gen AI is good. --- > I just think it’s really telling that they’re having a VFX guy and a tech artist representing and discussing the process an entirely different discipline uses. --- > Isn’t part of the appeal of the artistic process the struggle of finding the solution? The rush of discovering something that works and having that eureka moment? AI can have its uses, but to have every solution involve some kind of AI is foolish. Who asked for this? Why does everything need to be done faster? --- > I think this is a good example of an obvious use case that I could see from a mile away that companies would embrace. > > I think it's interesting that the video is largely trying to hold on to how much they care about artist intent in the non-AI sections, while at the same time, if these companies could save money replacing the need for those human steps? I think they would. > > I think that is explicitly the goal of these AI projects, to make them do the things we do, more efficiently. It's what they (imo naively) call a "better" model. > > It's a certain entitlement to fidelity, and a disregard for human touch. "We decided to not have humanity involved in this step", and just like that they've stripped away the sense of wonder many of us used to see in art, especially in highly composite art like video games, where I've always loved exploring all the corners people cared about and put love and craftsmanship into. > > It's a hollowing out of humanity in art, for the sake of efficiency. --- > Writing a shit little AI prompt not only removes the personal aspect a drawing has — as in, a drawing being the result of someone’s cumulated skills, past failed drawings, years of practice etc — it’s also completely incompatible with, for a lack of better term, visual language that’s often difficult to describe using words. > > I would see these tools useful for *Fortnite*, a game that constantly swallows the charm of other franchises’ characters and spits out its bones to use as meat puppets sold for money. Its soullessness was already prevalent, why not fully commit to it and cut out any artists’ soul to be imprinted in a character design? --- > Being a concept artist has been my dream since a kid, and this is not it! All this garbage is slowly killing my passion for the work… just adding my voice to the rest of the artists I guess? --- Those are some of the messages I received from video game artists, but I think it might help to also show what the top comments under the YouTube video are, in the order in which they appear, if only to illustrate that people's resistance to this has spread well beyond the industry and sicko websites like this: > Prompt: "don't change the design, just the rendering" > > AI: changes the design and rendering > > Apparently it decided to change the clip on the bag to a skull for reasons, added another pouch on the right side and changed the color of her left hand. --- > \>ai hallucinates > > \>artist needs to fix the error > > lmao --- > This does not help people. It helps reduce staff, overload with work the remaining employees and flood the market with slop. Anything created easily and in large quantity is low quality. Only a few CEOs benefit from this. --- > You guys are absolutely insane. The gen AI part of this completely took the concepting out of the hands of the artist. > > It also didn't listen to you. --- Get this shit out of our video games, thank you! ### The James Bond of First Light Is Hot In A Grown Up Way URL: https://aftermath.site/the-james-bond-of-first-light-is-hot-in-a-grown-up-way/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T16:38:50.000Z Prior to buying my husband *007: First Light* as a treat, my experience with James Bond was limited to seeing *Casino Royale* in theaters and liking it a lot, then seeing *No Time To Die* in theaters and not liking it much at all. My impression of Bond as a character was that he was unexciting, a colonial relic, and mostly an advertisement for luxury goods like cars and watches. After watching my husband play through some levels of *First Light*, I see that I did not recognize a vital part of who James Bond is. He also has to be extremely fuckable. My husband is a much bigger fan of the *James Bond* franchise than I am, and has been taking me through a brief tour of the series. Now that I’ve seen *Goldfinger*, and then independently checked out *Dr. No* and *From Russia With Love*, I understand that a major component of being a member of MI6 is fucking all the time. Much more than Daniel Craig’s Bond, Sean Connery’s iteration of the character is trying to have sex with every woman he sees. While this is regressive and sexist—all the things that made me not have much of an interest in Bond before now—watching the way that Connery’s Bond moves through the world, it’s also extremely believable. James Bond is a masculine fantasy designed to make men feel powerful. He drives fancy cars and wears expensive suits to appeal to the kind of men who wish they had these things. Part of that fantasy is also being irresistible to women, and being so charming that even very interesting women who should know better eventually give him a shot. What makes it work is that these films are designed so that he looks incredibly cool while doing and wearing and being these things—a universe created to bend to his will. That means that the entire plot of a film can hinge on Bond having dick game so good it convinces a woman not to be evil, like it does in *Goldfinger*. Of course James Bond has a dick that changes lives. He’s 007, after all. I imagine that was part of his training. In *First Light*, Bond is still in the process of becoming a 00 agent, and is a much younger man than the Bond portrayed by Craig or Connery. While he’s still figuring out how to be a spy, what creates continuity with the character is that he is *also* so, so, so hot. He’s so hot I honestly find it distracting to watch while my husband plays. Part of this is because this Bond is still learning to be an agent, like Craig’s Bond, and thus is full of squishy vulnerability that promises hidden depths. It’s also that this game understands that in order to live out the masculine fantasy of being James Bond, you do actually have to make this guy attractive to women in a way that male video game protagonists usually are not. It doesn’t hurt that the performance from Patrick Gibson is so confident. So many of his early missions involve him flirting with women, or having to politely rebuff them, but with Gibson’s lopsided smile and cocked head, it’s very easy to imagine that this man has had a lot of practice in turning women down. Essentially, you’re just watching him compliment beautiful women and apologize to them for being too busy to have sex at this moment. It’s charming, especially once Bond meets a beautiful French woman who matches his flirtatious energy. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/bond-1-3.png) 007 First Light In fact, it’s the banter that makes this Bond so sexy. You get to spend so much time with these characters in a video game—much more time than in a movie. One of the things that makes *First Light*’s approach to sexuality feel so adult is that there’s time to build tension. This is most apparent in Bond’s many conversations with the character Moneypenny, who served as Bond’s secretary in the Connery films. Here, she’s more of a handler, and instead of badgering Bond about when he’ll settle down and marry her, she is constantly calling James Bond a loser. His ability to keep up with her barbs and take them all in stride actually makes him more attractive. It’s Bond’s quick wit and cleverness that keeps him alive, and it’s on display when Moneypenny calls him a total dumbass repeatedly and Bond is actually able to keep up with her. As a very interesting woman-adjacent person, I too have traded quips as a way to make a man earn my company. It’s attractive when someone is so confident that a little teasing won’t dull their shine. I feel like video games struggle to portray sexuality in an adult way, and not just because they too often treat women as objects rather than people. But the women that Bond admires in this game very much are people—people that aren’t afraid to turn him down. There’s a little bit of risk involved when this young, cocky Bond tries out the traditional Bond moves that carry him through the films. Given that this is a video game, I have watched James Bond straight up die in firefights dozens of times. I know ultimately his destiny is to succeed—when he jumped out of an airplane without a parachute I had no doubt that he would make it through unscathed—but the possibility for failure does exist. He has to do a little work to win people over, even his superiors at MI6 who don’t think he’s ready to be an agent. While I thought I was immune to Bond’s charms, I can feel him winning me over too with each quip and crooked smile. ### Destiny 2 Devs Bid Farewell To The Game They Spent A Decade Making URL: https://aftermath.site/destiny-2-developers-favorite-parts-bungie-ends-support/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T22:24:00.000Z Not exactly with a whimper but perhaps with less of a bang than people were expecting, [*Destiny 2* is done and dusted](https://aftermath.site/bungie-sony-destiny-2-end-support/). The game will remain playable for the foreseeable future, but with [one final update](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/live/news/destiny-2s-final-update-live-coverage-of-the-end-of-an-era/?ref=aftermath.site) out of the way, its live service days are abruptly over. And yet, despite the [narratively unsatisfying conclusion](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/im-sad-im-angry-im-interested-destinys-final-cutscenes-are-a-painful-end-to-a-new-saga-cut-short/?ref=aftermath.site), *Destiny 2* had a hell of a run—paving the way for a generation of online shooters while also outlasting many. Numerous updates and iterations of the game have come and gone; somewhat infamously, Bungie took to “vaulting” substantial chunks of content, making missions and locations inaccessible to prioritize the game’s then-ceaseless march into an unknown future. So too have countless hands touched *Destiny 2* over the years, pouring blood, sweat, and tears into stories, characters, and weapons—some of which got their day in the sun while others faded into obscurity or were removed from the game entirely. During those times, Bungie was also far from a perfect place to work. There is a sense among many *Destiny 2* developers that they came together to build something special despite [toxic old guard leadership](https://www.ign.com/articles/bungie-report-battle-soul-work-culture-harassment-crunch?ref=aftermath.site) [and a boys club mentality](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7463735559069347840/?ref=aftermath.site)—certainly not because of those things. But that does not diminish the value of the work itself, nor the impact it had on players. And so, in their own words, here are *Destiny 2* developers on their favorite things they contributed to the game: **Andrew Weldon (former staff systems/technical designer, 2013-2023):** Mine is the [“I Made This For You” medal in the Crucible](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-5d8chEy0A&ref=aftermath.site). I made hundreds of Crucible medals for *Destiny* from *D1* launch through when I moved off *D2* as *Beyond Light* was wrapping up, but "I Made This For You" is a highlight not only of my time at Bungie, but of my entire game dev career. The medals were a great space to have a little more fun even in *D1*'s more self-serious tone. I had already gotten goofy with "We Ran Out Of Medals" as the max kill streak medal in *D1*, which carried over to the *D2* Crucible. I was still a little surprised I had gotten away with that one not only in name, but also the text that displays in the game feed in the lower left: "Someone should do something about \[Player Name\]..." I don't remember when I decided I wanted to add a new streak level after "We Ran Out of Medals," but that name was the perfect setup. "I Made This For You" is actually two medals: the first "\[Insert Name Here\]" displays a blank medal outline, followed a few seconds later by the true "I Made This For You" medal. I knew the icon had to be some kind of scribbled, child-like art. I went to UI artist Ryan Klaverweide with the idea, which was very much an "OK, hear me out..." conversation. It's a weird request to make of such an incredibly talented visual designer, but thankfully he was up to it. It's such a fun character moment for Shaxx, too, as written by writer Jon To. Shaxx starts yelling like he would for your other streak medals, then suddenly stops as he realizes, "I don't have a medal for this!" He's a resourceful fellow, so after a few seconds, he presents you with a hand-made original. "I'm so proud of you, Guardian, and I want you to have... this." > "That's one of my all-time favorite moments as a game developer." When we went into the recording session with Lennie James, we'd told our VO director Kevin that Shaxx was really earnestly giving this to you, expecting a very Shaxx-like read. Lennie's read, though, has this incredible pause toward the end and this tinge of uncertainty, as if he's unsure and maybe a little embarrassed. Kevin told Lennie to hang on, and called back to Jon and me on our remote audio to the session, telling us he was going to have him re-record it. Meanwhile, Jon and I are doubled over gasping for air and/or in tears laughing so hard we could barely buzz back in to tell him, "NO, NO KEEP IT!" That's one of my all-time favorite moments as a game developer. It's an extremely rare medal, but the goal was to make something really fun and memorable that folks would earn and then share, and then other people would see and enjoy and just be glad it was there, even if they might not earn one themselves. And it really worked perfectly. People who knew they'd probably never get one themselves still used the icon as their social media profile pictures. CM Dylan Gafner actually got the icon tattooed on himself as part of a *D2* community charity fundraiser drive. I would be surprised if he's the only one, given how many *Destiny* tattoos are out there. I commissioned one of my best friends to make a silver version of the badge so I could have a tangible version of it. It's one of my most prized possessions. Looking back at it now, it really captures how I feel about every contribution I made to *Destiny*, and a feeling I imagine is shared by everyone who worked on it: "I made this for you." **John Ryan (editor, 2015):** I worked on *Taken King* and beyond as an editor. Did a bit with brainstorming cinematics, but the one thing I chuckle about is adding into lore that the inside of the Traveller smelled faintly of vanilla. No, \[there wasn’t any pushback\]. The senior story editor at the time thought it was great. He signed off on it. **Michael Zenke (writer/lead narrative designer, 2015-2017):** My favorite things I contributed to, partially by proxy, were definitely the strikes and the amazing characters in the open world content. I got to work with the incredible likes of Zee, Jonathan To, Jill Scharr, and Grant Roberts to get that work out the door. The strikes were a hoot, mostly because nobody cared much about the VO, so we were able to really create some incredible and sometimes iterative/different experiences. ("Operation Babydog," as an example, if you remember that. Which I'm pretty sure was a late-evening collab between Jon and Grant.) > "Working at Bungie was the most toxic, dysfunctional experience of my professional life. But the incredible people that I got the chance to work with were some of the best in the world at what they do, and I consider all of them friends to this day." And the open world characters, which in *D1* releases would have been little more than kiosks for vendor stuff, we got to spend some time fleshing out and really engaging with both as people and as characters with cool backstories. Of those I still remember very fondly the work Jon and Zee did on Failsafe, the weird split personality AI character we had out on Nessus. In general what I enjoyed about our work on the open world content was that we were able to do weird stuff and take character-motivated swings. Devrim Kay, Failsafe, Sloan, and Asher Mir are a pretty wild lineup. And it was great being able to explore very different aspects of the world than you could see through the eyes of Zavala / Cayde / Ikora. Working at Bungie was the most toxic, dysfunctional experience of my professional life. But the incredible people that I got the chance to work with were some of the best in the world at what they do, and I consider all of them friends to this day. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cayde.jpg) Bungie **Grant K. Roberts (senior writer, 2015-2019):** My favorite comedy thing was [the Cayde-6 Grimoire Card from the Rise of Iron era](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/cards/ghost-fragment-cayde-6?ref=aftermath.site). My favorite serious thing was [the](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/categories/rekindled-solstice-suit-titan?ref=aftermath.site) [Lore](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/categories/rekindled-solstice-suit-hunter?ref=aftermath.site) [Tabs](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/categories/rekindled-solstice-suit-warlock?ref=aftermath.site) for the "Rekindled" gear for Solstice of Heroes '18\. Honorable mention to [the](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/undefeated?ref=aftermath.site) [lore](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/undeterred?ref=aftermath.site) [tabs](https://x.com/gkr/status/963613170513268736?ref=aftermath.site) I wrote for Sparrow racers Marcus Ren and Enoch Bast; a queer fan in the deep South emailed me about how they were moved to tears by seeing same-gender relationships in the lore. What made those things stand out to me? For the Cayde Grimoire card, my pitch was "Cayde Googles himself" plus "tease the upcoming destinations for *Destiny 2*.” I'm a strong believer in constraints breeding creativity, so the challenge of making something funny that hit those goals, in the very strict character limit for Grimoire cards? That's the good stuff. For the Rekindled gear, I had a similar goal: tell the stories of what happened to the Vanguard before we meet back up with them, and try and retcon some of the choppy storytelling from the main game. I'm not usually interested in flashback stories or "ever wonder how this character got that way???" fill-ins—the characters should be able to stand on their own without that!—but starting from a positive place made it a really rewarding experience. I know neither of these are Book of Sorrows or Dreaming City level things, but I always tried to focus on the more grounded elements of the universe. As for placing things off the beaten path, most of the time that wasn't a decision made by the writing team. The *Destiny 2* dev team was big enough that someone else was responsible for that kind of placement. > "I've always been of the opinion that if you've got Lance Fucking Reddick in your cast, you need to let him cook. RIP." However, once I started leading the Seasons team after coming back from parental leave, all bets were off. One fun initiative was adding extremely rare and hard to find audio logs from Zavala to pair with new seasonal content. (This was back during the early days of Seasons, where most of Bungie was focused on the main expansions, so it was up to us on the Seasons team to figure out the stories we wanted to tell.) The original design was for them to have a 1 in 1,000 chance of appearing at the end of a Strike and ideally feel like the old playground talk "Did you know this could happen?" days. Plus, I've always been of the opinion that if you've got Lance Fucking Reddick in your cast, you need to let him cook. RIP. Anyway, the engineer I was working with on the feature was in a separate building, while the Seasons team was mainly one block away—not a particularly subtle metaphor. So we weren't able to work synchronously as often as we could. As a result, the actual implementation made the spawn rate much lower than .01%, to the degree that I'm not sure anybody actually found them organically in the game! They were eventually [found by dataminers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jam-9r6g7U&ref=aftermath.site). The narrative org was pretty fraught while I was there, but I made some lifelong friends. It was quite a ride. How did we approach the job to do good work in spite of that? You can probably already guess, but it's because we had each other to rely on and confide in. That's not to say that the writing team didn't work well and play well with other disciplines, but just like Guardians, we had to stick together against the forces of Darkness. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/devrim.jpg) Bungie **Jill Scharr (writer, 2015-2019):** The thing I'm most proud of is the Ace of Spades quest from *Forsaken*. Me and a designer got tasked with designing a quest that would grant Cayde-6's gun, and I pitched the designer the idea that Cayde would have left his gun to whoever killed him. He liked it so we ran it by the leads and got it approved, and had a lot of fun making it. We got a lot of positive feedback from the dialogue in that quest, which was really nice. In his [Kotaku review of *Forsaken*](https://kotaku.com/destiny-2-forsaken-the-kotaku-review-1829226372?ref=aftermath.site), Kirk Hamilton called it "unusually well-written," which is the funniest backhanded compliment I've ever gotten. > "I didn't realize at the time that he would be Bungie's first canonically gay character, so that was cool." I also wrote the ["Oryx the Nightmare Daddy" lore tab](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/ghost-community-theater-presents?ref=aftermath.site#book-ghost-stories) in an exhausted fugue state just a day before writing lock because we needed more lore tabs, and the lead writer told me to "Write something funny" and I was like "You're going to regret asking me that." More than once a person has learned I worked on *Destiny 2*, immediately asked me if I knew who wrote that entry, and then got very excited when I confessed to the deed. I'm also the one who pitched Devrim having a husband. I didn't realize at the time that he would be Bungie's first canonically gay character, so that was cool. **Andrew Elmore (studio visual designer, 2019-2023):** I think the projects I'll remember most fondly are the spontaneous charity fundraisers that we did with the consumer products team and inclusion clubs. Especially with the Black Lives Matter pin and emblem in 2020, that project moved so fast. I don't remember how much money we raised with that, but I was floored. I felt really encouraged by the fact that I didn't run into any kind of resistance or opposition on that, because I've definitely worked at companies that would have fought it. Took a little sting off of getting clobbered by some Titan dork's shotgun in the Crucible when they were using an emblem I made, that they only could have gotten from a social justice fundraiser. It was a reminder that my work had been used to make a tangible positive impact somewhere—and infinitely more so than I could have ever done on my own and without a hugely popular IP and a socially conscious community, obviously. But I worked with a phenomenal team of brilliant, wonderful people who could move *fast* on these things, so now I have a handful of projects I can look back on and remember the janky Adobe Illustrator file it began as. Something good I can feel somewhat responsible for, and think wistfully, "Maybe graphic design isn't ontologically evil after all.” **Uriah Belletto (QA test lead, 2017-2024):** For silly things, probably working on the Grasp of Avarice Dungeon and coming up with ideas for the Wish Wall for Last Wish. For serious, probably the Vault of Glass Redux. For Vault of Glass Redux, it was releasing content that players already knew and had super high expectations of, without any real blockers on launch. There was something about having such intense pressure on us and me to release something that lived up to expectations. It's a difficult line to toe between updating something while making it feel like the classic. A lot of players didn't even realize that we had made some of the changes we did to fights. One of those sorta "I remembered it looking better" moments. Being part of that was really neat. For Grasp of Avarice and Wish Wall, I always thought *Destiny* was too serious most of the time and players needed just... more fun, y'know? The Wish Wall was definitely that, and Grasp of Avarice had so many silly things and nods to players' behaviors. We found ways to subvert them, like with the Engrams that exploded, or the traps that the artist/level designer made. > "As sad as it is to say, it felt like at some point the people in charge forgot that people play games for fun. They didn't understand that people would play *Destiny* just to dress up their character, more or less." For the Wish Wall specifically, we all got to pitch ideas, QA included. Grunt Birthday Party was one of the ones I pushed for hard, and it was a fantastic effort by multiple teams to make it a reality. Some of the team wanted the Paul McCartney song as sort of a nod to the meme and same thing, effort by a lot of people to get it done, but they did. Players loved it. Honestly it's a shame that stuff like that really got clamped down on for the sake of "Player Value." If it didn't keep them engaged, it was hard to get it done. \[Sparrow Racing League\] is probably the best example of this. As sad as it is to say, it felt like at some point the people in charge forgot that people play games for fun. They didn't understand that people would play *Destiny* just to dress up their character, more or less. So of course silly/fun things were still enjoyed. Working on the \[raid and dungeons\] team was great too because it was the one place that you could really push for breaking bones. **Michael Hogan (UI/systems engineer, 2016-2019):** There's like a million little things I worked on, but one of the big ones for me was chat. It came in really late due to some of my own time management mistakes, but we got a very early version in for the *D2* PC reveal and subsequent alpha. It was a long road to get full locale support in for the full release, but I think I brought a fairly full-featured version for launch (and then I jumped on local and clan chat right after that, if I remember correctly). > "Even once the studio had moved away from *Destiny*, I would think of my own code every time a text chat bug occurred." The Tiger engine hadn't needed text input or a text field with a cursor, having only used keyboard input for a debug console. The engine itself was fairly bespoke, so it wasn't trivial to port editable text into the engine. There was also the launch platform shakeup, where we went from planning to ship on Steam to instead working with Battle.net. So I had to rework how whispers/direct messages worked. All of that coming in late meant that things like profanity and support for Input Method Editors (like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text input) came in extra late. Even once the studio had moved away from *Destiny*, I would think of my own code every time a text chat bug occurred. **Christopher Davis (raid and dungeon QA, 2021-2024):** I specifically worked on Vow of the Disciple for my first project with the team, and I worked on The Caretaker encounter. Caretaker was something I was really worried about specifically around tuning (kind of a trend on our team for a while), and I was worried that players would find the encounter too easy, especially on Contest mode. A big concern not just for Caretaker, but for all of Vow, was cognitive load with symbols. We were asking players to remember 26 symbols, and we tuned combat lighter than we usually would due to that. We shoved the difficulty more towards maximizing boss damage, and we were just worried that we had made the rest of the encounter too easy. We knew we had gotten it right when we were watching streamers during the world first race, and seeing them scramble with ammo economy and start talking about how much health the boss had during contest mode. I believe Datto and his clan said, "We need the Math Class Special!" talking about Outbreak Perfected. Turned out to be a super memorable encounter for a lot of players on Contest day. Very tight, smart ammo encounter that required fun communications. Honestly a lot of Vow was pretty great, and the team we had working on it were always trying to do something new in the space. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/eris2.jpg) Bungie **Hazel Monforton (senior narrative designer, 2021-2024):** \[My favorite\] is Sororicide, the lorebook for Season of the Witch. It's a collection of monologues from Eris Morn, Savathûn, and Xivu Arath, detailing their relationship to themselves, to their place in the story, and to each other. I was given a lot of creative freedom and trust, and I was able to explore some aspects of the characters that resonated with my own experiences with loss, grief, family, and dysmorphia. It was my most personal piece of writing for *Destiny*, and I was honored to contribute to the story of the Hive and to Eris Morn's development. **Ash Flanagan (*Destiny* historian, 2021-2024):** I'm most proud of pushing to bring some of our lore-only characters more to the forefront—especially Micah-10, our first canonically trans Guardian. *Destiny* has a lot of queer characters and, for that reason, a lot of queer fans, and that was important to me, so I always tried to keep an eye on how those characters were portrayed. Micah was particularly special to me both because she's our first canon trans Guardian (though not our first trans character; that's Oryx) and also because my Hunter wore the Legend of Six Coyotes cloak long before I ever worked at Bungie, the Six Coyotes being Micah's fireteam. > "*Destiny* has a lot of queer characters and, for that reason, a lot of queer fans, and that was important to me, so I always tried to keep an eye on how those characters were portrayed." At the time I came on Micah had appeared in text lore but never in the actual game. So I brought up Micah and how we should do more with her a lot, whenever I was asked about lore hooks we could do more with, and I started doing it more as we got closer to *Final Shape*, because the expansion needed to be a love letter to our fans and I knew doing something with Micah would be special for our queer fanbase. When I had a Historian intern, Chayo Urrea, I assigned her to document the lore on Micah and the other Coyotes, which she did great with. We got writer Robert Brookes on board, and he pushed for Micah to get a character model and wrote all her dialogue. Robert and I worked together to insist on casting a trans woman to voice Micah. I was super pleased with how she came out, and I know she meant a lot to a lot of our players. **Stas Silva (QA tester, 2022-2023):** For me, I'd have to say it was working on the Deep Dives activity for Season of the Deep. We didn't have much precedent for testing that sort of quasi-randomized, dungeon crawler framework. I ended up studying how games like *Diablo* work under the hood to manage game events. (*Demon Souls*' world tendency system was actually the basis for how I charted run permutations based on server time in my test documentation.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/heart.jpg) Bungie **Ethan (activity designer, 2022-present):** \[My\] favorite was the work we collaboratively did as the Worlds team on *Final Shape*. All the overthrow encounters, adding the six post-campaign adventures and all the secret puzzles in The Pale Heart were like a little mini-game design jam within the wider game. Basically the idea for the main activity of the destination for that expansion was the bunch of little mini-objectives that increased in difficulty up to the big final encounter for the area. > "All the overthrow encounters, adding the six post-campaign adventures and all the secret puzzles in The Pale Heart were like a little mini-game design jam within the wider game." Since The Pale Heart was already effectively a mashup of the past up to that point, the Worlds team designers all kinda jammed various mechanics and assets from other parts of the game into those little bite-sized activities and would playtest them with each other and the QA team regularly to find what was working, what wasn't, which ones might be able to be combined to become more interesting, etc. I believe each of the post-game puzzles that unlocked the full subclass options were the baby of a different activity designer as well, some leaning more into combat, others more into puzzles. \[It\] was just a good time filling the destination with variety and finding ways to make everyone's different approaches feel part of a harmonious whole. **Ash Poprik (senior narrative designer, 2025-2026):** My favorite thing I contributed to the game was actually pretty recent and it was [this lore tab](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/prison-of-crumbled-forms?ref=aftermath.site). I had been writing dialogue there and had a bunch of experience before *Destiny* writing dialogue, but had not written really any prose before then. I felt incredibly out of my element, to be honest. I dreaded the moment I was assigned to lore, as it really wasn't a muscle that I had worked out and just wanted to do what I was comfortable with. > "I am very sad at how *Destiny 2* was cut short, but I am so incredibly grateful and proud that my time there was useful and valuable, both to players and to myself." Something that I really appreciated about working here was that our narrative director, Alison, would be very meticulous about what we were assigned, either because she wanted us to shine with our talents or to challenge us to be better and push ourselves. That's a very rare thing to happen in games when everyone is just focusing on shipping something as fast as possible. This lore tab got really great reception, but more importantly it was the first time that I felt like I mastered writing prose. I am very sad at how *Destiny 2* was cut short, but I am so incredibly grateful and proud that my time there was useful and valuable, both to players and to myself. This team was really special. I feel like everyone I worked with was not only talented, but unbelievably compassionate. I really hope I cross paths with those devs more during my career because they were a breath of fresh air. ## Recommended [Bungie Ending Support For Destiny 2 Marks The End Of An EraEyes up, Guardian. For the last time.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-85dc19b1-851a-4c69-a5cd-9255ee4d0d94.png)AftermathGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/2024_Final_Shape_Launch_Press_Kit_Characters_COMPRESSED_006-b82b9cb4-4f95-4ab0-bad8-7f69922a4f3a.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/bungie-sony-destiny-2-end-support/) ### The Obscure 1980s Gag Manga That’s Being Reclaimed By Trans People URL: https://aftermath.site/stop-hibari-kun-manga-anime/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T16:39:05.000Z Every morning, Hibari Ōzora arrives at school and opens her locker to find a fresh deluge of love letters. She’s the prettiest and most popular girl at Tokyo’s Wakaba Academy, where she’s top of her class, excels at sports, sings lead vocals in a band, and is generally loved as a legendary local diva. She also happens to be assigned male at birth, a fact that is unknown to everyone at school except her sisters and her hapless new cis guy roommate. Hibari is someone amateur gender scholars would describe as “serving sickening fish.” Effortlessly passing, she sashays down the hallways like a plate of freshly-caught tuna tartare, greeting her classmates and throngs of admirers who can not imagine her as anything other than a girl. Hibari is the eponymous main character of *Stop!! Hibari-kun*, a 1981 comic and anime series by famed manga artist Hisashi Eguchi that’s getting its first [official English translation](https://peow.studio/shop/products/stop-hibari-kun-vol-1?ref=aftermath.site) this year. *Hibari-kun* is a gag manga, but unlike virtually every other depiction of trans people from that period, the gag is not the fact that Hibari is trans—it’s other characters’ cartoonish inability to chill out and be normal about it. The story begins when Kōsaku Sakamoto, a high-strung but well-meaning high school boy the same age as Hibari, is adopted into Hibari’s household per the dying wish of his beloved mother. Kōsaku quickly discovers two shocking bits of information: that Hibari’s father is a notorious yakuza boss, and that Hibari is ‘actually a boy’—the heir apparent to the Ōzora crime family. What follows is four volumes of comedic shenanigans where Hibari’s natural charm and impish flirtation constantly clash with Kōsaku’s inability to accept his feelings for her, making his life a living hell. The biggest joke is, of course, that it’s largely a hell of his own making. In fact, much of the humor in *Stop!! Hibari-kun* comes from characters being tormented and humiliated as a direct result of their inability to accept Hibari for who she is. Her ruthless crime boss father, Ibari Ōzora, is rendered powerless against her time and again, flying into wild temper tantrums and panic attacks that cause him to see imaginary white alligators. In the second chapter, Ibari recruits the scariest and most dangerous yakuza thug he knows to help him force Hibari to “man up,” only to have said thug sent home battered and crying—yet another victim of Hibari’s unflinching feminine power. Hibari is not meant to be a realistic trans character. It’s better to think of her as the ultimate foil. Anyone who tries to make her change (or “Stop!!,” as it were) is in for a bad time. She is the trans woman-as-mirror: Those who call her a “pervert” end up looking like actual perverts. Those who try to expose her “big secret” are exposed themselves. When Kōsaku frantically tries to stop Hibari from using the women’s bath during a school trip, he blunders in classic anime fashion, looking like a peeping tom in front of the whole class. When a group of jealous girls at school begin to suspect Hibari and hatch a plan to expose her, she switches places with her sister Tsubame on the day of a school-wide medical exam, making her haters look like massive creeps. All the while, Hibari rarely loses her cool, getting the upper hand each time using her natural wits, charisma, and penchant for mischief-making (and occasionally her comedically uncanny fighting prowess). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Stop_Hibari_kun.jpg) The Stop!! Hibari-kun manga One could argue that in 2026, at a time when trans people face [unprecedented violence](https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/02/2025-was-one-of-the-most-dangerous-years-on-record-for-lgbtq-people-in-america/?ref=aftermath.site) and [existential threats](https://translash.org/projects/legislation-dashboard/?ref=aftermath.site) from the [highest levels of government](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/trump-gorka-counter-terrorism-transgender-antifa-docuiment/?ref=aftermath.site), Hibari represents the ultimate trans power fantasy: being able to control your own narrative and live a normal life.Even when that life is still at times fantastical and extraordinary. It’s easy to see why [Hibari is still stealing readers’ hearts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=illSp1oVXzA&ref=aftermath.site) more than 40 years since she first graced the printed page. She is a subversion of the “man in a dress” stereotype that has reduced trans people to dead bodies and pop culture punchlines for decades. She is not a tragic character and never asks for your sympathy, instead winning over her admirers naturally by being charming and loveable. And it’s easy to see the cartoon antics of Hibari’s haters in the various politicians, D-list celebs, and internet grifters who spend their days [having public meltdowns](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0x2kx08wdo?ref=aftermath.site) while obsessively trying to make trans peoples’ lives more miserable than their own. > Hibari is a positive trans character not because she is a realistic depiction of a trans woman (she isn’t), but because she refuses to allow her identity and narrative to be controlled by others One might be tempted to categorize Hibari as an early example of the “[trap](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Trap%5F%28glossary%5Fterm%29?ref=aftermath.site)” archetype popularized on incel-dominated forums like 4chan—the trans woman as a deceitful manipulator who lures men astray into a world of homosexual perversion. But in my reading, she defies even this stereotype. Hibari is an agent of chaos, yes, but Eguchi never depicts her in a way that feels mean-spirited. She doesn’t get her kicks from “revealing” herself to others, and the one character who always feels deceived by her—Kōsaku—is in reality deceiving himself. While ahead of its time in some respects, *Stop!! Hibari-kun* is still very much a gag manga written in the 1980s by a cis man. It’s undeniably problematic, featuring [crude racism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1gdTOTaDj0&ref=aftermath.site) and other tired stereotypes that were offensive even at the time the series came out. There are countless scenes where Hibari is threatened with violence and rape, and the fact that it’s played up as a joke doesn’t change the fact that real, actual trans women are routinely murdered by men who use [their surprise](https://www.advocate.com/opinion/trans-panic-defense-outcomes?ref=aftermath.site) at those women being trans as a legal defense. Hibari’s unclockable tea also brings up the issue of “[passing privilege](https://www.thesmujournal.ca/lgbtq/passing-its-more-complicated-than-you-might-think?ref=aftermath.site),” the fact that passing as cisgender is[ highly racialized](https://transreads.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-04-13%5F62570ccad5bcc%5Fitshardlinetowalkblacknonbinarytranscollegiansperspectivesonpassingrealnessandtransnormativityznicolazzo.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) and contextual, and that many trans people simply don’t want to pass at all. Like many anime and manga characters, Hibari is eternally 15 years old, meaning she will never have to deal with the inevitable onset of male puberty that makes passing more difficult without medical interventions like hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Some fans of the series have also brought up the question of whether Hibari is really “trans” or simply a mischievous cross-dressing boy. This kind of thing comes up often when viewing Japanese media like *Stop!! Hibari-kun* through a Western queer lens, which doesn’t always align with the realities of non-Western queer identities at the time it was made. While more common today, terms like “transgender” and “non-binary” were completely unknown within Japan when *Hibari-kun* was first published. Over the years, terms like “X-gender” and “Otokonoko” have been used by gender-expansive people in Japan, the latter being adopted directly from an anime and manga trope describing young characters who are assigned male at birth and present as female. I describe Hibari as “trans” not prescriptively, but as a broad placeholder that maps messily onto a range of gender experiences and lived realities that vary widely across race and culture. Even then, the question of “is Hibari really trans” is, to me, extremely boring. It also completely misses the point. It’s very unlikely that Eguchi intended *Stop!! Hibari-kun* to be trans-positive in the ways I’ve described. Hibari is a positive trans character not because she is a realistic depiction of a trans woman (she isn’t), but because she refuses to allow her identity and narrative to be controlled by others. Her lived reality and experience of the world is that of a woman, a fact recognized both by her fictional classmates and non-fictional readers. In a fan letter section at the end of the Japanese manga’s first volume, published in 1982, a 14 year old student wrote to Eguchi: “I can’t see Hibari as anything other than a girl!” In a way, that’s sort of the whole point. A world where everyone moves through life performing the gender they were assigned at birth has never existed, and never will. As Eguchi demonstrates, it would also just be really, really boring. In the last episode of the *Stop!! Hibari-*kun anime, the series ends abruptly with a direct message to fans from Hibari herself: “Don’t worry! The world of perversion will probably continue forever.” Hibari will never “Stop!!” Nor should she. Nor should anyone. ### 1666: Amsterdam, Made By A Team Including 'Over A Dozen Talented And Experienced Artists', Used AI Images All Through Its Reveal URL: https://aftermath.site/1666-amsterdam-made-by-a-team-including-over-a-dozen-talented-and-experienced-artists-used-ai-images-all-through-its-reveal/ Last updated: 2026-06-17T01:05:38.000Z It was easy to miss among some of[ the bigger announcements last week](https://aftermath.site/latest/), but Panache Digital--the studio behind *Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey*\--is working on a game called *1666: Amsterdam*, and decided to reveal it in pretty much the dumbest way imaginable in 2026. While there was the potential for this to be a cool story--Panache founder Patrice Desailets helped create *Assassin's Creed* and was working on *1666* at Ubisoft before managing to get the IP off them--most discussion about the game I’ve seen has instead centred on the fact that not only does its demo contain AI-generated imagery throughout, but even the game's key art is riddled with nonsensical buttons and mismatched stitching, as you can see in the image up top. In response to fans instantly noticing this and criticising the team,[ even on Twitter](https://x.com/PanacheDGames/status/2064464778723008537?ref=aftermath.site), Panache have issued a statement that follows a now-familiar pattern of "Oh, how did this happen?!": > A number of people have raised questions or concerns to us about whether assets in our marketing and game use generative AI. > > We have a dedicated team of over a dozen talented and experienced artists. With them, we looked into the assets in question and found that there were indeed some early versions of assets that made their way into the the prologue. This includes some in-game portraits and external marketing assets. > > We are actively reviewing the assets in question. Human made versions will be released in an update dropping soon. > > We own up to this oversight and apologize for any upset caused. Please be assured that the Early Access and full game will not include any assets generated by AI. Fuck off. When even the key art has been so blatantly and unashamedly made using AI, do you honestly think we'll believe that this was some kind of accident? I simply refuse to believe that an entire team of video game professionals saw that key art before it was released to the public, worked in and alongside the in-game art all that time, and just collectively forgot to update or remove it before going public. 💡 If you're working on the game [I'd love to hear from you](https://aftermath.site/about-us-contact-us/). The reason people get so upset about this stuff is that for many, myself included, it[ writes the game off instantly and forever](https://aftermath.site/this-is-where-my-anno-117-impressions-were-going-to-go/). If you care about the use of this garbage in the games we're trying (and paying) to enjoy, we now don't know where else AI was used, or how extensively, because we cannot trust this game or this team. They've worked on this in the background while surely knowing the public's reception to it is going to be negative, then when it gets discovered they expect us to believe that only now they've realised it's in there, and they'll get rid of it? [I'm so tired, man](https://aftermath.site/the-alters-ai-controversy/). I'm tired of having to activate detective mode on a video game every time a trailer or piece of art is released. Of dissecting the images and paintings found within a game just to see whether a human made them or not. Of seeing studios and publishers continue to expect us to pay money for a game when they are cutting so much of the work and soul out of the product. Of being asked to accept apologies when trust has already been broken. It sucks! ### Cocoon Is A Cute Girls Doing M*A*S*H* Things Manga Until It Isn't URL: https://aftermath.site/cocoon-machiko-kyo-manga-josei-war-viz-media/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T20:36:49.000Z My favorite thing about manga is its god-given ability to broach prescient, heady, and uncomfortable topics, like war, in digestible ways. Sometimes, war manga are about a [Viking’s hard road toward pacifism](https://gizmodo.com/vinland-saga-creator-makoto-yukimura-looks-back-on-writing-his-pacifist-viking-epic-2000664303?ref=aftermath.site) and [depressed kids seeking validation inside the cockpit of a giant robot](https://aftermath.site/neon-genesis-evangelion-nge-asuka-studio-khara-shinji/); other times, it's cute girls cheerleading the troops from the sidelines. *Cocoon* is a manga belonging to the latter camp that absolutely doesn’t pull its punches. Based on a true story, [*Cocoon*](https://www.viz.com/manga-books/manga/cocoon-volume-1-0/product/8852?ref=aftermath.site) by Machiko Kyo is a medical historical drama manga that recently received an English translation from Viz Media. Despite its warm, floral Little Golden Books artistry, *Cocoon* is a genuine [josei](https://aftermath.site/journal-with-witch-josei-anime-crunchyroll/) manga that doesn’t blink away at the earnest way it portrays the horrors and tragedy of war. I received an early copy of *Cocoon* from Viz Media ahead of its release on June 16\. After spending an otherwise chill Sunday evening reading *Cocoon*, I was broken in a way that I’ll never forget. ![Mayu ans San dropping a friend onto a pile of dead soldiers. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-1.png) © Machiko Kyo / Viz Media *Cocoon* follows a bubbly girl named San and her no-nonsense bosom buddy, Mayu. San and Mayu’s futures were shining brightly ahead of them until their studies at a prestigious boarding school in Okinawa were interrupted. They’re recruited as nurse assistants for the Japanese Army. This isn’t a stint in their ensemble of hopeful, doe-eyed high school girls. It’s World War II. Instead of feeling profoundly crestfallen at the very real prospect that their lives could be cut short before they ever truly began, San and company compartmentalize their tour as field nurses with the same vigor as going to a sleep-away camp. The collective’s unimaginable display of patriotism ripples from San’s infectiously optimistic desire to pitch in as best she can to help others—and her dream of everyone finding their way back home. Even with the cheat code of having the power of friendship on her side, *Cocoon* drags San and her pals across the frontlines of presumed safe zones with the hard truth that nothing in this world is assured, including living to see another tomorrow. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-8.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-5.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-7.jpg) © Machiko Kyo / Viz Media > If anything could be used to fight a cruel reality and an undefeatable enemy, I thought the sweetness of our imaginations might be it. What struck me most about *Cocoon* was that its early pages recalled the tension-breaking camaraderie of *M\*A\*S\*H\**. Like the cast of the ‘70s CBS dramedy, *Cocoon*’sgirls muscle being God’s toughest soldiers—dodging chemical bombs from enemy combatants from the safety of makeshift medical tents tucked away in caves—with laughter as the medicine. Whenever San’s not tasked with aiding wounded soldiers whose bodies have turned to spent firecrackers, she’s daydreaming about eating candy with her friends. If she’s not distracted by the daydream of candy, she’s heavily sighing over the day she’ll get to smell her mother’s soap again—an aroma that causes her to reflexively cup her face in her hands to remember her mom and to self-regulate her stress. Unfortunately, San and Mayu’s stress ramps up with each passing day as dangers from all sides—be they enemy combatants or their own fellow countrymen—push the girls' empathy as nurses past their boundaries as prepubescent girls in over their heads in nearly every imaginable and horrifying way possible. That’s to say, *Cocoon* has strong content warnings for gore and sexual assault that betray its cutesty, unassuming painterly art style. The contradiction between *Cocoon*’s art style and themes is what makes it such an evocative and earnest look at war. It was also what progressively broke me as I flipped through reading all 220 pages of Kyo’s manga. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-9.jpg) © Machiko Kyo / Viz Media > Perhaps sugar can corrode iron? What makes *Cocoon* so brilliant is how it folds the dichotomy between its heavy themes and bubbly art style. To cope with the horrors of war around them and the long road ahead of her, Mayu shields San by instructing her to imagine a world where men are white shadows to get over her petrifying fear of being around them. Mayu also coaxes San into retreating into a living daydream where she and their friends are shielded inside a silkworm's cocoon, protected from the outside world until the day they can emerge and live out their fantasies together. It's a beautiful lie that works when it works, but gradually San spirals into chaos as the horrors of war break the immersion she’s built for herself and her friends as they begin to unceremoniously drop like flies. ![Cocoon double spread of a disembowel girl atop a pile of dead bodies. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-6.jpg) © Machiko Kyo / Viz Media > But once they break out from their cocoons, their newly formed wings can’t carry them into the sky. That isn’t to say San and Mayu are completely ignorant of the extremely dire situation they’re in, especially as girls with an intensifying war as their backdrop. Far from it. San has no qualms with acknowledging how her coping mechanism has as much merit as ducking and covering from a bomb. Even with that in mind, there are some huge wipeouts in *Cocoon* that you can never prepare for, no matter how obvious the red flags are waving for its girlies. Still, *Cocoon* invites you to press forward and try to cope with each loss as the girls fight to survive the profoundly cruel and unfair situation they’re in with the hope that, at the very least, they find a modicum of peace. ![San covering her weary eyes while gazing at the night sky. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-4.jpg) © Machiko Kyo / Viz Media > This is a story about war that appears in a dream dislocated from concrete locations and times. What makes the sapphic-tinged manga all the more tragic is that the “based on a true story” of it all was informed by Kyo’s research on the [Himeyuri Corps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himeyuri%5Fstudents?ref=aftermath.site) in Okinawa. San’s real-life counterparts, too, were misinformed about Japan’s odds of easily defeating America, to the point that they brought their schoolwork with them to the front lines, assuming they’d be safe and sound, able to pitch in and study to return to school. What they got was a three-month experience beyond horrific, where many of the students and their teachers died or elected to take their own lives to avoid the [systematic horrors of war](https://www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-japan/gu900215/?ref=aftermath.site). Kyo also notes that she based Mayu on a newspaper article about a boy who was raised as a girl to evade conscription and consulted Okinawan organizations to lend authenticity to her fictionalized account of real events. ![Cocoon art of girlswalking in a field of flowers. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/cocoon-10.jpg) © Machiko Kyo / Viz Media > Everyone has their own take on war. While all of the pressure points of *Cocoon* are time-stamped in WWII, Kyo’s modern-girl wartime manga is unsettlingly timeless. What *Cocoon* has to say about what it would be like to live through the experience of war on the front lines at such a tender age is liable to ruin you, as it did me with each page turn. It’s a capital-B bummer of a read. But nestled in the misery of Mayu and San fighting for tomorrow is a bittersweet sentiment about trying again despite it all that’ll linger with me forever. ## Recommended [Witch Hat Atelier Is About Having Hope In An Insane WorldWitch Hat Atelier takes the darker implications of its magical school setting seriously, leading to a rich and layered narrative.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-b4547235-d513-4e0e-a8a8-5dfab9e8c7d6.png)AftermathGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/witch-hat-atelier-top-4c875eb8-ff3d-42f0-83be-826330b221a4.png)](https://aftermath.site/witch-hat-atelier-manga-anime-kodansha-kamome-shirihama-magic-school/) ### Despite Awards, South Of Midnight Studio Becomes Latest Victim Of Microsoft’s Implosion URL: https://aftermath.site/compulsion-microsoft-xbox-layoffs-closure/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T20:36:02.000Z Xbox-owned Compulsion Games, the studio behind last year’s *South of Midnight* and previous games *We Happy Few* and *Contrast*, could be shutting down, [Kotaku reported Monday](https://kotaku.com/xbox-shuttering-south-of-midnight-peabody-award-compulsion-games-2000706065?ref=aftermath.site), writing that the studio is “in ‘negotiations’ with Microsoft” over its ultimate fate. The news comes after Bloomberg reported last week that [Xbox is planning layoffs](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-10/xbox-plans-significant-layoffs-as-it-transforms-under-new-ceo-asha-sharma?ref=aftermath.site), and not long after *South of Midnight* [won a Peabody Award](https://peabodyawards.com/stories/86th-peabody-winners-announced/?ref=aftermath.site) and a [BAFTA](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/compulsion%5Ftonight-south-of-midnightwas-recognized-activity-7451004967374565377-dZSV/?ref=aftermath.site). **(Update, 6/15/26, 4:33pm–** According to [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-15/studios-in-microsoft-s-xbox-division-brace-for-closures?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4MTU1NDUzNiwiZXhwIjoxNzgyMTU5MzM2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUR09XOTRLSVAzTE0wMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.qu5M4E4sve-8r60rL%5Fe-Xv-LrGJvIGgWiKLxMitTl5A&leadSource=uverify%20wall&ref=aftermath.site), Compulsion, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and others are in negotiations with Microsoft, with some attempting "to spin off as they try to thwart closure." Bloomberg writes that "the studios may still have the opportunity to buy themselves back from Xbox and go independent, although many employees will likely lose their jobs as a result."**)** The fact that it’s shutting down an award-winning studio isn’t some bit of oversight to Xbox: as Kotaku points out, new CEO Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty were [praising the wins to Stephen Totilo’s Game File back in April](https://www.gamefile.news/p/interview-transcript-asha-sharma-matt-booty?ref=aftermath.site), with Booty saying > our game *South at Midnight* today won a Peabody Award, which I think is such a validation of the storytelling capability of games these days. And that’s right on the heels of them winning a BAFTA for new IP a couple Fridays ago. And, that is our goal, right? I mean, we run a portfolio and our portfolio includes some of the biggest franchises on the planet—Call of Duty and Minecraft—but we’re also dedicated to places where new \[intellectual property\] can come to life and where these stories can be told, you know, in our studios like Compulsion and Double Fine. Not so much a month later, as the company attempts to “reset the business,” as Sharma wrote in a message [to Xbox staff last week](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/?ref=aftermath.site). A studio that won the company prestige and awards, that ‘validated’ games and met whatever “goal” Xbox had in April, that you’d imagine would be part of the “reliable pipeline of first- and third-party exclusives and new IP \[that are\] critical to our success,” as Sharma wrote in her memo, is dead weight to the company now. How jettisoning Compulsion, alongside however many studios and people are sure to follow, fits into Xbox’s plans isn’t clear yet, because nothing about the company’s plans seem clear yet, even to the people calling the shots. This isn’t the first time Xbox has done something like this: in May 2024, the company [shut down several studios](https://aftermath.site/bethesda-closure-microsoft-arkane/) including Tango Gameworks, which had [won a BAFTA](https://www.bafta.org/media-centre/press-releases/20th-bafta-games-awards-winners/?ref=aftermath.site) for its game *Hi-Fi Rush* just the month before. (Later that year, Tango was [purchased by Krafton](https://aftermath.site/tango-gameworks-hi-fi-rush-microsoft-krafton-bought-sold/).) In April of that year, VP of games marketing Aaron Greenberg [tweeted](https://x.com/aarongreenberg/status/1649431572137779203?ref=aftermath.site) that the game was “a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations. We couldn’t be happier with what the team at Tango Gameworks delivered.” And a day after the shutdown, Booty told investors “We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards,” according to [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/8/24152137/xbox-hi-fi-rush-tango-gameworks-matt-booty?ref=aftermath.site). Prestige and awards aren’t the same thing as money, which Xbox appears to be in a panic to recoup, with Sharma’s memo noting slim profit margins and revenue declining by half a billion dollars in the last five years. Even games that players love don’t inherently spell cash in Xbox’s pockets. But if showcasing the kinds of stories games can tell is the “goal,” as Booty has it, and if new games like *South of Midnight* are a key part of what Sharma thinks Xbox does, then it’s hard to imagine the calculus here. And it’s hard to imagine which, if any, of the other smaller studios under Microsoft’s umbrella could be safe. Fears are already swirling around studios like [Double Fine](https://www.thegamer.com/xbox-studio-shutdown-rumour-double-fine-ninja-theory-most-likely-analyst/?ref=aftermath.site) and [Arkane](https://bsky.app/profile/mikestrawmedia.com/post/3modp44e3l223?ref=aftermath.site) (the latter of which already saw its Austin arm closed in 2024)--while these are both speculation, they show how anxious fans are to try to predict Xbox’s thought process, and highlight how hard it is these days to understand what a company thinks comprises a game or a studio that’s good enough to deserve to keep existing. It feels like nothing but non-stop fistfuls of cash are enough to keep a studio off the chopping block, the *Minecraft*s and *Call of Duty*s that Sharma calls only *part* of Xbox’s value. But what’s the other part–what *are* the “new IP” if they aren’t the award-winners, aren’t games doing new things with story and setting that help games be something more than the stereotypes non-players have of them from those *CoD*s and *Minecraft*s, aren’t the smaller studios putting out games players love? Sharma’s not wrong that *something* has to change at Xbox, and I won’t pretend to know what that should be. I *wish* it would be the situation Compulsion finds itself in, the situation so many studios at Xbox and [PlayStation](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-21/bungie-plans-layoffs-after-ending-destiny-2-development?ref=aftermath.site) and [Epic](https://aftermath.site/fortnite-epic-layoffs/) and [Embracer](https://aftermath.site/crystal-dynamics-red-storm-layoffs/) and other big companies have found themselves in over the last few years, where no amount of just doing your job well means you might get to keep doing it. But if there’s one part of this that can feel like it’s never going to change, it’s that no matter how badly executives fuck up, it’s the workers and their art that pay the price. ### Blizzard Sues To Take Down Another Private World of Warcraft Server, Project Ascension URL: https://aftermath.site/blizzard-project-ascension-lawsuit/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T16:57:32.000Z Blizzard Entertainment is continuing its crusade against private *World of Warcraft* servers: The company filed a new lawsuit on Friday in a California court against the makers of *Project Ascension*, alleging copyright infringement, Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations, and other claims. Blizzard Entertainment claims that *Project Ascension* is a "lucrative way to exploit and profit from the popularity of the *WoW* game experience," according to the complaint, [obtained by Aftermath](https://www.scribd.com/document/1050564024/Project-Ascension-lawsuit-via-Aftermath?ref=aftermath.site). Blizzard Entertainment's lawyers say in the complaint that *Project Ascension* purports to have "over a million players." Lawyers write that the developers have "distributed (and are continuing to distribute) millions of pirated copies of Blizzard's copyrighted *WoW* game software." They also allege that *Project Ascension*'s servers are hosted on Russian "bulletproof" servers with Aeza Group, a company that was sanctioned in 2025 "for its role in supporting cybercriminal activity targeting victims in the United States and around the world," [per a U.S. Department of Treasury press release](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0185?ref=aftermath.site). "Defendants’ decision to work with such criminal enterprises alone signals willful intent to engage in unlawful activity," Blizzard Entertainment lawyers say in the complaint. Blizzard Entertainment named six defendants and several companies it said were shell companies that exist "solely as a conduit for monetary transactions and to avoid U.S. tax liability for revenue related to *Project Ascension*." The defendants are largely U.S. residents, save one developer based in Australia. Blizzard's suit is looking to uncover the identities of several other people involved with *Project Ascension*. *Project Ascension* bills itself, [on its website](https://ascension.gg/en?ref=aftermath.site), as a "Classless game that allows you to imagine and build the character of your dreams." In *World of Warcraft*, players pick a class during the character creation process, and are tied to that. *Project Ascension* lets players combine pieces of *World of Warcraft*'s different classes to build unique characters. It's free-to-play, but players can purchase in-game currency, Donation Points, to buy things in-game, such as cosmetics and experience boosts. Blizzard Entertainment's lawyers assert that *Project Ascension* has made "millions of dollars from the sale of Donation Points." To access the servers, players must download the "Ascension Client," which bypasses the need to connect to Blizzard Entertainment's own *World of Warcraft* servers, meaning that players don't need a *World of Warcraft* subscription. The company's lawyers also say that *Project Ascension* developers must have removed the security protections put in place by Blizzard Entertainment to get the software to run. "*Project Ascension* also has caused significant and irreparable harm to Blizzard," lawyers say in the complaint. "This harm includes, but is not limited to, lost revenue from former *WoW* players who have been diverted to *Project Ascension* in order to avoid paying subscription fees to Blizzard and harm to Blizzard’s valuable intellectual property, which is being exploited, modified, and monetized without Blizzard’s consent and in ways that Blizzard disapproves and prohibits. " Blizzard Entertainment says that *Project Ascension* developers have ignored communications from the company. Beyond the alleged copyright violations, Blizzard Entertainment is suing on claims on interference with contractual relations, false designation of origin for using *World of Warcraft* trademarks to mislead players, conspiracy, and participating in a "development, sales and trafficking enterprise," per the complaint. Blizzard Entertainment successfully sued a popular *World of Warcraft* server called *Turtle Wow* last year*.* The project had been running since 2018, taking donations from players for the free-to-play server. Both sides announced in April 2026 that they'd reached a settlement after Blizzard Entertainment [was awarded a permanent injunction to shut down *Turtle WoW*](https://www.mmorpg.com/news/blizzard-wins-lawsuit-over-turtle-wow-private-server-settlement-reached-2000137786?ref=aftermath.site). The details of the settlement were not made public. *Turtle WoW* was shut down for good shortly after May 15; [players gathered online to mourn the end of the server](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/world-of-warcraft/it-has-been-an-honor-world-of-warcraft-fans-gather-in-popular-private-server-turtle-wow-to-say-goodbye-as-it-ends-8-year-run-following-blizzard-lawsuit/?ref=aftermath.site). In October 2025, [*Turtle WoW* developers made a plea to Blizzard Entertainment](https://forum.turtlecraft.gg/viewtopic.php?t=22444&ref=aftermath.site): "Unfortunately, unlike other studios, Blizzard does not yet have a framework that allows projects like ours to operate without risking legal conflict. With that in mind, we respectfully ask that Blizzard consider establishing a formal ecosystem for licensing fan‑run community servers." They pointed to operations by Daybreak Game Company, Rockstar Games, Valve, and Bethesda. Other [private *World of Warcraft* servers](https://massivelyop.com/2025/09/08/world-of-warcraft-rogue-server-everlook-will-close-its-eu-branch-following-reported-blizzard-legal-threat/?ref=aftermath.site) have shut down in the wake of the *Turtle WoW* lawsuit after receiving cease and desist letters from Blizzard Entertainment. Another, *Project Epoch*, closed its website as its developers stopped supporting the project. Reportedly, [*Project Epoch* has come under the custody of *Project Ascension* developers](https://www.reddit.com/r/wowservers/comments/1ncog2a/dutch%5Fascension%5Fon%5Fthe%5Frecent%5Fnews%5Fabout%5Fepoch/?ref=aftermath.site). Aftermath has reached out to Blizzard Entertainment and *Project Ascension* for comment. ### Sure Seems Like Xbox Is Cooked URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-layoffs-summer-game-fest/ Last updated: 2026-07-03T19:08:13.000Z Since she first took up the mantle left behind by Phil Spencer earlier this year, new Xbox head Asha Sharma has been on a charm offensive, lowering the price of Game Pass, [killing needless AI features](https://aftermath.site/xbox-copilot-ai-dead-asha-sharma-microsoft/), and generally advocating for [a back-to-the-basics approach](https://aftermath.site/xbox-microsoft-gaming-sharma/). But it was an illusion all along. Last week, the company was handing out free consoles at Summer Game Fest in [a display of opulence](https://bsky.app/profile/jessicogs.bsky.social/post/3mnxqgfo5wc22?ref=aftermath.site) meant to suggest renewed brand strength; this week, news broke that [another “significant” round of layoffs](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-10/xbox-plans-significant-layoffs-as-it-transforms-under-new-ceo-asha-sharma?ref=aftermath.site) is just around the corner, with Sharma publishing [a letter to employees](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/06/10/next-100-days-xbox-reset/?ref=aftermath.site) about how Xbox’s current course “cannot continue.” On the latest Aftermath Hours, we talk about how Microsoft ended up here—and why things aren’t likely to improve soon, if ever. This time around, we’re joined by [Ethan Gach](https://bsky.app/profile/ethangach.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) of noted Aftermath origin story Kotaku dot com to discuss… well, originally we were gonna talk about Summer Game Fest, but then—moments before we began recording—news broke that Xbox is on the verge of yet another devastating round of layoffs. We find ourselves once again lamenting [the irreparable damage Microsoft has done to the video game industry](https://aftermath.site/xbox-playstation-ps5-exclusivity-indiana-jones-starfield/), made all the more puzzling by the fact that the company seemed intent on acting like it was doing an about face following the appointment of Sharma as Xbox’s new head. But now here we are, a scant few months later. Then we move on to the games industry party that preceded this week’s ice-cold bucket of water: [Summer Game Fest](https://aftermath.site/tag/summer-game-fest/). Ethan, who was in attendance, gives us his appraisal of Geoff’s latest carnival. The verdict: There were some cool games, and the whole thing left people with the mistaken impression that the industry can be normal and functional. But overall, the event was light on surprises. Finally, we nearly drop the ball on the mailbag, but readers swoop in to save us from a terrible fate. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can hire someone whose sole job it will be to remind us to perform crucial podcast-related tasks (that we’ve already been doing for over 100 episodes, yet somehow managed to forget). Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Luke:** Xbox at least had some kind of brand and stood for something for a good 6-8 years over two consoles where it had a roster of first-party games, it had a succession of series that people \[cared about\]. Just like Nintendo and PlayStation, you could get this on Xbox. And you could tell, as soon as the Xbox One came around—and they started doing all the TV and multimedia bullshit, and they shut down all those studios or canceled a bunch of games; no more *Fable*, no more proper *Gears of War* games, Bungie stopped making *Halo*—\[Xbox\] began this stripping away of things that usually make a console great and give it a lasting place in the marketplace. They were stripping it for parts and mismanaging it at the launch of the Xbox One. Everything that’s come after that has just made it worse. So I don’t know if you can bring someone in to right the ship, because I don’t think anyone knows where the ship even is anymore. It’s drifted so far from its original goal, and it’s had a succession of people who clearly have no idea how to position this company or where it lands in the marketplace versus its competitors; it’s almost impossible to look at them and say, “OK, this decision you’re making now might fix it.” Because it’s like, could you patch the Titanic when it was halfway down? No, that was sunk the second it hit the iceberg. There’s nothing you can do. You can play a finite number of songs. **Nathan:** You can rearrange some deck chairs. **Luke:** But it will eventually go down, because you’re not recovering from hitting the iceberg in the first place. **Nathan:** The one upside to any of this is that, if you’re someone who’s been wanting to boycott Microsoft on the grounds of BDS-related sanctions and things like that, it’s never been easier. Because there’s just really not much motion happening on the Xbox side of things, and there probably won’t be. Funnily enough, Rock Paper Shotgun ran a piece before all this layoff news came out titled “[There's never been an easier time to boycott Microsoft, the most boring video game publisher in the business](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/theres-never-been-an-easier-time-to-boycott-microsoft-the-most-boring-video-game-publisher-in-the-business?ref=aftermath.site).” They wrote: > There is often an air of learned helplessness, a kind of deer-in-headlights mentality. Microsoft's gaming biz is too huge to ignore. They own so much. They own a lot of the malarkey that gets eyeballs. Which I can confirm, based on day-to-day experience of traffic stats. Still, I would argue that they do not have any momentum with the things they own, and to be frank, a fair whack of their stuff does sod-all traffic for us. Microsoft today are institutionally incapable of being intriguing. As such, an extremely indulgent way of thinking about the BDS boycott is to treat it as positive encouragement to seek intrigue elsewhere. Which I think is true. People are constantly talking about how many interesting games are out right now and how they don’t have time for all of them—and how [September is gonna be a minefield](https://aftermath.site/september-video-game-releases-wolverine-onimusha-control/). It’s like, just scrape all the Microsoft stuff off your plate. That’ll help, at least a little bit. ## Recommended [Gamers Sue Microsoft, Claiming It Colludes With Valve On Store PricingA new lawsuit filed Sunday in Washington court claims Microsoft is in cahoots with Valve![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-1275ca9d-ccd2-425a-a18d-a07f8d305fa2.png)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1621259183495-6791fd319088-b2ac1068-02c7-4db2-ad17-1d4495b4d198)](https://aftermath.site/gamers-sue-microsoft-valve-steam-antitrust-lawsuit/) ### Forbidden Solitaire's Developers Made The Opposite Of What They Planned: A Hit URL: https://aftermath.site/forbidden-solitaire-grey-alien-night-signal-interview/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T20:44:11.000Z Solitaire isn't terribly sexy as far as video games go. You play by yourself, usually when you're waiting for something else to happen. It's meant to be meditative, soothing even. But what if there was a solitaire video game so cursed that it drove its developers and players mad and became an urban legend lost to time, one that might actually be real because you just found a copy in a thrift shop? That's the premise of [*Forbidden Solitaire*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/Forbidden%5FSolitaire/?ref=aftermath.site), the latest twist on solitaire from Grey Alien Games and Night Signal Entertainment. The former studio is a longtime expert at coming up with deviously compelling riffs on solitaire, like its cheeky Jane Austen-inflected [*Regency Solitaire*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/351090/Regency%5FSolitaire/?ref=aftermath.site)and [*Regency Solitaire 2*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2137470/Regency%5FSolitaire%5FII/?ref=aftermath.site). The latter is a newer shop establishing itself as purveyor of kitschy narrative horror games, exemplified by its cult hit [*Home Safety Hotline*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2357910/Home%5FSafety%5FHotline/?ref=aftermath.site). Their collaboration is a lot of things – primarily successful, as *Forbidden Solitaire* has easily exceeded their very modest goals, enough to seriously consider a sequel, both studios told Aftermath in interviews. But it's also an experiment in sustainable game development, and the long payoff to one really mean sort-of joke that Grey Alien's Jake Birkett told a room full of indie developers ten years ago. At the 2016 Game Developers Conference, Birkett – soft-spoken, a little nervous, long hair tied back in a ponytail – got behind the podium to deliver his talk, which he called "The No-Hit Wonder – 11 Years and Still Going. How?" and delivered the toughest of tough love openers. "You're not special, nor is your game, and you'll never ship a hit," Birkett told the room, which takes a beat to register what he's saying before laughter and applause greet his gambit. "The sooner you come to terms with that, the sooner you can start figuring out how to survive as an indie." Birkett's talk [now lives online](https://gdcvault.com/play/1023432/The-No-Hit-Wonder-11?ref=aftermath.site) via the GDC Vault, the conference's repository for its many lectures and resources on the craft of game design. It's here that Nick Lives of Night Signal Entertainment saw it, many years later, and took it to heart. Night Signal's *Home Safety Hotline*, a horror game that casts players as phone operators answering increasingly eerie calls from customers, was born from Lives' adoption of Birkett’s no-hit wonder mentality. Inspired by Birkett's talk, and the success of similarly-scoped studios like [Strange Scaffold](https://aftermath.site/xalavier-nelson-interview-strange-scaffold-el-paso-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/) (its creative director, Xalavier Nelson, appears in *Forbidden Solitaire*), Lives and his co-founder David Johnsen deliberately formed Night Signal in an effort to make games affordably and at a regular cadence. One way they wanted to attempt that was by pitching other small indie studios on collaborating – like Grey Alien, if they were even interested in making another solitaire game. A husband-and-wife team, Grey Alien's Jake Birkett and Helen Carmichael didn't set out to be known for making solitaire games – their [gameography](http://www.greyaliengames.com/index.php?ref=aftermath.site) is dotted with standout experiments like the time-crunch city builder *T-Minus 30* or the match-3 game *Spooky Bonus*. But in the high-risk, slim-rewards stakes of the modern games industry, they found specializing to be the most sensible path to sustainability. "\[All the solitaire\] is us reusing our engine 'cause it's expedient – and we were really learning how to make good solitaire better and better, probably more than almost anyone in the world, if that doesn't sound too grandiose," Birkett says, with a bit of self-effacing laughter. "Because we've done it so many times for so long, we've got good at it. We can save money and time. We've got fans we can deliver to. But there is that sort of thing of also being trapped in solitaire, and I want to be honest about that. There are plenty of other indie games that if a patron had popped up and said, 'here's a couple hundred thousand dollars, go!' I would've made them instead." Night Signal, however, made the decision to create *Forbidden Solitaire* easy, reaching out to Grey Alien with a one-page pitch conveying the tone and pitching a clear division of labor: Night Signal would handle all the art, sound, video, and narrative, and leave the game design to Birkett and Carmichael. Also, their pitch was funny. "It immediately appealed to our sense of humor. I'm not sure if everybody always realizes it, but definitely in the \[games\] I wrote, the stories are subtly poking fun at their genre," Carmichael says. "And \[Night Signal\] were totally doing the same kind of thing \[in their pitch\], although in a much more, sort of crazy jacked-up way, but about the nineties and and nineties gaming culture." "What Nick had, apart from this cool idea, was this previously successful game and an audience and was offering to make the art and audio, which was a big draw for us because we were always on a tight budget," Birkett says. "This is the whole point of my sustainability thing: one of the reasons we didn't break out of our solitaire stuff was, we had an audience that was gonna buy that stuff regularly each time, and it was never gonna make us rich, but it would keep us going." ![A screenshot from Forbidden Solitaire, in which a hairy left hand is held against a checkered surface with jewels painfully embedded in the hand](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/forbidden-solitaire-2.png) Image courtesy Grey Alien Games/Night Signal Entertainment Night Signal came by their efficiency the hard way, via heartbreak. Nick Lives and David Johnsen's two-man operation came out of the collapse of another, slightly larger studio they had co-founded, Deli Interactive. They had a strong debut title in the multiplayer roguelike [*We Need to Go Deeper*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/307110/We%5FNeed%5FTo%5FGo%5FDeeper/?ref=aftermath.site), but then spent five years developing their next game, the ambitious *Animal Crossing*\-esque [*Camp Canyonwood*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1374170/Camp%5FCanyonwood/?ref=aftermath.site), which flopped immediately. "I think it's one of the lowest-performing games that we've made. We were in trouble very fast," Lives says. "David and I were kinda like, 'well, we should probably try this, like the Grey Alien Games way.'" Thus, Night Signal Entertainment, named after Lives and Johnsen's [first collaboration](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1093840/NiGHT%5FSIGNAL/?ref=aftermath.site) under their smaller, more modest aegis. *Forbidden Solitaire* is their third game, and for all of its charming quirks, both Night Signal and Grey Alien are, by necessity, remarkably unromantic and clinical about why it took the shape it did. For Birkett and Carmichael, a desire to break away from their established lane could not risk alienating their reliable audience, but Night Signal's penchant for analog horror kitsch could widen that audience considerably. For Lives and Johnsen, *Forbidden Solitaire* helps them establish what Night Signal's brand will be as they continue to move forward with smaller games. "If we have to pigeonhole ourselves," Lives says, "then I want to be happy in that pigeonhole." ![A screenshot from Forbidden Solitaire, in which playing cards a spread across the screen but so are reddened eyes with alarmingly blue irises](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/forbidden-solitaire-3.png) Image courtesy Grey Alien Games and Night Signal Entertainment Here is the irony of sustainable game design the Grey Alien way: For the no-hit wonders of the games industry, a hit can derail you almost as much as a flop. While they've not shared specific numbers, *Forbidden Solitaire* has been a big enough hit to make both its development studios very happy, and immediately consider a sequel, which once again exacerbates the indie developer's plight of choosing between artistic fulfillment and commercial viability. "Previously we've had to iterate on what we've done before because that's all we've had the scope or the budget to do, or that's been the more sensible choice from a business point of view, rather than taking a really big risk," Carmichael says. "Ironically, the fact that *Forbidden Solitaire* has done so much better means that we might have the funds to take a bigger risk. But perhaps people want more \[*Forbidden Solitaire*\] from us. That's the choice we've got to make, right?" Yet, as Lives notes, there's still a part of you that might always want the big hit. "That's the real hope, the one big hit that's so big that now you don't care whether the next thing you make makes money at all," he says. "It's a freeing idea. Almost like you've unlocked the secret to universal basic income and now you get to just be an artist." But again: Perspective. Grey Alien built a sustainable path through video games by building a steady business around a kind of game that, for what it's worth, they actually like, and have managed to find all manner of ways to innovate and iterate on, be it through *Shadow Hand*'s combat and RPG-esque inventory or *Regency Solitaire*'s estate management. In between the safe bets, they jam and freelance, to change up the pace and keep themselves feeling creatively fulfilled, even if there are still things that are a little too irresponsible to really go all-in on. Birkett, for example, really loves platformers, but thinks it’s foolish for an indie dev to make a platformer. For their part, Night Signal has the implosion of Deli Interactive keeping them focused. "We can't afford to, like, put our whole soul in the thing," Lives says. "In a small game, you only have time to put one little feeling that you have about something in it." Lives contrasts Night Signal's output to *Camp Canyonwood*, which was full of deeply felt ideas and personal history painstakingly coded into their humble life sim. "Five years of feelings went into this and, and so that hurts five times as much. Something that took one year, you have one year's worth of feelings. It's less heartbreaking, I think, to work in this way. I hope." ### For A Brief Moment, You Got To See How The Sausage Is Made URL: https://aftermath.site/tomb-raider-ai-pr-interview/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T18:53:55.000Z You may have already seen this video today, in which Jeff Adams, experience director on[ the new *Tomb Raider* remake](https://aftermath.site/tomb-raider-ai/), is trying to [answer a question from Game Informer](https://bsky.app/profile/gameinformer.com/post/3mnzhaqadi22t?ref=aftermath.site) about AI in the game before PR steps in and shuts the conversation down. > We asked the Crystal Dynamics team about its use of generative AI in developing Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. Here’s what Jeff Adams, experience director on the game, had to say. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6uxp3rsscwiewzrjs2sqgx7e/post/3mnzhaqadi22t?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Game Informer ([@gameinformer.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6uxp3rsscwiewzrjs2sqgx7e?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [June 12, 2026 at 12:37 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6uxp3rsscwiewzrjs2sqgx7e/post/3mnzhaqadi22t?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) It's kinda blown up, and a lot of talk online has centred on the[ conversation's focal point of AI](https://kotaku.com/tomb-raider-legacy-of-atlantis-gen-ai-crystal-dynamics-interview-2000705567?ref=aftermath.site), which I agree with of course,[ it sucks](https://aftermath.site/tomb-raider-ai/). But also whatever, this game is already dead to me, I simply could not care less how anyone involved in making or selling it is trying to weasel their way out of that. [You Lost Me At ‘We Leverage AI Tools To Help Our Teams Iterate On Ideas’You can’t cut corners on ideas![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-5824c580-bcc4-44f9-a3a2-92c298707cab.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ss_53ebb702379303bc89a71106d74650a8ce8c5411.1920x1080-d811fa55-f250-4b50-86c9-5f4dd62976c9.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tomb-raider-ai/) What I found really interesting about the video is that it captures, in real time, an aspect of games marketing and games media that is *always* there and has always been there, but which is very rarely seen by the general public: PR coming in hot. The intrusion you see at the end of this video, where a normal man taking the time to find an answer to a question is completely cut off by the most low-calorie response imaginable, borders on coming off as rude and appears as something of a shock, but it also might help you better appreciate the shape and history of video games journalism to understand that this happens all the time. Nearly every staged interview that takes place at an event like Summer Game Fest will have someone (or many people!) there overseeing things, ostensibly to help with media and influencer relations, but also to be on-hand for emergency situations like this. Meaning that every question that gets asked in their presence, and every answer printed as a result, has been asked under their gaze. Sometimes those people work in PR, comms, media relations or whatever a company wants to call it (sometimes the same person is wearing multiple marketing hats, but I'll just call them 'PR' from here because that's probably the most popular shorthand). Sometimes they're internal; other times they work for third parties, which given their distance from the project can make for a bizarre game of bullet-point telephone that I used to run into a lot at local events here in Australia. I've been at *Assassin's Creed* reveals at GamesCom where the most harmless questions for a producer are intercepted by PR and answered with a scripted non-response. I've sat through countless interviews with Japanese developers at the Tokyo Game Show where we've known that interview responses coming back through a translator are being filtered in real time. I once interviewed Hideo Kojima under the hilarious condition that in the room was not just a Konami translator, but someone else overseeing the translation as well! And it's not just live events where this happens. If a games journalist ever wants to send questions to a developer via email, it's almost certain that those questions (and the subject's responses) are going to be agonised over by PR. I once had an incredible Kotaku feature lined up showcasing the graffiti work that had gone into a big PlayStation game; once I found out both the questions and answers would have to go through *two* sets of PR for two giant entertainment companies, I dropped the feature because I just couldn't be bothered with it. Even that[ harmless interview I did recently about *Marathon*'s soundtrack had to go through Bungie](https://aftermath.site/marathon-bungie-soundtrack-ryan-lott/). I'm not saying any of this in the hope that it *enlightens* you; I'd expect that on some level you knew most of this already, because of *course* this stuff happens, this is entertainment journalism. But it's one thing to know at some abstract level how it works and another to see it on video. So if you got anything out of the end of that interview, I'd hope it's[ how ruthless the industry can be maintaining control over its messaging](https://kotaku.com/some-reasons-why-the-games-industry-is-so-secretive-an-1825929139?ref=aftermath.site), and how absurd it actually looks when you see it in action. ### IGN Lays Off Tech Workers Following Summer Game Fest, Where Pro-Union Messages Were Erased URL: https://aftermath.site/ign-summer-game-fest-layoffs-union/ Last updated: 2026-06-15T18:54:04.000Z In the past few years, what remains of video game events has become as much about [labor](https://aftermath.site/game-awards-2025-protest-future-class-uvw/) and [politics](https://aftermath.site/summer-game-fest-los-angeles-protests-ice-immigration-police/) as it has talking about games. At this year’s Summer Game Fest, members of the IGN Creators Guild took the gathering as an opportunity to highlight their current fight to bargain their first union contract with owner IGN Entertainment. The Guild chalked around 100 pro-union messages outside the IGN Live venue in downtown LA, all of which were erased. Then, days after IGN Live ended, some workers on the company’s tech teams, which the Guild has been fighting to include in their unit, were laid off. While people who spoke to Aftermath were clear there’s no provable connection between the two, both events have left workers climbing uphill in their union fight. According to a former worker, six members of the engineering team that works on IGN.com and Humble Bundle were laid off on Tuesday. Of those laid off, four could have been eligible to join the IGN Creators Guild, which [requested expanding their unit to include engineering, product, and Humble Bundle workers last year](https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ94B30P3R6/?img%5Findex=2&ref=aftermath.site). The cuts leave two engineers working at Humble Bundle, both of whom worked at the site prior to its [acquisition by IGN Entertainment in 2017](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/humble-bundle-has-been-acquired-by-media-giant-ign?ref=aftermath.site). A member of the IGN Creators Guild unit council told Aftermath that “we don’t know how the IGN website or Humble Bundle will receive updates or fixes going forward” given the reduced numbers after the cuts. According to the former worker, this leaves three engineers who would be eligible to join the IGN Creators Guild should its fight succeed, though more non-eligible employees also remain. The Guild took its expansion proposal to the National Labor Relations Board last year, but according to the unit council member, “we haven't heard back in over six months because the NLRB has been gutted. So the Product/Engineering/Humble folks are currently in limbo.” The former worker noted that two people who spoke at the NLRB hearing were cut on Tuesday, and that the group has lost more potentially eligible members over the last few years due to other cuts at the company. Both the former worker and the Guild unit member told Aftermath that the company cited “restructuring” as a reason for the cuts. The unit member speculated that “we don't think the layoff decision was made in response to any of our \[union\] actions, but it could be linked to \[product, engineering, and Humble's\] unionization efforts.” Both expressed concern that, regardless of the reason for the layoffs, they had affected people who could have been part of the Guild and have reduced the number of potential members remaining. Both also worried that the company could lean more on AI and contractors to fill the gaps, with the former worker saying that the company had increased its use of both prior to the layoffs*.* The unit member said that the company has “a habit of doing layoffs right after a successful event.” IGN previously laid off staff [before The Game Awards in 2022](https://kotaku.com/ign-layoffs-the-game-awards-tga-2022-editorial-1849871249?ref=aftermath.site) and after what the Guild [called on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/DM8q61WPCSj/?img%5Findex=1&ref=aftermath.site) “two incredibly successful live events, IGN Live and SDCC \[San Diego Comic Con\]” in August 2025, the latter of which affected [12% of the Guild’s bargaining unit](https://aftermath.site/ign-layoffs-ziff-davis/). In January 2026, Ziff Davis, of which IGN Entertainment is a subsidiary, laid off five CNET workers who were members of the Ziff Davis Creators Guild [shortly after CES](https://x.com/zdcreatorsguild/status/2013670087669039591?ref=aftermath.site). The union was also front of Guild members’ minds during Summer Game Fest itself, with the Guild bringing its demands for [pay increases to keep up with inflation](https://www.instagram.com/p/DYm0xxJjksk/?ref=aftermath.site) to the event. Guild members wrote [several messages](https://bsky.app/profile/ignunion.bsky.social/post/3mnmvnz4kt22o?ref=aftermath.site) in chalk demanding “fair wages” and “fair pay” on late Friday night, prior to the start of IGN Live. They wrote the messages across the street from the venue, both so that leadership, according to the unit member, “wouldn’t wash them away (rip), but also because parking for the event was across the street, so every guest would see them as they arrived.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-11-at-3.55.08---PM.png) [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/ignunion.bsky.social/post/3mnmvnz4kt22o?ref=aftermath.site) IGN workers who arrived early at the venue saw the messages still up at around 6:15am on Saturday, but noticed [they were gone](https://bsky.app/profile/ignunion.bsky.social/post/3mnn55bxl7s2o?ref=aftermath.site) by the event’s 8am call time. The unit member said that “we are pretty sure they were removed at leadership’s request. We did confirm that the workers who some of us spotted doing the erasing were indeed venue employees, and the timing makes sense as to when leadership showed up in the mornings and wanting to get them gone before union members showed up.” Ziff Davis did not reply to a request for comment in time for publishing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-11-at-3.56.33---PM.png) [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/ignunion.bsky.social/post/3mnn55bxl7s2o?ref=aftermath.site) Guild members [rewrote the messages](https://bsky.app/profile/ignunion.bsky.social/post/3mnphnlcbwc26?ref=aftermath.site) late Saturday night, this time encircling the venue itself. Those messages were also erased, with the unit member saying, “For the first set it looked like they had used brooms to sweep it away, and for the second set, some of us saw the cleaners using water jugs with hoses.” The unit member says the Guild wrote about 100 messages between the two nights. In addition to the chalk messages, some Guild members also wore shirts with the union’s logo during IGN Live on Sunday, including while on camera. They also passed out fliers with QR codes to encourage attendees to [write letters](https://actionnetwork.org/letters/the-ign-creators-guild-deserves-to-be-paid-fairly-let-our-bosses-know-you-agree?source=direct%5Flink&) to IGN management regarding the union’s demands. 436 letters have been sent as of this writing, which the unit member called “pretty crazy.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-11-at-12.31.57---PM--1-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-11-at-12.54.38---PM--1-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-11-at-12.59.19---PM.png) [IGN Live](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWCkhoSoBTA&ref=aftermath.site) The IGN Creators Guild formed in [February 2024](https://aftermath.site/ign-creators-guild-union-games-journalism/) under the News Guild. In August 2025, frustrated by multiple layoffs leaving remaining staff with more work, Guild members [resolved](https://aftermath.site/ign-layoffs-union-action-ziff-davis/) to “stop picking up the slack,” a union tactic known as [work-to-rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-to-rule?ref=aftermath.site). The Guild also had a [lunchout in April](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXujsLHD0kZ/?img%5Findex=1&ref=aftermath.site), and has been encouraging readers to support its contract fight on social media. The unit member said that none of the Guild’s Summer Game Fest actions “received any sort of reaction from leadership. They were very good at pretending to ignore them.” They also noted that “there’s still been no response from the company on our most recent \[contract\] proposals as of yet. We haven’t heard from them since mid-May.” ### Let Me Tell You About Love and Deepspace URL: https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-beginners-guide/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T17:26:42.000Z So, you'd like to play *Love and Deepspace*. Perhaps you've seen clips of the game's Lingering Lust event floating around online—[an update so spicy that Infold Games posted censored, stick figure teaser trails on social media](https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-lingering-lust/). Perhaps you're curious about having [a digital boyfriend who is a merman](https://www.tiktok.com/@loveanddeepspace/video/7630672711366216973?ref=aftermath.site) in an alternate universe. Maybe you're looking for combat. (No one is looking for combat. Just kidding. Some people may be looking for combat, but that's not me.) But there *is* a lot going on in *Love and Deepspace*. It can feel overwhelming when you download the game and see all the menus, currencies, and buttons to push. There's so much depth in the game; I've broken down some of the biggest questions to explain, in simple terms, how it works. ### **What is *Love and Deepspace*?** In the simplest terms, *Love and Deepspace* is a mobile romance game. But *Love and Deepspace* is anything but simple. The game has a visual novel-style narrative, real-time combat, and a period tracker. You can decorate a home as you would in *The Sims 4*. You can interact with the men as if they were your real-life boyfriend, texting throughout the day then falling asleep together at night. (Yes, falling asleep together. One of *Love and Deepspace*'s features is a sleep system. It's not a sleep tracker, but it plays sounds like breathing and snoring while you fall asleep.) There are a lot of pieces to *Love and Deepspace*. It can be overwhelming. You open the app and there's so much going on. But if you're looking to understand *Love and Deepspace*, just start at the main storyline. The setup of the story is that it's your first day on the job as a Deepspace Hunter—someone who hunts down the world's bad guys, who are called Wanderers. You play as yourself more or less, and there's a character creator where you can customize what she looks like. You're supposed to be able to map yourself onto the main character, to feel like her. I wouldn't call her necessarily generic, but there's enough space to insert yourself into the story. Your character is put into your first mission fairly quickly and introduced to the battle system. One key detail here is that the character isn’t just a normal human. There are people within the game's world who have superpowers called Evols. It's stuff like control of the elements or telekinesis. The main character has a rare type of Evol in which she can essentially boost others' Evol powers. Then, you're gradually introduced to the five guys that you can romance. There are, of course, flirtations in the main story—you don't necessarily pick your favorite guy and head down that route. There's one road through *Love and Deepspace*, and everyone's on it. Each guy does have their own narrative in *Love and Deepspace*, but that's not where the dating happens. Dates are their own whole thing, separate from the main narrative. You can go on dates with the guys. Some of these are little minigames, and others are more narrative. Some pieces you need to unlock using the gacha system. You'll learn more about each of the guys by doing these dates. Other pieces of lore, including memories from different timelines, come in using the gacha system. The gacha system is also how you'll build out a team for battling by collecting cards, which you then need to level. I know that this sounds a bit complicated, but a good place to start is just to begin the main story. You can get into the other bits later, but the main storyline will show you how things work. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/maxresdefault.jpg) Image: Infold Games | This is the one when they go feral | From left to right: Zayne, Caleb, Sylus, Xavier, Rafayel ### **Who are these guys? Who is the best guy?** OK, so there are five men you can romance: Sylus, Xavier, Rafayel, Zayne, and Caleb. Each of them play a different role in the main character's life. Zayne, who you'll meet early on, is a doctor—the main character's doctor. (The player character has a heart condition that's part of one of the story's big mysteries.) Here's what to know about each of them. Xavier is also a Deepspace Hunter and a blonde. He's a little stand-offish—maybe mysterious is a better word—but is more affectionate in private moments. He's a little awkward, but in a cute way. Zayne, like I mentioned before, is a doctor. A really good one! He specializes in cardiac surgery. He's one of the more serious men; it's kind of what you'd expect of a doctor of his caliber. Zayne was a childhood friend of the main character, which I think is really awkward (I wouldn't want a friend as my doctor). He's got dark hair and really piercing eyes. Sylus is the bad boy. He’s actually an enemy at first. He looks like it, with silver hair and red eyes. His personality is super confident, almost manipulative. He's really powerful and smart. It can be hard to trust him, but he likes animals, which is essentially a symbol of his soft side, something he shows only to the main character. Oh, and he's also not really human. He's sort of a dragon! Rafayel is an artist. He's seemingly more carefree than the other guys. Though he's more playful and laissez fare, he's still very passionate about art. He's also not really a human. He's Lemurian, which is an ancient race of beings—they're tied to the water. A lot of people describe him as immature or childish, but he's also cunning and sharp. Humans are responsible for the destruction of Lemuria, and he feels a lot of disdain for human morals. Caleb is intense as a pilot but caring toward the main character who is a childhood friend of his in the global version of *Love and Deepspace*, and a non-blood related adopted brother in the Chinese version of the game. So, the two grew up together. It makes Caleb protective of her—sometimes veering into possessiveness. ### **What do I need to know before playing?** You don't need to know anything about the story before playing. It'll walk you through that from the start. You won't be jumping into things in the middle. What is often confusing for people are the alternate timelines and universes. These alternate universes are largely unlocked via the gacha system of *Love and Deepspace*, through the memory and myth cards you pull. This sort of gameplay makes it so players can focus on a few of the men and not all of them. It's where you can really dive into the "boyfriend" part of it all. Basically, this system has players rolling for cards from a pool of items. You've just got to hope you get the stuff you want. Some people like collecting everything, others want just cards from the guys they're interested in. You've likely seen some of the steamy scenes from *Love and Deepspace*. This is where you'll unlock those. There's such a wild variety of alternate universes. In one, the men are feral and locked in cages. A recent one is essentially first-person sex in a hot spring. You can be an empress. Sylus can braid your hair in an ancient, idyllic grassland. My advice is, don't think about it too hard. ### **So… I need to battle?** Yep. These battles will pop up intermittently during the main storyline. I mean, you are a Deepspace Hunter after all. It makes sense you'd need to do some deepspace hunting. These are real-time, third-person battles where you'll use weapons and other abilities. You've got to dodge, fight, and connect combos before time runs out. Memory cards are a big piece of battling, because they give your companion special abilities. There's strategy involved, too. You must choose the right memories for the right moments to boost strength. It can get fairly complex; [YouTube creator EmpressXV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH9bo1AGXcs&ref=aftermath.site) has a really thorough guide with details about combat in *Love and Deepspace*, including weapons, loadouts, and skills. If you don't want to fight, there is an autobattling system where the game will do the combat for you. EmpressXV recommends that players use overpowered stats when autobattling, though, because *Love and Deepspace*'s AI in these battles isn't always great. ### **Do I have to spend money?** Technically, no. You don't *need* to spend money. *Love and Deepspace* is a free-to-play game. You'll earn some of the in-game currencies just from playing the game and participating in events. You'll just have less to spend on pulls for the different gacha pools. If you're hoping to collect *everything*, or are interested in stories from multiple guys, this may be difficult. The reality of gacha is that you're gambling to get the pieces you want. A very real problem here is the fear of missing out—the game really encourages the player to keep rolling and therefore keep spending. You just have to be OK with taking the time to earn resources: log in to check off tasks, games, and battles. Starting off, too, it's fairly easy to gain resources and in-game currencies quickly. It makes progress throughout the early game much faster. Things will slow down for players once you reach a certain point, and you'll have to do more to earn more. My advice is to choose a guy to focus on. Save your resources for specific things if you don't want to spend actual money. ### **Do I need a superpowered cell phone?** Not necessarily, but you may not be able to run the game with high quality visuals. *Love and Deepspace* developer Infold Games, per in-game recommendations, lists the iPhone 12 (A14) or iPad (A14/M1) as the oldest Apple phone to use. For Android, Infold Games recommends Android 7.0 or above, with 6GB RAM or more. You do need a lot of space on your phone. You don't need the latest cellphone, but you do, likely, need to be OK with playing the game on lower specs. There is a way to manage resources, located on your profile page, and you can pick and choose what to download. *Love and Deepspace* can be emulated on PC. Infold Games recommends [MuMuPlayer](https://www.mumuplayer.com/?ref=aftermath.site). [Love And Deepspace Gives The People What They WantLingering Lust may be too spicy for some social media.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-b7a3c80e-a279-4c97-8076-62cfd7fa48ba.png)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/HHHM1vjaQAAA_pP--1--1-72a1e5db-6a5d-42aa-ad9a-d32e67c7a5e5.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-lingering-lust/) ### Let Me Throw A Gun At A Guy's Head URL: https://aftermath.site/throwing-a-gun-at-a-guys-head-in-a-video-game/ Last updated: 2026-06-12T17:26:51.000Z There is nothing funnier in a game than taking a lethal weapon and, instead of using it for its intended purpose, chucking it at a guy’s noggin at full speed. It is a gag that never tires, never grows old, and takes the idea of guns as lovingly crafted machines of death and puts them on par with D batteries in the hands of an average Philly sports fan. If there is a choice between shooting a guy or throwing a gun at his head, I vote for the latter every single time. ![James Bond in 007 First Light just CHUCKING that thing at a dude's head.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/gun_WHIP.jpg) WHAM. There go this guy's memories of his 12th birthday. I am currently playing two games that turn firearms into poorly optimized projectiles: *007 First Light* and the demo for indie shooter *Sprawl Zero.* In the context of *First Light*, being able to chuck a firearm full speed at a man’s temple makes sense, as the game is the spiritual brother of Hitman, and Hitman is ultimately a series about careful espionage by way of improvised head injuries with whatever object is available. Guns in *First Light* are disposable; you will mostly never want for one in a direct firefight because James Bond is a killing machine who turns Blackwater mercenaries into dead mercenaries, and the resulting carnage covers the floor in pistols and submachine guns. The guns themselves tend to run out of ammo fairly quickly, which means you are often hurling a Knight AR-1 with the velocity of a fastball multiple times in a single encounter. The act itself becomes a comedic bit of punctuation, with a levity that other games lack. IO Interactive is good at many things, but they are absolute masters at animating characters going down like a bag of laundry in a way that makes me do a Butt-Head laugh. ![Your character in the game SPRAWL zero whipping a shotgun at a dude.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Zero.png) **Sprawl Zero* lets you huck that thing. The other game in this equation is [the demo for *Sprawl Zero*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4247830/SPRAWL%5Fzero%5FDemo/?ref=aftermath.site), itself the sequel to the indie game *Sprawl.* If you have a PC and thus the means to download this game, do it the second you are done reading this blog and sharing it with your closest friends and loved ones. The *Sprawl Zero* demowhips ass. Imagine an alternate history where we kept doing *Half-Life 2* gravity gun stuff and every game looked and moved like *Quake III Arena*. It is exceedingly sick to play and has a fantastic soundtrack that sounds like someone did a trance version of Kenji Kawai’s *Ghost in the Shell* soundtrack. The anchor that the gameplay is built around is the Gravity Glove, which allows you to yank random shit in the environment and whip it at guys. The glove also enables you to yank weapons from the ground; guns in the game run out of ammo quickly before transforming into a hard metal version of a dodgeball. The speed of the combat and movement, coupled with how frequently you run out of ammo, leads to a wonderful flow where you are constantly shooting, throwing, and yanking guns on a cycle while dash sliding around the environment. I am very excited for when the game finally releases. The unifying thread between both *007 First Light* and *Sprawl Zero* is how they conceptualize a gun. Many games think of guns like a precious samurai sword, some beloved object that stays with the player as time goes on and is often honed and improved. There is merit to this approach, and in many games it works, but I have always preferred the *Vanquish* approach, where guns are just something you pick up on the ground and throw away like garbage when you’re done with them. The former often involves a reverential if not fascist attachment to the beauty of firearms, while the latter is improvisational, more interesting, slightly disrespectful to the idea of a gun, and intrinsically lends itself to comedy. What is cooler, a guy decking himself out with an arsenal or a guy entering into a room unarmed and surviving because he knows how to give a guy a concussion with a Glock thrown like a boomerang? If we are going to have guns in games, when it works with the gameplay, let me throw a gun at a guy’s head. It’s just funnier to all parties involved, especially the gun. ### Ubisoft Embargoes Journalists Reporting On Latest Round Of Layoffs URL: https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-layoffs-winnipeg-belgrade-barcelona-press-embargo/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T22:08:46.000Z As part of an [ongoing, brutal restructuring](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-layoffs-prince-of-persia-remake-canceled/), Ubisoft today shut down two more studios, Winnipeg and Belgrade, and put additional employees at its Barcelona studio on the chopping block—adding up to [a total of 380 jobs lost](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/ubisoft-closing-winnipeg-and-belgrade-studios-and-making-further-layoffs?ref=aftermath.site), pending consultation. But while [Insider Gaming](https://insider-gaming.com/ubisoft-winnipeg-closed-dozens-laid-off/?ref=aftermath.site) first broke the news of the Winnipeg location’s closure (and while some of those affected lamented the sad state of affairs [on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7470493148713099264/?ref=aftermath.site)), other publications were informed by a different source: Ubisoft. This is far from the first time a tech or video game company has confirmed layoffs to press, but in this particular instance, the news also came with a 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST embargo—the kind of thing typically reserved for reviews and product announcements, not people’s livelihoods. Also, most of the time when reporting on layoffs, journalists go to companies after receiving a tip from someone who's been affected; companies do not often come to journalists with this kind of information. [Insider Gaming’s Mike Straw](https://bsky.app/profile/mikestrawmedia.com/post/3mnx76slwmc2c?ref=aftermath.site), whose report prior to the embargo was based on details from sources within Ubisoft as opposed to Ubisoft PR, first claimed that several well-known outlets received information under embargo, and Aftermath has spoken to reporters at multiple outlets who confirmed that was indeed the case. This has caused a stir on social media, with some developers and members of the press suggesting that outlets who agreed to an embargo around news of such immense consequence were effectively doing Ubisoft’s job for it. The circumstances surrounding the news paint a slightly muddier picture. In at least one case, Ubisoft justified the embargo by saying that staff in Belgrade were still being informed at the time, according to reporters to whom Aftermath spoke. Ubisoft also reached out to members of the press relatively close to when the embargo was set to lift, meaning that if this was the first reporters were hearing of the layoffs, there wasn’t a ton of wiggle room for them to publish on their own terms. But Ubisoft did, to a degree, put reporters in a bind, with some who agreed to the embargo telling Aftermath that Ubisoft did not specify the nature of the embargo before they said they’d adhere to it; the company only mentioned that it was going to announce *something* soon. Had reporters known more about what they were agreeing to, they might not have done so as readily, or at all. Aftermath reached out to Ubisoft for more details but did not receive a reply as of this publishing. The larger problem here is that oftentimes when companies lay people off, they do so callously, giving employees little time to prepare emotionally or financially. In those cases, workers deserve all the advance notice they can get—regardless of where it comes from—and companies deserve to publicly eat shit. Journalist complicity, especially when at least some employees have already been informed and are talking about it out in the open, benefits the company. But layoffs are a sensitive subject; there’s a reason people generally consider it an institutional failing when those about to lose their jobs find out via journalists, rather than the company in question. This can lead to panic and uncertainty, especially as journalists work to assemble a complete picture of the carnage. It is, in many ways, a no-win situation, albeit one facilitated by the fundamental inhumanity of companies and the laws governing them. Everything else is a symptom, not the cause. If nothing else, today’s layoff dustup should give reporters pause: Why were some’s first instinct to agree to a random embargo offered by a company? Does any major company deserve that level of implicit trust? And to what extent does this system—constructed around products, reviews, and release dates—impede journalists’ ability to efficiently dig deeper when circumstance demands it? Historically, big companies have made the rules in this industry, but that doesn’t mean we have to keep playing. *Additional reporting by Riley MacLeod.* ## Recommended [Ubisoft Workers Say Company Is Still ‘Not Listening’ Following 1,200-Person Strike, Legal Action Could Be Next“We know this is just a starting point”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-7f9be088-8e87-4b35-a280-46e5aa3c1828.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_2146247969-fd772197-e687-48d1-a01b-995338a5565b.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-workers-strike-layoffs-assassins-creed/) ### I Don't Know If We Need All These Remakes, Guys URL: https://aftermath.site/ocarina-of-time-remake-nintendo/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T22:23:33.000Z After what feels like years of expectation, Nintendo finally announced an *Ocarina of Time* remake on Tuesday. I can see why it's big news: It is an all-time classic, many people's pick for the *greatest video game of all time*. The original, first released back in 1998, is a game that despite its accolades also had its quirks, ranging from its famous water temple to its N64-based control scheme. In the words of my 13 year-old son, it also "looks like shit". So I can see, on the distant horizon, the arguments for why this remake is happening. That it'll allow a whole new generation to experience the game, or maybe that it'll let us all experience the *Ocarina* story the way its creators originally intended. Which is fine, but also, I am growing tired of all these big, expensive remakes. On a conceptual, strategic level, I think the AAA (and AA!) end of the industry's growing obsession with them sucks. Video games are a miracle, the product of dozens or hundreds or even thousands of people working together, often at their limits, for years at a time, all working to turn an idea (or even a dream!) into something people can play. The process by which that is achieved involves nothing but compromise. Allowances need to be made for the team, its size, their skills, their experience and their health. The amount of money the developers have at their disposal makes a huge impact. They're only given a certain amount of time. There are technical restrictions (memory, speed) imposed by the target platforms, and the layout of the controllers that will be used need to be considered. A video game's design needs to thread its way through all those factors, and more, before it comes close to getting in the hands of players. So every game you've ever played and grown to love, including *Ocarina of Time*, is simply a product of its time, and a reflection of the limitations placed on its creators. That, as much as any napkin sketches or all-hands meetings, is what defines the game. Its size, its scope, how many characters there are, what they look like, what everything sounds like–it's all a result of compromise and limits. *Ocarina of Time* is a Nintendo 64 game. They are inseparable, and they define each other. I have zero interest in playing the game outside of that context! To remake the game for the Switch 2 is to bring it somewhere it was not made for, and somewhere that already has newer, different *Zelda* games that define their own era, games that have built upon and diverged from that decades-old formula and found huge success of their own. Of course big publishers like Nintendo don't give a shit about any of that. That stuff is a worry for people who write blogs for a living, not anyone who counts money. What Nintendo is thinking here is how effective [the continued weaponisation](https://kotaku.com/the-weaponised-nostalgia-of-star-wars-the-force-awaken-1743413723?ref=aftermath.site) of an ageing player base's nostalgia is, and how remaking *Ocarina* must be one of the surest bets this company has ever made. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Capture-2.PNG) Fans love the old shit! The good old days, the classics, the games for consoles that just played games, from those times where you weren't facing climate disaster and the rise of fascism and global job insecurity and a looming economic meltdown. What could sound more enticing to an adult Nintendo fan than the chance to play *Ocarina of Time* one more time (or one *more* time, if they played the now-15-year-old DS remake), only now with better graphics and a different menu? I don't want to make it sound like I'm picking on Nintendo specifically here. This game is just at the front of my mind because it was both announced this week and is such a big deal for people. Nintendo are far from alone; loads of publishers are doing this, and have been doing it for years now, though it does feel like the pace of bringing the old stuff back has started to quicken. Case in point: this list of "new" games announced recently: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Capture-1.PNG) Screenshot from [a Kotaku blog, also about remasters](https://kotaku.com/remakes-and-remasters-dominating-summer-game-fest-week-show-an-industry-retreating-to-safe-bets-2000703991?ref=aftermath.site) The lack of imagination and creative risk-taking here is simply staggering. We are being served reheated classics faster than anyone could ever stand to consume them. Consider this about every game announced above: Imagine that every cent and person and hour spent on these remakes could have been spent on telling new stories or creating new experiences. Instead, the tacit admission behind this craze is that there are holes in the release schedule that must be filled, and this is the cheapest and easiest way to fill them. New games are expensive and risky! Old games with established Metacritic scores, Edge 10/10s and rabid fanbases are just sitting there, waiting to be remade and resold to millions of people all over again. As this excellent [Inner Spiral](https://innerspiral.lol/Blog/timeloop/timeloop?ref=aftermath.site) blog elaborates: > It is much safer to sell a game to an audience that already loves it than it is to try and convince a new audience to fall in love with something they've never seen before. The publishers leverage the emotional connection you formed when you were 10, effectively weaponizing your own fondness for the past to guarantee their quarterly earnings. They are not selling you a game; they are selling you the safety of a known quantity, packaged in a prettier bow so it feels new enough to justify that 80 dollar price tag. I find it especially frustrating when you look at that list of games above and realise that, even if you *did* think that games periodically require a fresh coat of paint (I don't), so many of them don't need a single piece of work done. *Black Flag* still looks great in 2026\. *Persona 4* remains perfect. *The Wolf Among Us* looks as wonderful as it did on the day it was released. And *Halo* has already been remade once already! Because this is a subject where I don't think anyone can be truly *wrong*, by now you may be itching to hit the comment button and come at me with counter-points and exceptions to the rule, so let me try to head you off at the pass and anticipate some sample questions. **"But I never played this!"** Well, I think you should play it as it was originally intended, because that was the game. If you can buy a direct port of a classic game, do that. If you can't, well… [There Is No Piracy Without Ownership - AftermathIs it stealing if we can’t pay for the thing in the first place?![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-2a374565-46cd-4c53-8172-ea4d608e7773.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/pexels-photo-7000094-e1701669561681-jpeg-3-c369d5a5-d798-4b32-b537-81a2c1d79e9d.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/there-is-no-piracy-without-ownership/) **"I loved this game, I want to play it again!"** You may see a lot of 45-year-olds say this over the next few months, and if you do--or if you're one of them!--consider that as well-reviewed *Ocarina of Time* was at the time, as many 2000s GOTY lists it topped and as misty-eyed as you may remember it, you were also younger and more carefree then, and it was the bees knees because it came out in 1998\. Those bees' knees are now as creaky as your own. **"What about remasters?"** I find pretty much every *remake* a waste, but remasters I think need to be assessed on more of a curve. Because I am both practical and imperfect, I can see plenty of scenarios--like an emulator or backwards-compatible console simply making some polygons look shinier--where it's mostly fine. I can watch *Ben Hur* on Blu-Ray; it's not the same as watching it on a shitty old cinema screen, but it's close enough. A remake, where an entire game is rebuilt from the ground up, is an entirely different proposition. **"What about stuff like *Octopath Traveler 0*?"** Look,[ that's a very weird outlier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopath%5FTraveler%5F0?ref=aftermath.site), please don't try to trip me up with niche cases, you're on your own there. **"Shut up man, I love remakes and I'm gonna buy this instantly."** Well, good for you! I'm a games critic, I write about this stuff in order to make a personal case and share some thoughts. You don't have to listen to me, do what you want, you're an adult! Look, I'm not trying to force anyone to abandon your enthusiasm for remakes and remasters if you are genuinely excited to play altered versions of games you've already enjoyed, or if it's the first time you're getting to experience a title you've heard is good but has been difficult/impossible to play previously. But maybe next time you do sit down with an expensive remake of an existing game, consider just why you're getting it and so many more of them, and what it says about the video game industry that some of its biggest announcements for today are for the games of yesterday. ### Sick, A New Game About Killing Nazis URL: https://aftermath.site/nekome-nazi-hunter-trailer-probablymonsters/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T19:48:50.000Z Are you the kind of person who keeps rewatching the part of *X-Men: First Class* where Magneto kills a bunch of Nazis in Argentina? Have I got a trailer for you. *Nekome: Nazi Hunter* is an upcoming game that is exactly what it sounds like. You will play as Vano Nastasu, a Romani man whose family was killed by Nazis. In 1941, he travels to Nazi-occupied Europe to hunt them. Game director Jeronimo Barrera said that the game is designed around “meaningful combat and the strategic orchestration of violence,” in a press release from developer ProbablyMonsters. These are great descriptors for a game about hunting down and killing Nazis. Personally, I can’t wait to see how well the game brings this vision to reality. The game does not yet have a release date but is expected to come out in early 2027\. Between then and now, I’ll probably watch [Magneto kill a bunch of Nazis in an Argentinian bar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nONOlQJKNls&ref=aftermath.site) dozens of times. ### That Was The Most Dragon's Dogma Way To Announce DLC URL: https://aftermath.site/dragons-dogma-2-dark-arisen-dlc-nintendo-direct/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T14:35:29.000Z If I’m gonna be real, I found today’s [Nintendo Direct](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvUPDSDZg1k&ref=aftermath.site) to be slightly bizarre. There was a slate of ports for the system which, in all fairness, the Switch 2 audience most probably has not played. There was also a litany of remakes, including the [*Ocarina of Time* remake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8eMoxo4ipE&ref=aftermath.site) that we all knew was in the works. Some of these announcements were legitimately strange, like [*Final Fantasy Resonance*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIymhuh53pU&ref=aftermath.site), itself a remake of the mobile game *Final Fantasy Brave Exvius* that was shuttered in 2025\. There was also a ground up remake of *the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil* on the Japanese stream. This second one is a way bigger deal than you might think unless you are a gargantuan nerd, because Tohou Project is massively popular in Japan. If you were alive in the 2000s, it is extremely likely that you [heard at least one song from this game before](https://youtu.be/mokupSMH9%5FY?si=4GJ0O9KsqdBhLypr&ref=aftermath.site), even if you didn’t know it. And then there were two jarring signs of life from two games that had been MIA for a minute. The first was updated gameplay from *Kingdom Hearts IV*, showing Sora fighting in the middle of Shibuya Crossing ([sans annoying TikTok tourists](https://aftermath.site/japan-overtourism-social-meida-tiktok-instagram/)). I am very much glad to see that the game still has a pulse. SquareEnix also took the opportunity to announce [a collection of the previous games](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/kingdom-hearts-collection-i-iii-switch-2/?ref=aftermath.site) for the Switch 2 to hype people up for the newest release. The second was the enhanced edition of *Dragon’s Dogma 2* (which will also be available as DLC for the base game), called *Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen*. If you played the previous two games, you might see how this could be funny. One part of this is because the expanded version of the first *Dragon’s Dogma* was called *Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen*. This is generally accepted to be the most complete version of the game. So, in a Nintendo Direct full of remakes and ports, announcing a version of *Dragon’s Dogma 2* with new content called *Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen* is a tiny bit disorienting. The other part of this is that *Dragon’s Dogma 2* ends in a bizarre (and one might argue undercooked) way that comments on the narrative’s place relative to the first game. While this ending is ultimately the entire thesis of *Dragon’s Dogma 2*, and I love how abrasive it is, I also felt that the main body of the game felt overly safe relative to the huge, confusing swing at the end. But with all that said, good! I liked *Dragon’s Dogma 2* quite a bit, and I’d rather play more of that than a bizarre-looking remake of *Ocarina of Time*. *Dragon’s Dogma* fans have been out here starving, and everyone who keeps up with news has believed in their hearts that this was coming. The substance of the expansion takes place in the [snowy northern region of Norgon](https://x.com/DragonsDogma/status/2064407621931544604?ref=aftermath.site) (as opposed to, say, “[Southron](https://dragonsdogma.fandom.com/wiki/Southron%5FIron?ref=aftermath.site),” which Austin Walker [pointed out is a real word in both games](https://bsky.app/profile/austinwalker.bsky.social/post/3mnvbu4o4722a?ref=aftermath.site)). I will absolutely play that expanded content, and it looks like they are also bringing the game to the Switch 2 as a standalone as well as DLC to existing systems with the base game. But you gotta admit that, for better or worse, this is the most *Dragon’s Dogma* way you could announce this. ![First post:is there anything crueler than being a dragon's dogma fan at this moment in time. Second post, much later after the reveal: what the FUCK is happening lol](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot_20260610_003449.png) The Dragon's Dogma fan experience. Credit: [Tom Bloom](https://bsky.app/profile/orbitaldropkick.bsky.social/post/3mnrwoffoas2e?ref=aftermath.site) ### The Devils Fork State Park Ice Machine Owes Me Three Dollars And My Dignity URL: https://aftermath.site/ice-machine-design/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T18:20:46.000Z This weekend I went camping with my sister and two of her kids at [Devils Fork State Park](https://southcarolinaparks.com/devils-fork?ref=aftermath.site) in South Carolina. It was great: we went kayaking and hiking and I saw a [luna moth](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3mnroxxydb22i?ref=aftermath.site), and even though the kids complained the whole time, I *think* they actually enjoyed themselves. Unlike me, who feeds himself while [camping](https://aftermath.site/failing-on-a-bike-trip-taught-me-too-much-about-myself/) with dehydrated meals and peanut butter on tortillas, my sister brought real food to cook over the fire. This food needed to stay cold, which required getting ice. Getting ice required using god's most cursed ice machine. It looks normal in the picture above, right? Maybe it's because you're far away. Here's a closeup of its various "instructions:" ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7125--1-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7126--1-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_7127--1-.jpg) The instructions, listed from steps 1 to 4, seem pretty straightforward. The trouble is that the machine doesn't work the way the steps suggest. "Step 1" above shows nothing and cannot be interacted with, so there's no way to find out how much ice costs beyond the machine having "1 vend" written on it, which is not a price. When my sister tapped her credit card against the yellow display to see what would happen it lit up, though still with no prices or information. It took pressing "Step 3: Ice," all the way at the bottom of the machine, to get the machine to tell us ice was $2.50\. Thrown off by Step 1 being a guess, and by Step 3 being Step 2 though really it should have been Step 1, we overlooked the part where I can now see it's clearly written that you're required to put the ice bag under the chute. When we tugged on the bags in the compartment they seemed firmly in place, leading us to believe they could fill themselves and then be removed. Then, we discovered that hitting the "Step 3: Ice" button again didn't dispense ice; we had to tap my sister's card *again*, at which point the bag did not fill with ice, but instead the ice came avalanching out of the chute all over the ground. I'm willing to chalk the final outcome up to our mistake; the machine *does* say to pull out the bag. We wrestled a bag free and scooped up what ice we could salvage that hadn't immediately melted into the concrete. We had now spent $2.50 and only had about half a bag of ice. We decided to try again. This time, feeling unhappy about how many times we'd been required to tap a credit card with no indication of when precisely we were charged, I decided to pay for the new ice with cash. I put a dollar into the slot, at which point the yellow display told me it was "cash only," though with no tally of how much cash I'd put inside the machine or how much anything cost. Knowing the cost of ice solely because we'd fucked it up once before, I fed two more dollars into the machine. The machine happily gobbled up my money, but then nothing happened. We hit the various buttons in various orders, but it simply continued to tell us that it was "cash only." Hitting the "coins" button (why is there a "coins" button, and what is its purpose; does it make the machine accept coins, or does it return coins to me?) and the "Step 4: End Transaction" button did nothing. The machine sat there smugly with my money inside it, with no apparent further functions beyond accepting more cash, and also no way to make it dispense ice, since it appears the only way to make the machine dispense is by tapping a card a second time, even though it lets you put cash in it. So we started the whole process *again.* We tapped my sister's card, which made everything restart. We hit "Step 3" as Step 2, wrangled a bag free a la the official Step 2 as Step 3, positioned it under the spigot, then tapped her card again to dispense ice. As the bag finally filled with ice, my sister remarked that we have six higher education degrees between us, but we'd spent a good 10 minutes and $8 on $5 of ice, when we only need $2.50 of ice to begin with. This is a bad machine! In library school we learned about "[affordances](https://ixdf.org/literature/topics/affordances?ref=aftermath.site)," the ways objects suggest they want to be used. From a design standpoint, the affordances on this ice machine suck: Your hands want to go to certain places in a certain order, but the machine isn't laid out that way. I would expect "Step 4: End Transaction" to be an initiating step, given that it's green (the color traditionally associated with starting things, not ending them) and close to the displays where your attention first gravitates when you approach. The Step 3 buttons (which are actually Step 2) feel like they want to make something physical happen, given that they're physical buttons and that they're close to where the machine dispenses, i.e., its primary physical activity. Beginning the whole interaction by tapping your card (thus committing to payment before you even know the cost of anything), then having to travel to the bottom of the machine to press physical buttons that don't perform a physical action, then having to travel back to the top to tap your card a second time–a more conceptual action that nevertheless kicks off the actual physical dispensing--*feels* wrong. Plus, all of this makes it unclear how many times you're being charged, *and* it doesn't put you in the physical position to receive your ice. We went back the next day to get more ice and also so I could take pictures of the machine to write this blog, where we encountered a couple *also* wrestling with the machine, waving their credit card in its direction while scratching their heads. We were eager to share our wisdom with them, and they agreed the machine sucked. While I awkwardly explained being a tech journalist to some people who just wanted ice, my sister went inside and learned from the park ranger that 1) they knew the machine didn't work the way the instructions claimed, and 2) apparently the ranger in question wanted the park to buy a *different* machine, but this one was cheaper. They too were furious about the ice machine and hated watching people struggle with it. At least this time, on our fourth interaction with the ice machine, we were able to sensibly get it to dispense the ice we wanted, and we filled a cooler to take on a hike. But the machine is still out there, and it still has my three dollars inside it, since in their shared rage at the machine, my sister and the ranger failed to negotiate getting my dollars back. Given that I earned those dollars by writing blogs like this, this means a fraction of *your* money is also inside the cursed machine, which at this very minute is probably tormenting more people who just want ice. Consider it a donation to a very nice park, and also a lesson in design. [NYC’s OMNY Card Is Here, And I Am Full Of RegretNYC is phasing out its iconic MetroCard at the end of the year![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-9df23ee4-98ab-4604-935d-c607cbffa978.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_2625104987-277a4673-45ac-4fc9-83fd-189bee508ac7.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/nyc-subway-omny-metrocard/) ### AphroditE’s Stardom Reunion Is Gay As Hell URL: https://aftermath.site/stardom-utami-hayashita-saya-kamitani-aphrodite-toxic-yuri-joshi-puroresu/ Last updated: 2026-06-16T23:19:04.000Z Professional wrestling is a love story. Sometimes that love story is eternal, like [the Golden Lovers](https://youtu.be/BQCPj-bGYro?t=1199&ref=aftermath.site), [Rhiyo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGZ17Zap2Hk&pp=ygUJd3dlIHJoaXlv&ref=aftermath.site), and [whatever Triple H and Shawn Michaels have going on](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/s/IIWBhMxzd0?ref=aftermath.site), and other times [it's toxic as hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuBZFf1jvbI&pp=ygUZbWFyaWFoIG1heSB0b25pIHN0b3JtIGFldw%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site). The current love story in the Japanese women’s wrestling organization World Wonder Ring Stardom is straight cinema of the toxic yuri variety, because it so effectively blurs the line between kayfabe and reality to enhance its doomed romance. But to get to why it's the most exciting thing in wrestling right now, allow me to turn back the clock and explain their lore. You see, [Saya Kamitami](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saya%5FKamitani?ref=aftermath.site) had a problem. Back in 2024, [Utami Hayashishita](https://youtu.be/S6Exf2uAWdU?ref=aftermath.site) announced her departure from Stardom. While they were in Stardom together, Hayashishita was the faction leader of [Queen’s Quest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s%5FQuest?ref=aftermath.site), one of the leading and oldest surviving factions of Stardom before its wrestlers departed for AEW and WWE. Within Queen’s Quest, Hayashishita and Kamitani formed their own duo tag team, AphroditE. Although Kamitani was more technically skilled than Hayashishita, she never got as over as her fearless leader, what with how handsome she was, with her Tuxedo Mask-esque gimmick of gifting roses to women in the audience and wooing fellow wrestlers. > Utami Hayashishita flirts with Riho and Saya Kamitani is not happy. [pic.twitter.com/fzb4EjpmUa](https://t.co/fzb4EjpmUa?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Sinneswandel 🌓 (@Sinneswandel3) [April 7, 2026](https://x.com/Sinneswandel3/status/2041463506759794785?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > 光由が愛をこめたマークをせっせと首に沢山つけてくれました... > 大量に... > ありがとね...😂 [pic.twitter.com/poudwSLuU5](https://t.co/poudwSLuU5?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 林下詩美🌹 (@utami0914) [March 29, 2024](https://x.com/utami0914/status/1773626320703947172?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Although it's not like the two never squared off against each other, there was always something unspoken about them. An "[always the bridesmaid, never the bride"](https://x.com/saya%5Fh%5Fa%5Ft%5Fe/status/1393910557091061763?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) type of situation. > AphroditE! The love continues! [pic.twitter.com/q004iY9hKy](https://t.co/q004iY9hKy?ref=aftermath.site) > > — STARDOM Global (@we\_are\_stardom) [June 25, 2023](https://x.com/we%5Fare%5Fstardom/status/1672992557960400898?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Hi there, [@utami0914](https://x.com/utami0914?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) and @sayachan38vv![#AphroditE](https://x.com/hashtag/AphroditE?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#Stardom](https://x.com/hashtag/Stardom?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/GC5fyDkkH6](https://t.co/GC5fyDkkH6?ref=aftermath.site) > > — STARDOM Global (@we\_are\_stardom) [November 13, 2022](https://x.com/we%5Fare%5Fstardom/status/1591803953364492293?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Still, the two formed an unbreakable bond to the point where [they even drunkenly kissed](https://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/articles/-/298729?page=1&ref=aftermath.site) one night out together and thought nothing big of it as a testament to their closeness. Granted, [ladies kissing each other in Stardom](https://x.com/Sinneswandel3/status/2019420262572388838?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) is hardly a rare phenomenon. It’s been used to send wrestlers[ off when they graduate from the company](https://x.com/Sinneswandel3/status/2019420262572388838?s=20&ref=aftermath.site), just as it's been used as [a kiss of death](https://www.reddit.com/r/stardomjoshi/comments/u7sl22/himeka%5Fgives%5Fsyuri%5Fa%5Fsurprise%5Fat%5Fthe%5Fpress/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=web3x&utm%5Fname=web3xcss&utm%5Fterm=1&utm%5Fcontent=share%5Fbutton) in the lead up to a big match—the latter of which had Kamitani in her feelings when [Syuri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syuri?ref=aftermath.site), the Japanese women’s wrestling boogeyman, set her sights on Hayashishita. AphroditE is basically the wrestling equivalent of T.A.T.U. > I am not okay. The impromptu five-minute match was everything. Saya and Utami left everything out there with this being the last time they share a ring for a long time. > > Man... > > AphroditE Forever. ❤️💚[#STARDOM](https://x.com/hashtag/STARDOM?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site)[pic.twitter.com/hsBeVRmXGK](https://t.co/hsBeVRmXGK?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Scott E. Wrestling (@ScottEWrestling) [April 12, 2024](https://x.com/ScottEWrestling/status/1778827765174677953?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Utami Hayashishita: "Everyone at Queen's Quest was my support and my everything. Thank you very much!" > > Saya Kamitani: "I really don’t want you to go. But I don't think we're lying to ourselves about the paths each..." \[1/2\][#STARDOM](https://x.com/hashtag/STARDOM?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#林下詩美](https://x.com/hashtag/%E6%9E%97%E4%B8%8B%E8%A9%A9%E7%BE%8E?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#上谷沙弥](https://x.com/hashtag/%E4%B8%8A%E8%B0%B7%E6%B2%99%E5%BC%A5?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site)[pic.twitter.com/JH6Vv1ZMq2](https://t.co/JH6Vv1ZMq2?ref=aftermath.site) > > — meraWRESTLING (@meraWRESTLING) [March 31, 2024](https://x.com/meraWRESTLING/status/1774349839389888580?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Saya Kamitani on Utami Hayashishita and how she felt when she heard that Utami was leaving: > > “Utami Hayashishita is two years younger than me, but she has one more year of experience. She was the only one who would silently accept me when I showed my weakness. If I needed… [https://t.co/xpfo6kYgp4](https://t.co/xpfo6kYgp4?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/0GUnxHJbhL](https://t.co/0GUnxHJbhL?ref=aftermath.site) > > — meraWRESTLING (@meraWRESTLING) [August 1, 2025](https://x.com/meraWRESTLING/status/1951390718896886267?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [Against Kamitani’s protests](https://x.com/meraWRESTLING/status/1785106956744872413?s=20&ref=aftermath.site), Hayashishita left Stardom, leaving a void for Kamitani to fill, while Hayashishita became the wrestler for former Stardom promoter [Rossy Ogawa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossy%5FOgawa?ref=aftermath.site) to build around his newly formed company, [*Dream Star Fighting Marigold*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream%5FStar%5FFighting%5FMarigold?ref=aftermath.site). Outside of becoming Marigold’s big champion and [putting on a clinic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ISHBcvwjtk&pp=ygUadXRhbWkgaGF5YXNoaXRhIHZzIGl5byBza3k%3D&ref=aftermath.site) with former Queen’s Quest leader and WWE superstar [Iyo Sky](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyo%5FSky?ref=aftermath.site), Hayashishita mostly faded into obscurity in Marigold. A phenomenon that, in my humble opinion, Rossy’s[ disgusting public fat-shaming of Hayashishita](https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1560927-rossy-ogawa-criticized-fat-shaming-utami-hayashishita?ref=aftermath.site) bears significant blame for, but I digress.[ Fuck that guy, by the way](https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/kenny-omega-someone-rossy-ogawa-does-good-job-revealing-himself-his-own/?ref=aftermath.site). Meanwhile, Kamitani was struggling in Stardom. In a similar fashion to [WWE pushing Roman Reigns](https://youtu.be/UaDAzXVycR4?t=2303&ref=aftermath.site) by any means necessary and not getting over with the crowd, Kamitani also struggled to stand out from Hayashishita’s shadow as the next big thing. It got so bad that she was [harassed by fans at an autograph signing](https://x.com/saya%5Fh%5Fa%5Ft%5Fe/status/1807394739940929857?s=20&ref=aftermath.site)—leading her to swear off attending future fan meet-and-greets. But from that experience—be it a work or otherwise—came an opportunity for Kamitani to rebuild herself as the Phenex Queen of Stardom. Gone was her golden-trimmed green-and-white gear, replaced by dark sequins and heavy dark eye makeup. She finally turned [heel](https://x.com/meraWRESTLING/status/1848207718089384235?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). What’s more, she started her own faction of wrestlers born from the flames of her own harassment from the fans that rejected her as Stardom’s next big thing: [H.A.T.E](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.A.T.E.%5F%28professional%5Fwrestling%29?ref=aftermath.site). (Harassment, Abuse, Terrorize, Eradicate). Her heel persona, a send-up of heels of yesteryear like [Dump Matsumoto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dump%5FMatsumoto?ref=aftermath.site), absolutely terrorized Stardom. With her new persona, Saya was able to get the edge on her opponents, not by changing her wheelhouse of high-flying moves as most wrestlers do, but by adding more animosity and spite into her moves. > Saya Kamitani on Tam Nakano saying that the best way for Kamitani (who lost her love) to return to normal would be for her to go to Utami Hayashishita: "There's no way she can match me now" > > "As with the QQ case and Utami, don't just say whatever you want when you don't know… [pic.twitter.com/pvnYohu712](https://t.co/pvnYohu712?ref=aftermath.site) > > — meraWRESTLING (@meraWRESTLING) [February 25, 2025](https://x.com/meraWRESTLING/status/1894512592120697160?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Her meteoric rise not only saw [her retire Tam Nakano](https://youtu.be/cSMqoVtT94g?ref=aftermath.site), one of, if not the last vestige of Stardom’s era when Hayashishita was around, but it also saw her finally standing at the top of the promotion. She became a measuring stick rookies would try and fail to best, all the while, she’d giddily laugh at them from on high. Then, everything changed when Hayashishita returned to Stardom. Their reunion saw Kamitani face a ghost of her past. One she’d eclipsed when Hayashishita was at her peak, sure. But Hayashishita also served as a grim reminder of the weak girl Kamitani was before. After all, the woman she’d cling to like a child and cried over her leaving made a surprise return. Not only that, Hayashishita said she’d never kept her eyes off Kamitani, even when she was at another promotion. And that sting hurt all the more because Hayasshihita wasn’t even jockeying for a title shot against Kamitani. > Utami Hayashishita: “Kamitani, I’ve been watching you the whole time. Because I’ve been watching you, I was incredibly happy to see your success. But even more than that… I felt that I didn’t want to lose to you. That’s why I thought I had no choice but to come here today.”… [pic.twitter.com/mu9aVVtaOQ](https://t.co/mu9aVVtaOQ?ref=aftermath.site) > > — meraWRESTLING (@meraWRESTLING) [May 26, 2026](https://x.com/meraWRESTLING/status/2059242161733042398?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Despite being a legend in her own right, she wanted to start fresh by working her way up by wrestling the rookies. But to Kamitani that meant their reunion would be prolonged. Their fateful meeting depended on Hayashishita’s success in a Stardom she’d leveled Kamitani’s dominance backfired, turning into a new twisted version of her still being the bridesmaid to Hayashishita’s career while she gave other wrestlers her attention in the ring. Girlie is suffering from her own success and she’s seething. > Utami Hayashishita has returned to STARDOM and faced off with former Queen’s Quest stablemate Saya Kamitani.[#STARDOM](https://x.com/hashtag/STARDOM?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#林下詩美](https://x.com/hashtag/%E6%9E%97%E4%B8%8B%E8%A9%A9%E7%BE%8E?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#上谷沙弥](https://x.com/hashtag/%E4%B8%8A%E8%B0%B7%E6%B2%99%E5%BC%A5?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/tslHneXZam](https://t.co/tslHneXZam?ref=aftermath.site) > > — meraWRESTLING (@meraWRESTLING) [May 26, 2026](https://x.com/meraWRESTLING/status/2059237943777415435?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > 【6.6 仙台大会生配信中‼】 > > 上谷沙弥「お前さ。先週からクソ新人とシングルやって、同期と仲良しこよしやって、こんなことしにスターダム戻ってきたの？ > 土下座しろよ。土下座したら、沙弥様戦ってやるよ。お前と」… [pic.twitter.com/5C8PIbHyfi](https://t.co/5C8PIbHyfi?ref=aftermath.site) > > — STARDOM WORLD (@stardomworld) [June 6, 2026](https://x.com/stardomworld/status/2063163254231462072?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Saya Kamitani and Natsuko Tora use AphroditE's Magic Killer to send the message to Utami that things aren't the same between them. [pic.twitter.com/t2xRTwdff6](https://t.co/t2xRTwdff6?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Saya Supremacy 🐦‍⬛🖤 (@Marigold\_Ace) [June 6, 2026](https://x.com/Marigold%5FAce/status/2063206595673149571?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) What makes AphroditE’s reunion the best thing in wrestling right now is that it’s a testament to the medium’s uncanny ability to tap into soap opera-esque long term storytelling. It’s storytelling that has just as much to do with what’s seen on screen as it does to the real life circumstances, and both those elements dictate how events play out. These are all things that viewers are tapped into, and they elevate wrestling’s storytelling when it blurs the line between real life and fiction in a way only it can. > [@pxrsonalitycxlt](https://www.tiktok.com/@pxrsonalitycxlt?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@pxrsonalitycxlt") > > saya and utami x parachute [#fyp](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "fyp") [#sayakamitani](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sayakamitani?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "sayakamitani") [#utamihayashishita](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/utamihayashishita?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "utamihayashishita") [#stardom](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/stardom?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "stardom") [#edit](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/edit?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "edit") > > [♬ original sound - claire](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7644795740207778573?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ original sound - claire") It’s why a [mid-card wrestler’s parody of a luchador gimmick](https://www.tiktok.com/@wonderr0%5F/video/7645928225792658701?is%5Ffrom%5Fwebapp=1&sender%5Fdevice=pc&web%5Fid=7494297314892203551&ref=aftermath.site) can get him more over than Goku in Mexico. It’s why [the debut of one of the biggest wrestlers from a rival company](https://youtu.be/zxV1pG54kb0?ref=aftermath.site) leads to a paradigm shift in wrestling. And it's why rivalries like Hayashishita and Kamitani’s, built on years of yearning, bring new meaning to their eventual reunion, now colored by their history inside and outside of the ring. **Correction 6/9/26 6:56 p.m. ET:* The original version of this article incorrectly spelled Utami Hayashishita's name* ## Recommended [A Love Letter To The Suplex, Wrestling’s Greatest Move - AftermathIf you ever get suplexed in real life, you probably deserved it and it was raw as fuck![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-98efe592-d614-49de-8039-057bd4c21b49.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/stardom-tam-nakano-joshi-puroresu-pro-wrestling-3-f57a8431-0102-426f-8316-a04f15bf800b.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/suplex-wrestling-love-letter/) ### Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus II Rules URL: https://aftermath.site/warhammer-40-000-mechanicus-ii-review-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T18:20:22.000Z I only played the first one for a few minutes, so pardon me if I'm late to the party with any of this, but holy shit, these *Mechanicus* games--or at least the second one, *Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II*, which was released last month--are *good*. *Warhammer* fans will probably already know this, and know the setting, but for casual fans and everyone else: rather than put you in command of Space Marines, this series is named for their nerdier cousins, the Adeptus Mechanicus. They’re a bunch of computerised bookworms who may not be as cool as the Imperium's mainline forces, but are definitely more interesting given this is a chin-stroking tactics game, not an RTS or shooter. The reason I'm going to lengths here to introduce the setting to non-*Warhammer* people is that, regardless of your thoughts on painting miniatures and arguing about rule changes in 11th edition, this is a fantastic tactics game, so I just want to make sure *XCOM* and *Fire Emblem* fans are up to speed and paying attention. *Mechanicus II* takes the form of a tactics RPG. You're ushered along a linear story while you play, where events will pop up and ask you to make choices (some of which can earn bonuses, others draw penalties). In between, you dip into turn-based tactical battles, which is where the majority of your time is spent. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/20260524111213_1.jpg) Unit upgrades and customisation are great, especially for the game's hero characters I can't think of anything revolutionary to say here in terms of how it plays, other than it draws on some well-established genre hallmarks to good effect. You can build your own army out of points, meaning you get to be creative with different unit types. Battles take place using an imitative-based turn order where you don't get to control who goes next, but you can at least see who will. You get hero units every battle, who are stacked with special powers, and there are both melee and ranged units to choose from, depending on how you want to play. The game's two factions--you can play as the Adeptus Mechanicus or the undying Necrons--have a neat mix of unit types and characteristics, like how Necron units "die", but also don't *really* die. All of which is fine. It's a solid tactics game, in the way so many others are. It's a dependable genre! What makes this game actually *good* are two things. The first is the heaviness of it. Every unit in this game has weight to it, and you can really feel it moving around the map, firing off heavy weapons and swinging axes into metal and flesh. If tactics games are supposed to be a digital representation of their tabletop siblings, this one really nails the "feel" of your units being weighty, real things. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/20260524104801_1.jpg) The over-the-top theatrics and extremely British voice acting in the Mechanicus campaign is exactly what I want from a 40K game The second, and I know this is cheating slightly, is the license, or more specifically, the way the license has been adapted. This game is *extremely* cool. It's got fantastic writing, the character art is A+ and I enjoyed listening to everyone yell at each other--especially during the Mechanicus campaign--as much as I did the actual fighting. A tactics RPG that leans into the RPG side of things as much as this does will live and die on whether that RPG content is worth a damn, and this game's is terrific. I've spent the last few weeks talking to people about this game, and outside a few souls in the[ 3MA Discord](https://www.idlethumbs.net/3ma/?ref=aftermath.site), dangerously few tactics or *40K* fans I know have even heard of this game/series, and I think that's wild. Maybe there are too many *40K* games out there at the moment, maybe there are just too many games out there at the moment, but as someone who[ likes taking turns and moving little guys around](https://aftermath.site/strategy-game-turn-based-tactics-movement/), I absolutely loved *Mechanicus II*. ### Vague AI Disclosures Aren’t Helping Anyone URL: https://aftermath.site/crazy-taxi-world-tour-tomb-raider-steam-ai/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T18:20:02.000Z Summer Game Fest saw the continuation of a trend that has become all too predictable at this point: A major publisher discloses—usually due to Steam’s requirements—that a game made use of AI in development, at which point it’s hit with tidal waves of both backlash and speculation. Cornered, the publisher in question then provides a small amount of detail about *how* AI actually influenced the development process. More outrage and speculation ensues. Nobody is happy. Rinse, repeat. This happened twice in the past handful of days: First [with the upcoming *Tomb Raider* remake last week](https://aftermath.site/tomb-raider-ai/) and then with Sega’s new *Crazy Taxi* over the weekend. It is particularly galling that one of these is a remake—a game that was previously crafted sans the ‘helping’ hand of a clueless plagiarism machine—and the other is a retro revival, but in both cases vague disclosures only exacerbated the problem further. After all, what does this disclosure, found on [*Crazy Taxi*’s Steam page](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2924540/Crazy%5FTaxi%5FWorld%5FTour/?ref=aftermath.site), even mean? > At SEGA Corporation, we utilize generative AI as a support tool for developers, aiming to provide better content to our users and enable developers to focus more on creative tasks. > We have used such generative AI support tools during development of *Crazy Taxi: World Tour*. No AI was used in reference to the performers in the game. It is only natural to have questions after reading this statement. What kind of support? How pervasive is it? During which stages of development? For writing? Assets? Both? And while AI wasn’t used “in reference to performers in the game,” did it make it into the game elsewhere? [Game Informer](https://gameinformer.com/2026/06/07/sega-confirms-and-responds-to-generative-ai-content-in-new-crazy-taxi-game?ref=aftermath.site) managed to squeeze a statement out of Sega that, frankly, clarified almost nothing: > At SEGA Corporation, generative AI is available as an optional support tool for developers, enabling our teams to focus more on creative tasks and ultimately focus on what matters most: delivering better games to our consumers. > Generative AI was used to support our teams during the development of background assets for ”Crazy Taxi: World Tour”. Assets generated were still subject to review by the development team. > No AI was used in reference to the performers in the game. Sure! OK! Finally, series creator Kenji Kanno provided a more detailed explanation [to Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/crazy-taxi-ai-generated-assets-steam-disclosure-sega-2000703805?ref=aftermath.site) at Summer Game Fest’s Play Days event in LA: > We used \[AI\] as a reference. So our artists would pull up \[and\] generate some of their ideas and then they would look at that, you know, generated image and then they would draw the actual thing. So actual creators, everything from programming to assets, everything is made by an actual human. It’s only used as a reference for them to look at and then they would actually create the actual thing that would go into the game. Does that still suck, especially when reference photos of real life exist in abundance and would inarguably lead to a more convincing, handcrafted game world? Absolutely. But the company also could have just said this part to begin with. May as well rip the band-aid off rather than getting chased around with pitchforks and torches for days at a time. As is, there’s now an even bigger stain on the game than there would have been otherwise. But really, this goes back to a central, defining problem with AI: Its mere existence sows suspicion. People [see it everywhere](https://aftermath.site/ai-goonswarm-fortnite-postal/) now, sometimes even in art and writing that did not actually employ it. If a company suggests that AI played *any* role in the proceedings—even if it swears up and down that humans hand-carved the end result—it’s only natural to wonder if other corners were cut. This goes double for games like *Tomb Raider* and *Crazy Taxi,* where the implication of the more detailed AI disclosures journalists and the public had to badger out of companies is that developers needed help with ideas, specifically—aka the easiest part of creating anything. Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad that Steam makes companies disclose use of AI; it’s better than nothing. But the current requirements clearly aren’t doing the job, and there have been plenty of instances involving games both large [and small](https://aftermath.site/librarian-tidy-arcane-library-impressions/) where it’s been difficult to glean the actual scope of AI usage from disclosures—which can make it feel like developers are trying to hide something or are not being entirely honest. The real solution to this problem, obviously, is for studios to just tear AI out of their production pipelines altogether. But if execs are going to insist on continuing to force it down the throats of both developers and players, we need a better, more comprehensive system for accountability. As is, I imagine other companies saw what happened to games like *Tomb Raider* and *Crazy Taxi* and might now be trying to figure out how to get around disclosing AI usage at all. That, in my mind, is a real worst case scenario. ## Recommended [You Lost Me At ‘We Leverage AI Tools To Help Our Teams Iterate On Ideas’You can’t cut corners on ideas![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-7b4b7c2d-bdee-4147-a26f-2dcb9f11aa7d.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ss_53ebb702379303bc89a71106d74650a8ce8c5411.1920x1080-ca79233e-ad32-440f-a4db-7644eadfde2f.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tomb-raider-ai/) ### The Best Thing Netflix Did After Squid Game Was Double Down On Athletic Asian Competition Shows URL: https://aftermath.site/netflix-squid-game-physical-100-final-draft-siren-survive-the-island/ Last updated: 2026-06-10T14:35:43.000Z When *Squid Game* premiered on Netflix in 2021 and became a global sensation almost overnight, [the streamer cashed in hard](https://aftermath.site/squid-game-unleashed-netflix/). The worst of it included the [god-awful *Squid Game: The* *Challenge*](https://gizmodo.com/netflix-hopes-people-still-care-enough-about-squid-game-to-tune-into-a-celebrity-reality-show-2000729063?ref=aftermath.site) real-life show, a [wet-fart third season](https://aftermath.site/squid-game-season-3-hwang-jun-ho/), and an eye-rolling stinger teasing its [American spin-off](https://gizmodo.com/cate-blanchett-doesnt-know-if-her-squid-game-cameo-will-lead-to-more-but-shed-like-it-to-2000641517?ref=aftermath.site). But what hasn’t sucked is its killer slate of Asian reality competition shows about egoists at the top of their fields dominating one another. I absolutely adore *Siren: Survive The Island*, *Final Draft*, and *Physical: 100*. As a former track-and-field kid, these shows are my jam because they tap into that primordial itch in the deep recesses of my brain by pitting athletes (and folks from different martial arts disciplines) against one another to determine who is best. What’s more, unlike other competition shows [nakedly chasing *Squid Game*’s clout](https://aftermath.site/mrbeast-beast-games/), they have interesting games and loglines to match their high-budget productions. Allow me to count the ways why I mess with these *Squid Game*\-likes. [*Siren: Survive The Island*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren:%5FSurvive%5Fthe%5FIsland?ref=aftermath.site) sees 24 female contestants “versed in the highest levels of both combat and strategy” split up into six teams by their profession competing on a remote island. These teams comprise police officers, firefighters, stunt women, soldiers, bodyguards, and a catch-all group of athletes. Aside from setting a personal stake in wanting professions like police officers to get absolutely dog-walked (which they do), what I like about the show is how the producers basically put all these women on an island to play a base-building capture-the-flag game for a week. After racing through a field of mud with their profession displayed on their flag, *Siren*’s six teams, in cascading order of who came in first, choose different bases of operations to call home. These bases include a square house, a boathouse, a cabin, a tent, and a shelter. When the siren rings, they must hide their flag, suit up in body-cam tactical gear, with a mini flag precariously placed in a tube backpack, and play capture the flag. Individual players are eliminated from the game (but not the show) when their flag is removed from their bag, and whole teams are eliminated when their base is stormed and their flag is taken. And these women leave it all on the field when that siren rings. I’ve witnessed stunt performers (who were told they weren’t a threat) break through a window and storm a base; firefighters string their flags in a tree in the middle of their fortified base; and soldiers turncoat, betraying alliances they forged out of convenience in their former allies' faces during their time of need. When rounds end, whoever claims a team’s flag gains ownership of their base. Remaining teams also get to go to a communal store and use points gained from calories they burned from the previous day to get new items and advantage tokens, like 30-minute base immunity or deciding when the siren rings. Translation: *Siren* is the most video-gamey base-building reality show I’ve ever seen. [*Final Draft*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35803134/?ref=aftermath.site) is a bit more sentimental than the other two shows. While the show is just as much about egoists, its premise centers on former professional athletes who ended their careers involuntarily or by choice. Through a series of vignettes, we learn the tragic, personal reasons why 25 athletes had to call it quits, as well as their motivation to compete for a 3-million-yen prize to fund their career resurgence. Like *Siren*, *Final Draft* plays up the hierarchy and the drive to come out on top. Whoever gets to the finish line first gets to sleep in a comfy glamping spot with lavish meals like king crab and slabs of meat, and whoever places last gets to sleep in a rinky-dink tent, with miso soup as a staple on their dinner menu. As far as games go, *Final Draft* is part *American Gladiator* obstacle courses and Fitnessgram Pacer tests, where athletes dig deep to outdo one another and knock out fast friends and rivals from the competition until they’re the last one standing. I’d be remiss not to mention that *Final* *Draft* can get exceedingly silly in a peek-behind-the-veil, immersion-breaking way. There’s a whole segment in the middle of its games where each athlete has to give a speech-and-debate-esque sales pitch explaining why they think they should win and how they’ll use their funds if they win. It’s also more common for *Final Draft*’s games to try to be overtly fair when things don’t go as planned, leading to redos for injuries suffered by athletes, with a huge handicap in their favor, whereas contemporaries would opt to call it a wash and move on. It also doesn’t help that this happens a lot and becomes a focal point of episodes, over, y’know, seeing athletes do their thing. The core conceit of a competition is that it will be unfair. There’s still a good show in there if you can overlook all of *Final Draft*’s grating shortcomings. Last, and certainly not least, is the crown jewel of *Squid Game*\-likes: [*Physical: 100*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical:%5F100?ref=aftermath.site). *Physical: 100* sees 100 athletes ranging from sumo wrestlers, bodybuilders, strong men, gymnasts, wrestlers, free runners, baseball stars, and more, compete in individual and team-based competitions for a cash prize. *Physical: 100* is basically the closest any of the aforementioned shows comes to being the most interesting permutation of *Squid Game,* in terms of cast variety and inventive games that push its freak athletes to their absolute limit. Likewise, its growing catalog of spin-offs, such as *Physical: Asia*, features athletes from different Asian nations competing to determine which nation is the best. As a history buff, things get especially spicy when Japan and Korea butt heads, Australia plays the role of oddball heels, and Mongolia and Turkey become the show’s underdogs. The most brutal of its competitions are games where athletes mud wrestle for a ball, use their collective might to push an entire ship filled with sandbags to a finish line, and hold a giant boulder over their shoulders for hours, Atlas style, until someone gives up. My friends and I popped off quite a few times whenever an athlete [German suplexes](https://aftermath.site/suplex-wrestling-love-letter/) their opponent. What sets *Physical: 100* apart from its contemporaries is the ego death it inflicts on competitors when they lose. At the start of the games, contestants enter a giant bunker where they see the busts of their competitors’ abdomens prominently displayed. On the surface, this production detail sparks oohs and aahs from viewers and competitors alike as they size up who’s going to be a threat and which of them is a wild celebrity cameo. But the busts, too, serve as a devastating symbol of athletic pride and vanity. Whenever a competitor is eliminated, they must walk up to their bust and demolish it with a hammer in front of everyone. Occasionally, the show escalates this bit of theater further by incorporating it into second-chance endurance test games, where competitors have to hold their busts by a pulley and outlast each other to get back into the games. That’s some good-ass television. ## Recommended [Friendship Ended With Terrace House, Love Village Is My New Favorite Dating ShowOld fogies searching for their last love while cohabitating in the Japanese countryside got me![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-18af25fb-8ced-4c7a-adcb-a920d8c2bda6.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Love-Village-a472599e-f5dd-496c-b004-9c2b01130afc.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/love-village-terrace-house-netflix-japanese-dating-show/) ### Yoshi and the Mysterious Book Is A Science Experiment URL: https://aftermath.site/yoshi-mysterious-book-nintendo-switch-2-review/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T17:33:54.000Z I am not surprised that Nintendo's new *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book* is charming. Nintendo's had that aesthetic down for a long time. But I *was* surprised to experience the new ways that the company enacted that charm. *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book* is a platformer, but with the essence of a science experiment. You've got to jump, flutter kick, and bop enemies to get through the levels. But you also have to ask, *What happens if I try this?* Platforming is more an element of the playground Nintendo's set up for its players to theorize and test how all sorts of creatures and items work together—or against each other—in novel ways. Nintendo sets up this premise by introducing a talking book with a monocle. It finds its way to Yoshi's island as Kamek and Bowser Jr. run amok inside. Mr. E—the mysterious book—has Yoshi hop into its pages to see what's going on, explore habitats, and, crucially, make discoveries about the worlds etched on its pages. It is a game, and there are goals: You need to make discoveries and collect items to progress from page to page, but the discoveries aren't exactly listed out for you to try. You've just got to start messing around. Yoshi, known for eating things, obviously must taste each creature; Mr. E will note everything's flavor on his pages. Loopdecoop, the hula hooping chickens, are a little chewy yet still refreshing, while the blue Tumballs (essentially pill bugs) are much too hard to chew. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/2026052712204900_c.jpg) Image: Nintendo Each of the levels in *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book* are set up, mostly, around a new creature— so in the Swirm level, where you play with snails that expand basically into diving boards in all directions, you'll be experimenting with that mechanic. But the levels do somewhat build on each other in that creatures cross over from page to page. What happens when you throw a little flower guy at the Swirm? It boings, of course. Some of these discoveries play a role in how you reach the end of the level, but often it's just for fun. There are 12 levels in total, and six of them are technically the "main" game, and four more come after that. The final two levels are much different, but still have the ethos of the rest of the game; the first of the two last levels drops the platformer part almost entirely and is centered just on discoveries. In the first of these, Yoshi measures the size of different creatures. Another one has him track how fast they can move. The second of the final two levels are challenge levels: These are the only bits that lean heavily on skill. Protect the apple from the Little Mousers who want to eat it, or complete this horrible, awful, bouncing level. (More on that later.) One of the best levels in all of *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book* is one where you get access to every creature. That's because there's one animal, the Bewilder Bird, which can transform into anything else you've encountered and studied already. *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book* sets you free into this level to put what you've learned to the test. It's delightful, and the sheer variety of the creatures means there are plenty of different ways to complete a task. If you need to reach something up high, you can get on the back of a Goonie (round seagull) or blast through the air on a Hauger (hog that's a drill). That Hauger, though, is also good for digging through soft grounds, like sand or dirt—but there's other options if you prefer. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/2026053023351400_c-1.jpg) Image: Nintendo The majority of *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book* makes great use of the science experiment idea, but some levels are worse than others, largely because of the weaker creatures. The Springhopper, for instance, which is the creature used in the last challenge level, nearly broke me. Its gimmick is so simple: It bounces like a pogo stick, and the angle you're aiming it at determines where it goes. But the physics were unwieldy. I understand that it's a challenge level, and it's meant to be hard. But it's so much harder than the rest of the game that it feels jarring, just totally miserable. It's a real bummer that this is how the game ends! (Normally, I would simply stop playing a level like this. But I also played *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book* to write guides, and I could not stop. Brutal!) The places where *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book* shines the brightest are where it feels most like a science experiment. There are pieces of the game in which I thought to myself, certainly this will not work. Most of the time, it didn't. But some of the time, it did. *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book* is so open to surprise, something I don't feel often when playing video games these days. ### Feels Bad, Man URL: https://aftermath.site/stranger-than-heaven-tupac-snoop-video-game/ Last updated: 2026-06-09T18:36:24.000Z By now you [may have already seen the news](https://aftermath.site/summer-game-fest-tupac-stranger-than-heaven-yakuza/); Ryu Ga Gotoku studio has decided that its upcoming century-spanning crime game *Stranger Than Heaven* will feature a cameo from Tupac Shakur. [Nobody Is Happy That Yakuza Studio’s Next Game Is Performing Digital Necromancy On Tupac“I love RGG, and I love hip-hop, and I absolutely hate everything they’re doing with this angle”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-1b92b8fe-d04e-491f-8885-c97a24c0fce3.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/tupac-212e1b1b-786b-49d8-8c35-f3fe45aafb68.png)](https://aftermath.site/summer-game-fest-tupac-stranger-than-heaven-yakuza/) For many and obvious reasons, this isolated act of misguided marketing fucking *sucks*. But as I stare at that screenshot of a man murdered in 1996 starring in a 2026 video game, wondering if I've suffered a traumatic head injury, I can't help but experience even deeper misgivings about this studio and the games it has become famous for. If there's one thing that could sum up the success of the *Yakuza* series more than their bombastic action sequences and [granular depictions of Japanese streetscapes](https://aftermath.site/yakuzas-shopfronts-are-one-of-lifes-little-pleasures/), it is the *dependability* of the games. From *0* through to *6*, so long as the original creators and custodians of the series were responsible for it, you could count on a new *Yakuza* game being the same shape, the same heft and broadly of the same quality as its predecessors. Just like the soap operas its storylines so readily emulated, that dependability was part of the appeal! Every time I saw a trailer for a new *Yakuza* game I'd get excited because I'd *know* it would be some good shit. In a world (and industry) full of uncertainty, where layoffs and studio closures dominate, and once-beloved franchises can now disappear for decades at a time, to be able to clock on and clock off with a *Yakuza* game every year or two, playing on the same streets in the same cities with the same characters was an immensely satisfying experience. Like my former colleague Harper [once said](https://kotaku.com/how-yakuzas-city-changes-from-game-to-game-1821884988?ref=aftermath.site) at Kotaku, “The Yakuza series has a few constants: burly men with tattoos, karaoke and cabaret, dramatic fist fights, and the city of Kamurocho”. Over the years the games could change a little every time, and the city would look a little different every time, but those felt like a natural evolution, like watching your family grow up alongside you. Like family, you love some of them more than others. Few will prefer *Yakuza 2* to *Yakuza 0*, for example, while [*Yakuza 6’s* whiffed ending](https://kotaku.com/the-end-of-yakuza-6-is-some-bullshit-1826216191?ref=aftermath.site) can’t compare to *Yakuza 4’s* sprawling, multi-character storyline and [noodle joint shootouts](https://youtu.be/KNnIu4K4OIA?t=86&ref=aftermath.site). But I loved them all regardless. They are all *Yakuza* games, all share the same DNA and I could rely on all of them to provide exactly what I was looking for when I booted them up. In recent years, though, that rock-solid foundation has started to feel a little shakier. When studio founder Toshihiro Nagoshi and some of his closest colleagues left Ryu Ga Gotoku in 2021 to form their own company (which has since[ disappeared off the face of the Earth](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/comments/1tiwuyn/nagoshi%5Fstudios%5Fis%5Fapparently%5Fpermanently%5Fclosed/?ref=aftermath.site)), a new generation had to take over at the top, and while[ some of their earlier games were very well-received](https://aftermath.site/like-a-dragon-infinite-wealth-spoilers-kazuma-kiryu-ending/), over the past year or two, as time has crawled on, fans have noticed things have started to slip. To feel *different*. > Ryu Ga Gotoku has made some of the most refreshingly human and inspiring games I've ever played, and then about two years ago they went completely insane > > — Ian Boudreau ([@ianboudreau.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qfflfersmonljuxmm6iyb445?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [June 6, 2026 at 2:41 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qfflfersmonljuxmm6iyb445/post/3mnltmaidms2o?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [Majima's weird pirate spin-off was a very bad video game](https://aftermath.site/pirate-yakuza-hawaii-impressions-review-majima/), just a complete miscalculation of what makes the character memorable, then[ a man very credibly accused of sexual assault was cast in the *Yakuza 3* remake](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/yakuza-kiwami-3-director-says-actor-accused-of-sexual-assault-was-cast-for-his-slimy-feel?ref=aftermath.site), which also cut a load of side missions present in the original, including[ a memorable one that featured a trans character](https://www.reddit.com/r/yakuzagames/comments/1r09t81/what%5Fthe%5Ffuck%5Fdo%5Fyou%5Fmean%5Fthey%5Fremoved%5Fthe%5Fpro/?ref=aftermath.site). And now this. It's enough to make long-time fans like me start to question where the studio is at, and whether we really can depend on these games and the people making them anymore. Has the increased fame and attention over the past few games got to them in a way where they're failing to grasp the reasons for that success? Is each passing year, and release, simply bringing RGG's current leadership further and further from the contributions of their predecessors? Are they just having a bad time at the moment? Who knows; despite this digital necromancy, and other recent studio missteps, *Stranger Than Heaven* might turn out to be a masterpiece. But the doubt is there, and it never was before, and given our trust used to be such an important part of enjoying these games, that's enough to have me feeling extra bad about yesterday's news. ### Nobody Is Happy That Yakuza Studio’s Next Game Is Performing Digital Necromancy On Tupac URL: https://aftermath.site/summer-game-fest-tupac-stranger-than-heaven-yakuza/ Last updated: 2026-06-06T03:18:15.000Z Today during Summer Game Fest’s main showcase, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced that legendary rapper and activist Tupac Shakur—who died in 1996—[will be in its jazzy new historical *Yakuza*\-like, *Stranger Than Heaven*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jgItPVHs3I&ref=aftermath.site). Nobody asked for this, and an only slightly larger number like it. Snoop Dogg, who will also appear in the game, was brought out to explain the puzzling inclusion. "The Tupac estate and my son and myself, we work very closely together, so it just made sense to put him in this game,” Snoop told Geoff Keighley. “His likeness and his spirit still lives on, and I just feel like it was so connected to what we're doing." But it’s still an act of digital necromancy involving a man who, crucially, cannot object. The dead deserve to rest, but instead, the modern era turns their ghosts into IP. This isn’t even the first dead person RGG has shamelessly boasted will appear in *Stranger Than Heaven*. That not-honor goes to [Japanese actor Bunta Sugawara](https://www.polygon.com/stranger-than-heaven-bunta-sugawara/?ref=aftermath.site), who passed away in 2014\. At least in his case, it’s confirmed he’s not getting [the Val Kilmer treatment](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/apr/16/first-trailer-released-for-ai-val-kilmer-western?ref=aftermath.site), with actor Takashi Ukaji providing his voice instead of AI. Still, the whole thing feels gross, which caused “Tupac” to trend on both X and Bluesky for the wrong reasons. > They're putting Tupac in a Yakuza game with "Snoop Dogg's blessing." Snoop Dogg shills for anything. He would dig up Tupac's bones and shoot them out of a cannon into the sea if it meant a paycheck. > > — Mallorie Malcontent ✨ ([@sweetbeanscomix.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:s3dvzp2dlvnrsfnxybunkdb3?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [June 5, 2026 at 2:42 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:s3dvzp2dlvnrsfnxybunkdb3/post/3mnl466xdbc2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > First it was the scumbag in Yakuza 3, and now they’re digitally animating Tupac’s corpse? Yeah, I think I might be done with anything RGG does for the foreseeable future. Incredibly tone deaf and disrespectful. > > — Coop ([@riderstrike.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:oti5ykqbitmy4mza5hgbax3d?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [June 5, 2026 at 2:26 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:oti5ykqbitmy4mza5hgbax3d/post/3mnl3cm6nb22b?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > "why is tupac trending" \*click\* "noooooo" > > — foaming pipe snake ([@guntoucher.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wsadl3rm3ljxpsfeyhf7yfhn?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [June 5, 2026 at 2:53 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wsadl3rm3ljxpsfeyhf7yfhn/post/3mnl4sg4bs22s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > I'm glad I'm not watching this show live, I feel like I would've instinctively dropped my phone and the double over from psychic damage once Tupac showed up > > — Brian M ([@legendofnerd.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:dc42fen36izp7sfgmyhwbpiz?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [June 5, 2026 at 2:42 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:dc42fen36izp7sfgmyhwbpiz/post/3mnl4656gxc2v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > I love RGG and I love hiphop and I absolutely hate everything they're doing with this angle. > > — Janet Garcia ([@gameonysus.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:m7ik5o77ffp2lmbx7g5khc6j?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [June 5, 2026 at 2:25 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:m7ik5o77ffp2lmbx7g5khc6j/post/3mnl37sqfhk2v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > btw this is who runs Tupac's estate > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mnlodlgvfs22?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Chris Person ([@papapishu.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [June 5, 2026 at 8:07 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mnlodlgvfs22?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > They did not answer how Tupac is in the game and talked about working with his estate [#uhoh](https://x.com/hashtag/uhoh?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [https://t.co/aHgiwWZt7x](https://t.co/aHgiwWZt7x?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 🕷️Smart Alec🕸️ (@\_TheSmartAlec1) [June 5, 2026](https://x.com/%5FTheSmartAlec1/status/2063010428238659961?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > I’m not a fan of that Tupac shit at all man lmaooo 👎🏽 > > — Big Boss (@LordBalvin) [June 5, 2026](https://x.com/LordBalvin/status/2063014082538557888?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > kendrick lamar please diss rgg studio next > > — Gene Park (@GenePark) [June 5, 2026](https://x.com/GenePark/status/2063013699745456369?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Yeah don't like Tupac in Stranger Than Heaven. Let that man rest. > > — RGT 85 (@RGT\_85) [June 5, 2026](https://x.com/RGT%5F85/status/2063008885011595308?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Retconing Yakuza character deaths wasn't enough, SO THEY REVIVED TUPAC?!?!?! [pic.twitter.com/A9LMrNWSH8](https://t.co/A9LMrNWSH8?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Judgement Kazzy 1988 (@2005Dojima) [June 5, 2026](https://x.com/2005Dojima/status/2063011143082529033?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) All this after RGG already [found itself in hot water earlier this year](https://aftermath.site/yakuza-kiwami-3-teruyuki-kagawa-ryu-ga-gotoku-rgg-studio/) for refusing to dismiss a voice actor who admitted to sexual assault and generally dropping the ball on the *Yakuza* series’ latest remake, *Kiwami 3*. For some, it’s starting to look like Stranger Than Heaven might end up being the last straw. ## Recommended [Movement To Remove Voice Actor Who Has Admitted To Sexual Assault Has Yakuza Fans At Breaking PointRyu Ga Gotoku Studio’s silence on #RemoveKagawa widens the rift with fans, revealing fractured values, uneven accountability, and a directionless franchise.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-05f9131c-85f0-49d3-9ddd-a7afec7f0d54.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/yakuza-kiwami-3-kiryu-kazuma-5f3f91bf-098c-4cf0-824b-7d6a84e8d4ec.png)](https://aftermath.site/yakuza-kiwami-3-teruyuki-kagawa-ryu-ga-gotoku-rgg-studio/) ### Is Backrooms The Beginning Of A New Generation Of Hollywood Auteurs, Or Just Another Horror Movie? URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-backrooms-obsession-horror/ Last updated: 2026-06-05T20:33:21.000Z In just a week, *Backrooms*—the movie based on a YouTube series (which, in turn, was based on a 4chan meme)—has become [A24’s highest grossing film ever](https://deadline.com/2026/06/backrooms-box-office-record-a24-1236939795/?ref=aftermath.site) in the United States. Many have heralded it as a breath of fresh air compared to the slurry of sequels and superheroes that have been forced down our throats for the past decade. But it is still, at its core, a horror movie, and it leans on tropes like any other. So, for that matter, is *Obsession*, the other hit movie directed by a YouTuber making headlines right now. Why does horror have implicit permission to expand its horizons where other genres don’t? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we try to scare up an answer. This time around, we’re joined by musician, writer, and game developer [Liz Ryerson](https://bsky.app/profile/ellaguro.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) hot on the heels of counterprogramming Summer Game Fest with [the second annual Unearthed Treasure Room showcase](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTjmuW3XhGw&ref=aftermath.site). The basic idea? SGF is made up of [nearly 20 showcases](https://www.summergamefest.com/events?ref=aftermath.site) of games yet to come—too many, frankly!—but there are countless already-released games that deserve another shot. We discuss why it’s important to counterprogram something as commercialized as SGF despite a relatively tiny viewership, as well as what games can look like when they’re less constrained by the bounds of specific genres. Then we [get lost in *Backrooms*](https://aftermath.site/backrooms-movie-parsons-youtube/). How does the movie draw on video game aesthetics to create something that feels fresh? And is this new crop of YouTubers turned filmmakers—as also demonstrated by *Obsession*—the injection of new life Hollywood has been looking for? Or is this another, perhaps slightly more subtle example of popular people and properties being squeezed into tired molds? Lastly, in honor of *God Of War*’s magnificent new gelatinous cube, we discuss other shapes we’d like to see anthropomorphized in games. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can someday build a massive Aftermath headquarters replete with all sorts of unnerving liminal spaces to frighten away young people. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Liz:** That’s the other narrative that’s going right now: YouTubers are taking over. Because *Backrooms* is really successful, it’s gonna spawn other \[similar\] things. With \[*Backrooms* director\] Kane Parsons’ series, he was a YouTuber, but he wasn’t really a YouTuber personality. I think there’s a difference between that and the parasocial stuff with Markiplier; the ideal form of a Markiplier video is one that he’s in and commenting on, whereas *Backrooms* is Kane basically making a movie version of what he already made on YouTube. But also, these are all horror movies. At some point, the question needs to be asked: Why do we have to keep shoehorning interesting, novel concepts into horror? That’s the thing with [*Haunted PS1*](https://hauntedps1.itch.io/?ref=aftermath.site) as well. There are a lot of interesting game ideas that came out of it, but it keeps having to be shoehorned into horror. You keep having to call things “horror” so that people will actually buy them. That’s been a consistent theme across the years. **Nathan:** Why is that, do you think? Why is horror the genre where people are allowed to experiment a little more versus other types of blockbusters and things of that nature? **Liz:** It’s just the unknown. It has a built-in appeal. But I don’t think you can call \[this moment of YouTubers making popular movies\] a flowering of new talent or whatever if they’re just making horror movies. It has to go beyond that. **Chris:** Also, everyone talks about this like there’s a renaissance, but name some movies that are as good as… I don’t know— **Liz:** *L'eclisse*? **Chris:** Or even name one that is as good as *Texas Chainsaw Massacre*. It’s one of the best movies ever made. A lot of these \[modern horror movies\] are bad or fine. People are like “Watch *Longlegs*.” *Longlegs* isn’t good. *Weapons* is fine. **Nathan:** To bring things full circle, you wanna know who’s directing a new version of *Texas Chainsaw Massacre*? Curry Barker, who just directed *Obsession*. **Chris:** Oh, motherfucker. Get away from her! I don’t know, the reason why horror does well is because you can make it with five dollars, and five million metal guys with goth girlfriends who have Etsy stores will see it. It puts butts in the seats. Like, you’ll go into \[a theater where people are seeing *Terrifier*\], and it’s a crowd of the nicest people who are bringing their children, and you’re like “Wow, you guys are really into this. Good luck.” I’m not anti-horror. I love horror to death. But we’re gonna have to keep lying and saying stuff is horror just to trick people into seeing interesting movies. And it’s depressing a little bit. **Liz:** It’s like the endless version of those 1950s movies like *The Blob* or *The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers*; it’s considered socially acceptable to deal with whatever taboos or anxieties people have in that form. Even people who are more conservative consider that culturally accessible, whereas stuff that is more confrontational or takes a more explicit approach I think has a much tougher time. ## Recommended [Backrooms’ Biggest Scare Is CapitalismThe meme turned found footage series turned movie explores the nostalgia--and the horror--of 90s corporate waste![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-010b5921-1609-44d7-9a4e-861671e54c6f.png)AftermathLiz Ryerson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/https___cdn.sanity.io_images_xq1bjtf4_production_8e12e221f70acfd5be1933ad1595ff8c41b00195-7823x5215--1--33ebc99a-d508-4652-b2cb-dd03e184f0eb.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/backrooms-movie-parsons-youtube/) ### It's Good To Be 868-BACK URL: https://aftermath.site/868-back-review-michael-brough/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T18:23:51.000Z In the past I have had archaic rules about what games I keep [on my phone](https://aftermath.site/balatro-golden-needle-challenge-how-to-beat/). I used to get sucked into anything I had installed, and at one point I’d spent so much time playing the mobile versions of *Settlers* and *Ticket to Ride* that I became miserable and ruthless to play the games against in real life, having spent countless subway commutes training against computers set to hard. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_5302.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_5304.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/IMG_5301.PNG) Mobile bangers from Brough: **Imbroglio,* **868-HACK (PLAN.B),* and **P1 Select* Eventually I settled on the games of designer Michael Brough: *868-Hack*, *Imbroglio* and mostly *P1 Select*. The games were nuanced and complex enough to resist simple libidinal addiction but immediate enough to play quickly. All had a similar layout and ethos, and when you instinctively understand the logic of each, the process of playing them feels like Speed Chess. They’re grid-based roguelikes in a more traditional sense of the word, where enemies move when you move. I have spent more time playing *P1 Select* than some MMOs at this point, and it has become my emergency game when I am stuck in line or at an airport. But few games have topped the nuance of Brough’s original hit *868-HACK*, and now he’s returned with sequel *868-BACK*. Building on the original as well as the PLAN.B DLC, *868-BACK* takes the iOS minimalism of the original and builds a cathedral of complexity on it. I believe it to be a masterpiece. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/overextended.jpg) I think I can snake my way out of this one. ## **“I’m in.”** The original *868-HACK* is a grid-based game where you play a hacker breaking into a computer system. The setting of the game is intentionally retro, and your character is an abstracted smiley face navigating a 6x6 grid. The walls are shaped like PCBs, and the enemies are goofy little freaks that look like random shapes or if you tried to draw the Martians from The Muppets on an Amiga. Each of these enemies is an abstraction of some computing concept: glitches, viruses, daemons. Each moves and acts in a different way: viruses take two moves, daemons take three hits (or clicks in this case) to kill instead of two, glitches can pass through solid blocks. The goal is to progress through the eight stages, collecting as much data in the process, but doing so requires properly arming yourself. You do this by siphoning off data blocks containing powerful programs. The tradeoff is that siphoning alerts more enemies, so the game is ultimately one about figuring out when you have a tactical advantage and pressing that. Usually this takes the form of a choke point and forcing enemies down it, in a process I’ve heard referred to as “waterfalling.” Get to the end of the server alive with enough points and you have won the game. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/weekend.jpg) It's the freakin' weekend baby. *868-BACK* takes this same basic structure and builds outwards. You still start off playing the smiley face hacker, but he is old as hell now, with wrinkles and an eyepatch. Instead of a single server of eight sectors, there are several spanning the course of three weeks. The added complexity necessitates additional tools for survival. You have up to three lives at your disposal, although if you die on the first two servers you fail immediately. Progs still exist and are powered by volts and credits siphoned from the floor, but you begin with one from the jump. Devs (devices) are a new addition, powerful modifiers that are added to your device manager once a server and can be activated one time in each of the eight sectors. Some of those devs are “boostable,” meaning they can be strengthened multiple times over various sectors. There are also scripts, one time versions of progs that can be used in an emergency. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/notes.png) I'm taking notes. ## **Synergy** *868-BACK* can be brutally hard, but favors people who notice synergies between groups of progs or devs. For example, “.refresh” will cause every enemy to “transmit” again, briefly turning them into the single, one-hit portal they briefly exist as when they enter the server. This dovetails nicely with “.dial,” a low-cost prog that allows the player to end a transmission before it turns into a foe while also warping the player to that location. Low cost progs like “.lag,” “.peek,” “”.swap,” or “.hash” pair nicely with “.combo,” which eliminates enemies based on the number of progs used since you last moved. The prog “.hash” will move enemies of the same type on top of each other, and “.debug” will eliminate any enemies that overlap with objects or enemies. And then there’s “.gravity,” which drops the player and every enemy like a rock, and which dovetails nicely with “.row,” a prog that wipes out everything to the left and the right of the player. I personally found keeping a written log of preferential prog combos to be helpful, and this is not even getting into dev combos, which is where the real pervert synergies lie. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/sushi.jpg) You can buy "sushi" if you unlock the node. Of course, Brough is not content to simply make the game larger while giving the player more treats. As you progress in difficulty, each new server you hack adds a different level of complexity, dryly positioned as “bonus power ups.” Lethal Stakes makes the current server an all-or-nothing proposition, making you lose the run if you lose that server. Advanced 3D Graphics turns the server into a first person 3D game ALA *Faceball 2000*. Servers in general will scale up in difficulty, but the game will also give you new nodes to connect to in the form of black markets masquerading as sushi and ramen establishments. *868-BACK* is brutal but fair, capricious in what it gives you yet infinitely flexible and precise with what it lets you do. You can be on fire for a while only to burn the whole run with a few poorly-timed clicks. It rewards thinking three steps ahead as well as saying “fuck it, we ball” and making the most reckless choice imaginable. Sometimes, but not always, the two are the same thing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/3D_screenshot.jpg) Welcome to the third dimension. ## **The dreams of the past** Cyberpunk works best as a stylistic abstraction. What you imagined hacking was in your youth was never even close to being real, lines of dull text and credit card fraud standing in contrast to the fashion and brightly-colored sprites of the *Hackers*. *868-BACK* is playfully aware of the age of what it references, and even the representation of yourself is visibly old. When you die the first time, a cutscene plays of a steel claw descending on your character, hunched over alone in their apartment. The game is that old dream of dialup turned into an abstraction tighter than a steel trap. It is *Number Munchers* and *Rouge* fused with Drexciya, a deep well that keeps going deeper if you let it. Brough’s games have earned an eternal place on my phone, and *868-BACK* has now earned that place on my Steam Deck. You can, and should, get lost in these servers forever. I'm just embedding Drexciya because Tara Macalister's soundtrack for 868-BACK reminds me of it but on like a Sound Blaster. ### The URL For Summer Games Fest, A Common Typo, Now Redirects To The Transgender Law Center URL: https://aftermath.site/summer-games-fest-website-2026/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T18:23:36.000Z For reasons that will never fully be understood, Geoff Keighley’s annual beach-flavored ode to video games is called Summer Game Fest, singular, not Summer Games Fest, plural, even though it includes *far* more than one game. Because of this, many mistakenly call it Summer Games Fest—and also search for it incorrectly online. As we at Aftermath [sleuthed out last year](https://aftermath.site/summer-games-fest-website-geoff-keighley-polygon-palestine/), one man, Epic Games senior trust and safety investigations manager Bruce Knapik, has been sitting on the [summergamesfest.com](http://summergamesfest.com/?ref=aftermath.site) URL for six years, having it redirect to a variety of causes. [At times](https://aftermath.site/summer-games-fest-website-geoff-keighley-taco/), that’s meant in-jokes like a picture of a taco shell with a sausage in it, while at others the URL has sent visitors to pages intended to support Black Lives Matter, Palestine, and laid-off games journalists. This year, Knapik has changed things up again; while the URL was at various points this year marshalled in service of [friend of the site Stella Sacco](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/pokopia-is-a-viva-pinatalike/) and [laid-off game developers more broadly](https://asgc.gg/?ref=aftermath.site), it now redirects to [the Transgender Law Center](https://transgenderlawcenter.org/donate/?ref=aftermath.site). For Knapik, this one’s personal. “Trans rights have been important to me my entire adult life,” Knapik [wrote on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/summergamesfest.com/post/3mnkm3yaff22q?ref=aftermath.site). “My first job after leaving the Army (which no one who knows me will admit happened) was for my mother at the Hippo in Baltimore. The Hippo was, to my knowledge, the largest queer nightclub in Baltimore, maybe the state. … It wasn't my first time among LGBTQ+ communities—my mother is a lesbian, my friends were sometimes queer, and people I had known throughout my time in the Army transitioned immediately afterwards—but my time there did more to shape me into an upstanding person than service ever did.” Knapik believes that homophobes and transphobes are a dying breed in the grand scheme of things, but they’re not going out quietly. “I (perhaps naïvely) believe there are fewer of those people these days, but they are inarguably louder and more powerful than ever. They hold office, they own websites,” he wrote. “UFC fucking champions posting AI videos depicting hate crimes. Shit we didn't accept from YouTubers a decade ago has become passé behavior for major public figures. So yeah, the silly typo website redirects to a place that fights as well as anyone can for trans people in this environment. I'm just garden-variety bi, but I've been within the echo radius of trans hate—and trans joy—for decades, and seen how gleefully the former shreds the path to the latter.” It wouldn’t be Summer Games Fest, plural, (as opposed to Summer Game Fest, singular) without some fraction of tongue planted in cheek, however. Currently, if you post the URL on a site like Bluesky, it auto-populates with “Gamergate Was A Jeff Epstein Joint.” ## Recommended [We Solved The Five-Year Mystery Of Who Owns Summergamesfest.com - AftermathThe truth behind the typo![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-879aa777-b0d0-4301-9548-44bcf60e5ae0.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/sgf666-3-f6eb1273-47c2-4602-a0bb-eb2dcf394013.png)](https://aftermath.site/summer-games-fest-website-geoff-keighley-polygon-palestine/) ### 'If A Game Wants Mirrors It Has To Be Prepared To Make A Big Technical Commitment': Let's Talk About 007's Many, Beautiful Mirrors URL: https://aftermath.site/bond-007-first-light-mirrors-reflections-interview/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T22:37:26.000Z [When I wasn't digging around the game's kitchens](https://aftermath.site/007-first-light-graphics-lighting/), one of the most striking things about playing through *007 First Light* was just how reflective the game is. There are mirrors *everywhere*, and in 2026 that was such a jarring experience in a AAA video game that I wanted to learn more. If you're wondering why I got so excited about mirrors of all things, allow me to explain. For the longest time, video games didn't have working mirrors–that was absurd, how would an 8-bit console even do that? But by the mid-90s, games like *Duke Nukem 3D* had pioneered actual, functioning video game mirrors. You could walk in front of one and it would reflect the world back at you. It was sorcery, one of the most "next-gen" moments in the history of the medium, and for a while there it felt like something you could just get used to seeing in big, AAA video games forever. We'll come back to this explanation as to why mirrors are rare in video games in a minute... Or not. It turns out that, even back in 1996, developers knew that if you wanted a proper mirror in your game the performance cost would be immense, and usually not worth the effort. So by the time the 2010s rolled around we started to see fewer and fewer player characters staring back at us through bathroom mirrors. This decline culminated in the reception to *Cyberpunk 2077*, a game that featured a mirror as its central viewpoint for character customisation, but which--despite having other reflections present in the game if you crank the settings up, like in puddles--didn't actually let the player look at themselves outside a specific scripted editor, a frankly astounding decision considering customisation seemed such an important part of the story. People got so worked up about it that they[ built mods to get mirrors working](https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/25633?ref=aftermath.site) and tried to[ explain it away using MS Paint](https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/v2prkt/mirrors%5Fin%5Fvideo%5Fgames/?ref=aftermath.site). One series that has maintained working mirrors throughout recent years, though, is *Hitman*, so it shouldn't have been such a surprise to see them feature in *007* as well. But there aren't just mirrors in *First Light;* there are enough of them to compel me to write a blog this long about them. There's an abundance of them, and just some absolutely over-the-top placement, from club bathrooms featuring enormous triple-pane vistas to expensive apartments featuring floor-to-ceiling mirrors to cracked mirrors that reflect multiple, cracked versions of Bond back at you.[ Other people have noticed this, and they are *excited*](https://www.reddit.com/r/007FirstLight/comments/1toiq86/finally%5Fa%5F2026%5Fgame%5Fwith%5Fproper%5Findoor%5Fmirror/?ref=aftermath.site). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-04-083157.png) While some mirrors are normal-sized, others are so enormous that they got me thinking so much about them that I wrote this blog To learn more about this game--which really could have been called *007 Mirrorverse*\--[I spoke with Dag Bjärum Bengtsson, Senior Technical Artist at developers IO Interactive](https://www.artstation.com/dagbjarum?ref=aftermath.site). If one person could answer my deeply specific questions about the workings and placement of a bunch of mirrors in a single video game, it'd be Bjärum. My first question was a historical one: why don't we see mirrors anymore in big video games? "Supporting functioning, good-looking mirror reflections in more modern games has become increasingly difficult with the ever-growing number of advanced rendering techniques/features which generally don’t scale or work well with having extra cameras rendering the whole world multiple times in a convincing manner", he tells me. "If a game wants mirrors it has to be prepared to make quite a big technical commitment, and there is a performance cost to them that has to be accounted for and balanced all the way from the technology side to the art implementation side." Bjärum says “many modern games”--I name-dropped *Cyberpunk* specifically when chatting with him--have not wanted to pay this cost, saying they'd rather prioritise other features, or that mirrors are rarely accounted for when scheduling for the development time needed to implement them. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-04-083534.png) When not one but multiple cutscenes are making use of the game's enormous mirrors, you know the team knew they had a good thing going The reason *First Light* is able to throw so many of them at the player is a fairly simple one: like I've already mentioned above, the Glacier engine--which powers *First Light* but also the last few *Hitman* games--has simply never stopped doing it, so IO has never had to worry about changing their processes or adjust their resource allocation. Which led me to my next question: just how do those mirrors work, exactly? "For mostly flat surfaces we have the possibility to configure a plane which describes the desired reflective object’s surface", Bjärum says. "Using the position, size and angle of this plane together with the position of the player camera, we have a secondary camera which renders the world using these parameters. The rendered image is then sampled by the material of any surface which we want the reflection to appear on." "On the technical side, a lot of the heavy optimisation work done for Hitman carried over to *007 First Light*, and in *First Light* we further enhanced them, with motion vector support so antialiasing techniques can better resolve the image, global illumination support, and more", Bjärum adds. "We also have many scalability settings to maintain stable performance across platforms.” Which answers how they work, but what I *really* wanted to know is why there are so many big mirrors in this game. By the time I was one or two hours into *First Light* I was appreciating the working mirrors, but by the time I was five to six hours in I was thinking "man, there sure are a lot of mirrors in this game". By the time there's a cutscene that directly involves Bond trying on a pair of sunglasses in a bedroom mirror, I was convinced the developers knew what they'd accomplished and were taking the piss. So I asked Bjärum: were there so many mirrors because the concept artists just imagined the world that way, or was this an enormous flex from the technical artists because the mirrors worked so well? "It came from both sides", he says. "The technical team’s confidence in the mirrors gave the artists the freedom to go big, and the artists going big pushed the technical team to keep optimising. Our artists really love the visuals of mirrors and embrace them to a very large extent, and we also have some special moments in *007 First Light* (without spoiling anything) that could not really be achieved in alignment with the vision set out by our directors without them". ### Why URL: https://aftermath.site/wwe-2k26-strauss-zelnick-take-two-dlc/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T17:34:11.000Z Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is now [a playable character in *WWE 2K26*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsWoNBW6HuI&ref=aftermath.site). I have some questions. Principally, of course, I’d like to know why 2K added one of gaming’s most [AI-confused](https://aftermath.site/take-two-strauss-zelnick-ai-grand-theft-auto/), [money-hungry](https://aftermath.site/take-two-interactive-strauss-zelnick-ftc-grand-theft-auto/) executives at all. I mean, it’s not like he has some enormous cult of personality beyond his position at Take-Two and the odd vaguely spicy interview quote. He did [release a fitness book](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/cbs-new-board-chief-is-60-has-8-percent-body-fat-1156294/?ref=aftermath.site) and go around promoting it by showing off shirtless pictures of himself with eight percent body fat, but that was back in 2018\. Plus, he’s not even shirtless in the game. Beyond that, I’m also curious as to why he was added to *WWE 2K26* with essentially no fanfare. 2K just [published a blog](https://wwe.2k.com/2k26/ringside-report/season-3/?ref=aftermath.site) about the game’s new season spotlighting four other new wrestlers—complete with [a splashy trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb0IVa1tgts&ref=aftermath.site)—but Zelnick, added at the same time, received no such red carpet. He’s not even mentioned in [the patch notes](https://support.wwe2k.com/hc/en-us/articles/52152408177939-WWE-2K26-Patch-Notes-1-12?ref=aftermath.site)! (He’s also not listed on [the game’s official roster page](https://wwe.2k.com/2k26/roster/?ref=aftermath.site), but neither are the other new additions.) Did 2K want this to function as an easter egg? Because easter eggs are supposed to feel almost intimate, like a secret shared between friends. A multimillionaire CEO is… not that. And why are Zelnick’s stats high enough that he’s [above some well-respected real-life wrestlers](https://www.reddit.com/r/WWEGames/comments/1tvui2y/comment/opkcds5/?ref=aftermath.site)? I mean, I guess you can’t portray the boss as a hapless, bumbling clown—and it’s better than the time UFC president Dana White got [added to *EA UFC* with inexplicably god-tier stats](https://kotaku.com/ea-puts-dana-white-in-ufc-3-makes-him-inexplicably-pow-1823815623?ref=aftermath.site)—but still. Most of all, why is “My Way” by Frank Sinatra Zelnick’s entrance theme? Does it hold some special significance to him personally? Or did the developers just pick it because of his whole vibe? And why does it appear to be confined only to Zelnick, meaning that it can’t be applied to other characters? [*WWE 2K26*’s player base](https://www.reddit.com/r/WWEGames/comments/1tvui2y/why%5Fis%5Fstrauss%5Fzelnick%5Fin%5Fthe%5Fgame%5Fnow/?ref=aftermath.site) is as confused as I am. Oh well, at least Zelnick—the character, not the man—isn’t costing anyone any money. ## Recommended [Company With ‘No Current Layoff Plans’ Announces Layoffs - Aftermath600 people are being laid off, while “several projects in development” have been cancelled![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-85e0d6e9-4df8-45d0-aa4d-03c068de14ac.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/strauss3-3-b6b32f6a-5b78-46cb-adc3-e8cb15b9a390.png)](https://aftermath.site/take-two-layoffs-strauss-zelnick-gta/) [CEO Of Take-Two, Reportedly Closing Two Studios, Denies Closing Two Studios - Aftermath‘We didn’t shutter those studios’, says man who clearly appears to have shuttered two studios![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-7925e176-5d56-4234-86c7-3cbf1bc67a13.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/zelnick2-3-ec4dd9fa-1db6-4c83-9f99-31f52e1d59d6.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/take-two-zelnick-layoffs-roll7-intercept/) [Fresh Off Closing Two Studios, Take-Two CEO Expresses Excitement About ‘More Sensible’ FTC Under Trump - AftermathIt was a rough time to be a guy who makes tens of millions of dollars per year, but things are looking up![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-6dd444f1-1d41-4859-ad0e-11bba3eff6c7.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/zel2-3-b08a3f16-e0e8-49d6-ac34-deb5b458739d.png)](https://aftermath.site/take-two-interactive-strauss-zelnick-ftc-grand-theft-auto/) [As A Principled Video Game Executive, I Believe AI Is ‘Metadata’ Mixed With A ‘Parlor Trick,’ And We Should Be Skeptical Of It. Then Again, Counterpoint: Never MindLife comes at you fast![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-ee633a94-6a85-449a-8222-47df01163103.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/strauss3-fe553f4d-884f-4234-b52c-58c6cb395bd8.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/take-two-strauss-zelnick-ai-grand-theft-auto/) ### How Many Episodes Is One Episode? URL: https://aftermath.site/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you-mini-episodes-crunchyroll/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T13:06:41.000Z I’ve seen some pretty peculiar ways for companies to preview their new jawns, but the way Crunchyroll has opted to drop [Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You](https://aftermath.site/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you-is-a-cozy-rom-com-manga/) early feels like a Rube Goldberg machine. [*Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You*](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GT00378116/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you?ref=aftermath.site) is slated to premiere in July. When? Well, as far as I know, that information won’t be made public until closer to the actual premiere, which is a strange choice. According to Crunchyroll, the show will “officially premiere as part of Crunchyroll’s Summer anime lineup this July, with new episodes streaming weekly.” But if you were to go to the orange streamer now, you’d see that the show is out. Twelve “mini” episodes, in fact. What, pray tell, is a mini episode? I’ll let Crunchyroll PR answer that. “Ahead of the series’ official July simulcast launch, the first 12 mini-episodes of the highly anticipated slice-of-life anime are now available to stream, giving fans an early look at one of the season’s most charming and quietly anticipated new series,” Crunchyroll said in a press release These short-form episodes are approximately 10 minutes each and present Episode 1-6 of the upcoming TV broadcast version in chronological order, ahead of the series’ July premiere.” > i've made a slight mistake > > Episodes 7-12 will be aired weekly, the 12 mini eps (Episodes 1-6) are the only episodes that are formatted as mini episodes, so after this special premiere batch that got released today, there will be no more mini episodes > > Basically, we have to… [https://t.co/zSGRhTTOsP](https://t.co/zSGRhTTOsP?ref=aftermath.site) > > — d0nut2x (@d0nut2x) [June 3, 2026](https://x.com/d0nut2x/status/2062315908182253772?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) In layman’s terms, one episode, which includes the show’s opening and closing theme song, is technically half an episode. Sure, getting a show early that you’re excited about, like *Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You*, is fun, but doing it so piecemeal kind of baffles the mind. It’s giving drug dealers’ patented “the first one’s free” to ensure you’ll come back for more. But the whole thing is honestly giving [manga-reading apps](https://aftermath.site/heres-the-dumb-shit-you-have-to-put-up-with-to-read-manga-these-days/) with catalogs riddled with half (and sometimes quarter) chapters with their [microtransaction-based ticketing system](https://kotaku.com/square-enix-manga-up-censorship-fullmetal-alchemist-1849343498?ref=aftermath.site). So, again, why? ![Crunchyroll Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You mini-episodes.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you--2-.jpg) Asahi Production / Crunchyroll I can understand doing this kind of drop on YouTube as a way to get folks interested. If I were to put on my marketing hat for a moment, I would’ve probably called these smoke break drops since their runtimes are about as long as what jobsites would allot workers to duck out and take a couple of drags before getting back to the grindstone. Having read the manga, I can see how the show's pacing is basically centered on its lovebirds meeting up to shoot the shit after their respective workdays, so it makes sense thematically. Likewise, the logic of splitting episodes up and doing a cutesy little rollout like this on a platform like YouTube makes sense. After all, YouTube is increasingly becoming the place for shows like [*Akane-banashi*](https://aftermath.site/akane-banashi-shonen-jump-manga-anime/)to premiere [full episodes ahead of its streaming premiere](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn96tor13pY&t=3s&pp=ygUNYWthbmUgYmFuYXNoaQ%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site). But Crunchyroll got a little too cute. It did mini-episodes on its website, not the ubiquitous and accessible YouTube. Why? Although this is [far from the most frustrating anime drop](https://aftermath.site/anime-manga-disney-jail-netflix-fragrant-flower/) I’ve had to endure for a show, dropping six episodes in 12 “mini episodes” on the streamer that requires you to [pay to watch anything at any of its tiers](https://gizmodo.com/crunchyroll-will-start-paywalling-one-piece-anime-arcs-behind-premium-subscriptions-2000532930?ref=aftermath.site) feels like an overly complicated way to preview a show when they could’ve just released it normally, y’know? Imagine if HBO Max or Netflix did this with *Game of Thrones* or *Stranger Things*. People’d be pissed. It’s giving Dubai ice cream man playing in your face. I ordered a 24-year-old alt chick teasing a tired, hot, old man who can’t handle all that. Just serve me the ice cream, dude. > The batch release sucks but wow [pic.twitter.com/t53MgmPW8y](https://t.co/t53MgmPW8y?ref=aftermath.site) > > — dontbetaken (@dontbetaken1) [June 3, 2026](https://x.com/dontbetaken1/status/2062240603337814292?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Crunchyroll’s *Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You* mini-episodes are giving anime theatrical premieres of the first[ three episodes of a new show weeks before its premiere](https://gizmodo.com/jujutsu-kaisen-execution-review-culling-game-gkids-2000695768?ref=aftermath.site), leaving fans to sit on their hands until the show’s official release catches up to where their movie sneak peek ended. While I’ll never turn down seeing Tayama teasing Sasaki, I’d rather experience it in a full episode than whatever this mini-episode drop was. Thanks, but no thanks. ## Recommended [Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You Is A Cozy Rom-Com MangaNow that’s what I call a good slow burn romance![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-58f43591-c96d-4055-a2a3-b3ccbcbf5af7.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Smoking-Behind-the-Supermarket-With-You-3c74f15d-9b5d-4a84-9283-2c19b5cdf96a.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/smoking-behind-the-supermarket-with-you-is-a-cozy-rom-com-manga/) ### You Lost Me At 'We Leverage AI Tools To Help Our Teams Iterate On Ideas' URL: https://aftermath.site/tomb-raider-ai/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T01:13:53.000Z Shortly after the release of a new trailer for the upcoming *Tomb Raider* remake, *Legacy of Atlantis*, some folks spotted on[ the game's Steam page](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3558670/Tomb%5FRaider%5FLegacy%5Fof%5FAtlantis/?ref=aftermath.site) that there was a disclaimer outlining the team's use of AI in its development. It reads: > AI-assisted tools were used during development to support some early exploration and temporary development content. Any AI-assisted assets were either replaced or refined by humans in order to maintain the creative and artistic vision of the development team. No thanks! I feel like we've been[ through this](https://aftermath.site/the-alters-ai-controversy/), a[ bunch of times](https://aftermath.site/this-is-where-my-anno-117-impressions-were-going-to-go/) now, but it bears repeating: I don't want AI-generated content *anywhere* in my video games, but I *especially* don't want it anywhere near things that can be described as "creative and artistic". One of the great delusions with the AI bubble is that[ the executive class feel compelled](https://aftermath.site/ai-video-game-development-art-vibe-coding-midjourney/) to argue that its implementation is about eliminating waste, cutting corners, streamlining processes, no matter where and no matter the cost. And one of the great battlegrounds in the fight against the adoption of AI tech is that, when it comes to art– even the most mundane aspects of it--there are no corners to cut. The iterating is the point. One of the real joys of this medium is that, as chaotic and broken as the development process can be, video games are works of art. Every line of dialogue, every wooden crate, every colour palette you see in a game is the result of decisions made by a person, drawing on their own ideas and values and collaborations with their colleagues. And those things you're seeing in a game didn't just magically appear there. They were workshopped, improved on, drawn up then thrown out then drawn up again. That's the artistic process; it's how everything we've ever made as humans has been made. That's how it works! You can't cut corners on *ideas*! It'd be like me asking ChatGPT to provide an outline of this blog, then me saying I'd gone over it and made some edits, added an extra paragraph or two; I could put my byline on it and add a disclaimer, but...this wouldn't be my blog anymore. I realise we don't know the degree to which the team have made use of this tech; it could have been extensive, it could have been used on a single lamppost. But in many ways that makes it even worse;[ like I said with *The Alters*](https://aftermath.site/the-alters-ai-controversy/), the suspicion and uncertainty over AI's presence in a game is exhausting in its own right. In response to swift backlash online, co-developers Crystal Dynamics[ provided a statement to Eurogamer](https://www.eurogamer.net/tomb-raider-legacy-of-atlantis-comes-with-an-ai-disclaimer?ref=aftermath.site) that basically repeated the disclaimer: > At Crystal Dynamics, we leverage AI tools to help our teams iterate on ideas faster and more efficiently, while ensuring that all finished content in the final product is human-crafted. Our goal is to empower the creativity and flexibility of our developers to deliver the highest-quality experiences for players everywhere. Come on, your goal is to cut corners and save some cash, maybe lay off some artists down the line. You could at least be honest about it. ### OK, But Do We Really Think All Those Games Are Gonna Come Out In September? URL: https://aftermath.site/september-video-game-releases-wolverine-onimusha-control/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T17:35:45.000Z After a few of the many, many trailers shown during [yesterday’s PlayStation State Of Play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvyezhN16IU&ref=aftermath.site), a theme began to emerge: September. It seems that everyone in the games industry suddenly remembered the 21st night of September and all the others besides, with a whopping ten major releases set for the humble month and another six on the way during its annual sequel, October. Obviously, publishers are terrified of *Grand Theft Auto VI*, the [sleeping behemoth](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/) that wakes in November. But surely somebody’s gonna blink before it’s all said and done, right? Here’s the full list of major games now scheduled to come out during September: - *The Blood Of The Dawnwalker* – September 3 - *Halloween: The Game* – September 8 - *Phantom Blade Zero* – September 9 - *Marvel’s Wolverine* – September 15 - *Trails In The Sky 2nd Chapter* – September 17 - *Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV* – September 17 - *Dune Awakening* (console) – September 22 - *Control Resonant* – September 24 - *Silent Hill: Townfall* – September 24 - *Onimusha: Way of the Sword* – September 25 And just for fun, here’s a selection from October, too: - *Rayman Legends Retold* – October 1 - *Dynasty Warriors 3 Remastered* – October 1 - *Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve* – October 2 - *Star Wars: Galactic Racer* – October 6 - *Planet Zoo 2* – October 13 - *Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4* – October 23 Now, many of these games cater to different audiences, and you don’t have to buy every game—even ones you’re looking forward to—[on the day they come out](https://bsky.app/profile/rowan.monster/post/3mndt734bdk24?ref=aftermath.site). In fact, it often makes more sense to wait for a sale, especially when you’re dealing with triple-A price tags. Still, this is the kind of pileup we haven’t seen in years, and I would have to imagine that at least a few of these games wind up getting delayed into the following months—or to early 2027, to once again avoid a potentially disastrous clash with *GTA VI*. Further, I cannot help but consider the current industry climate; if any one of these games falls short of—or, in some cases, even meets—sales expectations, layoffs and other grim knock-on effects are likely. However, given the shortsightedness with which companies are incentivized to operate, delays could produce similar outcomes. Not ideal no matter how you slice it! Perhaps one especially bold publisher will move their game into November, a wintry dead zone outside of *GTA VI*. I’m not counting on it, but you know what they say about desperate times. ## Recommended [The Need For GTA 6’s Success Is A Symptom Of A Broken Industry - AftermathWhat more is there to give the game that has everything![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-55b6b813-8405-43d6-8a95-2066223e5bf1.png)AftermathJoshua Rivera![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/jason_and_lucia_01_landscape-1-3-2117571f-3692-4976-95f5-40e5a6cbdf8c.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/) ### 007 First Light Can Make A Good Cup Of Coffee (And Tea!) URL: https://aftermath.site/007-first-light-graphics-lighting/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T17:35:15.000Z Because I am[ no longer capable of playing video games like a normal human being](https://aftermath.site/like-a-dragon-infinite-wealth-coffee/), when I fired up *007 First Light* earlier this week to ostensibly play as a globe-trotting secret agent, I instead quickly found myself poking around its kitchens and break rooms looking at how everyone in the game was making their coffee. And I'm pleased to report that, for the most part, everyone in this game is doing just fine! Maybe better than fine. Cast your eyes on these excellent espresso machines: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/20260528143116_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-080713.png) There are two variants of the same espresso machine found throughout the game. On the left is the home/office version, while on the right is a bigger, three-grouphead machine used in cafes and restaurants That's a good espresso machine! It's got fictional in-game branding, and with buttons along the top in logical places, and a big lever for the steam wand. It looks very functional as well. The portafilter looks great, having cups on top being warmed by the boiler is also a nice touch and, with a hot water dispenser present and a pressure gauge on the front, I get the impression that whoever worked on this actually knew how an espresso machine worked, unlike those found in[ some other video games](https://aftermath.site/starfields-coffee-situation-is-dire/). [Coffee expert Jesse Raub](https://bsky.app/profile/jesseraub.online?ref=aftermath.site) helpfully tells me that the machine appears to be very closely based on[ La Speziale's Mini Vivaldi II](https://espressooutlet.com/products/la-spaziale-mini-vivaldi-ii-espresso-machine?ref=aftermath.site), which might explain why it works so well. One of the biggest issues with so many other games’ coffee machines is that they're often nonsensical, collections of random buttons and visual cues that might present something that looks like an espresso machine at a glance, but which up close reveals itself to be something that simply wouldn't be able to make coffee. In this case, by just seeming to base *First Light's* machine on a real one, that problem is easily avoided! My only criticism, then, is down to either the art team or, more likely, the game's inhabitants themselves. What's the big bag of coffee doing there if there's no grinder? If those are beans, you're not going to be able to use them, and if it's pre-ground coffee, purchased with the intent of using it in an expensive espresso machine, you have fucked up. THAT SAID: I have seen too many workplaces and homes where people have splashed out on an espresso machine and then had no intent on learning how to use it properly, so while having a 1kg bag of ground coffee is a very bad idea (not only will it not extract properly in the machine, but it'll go stale REAL fast), it's also something I can absolutely see being included in the various homes and offices you see this setup in throughout the game regardless. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/20260528143122_1.jpg) Gains Those who prefer their coffee dripping all morning and tasting like an ashtray are also being looked out for, as the game also includes good old-fashioned drip coffee machines. Presumably the above is for use by the same character who has the blender and protein shakes everywhere, because for them, the joys of taste and flavour are secondary to crunching numbers and maximising gains (in this case, caffeine intake). Below is an example of another one of these 'cup of Joe' stations in action; not only does it feature a different colour scheme on the machines, which is a nice touch, but we can see the pots themselves as well, along with some sugar. This looks exactly like you'd expect a workplace coffee setup to look! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/20260528153611_1.jpg) If you think this looks like shit, don't worry, the rest of this SAS barracks looks even worse Actually, while we're here looking at screenshots from kitchens, can I quickly mention how nice the kitchen is in this safehouse? Architecture in video games is nearly always prioritising space and level design, and so rarely comes across as being something "real" or even liveable, but this kitchen looks exactly like the kind of kitchen you'd expect from an expensive London apartment. The scale of it, the amount of storage, the bench space, the appliances; this absolutely looks like something you'd see in an aspirational architecture or interior design video, so good job! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/20260528143053_1.jpg) Also very impressive: the lighting in this game Wonderfully, the game doesn't just make a couple of machines and call it a day. There are more! Not too far into the campaign Bond finds himself in a smuggler's marketplace in the Mauritania desert where the locals, short on amenities in the rusting hulks of old cargo ships, are brewing themselves cups of coffee (and tea, more on that soon) on stovetops: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-080957.png) The Aleph level is full of little stovetops like this, serving both tea and coffee Later in the game, situated in the dystopian corporate offices of a military arms manufacturer, we have an example of an automatic coffee machine (which grinds, stores milk and produces loads of different types of coffee at the press of a button), the ideal coffee solution for a company that values aesthetics and perceived cost[ over the actual quality of the coffee being produced](https://www.tomsguide.com/home/coffee-makers/im-an-espresso-machine-reviewer-but-id-never-buy-a-superautomatic-machine-for-myself-heres-why?ref=aftermath.site). Again, this looks real and workable, a sign that the art team knows their coffee, or at least cared enough to do some research on how coffee machines worked before making some for the game. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-081437.png) Please remember to keep your fresh milk in the fridge Note that these cold, glistening halls aren’t just home to expensively terrible coffee machines that are pretending to make passable coffee, they’re also home to even more terrible coffee machines that don’t even bother. There aren’t many of these to be found in the game, but when you find one of these 7-Eleven-ass units, you just know the security guards and cleaners on this floor are having a very bad time. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-02-192805.png) Espresso con panna? How do they get the whipped cream in there?! All of which is leading me to my favourite device in the game, and the one that shows IO's artists *really* knew what they were doing when it came to making *First Light's* coffee: Q's manual espresso machine (below). Every other unit in the game (outside the desert stovetop kettles) makes coffee electrically; it's either got computer programming or, at the very least, needs power, circuits and/or motors to work. This lovingly-maintained antique relies solely on physics and that big lever, which is used to push pressurised water through the coffee. To have it in the game at all is neat. To have it belong to Q, a man whose job is literally building the latest gadgets, while trapped in a game whose story centres around the dangers of adopting and trusting in modern technology, is a very nice touch. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Screenshot-2026-06-03-074405.png) You can absolutely buy more modern iterations on this classic design, but this is clearly an antique I love all of this! The reason I like peering into this one particular subject of set dressing over and over is not just that I've become an insufferable coffee weirdo in middle age; it's that checking out how closely the art team pays attention to coffee can serve as a window into how they feel about decorating the rest of the game. If, like me, you find yourself spending hours poking your nose into a game's quieter corners, admiring the craft and the work that's gone into them, it can be *so rewarding* to find that world to appear real and lived-in, full of secrets and flourishes, especially when it concerns something you're interested in! For me that's coffee, but I can also tell that *007* is full of detailed stuff for all kinds of sickos, from audio visual nerds to book collectors. I'd be remiss to let this blog end without an acknowledgement that, while there's plenty of coffee to go around, the game is largely set in the UK, and so there are still lots of options for tea-drinkers as well. A particular favourite of mine is this office setup at MI6, which aside from the 'Your Nan's House' decorations on the teapot and cups is again very fully realised. There's multiple varieties of tea, there are spoons, there's some sugar, a kettle (not sure where it's plugged into, but whatever) and, most importantly of all, some bikkies. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/20260528114812_1.jpg) "Will England Take The Ashes?" [No, no they will not](https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/australia-seal-4-1-ashes-win-in-sydney?ref=aftermath.site) All in all, a great job! And testament to a level of detail that you see throughout *First Light*. As you'd maybe expect from the folks who made *Hitman*, the entire game is full of quiet spaces that are begging to be explored, and I've been having as much fun checking out newspaper headlines and listening in on fake radio broadcasts of the[ Manchester Derby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester%5Fderby?ref=aftermath.site) as I have knocking dudes unconscious. ### Yeah, That’s A Life Sim Alright URL: https://aftermath.site/paralives-the-sims-life-sim/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T13:23:15.000Z *Paralives*, an indie life sim, came out in early access last week. It’s pretty much exactly like *The Sims*, except a little bit worse. I will say it’s incredibly impressive that such a small team—according to the *Paralives* website, the team is just [fifteen people, and the game was primarily funded through Patreon](https://www.paralives.com/?ref=aftermath.site)—was able to create a legible life simulator. It’s a task that all but defeated Paradox, [which canceled *Life By You* in 2024](https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/media/life-by-you-is-cancelled?ref=aftermath.site). *InZoi*, developed by Korean video game publisher Krafton and also in early access, honestly isn’t very fun to play. The actual life simulation felt clunky and without much texture, and the build mode was so frustrating that I ended up not using it—not to mention that [Krafton used generative AI during the development process](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2456740/inZOI/?ref=aftermath.site). In comparison, *Paralives* is an obvious success, despite being a little buggy given that it’s early access. I can happily build a house, create a character (or Para, in the parlance of the game), get a job, make friends, get married and explore a small town. The only problem is that it feels almost like a direct copy of *The Sims*, but without the depth of gameplay. I hope that this early access release can help the *Paralives* team free themselves from their obvious inspiration, because in its current state the things that are unique and interesting get buried by the stuff that clearly comes from *The Sims*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Maggie-Diagram-Tool-1.webp) Image Source: Paralives When you start a game, you’re asked to pick a storyteller that will guide the narrative in your gameplay. What this amounts to is that, every night when your Para goes to sleep, the storyteller offers you a series of cards that add buffs, bonuses or events for the next day. This does give the player daily goals, but these cards aren’t all that impactful to gameplay, and the system feels shallow. Sure, getting four random wants for my Para does give me a concrete series of activities to pursue. But the range of those wants is limited to things like “flirt” or “get a snack” or “get a bonus at work,” and worst of all, they’re fairly repetitive. Also, “wants,” a series of randomly rolled things your character wants to do that day, are another system from *The Sims*, this one from *The Sims 2*. The game is kind of an open world, like *The Sims 3*, except when you want to enter a lot. Then the entire game grinds to a halt to load that location, which feels like a bad compromise between the discrete neighborhoods of *The Sims 4* and the truly chuggy and badly optimized open world of *3*. The build mode is a direct rip from *The Sims 4*, complete with walls you draw and then push and pull. The Paramaker is uncannily like Create-A-Sim in its presentation, though the game has sliders instead of allowing the player to directly grab parts of a Sim’s body and mold them. Paras also have meters for their needs which must be fulfilled and speak a gibberish language not unlike Simlish. The art style is different enough, pleasantly evoking illustrations from a storybook, but in practice it makes the game just feel like *The Sims* wearing a different skin. The conversation system is where the game diverges the most, and it’s the system I like the most. Instead of selecting conversation topics from a radial wheel, Paras enter a conversation and when a meter fills up, the player can select a conversation topic from three or four random cards. It’s here that I finally feel like the Paras come alive a little. You’re not always going to get the conversation topics you want to raise the friendship or romantic relationships between Paras, and each card will contribute towards each Para’s current mood. It’s hard to make things flirty if you keep getting cards related to friendship—but that’s the kind of texture that makes a life sim interesting to play. The key to a good life sim isn’t just giving players everything they want, but introducing a little bit of chaos into their well-made plans. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/LiveMode7--4k-.webp) Image Source: Paralives My Para, Cherry Palmer, has a Gloomy disposition, meaning she’s sad a lot of the time, but is also predisposed towards romantic interactions. When Paras flirt, players are shown the percentage chance of the action being successful, and my god does Cherry ever eat shit when she wants to flirt. After embarrassing herself dozens of times, she finally managed to flirt successfully with a townie named Vincent, and even asked him to move in. It was a truly engaging saga, for a moment. Then I went into build mode to make my house bigger, and I felt like I was playing an off brand *The Sims* again. What a non-*Sims* life sim would look like is, right now, an unanswered question, so it's hard to fault *Paralives* for hewing closely to the most successful game in the genre. How else would you visualize the cleanliness of a Para other than a meter that fills up and then drains? It’s just that by cribbing so many features from *The Sims*, I cannot help but think of that game when I play *Paralives*, and lament the things *Paralives* does not yet have. (Just like [*The Sims 4* on launch](https://www.polygon.com/2014/6/26/5847212/the-sims-4-no-pools-toddlers-outrage/?ref=aftermath.site), this early access version of *Paralives* doesn’t have pools or swimming,[ though the team says these features will come further along in early access](https://www.paralives.com/development?ref=aftermath.site).) I hope as they continue to add features, they lean into the things that are unique to *Paralives* and develop a language of life simulation that feels uniquely their own. [The New Battlestar Galactica Game RulesThe show and roguelikes are a perfect fit![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-72dbfd9a-81db-4a8a-8888-031b6416cc24.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-05-15-144143-8ddf18a8-e456-4946-93eb-53b1251d5e65.png)](https://aftermath.site/battlestar-galactica-scattered-hopes-review/) ### 82-0 Is The Basketball Game For Our Times URL: https://aftermath.site/82-0-free-basketball-game-browser/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T00:55:35.000Z If you want to play a video game recreating the sport of basketball, your only real option these days is 2K's *NBA* series, [which is a casino-like experience so exploitative and bereft of joy that I would only wish it on my worst enemies](https://kotaku.com/nba-2k23-2k-review-kotaku-mycareer-impressions-myteam-1849528793?ref=aftermath.site). If you want to play a video game recreating the experience of being a basketball fan on the internet, however, [you should try playing *82-0*](https://www.82-0.com/?ref=aftermath.site). A browser game that says it's from 2025 but which has blown up online just this week, it works like this: you roll the dice to generate lists of players who were on the rosters of teams in a certain decade ("Cleveland in the 2010s, "Boston in the 1980s", etc) then have to draft a starting five, picking one player per roll. Once you pick a player that's it, that position is filled, so if a subsequent roll gets you a better player at the same position, tough. Let's say you roll Denver in the 2020s first-up: do you grab Jokic, an *extremely* good basketball player, or do you hope that you can roll the Sixers or Lakers later on and get Wilt, an even *better* centre (for the statistical purposes of this game), instead? And if you do that, who else do you pick from the 2020s Nuggets, because you have to pick *someone*? Jamal Murray? But you might get the 2010s Warriors later, gah! While settling for "extremely good" players instead of "the best of all-time" might work in most fantasy scenarios, what stings about 82-0 is that the stated aim of the experience is that you build a roster that can go a whole NBA regular season undefeated. The closest an actual team has come to that were the Warriors in 2015-16, when they went 73-9, and that's a record that might never be broken, because in a league where parity is key and [the bounce of a basketball can be cruel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75iExVNvrWw&ref=aftermath.site), it's almost impossible to have everything go your way across *82* games. I'm thinking it's almost impossible to achieve in this game, too, because the closest I've come today--*82-0* takes the stats of your roster and crunches them to generate a simulated W-L record--is 71-11 with a squad featuring Steph, Charles Barkley *and* Luka: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/Capture.PNG) So yeah, it's hard! Brutal, even! Because no matter how lucky you get with your draws on some all-timers, you'll usually end up stuck with a squad that has at least one Regular Guy on it (the roster above is the *only* one I've ever made that doesn't), and that's enough to bring your stats down to the point where you lose some games. Which is fine, because I don't think the point here is to actually go 82-0 (though some have obviously achieved this). The real fun here is comparing your squads, arguing about the rules, debating the stats and boasting about your talent assessment, all hallmarks of modern, online NBA fandom. If there was just some way to complain about flopping and the refs it would be *perfect*. [NBA fans should check *82-0* out here](https://www.82-0.com/?ref=aftermath.site), and if you're into it, please note the pop-up you'll get pretty early on about server costs and [if you can spare a buck or two to help out](https://ko-fi.com/82and0?ref=aftermath.site)! ### I Love Da Cube URL: https://aftermath.site/god-of-war-laufey-cube-ps5/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T03:20:18.000Z Today Sony [revealed a new *God Of War*](https://blog.playstation.com/2026/06/02/first-look-at-god-of-war-laufey/?ref=aftermath.site), which stars Laufey, Kratos’ wife who died at the start of the 2018 game. It looks like another modern *God Of War*, which is to say gorgeous and dour. But the series has never been entirely bereft of humor, and this one seems to be leaning into that element in a big, boxy way: There is a talking gelatinous cube. It rams into things in a way that mostly seems to annoy them. I think it’s great. The cube’s name is Phranque, an objectively stupid name that I nonetheless enjoy in this specific context. He’s voiced ([and mocapped](https://bsky.app/profile/duckvalentine.bsky.social/post/3mndncwz4bs2h?ref=aftermath.site)!) by *The Boys* star and reasonably likable nepo baby Jack Quaid. Laufey meets him while imprisoned in a giant bone cage, alongside what appears to be a talking sword, but which is actually a talking ribbon sticking out of said sword, named Rue (played by Perlina Lau). Already, there’s been discourse online about how a) *God Of War* stars a woman now, woe are the many babies who actually hate both women and video games, but more importantly b) the cube. Some contend that it looks out of place in this otherwise muddy, bloody afterlife setting and that Jack Quaid’s line reads, so far, sound a little Marvel-y. I cannot deny these prospective criticisms of a game that—let’s not forget—doesn’t even have a release date yet. But watching the trailer, I was absolutely entranced not by the brutal balletics of a boss battle against a red demon, but instead by the cube wobbling along beside and behind it. Then, as if to add insult to the injury of Laufey’s sword strikes, the cube would crash into the back of the boss with the ferocity of an untouched, slightly spoiled Jell-O mold. Nobody really acknowledges this as Laufey and the boss trade ill-intentioned blows and words, which in my opinion makes it better. Laufey nearly hews the dude in half, and then—for good measure—gelatinous cube comes in with a follow up boop. It is the gentle rhythm of slapstick, a dying art resurrected. Fitting for a game about someone who’s supposed to be dead. Put simply, I love da cube. If you don’t, too bad. There is joy to be found in this world, but only if you’re willing to seek out its goopiest corners. ## Recommended [Is Arm Hair The New Horse TesticlesAttention to detail reaches new heights![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-ec1a0bee-79b1-410c-9ccd-b6c5830c3522.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-06-02-at-5.14.11---PM-0b83f7ca-df11-47a6-8f9d-ef1e97f731b0.png)](https://aftermath.site/wolverine-arm-hair-playstation/) ### Is Arm Hair The New Horse Testicles URL: https://aftermath.site/wolverine-arm-hair-playstation/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T21:59:51.000Z Insomniac showed more gameplay from its upcoming *Wolverine* during PlayStation's State of Play on Tuesday, and while I expected the [buckets of blood](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiBo%5FNgYI5Q&ref=aftermath.site), I was truly surprised by the buckets of arm hair we saw on the game's rendition of Wolverine. I'm not complaining– I get that Wolverine is canonically a hairy guy, and I appreciate the attention to detail on a character players will spend the entire game staring at. But I wasn't prepared for the sight of *each individual hair*, so attentively rendered, flowing along Wolverine's shoulders and forearms. I do a lot of thinking about my own personal shoulder hair--what middle-aged man doesn't--but picturing a bunch of professional artists spending so much time on an imaginary guy's shoulder hair is kind of blowing my mind. It reminds me of how, when *Red Dead Redemption 2* released in 2018, a lot of attention was paid to the fact its [horses had balls that shrank and expanded with the weather](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/you-are-error-horses-red-dead-redemption-2-horse-testicles/). That felt like an attention to detail that was both impressive and excessive, too much [labor](https://kotaku.com/inside-rockstar-games-culture-of-crunch-1829936466?ref=aftermath.site) for something so inconsequential while at the same time being a symbol of the heights of realism the game was reaching toward. A Marvel game doesn't have the need for the same kind of nitty-gritty, but it's clearly a game that wants to thoughtfully portray its characters and make you feel their physicality, and I think the arm hair really pulls that off. I'm sure arm hair is a lot easier to manage than horse balls, both for the video game on a technical level and for the game's artists to create. And it still conveys the kind of not-strictly-necessary attention to detail that makes a video game feel big budget. My vote is in: arm hair for horse testicles. It's a win for everyone. ### Backrooms' Biggest Scare Is Capitalism URL: https://aftermath.site/backrooms-movie-parsons-youtube/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T19:26:15.000Z During the famous ending of Michelangelo Antonioni's 1962 film *L'eclisse*, the film’s two young protagonists disappear from the movie. The camera moves around to different spots in the area of Rome we have seen them occupy at various points throughout–buildings, construction sites, parks, roads and bus stops–but without them present. The frame feels strangely empty and sterile, like the meaning has been scrubbed from the film. The soundtrack becomes increasingly discordant. Random people we haven't seen before glance around anxiously at things off frame, as if something is about to happen. But it never does, and night falls. Whatever this unease we feel–alienation, nuclear anxiety–it overwhelms everything around it, and it cannot be expressed in words. The mid 20th century modern post-war period brought about an increasing sense of alienation and dread that a lot of art of the time, like *L'eclisse*, tapped into. Looking at those unsettling Roman streets, you can feel a strange sort of connection to something happening in this very moment: the 2020s internet phenomenon known as "liminal horror," and particularly The Backrooms. [The original, anonymously-authored 2019 4chan meme post](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FBackrooms?ref=aftermath.site) The Backrooms comes from sets this fictional space up as something you might randomly get sucked into if you're unlucky enough to stumble upon a fissure in the world around you. When you do, you "noclip" out of our reality, just like in a video game when your character's collision with an object or wall fails. You then end up in some sort of purgatory: an infinite void zone filled with yellow wallpaper and carpeting that looks like the back of a furniture store from the 90s. The contours of this zone are completely unpredictable, there also are monsters wandering them, and there may or may not be any real way to escape. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/MV5BZWExODk3ZTAtODU2NS00YzJjLWFkNGUtZjE3NzdiYjBhMjAwXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_-1.jpg) [The Backrooms YouTube series](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVAh-MgDVqvDUEq6qDXqORBioE4Yhol%5Fz&ref=aftermath.site) This meme image came out of a larger phenomena of liminal spaces–the everyday, mundane transitional places in our man-made environments. They are the hallways, the atriums, the lobbies, the waiting rooms where we move from one space to the next. There is also a distinct feeling of lost nostalgia to these spaces. Search for “liminal spaces” online and you'll frequently see images of children's play rooms, playground structures, swimming pools, hotels, or old shopping malls. Games like [*Dreamcore*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2453060/Dreamcore/?ref=aftermath.site) or [*POOLS*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2663530/POOLS/?ref=aftermath.site) heavily utilize these kinds of spaces for their own subgenre of horror; while these spaces are often associated with leisure and fun, they turn into a blank slate when any trace of playfulness is removed. The blurry VHS aesthetic these often get paired with makes them feel like a memory passed on of an era (usually the 90s) that no longer exists, removed of people and meaning: a past we can no longer return to. To me, it's impossible to separate this phenomenon from the slightly earlier one of dead mall exploration videos, embodied online by Dan Bell's [Dead Mall Series](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQR2aM62yrw&list=PLNz4Un92pGNxQ9vNgmnCx7dwchPJGJ3IQ&ref=aftermath.site). You can also see it in the dissociative, chopped-up vibrations of pop culture past that’s present in earlier Vaporwave music, most famously Macintosh Plus (aka Vektroid)’s [2011 album *Floral Shoppe*](https://vektroid.bandcamp.com/album/floral-shoppe?ref=aftermath.site). These are native internet cultural phenomena born from information overload, trying to grapple with and recontextualize the endless amount of waste left behind by consumer society of the not-so-distant past. The tropes of noclipping out of the world, and of large halls stalked by scary monsters, are also clearly taken from the world of video games, particularly indie horror games. All of this makes The Backrooms and liminal horror a compelling sci-fi premise, because they work with this strange feeling of nostalgic unease you can experience seeing images of these spaces. But like many forms of art native to the internet, the premise often diverges into a shallow background vibe for cheap spooks, or it falls face first down the rabbit hole of generating endless labyrinthine lore details for the sake of it. This makes it hard to examine what comes out of this space as art that might try to say something specific, rather than just memery intended for highly insular communities. [The critical](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/slender%5Fman?ref=aftermath.site) and [audience failure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpoB4BCVmM&ref=aftermath.site) of 2018’s [*Slender Man* film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender%5FMan%5F%28film%29?ref=aftermath.site), an adaptation of the popular [Slender Man internet horror meme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender%5FMan?ref=aftermath.site), perhaps only just added to the sentiment that these internet- driven art projects, especially ones so collaboratively conceptualized as The Backrooms, might not ever effectively translate over to a traditional mass-market movie without losing a bunch in the process. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/06/103ce561dffdce9bf3b81271aefee58f02ee12d46e413d3a.jpg) [Dreamcore](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2453060/Dreamcore/?ref=aftermath.site) Enter twenty year old Kane Parsons (aka Kane Pixels)'s [*Backrooms* YouTube series](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4dGpz6cnHo&list=PLVAh-MgDVqvDUEq6qDXqORBioE4Yhol%5Fz&ref=aftermath.site) and the A24-released film adaptation, also directed by Parsons. The series and film do exist to please audiences clambering for new lore about a world originally conjured by a 4chan post, but Parsons adds a lot of his own spin. The film opts for a, to be honest, not particularly well-realized character study in a bid for more mainstream accessibility, while the series prefers to keep things more cryptic. But both at least seem to be genuinely interested in grappling with what this meme might represent in a broader cultural sense. The YouTube series nonlinearly traces a bunch of different characters' interactions with this space. Much of what they encounter happened in the 90s, from found footage of unwitting innocents who happened to be carrying cameras with them when they got thrown into The Backrooms, to employees of a scientific research institute called The Async Corporation who are trying to study the contours of this space. The YouTube series seems most interested in the space as a main character, unlike the film, and the videos exploring it in greater detail are where the series is at its peak. Nearly all of this series’ reality is convincingly modeled in Blender and 'filmed' with Adobe After Effects by Parsons himself, an impressive technical feat. What Parsons' series gets right more than anything, though, is open-endedness: The Backrooms are almost an empty container for so many anxieties we have about both the recent past and the present. They're reminiscent of dream spaces, where you might find new hidden rooms in your old childhood home. The found footage videos feel like urban exploration videos of abandoned places the cameraperson is not supposed to be in. The monsters you see are similar to anomalies you might see in ghost hunting tv shows, often presented in grainy footage. The mysterious supernatural ways the space operates feels like The Zone from the novel *Roadside Picnic* and the *Stalker* film and game adaptations. Like The Zone, The Backrooms might serve as a pathway to some kind of profound scientific or spiritual realization, or they might more likely just be a place to waste your time and get lost forever. This also speaks to the isolation of life on the internet, where we're increasingly inundated with endless heaps of meaningless information and it’s easy to lose yourself down various rabbit holes. But what's really distinct about The Backrooms from other supernatural spaces is they look so deeply mundane, and so man-made. Parsons said [in a recent interview with horror producer/director James Wan for A24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCK6KI7yQ10&ref=aftermath.site) that, to him, The Backrooms represent mediocrity. People falling through space into this zone could just embody a feeling of being stuck in general, in dead end corporate office jobs and suburban sprawl. Nineties media was inundated with stories capturing the inherent alienation of corporate office spaces–from *Office Space* to *The Matrix*–, which makes it a fruitful period of time for The Backrooms series and movie to be set in. In our present, it echoes a culture that feels so utterly stuck inside nostalgia for corporate products of the past that it can only seemingly endlessly reproduce more of what's already existed, to diminishing returns. So in The Backrooms we have this big garbage dump, this hoarder's house for the entire world's population just spat out incoherently and haphazardly. It's deeply grotesque but also deeply bland, the end result of a culture that creates massive amounts of pointless waste. And it feels totally alien and inhuman as a result. I distinctly remember the fields around where I grew up in rural Ohio in the 90s as a child suddenly being taken over in the 00s with strangely half-formed, cookie cutter housing complexes that seemed to endlessly reproduce like cancerous cells. I would often wonder who was living in these places while driving by. Generation Z grew up in the moment of these spaces overtaking everything, cheaply constructed and sitting there half-occupied. And now everything, including the internet, with its nonsense algorithms and oceans of AI-generated slop, increasingly resembles them. The existence of The Backrooms feel like the obvious reflection of this reality. But what stuck with me most throughout the series might be embodied by a memorable, mysterious-sounding jingle called "[Still Life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qqUHdLAX-8&ref=aftermath.site)," composed by Parsons. It repeats throughout the video [Found Footage #3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acdYs9tPLko&t=2269s&pp=ygUPZm91bmQgZm9vdGFnZSAz0gcJCQoLAYcqIYzv&ref=aftermath.site), and can be heard [in the *Backrooms* movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z6a6NUFlsU&ref=aftermath.site). Rather than being dark and brooding, it's strangely whimsical and feels like a mockery of the sorts of optimistic corporate jingles found in old tv commercials. Similarly, other music in the series–especially the music associated with the Async Corporation–calls to mind the melancholy analog synth tones you'd hear in old corporate informational videos, and are similar in feel to the work of beloved electronic music duo Boards of Canada. Given the concurrent release date of this movie and Boards of Canada’s new album *Inferno*, of which the track “The Word Becomes Flesh” plays over the credits of *Backrooms*, it feels intentional. These tunes don’t really match how hostile or scary The Backrooms can be. They instead signal that maybe there is not an inherent morality to these spaces; they’re more a result of what gets spat out when this kind of corporate faux optimism that's choked our world turns to waste and mutates into something beyond our comprehension. The seeming blandness and indifference is what makes The Backrooms feel so disturbing. Like *L'eclisse*'s intuitive recognition of a fracturing reality that was about to take place in the 60s, there is maybe an unconscious recognition in liminal horror that there is something out there in these man-made spaces that we can’t understand. But it must all eventually mutate into something else; we must inevitably be able to pass through this one space to whatever new inconceivable reality awaits, because being able to pass through is what makes any of these spaces actually *liminal* in the first place. At this moment, Parsons’s *Backrooms* film looks to be a [major hit](https://variety.com/2026/film/box-office/backrooms-box-office-kane-parsons-1236763407/?ref=aftermath.site). Its success could help bring forth more fleshed out artistic explorations to other novel products of highly insular, self-eating online meme culture. The compelling underlying themes of *Backrooms* and liminal horror could lead to substantive larger conversations about our current cultural stasis, the toxic nature of nostalgia, and the endless waste generated by capitalism. Or maybe it will all just end up a new setting for another passing horror fad, instantly subsumed by mainstream market forces, another way to monetize the rot, and we’ll be lost wandering the halls for a long time to come. Certainly [this McDonald’s ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1m%5FQuu1YZw&ref=aftermath.site) set in The Backrooms suggests the latter. Time will tell. ### RIP Battle Milk URL: https://aftermath.site/project-zomboid-patch-battle-milk/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T17:57:20.000Z Sometimes small choices send ripples, especially when they involve a feature called “autodrink” and a substance known—at least, colloquially—as “battle milk.” [*Project Zomboid*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/108600/Project%5FZomboid/?ref=aftermath.site) is a hardcore zombie survival game that’s been in development since 2013 and *still* carries an early access tag. It is a labor of unfaltering commitment—an instance where both developers and community share a tinkerer’s obsession with small details. Their priorities are not always 100 percent aligned, however. In the unstable version of the game’s latest patch, [players noticed](https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/1ttpcww/no%5Fmore%5Fautodrinking%5Fthe%5Fcombat%5Fmilk/?ref=aftermath.site) that autodrink—a toggle-able feature that causes your character to automatically drink water when thirsty—now only applies to 100% water. This means your character will no longer slam mixed drinks… like battle milk. “You'd get a water dispenser jug, drop in 1L of whiskey, 6.4L of milk and fill the rest up with water: battle milk,” [explained one player on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/1ttp5fy/comment/op45a6x/?ref=aftermath.site) to others unfamiliar with the not-quite-exploit (via [Ed Smith](https://bsky.app/profile/edwardsmithwriter.bsky.social/post/3mnb5hibn522i?ref=aftermath.site)). “The water being at 51% or higher would trigger autodrink, and the milk portion would add calories, and the booze would temper panic/anxiety.” “My brother and I do a full rain barrel,” [said another](https://www.reddit.com/r/projectzomboid/comments/1ttp5fy/comment/op5orb9/?ref=aftermath.site). “Same ratios. I put a barrel in the upstairs bathroom at The Rusty Rifle \[in-game bar\] and plumbed it to a sink in the bar. We had battle grog literally on tap. This is so disappointing.” A similar mini-mutiny broke out [on *Zomboid*’s Steam forums](https://steamcommunity.com/app/108600/discussions/0/658233956736591082/?ref=aftermath.site). “Definitely one of the ‘fixes’ that I believe to be completely unnecessary,” said a player. “It was great that you can mix different drinks and autodrink them to get the mixed benefits. Especially the fatigue reduction from some of them. Very handy option to keep yourself from getting tired in the middle of a combat.” “RIP my new favorite thing,” said another. “Just found out about it, and it was so great not having to constantly be eating when I'm just screwing around on easy mode. What's the point of mixing fluids now anyways? There's so many useless fluid types that don't do anything.” Aftermath reached out to *Zomboid* developer The Indie Stone for a clearer explanation of why it decided to neuter battle milk but did not receive a reply as of this publishing. Perhaps outcry will cause it to reverse course, but in the meantime, pour one out for the little concoction that could. ## Recommended [But What If The Babies WANT To Worship Extra Deities?‘Stopped babies born in fort’ from doing what![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/DFBABIES-7e588655bed551c4e8b84eb027c3167be85d2c7a132e85f2fc266ec476cf96ba.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/but-what-if-the-babies-want-to-worship-extra-deities/) ### Gamers Sue Microsoft, Claiming It Colludes With Valve On Store Pricing URL: https://aftermath.site/gamers-sue-microsoft-valve-steam-antitrust-lawsuit/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T00:14:55.000Z Two gamers are suing Microsoft over Valve's alleged anticompetitive practices. Stay with me here. Max Rockman and Randall Moring filed the proposed class action in Washington court on Sunday, alleging that Microsoft takes kickback deals from Valve "as remuneration for agreeing not to compete with Steam." "Without the cooperation of some of the biggest PC game companies in the world, Steam could not have achieved and maintained the dominance it has enjoyed for at least a decade now," they wrote. "Microsoft is one of those companies." Rockman and Moring claim in the complaint, [obtained by Aftermath](https://www.scribd.com/document/1046023612/Microsoft-Valve-lawsuit?ref=aftermath.site), that Microsoft and Valve have agreements over release dates and prices—and that those agreements stifle competition and put a major burden on "ordinary gamers," "who have paid higher prices than they would have in a competitive market, and have suffered from reduced game quality and choice as well." The plaintiffs lawyers include the Bucher Law firm, which is one of firms that attempted mass arbitration against Valve in 2023 and 2024\. [Valve sued the law firm](https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/column-mass-arbitration-target-valve-accuses-law-firm-litigation-funder-2023-12-08/?ref=aftermath.site) for tortious interference and "extortion." The case got dismissed in September 2025\. Valve has since [removed the arbitration clause](https://www.polygon.com/explained/457557/valve-arbitration-steam-subscriber-agreements/?ref=aftermath.site) from its user agreements. The two gamers say Microsoft and Valve have admitted to this sort of behavior. They cite an ongoing lawsuit, [Valve Corporation v. Thomas Abbruzzese et al.](https://ecf.wawd.uscourts.gov/doc1/197112457844?ref=aftermath.site), in which Valve is attempting to vacate an arbitration award. In one document filed by Valve itself in that case, the company references a 2011 arbitration hearing in which the arbitrator declared that a clause in a distribution agreement between Valve and Microsoft constituted "unlawful 'horizontal-pricing.'" Valve disagreed with the ruling, and outlined why in the document filed in the Abbruzzese case in May—specifically, that the arbitrator didn't follow the rule of law *and* that the Microsoft agreement with Valve only impacts Microsoft's pricing of its own games. The gamers also cited [a court document](https://www.scribd.com/document/1046023617/Expert-report?ref=aftermath.site) from the [ongoing Wolfire v. Valve Corporation case](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-06-01/valve-s-antitrust-reckoning-over-steam-has-echoes-of-apple-google-app-store-sui?ref=aftermath.site), in which two video game development studios [sued Valve over its 30% cut of revenue](https://ecf.wawd.uscourts.gov/doc1/197112457844?ref=aftermath.site) from sales made on the platform. The document is written by economist Steven Schwartz, who wrote the report supporting the two studios. Rockman and Moring reference an email by a Microsoft employee that Schwartz cites in that report, which was filed in August 2024\. "“\[T\]he Steam publishing agreement historically has required product and price parity," the referenced email reads. "When I looked at it pre Age:DE \[presumably *Age of Empires: Definitive Edition*\] a few years ago, I found that we could sell at any price we wanted before Steam release, but once we released on Steam we needed to give Steam price parity to our other digital channels. In the case of a \[*Gears of War 5*\] Steam/Windows Store (Garrison) simship, I’d assume Steam demands you don’t undercut them once you release on Steam.” There's another email in the expert report in which one Microsoft employee is discussing Valve with another. "One employee asks whether Steam requires price parity, and in response, another Microsoft employee replied ‘Yes - they absolutely do… Its \[sic\] not formally listed in documentation in Steamworks, but always addressed in person.’" The complaint doesn't provide evidence for the kickback accusations. In the lawsuit filed Sunday, Rockman and Moring interpret the email as saying "if Microsoft lowers the price of one of its own games for distribution on its own platform, it must also lower the price it offers that product for sale on Steam's platform." They argue that these agreements are illegal under the Sherman Act, and also say that "collusion between competitors is 'the supreme evil of antitrust,'" citing another lawsuit involving Verizon and a law office. Microsoft and Valve also "conceal their agreements from the public," according to the lawsuit. "In effect, Microsoft and Valve are partners in a cartel over the market for PC game distribution," they wrote. "By choosing to collude rather than compete, Microsoft deprived consumers of the benefits of competition: lower prices, increased output, unique content selection, and higher quality. Consumers like the Plaintiffs were overcharged on their PC game purchases as a result of these anticompetitive practices." Rockman and Moring are asking the court to award the lawsuit class action status, which means that other people impacted by the alleged anticompetitive actions would be able to join the suit. They're accusing Valve of violating the Sherman Act, which is an antitrust law, and for violating the Washington Consumer Protection Act. ### More Artists Could Stand To Be Normal About Their Black Music Influences URL: https://aftermath.site/hikaru-utada-black-music-cultural-appreciation-appropriation-kpop/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T14:08:13.000Z Black culture—and Black people by proxy—has always shouldered the burden of being at the epicenter of what makes shit cool while watching that same creativity get stripped for parts. This phenomenon shows up virtually everywhere: [our slang gets sanded down](https://aftermath.site/unc-aave-african-american-vernacular-english-slang-gen-z/), [our influence in popularizing media like anime gets discredited](https://kotaku.com/anime-black-voice-acting-funimation-crunchyroll-hero-ac-1848603377?ref=aftermath.site), and our sound gets repackaged when artists are suddenly “inspired” by Black music as a launching pad for their careers, only to inevitably switch lanes to a different, whiter genre. That’s why it matters when artists are straightforward and sincere about their inspirations, like Hikaru Utada. In a podcast interview with GoldNRush ([which you can watch in full here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Wwds8%5FOFY&t=83s&pp=ygUWaGlrYXJ1IHV0YWRhIGdvbGRucnVzaA%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site)), Utada—the [*Kingdom Hearts*](https://kotaku.com/hikaru-utada-kingdom-hearts-coachella-simple-and-clean-1848806610?ref=aftermath.site) and [*Chainsaw Man* singer](https://gizmodo.com/hikaru-utada-will-add-the-chainsaw-man-movie-to-their-anime-song-infinity-gauntlet-2000642517?ref=aftermath.site) and, frankly, the regent of Japanese pop—talked about their musical inspirations. The biggest takeaway was how deeply Utada credits their mother, [Keiko Fuji](https://youtu.be/cVo8Olw8h90?list=RDcVo8Olw8h90&ref=aftermath.site) (real name [Junko Utada](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko%5FFuji?ref=aftermath.site)), for shaping their musical intuitions. Turns out, Fuji wasn’t just a celebrated enka singer in the 60s; she also reared Utada on Black music from an early age. As Utada recalled, their late mother was one of the first Japanese artists to dive into R&B and hip-hop. While Fuji was transitioning into her rock music career, Utada recounted their mother playing Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” and Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle” as they were “living in the studio” between New York and Tokyo. There, Fuji would have Utada shyly sing songs with her in the booth after they finished homework. Utada would marvel at their mother showing off her hip-hop dance moves (which she had taken classes for) and geek out over the intricacies of Black musicality, telling Utada with absolute conviction, “Black music, this is it!” “Honestly, rap and hip-hop, I got into it because of my mom,” Utada said. “She’s the reason I fell in love with it.” As a longtime fan of Utada’s work, this revelation came less as a surprise and more as a “well, duh.” *First Love*, one of their earliest albums from 2002, is as pure R&B as anything in Utada’s early discography. Songs from that era, like “First Love,” “Movin’ on Without You,” and (my favorite) “Automatic” feel less like musical mimicry of popular artists at the time, like Brandy and Aaliyah, and more like a colleague throwing a track on the grill at an R&B cookout. Likewise, *Distance*’s “Can You Keep a Secret” and *Deep River*’s “Traveling,” while showcasing the early stages of Utada perfecting their own unique sound, still carry the DNA of neo-soul and R&B instilled by Momma Fuji at a young age. Case in point: “Blow My Whistle,” Utada’s slept-on track on the *Rush Hour 2* soundtrack—a movie that, for better or worse, stands the test of time as the equinox of the relationship between appropriation and appreciation between Black and Asian culture—doesn’t come off as tacky or culturally vulture-y in hindsight. Much of that has to do with Utada speaking on it in such a nonchalant way, without trying to claim the space for themselves or attempt to elevate/save/keep it alive with misplaced fervor, which is downright refreshing. Utada isn’t the first non-Black artist to earn the coveted (and elusive) cultural-appreciator gold star. Many musicians have put so much soul into their records that Black listeners were shocked to learn they weren’t Black after Googling them. You’ll be hard-pressed to find Black elders who didn’t double-take upon learning that artists like [Adele](https://youtu.be/rYEDA3JcQqw?list=RDrYEDA3JcQqw&ref=aftermath.site) and [Bobby Caldwell](https://youtu.be/n9DmdAwUbxc?list=RDn9DmdAwUbxc&ref=aftermath.site) weren’t Black. Whether through their soulful vocals or the instrumentation of their tracks, there’s a depth, a poetry, a lived-in musicality that reads as genuine long before you know anything about the person behind the mic. And then there are artists who didn’t just borrow from Black music but worked within it as collaborators, not tourists. Folks like a post-NSYNC Justin Timberlake became fixtures in the 2000s and early 2010s, when [every rap song *had* to have an R&B singer on the hook](https://youtu.be/6mEx9FtuN0k?list=RD6mEx9FtuN0k&ref=aftermath.site). Obviously, it didn’t hurt that he was one of the many artists directly inspired by Michael Jackson, with a similar vocal register (and fewer zeroes to invoice as a feature). The same goes for Robin Thicke (pre-[“Blurred Lines”](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/robin-thicke-pharrell-williams-blurred-lines-copyright-suit-final-5-million-dollar-judgment-768508/?ref=aftermath.site)), whose presence in Black musical spaces felt more like a “We see you” from the Black community than side-eye whenever certified classics like [“Lost Without You”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DdCoNbbRvQ&list=RD0DdCoNbbRvQ&start%5Fradio=1&pp=ygUdbG9zdCB3aXRob3V0IHlvdSByb2JpbiB0aGlja2WgBwE%3D&ref=aftermath.site) would spin on the radio. Even artists like Hannah Williams & The Affirmations, whose “Late Nights and Heartbreak” became the emotional core of Jay-Z’s “I’m an idiot for cheating on Beyonce” anthem on *4:44*, share a similar Adele/Caldwell phenomenon. And the ties that bind all the aforementioned artists together are that there’s a poetry and a sincerity in their sound that doesn’t feel like it’s playing in anyone’s face. That’s the real distinction that separates Black folks from treating an artist like that one [*GantZ* meme](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-aight-white-boy?ref=aftermath.site). Whenever I have the misfortune of listening to the latest artist to appropriate Black culture, I think of comedian Paul Mooney, who famously once said, “[Everybody wanna be a nigga til its time to be a nigga](https://youtu.be/xMX4R9Wz8ns?ref=aftermath.site).” Granted, there’s no universal line between appropriation and appreciation, but I’m not stupid. I can always tell when someone is treating Black musicality as a costume. It’s why I side-eye certain K-Pop acts (the greatest offender) who pivot to hip-hop/rap aesthetics without any connection to them and end up getting clowned on for it. > [j-hope of BTS showing love to Kendrick on his live](https://www.reddit.com/r/KendrickLamar/comments/1iscfsx/jhope%5Fof%5Fbts%5Fshowing%5Flove%5Fto%5Fkendrick%5Fon%5Fhis%5Flive/?ref=aftermath.site) > by [u/maadbutterfly](https://www.reddit.com/user/maadbutterfly/?ref=aftermath.site) in [KendrickLamar](https://www.reddit.com/r/KendrickLamar/?ref=aftermath.site) I hear it in the way BTS’ [“Hooligan”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diBO0gMuTXo&list=RDdiBO0gMuTXo&start%5Fradio=1&pp=ygUMaG9vbGlnYW4gYnRzoAcB&ref=aftermath.site) lifts the sonic palettes (and ad-libs) of [Tyler, The Creator](https://aftermath.site/tyler-the-creator-dont-tap-the-glass-hip-hop-rap-kendrick/) and [Kendrick Lamar](https://aftermath.site/kendrick-lamar-drake-anime-naruto-bleach-one-piece/) without carrying the thematic weight or cultural grounding their artistry was built on. Mind you, they don’t need to say they copied the LA rappers' flow. It’s obvious to anyone who has listened to the track that they were influenced by them. It’s insulting and par for the course that the boy band didn’t do the bare minimum of giving them a shout-out as a sonic influence on their sound. > [@khlilgmble](https://www.tiktok.com/@khlilgmble?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@khlilgmble") > > [#bts](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/bts?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "bts") [#tylerthecreator](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tylerthecreator?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "tylerthecreator") > > [♬ Hooligan - BTS](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Hooligan-7618900230566053889?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ Hooligan - BTS") It’s also why I can’t feign surprise when groups play Icarus in flying too close to the sun with their appropriation in ways that not even their biggest stans can defend. Controversies like [Kiss of Life’s racist livestream](https://www.complex.com/music/a/markelibert/k-pop-group-kiss-of-life-apologizes-old-school-hip-hop-livestream?ref=aftermath.site) and the [Blackpink girlies singing "nigga" to Drake and Kendrick rap verses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0izEh5pvOoE&pp=ygUQYmxhY2twaW5rIG4gd29yZA%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site) live rent-free in my head—not in a pearl-clutching way, but in the same “Oh lord…” cringe ballpark as former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s affinity for[ Blackface at a costume party](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/trudeau-apologizes-for-brownface-calls-it-a-dumb-thing-to-do?ref=aftermath.site). It’s embarrassing. But the most common example of this phenomenon is white artists who dip into Black musicality like an “in case of emergency, break glass” instinct. You’ve got your Jelly Rolls, your Post Malones who secure their bag before going back to country music, having gotten their stimulus from cribbing on Black soundscapes. It happens all the time, but artists like Jack Harlow, who loudly announced he “[got Blacker](https://youtube.com/shorts/HCvOn-sAWUc?si=HRmvyuvlq131bgrC&ref=aftermath.site)” for his R&B album, [*Monica*](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/jack-harlow-monica/?ref=aftermath.site)*,* is the least normal way to go about appropriating Black music. > It is very baggy. > > — Dionne Warwick (@dionnewarwick) [April 11, 2026](https://x.com/dionnewarwick/status/2043059343688384516?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) It wasn’t enough that Harlow’s album—whose name may or may not be Harlow cheekily riffing on “My Nigga”—had the audacity of having me see the Kentucky artist wear a hat so absurd that Grammy-award winning artist [Dionne Warwick had to air him out on Twitter](https://x.com/dionnewarwick/status/2043026642457506271?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). Musically, *Monica* sounds like the backrooms, trying to remember the rhythm and blues of [D’Angelo](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/10/dangelo-conjured-more-than-music-death/684557/?ref=aftermath.site) and [Erykah Badu](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/25/erykah-badu-the-godmother-of-soul?ref=aftermath.site). The result is a mangled facsimile too surface-level to even be called derivative that failed to make my toes tap and only made the little snail in my ear beg me to take my headphones off. As [*NME* ](https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/jack-harlow-monica-review-3935194?ref=aftermath.site)reviewer Fred Garratt-Stanley wrote, *Monica* is “perhaps too much of an easy listen” to “leave a lasting impact”—a sentiment I’d argue applies not just to Harlow but is an endemic symptom of Black music culture vultures en masse. Which is why artists who do get it stand out so clearly, not just as individuals but as artists who feel they belong in our musical lineage as collaborators rather than colonizers. Their relationship to the poetry of our songs doesn’t feel like co-play or opportunism, but respect, study, and genuine influence. As YouTuber FD Signifier correctly noted, there are no invitations to the cookout—even if you’re an artist that Black people don’t play about their love for, like Utada and [Ms. Hayley Williams](https://aftermath.site/sista-hayley-williams-and-moses-sumneys-angsty-rb-ballad-is-a-cry-for-help/). But that won’t stop me from giving them [“the nod”](https://medium.com/matter/the-nod-a-subtle-lowering-of-the-head-to-another-black-person-in-an-overwhelmingly-white-place-e12bfa0f833f?ref=aftermath.site) whenever I hear them do their thing, honoring Black musicality rather than lampooning it for their own short-term financial gain. ## Recommended [That’s Not What Unc MeansYou’d never know the meaning of unc or its origins in black culture if you looked to mainstream media.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/7bab9923a5b6509bfb95e250d055a647-8a584a2ca716057314f19397d13088ed48123301f890a591f9dd015544c02b55.jpeg)](https://aftermath.site/unc-aave-african-american-vernacular-english-slang-gen-z/) ### SXSW Responds To Hasan Piker UK Ban With Nothing Statement, Speakers Pull Out In Protest URL: https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-uk-ban-sxsw-speakers-withdraw/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T19:21:32.000Z Over the weekend, leftist Twitch streamer Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker and his uncle, The Young Turks co-creator Cenk Uygur, revealed that they’ve been [banned from entering the UK](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRY5zSoBIx4&ref=aftermath.site) ahead of planned speaking engagements at this week’s SXSW London event. Immediately following, critics of the decision urged SXSW to come out against what they viewed as free speech-eroding overreach. SXSW replied with a whole lot of nothing. “We are aware that Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker are unable to travel to the UK following a decision by the Home Office,” SXSW [said in a statement today](https://x.com/Variety/status/2061378542869377149?ref=aftermath.site). “They will therefore not be participating in the SXSW London programme this year. Decisions on entry to the UK are a matter for the Home Office and the individuals concerned. SXSW London’s role is to convene a broad range of diverse voices and perspectives. We remain focused on delivering a programme this week fostering open dialogue and exchange of ideas and featuring more than 800 speakers, artists and screenings.” Piker and Uygur—who were scheduled to be on panels titled “How the American Left Learned to Speak the Internet” and “Techno-Feudalism is Here. Who Are the Lords?” respectively—have both contended that the UK made its determination based on their vocal criticism of Israel. “The UK has revoked my visa,” Piker [wrote on Twitter](https://x.com/hasanthehun/status/2061206542205198701?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2061206542205198701%7Ctwgr%5Eaded64d551a1e8658b79e02abfc8fc02fd82f758%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2Fhasan-piker-banned-from-uk-sxsw-london-israel-2000701068&ref=aftermath.site) yesterday, echoing a similar [post](https://x.com/cenkuygur/status/2061205610327408773?ref=aftermath.site) from his uncle. “All at the behest of Israel. The West is betraying ‘liberal values’ for a genocidal fascist foreign government. Soon we will all become Israel.” Groups involved aren’t exactly trying to hide it. “We understand that, following calls to do so from \[Campaign Against Antisemitism\] and others, Hasan Piker’s visa has been revoked and he is now barred from entering the United Kingdom,” Campaign Against Antisemitism, a prominent UK-based, pro-Israel NGO, [wrote on Twitter](https://x.com/antisemitism/status/2061394216299733389?ref=aftermath.site). “Being a guest in this country is a privilege, not a given. This country has no need of people who have previously spewed hateful drivel about Jews and made pro-terrorist remarks.” In [a statement to Variety](https://variety.com/2026/digital/global/hasan-piker-cenk-uygur-banned-uk-sxsw-london-1236763721/?ref=aftermath.site), a rep for the UK’s Home Office said that the pair’s Electronic Travel Authorisations had been revoked “on the grounds that their presence in the UK may not be conducive to the public good” and added that “decisions to refuse or cancel an ETA on these grounds are based solely on an assessment of the potential risk an individual may pose to UK society.” According to [The Times of London](https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/left-wing-youtube-cenk-uygur-banned-uk-z87xfv89b?ref=aftermath.site), criticism of Israel played a major role in the ban: “The decision to block Uygur from travelling to the UK is understood to have been based on several grounds,” the publication wrote, “including fears that his presence would risk exacerbating antisemitism due to his rhetoric since the October 7 attacks in 2023.” This is far from the first time Piker’s long history of anti-Israel rhetoric—stemming from Israel’s ongoing apartheid and genocide of Palestinians—has been conflated with antisemitism to further the ends of politicians. Last month, two members of the US House of Representatives, Democrat Josh Gottheimer and Republican Mike Lawler, [introduced a bipartisan resolution](https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-bipartisan-house-resolution-candace-owens/) “condemning the rise of antisemitic, hate-filled rhetoric disseminated by prominent online personalities,” focusing specifically on Piker (as well as Candace Owens, who is an *actual* antisemitic conspiracy theorist). SXSW presents itself as a high-minded, tech-oriented destination for creatives. Back in 2024, it found itself in the crosshairs of controversy around a similar issue, when more than 80 artists withdrew from the organization’s flagship Austin event in support of Palestine and in protest of SXSW’s partnerships with the US Army and the defense contractor RTX Corporation. Ultimately, [SXSW discontinued those partnerships](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/26/sxsw-military-weapon-sponsor?ref=aftermath.site). Some participants have now withdrawn from SXSW London. “Having read the SXSW statement on Hasan and Cenk being denied entry to the UK, I'm afraid I have to withdraw my participation,” [wrote](https://x.com/AyoCaesar/status/2061482011244605589?ref=aftermath.site) *Minority Rule* author and Novara Media contributing editor Ash Sarkar. “If I were in their shoes, I would hope that any organisation which invited me to speak, and had their programming interfered with by the Home Office, would have had the minimal expected integrity to offer some defence of lawful free expression and condemn government overreach.” Zara Rahim, a communications specialist and political advisor who was set to join Piker on his panel, offered an even more vociferous rebuke of SXSW. “The entire premise of our panel was rooted in examining why audiences increasingly distrust institutions, gatekeepers, and traditional power structures political discourse, and whose voices are permitted legitimacy in public life,” [she wrote](https://www.instagram.com/zararahim/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site) on Instagram. “There's an obvious irony in hosting a conference about the future of media, democracy, dissent, and political power while responding so cautiously to the banning of one of the most influential political commentators from even entering the country. … I appreciate everyone's time and the work that went into putting this together, but under the circumstances, stepping away feels like the only option for me.” ## Recommended [Amid Era Of Unprecedented Authoritarian Overreach, New Bipartisan House Resolution Condemns Hasan Piker For Some ReasonSome politicians continue to think that the greatest threat facing America today is a Twitch streamer![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/hasan2-22582d149082ef858dc14333c4ae7a47a3dc955d39562cf0804a4642af6de487.png)](https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-bipartisan-house-resolution-candace-owens/) ### Going To A J-League Game Was One Of The Best Days Of My Life URL: https://aftermath.site/j-league-match-tourism/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T18:11:36.000Z When working out how to schedule [our recent holiday to Japan](https://aftermath.site/super-nintendo-world-osaka-review/), everyone in my family got to put their hands up and say what they wanted to do while we were there. Predictably, with two teenage kids, that meant a lot of theme parks and shopping. When it came time for me, though, I only had one request: we go to a J-League game. I've long been super into the concept of football tourism. It's a very local sport in a way, sure, one defined by suburbs and neighbourhoods and inter-city rivalries, but as the internet has expanded our knowledge and interest in other teams and leagues, it's also become a global sport. I've found there are few better ways to visit a city than to take in its culture at its rawest and most emotive, with the added benefit that no two matchday experiences are the same, even within the same city, let alone different continents, so every game is something new. I've seen games featuring clubs and countries from all over the place. I was there (on my 18th birthday, as a guest of a friend who was a season ticket-holder) when[ Chelsea booked their ticket to the 1998 Cup Winner's Cup semi finals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I0DT4azqWg&ref=aftermath.site), a match I remember as much for the sheer wall of noise coming from the stands as for the songs sung on the tube on the way there and back. I was there[ when Australia broke a decades-long curse and qualified for the 2006 World Cup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcIIFP69dbA&ref=aftermath.site), when at the final whistle the man next to me, tears in his eyes, pressed a smooth river stone into my hands, told me it was his lucky rock, and begged me to keep it. I was there[ when David Beckham played his last game for England](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIdVAudQGmI&ref=aftermath.site), on a night when the national side's fans were so bored there were more paper planes thrown from the stands than there were goals scored. Yet one of my most memorable nights of football came in the year 2000 when, as part of the Sydney Olympics, Japan played Slovakia in my home town of Canberra, and I thought why not, I'll go check it out. What I saw (and heard) that night blew my mind. There were 15500 people in the stands on a freezing night, and it felt like 15490 of them were travelling Japanese fans, the only exceptions being myself, some friends and what looked like a handful of the Slovakian embassy staff tucked away down on a touchline. The travelling Japanese supporters had drums, they had flags, they had trumpets and they could sing, relentlessly and in unison, for the entire 90 minutes over the course of Japan’s 2-1 win. It remains one of the coolest fucking things I have ever heard in my life. After that night I'd always wanted to go to see another Japanese game, but every time I was in Tokyo for TGS I was either too busy or the nearby team's schedules didn't line up, so I always ended up missing out. *This* time, though, I was going to make it. Knowing I was landing in April 2026, a few weeks before we left I checked the schedules of every Tokyo club and hit the jackpot: Yokohama Marinos, a team I'd casually supported for 20 years (both because they were the first J-League shirt I'd ever bought as a souvenir in Japan and because[ a succession of Australian managers and players have graced the club over the years](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/dec/07/ange-postecoglou-wins-j-league-title-with-yokohama-fmarinos?ref=aftermath.site)), were playing at home right in the middle of my time in Tokyo. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260418_063210046-1.jpg) I've been in lines for a movie ticket that were rowdier than this After a quick consultation with my family to make sure nobody *really* didn't want to go, I was able to buy four tickets online while still in Australia, check that the train schedule from our apartment in Minami-Azabu to Yokohama was somewhat doable (turns out it was a pretty straightforward, albeit long trip!) and[ dig my old Marinos shirt](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/82/04/f7/8204f7cefcef9ab9e4e40f636f099d2e.jpg?ref=aftermath.site) out from the depths of my collection. When finally the day came, I spent the whole train ride feeling a weird kind of butterfly in my stomach. It wasn't fear about the result, since this wasn't really my team. This was a game that didn't really matter, because it was[ part of an interim season taking place because Japan's league was in the middle of shifting which time of year the competition was held](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J1%5F100%5FYear%5FVision%5FLeague?ref=aftermath.site). And it wasn't any kind of worry about admission or finding the place, since by being on a train full of supporters we knew we were already part of the matchday crowd, and could just follow them to the stadium. It was only when I described the feeling to my wife that she was able to correctly diagnose that I wasn't nervous, I was *excited*. The approach to Nissan stadium--[mildly famous as the only stadium to have ever hosted three different types of world football final](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan%5FStadium%5F%28Yokohama%29?ref=aftermath.site)\--was a completely new footballing experience for me. There were no flares, no singing, no groups of drunk men and no security screening. There was just a huge crowd of fans marching in a very quiet, polite and orderly fashion, which meant the act of getting from the train to our seats was easily the quickest and most painless matchday approach I've ever had. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260418_040319110-2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260418_050700067-1.jpg) Once we got there the good stuff kept coming. A collection of food trucks parked at both the east and west entrances were selling the most delicious football food I've ever had--J-League cuisine is[ a regular star of Footy Scran posts](https://www.instagram.com/footyscran/?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site) for a reason--and the snacks found inside the stadium included stuff I'd never even *dreamed* of seeing at a football game, like snowcones topped with...strawberries and cream. When it came time for kickoff, holy shit. I had vivid memories of the crowd at the Olympics being passionate, but what I saw and heard at even this meaningless J-League game blew that away. The two sets of duelling fans--the Marinos fans at one end, opponents Kawasaki Frontale at the other--took turns going to war, giant banners waving in the sun for the whole afternoon, both factions alternating for the entire 90 minutes between chants, songs and more complex musical routines involving everything from drums to stomping. 0:00 /0:22 1× Kawasaki Frontale's visiting fans put on a show I was in my own footballing heaven, and that's before I even considered the football itself! Which was excellent, but also didn't really matter! I was so blown away by the overall experience that the fact the Marinos lost 1-0 in the dying seconds meant very little, to me or the home crowd, because it looked like even the most die-hard fans, embracing the fact there wasn't *really* a J-League season this year, were just there to party in the autumn sunshine. As was I, and I left the stadium extra-chuffed at having added a new Marinos jacket from the club shop [to my collection](https://aftermath.site/japan-jfa-football-shirt-kit-fake-replica/), the staff laughing at their luck for finally having sold the only 4XL they had in stock (which, I'll have you know, is simply an XL in Western sizing). 0:00 /0:22 1× The local Marinos supporters were also incredible Topping the day off was the fact that, having gone all the way out to Yokohama for a 1:30pm kickoff, we decided to stick around and visit the city's famous and quite lovely waterfront,[ check out a few signature locations from the *Yakuza* series](https://bsky.app/profile/lukeplunkett.com/post/3mk75ysdhos2x?ref=aftermath.site) and have dinner[ in one of the biggest Chinatowns I've ever seen](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3201.html?ref=aftermath.site). I honestly think, having got to not only do *all that* shit but do it with my family, who all had a blast (even my daughter!), it's one of the most memorable days I've ever had. All of which is me saying: no matter where you're travelling, whether it's Japan or Europe or South America, there are few better ways to spend a day or night than getting yourself to a football match. You can go into them with some tickets and a ride on public transport ([2026 World Cup excepted](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/style/world-cup-metlife-walking-new-jersey.html?ref=aftermath.site)), and walk out with one of the best times of your life. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260418_060153051--1-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260418_043108619--1-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260418_035618650.jpg) ### When Playing A Good Game Benefits Bad People URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-steam-deck-zero-parades/ Last updated: 2026-06-02T15:02:53.000Z The games industry is overflowing with talented, hard-working creatives, but there are plenty of people—especially at the top of the corporate ladder—who aren’t exactly upstanding citizens from a moral perspective. Sometimes, playing a good game lines the pockets of shitty people. How and when do you decide to engage with a work versus abstaining entirely? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we attempt to unravel that tangled question. This time around, we bid farewell to [the Aftermath Twitch channel](https://www.twitch.tv/aftermathdotsite?ref=aftermath.site)—at least, in terms of using it to record the podcast—and turn their sights toward a pre-recorded, more-thoroughly-edited future (coming soon!). We also discuss Valve’s decision to [massively increase the Steam Deck’s price](https://aftermath.site/steam-deck-price-increase-valve-ai/) thanks to “global logistical challenges” (read: AI and an incredibly stupid war) and how what seems to be [the end of affordable consumer hardware](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/) might impact the games industry five or ten years down the line. Then we talk about the latest Boots Riley movie, *I Love Boosters*, and [how intensely good it is](https://aftermath.site/i-love-boosters-keke-palmer-demi-moore-boots-riley-maximalism/) by virtue of embracing a singular vision—the kind film industry outsiders rarely get the opportunity to put on screen these days. After that, we dive into the weeds of what it means to play and enjoy a game—in this case, *Zero Parades: For Dead* *Spies*—despite thorny origins. Lastly, Gita and I debate the merits of two popular bands, Paramore and Sleep Token, even though both of our opinions are wrong. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can someday make millions of dollars and be able to afford 1.5 Steam Decks. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Chris:** People’s internal divisions of what they find in a company to be beyond reproach are very, very different. It varies from person to person. And for a while I was that—and still sort of am a little bit—with Konami. Because Konami had gym slaves, man. They did fucked up stuff. But I’m not gonna deny that *Silent Hill F* is one of the best *Silent Hill* games ever. Up there with *Silent Hill 2*. I think that’s where I kind of fall with *Zero Parades*. You can acknowledge that the people who did wrong are still there. You can acknowledge that the people who perpetuated that, you would be giving them money. But you would also be giving money to people who are workers—or you would at least be benefitting the continuation of the workers who created something that I’m going to say stands on its own. I think that it’s fair to hold both of those things in your heart and to acknowledge the merit of the work. Game’s good. The circumstances are bad. Hold two thoughts in your head if you have that problem, or don’t play it. But I have to simply acknowledge the validity of the work, and the validity of the work is good. **Gita:** *Hogwarts Legacy* was mentioned in chat, and this is a different situation. *Hogwarts Legacy* came from a studio that was basically making tie-in games for the movie *Cars* and then started making a game for the most evil woman alive. The attempts it makes to try to extricate itself from JK Rowling’s politics only makes her politics feel even more oppressive in their presence in the game. This is a different situation in which a really complicated set of hurt feelings, serious labor problems, and ideological differences collided and created a big mess in terms of the continuity from one project of the studio to the next project of the studio. Does this mean that the game is bad? Sounds like no. **Chris:** Personally, \[I think it’s good\]. There are people I know who don’t play *Marathon* because of how fucking weird Bungie has been, and I respect that. It’s between you and who you are. I’m not a cop; I’m not gonna monitor what’s on your hard drive. Whatever your ethics are is what should be dictating your life. And if you’ve thought about it, then guess what? You’ve done more than 99 percent of the people who play video games. If you have thoughts about the consequences of your consumption, that is a really good first start. ## Recommended [The Steam Deck Costs How Much Now?If you want the best possible experience, you’re looking at a price tag of nearly $1,000![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/steamdeck-d49b74a51c7be780a7f408f023a8a7b815881b45ebb43418bad826d83b05d0fb.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/steam-deck-price-increase-valve-ai/) ### Making Miniatures URL: https://aftermath.site/best-in-miniatures-tv-show-polymer-clay/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T15:27:51.000Z Here is the pathway I took to *Best in Miniatures*, a Canadian reality TV competition where competitors build and fill out dollhouses with tiny things: Looking for something to fill the gap of *The Great British Baking Show*, I found *The Great Pottery Showdown*, a UK-based reality TV competition show in which people make ceramics. They compete each week in creating beautiful pottery of different sorts—toilets, even!—and demonstrating their wheel throwing skills. Then, after I watched all the seasons and needed to fill *that* gap, I found *The Great Canadian Pottery Showdown*. Similar premise, but Seth Rogen is involved. (He showed off a ceramic bong he made in one of the first episodes.) Pursuing Canadian TV shows once I finished that, I found *Best in Miniatures*. Doesn't everyone love tiny things? I have a miniature shopping cart full of tiny things I've found here and there. There's a tiny shampoo bottle, a miniature jug of almond milk, and a tiny skateboard, and all the trinkets I've collected from gacha machines over the years. Roughly 10 years ago, I tried to cook an egg and a dutch baby in a tiny *PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds*\-branded frying pan that I had somehow acquired. (I wrote about it for a website, but I can't find any evidence of it online. Weird.) Inspired by *The Great Pottery Showdown*, I have also been watching videos of people throwing small vases on tiny pottery wheels. I contemplated getting a tiny pottery of my own, but decided to take normal-sized pottery lessons at a local studio. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/IMG_9093-1.jpeg) Photo: Nicole Carpenter I like reality TV competition shows in the background when I'm painting or doing some other craft; something even mildly interesting is nice to listen to. *Best in Miniatures* became that show for me, and I found it immediately attractive. In the first episode, the miniaturists are asked to build the dollhouse that they'll be decorating for the rest of the season. Each week, there's one mini challenge, where the contestants are tasked with making a themed miniature—like a childhood memory, or a scene using the color orange—and a big challenge to fill out one whole room of their dollhouse. Everyone's free to do whatever they please in that room, save for a few guidelines. Scratch-making a bed, having a sewn fabric element, or putting food on the dining room table or in the kitchen shelves–that sort of thing. The contestants are both skilled and wildly creative. One woman made a haunted house terrorizing the inhabitants. Another made a renovated farmhouse where she and her hypothetical queer partner could nest together, and the next made a house that may as well have been straight from *Cyberpunk 2077*. There is so much detail and care in the tiniest of objects, and it’s a way to get to know the largely charming miniature artists who are from Canada and beyond. There’s something so special about the ability to dedicate your life to something so niche, so specific yet somehow still ubiquitous. Most people have played with dolls, maybe in dollhouses, when they were young. We set up Barbie’s veterinary hospital, spreading her miniscule tools over her examination table. Maybe you played with Matchbox cars or shopped in miniature plastic grocery stores. Of course, that made sense because we were small and playing with small things, and it makes sense that for a lot of us, the small things would fall away. What I've realized from watching *Best in Miniatures* is why I'm still drawn to tiny things: They force me to slow down and look closely. I want to spend time looking at the details. You're rewarded for that sort of attention; there are little bits of craft and story in even the tiniest brush strokes or curve of clay. Watching these folks make these sorts of little things is inspiring! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/IMG_9123-1.jpg) Photo: Nicole Carpenter I became convinced that it's a craft I could do, and I wanted to make a miniature version of my hockey skates. I went to the craft store to find polymer clay, but I almost left the store disappointed because I couldn't find it. (I was looking in the wrong section.) I bought red, black, white, and silver—what I needed to make my hockey skates. I've been working with clay for a few months, albeit on the pottery wheel. But polymer clay is quite different from the sort of clay you do wheel throwing with: It's made of entirely different things and is, I've learned, essentially plastic. It won't dry unless it's cured by baking it in an oven, which means it's infinitely workable until it's baked. It can be baked several times, too, so you can create a base then add more polymer clay to it. There is a lot I don't know about polymer clay, but I'm having fun learning about what I can do with it—how to create texture or get rid of fingerprints, and what tools to use. It took me a couple hours of fiddling, figuring out how to keep a form while I'm working on its details, but I made a hockey skate. And I've kept making them. I made one tiny vase to put a rose bud in for my mom, but otherwise I've just continued to make hockey skates. I'm enamored by the idea of going smaller, smaller, smaller. My big issue so far? The shoelaces sticking to my fingers. ### I've Never Seen A Games Industry Veteran Talk Shit About Someone Like Mike Fischer Talks Shit About Yuji Naka URL: https://aftermath.site/yuji-naka-sonic-hedgehog-creator/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T23:41:10.000Z Yuji Naka is a man famous for two things: being credited as the 'creator' of Sonic the Hedgehog and, more recently, of[ pleading guilty to serious insider trading charges](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/01/sonic-the-hedgehog-co-creator-yuji-naka-alleged-insider-trading?ref=aftermath.site). Mike Fischer is a games industry veteran who has worked everywhere from Sega to Square Enix to Epic to Microsoft. These two men, a *very* long time ago, used to work with each other at Sega,[ and in a recent interview with Sega-16](https://www.sega-16.com/2026/05/interview-mike-fischer-soa-product-manager-vp/?ref=aftermath.site) Fischer recalls several moments where his paths crossed with Naka. Rather than being standard video games industry platitudes like"I learned a lot from him", "We really supported each other" or"It was a great time", it turns out Fischer hates Naka's fuckin guts, and would like the world to know exactly why. Some examples include the creation of Sonic: > I was there for the birth of Sonic the Hedgehog, and when the memo came out, they said to every employee, “We want to come up with the new Mario-killer mascot character. We want everyone to come up with an idea.” I watched them pick the winners. I watched Yuji Naka steal credit for it, and yeah, I was very hands-on. Then there's the time Fischer, while at Microsoft years later, got to work with some of his old Sega colleagues again on *Blue Dragon*: > ...it was wonderful to go back and and reconnect with those people. It was less pleasant to deal with Naka-san (Yuji Naka). I didn’t miss him and wasn’t happy to work with him again. And here are Fischer's thoughts on Naka wanting to change *Billy Hatcher And The Giant Egg's* name to...*Giant Cock*: > He is literally the most miserable person I have ever worked with in games or anything else in my life, just a horrible human being, and you can quote me on that. As you know, he’s also now also a convicted felon. I need to stress I'm just posting some select excerpts here, there's *so much more*[ throughout the interview](https://www.sega-16.com/2026/05/interview-mike-fischer-soa-product-manager-vp/?ref=aftermath.site), which is a fantastic read not just for the drama, but just for gaining a fuller understanding of how Sega operated internally at the time as well! There's stuff there about the creation of Sonic and the company structure and the place of women leaders within it that I'd never known before, so if reading about a man talking shit has inspired you to spare some time for a greater understanding of Sega history,[ please go read the full thing](https://www.sega-16.com/2026/05/interview-mike-fischer-soa-product-manager-vp/?ref=aftermath.site). ### UK-Based Rockstar Game Workers Formally Announce Union URL: https://aftermath.site/rockstar-games-workers-union-public-announcement/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T21:39:36.000Z Rockstar Games North workers formally announced Thursday the formation of the Rockstar Games Workers Union, a part of the wider Independent Workers of Great Britain union. The union includes workers from Rockstar Games offices in Leeds, London, Edinburgh, Dundee, and Lincoln, the Rockstar Games Workers Union said in a [YouTube video published on Thursday](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLOq%5F6rOpoM&ref=aftermath.site). Workers at Rockstar Games North had been organizing for months ahead of Thursday's announcement. If a company refuses to recognize a union, the group must have "at least 10% union membership within the proposed bargaining unit" to be officially and legally recognized, [per government rules](https://www.gov.uk/trade-union-recognition-employers/statutory-recognition?ref=aftermath.site). The union reached that threshold by October, [an IWGB spokesperson told Aftermath in November](https://cromwellwilkes.co.uk/skilled-worker-visa-dismissed-act-early/?ref=aftermath.site). It's unclear if Rockstar Games Workers Union has filed for recognition with the government labor body. (Unions in the UK, like the IWGB Game Workers Union, include members from different companies. A worker can still get union support if a union isn't officially recognized at their specific workplace. Recognition often relates to bargaining with a company.) Aftermath has reached out to IWGB for more information. "Together, we are organizing around the things we want to change, starting with pay transparency, flexible working hours, and an end to crunch," a representative of the union said in the video. Last year, [Rockstar Games employees told Aftermath](https://aftermath.site/rockstar-return-to-office-grand-theft-auto-vi-crunch/) that the company's insistence on return-to-office policies was a problem for many workers. Rockstar Games, for its part, claimed the policies were related to productivity and security concerns. Rockstar Games is set to publish [its highly-anticipated *Grand Theft Auto 6*](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-trailer-analysis-details-rockstar/) this year. The union cheekily referenced the anticipation of its release and rumors of a new trailer in the YouTube description of its video: "GTA fans have been on the edge of their seats at the rumours a new video is about to drop…," it wrote. It was Rockstar Games' so-called security concerns that first brought the workers' organizing efforts public last year. The video posted Thursday outlines what happened over the past several months, starting with the firing of more than 30 Rockstar Games employees in October 2025 for what the company said was "discussing confidential information in a public forum," a Rockstar Games spokesperson [said in a statement to Bloomberg in November](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-05/-grand-theft-auto-studio-says-fired-employees-were-leaking-information?ref=aftermath.site). The union [disagreed](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-delay-union-protest-rockstar/): It said at the time that the workers were gathered in a private Discord server with employees and union organizers—the beginnings of the union announced Thursday. The IWGB [is working to fight the firings in court.](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/rockstart-hit-with-legal-claims-by-iwgb-over-firing-of-unionizing-workers?ref=aftermath.site) Workers and outside union supporters [gathered globally after the employees were fired,](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-6-rockstar-fired-workers-protest-nyc/) in front of Rockstar Games' offices, to protest what the union called union busting by Rockstar Games.. A date for a hearing has been set, a Rockstar Games Workers Union representative said in the YouTube video. The fallout of the workers' firings have been devastating for those impacted. The representative said in the video that workers with sponsored visas were laid off, and that Rockstar Games reported workers on sponsored visas to the UK Visas and Immigration office, forcing some people to leave their homes, families, and pets. Employers are required to report changes to employment for sponsored workers, [according to UK immigration law group Cromwell Wilkes](https://cromwellwilkes.co.uk/skilled-worker-visa-dismissed-act-early/?ref=aftermath.site). "We believe the \[firings\] were unlawful and retaliatory—connected to the workers' collective activity of organizing at Rockstar," IWGB Game Workers Union co-founder Austin Kelmore [told Aftermath at the time](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-delay-union-protest-rockstar/). "This action by Rockstar came shortly after reaching 10 percent of eligible workers at Rockstar in the union." The Rockstar Games Workers Union representative said in the video that the union is bigger and stronger than ever. The union is asking the community for financial support to fight Rockstar Games in court. At a hearing in January, the UK labor tribunal [denied the fired workers interim pay](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-12/fired-rockstar-employees-denied-pay-by-uk-judge?ref=aftermath.site) during the process. But the workers have received support from government officials; in December, UK Prime Minister [Keir Starmer called the firings of the unionizing workers](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/uk-prime-minister-promises-to-look-into-rockstar-s-firing-of-workers?ref=aftermath.site) "a deeply concerning case." He vowed to look into the matter during a parliamentary meeting, when Parliament member Chris Murray approached the group about the action. Aftermath has reached out to Rockstar Games for comment. ### Storage Is Better When It's Modular URL: https://aftermath.site/best-modular-storage-toolboxes-bookshelves/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T17:20:34.000Z Like many kids, I was raised by LEGO, which instilled in me a bone deep love for plastic snapping together. This is something that I have kept well into adulthood, and which has mostly manifested in my love of modular storage. I love any bookcase, shelf, bin, toolbox, or storage system that is standardized, easily taken apart, and can expand or contract at a moment’s notice. And now that I have a 3D printer, I have unlocked an entirely new dimension of modular storage. Over the years I have collected or become fascinated with various methods of expandable storage systems. Here are just a few, in no particular order. ![An older diagram of a bookcase that snaps together.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/globe-top.png) Credit: Globe-Wernicke catalogs [1905](https://archive.org/details/globe-wernicke-catalog-105-bookcases-1905/page/n11/mode/2up) via The Internet Archive ## **Barrister's bookcases AKA The Globe Wernicke "Elastic" Bookcase** The Barrister’s bookcase is one of the oldest forms of modular storage I know and was originally made by a company called Globe Wernicke that went defunct in the 1950s. Occasionally you can find old examples of these on Facebook Marketplace, worn but reliable. They’re built fairly well, standardized, and were originally designed to be disassembled in parts. Oftentimes they’ll have windows, so it’s like your books live in a little house. ![An old diagram from a magazine that says "The interlocking strip" and shows how the Globe-Wernicke "elastic" bookcase works. It shows a cross section of the metal and describes its workings.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/globe-1-2.png) The "elastic" bookcase used an interlocking metal strip to connect its segments. Images from a Globe-Wernicke catalogs circa [1905](https://archive.org/details/globe-wernicke-catalog-105-bookcases-1905/page/n11/mode/2up) via The Internet Archive They can be moved easily and expanded, as opposed to a normal bookcase, which sucks to move and usually retains a fixed capacity. People still produce these since the designs are standardized and in the public domain, although many newer examples lack modularity, which is their entire appeal aside from looking like you’re a lawyer. I find them to be handsome, charming, and proof that people that have my kind of brain have existed even in Cincinnati in the 1890s. ![Orange and white shelves on a blue rug.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/olaf-1.JPG) Knockoffs of shelves that have not been made in ages. Kartell should make them again. ## **Olaf Von Bohr for Kartell (and knocked off on Alibaba a few years ago), USM, and Muji** Kartell is an Italian brand that sells space-aged injection molded plastic furniture from the 1960s-70s. You may have seen the Componibili, a big side table that looks like a pillbox, or the KD28 by designer Joe Colombo, a lamp which looks like an alien spaceship cradled lovingly by a cylindrical stand with massive gaps cut out in it. If you have a comical amount of money to burn and want your apartment to look like either the MoMA, the set of a 70s bond movie/French porno, or Austin Powers’ Shag Pad then Kartell is a good place to start. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/20251021_kd28_3.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/KAR0492315_1.webp) These are some of the most affordable items Kartell makes and they're still kinda pricy. Iconic for a reason. My favorite piece that Kartell ever produced were these big orange and white plastic bookcases by Austrian designer Olaf von Bohr. They fit together like Legos, look like they belong in a Swedish child’s room and can be easily added to or subtracted from depending on the need. Kartell has not produced the shelves in ages, which is a pity because as a result I have seen a decently-sized bookcase go for several grand on the used market. If Kartell was smart they would find a way to make them again. This is an original vs. the random dupe I found on Alibaba. In the absence of that, however, I did find a very good dupe. Mine were from a company called Hangzao Decopai on Alibaba in 2023, and I used the reverse image search feature to find them. Normally I’d feel slightly bad about designer dupes, but the shelf has not been available for decades and there is nothing particularly special about injected molded ABS plastic from a materials perspective. The shelves themselves were about $455 dollars and half of that was shipping, which is not bad for a two column, seven row dual book shelf. This was before Trump screwed things up royally for anybody importing things, and since then that company has stopped offering the dupe, although they still make USM Haller dupes, which I found to not be worth the prices of shipping at the time. This stuff costs a lot of money but in all fairness it's very well built and functionally heirloom. USM Haller are also fancy modular forms of bookshelves that are worth mentioning. They have chrome metal joints with tasteful solid color panels, and they look like if you tried to render an industrial bookcase on an Amiga. They were obscenely expensive when I originally looked at them, even to dupe, because they’re metal and shipping is often based on weight. I believe dupe companies have started importing those and the price has since gone down, although I don’t assume they’re cross compatible with the genuine article. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/4550344911471_03_org_1260x1260.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/4549337238985_02_1260_1260x1260.webp) Muji, because you just turned 30\. Credit: Muji I would also be remiss if I did not mention the [SUS system by Muji](https://www.muji.us/collections/shelves?ref=aftermath.site). Like many Muji objects, it exists in a middle ground between Ikea and rich people design options, better made than the former while not fully breaking the bank like a Haller set. The shelves are modular, crossbraced and come in either industrial powder-coated metal or veneer fiberboard. It’s an attractive choice for someone in their 30s who is doing well enough in their life to start caring about design but still isn’t made of money. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/RakksHistoric04@2x-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/2880-1.jpg) Rakks have been around for ages, the Vitsoe are iconic. Both cost more money than I'll ever see. Credit: [Rakks](https://rakks.com/product/starter-set/?ref=aftermath.site), Vitsoe ## **Modular wall shelves, expensive save for one** For a long time I was very obsessed with fancy wall shelves, particularly the kinds you see in libraries and rich people’s houses. Shelving systems by [Rakks](https://rakks.com/?ref=aftermath.site) and [Vitsoe](https://www.vitsoe.com/us?ref=aftermath.site) came up the most, and the Vitsoe 606 by Dieter Rams is the most iconic. You may know Dieter Rams as the guy [Jony Ive](https://aftermath.site/ferrari-luce-design-horrible-awful-i-hate-it-my-eyes/) built his entire career on by knocking off for Apple. I once bought drugs from a guy with an entire apartment covered in Vitsoe 606s, and short of getting a conversation pit it’s one of the biggest flexes I’ve seen. There’s also a tasteful hardwood design by Poul Cadovius called the [Royal System](https://www.dwr.com/designer-poul-cadovius?ref=aftermath.site) that Design Within Reach, a company that offers designer furniture at prices out of reach for most people, still sells. Both of those systems are way too rich for my blood, as are the modular floating shelves you see at Design Within Reach known as the String system. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/4451e967-3fcf-4650-8795-0bf3c81ef2f3.webp) The string system is cool but it's still a lot of cash for like three shelves. Credit: [String](https://www.stringfurniture.com/en/series/pocket/metal/pocket-metal-w60-x-d15-x-h50-cm-oxtorgsrodoxtorgsrod-1-pack?ref=aftermath.site) The String system is iconic and has been around since 1949\. It’s a system of floating rails that screw into the wall and allow you to quickly add or subtract shelves. You can also put the rails either symmetrically or asymmetrically, allowing you to have a lot of fun with layout without taking up too much floor space. The String system costs a lot of money for not a lot of storage, but there has been a competing Scandinavian modular shelving system called the [Tomado shelving system](https://www.metaltex.com/tag/tomado/?ref=aftermath.site), currently produced by a company called Metalatex, made of sheet metal in either solid colors or in Piet Mondrian style primaries. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/377603016_SL-3.jpg)](https://www.metaltex.com/tomado-commemorative-stamp/?ref=aftermath.site) These things rule. Affordable for normal people, they come in several colors, apparently they appeared on a [dutch stamp](https://www.metaltex.com/tomado-commemorative-stamp/?ref=aftermath.site). I hope someone imports them again. Credit: [Metaltex](https://www.metaltex.com/?ref=aftermath.site) They tend to cost a fraction of the price, and for a brief moment The Container Store sold them for $60 and so I loaded up on them. That was smart because they stopped importing them for some reason, but they’re good shelves, and if you’re in Europe they still sell them online. I haven’t needed mine in a long time, because I moved into a place where I generally am not allowed to screw stuff into the walls, but I would still highly recommend them. The Container Store also has a system called the [Elfa system](https://www.containerstore.com/s/elfa/1?ref=aftermath.site) which I have always found to be utilitarian and a little fugly. Ikea also used to make something called the [SVALNÄS system](https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/files/pdf/cb/92/cb92e741/svalnas.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) but seems to have discontinued it in favor of twenty different flavors of bookcases made out of particle board. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/IG_Wall_Control_Pink_Purple_Pegboard_3__60085.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot_20260527_163943.png) Wall Control and the SKÅDIS. The former is durably made, industrial and powder coated. The latter fits into an office and has more mods than I can count. Credit:[ Wall Control](https://wallcontrol.com/?ref=aftermath.site), [Ikea](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/skadis-series-37813/?ref=aftermath.site). ## **Pegboards and also Ikea** I have resisted bringing up Ikea too much in this article because years ago I made a promise to myself not to have anything by them in my household, because I’m too old and everything I purchased from them disintegrated and/or became an object of intense loathing. Many of their products are moddable into something respectable, and much of their vintage stuff was well made including the iconic [Ikea Guide](https://ikeamuseum.com/en/explore/product-stories/guide-bookshelf-1985/?ref=aftermath.site) bookshelf by designer Niels Mossbeck which goes for wild prices in vintage stores. Ikea revived this spiritually as the [BYAKORRE](https://www.ikea.com/nl/en/p/byakorre-open-shelving-unit-20586458/?ref=aftermath.site) not too long ago only to subsequently stop offering it in the United States for reasons that remain mysterious to me. I must also acknowledge the KALLAX because every single DJ I have ever met owned a unit to store records. Additionally, search “[Ikea Old-growth Romanian Forests](https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/66349/ikea-furniture-destroys-some-of-europes-last-remaining-ancient-forests/?ref=aftermath.site)” if you wanna have a good time. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot_20260527_163414-1.png) Not really modular but I really wanna know why they stopped carrying their reboot of the GUIDE in America. Credit: [Ikea](https://www.ikea.com/ae/en/p/byakorre-open-shelving-unit-20586458/?ref=aftermath.site) One place where Ikea still cooks, aside from very cheap smart bulbs and perfectly OK quality sensors, is pegboards. Pegboards are not uncommon in garages, and if you don’t mind the sight of colored metal in your kitchen or work space you could do far worse than the pegboard systems offered by the company [Wall Control](https://wallcontrol.com/?ref=aftermath.site). They come in tons of beautiful powder-coated colors ([and you know that I love powder coating](https://aftermath.site/theyll-let-you-powder-coat-just-about-anything/)) and I used to own two racks in cobalt blue that I loved. But oftentimes metal pegboards are not appropriate in the home, and so Ikea seized on the pegboard format years ago with the [SKÅDIS system](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/skadis-series-37813/?ref=aftermath.site). It’s a system much more geared towards people in a bedroom or office setting, with brackets that let you use it either freestanding or mounted to a desk. In addition to this, countless [3D printed modules](https://www.printables.com/search/models?q=tag%3Askadis&ref=aftermath.site) have popped up, infinitely expanding the modularity of the system. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/systainer.png)](https://systainer.store/?ref=aftermath.site) I LOVE these things. I have several like six of them. Credit: [Systainer USA](https://systainer.store/?ref=aftermath.site) ## **Systainers – the endgame modular toolbox** People who do woodworking are particular about their tools, and often anal about how they are stored. There are many different competing standards for tool storage (Milwaukee has the sturdy “[Packout](https://www.milwaukeetool.com/products/storage-solutions/packout?ref=aftermath.site)” system, for example), but if one is “the best” it’s the Systainer system. You usually see these with Festool brand tools, but other companies use the same standard under various names including the MakPac by Mikita. Systainers are on the pricier end but, unlike design bullshit for rich people, they’re durably built, deeply German and infinitely useful. Systainers have a latching design, allowing any unit to be attached to the one under it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Systainers-2.png) Most units fit together, although there are variations between revisions. Credit: [Systainer USA](https://systainer.store/?ref=aftermath.site) It’s a genius system that allows for entire stacks of boxes to be securely attached to each other. Systainers are easy to keep organized, with some units allowing you to custom modify the internal drawers to specific, pre-determined sizes or feature removable bins. I have Systainers in my house and most of them I got used from this guy in College Point for next to nothing. You can even get Systainers in solid colors. I have a deep navy I used as a side table near my couch because it reminded me of the Joe Colombo Boby office trolley for about half the cost, but that has since been replaced by a Lane side table I found on the street. If you have ever thought “man, the containers Sam uses in *Death Stranding* look cool,” you may enjoy owning several Systainers. It is also worth mentioning Sortimo, a rackable German toolbox system that Adam Savage swears by. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/mini-box.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/midi-box-403014-1.jpg) These things got huge a few years back because HAY started carrying them. Credit: [Aykasa](https://aykasa.com/?ref=aftermath.site) ## **HAY/Aykasa storage crates** Danish design brand HAY started selling these fruit crates a few years back and they blew up in popularity during the pandemic. The fruit crates stack on top of each other neatly and are easy to break down. They are a [rebrand of a Turkish design](https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-farmers-market-hay-colour-crates-took-over-instagram-interiors/?ref=aftermath.site) from a company called Aykasa, practical crates meant for fruit storage outside recontextualized in a design setting. Though they have died down as an item of Instagram fascination, they’re collapsable and stack easily, and I have a few I still use to keep unsorted tools in. If you need a tasteful bin to store a bunch of your child’s toys that can be broken down when you don’t need them, these will do the trick. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/deskpi-1.webp) Mini racks have gotten big recently, including from companies like DeskPi.Credit: [DeskPi](https://deskpi.com/products/deskpi-rackmate-tt-black-rackmount-mini-server-cabinet-for-mini-pc-network-servers-audio-and-video-equipment?ref=aftermath.site) ## **Server racks, mini racks, micro racks, printable racks** Spend a sufficiently long time around ethernet cables and you will become accustomed to network racks and devices that fit into them. Network racks are standardized modular shelving systems for storing servers, network switches, and associated equipment. They have a defined size, codified by the [EIA-310-D](https://www.racksolutions.com/news/data-center-optimization/eia-310-definition/?ref=aftermath.site) into specific unified size and shapes. Usually they are 19 inches wide, and broken into 1.75” rack units, abbreviated as either RU or more commonly “U.” Each number before the U typically denotes the number of rack units, so 1U is 1.75”, 2U is 3.5”, and so on. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/SPNN_file_server_rack.jpg) These things? Network racks. Credit: [Wikimedia commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SPNN%5Ffile%5Fserver%5Frack.jpg?ref=aftermath.site). Network racks are great for storing basic networking hardware in a defined and easy to parse format. You can use them to mount power supplies, home servers, single board computers, and network switches. They also make routing that traffic easier, using mountable patch panels and what are known as ethernet keystones jacks, allowing you to map out exactly where you want your traffic to go. Keystones allow you to strip down an ethernet cable to a custom length, although dual sided and toolless keystone jacks have made the entire process much easier for normal people. Jeff has been a proponent of the mini rack form factor. The issue with using a network rack in your home is they are huge and often ugly. Nineteen inches is a wide form factor and most normal people who don’t have a weird hobby don’t have networking sufficiently complicated to need that sort of space (although 19 inch desktop racks are cheap and plentiful). In the last few years, however, mini racks have become much more popular particularly with homelab enthusiasts and people with smaller businesses. Companies like DeskPi cater to enthusiasts with more realistic needs, like a router, some raspberry pis, and maybe a Dell Optiplex running Plex or Jellyfin. The 10 inch rack is the most accepted standard for mini racks, with YouTuber [Jeff Geerling being a strong proponent of it](https://mini-rack.jeffgeerling.com/?ref=aftermath.site), although even smaller rack formats also exist in even smaller formats now. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/IDG_20260527_164900_816-1.jpg) My own printable mini rack is a work in progress. I found the Lab Rax wasted space and so I used a [remix I found](https://makerworld.com/en/models/1917602-lab-rax-0-5u-1-2u-top-corner?ref=aftermath.site) that puts a .5U keystone panel. Unsurprisingly, 3D printed mini racks are also huge in the enthusiast space, as making them requires little actual hardware outside of the filament itself (usually PETG or ASA) and maybe some bolts and heat inserts, metal screw threads that can be heated and melted into plastic using a soldering iron tip. 3D printing also allows you to download or create custom sized 10” units that fit your specific hardware. I have personally built a [Lab Rax ](https://the-diy-life.com/introducing-lab-rax-a-3d-printable-modular-10-rack-system/?ref=aftermath.site)unit designed by Michael Klements for my own home, which is attractive enough, although I find there is some wasted space and instability at the 45 degree angled panels it uses to connect the vertical and horizontal supports. There are also endless competing formats for mini racks themselves, including one for heavy duty components called the [KWS Rack](https://makerworld.com/en/models/2139130-kws-rack-v-2-heavy-duty-10-inch-homelab-rack?ref=aftermath.site) by Ilan Kushnir, that not only allows for quickly expanding the rack by printing additional parts, but also has space for magnets for additional storage. There's countless Mini Rack form factors you can build at this point if you print. In addition to this there’s another option beloved by racing sim enthusiasts: Aluminum. Extruded aluminum is fairly cheap and sturdy enough for many applications, although you do have to make sure you get extrusions sturdy enough to support the weight. Each extrusion has threads in it which allow you to easily place threaded nuts (T-Nuts) which can then be used to fasten the extrusions together with brackets. Sites like [8020.net](http://8020.net/?ref=aftermath.site), [Misumi](https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302683830/?seriesCode=110302683830&tab=drawingAndSpecifications&Page=1&ref=aftermath.site) and [Tnutz](https://www.tnutz.com/?ref=aftermath.site) are vendors for this, although it’s not hard to find someone who will cut aluminum to length for you. [Multiple](https://jackerhack.ing/notes/202503120801-2020-rack?ref=aftermath.site) [different](https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/1cie0yj/beautiful%5Fafternoon%5Fview%5Fdiy%5Fhomelab%5Frack%5Ffrom/?ref=aftermath.site) [people](https://www.reddit.com/r/minilab/comments/1mut95f/alu%5F2020%5Frack/?ref=aftermath.site) have made mini racks with aluminum and they are weirdly attractive. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/gridfinity-1.png)](https://gridfinity.perplexinglabs.com/?ref=aftermath.site) The Perplexing Labs generator is a great resource for generating custom gridfinity models. Credit: [Perplexing Labs ](https://gridfinity.perplexinglabs.com/?ref=aftermath.site) ## **Guess who started 3D printing? Gridfinity, openGrid, and the infinite possibility of open standards** It is with a heavy heart that I must admit that I caved and [finally got a 3D printer](https://aftermath.site/bambu-lab-agpl-violation-open-source/). Although becoming a “3D printer guy” has a lot of baggage spiritually, I am a person who does a lot of hardware hacking and so it was bound to happen. 3D printers are fantastic if you are the kind of person with a bone deep need for storage that is specifically tailored to the exact shape of your tools. Since 3D printing blew up, multiple standards have arisen, each with slightly different rationales. The video that started it all in 2022. [Gridfinity](https://gridfinity.xyz/?ref=aftermath.site) is the most popular standard by far. It is a standardized grid system (often 42x42x7mm, although generators exist for different grid sizes) that allows you to place custom printed bins without them moving around. You can choose to make these bins with or without neodymium magnets, which are nice to have but not strictly required for most storage. There’s also [openGrid](https://www.opengrid.world/?ref=aftermath.site) and [MultiBuild](https://multibuild.io/?ref=aftermath.site), which are useful if you want to mount things on your wall like a pegboard or under your desk. In addition to this there’s a standard specifically designed for under desk cable management called [underware](https://www.handsonkatie.com/underware?ref=aftermath.site) by a Youtuber named Hands on Katie, who also designed another system called [NeoGrid](https://www.printables.com/model/844086-neogrid-the-complete-home-organisational-system-fo?ref=aftermath.site) for storing larger items. There's even entire [Gridfinity bins that work in the aforementioned](https://makerworld.com/en/models/1451199-skadis-gridfinity-slider-drawers?ref=aftermath.site) SKÅDIS system. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/titelbild.png)](https://makerworld.com/en/models/463249?ref=aftermath.site) [A Sortimo-like gridfinity toolbox.](https://makerworld.com/en/models/463249?ref=aftermath.site) There's also a [stacking rugged toolbox variant](https://www.printables.com/model/543553-gridfinity-storage-box-by-pred-now-parametric?ref=aftermath.site), and another variant that actually [functions like Systainers.](https://www.printables.com/model/1685219-gridfinity-storage-box-schubox-v2-large-7x6?ref=aftermath.site) Credit: [suit1337](https://makerworld.com/en/@suit1337?ref=aftermath.site) The majority of these systems are free and sharable, often remixed and iterated on, and as a result countless people have designed hyper-specific storage solutions for everything in their lives. There’s a few fantastic Gridfinity generators, including a few more recent ones that allow you to discern the rough shape of an object and generate a Gridfinity block with a Junji Itoh-style hole in it. One person invented a [nice crate system specifically around Gridfinity](https://makerworld.com/en/models/2716394-gridcrate-parametric-gridfinity-basket?ref=aftermath.site#profileId-3008498), and another recently went so far as to create an [interlocking crate system](https://www.printables.com/model/1685219-gridfinity-storage-box-schubox-v2-large-7x6?ref=aftermath.site), functionally recreating Systainers in an entirely new context (although I would not make one in PLA and store it in a hot car). openGrid is an open pegboard system you can print at home. The primary space where I needed Gridfinity was my bathroom vanity, which is a series of extremely narrow shelves full of objects that feel designed to fall into a toilet. It is a precarious menagerie of round pill bottles and tubes with odd centers of gravity. Gridfinity solves these issues by giving those individual items a place to live, either with bins or specific cutouts. Gridfinity bins can be made stackable, so items I used infrequently, like razors and contact lenses, have a place to live while I can stack other items on top of those items. Add to the mix a label maker and you’re gold (Brother’s entry-level handheld printer the [PTN25BT](https://www.brother-usa.com/products/ptn25bt?ref=aftermath.site) has both a keyboard and Bluetooth, making it very competitive.) ![A bathroom vanity where all the items are stored in modular boxes that are labeled.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/IDG_20260527_164807_395.jpg) Oh yeah that isn't falling out any more. I am aware I need to standardize the labels. After printing a few Gridfinity bins I have become hooked. [To quote a friend online](https://bsky.app/profile/slimekat.com/post/3mlhe6mzlvc23?ref=aftermath.site), Gridfinity turns real life into a video game inventory, your various items in drawers having fixed dimensions like Resident Evil guns. There’s Gridfinity bins for everything, from specific tools to silverware drawers, although it’s worth pointing out that FDM-printed items are not technically considered food safe although there does not appear to be a clear consensus on if storing your flatware in there is more toxic than a piece of injection molded plastic. If you are prone to worrying about that sort of thing I’d stick to using it to hold screwdrivers. I personally do not intend on filling my entire home with a bunch of 3D printed objects because I find the way it looks to be somewhat tacky, but for functional storage it’s a godsend. ## **Modular everything** I am a person at my core who needs to know exactly where everything in my house is, both psychologically and functionally, to get things done. There are ways in which this kind of thing can be overdone, where spending time on creating a system takes up more oxygen than the time needed to find those tools. But often it is worth setting up your space properly, to label drawers and bins, to dedicate and categorize. There is a serene beauty in modular systems, in a storage solution that can not only collapse for easy transport but either contract or grow with you as your life and space changes. These systems have served me, I hope they will serve you as well. ### Your Heroes Will Always Let You Down URL: https://aftermath.site/hideo-kojima-ai-prada/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T20:08:10.000Z One of the things I grappled with[ while enjoying *Death Stranding 2*](https://aftermath.site/death-stranding-2-review/) was that, as a long-time non-enjoyer of Hideo Kojima games, I'd always found the cult of personality surrounding the man and his works to be a little off-putting. [OK, Hideo Kojima, You Finally Got MeDeath Stranding 2 is a very unexpected (for me) masterpiece![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/20260412112314_1-d49d4d14b2ddf9c6f3bdd011079b03b54e762d21cd5fc0648ebd8a7f550283e7.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/death-stranding-2-review/) There are loads of very famous video game designers, some of them even bordering on qualifying as household names, but the way some fans carried on about Kojima would have you thinking he'd won everything from an Oscar to the Nobel Prize for Literature just for making some games about guns and politics. None of that is his fault! It always felt to me like the result of certain Gamers being desperate to be able to claim some kind, *any* kind, of auteur for the medium, and because he got the closest to it he was elevated to the position, like a single member of a very large mob being plucked out and hoisted up on everyone's shoulders. Anyway, I hope those long-time Kojima stans have the capacity for some self-reflection, because in one of the most predictable news items for 2026, it turns out the guy, famous for injecting his video games with very cinematic flourishes but also notable as an absolute fiend for the latest technology, is very into experimenting with AI filmmaking. Teaming up with *Death Stranding 2's* Nicolas Winding Refn, the pair have made a short for a Prada commercial that, given its setting, is inexplicably made with AI. I'm not going to post it here, but I will describe it for you: it's about two astronauts (NWR and an AI-generated man who sometimes looks like Kojima and sometimes does not) whose 50s-sci-fi-style spaceship crashes on an alien planet, where they battle with aliens before being rescued by some kind of beautiful psychic alien lady. The entire thing looks like plastic dogshit, in the way every AI-generated video does, and the fact it's a commercial for Prada only makes it worse. Also, given the fact most of it is set in very confined spaces (the interior of a spaceship), and the rest is prompted to look like it’s[ tokusatsu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokusatsu?ref=aftermath.site), it probably cost more in tokens than it would have to just hire two guys and shoot them for the day! If you're upset or disappointed in any way by this, at least you're not alone; even on *Twitter* the top replies look like this: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-28-101228.png) ### Give Them A Moment, For Pity's Sake URL: https://aftermath.site/007-first-light-review-embargo/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T23:31:46.000Z What I'm about to describe here is nothing new, it's simply the latest battle in the never-ending war between games marketing and what's left of traditional games media. But it's also one of the most egregious examples of embargo shenanigans I've seen in recent times, so I thought it was worth highlighting. Last week, on Friday (May 22), a number of outlets were given code for the new James Bond game, *007 First Light*. Alongside this code, they were [given a review embargo of Tuesday](https://bsky.app/profile/ethangach.bsky.social/post/3mmqycohyxc2r?ref=aftermath.site) (May 26),[ meaning that if they wanted their reviews to be published at said embargo time](https://aftermath.site/games-journalism-an-faq/)\--the time other outlets would be publishing *their* reviews, kicking off a feeding frenzy of review comparisons and Metacritic aggregation--whoever was reviewing the game had to not only play and finish the game in a matter of days, but write a review of it as well. [Nobody Needs This Man, We’re All So TiredThere’s jokes and then there’s whatever this was![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/tiredeyes-c729216c6380409106e3db65f85fbaa511317266159c208cadc758812d3fba5e.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/nobody-needs-this-man-were-all-so-tired/) That is nowhere *near* enough time to do that in a way that is healthy for anyone. It left outlets with a choice: rush the game (potentially missing stuff or simply not playing it the way it was intended) and subject a writer to a terrible weekend (and a rushed review!) just to hit a deadline, or let their reviewer take their time with it, provide a more measured piece of criticism and miss one of the last surefire ways for traditional games media to juice their pageviews in the modern age. What ended up happening was a mixed bag of approaches and results that does little but damn the game's marketing apparatus. IGN, easily the most influential critical publication left standing in 2026 and who say they only got their code "over the weekend",[ has decided to review the game in stages](https://www.ign.com/articles/007-first-light-review?ref=aftermath.site), publishing some initial thoughts for now but holding off on a final score and verdict until they've had time to play it properly. A few [smaller](https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2026/05/26/007-first-light-review/?ref=aftermath.site) outlets have done the [same](https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps5/007-first-light?ref=aftermath.site). PC Gamer, another of the biggest outlets still reviewing games,[ didn't even get code for it](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/hey-pc-gamer-wheres-your-007-first-light-review/?ref=aftermath.site). Meaning that on the big day, the day the game's marketers want to make the most of the review scores, [we got a mixed bag of outlets](https://www.metacritic.com/game/007-first-light/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-5&ref=aftermath.site) that run the gamut from "traditional powerhouses" to "sites I have literally never heard of.” > Reviews are here! The team is very excited to see the first hour of review scores coming in at 89![https://t.co/St9989ZtWx](https://t.co/St9989ZtWx?ref=aftermath.site)[#007FirstLight](https://twitter.com/hashtag/007FirstLight?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#EarnTheNumber](https://twitter.com/hashtag/EarnTheNumber?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/rzF8IqlKYh](https://t.co/rzF8IqlKYh?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 007 First Light (@007GameIOI) [May 26, 2026](https://twitter.com/007GameIOI/status/2059272905112900095?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) I think this is a bad look! I know anyone working in marketing will probably disagree with me, but I'm a games media weirdo writing for an audience of games media sickos, and I think your embargo-day Metacritic page missing scores from IGN and PC Gamer, while being topped by some sites that would have felt compelled to rush the whole experience to meet an unrealistic deadline, is a damning indictment on this game's approach to the press. I have no idea why the embargo was set so close to the distribution of codes, [which is a practice that is depressingly common but which also sucks](https://kotaku.com/how-video-game-review-restrictions-work-and-dont-1846199977?ref=aftermath.site). Maybe there were technical issues delaying its release, some urgent updates that needed to be applied before letting critics play through it. Maybe it was an intentional ploy to get a certain class of outlet, the ones who would have simply appreciated the code and worked to meet the embargo without question, to be the ones covering the game on embargo day. Maybe, through multiple layers of management and bureaucracy, this is just how things worked out. I don't think the why matters much when the end result is the same, though. We've been left with a situation where the participating press have been treated with contempt on one hand while also being used to help tout the game with the other, and while it might seem easy to criticise those outlets for participating, many of them probably felt trapped by circumstance. As AI results erode search traffic and the ad market continues to disappear, traditional games media is left with fewer and fewer chances to rake in some extra pageviews, so a decision to skip an embargo day--when the eyes of the world are drawn to the first review scores to hit the internet--isn't an easy one. But like...surely there's a better way here. Review crunch like this isn't healthy for those stuck with the task, isn't healthy for the wider relationship between games media and publishers and certainly isn't great for readers, who with rushed embargoes like this aren't getting the depth or quality of criticism they deserve. I'm glad IGN and others have held off on a final score for now (while acknowledging few other publications have the luxury of doing so), and maybe the only way forward the next time this happens--and there's always a next time with this shenanigans--is for more sites to follow their lead, swallow the short-term pain and buy themselves a little more long-term gain. ### The Steam Deck Costs How Much Now? URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-deck-price-increase-valve-ai/ Last updated: 2026-05-28T21:39:10.000Z Remember when the Steam Deck—no longer a bleeding-edge piece of hardware but still a marvel from an “it just works” perspective—[was a bargain](https://aftermath.site/the-steam-deck-is-out-of-beta/)? Well, those days are painfully over. Today Valve [announced](https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/45479024/view/672869045073085538?ref=aftermath.site) that the 512 GB OLED Deck has leaped from $549 to $789, while the 1 TB version has positively soared from $649 to $949\. In other territories, that comes out to CAD 1,129, EUR 779, GBP 649, AUD 1,199, and PLN 3,279 for the 512 GB model and CAD 1,349, EUR 919, GBP 779, AUD 1,429, and PLN 3,879 for the big boy. [Nearly every platform](https://www.vice.com/en/article/every-console-price-increase-so-far-this-generation/?ref=aftermath.site) under the sun has [undergone a price increase](https://aftermath.site/ps5-price-hike-increase-europe-australia-sony-tariffs/) at this point, but the Deck’s is especially (sticker) shocking. The top-end model’s price is now *almost 50 percent higher* than it used to be. “Steam Deck itself hasn't changed,” wrote Valve. “These new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole. We’ll keep you updated if anything changes.” The Steam Deck, of course, is the same as it ever was. AI and a wholly unnecessary, historically embarrassing war are (once again) to blame for [making the computer more expensive](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/). It seems unlikely that things are going to change for the better anytime soon. Valve recently released [a sturdy, versatile new iteration of its Steam Controller](https://aftermath.site/steam-controller-review-living-room-pc/), but the Steam Machines meant to accompany it [remain MIA](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-frame-delayed-ai-data/). When we’ll finally see them in the wild is anyone’s guess. After all, planning for the future becomes something of a fool’s errand in a world where the concept of consumer hardware might soon be a thing of the past. ## Recommended [I’m Tired Of These Useless Jackasses Making The Computer ExpensiveRAM, flash memory, and HDDs are unaffordable because of a bunch of greedy idiots that do not love the computer.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1633589218187-daa8e52741f1-d27d2fecb7c32f7ea2542bf1032079c90fc896b929ae2d545a9694ccb892fb08)](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/) ### Yes… Hahaha… YES! URL: https://aftermath.site/ufc-freedom-250-octagon-white-house-lawn-trump/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T18:30:56.000Z [As of this week](https://apnews.com/article/ufc-octagon-white-house-trump-america-250-4fa60d8e0cd34448b55f34f41b18c116?ref=aftermath.site), the gigantic, star-spangled ribcage of a half-born UFC octagon now occupies the White House lawn. It is nearly as ugly as the many, many sins of the company responsible for its existence. I am in favor of it. Somehow an intensely stupid plan—first [announced by Donald Trump last summer](https://www.mmafighting.com/2025/7/3/24461432/president-trump-reveals-plans-to-hold-a-ufc-event-at-the-white-house-in-2026?ref=aftermath.site) as what many assumed to be a byproduct of one of his brain lobes melting—is actually coming to fruition: On June 14, there will be a UFC event outside the White House to celebrate Trump’s birthday. They’re calling it UFC Freedom 250, because of America (and not Donald Trump’s) age, even though there was already a separate event named UFC 250 that took place over half a decade ago and had nothing to do with any of this. For months, figures in and around the UFC suggested that Freedom 250 would [positively bristle with title fights and marquee matchups](https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Jon-Anik-Six-or-Seven-Title-Fights-Possible-for-UFC-White-House-Event-199640?ref=aftermath.site). Meanwhile, fighters, equal parts sympathetic and sycophantic to right-wing causes, begged for a spot on the White House card when they weren’t prostrating themselves before Trump himself during one of his[ many fawned-over UFC appearances](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNEbT00k9FY&ref=aftermath.site). UFC president Dana White and Trump have been close allies for a decade, with White first [stumping for Trump at the Republican National Convention](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/19/dana-white-speech-trump-republican-national-convention?ref=aftermath.site) back in 2016, and they continue to scratch one another’s backs. White is currently trying to upend another sport, boxing, by supporting amendments to a reform act that would [make it significantly easier for organizations, like White’s own Zuffa Boxing, to exploit fighters](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jan/28/zuffa-boxing-contract-dana-white-reform?ref=aftermath.site). Now more than ever, White has every reason to play politics. The actual Freedom 250 lineup, however, isn’t too far removed from that of a standard UFC card, albeit with slightly more starpower. This has led fans to brand it a letdown, especially considering that one of the two title fights on the card, Alex Pereira vs Cyril Gane, is for an interim heavyweight championship—not the real thing, which currently resides around the waist of Tom Aspinall, who Gane fouled so egregiously during their short-lived fight that Aspinall had to [get eye surgery about it](https://www.espn.com/mma/story/%5F/id/47891409/ufc-champion-tom-aspinall-undergoes-surgery-eyes?ref=aftermath.site). Then there’s the main event, Ilia Topuria vs Justin Gaethje, which has all the makings of a squash match due to a significant age discrepancy between the two fighters. As a result, pre-fight discussion has mostly centered around a proposed showdown between Topuria, the UFC’s lightweight champion, and Islam Makhachev, the champion one weight class up, [which the UFC failed to book](https://bloodyelbow.com/2026/04/07/islam-makhachev-explains-why-its-ilia-topurias-fault-theyre-not-fighting-at-the-white-house-in-new-theory/?ref=aftermath.site). But that pretty much sums up the UFC in general these days: a gaudy, shambolic traveling circus so married to short-changing fighters that it’s become incapable of giving anyone, except its own money-grubbing execs, what they actually want. There is a shamelessness to the operation exemplified by its weekly cascade of inconsequential events—many of which are run out of [a near-empty warehouse in Las Vegas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC%5FApex?ref=aftermath.site)—and even White’s [seeming inability to care about them](https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/story/sports/ufc/2026/04/29/jake-paul-dana-white-checked-out-ufc-mma/89851009007/?ref=aftermath.site). It’s content for content’s sake, which the UFC has nonetheless convinced Paramount, the organization’s latest suitor, to [wildly overpay for](https://frontofficesports.com/why-paramount-deliberately-overpaid-for-ufc-media-rights/?ref=aftermath.site). The UFC is a well-oiled machine with exactly one purpose: to collect a paycheck. In this way, the UFC pairs perfectly with the current US presidential administration, both ideologically and in terms of naked desire to swindle everyone in its path, but loyalists most of all. So as far as symbolism goes, you can’t really beat the UFC vomiting the guts of its infernal contraption onto the lawn while the White House devours itself from the inside out both [figuratively](https://newrepublic.com/article/208958/trump-iran-war-critics-maga-civil-war?ref=aftermath.site) and, of course, with [Trump’s big, beautiful ballroom](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/05/26/courts-congress-have-so-far-created-barriers-trump-ballroom/?ref=aftermath.site). It’s yet another pus-spewing pockmark on the back of an empire in collapse, but at least it’s funny. ## Recommended [Twitch Streamer’s MMA Event Ends With Fighter Whipping His Dick Out, Starting Brawl - AftermathAnother day in the office for both the content creation and combat sports businesses![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/mmabrawl-3-326e3b5d2dfb739418c6464f912602dc312b6e0ba9a8fcbeb8aace40e463408c.png)](https://aftermath.site/twitch-mizkif-mma-brawl/) ### I Love Boosters Is A Live Action Looney Tune URL: https://aftermath.site/i-love-boosters-keke-palmer-demi-moore-boots-riley-maximalism/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T16:55:16.000Z *I Love Boosters* is a maximalist affair. The latest movie from Boots Riley is at once communist agitprop and also a rollicking comedy about a group of scammers in a magical realist version of the Bay Area *and also* a celebration of everything that cinema is and can be. I am a bit of a cinema nerd. I studied cinema in college—both theory and production—and it was my pathway to thinking and writing about video games as art. There is simply nothing better than going to the movies and being delighted by moving images. And *l Love Boosters* is a testament to that delight that you can only feel when you’re watching a movie with a bunch of strangers, laughing, yelping and signing together in the dark. *Boosters* is a movie about Corvette, played by Keke Palmer, a fashion designer and a member of the Velvet Gang, a group of boosters who steal designer clothes and sell them at discount prices. Her main target are the stores for Metro Designs, the flagship brand from genius designer Christine Smith, played by Demi Moore, who sees these boosters as her ultimate nemeses. But that stuffed-to-bursting premise is only the start. As far as I can tell, the aesthetic goal of *I Love Boosters* is to create the most movie of all time. That means that the film is, on occasions, shaggy around the edges. After a totally coherent explanation of the theory of dialectical materialism (yes, really) in the back third of the movie, the zaniness that the movie runs on loses some steam. But the things Boots Riley shows us while zigging and zagging through the plot of the movie feels totally worth any quibbles I have about pacing. As much as I loved Riley’s first movie, *Sorry To Bother You*, that was very much a first film—a movie that felt like it had to contain everything that Riley thinks and believes, because he wasn’t sure there’d be a second one. While *I Love Boosters* rehashes some of the same ideas, it feels lighter, less burdened by being a debut. it’s that lightness that makes this movie so fun to watch. Each Metro Designs store sells a single color of clothing, and each time the characters enter one, they’re awash in a sea of red or yellow or green. In the background of the action there’s news broadcasts of characters like “black single mother” or “upstanding citizen” who are arguing in favor of paying more rent and not unionising. Christine Smith lives in a high rise that hangs diagonally across downtown—when Corvette tries to leave it after sneaking in, sliding down the slanted floor, eventually her legs spin around like she’s Roadrunner. There's an extended stop motion sequence with characters who literally remove their own skins. Lakeith Stanfield sorrowfully intones into the camera, “no more sucking souls out of pussies.” It literally brings a tear to his eye. There’s so much movie in this movie that I forgot about the subplot where Don Cheadle plays a predatory pyramid scheme leader until I asked Chris Person to read this blog over and he mentioned it. After the lights came back on when I saw it, my husband turned to me and said “at no point did I know where the plot was gonna go,” which to me is a sign of the film’s success in its approach to filmmaking. It’s all “yes, and” but also “more” and also “throw this in too.” Even if I don’t know that the movie coheres by the end, I love when I go to a movie theater and feel thrill and surprise. I feel like I could watch *I Love Boosters* a hundred times, and each time I could find something new in it. These are the kinds of movies that make me love the movies. [Thank God, They’re Properly Re-Releasing The DevilsA white whale of preservation for film freaks, Ken Russell’s classic is finally getting the treatment befitting a masterpiece.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/devils-head-b220a935727fa89408dfd2dfb9c920c8fbc989d4c9526a23b953d8ab6b9e31c4.png)](https://aftermath.site/ken-russell-the-devils-rerelease-theaters/) ### There Is Still Good In This World, Because It Is Once Again Time To Enjoy Famicase URL: https://aftermath.site/famicase-2026-art-exhibition-meteor-tokyo/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T17:47:14.000Z [Famicase](https://famicase.com/26/index.html?ref=aftermath.site)! I love it! If you're new to the word, [Meteor in Tokyo](https://super-meteor.com/?ref=aftermath.site) have an annual exhibition where artists from around the world dream up an interesting/funny video game and design a cartridge for it, even though the game itself does not exist. It's been going for a *very long time*; [this is the *20th successive year* I've covered it](https://aftermath.site/famicase-meteor-art-famicom-nintendo/), and for every one of those instalments it's been a blogging highlight of the year for me. I love all of these little ideas, and want all of them to be actual video games. If you're [in the neighbourhood](https://maps.app.goo.gl/vaz1QvfstXhrbPz97?ref=aftermath.site) you should absolutely pop in, as these pieces are all live and in the flesh, actual stickers stuck on actual cartridges. Since most of us *aren't* in the neighbourhood, sadly, all that's left is to [browse the complete online gallery](https://famicase.com/26/index.html?ref=aftermath.site), of which there are just a handful of highlights posted below. Oh, and Meteor are [also selling books showcasing every submission](https://super-meteor.stores.jp/items/69ec581bbfa287f5ab10819c?ref=aftermath.site) if you'd like to flick through the designs on the couch! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/11.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/10.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/8.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/6.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/5.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/4.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/3.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/2.PNG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/1.PNG) ### I Hope GTA 6's Soundtrack Is As Timeless As San Andreas URL: https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-gta6-san-andreas-soundtrack-ost-rockstar/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T18:31:12.000Z Happy [*Grand Theft Auto VI* was originally supposed to release today day](https://x.com/i/status/2059273350296617417?ref=aftermath.site). While there’s no doubt there will continue to be tons of articles drip-feeding information and speculation about the game in the lead-up to its actual release in November, everyone and their mom have christened it the [final video game](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/) that could slap any price onto itself and move the needle for years to come, or they make guesswork of its plot from the few tidbits we’ve gotten from Rockstar Games. I’ve never actually been concerned with *GTA* as a gangster shoot-em-up game. I like it as a fun little sandbox game that I can chill in and listen to good music—something I can only hope *GTA 6* will be just as good for. My earliest memories of playing *Grand Theft Auto* go back to *Vice City*. Of course, I was six and shouldn’t have been playing a violent game where you could wander the streets and blow random passersby’s heads off. I had the wherewithal to recognize it was referencing *Scarface* (since the film was a Thanksgiving staple with my family, alongside *The* *Godfather*), but nonetheless, I was a kindergartener playing *GTA: Vice City* because my older brother (who’s 25 years older than me) didn’t punk me with the tried-and-true passing of the unplugged controller. He let me free-roam using his finished memory card. There, I’d spend countless hours beelining to the tank I knew he kept in his Tony Montana garage and cause mayhem until I got wasted. That is, until my mom caught wind of my brother letting “baby Isaiah” play the M-rated game unsupervised and bought me a PlayStation 1 with more age-appropriate games like *Spider-Man*, *NASCAR*, and *Looney Tunes*, like hand blocking a trained puppy with a toy to keep them from teething on furniture. While I acquiesced to her wishes, I’d already gotten a taste for *GTA*’s sandbox potential and longed for the day I’d be “old enough” to play to my heart’s content. That day would come when *San Andreas* came out. Like history repeating itself, my brother would let me play his copy of *San Andreas* when I turned 12 with my mom’s blessing, since I’d already seen the worst of it. She didn’t know about [Hot Coffee](https://kotaku.com/remastered-gta-trilogy-contains-controversial-hot-coffe-1848052522?ref=aftermath.site), and we wanted to keep it that way. But I didn’t fall in love with *San Andreas* for the debauchery it promised. I loved it for its music. While Luke has gone on record as saying [*Vice City* has the best (licensed) video game soundtrack of all time](https://kotaku.com/the-best-licensed-video-game-soundtrack-of-all-time-1685069296?ref=aftermath.site), my favorite is *San Andreas*. I loved the songs on *San Andreas* so much that I’d boot up the game for the express purpose of turning on the radio and having CJ go on a road trip to the countryside while flipping through its stations. I took my sandbox role-playing so seriously that I was obeying traffic laws. With *San Andreas* being “the Black *GTA* game,” with an immaculate time capsule of cookout classics including but not limited to Michael Jackson, The Isley Brothers, Rick James, Boyz II Men, and Slick Rick, the licensed OST already felt like home off rip. But what pushed it over the edge as a formative gaming experience, one I’ve been chasing in the years since with games like [*Saints Row*](https://www.mothership.blog/a-not-at-all-mandatory-list-of-video-games-black-folks-should-play-at-least-once/?ref=aftermath.site), is its all-star playlist of licensed OST serving as a gateway to music I’d otherwise never have heard. More specifically, it exposed me to absolute banger folk and country music songs before [9/11 irreparably warped the genre](https://loyolamaroon.com/10039627/showcase/opinion-9-11-destroyed-country-music-as-a-genre/?ref=aftermath.site) into that [jingoistic Bo Burnham bit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7im5LT09a0&pp=ygUXYm8gYnVybmhhbSBjb3VudHJ5IHNvbmc%3D&ref=aftermath.site). Thanks to *San Andreas*, my musical tastes expanded after hearing Jerry Reed’s “Amos Moses,” Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn’s “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man,” Whitey Shafer’s “All My Exes Live in Texas,” Hank Williams’ “Hey Good Lookin’,” Ed Bruce’s “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” Juice Newton’s “Queen of Hearts,” and (my all-time favorite) America’s “Horse With No Name.” Many of these were classics that [didn’t make it into Rockstar Games’ *GTA: The Trilogy* remaster](https://kotaku.com/grand-theft-auto-the-trilogy-tracklist-leaks-and-its-1848032661?ref=aftermath.site). Looking back on it, my love of road-tripping in *San Andreas* has everything to do with my brother taking me on night drives when I was little to help me fall asleep. My memory now plays back those drives like that one dreamy, [Wong Kar Wai-esque clip of Anthony Bourdain adrift in a busy city street](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheNightFeeling/comments/1maxatu/anthony%5Fbourdain%5Fadrift%5Fin%5Fthe%5Fbusy%5Fcity%5Fstreets/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=web3x&utm%5Fname=web3xcss&utm%5Fterm=1&utm%5Fcontent=share%5Fbutton). He’d hit the expressway, and I’d nod off singing OutKast’s “So Fresh So Clean,” knowing damn well I didn’t understand what it was they were rapping about, but was fully convinced André 3000 was the coolest guy alive. It's uncanny that my nostalgia for those nights would manifest as *San Andreas* music, which I’d return to in my daily life as my own sort of digital nostalgia playlist. And with *GTA 6* dropping the week of my 30th birthday, I hope its OST will hit the same mark as my all-around fun sandbox game. But I’m not gonna lie, I’m nervous it won’t. Case in point: I couldn’t tell you a single track on the *GTA 5* soundtrack, and I played that jawn front to back. That’s not to say *GTA V* didn’t have bangers. It’s just that, as a time capsule of the music I was listening to back then—music I knew inside and out—it never stood out the way *San Andreas*’ *Smash Bros.*\-style “All the warriors” tracklist did. If anything, I remember more of [the silly shit DJ Cara](https://www.tiktok.com/@dj.cara/video/7420785959584812320?is%5Ffrom%5Fwebapp=1&sender%5Fdevice=pc&ref=aftermath.site) would say between tracks than the tracks themselves. Deadass, I had to look up that Freddie Gibbs rapped "[Welcome to Los Santos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Vx-9TUyzA&ref=aftermath.site)" this weekend. As someone who fucks with dude heavy, it's not a good sign that I couldn’t recall his presence on *GTA V*’s OST. And what with *GTA 6* shaping up to be the latest piece of media slow-cooking during the unreality of the Trump presidency, I’m also worried that whatever podcast-type listening experience it no doubt has queued up will age more like [*The Boys*](https://gizmodo.com/the-boys-final-season-5-prime-video-gen-v-review-2000761297?ref=aftermath.site) or an *SNL* bit than something as timeless and razor-sharp as *The Simpsons*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ca50b1e3bf85f7e4ba66b1ad902e032f2a204e36.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/afc44345b133a20fe35bfd33b5f4797191666c3d.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/33a6dc7910095d45ee9f6b8db24bbe19579b4ff7.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/e4bbdfcd978331b2098754f4f80a5ba419f99633.png) Rockstar But more than that, I can’t shake the old man feeling that today’s popular music just doesn’t build the same way older tracks did, where songs had multiple verses, a sticky chorus, dynamic instrumentation, and four-minute-plus runtimes. Now, sometimes the best we can hope for with songs today is something shy of two minutes that feels more formulaic and derivative than unique and bold. Having lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for almost a decade, I know firsthand how rural music scenes can feel frozen in time. I’m talking about folks blasting Tech N9ne and Hopsin while Jid and J. Cole were blowing up everywhere else. Sure, the big Drake hits filtered through, but only because they were inescapable. Otherwise, contemporary hits had as much chance of getting play as a third-rate phone carrier’s signal coverage in areas that weren’t metropolitan. One of my best friends confirmed that Florida is pretty much the same way, which has only increased my fear that the frozen-in-time songs phenomenon would carry over in the game as well. But if *GTA 6* wants to be a true time capsule, its licensed OST needs to have [bangers Floridians would actually bump](https://kotaku.com/gta-6-vi-trailer-song-tom-petty-love-is-a-long-road-1851077993?ref=aftermath.site). Should *GTA 6* have a similar frozen-in-time vibe to its licensed music as *GTA V*, I can only hope its soundtrack leans less on the pop music slurry built to trend as a TikTok dance and more on that euphoric 2016 prom night energy—the kind of tracks I’d throw on during a late-night cruise across the highway. Should all else fail, I’ll look forward to muting the game and spinning *San Andreas*’ soundtrack instead. ## Recommended [The Need For GTA 6’s Success Is A Symptom Of A Broken Industry - AftermathWhat more is there to give the game that has everything![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathJoshua Rivera![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/jason_and_lucia_01_landscape-1-3-d29f70d333bba2c65579eebe76095b2f8f6f3ce39b433408e7bc60730cc12a55.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/) ### You Don’t Have To Turn This Library-Tidying Game Into An Existential Crisis, But It Helps URL: https://aftermath.site/librarian-tidy-arcane-library-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T17:47:27.000Z When I was in library school, my favorite subject was cataloging: the in-depth and complicated rules that govern the Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress systems. It was deeply satisfying to assign every book under the sun its exact place in the order of things (or, “the order of things” as defined by a [white man from the 1800s](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/re-sorting-shelves-look-bias-dewey-decimal-system?ref=aftermath.site)). Recent game *Librarian: Tidy Up The Arcane Library* simplifies all this a lot, but it still scratches that essential itch of putting things in their place. [*Librarian*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4197610/Librarian%5FTidy%5FUp%5Fthe%5FArcane%5FLibrary/?ref=aftermath.site)’s set-up is simple: You’re dropped into a two-storey library that’s a total mess, with books strewn in piles on the floor, and your job is to put them all back on their appropriate shelves in order. There’s a map at the front of the library that tells you where books go–shelf 1A for books about monsters, shelf 2N for books about history, shelf 2K for books about “jurisprudence,” shelf 1G for books about “magical artifacts and enchanting.” All books are part of a series, meaning there’s between three and ten you need to find and put together on a shelf in their correct area. The entire thing felt overwhelming when I first started to play, and with nothing else for it, I just started loading my arms with books and wandering around putting them away. It’s obvious what category some books belong to, while others had titles that I struggled to interpret. These titles are all a lot of fun–the “management” section has series like *Managing Diverse and Cross-Race Adventurer Parties*; the “daily magic” section has an *Introduction to LifeHack Magic*–and the pleasure of discovering new titles, as well as finding parts of a set, does a lot to keep those early moments enjoyable. But it quickly became apparent to me that the task before me was, while not impossible, monumental, especially when some books are in messy piles that require tossing other books aside to unearth, meaning I was just making a new mess I’d have to sort through. I tried to do things systematically, clearing out all the books on the stairs. That didn’t work; I’d go to put one away across the library, spot a book that belonged in its category nearby, and then get distracted clearing out *that* area instead. I tried to focus on clearing away all the books that were just piled on incorrect shelves, but that required multiple trips back and forth across the library that felt inefficient. The act of finding and shelving was satisfying in that weird, don’t-think-too-hard-about-how-you’re-spending-your-life way of certain simulation games, but I wondered how I’d keep going for tens to, who knows, hundreds of hours. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/libboks.jpg) ArtRising Eventually I noticed that all the books in the mathematics section had the same basic design, a cover of one color with a brighter-colored stripe across the top. That’s when things started to click into place; I was able to search around for similar-looking books, and inevitably I got lucky and filled out one three-volume shelf. Completing shelves gives you points you can put into magical powers, and all of them make your task a lot easier. You can choose from the ability to bring the other books in a series into your hand, highlight related books among the mess or the right section for a book you’re holding, or automatically order or even shelve the books you’ve got. Once you’ve unlocked a power you can use your points to level it up, and since the powers you get make completing shelves easier and thus earn you more points quickly, it wasn’t long before I could pick up a book, instantly teleport its nine companions to me, and auto-shelve them, with time in my leveled-up cooldowns to do the same thing with another. Grabbing a book I’d already shelved correctly made this all faster, and I was quickly able to start filling out sections, even if my library itself is still a mess. It’s an interesting tension: The magical powers essentially make the core challenge of the game moot, since you barely have to find books at all. I went from painstakingly wandering the piles and examining covers, enjoying their design and titles, to just picking up a book at random and spamming my powers, hardly even registering its title or appearance. There’s an achievement for finishing the game without any magic, and I have to say it sounds appealing–it feels like the “true” way to play the game, and the one that makes it most like the cozy sim it professes to be. At the same time, the library is a library for people with magic powers; why *wouldn’t* you use magic to make your task possible? But the powers can also make the game more about simply completing the library rather than really living in the world of its books, at least the way I found myself treating them. I started wondering what the "right" way to do things was: What's the true essence of this task? Is it to do it fast? Is it to really work for it? I’m not done with the game yet, so I’m not sure if this tension becomes highlighted in any way once all my books are on their shelves. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/libpowers.jpg) Powers (ArtRising) *Librarian* came out in late April, and one of the reasons it’s taken me so long to get to is that the game’s Steam page features an AI use disclosure, which reads: > The four assets in this work—one UI component and three landscape paintings used as wall decorations (frames not included)—were produced using additional AI for refinement. None of them were created by AI from the ground up. > > AI helped with grammatical corrections for in-game text, which were then carefully reviewed and adjusted by hand. > > We only consider AI to be a supportive tool. Every detail is meticulously crafted with human intent, as our creative process is still firmly anchored in manual craftsmanship. This gave me a lot of pause and put me off the game for a while. I thought about the disclosure as I played with my powers: There’s a way in which I could read my use of them as a certain kind of metaphor for AI, removing the person-power and thinking from a task but also making it far more efficient than it would be unaided. There’s certainly a middle ground here, using your powers to assist you in the manual task instead of deploying them to circumvent it altogether, as the disclosure seems to suggest the developers did with their use of AI. I doubt the developers intended this reading, but it did give me something to mull over. Ultimately I was curious enough about the game, given how well it slots into my interests (and the master’s degree I’m still paying for) and satisfied enough with the disclosure to play it anyway, but I wouldn’t fault anyone who wants nothing to do with a game that uses AI in any way. With 3,072 books to shelve according to the game, even with my powers, I still have quite a bit of *Librarian* left to play. I appreciate the way that it’s given me a lot to ponder–and that, as a cataloging nerd, I’ve also had some moments where I bickered with its category decisions, which got me thinking about the complexities of how we assign anything a single definition. There’s a lot going on under its simple surface if you’re a weirdo like me; if you’re not, it’s also just a chill game to spend some time in. ### Look How They Massacred My Ferrari URL: https://aftermath.site/ferrari-luce-design-horrible-awful-i-hate-it-my-eyes/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T17:43:56.000Z I don't care if you're 5 or 75, if you are into cars, you have probably at some point in your life thought a Ferrari was the coolest thing you had ever seen on this planet. For coke-fuelled businessmen of the 80s (or kids with posters on their bedroom walls) it might have been the Testarossa that got your heart racing; for stoner millennials playing *Outrun 2* on the original Xbox (hi!) it could have been the Enzo. My point being, for decades the name Ferrari has been synonymous with aspirational sports cars. If you won the lottery, and you were going to buy a car, a lot of people would go straight to a Ferrari. If you were rich as hell, and wanted to show it, you would buy a Ferrari. If you were making a video game, or a model kit, and wanted to recreate the coolest thing you had ever seen on the planet, it would be, you guessed it, a Ferrari! Imagine the world's horror today, then, when the company finally, after years of wondering and pondering,[ released the images of its first ever electric vehicle](https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/auto/ferrari-luce?ref=aftermath.site). And it looks like complete dogshit. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/image--42-.png) Rather than do the most simple thing on Earth--take Ferrari's regular design language and put some batteries in the floor--the company has massively overthought things and brought in an external firm to help create the 'Luce': Loveform, headed by former Apple designers Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/image--44-.png) The Luce does not look like a Ferrari. It looks like the concept for a Honda Hydrogen vehicle from 2002\. It looks like one of the "this is what the future will look like from the 90s" cars from *Demolition Man*, only worse. It looks like a child's remote-controlled car you'd buy for $10 from an Aliexpress-ass market stall. It looks like anything *but* a Ferrari. And the horrors aren't contained to the exterior! The interior looks like a Mad Catz steering setup for the PS3: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/image--39-.png) The Luce's centre display seems, unsurprisingly given who is involved, targeted squarely at anyone who misses the design language of the original iPhone I hate this so much. The car's announcement goes on and on about comfort and space, and with a straight face says stuff like "Surfaces have been refined to be smooth, continuous and uninterrupted"; motherfucker, every car, down to a Kia Picanto, does that! Nobody is buying a Ferrari for comfort or space, they are buying a Ferrari because they're supposed to look expensive and cool! And this car looks neither expensive *or* cool. I can perhaps understand an intention here, that Ferrari didn't want to just slap an electric motor in an existing design and instead wanted their first electric vehicle to be something new and unique and different. If that was the *only* goal, then mission accomplished, but I'd imagine another, secondary goal would be to make an electric car that people who are into sports cars and want some passion from a Ferrari would want to buy, and I can't see a single thing about this disaster that would entice those buyers. It's just so incredibly funny to me that Ferrari of all manufacturers would whiff on an electric sports car this hard, when seemingly everyone else, from [Audi](https://www.audi.com.au/en/models/e-tron-gt/e-tron-gt-range/?ref=aftermath.site) to [a Volvo spin-off (the Polestar 5, below) can get it so right](https://www.polestar.com/au/polestar-5/?ref=aftermath.site). **Update**: *Wait,* [*Luce costs $640,000*](https://bsky.app/profile/lukeplunkett.com/post/3mmptgh6ovk2x?ref=aftermath.site)*?!?!?! Unbelievable.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/image--45-.png) ### Workers At TheGamer Say Site’s New Pay-Per-Session Contract Is ‘Heartbreaking’ URL: https://aftermath.site/the-gamer-valnet-pay-per-session-contract/ Last updated: 2026-05-27T16:56:41.000Z Valnet–the parent company of games websites including Polygon, GameRant, DualShockers, and others–has announced a new payment structure for some writers at its site TheGamer, according to current and former workers. Where those writers were once paid a flat rate or per article written, their compensation would now be tied to how many sessions an article gets. Workers say this represents a massive pay cut that, for some, could make continuing to work for the site impossible. “We are writing to inform you of a new and exciting, performance-based bonus system coming to TheGamer,” Valnet wrote, according to an email to affected workers viewed by Aftermath. “The new system, effective May 22, will replace all current compensation structures including base payments and pay-per post.” Valnet calls this new system “Pay Per Session,” or “PPS.” Saying it “rewards top-performing articles,” under the new structure, workers would receive between $3-$8 per 1000 sessions depending on their role in an article. An editor on a story would fall under the $3 rate; a “written article,” which workers who spoke to Aftermath explained means one that was edited, would receive $5 per 1000 sessions. “Self-published” articles would fall into the $8 category, which workers explained applies to when an article’s writer also handles tasks related to putting the article in the CMS. Workers say most articles TheGamer publishes would fall under this highest tier. In every case, Valnet wrote that this pay structure would be limited to “15 days per post publish.” “The PPS model gives you more direct control over your earnings,” Valnet wrote, continuing that writers can “now earn up to $2,500 per article based on traffic performance.” Not all workers at TheGamer have been offered these new terms, with workers telling Aftermath the offer has gone to some members of the site’s guides and news teams. One worker, whom Aftermath is granting anonymity out of concern for reprisal from Valnet, said they “don’t see any patterns here, really” regarding who the offer went to. The worker told Aftermath that sessions (counted from the first time a user accesses a site within a given time frame, [as opposed to pageviews](https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/kpi-examples/digital-marketing/sessions-vs-pageviews?ref=aftermath.site), or every time a page is loaded) have been a success metric at TheGamer for a few years. Sessions, which are usually lower than pageviews, are commonly seen as the more valuable metric across many online publications. While the success metrics might be the same, tying a worker’s pay entirely to them would be new. “Pay per view bonuses in the previous contracts were additive to base pay,” [wrote former TheGamer editor Lex Luddy on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/lexluddy.xyz/post/3mmjoeaxyos2e?ref=aftermath.site), who was the first to publicly share details of the site’s new pay structure. The PPS system would replace that, meaning writers would have no minimum guarantee of what they’d be paid for their work. It appears the details of the new structure are still being communicated, with workers who spoke to Aftermath expressing confusion over what it will actually look like in practice. Workers told Aftermath they believe pay could be pro-rated under the new structure, meaning that workers could receive some amount of pay for a story even if it doesn’t hit the 1000 sessions threshold. But all the workers who spoke to Aftermath agreed that those working under the new structure would see their pay drop drastically, and worried those offered the PPS would feel forced to leave the site because they simply couldn’t afford to work there anymore. Luddy [wrote](https://bsky.app/profile/lexluddy.xyz/post/3mmjoeay2nc2e?ref=aftermath.site) that some TheGamer workers see the PPS as “a form of ‘soft-layoffs,’” a sentiment echoed by those who spoke to Aftermath. “No one is actually considering this,” the worker told Aftermath, saying that affected workers have been “making it clear that they would leave if they are put on this.” Luddy told [Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/one-of-the-worst-companies-in-games-media-reveals-new-plan-to-only-pay-writers-per-click-2000698959?ref=aftermath.site) that some workers are in “open revolt” in Valnet Slack against the changes. Workers who spoke to Aftermath said that TheGamer’s senior leaders, including the editor-in-chief, weren’t told about the PPS ahead of its announcement, and that workers at the site have been trying to get more clarity from Valnet leadership. The worker said the mood at the site is “bleak” as people struggle to understand how to square the new payment structure with current expectations around their hours and output, calling the situation "heartbreaking." Valnet did not reply to a request for comment in time for publication. Workers told Aftermath that TheGamer had struggled in the past, including layoffs in [October 2025](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/thegamer-website-suffers-widespread-editorial-layoffs/?ref=aftermath.site). The site saw traffic drops related to Google changes, a [common experience](https://www.amediaoperator.com/analysis/future-ziff-davis-to-struggle-most-from-traffic-drops/?ref=aftermath.site) among online outlets (and one that’s likely to get worse for sites with [Google’s latest Search overhaul](https://aftermath.site/google-search-ai-changes/)). But they felt that their teams had worked hard to turn things around recently, making the PPS structure and the possibility of workers leaving over it feel even more shocking. Valnet owns a large number of gaming sites, [as well as sites](https://www.valnetinc.com/our-brands?ref=aftermath.site) covering entertainment, technology, travel, cars, and sports. In May 2025 the company [purchased Polygon from Vox Media](https://aftermath.site/polygon-vox-media-valnet-layoffs-staff-goodbye/) for a [reported $20 million](https://www.adweek.com/media/vox-media-roll-up-unwinds/?ref=aftermath.site), a purchase that came with [mass layoffs](https://aftermath.site/polygon-layoffs-sale/) of Polygon’s staff. Valnet is a major source of work for online writers, largely as independent contractors; some people who’ve written for Valnet sites [have criticized](https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/comments/171dmpm/is%5Fvalnet%5Freally%5Fthat%5Fbad/?ref=aftermath.site) what they feel is [low pay and high output expectations](https://www.thewrap.com/valnet-labor-lawsuit-hassan-youssef-digital-media-sweat-shop/?ref=aftermath.site), though many online outlets–[particularly in games](https://aftermath.site/freelance-video-game-journalism-rates/)–operate similarly. In April 2025 Valnet [sued news outlet The Wrap](https://www.thewrap.com/valnet-sues-thewrap-libel-hassan-youssef-sweatshop-investigation/?ref=aftermath.site) over an article about Valnet CEO Hassan Youssef and allegations regarding the company’s labor practices. The PPS would represent a major shift in how workers are compensated at TheGamer, and it’s unsurprising that workers–as well as readers of the site–are finding it unacceptable. In a time of shrinking opportunities for writers, especially in [games journalism](https://aftermath.site/video-games-journalism-2025/), practices that make the field feel even more untenable hit all writers hard. And readers want to see workers at the sites they love be paid fairly for their work, rather than rolling the dice on how much they’ll be paid at all. ### Imagining A Better Racing Game URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-forza-horizon-6-gran-turismo-7/ Last updated: 2026-05-22T19:29:27.000Z Sometimes you just want to go really, really fast. Fortunately, there are cars—and, for those who can’t afford a vehicle or detest their impacts on the environment and society, there are many video games about cars. But [as the recently released *Forza Horizon 6* demonstrates](https://aftermath.site/forza-horizon-6-story-characters-dialogue/), those games are often about tiresome tire-fuls of things that are *not* cars, as well. What’s the solution? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we attempt to find a happy middle ground. This time around, we’re joined by Jordan Hoffstetter of the incredibly-named [Tran Girlismo podcast](https://www.trangirlismo.com/?ref=aftermath.site), a show about car culture and living during the decline of empire. We use *Forza Horizon 6* as a jumping off point to discuss *Forza*, *Gran Turismo*, Japan, irritating story elements in racing games, how we approach [BDS’ boycott of Microsoft](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/), and how Jordan, a non-games journalist, goes about doing so. Then we move on to some sobering news: [*Destiny 2* is ceasing operations as a live-service game](https://aftermath.site/bungie-sony-destiny-2-end-support/) and being put on life support. It’s the end of an era in multiple senses. Finally, Luke tells us about his still-ongoing 20-year battle with the final boss of *Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap*, and we discover the magic of [Applerankings.com](http://applerankings.com/?ref=aftermath.site). You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that I can buy 100 bushels of the top-ranked apple (SweeTango, which I’ve never tried before). Or, for a limited time, you can support us by subscribing to Aftermath AND three other great independent sites—[Rascal](https://www.rascal.news/?ref=aftermath.site), [Rogue](https://www.rogue.site/?ref=aftermath.site), and [Never Post](https://www.neverpo.st/?ref=aftermath.site)—at a 50% discount. [Check it out!](https://trustfnd.com/aftermath/c/independent-media-collective--QCZa1yLMKZDyDopXX7Pa?ref=aftermath.site) Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Jordan:** Driving games—especially open-world driving games—are relaxing in their best executions. The level of zen I get from driving at speed in a completely safe digital environment, it’s hard to feel that when—in the corner of your eye when you flash a new event marker—it’s flashing something half the size of the screen every 30 seconds as you go through the world. **Luke:** There is none of that zen \[in *Forza Horizon 6*\] because they’re constantly putting other racers in the game world with their gamertag on top of their car. And they’re driving ridiculously or veering off the road into a field or smashing into a railing or something. There is no peace. Even outside of the city—they’ve got a little tiny simulacrum of Tokyo in the corner of the map—there is no peace because you’re constantly getting these huge map displays, and the radio’s blaring with these awful DJs, and you’re seeing other players in the race world. I said “give me some peace” in my post because that’s all I want from this game, and it’s unwilling to give that to you. *Gran Turismo* exists because these guys love cars. *Forza Horizon*’s use of cars and the way they’ve got so many licensed cars in the game feels like they’re just coopting the cars in service of the commercial product that *Forza Horizon* is offering. I get no sense of respect or acknowledgement of how expensive and aspirational these vehicles are in *Forza*. Coming from where I come from and what I love about cars, I play *Forza Horizon 6*, and I don’t get that sense of satisfaction or respect for it that I do in *Gran Turismo*. I’ll go back and play *Gran Turismo 7* like “This is what I want.” But it’s not, because what I really want is the rally feel and the sensation of speed in *Forza Horizon 6* with the culture and the presentation of *Gran Turismo 7*. I just wish sometimes that *Gran Turismo* was more exciting. The simulation experience it’s going for by virtue of it being a simulation can be very sterile. They’re more interested in accurately representing the handling of a car by the numbers than the gut feel of what it feels like to drive a car fast. It sounds like both of our frustrations come from “I wish I could have the fun I have in *Forza* without all the bullshit.” Just give me the menu screens and the shop and let me drive like this, without all this other bullshit there. **Jordan:** I used to think *Gran Turismo 7* starting with a very ornate and long video intro of the entire history of the automobile was quite silly, and I have immediately wrapped back around to, “No, that is the level of self-importance and reverence I want from this.” Yeah, the dream of something that feels like *Forza* but has the love of it all of *Gran Turismo*. ## Recommended [Forza Horizon 6 Is A Difficult Game To Be Around‘There is one hell of a driving game here to enjoy, so long as you’re left in peace to enjoy it’![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-05-20-172230-c0e4946b38a7a452efd8c83915aff6fe47d44139974efdd09a062616539cbe4e.png)](https://aftermath.site/forza-horizon-6-story-characters-dialogue/) ### That's Not How Unions Work, Wizards Of The Coast Management URL: https://aftermath.site/magic-the-gathering-arena-union-letters/ Last updated: 2026-05-26T14:41:50.000Z Workers on the *Magic: The Gathering Arena* team [announced their union](https://aftermath.site/magic-the-gathering-arena-team-unionizes-at-wizards-of-the-coast/) last month with the Communications Workers of America, the parent union of numerous video game developers. Owner Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast could have voluntarily agreed to the union, but instead the issue is going to an official vote with the National Labor Relations Board in June. Like so many owners before it, Wizards has been spreading the usual anti-union talking points, here in letters sent to workers’ homes. It’s the company’s right to share its perspective, but here’s why that perspective is bullshit. [Multiple](https://bsky.app/profile/xib.bsky.social/post/3mmf6llwmzs2f?ref=aftermath.site) [employees](https://bsky.app/profile/spookymuenster.bsky.social/post/3mmf2mttwek2a?ref=aftermath.site) [eligible](https://bsky.app/profile/cafiffle.bsky.social/post/3mmf3kxugpk2j?ref=aftermath.site) to join the *Arena* union, called [United Wizards of the Coast](https://unitedwizardsofthecoast.com/?ref=aftermath.site), have shared a letter from Wizards containing the company’s thoughts on the union. Like [Starbucks](https://perfectunion.us/howard-schultz-says-starbucks-will-never-engage-with-union/?ref=aftermath.site), [Amazon](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/27/nlrb-says-amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-violated-labor-laws.html?ref=aftermath.site), [REI](https://www.npr.org/2023/07/06/1186006322/rei-union-busting-allegations?ref=aftermath.site) (where union workers have called for a [boycott](https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/boycott-rei-union-to-boycott-co-ops-anniversary-sale-may-15-25/?ref=aftermath.site) through May 25), and so many others, Wizards’ letter talks about the union as a third party coming between workers and management, and it warns that employees could lose benefits they currently have as part of the bargaining process. Some workers who shared the letter on social media wrote that it comes after two weeks of regular emails trying to dissuade them from unionizing. [Xib (They/Them) IS UNIONIZING!!! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (@xib.bsky.social)For two weeks, arena folks have been getting \*daily\* anti-union emails from the company fearmongering about how scary unions are. Now, they’re sending letters to our homes. The union isn’t a third party, WE ARE THE UNION. This doesn’t scare me. I am voting YES for #uwotc-cwa! #wotcstaff![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)Bluesky SocialXib (They/Them) IS UNIONIZING!!! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ttaizg5632pplqwxf4weuzb7/bafkreieel7vhdggrjmwt3zuxxvbodldua6zvuy6u3j54mkdxtw57b4beke)](https://bsky.app/profile/xib.bsky.social/post/3mmf6llwmzs2f?ref=aftermath.site) The letter reads in part: > If employees choose union representation, the CWA will serve as the union’s representative in collective bargaining with the Company. That process typically involves negotiating over wages, benefits, scheduling, and other terms and conditions of employment. Outcomes are not predetermined and depend on negotiations between both parties. All the benefits and perks you currently enjoy would be on the bargaining table for both parties to negotiate, based on what’s most important to them. That means you could end up with more, the same or less than you have now… > If employees do not choose union representation, Wizards of the Coast would continue to work directly with employees on workplace matters, just as it does today, with a much greater degree of flexibility than a typically rigid union contract… > We believe your voice is strongest when it is heard directly. Not through a third party. It’s true that there’s no guarantees in bargaining, and that workers could in fact end up with less than they currently have. But that’s not something that inherently comes along with unionizing–that’s the company actively deciding to take benefits away, something it could *currently* do without a union and would simply be using bargaining as a pretext for. In fact, one *Arena* developer shared on Bluesky that one of the reasons they were inspired to organize was because Wizards [changed its remote work policy](https://bsky.app/profile/valentineirl.bsky.social/post/3mmfbzd7a3s25?ref=aftermath.site), requiring them to move across the country or to a more expensive state to remain employed. ([Changes](https://aftermath.site/activision-workers-speak-out-against-return-to-office-mandate-that-they-see-as-soft-layoffs/) to [remote](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-union-strike-layoffs-remote-work-prince-of-persia/) [work](https://aftermath.site/diablo-union-activision-blizzard-microsoft-cwa-layoffs/) have been one of the big drivers of unionization and union action among video game developers.) If the union is successful, the company wouldn’t be able to unilaterally change working conditions like remote work; it would have to negotiate with the union over the decision. There’s no guarantee unionized employees would get what they want, but they’d have more of a say, and the opportunity to directly influence their work situation, than they would without a union. Calling a union a “third party” is another common talking point from companies trying to scare workers away from unionizing. It’s another myth that’s based in a *kind* of a truth: It’s true that when a worker is represented by a bigger union like the CWA, members of that parent union are sometimes present during conversations with upper management. But this doesn’t mean that some union goon swoops in any time you want to talk to your boss. During bargaining, parent unions usually bring in [their own staff](https://bsky.app/profile/moriartymaps.com/post/3mmh6n5jcq22v?ref=aftermath.site); in my experience as a union rep at Gawker Media, our bargaining was led by a union organizer and a labor lawyer from our parent union, the Writers Guild of America East. These people were experts in labor law and contracts, and could bargain more effectively with the company than we, a bunch of bloggers, ever could. But everything they did and said was guided by us and our priorities, and Guild staff were just there to help us come to an agreement with the company. They also helped us figure out what we even wanted in the first place; I will forever be indebted to our incredible WGAE organizer in the endless conversations leading up to bargaining, who could run a meeting with a mastery I literally still dream of achieving. Outside of bargaining, union representatives can also be present in more intimate conversations between workers and management. Unionized workers have a right to have a union representative present during meetings that might be disciplinary, something known as [Weingarten Rights](https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/weingarten-rights?ref=aftermath.site). This can be a fellow union member (I was a Weingarten rep at Gawker) or a parent union employee. But they aren’t there, as Wizards intimates in its letter, to prevent workers from having “a direct working relationship with leadership;” they’re there to [witness and document the conversation](https://nuhw.org/wp-content/uploads/weingarten-rights-booklet.pdf?ref=aftermath.site), prevent management from violating labor laws or the union contract, and make sure the worker knows their rights. Rules govern how the rep is allowed to participate, and they in no way stand between a worker and their boss. Companies love to call unions “third parties,” when in fact the union *is* the workers. Everything that happens is guided by those workers, who know best what’s right for them and their workplace. That’s not to say that parent unions don’t have their own priorities or tactics, and that those don’t sometimes clash with what workers want; smaller unions can and do [have conflict with their parent unions](https://aftermath.site/sag-aftras-ai-voice-acting-deal-was-a-powder-keg-waiting-to-go-off/). But it’s a far different situation than anti-union companies make it out to be when they’re trying to scare workers away from unionizing, and workers have far more power and autonomy over their working conditions *with* a union than they have without one. [Labor laws](https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/the-law/interfering-with-employee-rights-section-7-8a1?ref=aftermath.site) govern what employers are allowed to do and say in response to union campaigns. Microsoft’s [now-expired neutrality agreement](https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/cwa-microsoft-announce-labor-neutrality-agreement?ref=aftermath.site) with the CWA meant the company wouldn’t engage in the common kind of anti-union campaign that Wizards is, which did away with some of the barriers and tension that can come with the early stages of unionization. (The agreement didn’t prevent the company from [dragging its feet](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-zenimax-cwa-union-contract-negotiations-strike/) in bargaining, of course.) It’s disappointing to see Wizards take the approach it’s currently taking, even if it appears to be following the law in the language of the letters by simply *telling* workers they could lose benefits as opposed to threatening to take them away. But, again, this wouldn’t be because the union is a bad idea; it would be the company showing its true colors at the bargaining table, the very situation workers need a union for. “A Union is simply a group of workers who have organized together for collective bargaining and representation,” United Wizards of the Coast [wrote on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/uwotc-official.bsky.social/post/3mm7rdv4ms42s?ref=aftermath.site) recently. Companies have a self-interest in convincing workers that unions are something bigger, scarier, or more complicated–that they are strangers coming in to gobble up workers’ paychecks in union dues, make every workplace decision take forever, and institute arcane rules. I’ll be honest that I held some incorrect views about how unions functioned until I joined one myself, and even then I didn’t truly understand how they worked and what they could do until I got more actively involved. Companies only benefit from these misunderstandings, and workers only benefit from breaking them down. I won’t say that unions are perfect, but they’re one of the strongest tools workers have to improve their workplaces. Good luck to the *Arena* team in their upcoming vote. ### Forza Horizon 6 Is A Difficult Game To Be Around URL: https://aftermath.site/forza-horizon-6-story-characters-dialogue/ Last updated: 2026-05-29T23:19:57.000Z As the sixth game in a very popular series ([one that, I should point out, is published by Xbox](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/)[ and thus part of a wider boycott movement](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/)), and a game that's been out for a little while now, *Forza Horizon 6* has already been [covered ](https://kotaku.com/forza-horizon-6-the-kotaku-review-japan-xbox-pc-is-it-good-size-length-cars-open-world-2000695780?ref=aftermath.site)and [reviewed ](https://www.ign.com/articles/forza-horizon-6-review?ref=aftermath.site)to death, so you don't need me to sit here and blab on about the specifics of car handling or how stable performance is on a certain Nvidia card. What I *do* want to talk about are two things in particular: one thing that pleasantly surprised me, and one thing that is so deeply annoying that it's keeping me from playing the game as often as I'd otherwise like to. First, the good stuff: Japan! Given the last few games in the series, and the track record of other Western studios trying the same thing, if you'd asked me whether Playground Games were going to be able to pull off setting a game in Japan without embarrassing themselves I'd have bet against them. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to make every race take place under gently-falling cherry blossoms, to cobble together a soundtrack featuring shamisen twangs over some beats, for the in-game radio hosts to butcher some Japanese terms so badly it'd be borderline racist. Instead, [Playground did their homework](https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/may/15/how-forza-horizon-took-on-japan-with-deep-research-and-360-degree-cameras?ref=aftermath.site), got some help and the result is a game that, in visual terms at least, is one of the most authentic virtual tourism experiences outside of the *Yakuza* series. Its world is a snowglobe caricature of Japan rather than a direct facsimile, sure, but each themed stage looks amazing, and instead of going for the low-hanging blossoms doesn't shy away from depicting what are some of Japan's actual driving callsigns, like brutal, towering concrete freeways. Its recreation of Tokyo streets and the occasional, actual landmark (like Shibuya Crossing) are also fantastic. Good job! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-20-172452.png) I've never played a video game with more authentic taxis Sadly, a lot of that good work is immediately and continually undone by the game world that's been placed atop it. *Forza Horizon 6* is, like its predecessors, a game not content with simply letting you drive, and so it centres an absurd, fictional festival as its focus. This 'Horizon Festival' is the framework through which the entire game is presented to you, affecting everything from cutscenes to radio stations to the events you're taking part in. It is inescapable, and it is insufferable. To be exposed to the Horizon Festival is to imagine a world where Glastonbury is being sponsored by Disney Plus. It's a Linkedin post's summary of *Fast & Furious*. It's *Tokyo Drift* as described by an insurance company's Super Bowl halftime commercial. It's an AI's best approximation of a culture ruled by energy drinks. Every single character in this game, and there are many, from radio DJs to your player character's friends, is deeply annoying. Every radio station is full of physically painful 'banter', every cutscene treats Japan like [some kind of cultural pilgrimage](https://aftermath.site/japan-overtourism-social-meida-tiktok-instagram/) instead of just a country you're visiting to drive a car around. As PC Gamer's [review says](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/forza-horizon-6-review/?ref=aftermath.site), "this series does not have characters, only delivery mechanisms for insipid chat." In an effort to preserve my sanity, and to continue enjoying a driving game that's really fucking good at driving, I've started playing *Forza Horizon 6* with as much of this crap turned off as I can toggle. I'm clearly not alone in my annoyances, either; some websites have entire blogs dedicated[ solely to muting the game's in-car dialogue](https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/forza/forza-horizon-6-doesnt-have-the-best-voice-acting-so-heres-how-to-turn-off-the-audio-dialogue?ref=aftermath.site). It's incredible to me that all this guff can be both so bad and yet deemed so integral to the experience at the same time. [I have fonder feelings towards *Gran Turismo 7's* setting](https://aftermath.site/gran-turismo-7-review-impressions-ps5/); *Gran Turismo 7's* characters are static profile pictures, and its game world is a menu screen. This is a driving game! You don't need any of this shit! There are times in *Forza Horizon 6* when the driving is *so good* it almost stopped me in my (sorry) tracks: the way you can slide a car's wheels out on a dirt rally track and hear gravel pinging off your door, the lurch of a supercar blasting off the line and sending your viewpoint temporarily across the horizon, the overplayed (complimentary) trick the game constantly pulls where it shoots you off a ramp or cliff and has you flying across a track like a man in a wingsuit. It's all so damn good, then some asshole comes on the radio three seconds later and snaps me right out of my feelgood zone. I get that this is not the hill to fight the "games are for adults" argument on, but beyond the immediate personal embarrassment of having to listen to Forza Horizon 6's shit over and over is the realisation that so many people involved in its development signed off on this garbage, all of them adults, all of them making a game aimed at adults, and it really annoys me. There's a fantastic driving game here with some S-tier visuals and sound work, and the participation of some of the world's most prestigious luxury automakers, and instead of taking any of that seriously, taking part in the Horizon Festival feels like going to a track day hosted by Mr. Beast. Thankfully, like I've said, you can turn at least some of this stuff off. Because there is one *hell* of a driving game here to enjoy, so long as you're left in peace to enjoy it. **UPDATE May 29**: I've made a short statement on social media about the feedback to this post, which I'll share here: > Hey, so I wanted to talk about the Forza blog I published last week. While we had a quick discussion about it prior to publishing, the decision to run that piece ultimately lay with me and wasn’t the right one, and I’m sorry. > I think the most disappointing thing is that I covered the game not with some strong writing around it and BDS, but a run-of-the-mill impressions piece you could have read anywhere, with a token disclaimer thrown in up top. > You can, and should, expect better of me given my current job. > So thank you to everyone who emailed in and messaged me, you all had excellent points that absolutely shredded my own initial reasons for running it, and once again I'm sorry for letting people down. This will absolutely inform our experience and coverage going forward. ### Bungie Ending Support For Destiny 2 Marks The End Of An Era URL: https://aftermath.site/bungie-sony-destiny-2-end-support/ Last updated: 2026-05-21T21:18:13.000Z On June 9th, *Destiny 2* will receive its last live service update. It’s the end of an era, and while a game lasting for a decade is simply a miracle, looking back on the legacy of *Destiny* is a little bittersweet. In[ a blog post on the Bungie website](https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/d2%5Fmay%5F21%5F2026?ref=aftermath.site) Thursday, the developers wrote that “As our focus turns towards a new beginning for Bungie, we will begin work incubating our next games. To that end, on June 9, 2026, we will release the final live-service content update for *Destiny 2* to begin that new journey as a studio.” Bungie outlined what it means to end support for *Destiny 2*, which has been receiving regular story and gameplay updates since its launch in 2017\. “Though active development may be concluding, we will ensure that *Destiny 2* remains playable, just as the original *Destiny* is today,” they wrote. “Many changes in this final update will aim to ensure that *Destiny 2* is a welcoming place for players to return to.” The game’s final update, called *Monument of Triumph*, will be pretty massive, and will include changes that players have been requesting for some time, like a return of the [Director](https://destiny.fandom.com/wiki/Director?ref=aftermath.site) and the permanent addition of the Sparrow Racing League. While I’m eager to see these changes, they come with the knowledge that this means that *Destiny 2* has reached its final shape, if you’ll pardon the joke. A world that was once living and changing will become static. There won’t be any new lore, or loot, or secrets. This is the end. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ss_c142f5078ace9f5e2eb2c80aa3bf768e156b4ee9.1920x1080.jpg) Image Source: Destiny 2, Bungie The first *Destiny* was released in 2014, and even though the sequel came out in 2017, narratively, the game offered a contiguous story and gameplay experience for over a decade. That story was a sort-of-MMO first person shooter with a notoriously confusing plot, with the games putting players in the role of a Guardian, a superpowered individual equipped with abilities from a force called “Light.” Guardians were granted their powers by the Traveler, a giant floating orb that uplifted humanity into a golden age, but also trailed enemies called The Darkness. All of this sounds—and often is—quite silly, but as a game I’ve never played anything quite like it. Its gunplay is among the best in all video games, and it singlehandedly made me a fan of first person shooters, but beyond that, the community it created has buoyed me through some dark times in my life. It’s because of *Destiny 2* that I started playing video games on Discord with my friends every week, and through those relationships I’ve grown as a person. *Destiny 2* has been woven into the fabric of my life, and I can’t untangle that thread. I got enough raid clears to earn a Raid Ring, which used to be a reward you could buy from the Bungie store after clearing the Raids that they ended up removing from the game in 2020\. I was too broke to buy it, but I’ve also never done that level of end game content for a social game ever in my life. Only *Destiny 2* could inspire that level of commitment in me. It has not always been an easy road for this game. In [2020, Bungie removed the base game story and the first four expansions from the game](https://kotaku.com/heres-everything-destiny-2-is-losing-later-this-year-1844800311?ref=aftermath.site), and I am still unable to play many of my favorite missions. Unlike the original *Destiny*, it’s now impossible to play the entire story from beginning to end. While Bungie promises that this game will exist in a playable state, it will also be eternally unfinished. Some of this has been influenced by the rocky business history of Bungie in the past ten years. In 2000, Bungie was acquired by Microsoft, where they would develop the *Halo* franchise. In 2007, Bungie left Microsoft and signed a ten year publishing deal with Activision, leading to the development of *Destiny* and *Destiny 2*. In 2019, that partnership ended, and [Bungie went solo once again](https://www.polygon.com/2019/1/10/18177457/destiny-bungie-activision-split/?ref=aftermath.site). *Destiny 2* went [free-to-play in 2020](https://www.polygon.com/2019/6/6/18655443/destiny-2-shadowkeep-release-date-free-to-play-new-light/?ref=aftermath.site). Two years later, in 2022, Bungie was acquired *again*, this time by Sony, and during this tenure there have been significant layoffs: In 2023, [Bungie cut 8% of its workforce](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-31/sony-s-bungie-game-unit-cut-jobs-as-destiny-2-popularity-waned?embedded-checkout=true&ref=aftermath.site), with executives saying that Bungie was [45% below projections for that year](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/bungie-affected-by-layoffs?ref=aftermath.site). In 2024, Bungie [laid off 17% of its staff](https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/article/newpath?ref=aftermath.site). In a blog post, then-CEO Pete Parsons cited a difficult economy and an industry-wide overinvestment into video games as part of what led to these drastic cuts. “In 2023, our rapid expansion ran headlong into a broad economic slowdown, a sharp downturn in the games industry, our quality miss with *Destiny 2: Lightfall*, and the need to give both *The Final Shape* and *Marathon* the time needed to ensure both projects deliver at the quality our players expect and deserve,” Parsons wrote. “We were overly ambitious, our financial safety margins were subsequently exceeded, and we began running in the red.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/2022_Season_of_the_Risen_Crow_Compressed02.jpg) Image Source: Bungie, Destiny 2 This is all to say that at basically no part of *Destiny*’s tenure has the future of the game been guaranteed. In fact, the fandom has been extraordinarily pessimistic since the 2023 and 2024 layoffs, with many players unsure of the future of the studio as a whole. After the layoffs in 2023, [players requested refunds for their pre-orders](https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/17kgpim/people%5Fwho%5Fpreordered%5Fyou%5Fcan%5Frequest%5Fa%5Frefund/?ref=aftermath.site) for the expansion *The Final Shape*. After the expansion was delayed, [Microsoft and Playstation](https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/185x4ik/comment/khf0vqq/?ref=aftermath.site) automatically canceled and refunded pre-orders for the expansion. According to a report from IGN,[ in 2024 the mood at the studio was rancid](https://www.ign.com/articles/bungie-devs-say-atmosphere-is-soul-crushing-amid-layoffs-cuts-and-fear-of-total-sony-takeover?ref=aftermath.site), with some fearing that Sony would soon take it over. "I’m angry. I’m upset. This isn’t what I came here to do,” one source told IGN. “It feels like many higher ups aren’t listening to the data and are like, ‘We just need to win our fans back, they still like us.’ No. They don’t...We got rid of some of our most knowledgeable beloved folks who have been here for 20+ years. Everyday I walk in afraid that I or my friends are next. No one is safe." Parsons [stepped down as CEO of Bungie](https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/passing%5Fthe%5Ftorch?ref=aftermath.site) in 2025. While *Marathon* also has gained a loyal fanbase and Bungie has said they are “[in it for the long haul](https://help.marathonthegame.com/hc/en-us/articles/47626640740756-Marathon-PC-Performance-Guide?ref=aftermath.site),” it, too, had a troubled development. After a mixed initial reception and the discovery that [some of the art assets used in the game had been stolen from their creator](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/bungie-responds-to-marathon-art-theft-claims/1100-6531591/?ref=aftermath.site), [Bungie announced in June 2025 that they would be delaying the game](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/bungie-delays-marathon-after-tumultuous-early-reception-and-discovery-of-plagiarized-assets?ref=aftermath.site), which had been slated to release in September. Still, the live service extraction shooter will start its second season of content on June 2nd, and Bungie says [they will test out new modes of gameplay, like PVE and PVP-lite modes](https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/launch%5Flearning%5Fwhatsnext?ref=aftermath.site). So far, Bungie has not announced a *Destiny 3*, and *Destiny 2* still has some narrative loose ends from what Bungie has called the Light and Darkness Saga that started in the original game 12 years ago. There’s always a chance that there will be another *Destiny*, but as a player, this feels like a real ending. Endings are always painful—when I saw that blog post, I had to hold back tears—but they are also natural. Nothing lasts forever. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ss_7fcc82f468fcf8278c7ffa95cebf949bfc6845fc.1920x1080.jpg) Image Source: Destiny 2, Bungie Despite my sadness, part of me also sees this ending as a kind of victory, however small a victory it may be. The video game industry has been having a hard few years, especially in the world of live service shooters. There have been quite a few high profile games whose developers ended support for them before they even truly got started, like [*Concord* ](https://aftermath.site/firewalk-concord-sony-playstation/)or [*Highguard* ](https://aftermath.site/highguard-shut-down-wildlight-failure/)or [*Last Flag*](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2721340/view/675119576448500506?ref=aftermath.site). From that perspective, ten years of support for a game like *Destiny 2* feels like a miracle. That Bungie gets to wind down support for this game instead of having it abruptly pulled feels like a blessing to me, as a player. Truth be told, after the expansion *The Final Shape* in June 2024, which finally had Guardians defeat the forces of Darkness, the writing has been on the wall. I’m glad that Bungie got to complete that story and that the game isn’t going to leave it on a cliffhanger. Still, I am in mourning for this fandom and community. Literally last night I noticed that a statue of the character The Crow, an angst-ridden dweeb whom I’m quite fond of, was on sale for 20 bucks on Amazon, and I snatched it up. I ended up going on a trip through memory lane, watching YouTuber My Name Is Byf’’s videos about the game’s lore. I fell asleep browsing the website The Ishtar Collective, a fanmade repository of all the series' lore, revisiting the stories of [The Hive](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/categories/books-of-sorrow?ref=aftermath.site) and [Savathun the Witch Queen](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/categories/book-truth-to-power?ref=aftermath.site). This is a story that has given me comfort for the past six years, and I return to the contours of its narrative now when I want to be comforted again. The story of the Light and Darkness saga is just that—a story about the victory of light over dark. Being a Guardian meant being someone who never gave up hope, even when darkness surrounds you. It’s audacious to believe in righteousness in such an uncomplicated way. But I’ve needed that, and I’ll always be glad that *Destiny 2* was there for me. ### Devolver Digital Suing Toy Maker Who Keeps Saying He's Making A Hotline Miami Spinoff Game URL: https://aftermath.site/devolver-digital-hotline-miami-lawsuit/ Last updated: 2026-05-21T15:47:15.000Z *Cult of the Lamb* and *Hotline Miami* publisher Devolver Digital is suing artist Erick Chatel (known as Erick Scarecrow online) for continuing to make [*Hotline Miami* toys, pins, and shirts](https://www.eurogamer.net/hotline-miami-action-figures-are-selling-like-gangbuster-on-kickstarter?ref=aftermath.site) well after their licensing agreement has expired. That, and Chatel keeps claiming that he's making an official *Hotline Miami* spinoff game called *Dusted*. He's not, Devolver Digital says, and hasn't been licensed to create any official goods for *Hotline Miami* since the agreement was terminated in 2019. Devolver Digital filed the original complaint in February in a Texas court, and Chatel has been fighting to get the case moved to Nevada, where his business operates out of. He won, and the case was moved to Nevada in May. Devolver Digital is looking to the court to determine if Chatel is violating trademark and copyright law, as well as unfair competition regulations. The company is also asking for an order to stop Chatel's alleged infringing behavior and to award Devolver Digital financial damages. Devolver Digital writes in its complaint, [obtained by Aftermath](https://www.scribd.com/document/1041779333/Devolver-Digital-vs-ESC?ref=aftermath.site), that it previously had an agreement with Chatel, which began in 2015, to make "figures, pins, prints, and apparel" for *Hotline Miami* and several other Devolver Digital games. The company terminated the agreement in 2019, Devolver Digital says, but Chatel was allowed to sell the remaining merchandise he had already created. (The complaint does not list a reason for the contract ending.) "The limited sell-off right did not grant ESC-Toy \[Chatel's company\] the right to produce more inventory of the Authorized Merchandise and certainly did not give ESC-Toy the right to develop new products using Devolver IP or hold itself or Mr. Scarecrow out as an 'Official Hotline Miami Collaborator.'" Since then, Devolver Digital claims, Chatel filed copyright registrations for "multiple works derived from Devolver's intellectual property, including no less than fifteen registrations relating to the *Hotline Miami* IP." Devolver Digital says this is fraud. Devolver Digital included screenshots of Chatel's social media account, where he promoted pins, shirts, prints, and figures based on *Hotline Miami*, going back to 2023 and up until 2024\. Many of these are denoted as "back in stock," which Devolver Digital uses as proof that they're not selloffs of the original products. Chatel has also promoted a video game spinoff of *Hotline Miami* called *Dusted*. Multiple times he's implied that *Dusted* is "an official spinoff," Devolver Digital says. The promotion also includes the announcement of a Kickstarter to fund the game, which has not materialized. He's posted vague updates about the game throughout 2025, Devolver Digital says. "Defendants have extensively marketed this so-called ‘spinoff’ on social media, advertising a forthcoming Kickstarter fundraiser for the project," a Devolver Digital lawyer writes. "Promoted under the *Hotline Miami* mark, Defendants’ spinoff and Kickstarter are a clear scam to make consumers mistakenly believe that Defendants’ *Hotline Miami*\-branded ‘spinoff’ is in collaboration or otherwise affiliated with, or sponsored, endorsed or approved by, Devolver, all to fund Defendants’ rampant infringement." Chatel kept selling *Hotline Miami* goods throughout 2025, too, according to the complaint. In January, Chatel said a demo of the game would be available to play. Devolver Digital says it didn't really know this was going on after the agreement ended in 2019, until Chatel sent a letter in 2024, via lawyers, to the company where he said he was "'actively pursuing opportunities to assist in the development of' products involved the Devolver Ip," according to the complaint. Devolver sent a cease-and-desist back. Devolver Digital lawyers said they would not discuss the issue with Chatel until his"improperly obtained copyright registrations" were revoked. That's when, according to Devolver Digital, Chatel "ramp\[ed\] up their social media posts regarding their so-called infringing 'spinoff' game and forthcoming Kickstarter." In 2024, an Instagram user responded to a post Chatel had made asking if *Dusted* was official. He replied yes, Devolver Digital says. Devolver Digital says this is harming the company *and* confusing customers. Indeed, it did appear to confuse *Hotline Miami* fans, [who posted about the project on Reddit](https://www.google.com/search?q=hotline+miami+dusted+site:www.reddit.com&sca%5Fesv=aae49c131fc62b5e&rlz=1C1VDKB%5FenUS1165US1165&sxsrf=ANbL-n4CFED16OEqZPqv7e3f2X7hBNR3Zw:1779375133430&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZgYD20MqUAxX81fACHe0YDBwQrQIoAnoECCoQAw&biw=1437&bih=1545&dpr=1&ref=aftermath.site). On social media, Chatel claimed [he co-created the characters with Devolver Digital](https://www.reddit.com/r/HotlineMiami/comments/1d8ixgy/erick%5Fscarecrow%5Fai%5Fart%5Fresponse%5Foc/?share%5Fid=clatdcEq4Bq925bl7ehaR&utm%5Fcontent=1&utm%5Fmedium=ios%5Fapp&utm%5Fname=ioscss&utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fterm=1). Though the complaint was filed in February, there hasn't been much progress aside from the court transfer from Texas to Nevada, which Devolver Digital opposed. Aftermath has reached out to Chatel and Devolver Digital for comment. Chatel is also involved in another video games-related lawsuit, which he filed against Sony Interactive Entertainment. The original complaint was filed under seal, but Sony Interactive Entertainment claims the complaint, [in its motion to dismiss](https://www.scribd.com/document/1041779336/ESC-vs-Sony?ref=aftermath.site), is an attempt "through this litigation to convert a failed business pitch into an exclusive contract to design and make collectable pins based on SIE's intellectual properties.”. Sony says in that document, filed in 2020, that Sony Interactive Entertainment had a licensing agreement that began in 2014 and was modified by an "oral agreement" in 2018\. Chatel's lawsuit, per Sony's account, says that Chatel claims Sony Interactive Entertainment breached their agreement by letting other companies sell pins. Another document, [filed in May 2026](https://www.scribd.com/document/1041779331/ESC-Toys-vs-Sony?ref=aftermath.site), confirmed that Chatel was under agreement in 2014 to create a Nathan Drake statue and worked with the company for years. Then, Chatel pitched a "pin program" for PlayStation; Chatel says a Sony Interactive Entertainment product manager approved the pitch for him to start making pins. Sony Interactive Entertainment did not ultimately use Chatel's company for pins, and made others themselves, according to a document filed in 2026\. Sony denies the agreement in the motion to dismiss. That lawsuit is ongoing. Aftermath has reached out to Sony Interactive Entertainment for comment. ### Thick As Thieves Has The Bones Of A Classic Stealth Game, But It's Not There Yet URL: https://aftermath.site/thick-as-thieves-impressions-warren-spector/ Last updated: 2026-08-10T19:20:59.000Z It’s not like I’m ever going to [run out of things to do](https://aftermath.site/stealth-game-no-detection/) in the stealth games I already own, but still: I long for more stealth games. I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve had the kind of robust, immersive sim stealth I so love, full of shadows and vents to hide in and bad guys to choke out from behind. I was hoping that *Thick as Thieves*, the latest from *Deus Ex* and *Thief* developer Warren Spector, could give me what I need, and while in some ways it does, it still has a ways to go. [*Thick as Thieves*](https://megabit-publishing.com/games/thick-as-thieves?ref=aftermath.site)is a stealth heist game that can be played solo or with a partner. It takes place in a fantasy version of early 1900s Scotland, where magical barriers and ghost guards sit side-by-side with steampunk turrets and your classic living guards who walk around talking loudly to themselves. It currently has two levels, both absolutely gigantic multi-floor manors, and you visit them multiple times across missions as you grab everything that isn’t nailed down while pursuing bigger objectives. The game originally set out to be a sort of competitive game between different teams of thieves, but that [plan was scrapped](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/warren-spectors-multiplayer-thief-successor-changes-direction-instead-of-pvpve-its-now-focusing-on-2-player-co-op-and-singleplayer/?ref=aftermath.site) in April because developer Otherside found that “we were having more fun with solo and co-op play.” After playing a few missions solo, I can see how PvPvE, as Otherside described it, might have been a struggle to make work. But this last-minute shift in focus also feels present in the game as it stands, which Otherside describes on its [Steam page](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3341000/Thick%5FAs%5FThieves/?ref=aftermath.site) as an “introductory taste” that the studio plans to continue expanding. Some mechanics that feel like they were meant to stymie competitors–turning on turrets that are defaulted to off, relocking doors and item cases–are present with no purpose in solo and co-op play, and the way levels are populated can sometimes feel like they were designed to be more of a playground for a group than stealth levels in their own right. The game feels largely like a proof of concept, with some solid core ideas that still need some tweaking to fit the experience it’s becoming. This feels especially true playing solo. While my instinct in any new stealth map is to methodically explore every corner and shadow, *Thick as Thieves* missions feature a timer of 30 or 45 minutes, after which you have eight minutes to find the magical door that leads back to your hideout. Oddly, this timer isn’t displayed anywhere; the first time it was mentioned in some intro text, I thought it was just the usual thing where a video game tells you to hurry up but doesn’t mean it, and I only realized it was real when I paused the game to handle something in work Slack and came back to find I’d failed the mission. I get the instinct behind the timer, especially to force action in co-op play and to make your exit from a mission more exciting, but when combined with the large levels, the game’s somewhat confusing paper map, and on-HUD mission icons that don’t always read like they’re in the right place, I found it mostly needlessly stressful when I was playing alone. Once I took the timer seriously I never felt like I was running out of time, but it did discourage me from lingering and exploring, one of stealth games’ great pleasures. Since you revisit the current maps so many times, the time pressure does work to keep you from burning out on them too soon, but it caused me to play a bit more recklessly than I generally want to in a stealth game. Without a teammate to keep the mission progressing, respawning when I was killed felt more like a frustrating setback than a challenge I wanted to rise to. Beyond that, a lot of the moment-to-moment solo play is the standard stuff, in a good way. Lots of things are charmingly tactile: a simple lock-picking minigame, the way your visibility indicator reacts to light, how a grappling hook needs to be cranked after each use. Choking out guards takes a long time in that classic “can I take this guy down before someone else sees me” way, though you’re not able to hide their bodies. There are traps to disarm or avoid, and even though the game gives you a tool that highlights them a la *Dishonored*’s heart, it was still a thrill when I’d accidentally hit a pressure plate and a once-quiet room would explode into a cage of magic vines and panicking turrets. It was always exciting to unlock the door to a new room and push it open, holding my breath to see whether I was about to blow the whole thing or find a quiet room full of loot to steal. There’s plenty of the stealth stuff I love, all the hiding and sneaking and just barely getting away with things, and the game has its own unique spin on things in the form of the ability to send some of your loot back to your base during a mission and the presence of the ghostly guards who break the rules of stealth game guards in a challenging, if not annoying (complimentary) way. But it’s all a little bare bones at present, particularly in solo play. Putting aside how pathetic it makes me sound to say “I watched some people play this game co-op because I didn’t have friends to play it with,” I watched the [Kinda Funny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9OpXeAFYhc&ref=aftermath.site) folks play together on a livestream, where the game seemed a bit more feasible. Finding multiple pieces of an objective seems a bit less tedious with more hands, and dealing with the consequences of each other’s actions seems more fun than accidentally alerting guards and then hiding until they chill out, all while worrying that the clock is ticking. I try not to talk about games’ prices, but it feels worth mentioning here that *Thick as Thieves* costs about $5 US. That’s affordable enough to convince a friend to pick it up with you (\*cough\* my friends reading this), and also more than reasonable for what’s here, which even if it might feel a little undercooked at present is still full of areas to explore and missions to undertake. Even if it’s not quite what I was hoping for, five bucks for a stealth game with so many of my favorite hallmarks, designed by stealth game experts, and with plans to continue growing feels totally fair. There’s no indication yet when new stuff might come or if it might cost, but I’m hopeful Otherside can turn what they’ve got here into something that feeds my insatiable hunger for stealth. **Update, 8/10/26, 3:17pm--**After layoffs at studio Otherside in [June](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/otherside-entertainment-lays-off-17-staff-following-game-cancellation?ref=aftermath.site), in late July the studio [announced](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/3341000/view/710030082774663781?l=english&ref=aftermath.site) that "there will be no further content updates for *Thick as Thieves*. To be frank, this is not the outcome that any of us want, but we’re facing the reality that ongoing development of extra content, modes and systems is not a viable path. Having said that, there is positive news also: in partnership with our publisher, Megabit, we are working to secure the future of *Thick as Thieves* for our players" by moving the game to local servers. ### The Dream Factory Is Closed Until Further Notice URL: https://aftermath.site/aston-villa-europa-league-freiburg-win/ Last updated: 2026-05-21T22:52:30.000Z I've written about what I like to call the 'Dream Factory' [a few times here before](https://aftermath.site/england-euro-2024-harry-kane-ea-sports-fc/); it's where, in an attempt to soothe IRL sporting heartache, you can retreat to a video game and relive (or build entirely new) memories of a moment, game or even whole season. The last time I had to visit the Dream Factory was when, following England's agonising loss in the final of Euro 2024, [I went straight to EAFC's officially-licensed tournament expansion to try to set things right](https://aftermath.site/england-euro-2024-harry-kane-ea-sports-fc/): > Just because I'm helpless watching the actual team stumble, though, doesn't mean I can't do *anything* about it. There's always the Dream Factory. So this week I've been playing the shit out of the Euro 2024 expansion for *EA Sports FC 24*, giving me a window into an alternate timeline where instead of lumbering around for seven games and[ winning the most embarrassing Golden Boot of all time](https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/euro-2024-golden-boot-standings-top-scorers-kane-b2579696.html?ref=aftermath.site), Harry Kane looked sharp as a thistle and scored seven goals leading England through the tournament, culminating in a crushing 3-0 win over Germany in the final in which he scored a brace. The real Harry Kane may have drudged off the field on Sunday night still somehow without a major trophy to his name, but *my* Harry Kane, the one inside my Dream Factory, lifted the Henri Delaunay Trophy without breaking a sweat. > > Did this make me feel *better*? No. Only the slow passage of time--and maybe some day an actual victory in a major tournament--will achieve that. But for a few moments this week it has made me feel *slightly* better, in the way that the Dream Factory has always (and hopefully will always) be able to. I know that the victorious Harry Kane, the jubilant captain breaking a *58-year trophy drought*, is not real. The fact EA's player models haven't been significantly updated in over a decade sees to that. > > But it's something. A temporary indulgence, a flight of fancy that's fun in the same way any other kind of daydream can be. It's not real, it will never be real, but for the moment I allow myself to pretend it is and could be, it's close. Lately, the Dream Factory has very much been on my mind. My football club, Aston Villa, has spent the better part of my life bouncing between irrelevance and ineptitude, with the exception of a few bright spots: a title in 1981, followed by a European Cup triumph over Bayern Munich in 1982 (and a Super League win over Barcelona right after), and a couple of League Cups in the mid-90s. We’ve won nothing of significance since. Which means that, as of this month, it had been 30 years since Villa had won a major trophy, and 44 years since we'd won a European trophy. For one of the biggest clubs in England,[ with one of the strongest historical records](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1kxc82j/all%5Ftime%5Fenglish%5Ffootball%5Fleague%5Ftable%5F2025/?ref=aftermath.site), that was a *very* long time. This week, however, brought a chance to change that. After surviving a few hiccups along the way, most notably a first-leg semi-final loss to Nottingham Forest, Villa earned a spot in tonight’s final of the Europa League, a trip to neutral Istanbul and a shot at German club Freiburg. I've been an emotional wreck all week, for understandable reasons. Villa were clear favourites for this game, but also: the last time we won a trophy I was in high school. I now have two kids in high school. The storied European Cup triumph of 1982 is something I don't even remember, because I was two years old at the time, I didn't even know what football *was*. We'd been to three major finals this millennium, been underdogs in all three and walked away from all three empty-handed. We'd been in the second tier as recently as 2018, and over recent years had developed a nasty habit of bottling the truly big games, particularly last season, including an FA Cup final blowout against Crystal Palace and a final-day capitulation at Manchester United that cost Villa a spot in the Champions League. Given that 30 years of hurt, I was ready for the Dream Factory. I had EAFC--[which had the official licenses for both teams, the stadium and the competition and trophy itself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtCgdCm12o4&ref=aftermath.site)\--reinstalled and ready to go. Losing in real life, then making amends inside a video game, was such a common experience for me over the last three decades that it has become muscle memory, something I'm ready to glide to almost subconsciously. Turns out I didn't need it! Villa won *comprehensively*, our expensive and star-studded line-up full of experienced internationals proving way too much for a side currently seventh in the Bundesliga to handle. A comfortable 3-0 win featured two all-timers from Youri Tielemans and Emi Buendia (see above!), and as the full-time whistle went Aston Villa, a club that had agonised its fanbase for longer than large parts of its fanbase have been alive, were Europa League winners. It feels absolutely surreal to me. We actually *won something*. There's no weeks of agony to follow, no repeat trips to the Dream Factory to try to reverse a controversial decision or a lapse of defensive judgement. We turned up, played well, won comfortably and I got to watch skipper John McGinn lift a trophy in front of his jubilant teammates. Not EA's digital John McGinn. The real thing. So I'm thrilled to announce that, until further notice, the Dream Factory is closed for business. It's been an important part of my sports-related mental health regime over the years, and I thank it for its service, but for now, this one beautiful moment in time, I'm going to enjoy not needing it, and savour getting to talk about a Villa win that took place outside my living room TV. For at least the next three weeks, anyway. Then the World Cup starts... ### I Waited A Month To Beat The Final Boss Of A Game I Love, And Now I’m Full Of Regret URL: https://aftermath.site/trails-in-the-sky-1st-chapter-final-boss-regret/ Last updated: 2026-05-21T16:16:27.000Z Earlier this month, I finally finished *Trails In The Sky 1st Chapter*, the JRPG remake I’ve been plugging away at for, well, [a long time](https://aftermath.site/open-thread-thanksgiving/). This is notable in part because if you play a game in this kind of piecemeal, episodic fashion, it’s liable to transform into such a fixture of your life that you won’t really be sure what to do with yourself afterward. But also because I had already microdosed “afterward” by putting *Trails* down for several weeks. This was not (entirely) intentional. It is not uncommon, of course, for people to prolong their experience with a game, book, TV show, or other piece of media they enjoy by taking a brief (or long, or permanent) break just before the conclusion. When I was a kid, I did that with multiple *Final Fantasies*, as well as *Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker*. Not so, much more recently, with *Trails*. Instead, on an otherwise leisurely weekend afternoon in April, I made it to what the game signposted—to an almost comical degree—as the final confrontation. It would be a bittersweet moment, I thought, considering what the game had come to mean to me, but also I was ready. I’d seen and done pretty much everything. All available meat had melted in my mouth; I was chewing on a ragged, used-up bone. So I locked in for what I thought would be a climactic showdown, and for the most part, it was. Heroes strengthened their bonds, villains revealed their true intentions—all that good stuff. Then the boss reached its last stage. Initially, this did not strike me as a serious issue. I was overleveled, and I had figured out which stats and spells basically broke the battle system’s turn order dozens of hours prior. But this boss had some heavy artillery up its sleeve—including an attack with the word “genocide” literally in its name—and so what I assumed would be a victory lap turned into something much more touch and go. After around 50 minutes of cursing and dejectedly sighing “it’s over,” only to repeatedly pull myself back from the brink, I had just one character left on his feet, and I realized that the boss (and its cronies) would down him in two turns. He could not reach other party members to revive them. So I had just one option left: Deal enough damage to the boss to win the fight before the boss could do the same to me. And man, I got *so close*. Basically, if I’d stayed alive for another turn, I would’ve won. But I didn’t. Irritated on account of the fact that I sure felt like I’d put in enough effort to earn a win by that point, I put my Lenovo Legion Go S down and resolved to have a nice evening out with friends despite my humiliating failure. The next day, I looked in the handheld’s direction and quickly came to the conclusion that I didn’t feel like committing to the full fight again. The day after, same thing. A few days later, same. This cycle repeated for somewhere in the ballpark of a month. Because I put my Legion Go S into sleep mode so I wouldn’t have to fight the boss’ earlier forms again, I didn’t play anything on it—my main gaming console these days—for the whole intermission. *Trails*’ final boss transformed into an oft-put-off chore, an albatross hanging around the neck of my ability to play video games. This compounded on itself. After a few weeks, I started to fear that I’d grown rusty, meaning that I’d definitely lose again on my next attempt, wasting even more time. So I’d finish work or what have you, decide that there simply weren’t enough hours in the evening, and then sit in front of the TV and scroll on my phone for way more hours than beating *Trails*’ final boss—even if I’d lost once or twice—would have taken. The worst part is, I was actually pretty sure I understood what I did incorrectly on my first attempt. So when, around a month after this very silly psychodrama began, I finally decided I’d had enough and picked up the game again, I swerved past a few hair-raising moments and cruised to a relatively straightforward victory. What followed was excellent: heartfelt culminations of multiple character arcs plus a final, wild twist that perfectly set up the next installment in the series. As the credits rolled, I was left tearfully pondering two questions: 1) \[SPOILERS\]? And 2) Why did I wait so long? On a rational level, I know the answer: There is something uniquely discouraging about grasping at the outer edges of victory, only to have it unceremoniously snatched away. As far as I was concerned, I’d done enough, and I felt insulted that the game was forcing me to do it again. Moreover, I can see how real-life obligations and perceived constraints surrounding them led me to boot a beloved game’s final moments off my priority list for more than a month—at the expense of other games, no less. It all makes sense. But man, I feel like a colossal idiot about it. Just dumb as rocks. ## Recommended [I Save Over All My Video Game Saves, And I Am Full Of RegretThere are dozens of us![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1620046311691-5d93d65f69e9-f39ae4ed66d95782a74de715da41e04c1294460fc0079e4d1361c1aa42259a98.jpeg)](https://aftermath.site/video-game-save-files/) ### The Battle Over 3D Printer Software Licensing Matters For Everyone URL: https://aftermath.site/bambu-lab-agpl-violation-open-source/ Last updated: 2026-05-22T20:22:14.000Z Not too long ago I took the plunge and finally bought a 3D printer and, against certain reservations, I decided on the newly released Bambu Lab X2D. Bambu has been killing it over the last few years since releasing the X1 Carbon, making no-nonsense printers for cutthroat prices. If there is an Apple or Unifi of 3D printing it is Bambu Lab, in more ways than one. But unfortunately in the last few weeks Bambu Lab threatened a cease and desist notice on an obscure Github repo. Now some people are pissed, and despite how internecine much of this sounds, their reasons are valid. Much of the current 3D printing landscape is built on open source software, specifically the [AGPL](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html?ref=aftermath.site) license. The AGPLv3 is a strong copyleft license designed to get around a problem with open source software. It ensures that any subsequent code developed under the license that runs as a network service also remains open source. Modern 3D printers require what is known as a “slicer,” a piece of software that takes the 3D object the user has created and turns it into a set of instructions that the printer can understand. ![The UI for Slic3r, a slicing program, with "this is where it all began" in the text on the ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Sli3er.png) Slic3r was the original software that all of these programs were built on. It is licensed under AGPLv3 Years ago a piece of software called “Slic3r” was developed, which then was forked into PrusaSlicer by the brand Prusa, a printer brand known for its openness and commitment to repairability. Bambu Lab took PrusaSlicer and forked it into their own Bambu Studio, and users have subsequently taken that and modified it into OrcaSlicer. All of this is possible thanks to Slic3r originally being licensed under AGPLv3, thus ensuring that everything in the software chain remains open source. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/orcaslicer.png) OrcaSlicer is the community version of Bambu Studio. Many prefer it, myself included. ## **A history of enclosure** In January of 2025, Bambu Lab poked the hornet’s nest by introducing an update that removed the API path that third party software like OrcaSlicer used to communicate via the cloud, replacing it with [Bambu Connect](https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-connect?ref=aftermath.site). This would force users to go through their servers [in order to use several core functions of their printer](https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/bambu-lab-security-update-will-remove-orcaslicers-access?ref=aftermath.site). Presented as a security update, this initially broke the functionality of certain parts of OrcaSlicer and third party hardware, including printing over LAN with Orca. People justifiably got pissed off at Bambu, including YouTubers like Louis Rossmann and Jeff Geerling, because this tethered their existing printers to Bambu’s servers, and seemed to hint at a more closed vision for the future of the brand. Bambu eventually caved slightly by [introducing optional Developer and LAN-only modes](https://all3dp.com/4/bambu-lab-responds-to-security-update-controversy-promises-developer-mode/?ref=aftermath.site) for users who want them, but remote access still requires you to go through Bambu’s servers or to use an optional plugin called Bambu Connect (which OrcaSlicer developers [refused to implement](https://all3dp.com/6/orcaslicer-will-not-support-bambu-lab-connect-for-forseeable-future/?ref=aftermath.site)). This is in addition to the fact that you have to download a separate closed source networking plug-in for OrcaSlicer and Bambu Studio in order to get the full functionality out of your printer, despite Bambu Studio itself being open source. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot_20260520_130041.png) Utilizing your Bambu Lab printer to the fullest in OrcaSlicer requires you to download a closed source plugin. Many people are fine with only connecting to their printer over a local area network (I try to keep many devices in my home local out of general habit), although the ability to check on your prints remotely is quite handy. Others might also not be bothered by being forced to go through Bambu’s servers, and to install their optional plugin. For my own part, I prefer using OrcaSlicer just from a functional standpoint, and Orca recently added support for the X2D in their pre-release builds. But some people wanted to restore that basic functionality that was in the printer when they bought it without having to go through Bambu’s servers. In particular, one developer named Paweł Jarczak attempted to bring this functionality back. Jarczak created a fork of OrcaSlicer that would restore the basic network functionality back to the printers called [OrcaSlicer-bambulab](https://github.com/jarczakpawel/OrcaSlicer-bambulab/blob/main/README.md?ref=aftermath.site). And a few weeks back, Bambu Lab demanded he take the project down. According to the developer, his project “impersonated Bambu Studio,” “bypassed their authorization controls,” “violated their Terms of Use,” involved “reverse engineering,” and “could allow modified forks to send arbitrary commands to printers.” Jarczak denies all of these accusations, but says he voluntarily decided to take the release down because he did not wish to maintain an ongoing dispute against Bambu Studios. I’m kinda sympathetic here. YouTuber Leonard French was the first major YouTuber to offer support. ## **The backlash** It did not take long for people to catch wind of what happened. Several forks of the project immediately sprang up, and [many people, including legal YouTuber Leonard French, encouraged him to fight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tdZ5Z7nRDY&ref=aftermath.site). [Gamers Nexus](https://gamersnexus.net/fk-you-bambu-lab?ref=aftermath.site) is hosting a version of the plugin on their website. Louis Rossmann, a YouTuber who has fought Apple and John Deere over Right To Repair, openly challenged Bambu Lab on the merits of their case and forked the plugin on Github. Jeff Geerling [publicly doubled down on his commitment to not buying another Bambu printer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb48MdtNaDQ&pp=ygULYmFtYnUgbGFicyA%3D&ref=aftermath.site). Bambu attempted to alleviate concerns in a blog post called “[Setting the record straight on Cloud Access and Community.](https://blog.bambulab.com/setting-the-record-straight-on-cloud-access-and-community/?ref=aftermath.site)” This is the third blog from Bambu Lab that features the term “Setting the record straight” in either the headline or subhed. In it, they only obliquely addressed their behavior towards the dev, instead insisting that they are committed to AGPLv3, while claiming their rationale is that Jarczak’s software impersonates an instance of Bambu Studios to their servers. “This is not only bypassing a technical limitation,” Bambu wrote in a company blog, “but also impersonating another entity in communication with a server. And that is precisely the problem that requires us to respond.” Bambu Lab did not respond to Aftermath’s request for comment in time for publication. Jarczak rejects this characterization. In an update to his Github repo, he highlights the bit of code that Bambu Studio objected to in their blog post. “User-Agent is not authentication,” Jarczak [wrote.](https://github.com/jarczakpawel/OrcaSlicer-bambulab?ref=aftermath.site) “It is only self-declared client metadata. Any program can set any User-Agent.” What's more, Jarczak claims that the User-Agent construction was derived from Bambu Lab’s own code, which is publicly available under the AGPLv3\. In essence, Jarczak is claiming that Bambu Lab pressured him to take down code derived from their own irrevocably open source code. Instead of fixing how printers identify themselves to their servers, they blamed a random developer. Louis Rossmann, ever the YouTuber, openly reproduced the code and dared Bambu Lab to sue him. Louis Rossmann loves starting a legal battle over right to repair, it's kind of his whole deal. “If Bambu Lab believes there is a serious security issue in a path that still exists in their own software, then that should be fixed on their side,” [Jarczak t](https://all3dp.com/4/bambu-lab-took-down-an-orcaslicer-fork-and-handed-it-a-bigger-audience/?ref=aftermath.site)[old ALL3DP](https://all3dp.com/4/bambu-lab-took-down-an-orcaslicer-fork-and-handed-it-a-bigger-audience/?ref=aftermath.site). “Putting legal pressure on an individual open-source contributor does not seem like the right way to handle it.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot_20260520_130354-1.png) Bambu has attempted to justify this for years now. Credit: Bambu Lab ## **Original Sin** This entire situation exists in the context of an even larger issue with the specific way that Bambu Lab implemented its slicer. While Bambu Studio is itself open source, the networking plugin that they used to connect the slicer to the printer is closed source; it is downloaded as a separate package and loaded at runtime. Bambu Lab itself [defended this in 2022](https://blog.bambulab.com/agpl-compliance-of-bambu-studio/?ref=aftermath.site), stating that they are legally in compliance with the AGPLv3 license because the networking plug-in is a separate piece of software. But multiple people have disputed how separate it actually is time and time again, including [developer Roy Sigurd](https://blogg.karlsbakk.net/2024/05/24/more-on-bambus-license-issues/?ref=aftermath.site), who analyzed the plugin and stated that it is loading and linking to a shared library, thus effectively breaking AGPL. The argument specifically centers around if the code itself is an essential part of Bambu Studio and the idea known as "Corresponding Source” that is explicitly defined in the AGPL. On Friday, Josef Prusa of Prusa Slicer [weighed in](https://x.com/josefprusa/status/2054602360488362059?ref=aftermath.site) on X, accusing Bambu of violating AGPL years ago with its networking plugin. > “\[Bambu Studio\] cannot do its primary job without the plugin. The plugin cannot do anything without \[Bambu Studio\].” Prusa said. “They are not two products that happen to talk to each other, they are one product split across two files for PR license-laundering convenience.” And while Prusa is their competitor and thus has a vested interest in the matter, it’s also true that the foundation of Bambu entire empire is software built by his company and others before him. On the same day, Jarczak updated his GitHub repo to include [a detailed audit of bambu\_networking](https://github.com/jarczakpawel/OrcaSlicer-bambulab/blob/main/bambu%5Fagpl.md?ref=aftermath.site), enumerating a list of points with links to Bambu’s own code where he believes Bambu is violating the AGPL. “I am not claiming that the AGPL automatically forces Bambu to allow every modified client into their private cloud,” Jarczak stated. “I am claiming something different: if Bambu distributes an AGPL program that is designed to load and use a closed runtime component through a strict ABI, then that component may fall within the program's ‘Corresponding Source’. This is a distribution compliance problem under the AGPL, not a simple dispute over cloud terms of service.” “AGPL v3 requires Corresponding Source for such components if the program is specifically designed to require them through intimate data communication or control flow. Therefore, in my opinion, distributing Bambu Studio as AGPL together with the closed bambu\_networking without providing its complete Corresponding Source under AGPL-compatible terms violates the AGPL.” After this audit went live, the Software Freedom Conservancy stepped into the fray. You may know the SFC as the non-profit that [has been suing TV manufacturer Vizio](https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html?ref=aftermath.site) for the corresponding source code of its TVs so that it can build an open-source alternative that does not spy on its customers. They have since published two blogs related to the Bambu situation; the first was “[Dealing with Incomplete Copyleft Source That Doesn't Correspond](https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2026/may/17/incomplete-corresponding-source-code-copyleft-agpl/?ref=aftermath.site)” by Bradley M. Kühn. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/conservancy-header-logo.jpg) Kühn is a policy fellow at the SFC and is responsible for the Affero clause, the “A” in the same AGPL license at the heart of the matter. In addition to this, they also laid out a [comprehensive response](https://sfconservancy.org/news/2026/may/18/bambu-studio-3d-printer-agpl-violation-response/?ref=aftermath.site) to Bambu’s AGPLv3 violations, and launched [the baltobu project](https://f.sfconservancy.org/baltobu?ref=aftermath.site), or “Bringing Affero Licensed Things to Bambu Users.” “Bambu has behaved badly for years and made multiple, provably false public statements regarding the AGPLv3 and its requirements,” the SFC stated in its blog. “The recent aggressive behavior toward Paweł Jarczak was a last straw for us: we have decided to launch a multi-pronged effort that will assist consumers and users in the short-term, and also work toward a long-term strategy to improve the software right to repair for all 3D printer consumers.” “AGPLv3 was specifically designed to to provide \*maximal\* copyleft: moreso than any license before it,” Kühn told Aftermath via email. “I know because I invented the original Affero clause and co-drafted AGPLv3\. Bambu is currently engaged in the most egregious AGPLv3 violation that I have ever seen,” he continued. “As SFC explains in our announcement, Bambu keeping their dynamically loaded library proprietary contradicts specific, clear text in AGPLv3 that prohibits such behavior. Bambu did \*not\* write most of their slicer themselves. Bambu built their business on the years of hard work of other contributors who gladly follow the rules in the AGPLv3, and now refuses to follow those same rules. Bambu's business wouldn't even exist if the contributors before them had done these bad behaviors that Bambu now does. I've spoken over the last week to many contributors to the codebase that made Bambu's product possible. These contributors — who themselves followed the AGPLv3 carefully — are outraged.” “The AGPLv3 only functions properly if everyone — commercial entities and volunteers alike — follow its terms, and share the software as required by the license,” he said. “Given Bambu's large percentage of market share in 3D printing, their bad behavior has the ability to seriously harm the entire 3D printing ecosystem irreparably. SFC \*must\* act now to prevent Bambu from inflicting permanent damage on the 3D printing ecosystem through Bambu's AGPLv3 violations. “ ## **What happens now** Bambu Lab clearly wants to be the Apple of 3D printing: less open, more proprietary and locked down. But aside from the fact that they built their entire brand around one of the most aggressive open source licenses out there, which they comply with when they are compelled to, this is simply the wrong community to pull this kinda shit in. The venn diagram of people who 3D print things and people who care about the right to repair is almost a circle. The essential nature of both the devices and the community that fostered them trends towards openness. Attempting to enclose the commons will not work; Bambu Lab chose the wrong hobby. Despite their aggressive push towards undercutting the competition (literally everyone will grant that they are a good value), what they do is not unique except in terms of cost and completeness of features. Brands like Prusa, Creality and Snapmaker offer alternatives, and Qidi is gunning for them on the budget end (Qidi Studio is forked from Bambu Studio and Qidi’s firmware uses code from [Klipper](https://github.com/QIDITECH/klipper?ref=aftermath.site) and [Moonraker](https://moonraker.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?ref=aftermath.site)). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/snapmaker.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/prusa.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/qidi.jpg) As good a deal as Bambu Lab's printers are, they are not so special that others could not theoretically unseat them. The Snapmaker U1 for example, excels at multi material printing with far less waste. Credit: Snapmaker, Prusa Research a.s., Qiditech This is not to say that they will not be successful, but rather that they are burning hard-earned good will in the service of a nebulous, if not pernicious, goal that is bound to fail. This is the wrong hill to die on. If this saga seems niche and granular, a subset of a subset of an argument about an open source license, I assure you it isn’t. This is about what people have the right to do with the devices they own and if companies are allowed to use the free work of countless people in the service of digital enclosure. What happens with edge cases like these matters for the future of devices even beyond the incredibly granular world of 3D printing. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/x2d.jpg) Despite all this, Bambu keeps making printers that are a very solid deal for the price. They are shooting themselves in the foot. Credit: Bambu Lab And the worst part of all of this is that they ultimately do not need to do this. The printers are good and this is a solved issue. I was really enjoying my X2D (now with Developer mode and LAN mode turned on) before all this stuff went down. Now, unless this is all sorted, I’m having second thoughts about ever recommending one to anybody ever again. Or maybe the community will drag Bambu Lab kicking and screaming into the open, force them to provide the corresponding source code, and take back what was rightfully theirs all along. ### With Vox Sale, Digital Media Networks Take Another Step Closer To The Grave URL: https://aftermath.site/vox-media-sale-bankoff-murdoch/ Last updated: 2026-06-18T16:50:59.000Z James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, is buying a chunk of Vox Media properties for over $300 million, The [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/business/media/vox-media-james-murdoch-sale.html?ref=aftermath.site) reported Wednesday. Vox itself, the company’s podcast network, and New York Magazine and subsidiaries will retain the Vox Media name, with Vox Media co-founder Jim Bankoff–who has given every impression he is tired of media and the people who work in it–remaining at the helm as CEO. According to an internal email published by [Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/james-murdoch-buys-ny-mag-vox-podcasts-staff-memo-2026-5?ref=aftermath.site), the remaining ex-Vox sites–which include The Verge, Eater, SB Nation, and others–will become a new company with a new name and will stay together. That company will be led by current Vox president Ryan Pauley.“Separating into two distinct companies best sets up our brands, shows, businesses, talent and teams to continue to lead and prosper in the changing media landscape,” Bankoff wrote. There’s been [rumblings](https://puck.news/inside-jim-bankoffs-plan-to-sell-vox-media-for-parts/?ref=aftermath.site) about all this for a while, in particular Bankoff’s interest in [spinning off the podcast network](https://www.semafor.com/article/03/22/2026/vox-media-tried-to-sell-its-podcasts-and-itself?ref=aftermath.site). After [selling Polygon to Valnet](https://aftermath.site/polygon-layoffs-sale/) a year ago, many of us obsessed with media gossip started seeing the writing on the wall for Vox as a network. I’m both relieved the other sites are continuing and worried about what the future holds for them–this transaction sure looks like Bankoff taking what I imagine feel like Vox’s most mainstream and profitable assets and leaving the rest behind. At the same time, maybe the remaining sites can flourish free from Bankoff, who has overseen multiple rounds of layoffs in the last few years, most recently in [January](https://aftermath.site/layoff-verge-inverse-gaming/). This sale comes roughly a week after Buzzfeed founder Jonah Peretti [sold Buzzfeed and HuffPost](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/11/buzzfeed-digital-media-deal-byron-allen?ref=aftermath.site) to Byron Allen, who owns multiple TV networks including The Weather Channel, and whose talk show *Comics Unleashed* is set to replace Stephen Colbert’s *Late Show* this week. Peretti will become president of Buzzfeed AI ([not a surprise](https://aftermath.site/buzzfeed-peretti-ai/)), while Allen hopes to turn what was once news outlets into something that can compete with YouTube, telling [The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/05/15/byron-allen-plans-turn-buzzfeed-into-streaming-giant/?ref=aftermath.site) that “Anybody who’s putting up content, they can put it up at YouTube. And now, pretty soon, they’re going to also be able to put it up at BuzzFeed,” whatever the hell that means. The previous era of the digital media network has long felt like it’s ending, with [Vice’s worker-devastating bankruptcy in 2024](https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/02/22/vice-media-shuts-down-layoffs/?ref=aftermath.site) and the degradation and ultimate destruction of the Gawker network following its own bankruptcy and ultimate sale to G/O Media, which put the whole thing out of its misery in [2025](https://aftermath.site/kotaku-sale-keleops-go/). (Aftermath’s staff previously worked at G/O and Vice.) Companies like G/O and Vox were acquisition-happy just a few years prior, consolidations that we’re now feeling the consequences of as one business decision has the power to affect the lives of numerous workers, as we’ve seen with [IGN’s purchase of Gamer Network](https://aftermath.site/ign-gamer-network-eurogamer-gamesindustrybiz-layoffs/). With fewer companies owning outlets, and some of those that remain owning more and more, journalists have fewer places to go if they’re laid off or their companies change beyond recognition, and these decisions can affect multiple outlets readers depend on. But media networks were also a strength for readers and workers (and, I imagine but do not terribly care about, for owners). I saw this myself at Gawker, where readers could hop from one site to another to learn new things or get more context on the day’s news, and where I as an editor was surrounded by colleagues with a variety of knowledge and expertise. As the ad market tanks and AI eats the lunch of outlets that depend on search, it’s perhaps no wonder owners want to slim down their companies or exit digital media altogether, but it ultimately means less reliable news for readers and less opportunities for writers. But Peretti and Bankoff and [Vice’s Shane Smith](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/vice-news-returns-shane-smith-1236587574/?ref=aftermath.site) and that [company’s cadre of suits](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/vice-media-paid-executives-11-231321969.html?guccounter=1&guce%5Freferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce%5Freferrer%5Fsig=AQAAAKV-QVhkZ5JI9Flo3CMa3dH3QfH1Z0UjccAfZ9540o7Wys31Z5TBGkj8dEFljrWCAq5KIfc0n3653ybL18xMBnY8u5wSSZl0twsv2YbzIRgqYEDsDzkmtNEpSc9IiRIcm9NV-yVXbQHuJhoTtMZk6Z33VjqpB%5FBY7-27sZbkceOR&ref=aftermath.site) and even god help me G/O’s [Jim Spanfeller](https://www.discourseblog.com/p/rest-in-pieces-go-media?ref=aftermath.site) will all get out with their own bags, as they always do, while journalists face an uncertain future in a terrible time for imagining the future at all. Sincere good luck to the Vox journalists who now have to work for a Murdoch, and good luck to the writers at Untitled Digital Media Company as they face what’s next. **Update 6/18/26, 12:5pm--** The remaining sites have been sold to Penske Media, according to [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/eater-verge-sbnation-sold-penske-media-1236624828/?ref=aftermath.site). ### Gabe Newell Is Out Here Turning A 304-Foot-Long Luxury Yacht Into A 'Support And Research Vessel' URL: https://aftermath.site/gabe-newell-steam-valve-yacht/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T23:46:36.000Z One of the last pieces I wrote at Kotaku that I remember actually having fun with[ was a guide to the submarine and research vessels owned by Valve boss Gabe Newell](https://kotaku.com/steam-gabe-newell-submarine-submersible-valve-science-1850563956?ref=aftermath.site). At the time it was important because his submarine, the DSV Bakunawa, was "the only manned submersible that could reach" the wreck of the Titan, the billionaire-killing submarine that infamously imploded in June 2023. Three years later I wanted to revisit Newell's efforts for two reasons. One, I find it interesting--not *commendable*, just interesting--that in a world where most of the billionaire class seems intent on feeding us to machines while they wait out a coming apocalypse in bunkers, Valve's CEO is pouring a significant amount of his money into science boats. And two, while you'd assume a man making billion after billion would be buying *more* yachts, in this case he's technically engaged in an act of de-yachting, because as[ Luxury Launches reports](https://luxurylaunches.com/transport/draak-superyacht-begins-sea-trials-05152026.php?ref=aftermath.site), Newell has recently taken what used to be one of the world's fanciest private ships and had it transformed at shipbuilding company Oceanco ([which he owns](https://aftermath.site/gabe-newell-oceano-yacht-steam-valve/)) from bow to stern into a working support and research vessel, designed to accompany the flagship of his deep sea research company, Inkfish. > The yacht that once revolved around spa living, private leisure, and floating-palace indulgence has effectively become a highly specialized operational companion vessel for Gabe Newell’s 111-meter Oceanco flagship Leviathan. The shift is dramatic because this is not simply a cosmetic refit or a modernized interior refresh. Draak has moved from leisure-first to operations-first, with almost every major modification pointing toward expedition support, dive capability, logistics, and long-duration functionality at sea. Some examples of what that actually entailed, as[ Super Yacht Times reports](https://www.superyachttimes.com/yacht-news/oceanco-yacht-draak-sea-trials-following-rebuild?ref=aftermath.site) (turns out there's a whole ecosystem of websites for this stuff!), include: > The rebuild of [*Draak*](https://www.superyachttimes.com/yachts/draak?ref=aftermath.site) included the removal of her upper deck aft helideck to allow for additional space on her main deck aft. This allowed for the accommodation of a large tender deck equipped with heavy-duty C-davits, while a 12.6-tonne jib crane was integrated on the upper deck aft to support hoisting manoeuvres. and > Her former beach club and spa area has been converted into a fully equipped dive centre with a decompression chamber, while the main deck saloon has been transformed into a large crew mess. All of which has essentially left the world with one less yacht and one more deep sea science ship, which is now going to do a lot of the grunt work that[ the bigger, more important Leviathan](https://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/reports/gabe-newell-111m-superyacht-leviathan-oceanco?ref=aftermath.site) couldn't: > The yacht can carry additional crew, dive teams, tenders, specialists, technicians, and operational equipment while handling the wetter, louder, and more repetitive work that would otherwise interfere with life aboard Leviathan. She can stage dive operations ahead of the mothership, move gear between sites, support diver recovery, provide overflow accommodation, and reduce operational clutter aboard the primary vessel. I find Inkfish really interesting; while very into taking 30% of the cut from every Steam purchase, Gabe Newell is also very into deep sea exploration and research, and is using his personal billions not to build data centres or help enable an authoritarian takeover of the United States ([to my knowledge, anyway!](https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=gabe+newell&order=desc&sort=D&ref=aftermath.site)) but to just do something he loves, in this case learning more about the world's oceans, and what's lurking around down there that we don't already know about. I'm not pointing this out to glorify or congratulate him. There are no good billionaires, because nobody needs that much money, and Steam absolutely does not need to be taking such a huge cut from developers, especially smaller ones, that it's able to help fund a man getting a luxury superyacht retrofitted (by a ship-building company he owns!), for a marine research company he *also* owns. But in 2026, on a scale of what billionaires are doing with their cash, this is at least as far away from the Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos/Peter Thiel side of the spectrum as you can get, outside of maybe doing what *I* would do with a few billion dollars to burn: buy a Premier League club. ### IDK About ‘Bullet Heaven,’ Steam URL: https://aftermath.site/valve-steam-tags-bullet-heaven-vampire-survivors/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T23:31:02.000Z Yesterday Valve announced an update to Steam that added 17 new tags and removed 28 with the goal of “helping players identify the games that best fit their interests, and helping Steam generate appropriate recommendations.” Seems reasonable enough. But since I read the [list of new tags](https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/673994309884707519?ref=aftermath.site)—which includes relative no-brainers like “Organizing” and “Espionage,” as well as a couple, “Wuxia” and “Xianxia,” that are indicative of Steam’s growing Chinese popularity—one has lodged itself in my brain: “Bullet Heaven.” I just don’t think it works! Valve describes Bullet Heaven as “The opposite of Bullet Hell; Focus on upgrades while automatically attacking hordes of enemies.” Sure, OK. But if you take a look at the rechristened genre’s [Steam page](https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Bullet%20Heaven/?ref=aftermath.site), you’ll be immediately inundated with countless riffs on *Vampire Survivors*. That genre already has a name: Survivors-like. Is it the most elegant? No. But as with “Soulslike” in reference to games that owe their structure to From Software’s ubiquitous *Souls* series, Survivors-like stuck. People have been calling them that for years. Moreover, Bullet Heaven is an instance of cute wordplay that doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny. Moment to moment, Bullet Hell games don’t really resemble Survivors-likes at all; the ([*much*\-older](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet%5Fhell?ref=aftermath.site)) genre tends to involve piloting a spaceship or other small object down a linear track while endless, brain-melting bullet patterns spread out in front of you. One wrong move and you’re cooked—or at least severely damaged. \[**Update:** As people have noted, and I think it's important to more clearly delineate, elements of Bullet Hell appear in a wide variety of genres and games that aren't necessarily shoot-'em-ups or scrolling shooters—for example, *Hades* and *Saros*, among quite a few others.\] Survivors-likes are, as Valve points out, typically reliant on auto-attack and focused on upgrades. The only thing the two genres really have in common is particle effects. They are not branches of the same evolutionary tree, as the names Bullet Hell and Bullet Heaven would imply. I’m not the first to voice this misgiving. [PC Gamer’s Robin Valentine](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/we-need-to-decide-on-a-genre-name-for-vampire-survivors-like-games-before-a-really-terrible-one-sticks/?ref=aftermath.site) attempted to give the genre a suitable stage name last year, rejecting Bullet Heaven (and ultimately going with “Survivor”) along similar lines: > The two genres \[Bullet Hell and Bullet Heaven\] have very little in common mechanically, and fans of one are not especially likely to be fans of the other. It's naming a genre based on how its games look rather than how they feel or how they work mechanically, which seems like a mistake—especially given that we're increasingly seeing examples of this genre that don't look like that, for example replacing projectile spam with action-RPG-style attacks and spells in *Halls of Torment*, or martial arts swipes in *Karate Survivor*. That did not, however, prevent initiatives like the Bullet Heaven Festival from trying to canonize the name, with [a poll that ran alongside a Steam sale late last year](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-effort-to-canonize-a-steam-tag-for-the-worlds-survivorslikes-and-bullet-heavens-intensifies-with-a-public-poll-and-celebratory-sale-aiming-to-finally-settle-on-a-name-for-the-misfit-genre/?ref=aftermath.site). As I said earlier, I do not believe that Survivors-like is a particularly good name, but I think Bullet Heaven is worse. And the fact of the matter is, many game genres have janky, proper-noun-laden names. People have been trying to rechristen Metroidvanias for decades, but it just hasn’t worked. That’s what those are, and so shall they remain until the end of time. Now, admittedly, Survivors-likes haven’t been around for anywhere near as long; the term doesn’t have the same kind of history. But it is, in many cases, what people use, and inertia tends to win out in the end. That, I suppose, is what makes all of this interesting: Steam has hundreds of millions of users. By simply stepping into the arena and putting its foot down, has it sent shockwaves that will ultimately bury other names—even if they’ve been around longer and make more intuitive sense? Will I one day call something a Survivors-like out of habit only to be met with blank stares? Hard to say with any sort of certainty, but knowing how pseudo-monopolies work, probably! ## Recommended [Vampire Crawlers Is A Vampire Survivors That’s Better For Your Heart RateThe followup game to Vampire Survivors keeps the hook but loses some of the chaos![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/crawhed-cd27375dfef030230a27bb3588dc86ebf139064375cdfd8299f4347509575c71.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/vampire-crawlers-survivors-poncle/) ### Google Unveils An Even Worse Search URL: https://aftermath.site/google-search-ai-changes/ Last updated: 2026-05-20T18:16:41.000Z Google announced changes to its ubiquitous Search function today, which for decades has been a skinny little box you enter questions into and then a bunch of links pop up, sorted by the company’s inscrutable, ever-changing criteria. So long to that, I guess: starting Tuesday, Google will be rolling out a new search function chock full of (even more) AI. In a [blog post](https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/search-io-2026/?ref=aftermath.site#powerful-ai), Google VP of Search Elizabeth Reid writes that the company is “introducing the biggest upgrade to our Search box in over 25 years — now completely reimagined with AI. This intelligent Search box puts our most powerful AI tools right at your fingertips, making it easier to ask your questions.” It appears that the box will get bigger when you ask it certain kinds of questions, pushing you even more toward AI-generated results rather than website links. Reid writes that it will also help users “formulate your question with AI-powered suggestions that go beyond autocomplete.” Here’s an embarrassing trailer: According to [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/tech/932970/google-search-ai-update-io-2026?ref=aftermath.site), you’ll still be able to see traditional links in “Web” view. The Verge writes: > Liz Reid, Google’s vice president of Search, said during a briefing that the company wanted to eliminate the “friction” between AI Overviews and AI Mode. “We really work to make that much more seamless and simplified, so that for most users, they don’t have to think about where to go, they can just go to the search box they’re familiar with and it feels like they get the best experience afterwards,” Reid said. In [a video ](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7l7U-6Qk0Jk?ref=aftermath.site)by The Verge at Google’s I/O conference, we see the presenter make a Google query asking “how do black holes affect spacetime?” and instead of getting websites, they get an interactive graphic. Reid writes that users will also be able to search using images, videos, or files. The changes are still rolling out, so I’m not sure if I have access to them yet. But Reid also writes that Google is “making it even simpler to continue the conversation with Search” by adding the ability to ask questions of the AI overview. I noticed this today: While I don’t interact with Google’s AI overviews much beyond [scrolling past them](https://aftermath.site/google-ai-search-god-no-why/), when I click “show more” in the overview to expand it, I’m given an additional search box. Asking another question of that box takes me to a chat page in Google’s AI mode. (This conversation lacks citations, but if I select “try without personalization,” I’m able to get links to sources.) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-19-at-3.16.56---PM.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-19-at-4.04.01---PM.png) Left: "personalized." Right: Oh, it looks like this didn't just spring forth from the mind of Google Search, but was instead stolen from (sigh) Reddit There are other changes to Search as well: You’ll be able to connect your personal information, like your Gmail and calendar, to Search to further [personalize the results](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VthgQdGyaxk?ref=aftermath.site), should you for some terrible reason want to do that. And down the line there’ll also be the ability to deploy AI agents to do the things you used to do yourself with Google Alerts. As [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/19/google-search-as-you-know-it-is-over/?ref=aftermath.site) points out, all this is surely even worse news for website publishers who rely on Google traffic. After years of making outlets reliant on its whims in exchange for traffic, Google now appears even happier to forego that traffic altogether, keeping users on its own page instead of sending them to the places where the information it’s regurgitating came from. The creators of that information, meanwhile, [get even less](https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/?ref=aftermath.site) than they were already getting, all in service of a hypothetical AI future that stands to benefit like ten guys. As a man with a library science degree and thus a nerd about searching for information generally, stuffing search tools with AI is also bad for everyday people’s ability to understand and query systems, if you’ll bear with me through a little rant. Everyone faces a challenge when exploring a new library catalogue or work database or figuring out boolean operators in Google, but learning to talk to a system in its language is one way we get a sense of how its creators structured it and their worldview and priorities. Going through a system’s results also teaches you how to think about them critically: Are they what I’m looking for, are they trustworthy, what information do they connect to and reveal? Google Search is probably one of the first and primary places that people experiment with and grow their information searching skills; spoonfeeding them AI summaries while obscuring or bypassing the source of the information might seem convenient, but it’s just robbing them of the chance to develop vital information literacy skills that they need more than ever in an AI-obsessed world. But if you’re just a regular person, this means more AI crap to wrestle with when you’re just trying to find a nearby coffee shop or that article you remember reading 10 years ago. The AI bubble can’t burst soon enough. ### We Don't Talk Enough About The Aftermath Of Death Note URL: https://aftermath.site/death-note-light-yagami-kira-manga-anime-ending/ Last updated: 2026-05-20T15:33:59.000Z I recently saw [Curry Barker](https://gizmodo.com/obsession-director-curry-barker-wants-to-push-the-boundaries-of-horror-itself-2000757150?ref=aftermath.site)’s excellent bad-romance horror movie, [*Obsession*](https://gizmodo.com/obsession-fantasic-fest-2025-review-curry-barker-horror-2000661992?ref=aftermath.site), and was left with a couple thoughts. Firstly, [Inde Navarrette](https://gizmodo.com/the-stars-of-obsession-on-crafting-their-perfect-creepy-characters-2000758274?ref=aftermath.site)’s stonks are about to go through the roof, and better not land her straight in Marvel jury duty. Second, the central “romance” reminded me of how couples with [matching Misa Amane and Light Yagami *Death Note* profile pics](https://www.tiktok.com/@baixy%5F%5F/video/7639495693161336096?is%5Ffrom%5Fwebapp=1&sender%5Fdevice=pc&ref=aftermath.site) look absolutely wild to normal people. And, finally, we don’t talk enough about how the aftermath of *Death Note* is more messed up than the series itself. *Death Note* is a series about an egomaniacal teenager named Light Yagami and a quirky detective named L, duking it out in a global morality play centered on a cursed notebook ([with way too many rules](https://deathnote.fandom.com/wiki/Rules%5Fof%5Fthe%5FDeath%5FNote?ref=aftermath.site)) that kills anyone whose name is written in it. Though you probably already know that because its reputation precedes it—and rightly so. The early aughts series is spoken of in the same breath as [*Fullmetal Alchemist*](https://gizmodo.com/fullmetal-alchemist-is-the-greatest-anime-of-all-time-2000750020?ref=aftermath.site) as a gateway anime for newcomers; it's gotten a couple of novelization spin-offs [set before its story](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-note-another-note-nisioisin/1139706307?ref=aftermath.site) and an [alternative tale set after its conclusion](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-note-m/1137213333?ean=9781421532257&ref=aftermath.site) (both I highly recommend for fans of Naomi Misora and L Lawliet); it's even got an odd post-series one-shot that absolutely makes a [mockery of Donald Trump getting his hands on the cursed notebook](http://google.com/search?q=io9+death+note+trump&oq=io9+death+&gs%5Flcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgAEEUYJxg7MggIABBFGCcYOzIICAEQRRgnGDsyBggCEEUYOTIHCAMQABjvBTIKCAQQABiiBBiJBTIKCAUQABiABBiiBDIHCAYQABjvBTIHCAcQABjvBTIGCAgQRRg70gEIMTU2NGowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ref=aftermath.site). It’s also crossed media into a [musical](https://gizmodo.com/death-note-is-now-a-musical-and-here-are-the-first-eng-1688508312?ref=aftermath.site) for folks who’re into that sorta thing and introduced folks to [Maximum The Hormone](https://youtu.be/muoWDA6zmsY?list=RDmuoWDA6zmsY&ref=aftermath.site), who kicks all the ass. But with its accolades also comes the counterbalance of unremitting smears to mangaka Toshiki Inoue and illustrator Takeshi Obata’s formative series. Key among them are [ad nauseam discourse about its second half falling off](https://www.cbr.com/worst-anime-last-arcs-endings-list/?ref=aftermath.site), its [Netflix live-action movie](https://kotaku.com/what-we-mostly-liked-about-netflix-s-death-note-1798503211?ref=aftermath.site) sucking ([I enjoyed it](https://aftermath.site/bet-kakegurui-netflix-live-action-anime/)), and the ever-present fear that the [post-*Stranger Things 5* Duffer Bros.](https://gizmodo.com/duffer-brothers-stranger-things-episode-regret-redo-2000760066?ref=aftermath.site) plans for a [new Netflix live-action series](https://kotaku.com/death-note-netflix-stranger-things-duffer-brothers-1849148519?ref=aftermath.site) will emerge from production limbo and see the light of day. But for all the things fans can readily say about *Death Note*—its [cultural touchstones](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/just-according-to-keikaku?ref=aftermath.site), its [memes](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/just-according-to-keikaku?ref=aftermath.site), its endlessly recycled discourse—what rarely gets talked about is what happens after it ends. And no, I’m not talking about the still-contested [fan theories about Light Yagami’s fate](https://www.reddit.com/r/deathnote/comments/8rpbh5/theory%5Flight%5Fdefinitely%5Fbecame%5Fa%5Fshinigami%5Fsort/?ref=aftermath.site) (or his [Easter egg cameo in another anime](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiuQJi48SFc&pp=ygUVbGlnaHQgaW4gZGVhdGggcGFyYWRl&ref=aftermath.site)). I’m talking about the toll he leaves behind. **Spoilers, duh.** Light Yagami dies at the end of *Death Note*. Granted, the anime [gives him a more romanticized end](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7TCToSvqVA&pp=ygUZbGlnaHQgZGVhdGggaW4gZGVhdGggbm90ZdIHCQkECwGHKiGM7w%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site), but he still dies like a dog cornered with nowhere left to run, choking on his own desperate plea for help. > [@juswhyheem](https://www.tiktok.com/@juswhyheem?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@juswhyheem") > > [#anime](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/anime?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "anime") [#deathnote](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/deathnote?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "deathnote") [#lightyagami](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/lightyagami?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "lightyagami") [#ryuk](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/ryuk?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "ryuk") > > [♬ original sound - WhyHeem](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7638739939999386399?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ original sound - WhyHeem") The shinigami Ryuk—having been amply entertained by watching Kira’s melodramatic rise and fall—writes Light’s name in his notebook and drifts back to his monotonous eternity. What’s haunting about the manga, though, is that even Light’s death is pyrrhic. His grandiose, self-righteous dream of creating a new world with himself as its judging god proceeds in spirit, despite failing to live long enough to see it through. Lord Acton, a 19th-century British historian, famously wrote, “[Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely](https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/lord-acton-writes-to-bishop-creighton-that-the-same-moral-standards-should-be-applied-to-all-men-political-and-religious-leaders-included-especially-since-power-tends-to-corrupt-and-absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely-1887?ref=aftermath.site).” While he wasn't the first person to articulate the idea, his phrasing perfectly captures Light’s arc. Light begins by killing criminals he believes have escaped the world’s debased sense of justice. But as the series progresses, the whiny, insecure boy he always was slowly surfaces. He’s no god; he’s the biggest hypocrite alive. Like any dictator insisting his brutality is for the greater good, Light’s campaign boils down to control, which he’ll go to extreme lengths to uphold. He wipes his own memory in the most elaborate 5D chess move in anime. He kills innocents when cornered, and eliminates anyone who threatens his perfect self-image. He’s no super genius; The emperor has no clothes. Light is just an honor-roll kid who wants to be seen, feared, and, above all, worshiped, and makes it everyone’s problem in doing so. Every person he (and, let’s be honest, L too) uses as a pawn ends up destroyed. Light’s police chief father dies because Light lets him just to gain an easy W over L. Meanwhile, he only has platitudes for his sister, whom he once doted upon, as she watches their family collapse under the weight of his own ambition. He even bestows his power (temporarily) to other deranged power-seeking people of status to get the heat off of him, including an old high school flame he uses as a meat shield. Key among these sacrificial lambs is his girlfriend in name only, Misa Amane, who, in addition to being one half of one of [the top four worst anime couples of all time](https://kotaku.com/anime-naruto-sakura-sasuke-death-note-toxic-couple-love-1850066835/12?ref=aftermath.site), he tasks with halving her lifespan (twice!) to help him win. According to the pedantically titled [*Death Note: How to Read*](https://deathnote.fandom.com/wiki/Death%5FNote%5F13:%5FHow%5Fto%5FRead?ref=aftermath.site) guidebook, Misa dies a year after Light at 27 years old, on Valentine's Day of all days. ![Death Note double spread page of Kira worshipers walking together at night on a cliffside. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-19-132615.png) Toshiki Inoue/Takeshi Obata/Shonen Jump But the thought I return to most when I think about *Death Note* isn’t Light’s petrified expression when he dies, nor is it Ryuk’s apathy toward it all. It’s that Kira’s warped ideals endure. While the anime’s more upbeat finale ties a bow on this sentiment in its title, “New World,” the manga underscores that to an even chillier degree. The final pages of *Death Note* show a procession of Kira worshipers gathered on a cliffside, candles and prayer beads in hand and babies at their hips. The series then closes on a panel of an unnamed woman, hands clasped, praying to “Kira, our savior” as if to beckon his return, like he’s the second coming. ![Death Note page of a woman praying to Kira. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/0108-019.png) Toshiki Inoue/Takeshi Obata/Shonen Jump Thankfully, humanity gets Marxist king [Minoru Tanaka](https://deathnote.fandom.com/wiki/Minoru%5FTanaka?ref=aftermath.site), the post-series one-shot protagonist who surrenders the power of the Death Note instead. But the whole scope of it—the pyrrhic supernatural victory the L-led task force ekes out while Light still manages to reshape the world, poisoning everything he touches to the point that real-world leaders bid over a Death Note while using his same talking points—is haunting. Whenever people reminisce over *Death Note*, they do so as if it's only a murder mystery whose virtues and flaws begin and end at how entertaining its cat-and-mouse game is. Nearly 20 years later, I’m still stuck on it being a haunting, cautionary tale about an egomaniacal fraud who, in death, created a cult. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/0016-010.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/0016-009.png) Toshiki Inoue/Takeshi Obata/Shonen Jump We can only hope the purgatory Light is wasting away in eventually lets him make good on Ryuk’s wish to play some Mario Golf to pass the time. It’s the least that asshole can do. ## Recommended [I Unironically Like Netflix’s Live-Action Kakegurui TV Series - AftermathBet is Netflix’s CW-esque answer to Riverdale with BBC’s Sherlock levels of overproduction. I’m glad it’s getting a second season.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bet-netflix-kakegurui-3-77c001b0cfa80018d4462d22e679ea726f737b5785978eaed4d125f37bf534aa.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/bet-kakegurui-netflix-live-action-anime/) ### Sshh, Just Let Me Look At The Fish URL: https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-early-access-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T23:46:11.000Z *Subnautica 2* entered early access last week after a [lengthy drama](https://aftermath.site/unknown-worlds-lawsuit-subnautica-2/) with developer Unknown Worlds’ owner Krafton, swiftly selling over [two million copies](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/subnautica-2-has-sold-2-million-copies-in-12-hours-with-9x-the-players-as-the-first-and-at-this-point-i-figure-that-krafton-ceo-is-already-on-his-second-bottle/?ref=aftermath.site) and putting its developers on track for that [hefty bonus](https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-units-sold-250-million-bonus-krafton/). I was a big fan of the [first *Subnautica*](https://kotaku.com/curiosity-kills-in-subnautica-but-it-s-hard-to-stop-di-1822378650?ref=aftermath.site), but definitely played it a bit to death in early access, so I’m trying to take a more cautious approach this time. *Subnautica 2* opens with your character crash-landing on the watery planet of Proteus, where it quickly becomes apparent that many, many people have crashed here before you. You’re guided by your lifepod computer NoA, who urges you deeper into the ocean to find the last voice recordings of your predecessors. This serves as both a plot and tutorial, as your journeys put you in the path of upgrades you’ll need to go deeper into the ocean. As [John Walker at Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/subnautica-2-impressions-early-access-release-unknown-worlds-2000696024?ref=aftermath.site) noted, all this chattering can get a little annoying; I was constantly being called back to my lifepod to receive the next bit of direction, and I sometimes felt overwhelmed by how many people were talking: the voice recordings, NoA, the instructions coming from my PDA. The plot of the first *Subnautica* was subtle and, for me, far secondary to just exploring around, but it’s pretty front-and-center here. For players impatient to get moving, or who found the first game too vague, I could see this being a good thing, but I often felt annoyed that the game was constantly tugging on my sleeve when I just wanted to get my bearings and look at some fish. When a computer *isn’t* trying to talk to you, the usual *Subnautica* formula is at work. You gather resources to turn into new resources in your fabricator machine, and you use those to build gadgets and upgrades that let you explore more of Proteus. There are also biological adaptations, found by sticking your hand in some underwater plants, that can let you eat Proteus’ fish, dash a short distance, or upgrade your maddeningly limited inventory. My explorations in *Subnautica 2* felt fruitful due to all this–I felt like I was always making progress toward improving–but it clashed with the slower, more survival-focused way I like to play [games like this](https://aftermath.site/long-dark-wintermute-episode-5-review/), where I’m far more interested in the tasks of daily living than base-building and taming the landscape. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/fish22.jpeg) Look at them! That landscape, as you’d expect from *Subnautica*, is cool as hell, full of strange new creatures to admire and flee from. I’ve yet to encounter one of the series’ massive, terrifying enemies, but I’ve already run afoul of an endless number of aggressive fish. Some players are [frustrated that there’s no way to kill or deter the fish](https://www.eurogamer.net/subnautica-2-self-defence-fish-fighting?ref=aftermath.site) like there was in the first game; there’s no knife or stasis rifle here, only distraction flares that can get predators off your tail for a bit. I’ve mostly dealt with the enemies I’ve encountered so far by continuing on my way as they ram and nip at me; I’ve got no shortage of healing items, and it’s also not a big deal if you die, with the plot even pushing you to do so. Mostly I’ve been annoyed by the meaner fish because they keep trying to bite me when I just want to look at them; they are big and weird and beautiful, and I wish they just wanted to hang out with me instead of eat me. Weird creatures have always been my favorite part of *Subnautica*, and the devs have clearly put a ton of thought into the design and lore for all the creatures. In my five or so hours with the game, I’ve made some general overtures at base-building, but I’ve mostly just focused on upgrades to my speed and air capacity so I can hang out underwater more looking at all the weird little guys. There’s fish that ram each other and fish that split in two and big flying whale-type guys and lots of tiny critters hiding among the seaweed or swirling in great big shoals or just flittering by as I explore. *Subnautica* has always been great at encouraging the combined feeling of “I have to go touch that” and “I should get as far away from that as possible,” and I’ve found this particular push-pull more engaging than its scripted counterpart of chasing down a voice recording and then returning to my lifepod for my next assignment. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/fishf.jpeg) This guy looks nice, are they nice? I’ve built the saddest of bases so far just to check out the tools–a room, a hatch, and some storage for all the resources I can’t stop hoarding–, though I am eager to find the upgrades that will let me build a vehicle so I can look at cooler, likely scarier fish. Base-building is one of *Subnautica*’s draws, but it’s never really been my favorite part apart from the crafting that lets me explore more of the world. That world is [still gated](https://www.thegamer.com/subnautica-2-play-time-length-completion/?ref=aftermath.site) in early access, with Unknown Worlds predicting [two or three years of early access](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1962700/Subnautica%5F2/?ref=aftermath.site) to come. Besides being easily distractable, I’ve been trying not to rush things to avoid burning myself out on the game and losing interest before its long-off full release, a pitfall I succumbed to with the first game. [Early access](https://aftermath.site/hades-2-technical-test-early-access-impressions/) can be a double-edged sword this way: a game you’re interested in is finally playable, but there might not be much to it yet, and it’s easy to get your fill when the game is far from its final state. My time with *Subnautica 2* feels particularly prone to this given the way it pushes you toward its plot, so my commitment to just futzing around probably helps me here. That said, I’d like to take more advantage of what’s here so that I can be ready when more of the game is available; my tendency to wander made me woefully unprepared to build the original game’s heartier vehicles and really dig into its depths once the full game was out. There’s a *Subnautica 2* version of me who’s kitted out with the best gear as the game continues to expand, and that’s probably a sensible version to work toward–if I can stop chasing fish around and then fleeing from them to do so. ### The New Battlestar Galactica Game Rules URL: https://aftermath.site/battlestar-galactica-scattered-hopes-review/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T05:11:33.000Z I spent last week playing *Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes*, a video game that is built on a simple premise: what if the TV show's best episode, *33*, was also a roguelike video game? If you've never seen it, [33 is the very first BSG episode](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33%5F%28Battlestar%5FGalactica%29?ref=aftermath.site), in which a ragtag band of survivors flees an invasion of their home planet by evil robots only to find that, no matter how many times they try to jump to a new star system, 33 minutes after arriving those evil robots are right behind them. It's a tense, dispiriting opening, and also one that perfectly sets the scene for what's to follow: everyone involved is pushed to the wire with very little rest or help, resources are stretched and sacrifices must be made. So yeah, it's wild that it's taken this long for someone to make (or be allowed to make) an official roguelike version of *Battlestar Galactica*, because the show practically *is* the genre. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/image-1.png) The fleet management sections of the game don't just have you repairing ships; you can also visit the bar to hang out with characters and even handle the internal investigations trying to work out who among your crew is a Cylon *Scattered Hopes* takes place across two sections. The first, and the one you spend most time on, is a strategic overview (above), where for a certain number of turns you need to manage your ships and respond to a never-ending cascade of crises and important decisions, tending to your relationship with various factions in your fleet and scrounging for resources. Every star system you jump to in your journey triggers too many of these for you to ever get to all of them, so you're constantly prioritising and, in true *Battlestar* fashion, having to live with the wreckage of some very hard decisions (and missed opportunities). The second is a real-time tactics/tower defence battle (below) where, at the end of every sector, you need to hold off hordes of raiding Cylons long enough for the fleet to jump to safety. It's *very* simple compared to what you might be hoping for from *Battlestar*, taking place on a 2D plane and focused more on speed and firepower management than complex Viper tactics. But for a roguelike that's designed for runs to be completed in around two hours it needed to be something quick, so what it sacrifices in complexity it makes up for in breeziness. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/image-2.png) The combat sections look like a real-time tactical tussle, but play more like tower defence, as you constantly redirect limited resources to counter oncoming waves of Cylon attacks I don't want to get too reductive about the game's overall design here, but it's a roguelike, so you will encounter here, in the most competent sense, everything that you would expect from the genre. What elevates *Scattered Hopes* above so many other shots at *FTL*'s crown is the fact it's such a focused and faithful adaptation of the source material, in ways that mesh with what a roguelike is doing perfectly. As I've said, the structure of *Battlestar Galactica* already lends itself to authentic roguelike play, because the show feels like the genre. But this game goes above and beyond to weave the two together in ways that are deeply satisfying for fans of the series. Important interior locations like the CIC, hangar and bridge are represented as isometric, pixel art spaces that look so good they make me wish there was a spin-off adventure game set here. Everything you hear or click makes the same sound as it would on the show. And the feeling of waiting for the last Vipers to land before hurriedly punching the JUMP button and watching your ships blink to safety is one of the most faithful recreations of a television moment I have ever taken part in. At the risk of committing the cardinal critical sin of saying "fans of \[thing\] will enjoy this", in this case the strength of the adaptation makes that absolutely true. This is a good roguelike that, for fans of *Battlestar Galactica*, becomes a great roguelike, and alongside[ the excellent *Deadlock*](https://kotaku.com/we-finally-got-a-good-battlestar-galactica-game-1797423707?ref=aftermath.site)(now sadly[ no longer available](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/544610/view/570395033724780780?ref=aftermath.site)) is easily the best way to enjoy it via the medium of video games. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/image-3.png) Don't tell me you wouldn't instantly buy a Battlestar adventure game that looked like this ### Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe Is Good, But Its Radical Approach To Horniness Is What Makes It Great URL: https://aftermath.site/mobile-suit-gundam-hathaway-sorcery-of-nymph-circe-gigi-noa/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T19:27:37.000Z When I rolled credits on [*The Sorcery of Nymph Circe*](https://gizmodo.com/gundam-hathaway-sorcery-of-nymph-circe-us-release-date-2000737526?ref=aftermath.site), I walked away thinking, “Yeah, that was a solid movie.” Not just because it was a solid entry in the ever-sprawling [*Mobile Suit Gundam* zeitgeist](https://aftermath.site/gundam-gquuuuuux-is-the-sum-of-its-parts-in-the-best-way-possible/), but because it became the antithesis of the media of the moment’s obsession with beautiful, sexless characters by making a mockery of its hero as a man who can’t outrun his own horniness. **Light spoilers throughout.** *Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe* is the second in a film trilogy of movies set in the [*Universal Century*](https://gizmodo.com/every-gundam-timeline-explained-anime-mecha-1849487550?ref=aftermath.site). Translation: there’s [a lot of homework to do](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YN9SbAZhek&pp=ygUKc3phIGd1bmRhbQ%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site) to comprehend the political circus that motivates its hero, [Hathaway Noa](https://en.gundam-official.com/hathaway/?ref=aftermath.site), into becoming a terrorist. To be ever so brief, Noa is at the precipice of staging the greatest military resistance against the Earth Federation’s totalitarian mistreatment of space colonists as the undercover leader of [Mafty](https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/Mafty?ref=aftermath.site). The only things complicating the matter are the odd love triangle between him, Federation Commander [Kenneth Sleg](https://en.gundam-official.com/hathaway/character/3/?ref=aftermath.site), and [Gigi Andalucia](https://en.gundam-official.com/hathaway/character/2/?ref=aftermath.site), a gorgeous escort caught up in her own mysterious *Euphoria*\-esque subplot beyond her romantic entanglement with Noa and Kenneth. To my delight, unlike in the first movie, where Noa stoically ignored the flirting and romance wafting his way from both Kenneth and Gigi, his cool-guy facade crumbled in the most embarrassing and spectacular way. Dude was getting his ass torn up, struggling to overcome his psychosexual urges. The way the film depicts his attempt to stay chaste in his mind palace, staying strong through his interactions with the women in his life, was worlds more interesting to me than the brilliant robot battles and political theater on display. [Isaiah D. Colbert (@shineyezehuhh.bsky.social)Challengers (0079)![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)Bluesky SocialIsaiah D. Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bafkreiezw6rs7ngtobpndef7szacjwbxhr3w6qn6nzfw27a7cdmwf5xccq-648d7afa36cf2e6969026102d57aa1f4fb1fd8f0b9018b56323483f46f4dd752)](https://bsky.app/profile/shineyezehuhh.bsky.social/post/3ln4ywy7ua22e?ref=aftermath.site) Romance isn’t anything new to *Gundam*. In fact, when I interviewed director [Shūkō Murase](https://gizmodo.com/gundam-hathaway-shuko-murase-interview-2000753399?ref=aftermath.site) about the film, he said it was a core part of the series' storytelling, the same way politics are, despite folks rubbernecking at the “[whoa, cool robot](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wow-cool-robot?ref=aftermath.site)” spectacle of it all. I’ve seen it in the [*Revolutionary Girl Utena*](https://gizmodo.com/revolutionary-girl-utena-is-as-lynchian-as-shojo-anime-has-ever-been-2000566141?ref=aftermath.site)\-tinged [sapphic romance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI%5FBM736Unw&ref=aftermath.site) between Miorine and Suletta in [*Witch From Mercury*](https://kotaku.com/gundam-witch-from-mercury-characters-lesbian-anime-1850707971?ref=aftermath.site), the eternal love triangle between [Char Aznable, Amuro Ray, and Lalah Sune](https://gizmodo.com/gundam-gquuuuuux-ending-explained-amuro-char-lalah-2000619801?ref=aftermath.site), and it's especially present in the arguably messier love triangle between Noa, Gigi, and Kenneth. But rather than embrace the romance of his entanglement, scored to absolute, precise perfection by SZA’s “Snooze”—a song about needing to fuck your paramour and going to extreme lengths to show your ride-or-die love for them—he admits his carnal desire to be with Gigi as a weakness. Being horny is Noa’s animus—a temptation distracting him from his mission. We are also witness to his failure to suppress his desires. Early on in the film, he chastises crewmate [Julia Suga](https://en.gundam-official.com/hathaway/character/16/?ref=aftermath.site), telling her to “put something on to protect those ‘nice tits,’” while the camera treats viewers to one of the rare few point-of-view shots of Noa not breaking his glance at her, despite his making a show of looking away earlier. This scene is emblematic of Hathaway’s arc in *The Sorcery of Nymph Circe*. He vilifies his own sexuality—twisting desire into something shameful, corrosive, and distracting. In his desperation to become the kind of sanitized, asexual hero that contemporary pop culture churns out (a pointed antithesis to the men who came before him), he does what all men are wont to do: he turns that self‑loathing outward. Throughout the film, Hathaway insists he’s above lust, longing, and the mess of human connection. But whenever the urges come, he routinely externalizes blame onto the women around him, treating them as the source of his turmoil rather than as its mirror. The result is a character who comes within punching distance of *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*’s Claude Frollo piloting a mech: a man convinced that his suffering is righteous, his repression is virtue, and his misogyny is moral clarity, when really it’s just the fallout of refusing to confront his own desires. We see it in how he quietly quits his girlfriend, [Kelia Dance](https://en.gundam-official.com/hathaway/character/9/?ref=aftermath.site), a matter made messier by her not being completely down with him being consumed by playing terrorist and by his obvious feelings for Gigi in the previous film, *Hathaway’s Flash*. The girl straight-up tells him not to forget to take his meds—a diss made even more poignant when, near the film’s halfway point, we see homeboy crying in the shower about how he’s supposed to have a “high-minded mission to shock the world into setting itself right," trying to convince himself that Gigi entered his life as some sort of test of his conviction after a near-death experience. “There’s no way that I can ever be saved as long as I’m chained to these carnal and emotional desires,” Noa bellows. His attraction to Gigi—which I originally read as nothing more than one-sided teasing on her part while Noa played the stoic, asexual brick wall I’d resigned myself to accepting as my bland hero—gets completely recontextualized in the sequel. *The Sorcery of Nymph Circe* dives straight into Noa’s tortured feelings and shows how down disastrous he’s been while trying to mold himself into the kind of desexualized protagonist that has become popular in a post-Marvel Cinematic Universe landscape. And he fails spectacularly. > responses to Hathaway 2 are a good litmus test for what someone watches Gundam for; ‘Wow, Cool Robot’ fans may be left wanting, but fans of Sensitive Young Man Psychosexual Torture Porn and people who enjoy muttering, ‘why did he say that?’ under their breath are in for a treat > > — NAOMI 🐇 (@BUNNYEXPLODER) [May 17, 2026](https://twitter.com/BUNNYEXPLODER/status/2056022650200129730?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > 하사웨이 [pic.twitter.com/NYDKxplleK](https://t.co/NYDKxplleK?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 미깡 (@BURNTHEHOUS3) [May 16, 2026](https://twitter.com/BURNTHEHOUS3/status/2055518792848228434?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe (2026) [pic.twitter.com/nETfzFOHCk](https://t.co/nETfzFOHCk?ref=aftermath.site) > > — ❁ Basil ❁ - HENSHIN!! (@Starshinefallng) [May 16, 2026](https://twitter.com/Starshinefallng/status/2055620074493419736?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) In [Everyone Is Beautiful And No One Is Horny](https://bloodknife.com/everyone-beautiful-no-one-horny/?ref=aftermath.site), RS Benedict argues that despite pop culture being obsessed with beauty in the absolutely shredded actors we see in Marvel movies who’re contractually obligated to be shirtless at least once, it’s terrified of depicting any of them as horny. Benedict writes, “Today’s stars are action figures, not action heroes. Those perfect bodies exist only for the purpose of inflicting violence upon others. To have fun is to become weak, to let your team down, and to give the enemy a chance to win, like Thor did when he got fat in Endgame.” Benedict also prophesies a natural outgrowth of the desexualization of characters in movies, spotlighting [Robert Pattinson’s *The Batman* ](https://kotaku.com/the-batman-imax-4dx-batmobile-movie-theater-robert-patt-1848651069?ref=aftermath.site)as the hero we need. Granted, it pertained to Pattinson’s refusal to bulk up like so many superhero actors before him and to his admission t[hat he has played roles asking him to masturbate](https://variety.com/2019/film/features/robert-pattinson-batman-the-lighthouse-1203319866/?ref=aftermath.site). Still, Benedict’s words about the ethos behind the sexless portrayal of heroes are on the money when it comes to Noa’s own struggle in *The Sorcery of Nymph Circe*. “Now, we are perfect islands of emotional self-reliance, and it is seen as embarrassing and co-dependent to want to be touched,” Benedict wrote. “We are doing this for ourselves, because we, apropos of nothing, desperately want to achieve a physical standard set by some invisible Other in an insurance office somewhere.” Hathaway spends *The Sorcery of Nymph Circe* struggling not just to outmaneuver Kenneth, but to shape himself into an action hero who can surpass Char and Amuro, the mythical men whose shadows he can’t escape. He doesn’t want to be a “[Char Clone](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharClone?ref=aftermath.site),” as news chyrons insist he is, nor does he want to be read as an Amuro-type savior while leading Mafty as the son of a Federation war hero. And throughout the film, it’s obvious he believes the key to transcending them is to cut himself off from relationships and desire entirely, to be the one *Gundam* protagonist who’s above it all. That’s why he’s such a humorless prude in the first movie—brushing off Gigi’s advances like a mosquito bite when she’s all but breaking out the runway lights for him to leave hickeys on her, and treating Kenneth’s teasing about “stealing her” as another irritation instead of him asking to be their third. *Sorcery of Nymph Circe* reveals what's really been simmering beneath Noa’s stoic act: he’s been stewing in the same repressed, [self-righteous](https://kotaku.com/attack-on-titan-ending-anime-manga-controversy-creator-hajime-isayama-2000692225?ref=aftermath.site) fury [Eren Jaeger displayed at the end of *Attack on Titan*](https://kotaku.com/attack-on-titan-eren-jaeger-finale-ending-anime-manga-1850995603?ref=aftermath.site), raging at the idea of Mikasa moving on without him. When Noa finally cracked—screaming like Shinji Ikari in the fetal position after a “nightmare” of a naked Gigi walking toward him, then immediately trying to talk his way out of the feelings he just exposed—the movie leveled up from good, character-driven drama to a spectacular exploration of the natural outgrowth of the desexualization of characters in movies. It was there that the trilogy stopped being another appendage that its Universal Century fans had to do their homework to appreciate and became a full-blown psychosexual mech tragedy. And I’ll wait as long as it takes to see how far *Gundam* deconstructs Noa’s libidinal Minovsky particles. ## Recommended [To Truly Feel The Sparkle Of GQuuuuuuX’s Finale, You’ve Gotta Do Your Anime Homework - AftermathSunrise and Khara created a Mobile Suit Gundam anime for sickos by sickos![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-59265b0607448eff10966ff02fb1eb403fd01eddf8bded979ad9d39b27071c9d.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/mobile-suit-gundam-gquuuuuux-anime-studio-sunrise-khara-3-6713c8f8315dbd683bb62737b35268385e4485d09518c3ef81f7bd2de405bd7f.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/gquuuuuux-finale-gundam/) ### The Kids Are All Right URL: https://aftermath.site/eric-schmidt-ai-boo-university-arizona/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T17:01:41.000Z Over the weekend, another group of college graduates booed *another* pro-AI speaker, as ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt failed to read the room at a commencement speech Sunday at the University of Arizona. This thoroughly predictable but nevertheless heart-warming event follows on the heels of [University of Central Florida students booing commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield](https://www.404media.co/ucf-ai-commencement-speaker-booed/?ref=aftermath.site) earlier in the month. Schmidt, like Caulfield, came to tell a bunch of young people staring down a [brutal job market](https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/5/17/us-college-graduates-face-harsh-job-market-amid-economic-uncertainty?ref=aftermath.site) that they have to get on board with the smoke-and-mirrors AI future. While Schmidt acknowledged that students might fear that, according to a transcription by [Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/eric-schmidt-ai-graduation-speech-university-arizona-2000697034?ref=aftermath.site), “the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics is fractured, and that you are inheriting a mess that you did not create,” he then decided the solution to all this is to swallow the AI bullshit that’s contributing to these [evaporating jobs](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5870898-ai-job-cuts-analysis-trump-admin/?ref=aftermath.site), [broken climate](https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/82486/ai-energy-environment-democracy/?ref=aftermath.site), and [fractured politics](https://www.wired.com/story/ai-powered-disinformation-swarms-are-coming-for-democracy/?ref=aftermath.site). “The question is not whether AI will shape the world, it will, the question is whether you will help shape artificial intelligence,” Schmidt said. “We do not know the precise contours of what this transformation will look like, but what we do know is it will require each of us to adapt in ways that we cannot yet anticipate. My hope is that you will choose to engage anyway. That you’ll choose to be in the room where these decisions take place and to have a voice in how they’re made. ” In a [video](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5MYggR%5FPPRg?ref=aftermath.site) of the booing, Schmidt said, “If you don’t care about science that’s OK, because AI is going to touch everything else as well. Whatever path you choose, AI will become part of how work is done.” He continued, “When someone offers you a seat on the rocket ship, you do not ask which seat, you just get on. The rocket ship is here; let me give you some advice. First, find a way to say yes.” Like Caulfield, Schmidt does not seem to have expected the response, but where Caulfield made a bit of flummoxed light out of it, Schmidt smiled smugly as the students booed. Schmidt closed his remarks by saying “The future is not yet finished,” according to [NBC](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/former-google-ceo-booed-graduation-speech-ai-rcna345585?ref=aftermath.site), despite having previously touted the inevitability of AI and exhorting students to get on board. Prior to his speech, some University of Arizona students [planned to protest Schmidt](https://tucson.com/news/local/education/college/article%5Fab7ed72c-4efb-4b2c-a46e-7afe81e15949.html?ref=aftermath.site) over allegations of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed by his former girlfriend and business partner Michelle Ritter in 2025\. That lawsuit [went to arbitration in early March 2026](https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-03-06/former-google-chiefs-spying-sex-assault-lawsuit-sent-to-arbitration?ref=aftermath.site), and Schmidt has denied Ritter's claims. Something that made Caulfield’s speech so weird was that she is a vice president at a company [working on](https://tavistockdevelopment.com/leaders/gloria-caulfield/?ref=404media.co) “health and medical partnerships” and a planned community in Florida, fields that have surely talked about AI but which you wouldn’t expect to have a real stake in ramming it down students’ throats. Schmidt, who [stepped down](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/21/eric-schmidt-resigns-executive-chairman-alphabet-google?ref=aftermath.site) from Google leadership in 2011 and left parent company Alphabet’s board in 2017, at least has some connection to the technology that gives his speech some context. Schmidt is “among the most prominent voices on technology, AI, business, and philanthropy” according to his own [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-e-schmidt/?ref=aftermath.site), so he clearly has some sort of stake here, but still: Telling students they have the power to shape the future, but that power will be consigned to helping the machines that are letting a handful of rich men get richer while making the rest of our lives worse is a shockingly tone-deaf thing to say to a bunch of nascent grads, even for a businessman. The only good thing about this recent “[This Is Water](https://fs.blog/david-foster-wallace-this-is-water/?ref=aftermath.site) but make it AI” trend is getting to revel in the students’ response. For all the ways AI is [ruining education](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/if-ai-is-writing-the-work-and-ai?ref=aftermath.site), it’s inspiring to watch young people roundly reject it, refuting the inevitability narrative that seems to be the only thing AI companies have left as their products get both [worse and more expensive](https://www.inc.com/chris-stokel-walker/your-ai-is-getting-dumber-and-more-expensive-heres-why/91342717?ref=aftermath.site). We might be stuck with this shit until it [implodes itself](https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-ai-bubble-is-an-information-war/?ref=aftermath.site), but we can at least refuse to be conscripted into helping it along. Drag ‘em, kids. ### Remembering Being A Teenager URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/remembering-being-a-teenager/ Last updated: 2026-05-15T22:55:01.000Z Gita, Chris and Luke got together this week to talk about why everyone can't stop talking about *Mixtape*. Being a teenager mostly blows. I'd prefer to forget most of that time. But nostalgia for one's teenage years has always been fruitful grounds for fictional stories of varying qualities. Entering that gauntlet now is the video game *Mixtape*, which is at once the [victim of the typical anti-woke grifter discourse](https://aftermath.site/mixtape-reviews-controversy-criticism-twitter-youtube/) and also just, [not an amazing video game](https://aftermath.site/mixtape-review-game-90s/). Luke, who reviewed the video game and also is the exact demographic that it is supposed to appeal to, wanted to remind us all that despite the quite hostile conversations, there *is* an actual game in there that has a couple bits that are fun to play. Stick around for the tangent on why movies like *Can't Hardly Wait*, *Reality Bites* and *Singles* hit where *Mixtape* often misses. Then, Gita and Chris chatted about *Saros*, a game for absolute sickos. This is the [most orbtastic game of 2026](https://aftermath.site/saros-housemarque-rahul-kohli-event-horizon-returnal/), y'all. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review. Or, for a limited time, you can support us by subscribing to Aftermath AND three other great independent sites—[Rascal](https://www.rascal.news/?ref=aftermath.site), [Rogue](https://www.rogue.site/?ref=aftermath.site), and [Never Post](https://www.neverpo.st/?ref=aftermath.site)—at a 50% discount. [Check it out](https://trustfnd.com/aftermath/c/independent-media-collective--QCZa1yLMKZDyDopXX7Pa?ref=aftermath.site)! ### The Doom Soundtrack Being Added To The National Recording Registry Cannot Be Appreciated Enough Until You Look At What It Was Inducted Alongside URL: https://aftermath.site/doom-soundtrack-national-recording-registry/ Last updated: 2026-05-19T01:15:36.000Z Good news, fans of decades-old video game soundtracks! The soundtrack to the original, 1993 *Doom* has been added to the National Recording Registry. This means that it has been selected (after the public are invited to make nominations) as being a musical work of *immense* cultural importance[ to the history of the United States of America](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National%5FRecording%5FRegistry?ref=aftermath.site): > The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States". The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, which created the National Recording Preservation Board, whose members are appointed by the librarian of Congress. The recordings preserved in the United States National Recording Registry form a registry of recordings selected yearly by the National Recording Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress This is a huge achievement for composer Bobby Prince, and is a wonderful act of recognition from such an important cultural body not only for Prince and *Doom*, but for video game composition in general. It's only the third piece of video game music to ever be inducted, after the theme for *Super Mario Bros.* and the first soundtrack album for *Minecraft*, though it's arguably even more important (and relevant to the brief) since it's the first American game. To really put it into perspective, though,[ you have to look at what else it was inducted alongside](https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-inducts-sounds-of-taylor-swift--beyonc---the-go-go-s--vince-gill--weezer/s/bc258688-e655-4ffb-9f91-f32b94956f36?ref=aftermath.site), because reading through this list--and then seeing the Doom soundtrack tucked in there--is, while being extremely important, also *very* funny. - “Cocktails for Two” – Spike Jones and His City Slickers (1944) (single) - “Mambo No. 5” – Pérez Prado and His Orchestra (1950) (single) - “Teardrops from My Eyes” – Ruth Brown (1950) (single) - “Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)” – Kaye Ballard (1954) (single) - “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” – Paul Anka (1959) (single) - “The Blues and the Abstract Truth” – Oliver Nelson (1961) (album) - “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” – Ray Charles (1962) (album) - “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” – The Byrds (1965) (single) - “Amen, Brother” – The Winstons (1969) (single) - “Feliz Navidad” – José Feliciano (1970) (single) - “The Fight of the Century: Ali vs. Frazier” (March 8, 1971) (broadcast) - “Midnight Train to Georgia” – Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973) (single) - “Chicago” Original Cast Album (1975) (album) - “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” – The Charlie Daniels Band (1979) (single) - “Beauty and the Beat” – The Go-Go’s (1981) (album) - “Texas Flood” – Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (1983) (album) - “I Feel For You” – Chaka Khan (1984) (single) - “Your Love” – Jamie Principle (1986) / Jamie Principle/Frankie Knuckles (1987) (singles) - “Rumor Has It” – Reba McEntire (1990) (album) - “The Wheel” – Rosanne Cash (1993) (album) - “Doom” Soundtrack – Bobby Prince, composer (1993) - “Go Rest High On That Mountain” – Vince Gill (1994) (single) - “Weezer (The Blue Album)” – Weezer (1994) (album) - “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” – Beyoncé (2008) (single) - “1989” – Taylor Swift (2014) (album) Included above are some of the most world-famous and culturally important songs and albums of the 20th (and 21st) centuries! And then there's this, also world-famous and culturally important, but maybe not for the same reasons as “Fly Me To The Moon”: I'd just like to close by saying that while *Doom* has received the *official* video game honour here, “Texas Flood” was by far the best track (to actually *play*) on the original *Guitar Hero*, so I'm going to give it half a nod as well. ### Sure Seems Like Subnautica 2’s Developers Are Going To Get Their $250 Million Bonus URL: https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-units-sold-250-million-bonus-krafton/ Last updated: 2026-05-18T19:58:31.000Z *Subnautica 2*, the sequel to Unknown Worlds’ underwater survival mega hit, [released into early access today](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1962700/Subnautica%5F2/?ref=aftermath.site). It’s doing reasonably well, I guess, having [sold 1 million units](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4jrq6ty5uob4nvken7734iqr/post/3mlt6ttbpwq2w?ref=aftermath.site) within an hour of coming out. This is the culmination not just of a lengthy dev cycle, but also some truly wild legal proceedings in which publisher Krafton was [accused of attempting to avoid paying out a $250 million bonus](https://aftermath.site/unknown-worlds-lawsuit-subnautica-2/) to *Subnautica 2’s* developers—specifically because CEO Changhan Kim regularly [turned to ChatGPT](https://kotaku.com/subnautica-2-publisher-followed-chatgpts-advice-on-how-to-break-the-law-2000679155?ref=aftermath.site) for advice on how to deal with the situation. I doubt Kim and his unthinking, unfeeling, not-even-a-real-robot pal are in a great mood right now. The $250 million bonus, part of Kraton's deal to purchase Unknown Worlds back in 2021, was contingent on Unknown Worlds hitting certain revenue targets by the end of 2025, but a delay Unknown Worlds’ ousted founders claimed was foisted upon them made that basically impossible. Earlier this year, however, a Delaware court ruled that Krafton was [required to rehire one of the founders](https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-krafton-lawsuit-reinstated/), Ted Gill, and extend the bonus deadline to September 15, 2026 in order to account for the time Gill wasn’t CEO. Additionally, Unknown Worlds’ founders have the option to extend the deadline to March 2027 if they notify Krafton in writing. Oddly, as of April, Krafton was no longer listed as *Subnautica 2*'s publisher on Steam, but when reached for comment by Polygon, [a Krafton representative said](https://www.polygon.com/subnautica-2-krafton-publisher-change-unknown-worlds/?ref=aftermath.site), "Krafton is currently focused on successfully supporting the Early Access launch of *Subnautica 2*. We have nothing further to share at this time." Will *Subnautica 2*'s developers receive their hard-won, potentially life-changing bonus? Barring further shenanigans from Krafton and its AI-psychosis-addled CEO, it sure seems like it. “Safe to say Krafton will be forced to pay out the $250 million bonus it tried very hard (via advice of ChatGPT) to avoid paying,” [said Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier](https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3mlt4oyvhgc2h?ref=aftermath.site), who previously viewed the purchase agreement that included the bonus stipulation. In Schreier’s [2025 report](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-09/krafton-delays-subnautica-2-game-ahead-of-250-million-payout?ref=aftermath.site) on the *Subnautica 2* delay that prompted the whole legal saga, he wrote: > Unknown Worlds’ leadership planned to share the additional money with all of the studio’s employees, which number around 100\. Staff who were at the company at the time of the \[Krafton\] acquisition were told they were eligible for bonuses ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to seven figures. That in mind, I imagine everyone at Unknown Worlds is, unlike Kim, in a *fantastic* mood right now. ## Recommended [One Of The Fired Subnautica 2 Devs Is Getting Their Job BackA Delaware court found that the three former Subnautica 2 developers were not fired for cause, and that Krafton must move the date for the game’s $250 million payout![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-235.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/subhed.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-krafton-lawsuit-reinstated/) ### Widow's Bay Has The Juice URL: https://aftermath.site/widows-bay-apple-tv-matthew-rhys/ Last updated: 2026-05-18T19:59:23.000Z Horror comedy is pretty difficult to get right—you need to be able to balance real fear and the cathartic release of humor, but without sacrificing the pathos necessary to make both of those things land. *Shaun of the Dead* is the high water mark for me, and few have reached those heights since. The new Apple TV show *Widow’s Bay* hits the exact sweet spot. *Widow’s Bay* is a pretty funny show to watch right after finishing *The American*, which also starred Matthew Rhys as a Russian spy who absolutely hates being a spy and doing spy things. In *Widow’s Bay*, Rhys plays the equally put upon town mayor Tom Loftis, who wants to turn the sleepy New England island town of Widow’s Bay from a depressed fishing community into the next Martha’s Vineyard. Unfortunately for Loftis, pretty much everyone who lives in Widow’s Bay believes the town is cursed—especially creepy old fisherman Wyck, played by a gleeful Stephen Root. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/widow-s-bay-1.png) Image Source: Widow's Bay, Apple TV One of the things I really enjoy about this show is that it doesn’t hinge on the mystery of whether or not Widow’s Bay is cursed. The town very much *is* cursed, and Loftis’ denials only look more and more pathetic as he stays in a haunted hotel and is menaced by a sea hag. These hauntings—and Tom’s unwillingness to admit the very obvious truth—are the source of comedy, and they allow Widow’s Bay to feel like a real place full of dark history. They give each character more depth when we know that instead of trying to prove or disprove the supernatural, they are actually just reacting to the absurdity of their lives. The show takes the idea of living in a haunted town deadly seriously, which ends up being hilarious to watch. The most recent episode doesn’t involve Loftis much at all, and instead focuses on his mopey assistant Patricia, played by Kate O’Flynn. Patricia has lived on the island all her life and is not well liked, in part because she claims to have been the only target of a local serial killer to have survived an encounter with him. After finding a strange self help book, she decides to throw a party to prove that she’s likeable and deserves friends. Predictably, this all goes wrong, and the moment when the final reveal landed made me and my husband laugh so hard we had to pause the episode. Part of what makes all the scary moments work is the attention to detail in the prop work. When Loftis spends a night at the haunted hotel, he finds a series of strange tabletop games. One is a card game simply named *Run!* Another looks like it’s a board game named *Teeth* but when he opens it, there’s a pair of pliers inside. Similarly, I love the joke of Patricia’s self help book offering her two lines to talk about what she likes about herself, and then the rest of the page to list the qualities she doesn’t like. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/widow-s-bay-2.png) Image Source: Widow's Bay, Apple TV We’re only four episodes into a ten episode season, and we have already made this one appointment viewing. Hey, anyone wanna play a round of *Teeth* with me? ### Pinterest Has Become Unusable URL: https://aftermath.site/pinterest-sucks-now-ai/ Last updated: 2026-05-17T00:51:08.000Z I, like many others, use Pinterest to find reference images. It’s where I seek out flowers to draw, tomatoes to paint, and furniture to sketch. Lots of people—both photographers and normal people snapping photos on their phones—post anything you can think of. Often, I just open the app on my phone and paint whatever pops up. No need to even decide what to paint, something that can sometimes make it hard to even start. When I started painting again in January, I went back to Pinterest and found it overrun with AI slop. It’s continued to get worse and worse, and it’s now basically unusable. Some images are labeled as generated or modified by AI, but many aren’t. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what’s fake and what’s not. Last night, I pulled up a photo of a beautiful flower to paint, drew a sketch, then started painting. Looking closely at the flower, I noticed something was off: the stem had a strange metal piece right under the petals. The petals weren’t right either, on a closer look. I considered for a moment to keep painting, but I couldn’t. I don’t want to paint from AI generated reference photos. A lot of other people who use Pinterest in the same way as me [don’t want to either](https://www.wired.com/story/pinterst-ai-slop-content/?ref=aftermath.site). Images that are labeled as AI or look even remotely like they could be are flooded with comments calling them AI slop, stuff people don’t want to paint. These images are lifeless. The skin of peaches are pristine, not a bruise in sight. Everything is unnaturally shiny. There’s so little movement. Flower stems are much too straight—no bend from the heavy head of a daffodil. The thing about painting from reference, for me, is capturing the tiny details that AI could never replicate. To my surprise, there is a way to turn it off. There’s no filter option, which is what I expected, but the option to reduce the amount of generative AI art is hidden in your profile settings. Click on your profile, then the settings icon. Under the “refine your recommendations” option, there’s a tab for generative AI. Everything is turned on by default, but you can switch it all off. Unfortunately, you still won’t be free from all AI art. I still get plenty that are obviously AI, and some I suspect. That’s one of the real bummers of AI and how thoroughly it’s infiltrated art—I have to waste so much brain space wondering if something is AI generated. And if it’s not AI generated, it’s probably an advertisement, which also flood the website. Or maybe something is both! Complicating things even further, some Pinterest users are reporting that their human-made art is getting tagged as being AI generated. [Artists told 404 Media](https://www.404media.co/pinterest-is-drowning-in-a-sea-of-ai-slop-and-auto-moderation/?ref=aftermath.site) that their work, including pieces uploaded *before* AI technology was widely available, was being labeled as AI. Naturally, this is likely due to Pinterest’s relatively new AI moderation tools. AI is a feature and not a bug for Pinterest. It’s building its own proprietary image generator called Canvas, which is trained on everything uploaded to Pinterest. “At Pinterest, for instance, we’re deploying AI to flip the script on social media, using it to more aggressively promote user well being rather than the alternative formula of triggering engagement by enragement,” Pinterest CEO Bill Ready [said in a Fortune column in January](https://fortune.com/2026/01/19/pinterest-ceo-the-napster-phase-of-ai-needs-to-end-bill-ready/?ref=aftermath.site). “I believe AI can benefit our 600 million users for years to come and at a fraction the cost that many associate with the technology.” Ready even recognizes, later on in the column, that generative AI can’t make the sort of art humans can: “Social media platforms like Pinterest live and die by users’ willingness to share creative and original ideas,” he wrote in January. “Thankfully, humans feed the internet with a trove of new information every day. That information is inspired and validated by a level of creativity, reasoning, and work ethic that even the most advanced generative AI models do not possess.” He’s so close to getting it, you guys! ### Nobody Needs To Know What An Analyst Thinks About A Singleplayer Video Game's Sales. Nobody! URL: https://aftermath.site/saros-ps5-sales/ Last updated: 2026-05-15T20:24:03.000Z Just as it's deeply annoying[ to see people caring about a singleplayer video game's player count](https://aftermath.site/nobody-needs-to-know-how-many-people-are-playing-a-singleplayer-video-game-nobody/), it's maybe even more annoying to see people caring about a singleplayer video game's sales when it’s only been out for *two weeks*. [Nobody Needs To Know How Many People Are Playing A Singleplayer Video Game. Nobody! - AftermathYou have been live service-pilled, seek help immediately![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-234.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/black-myth-wukong-dated_12-07-23-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/nobody-needs-to-know-how-many-people-are-playing-a-singleplayer-video-game-nobody/) An example--I'm not picking on just *this* report, this is a common subject in games media--is a Eurogamer story from this morning titled "[*Saros* is off to a slower start than *Returnal*, with some analysts concerned Housemarque 'will struggle to break even](https://www.eurogamer.net/saros-ps5-sales-launch-returnal?ref=aftermath.site)'". Eurogamer isn't a trade publication; it's a mainstream website, whose audience is primarily made up of fans and consumers. And it's like...OK? I don't know why any normal person should care, or think they should care, about any of this. You, the reader, are someone who plays and maybe sometimes buys video games. *Saros* is a singleplayer video game which is played without the need of a community, online support or active playerbase. Your only concerns here, then, should be whether you enjoy the game you played or not. You're not an investor! You don't work at developers Housemarque or PlayStation; why should you possibly care what the game's long-term financial future should be when you, a normal person, have zero knowledge of the company's budget or the leash it's on with Sony? And why should you care about any of this when the bad vibes being spoken about are coming from an *analyst*, someone whose job involves talking to publishers and investors, not the general game-playing public. I wish games websites would stop running stories like this, and I wish normal people would stop thinking they matter. This news isn't for you. Normal people walking around carrying this knowledge with them are being burdened with information that can only do them harm, because reading stuff like this can affect your perceptions of the game, the studio responsible for it and the platform it's played on that actually have no bearing on your singleplayer experience whatsoever. If you like Housemarque and want to play *Saros*, play it! And if you like it, great! [Saros Feels Like Popping Bubble WrapFinally: orbs![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-233.png)AftermathGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/SAROS_9-.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/saros-housemarque-rahul-kohli-event-horizon-returnal/) ### Overwatch, Which Spent Years Imitating Fortnite, Is About To Be In Fortnite URL: https://aftermath.site/overwatch-fortnite-crossover-tracer-mercy-genji-dva/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T16:41:34.000Z After taking player feedback to heart, adding well-received new features, and dropping the 2 from its name, *Overwatch* has experienced something of a renaissance in 2026\. Whether or not it will last is anyone’s guess in the Jetpack-Cat-eat-Jetpack-Cat world of live service games, but for now, at least, Blizzard seems back on track. That’s not to say the game has shed all the habits it picked up while lost in the desert, though. Crossovers run rampant, and now finally, they’re coming full circle. The original *Overwatch* wilted in the shadow of *Fortnite*'s battle royale mode—which blew up a couple years after *Overwatch*’s release, just as the latter began to wind down its update schedule in favor of the still-cooking *Overwatch 2*—so it made an oddly poetic sort of sense (derogatory) when *Overwatch 2* went crossover crazy [beginning in 2023](https://overwatch.fandom.com/wiki/Crossovers?ref=aftermath.site). The game’s once-admirably original universe became a canvas for brands like *Transformers*, *GI Joe*, numerous anime, and Porsche. The poem is now complete, with *Overwatch* set to appear in gaming’s own *Ready Player One* (a film that *Overwatch*’s Tracer also cameoed in). According to [Game Informer](https://gameinformer.com/2026/05/13/overwatch-is-coming-to-fortnite-with-skins-map-landmarks-hero-weapons-and-more?ref=aftermath.site), *OW* OGs D.Va, Genji, Tracer, and Mercy will join *Fortnite* on May 14, as will landmarks based on several maps: Hanamura, Busan Drum Pavilion, King's Row, and Watchpoints. *Overwatch*\-themed weapons will also appear in *Fortnite*’s loot pool, including Tracer’s pistols, which—in a vaguely interesting twist—allow you to play in first-person and blink around the map at dazzling speeds. For people who still, to this day, feel a flutter in their hearts at the idea of banging action figures from two different cartoons together, I’m sure this will be a blast. There is evidence to suggest, however, that people are [beginning to burn out on crossovers](https://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/am-i-the-problem-why-gaming-crossovers-are-a-love-hate-thing/?ref=aftermath.site)—and perhaps just *Fortnite*’s whole thing in general. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney cited a “downturn in *Fortnite* engagement” when he [announced mass layoffs earlier this year](https://aftermath.site/fortnite-epic-layoffs/). The company that owns *Overwatch*, Microsoft, isn’t having an entirely easy time of it either, with Xbox [struggling to win back player trust](https://aftermath.site/xbox-copilot-ai-dead-asha-sharma-microsoft/) and the general manager of Microsoft Israel departing after the company [reportedly conducted an investigation](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/microsoft-israel-s-general-manager-leaves-amid-alleged-unethical-use-of-azure?ref=aftermath.site) into potential [unethical use of its Azure cloud tech](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/06/microsoft-israeli-military-palestinian-phone-calls-cloud?ref=aftermath.site). But hey, now Genji can have an ultimate ninja showdown with Naruto or whatever. What a time to be alive. ## Recommended [Epic Lays Off 1,000 People And Ends Support For Game Modes After Making Fortnite More ExpensiveEpic previously laid off over 800 people in 2023![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-232.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Screenshot-2026-03-24-at-12.06.15---PM.png)](https://aftermath.site/fortnite-epic-layoffs/) ### The Michael Jackson Movie Wants To Sell You A Smaller, Meaner World URL: https://aftermath.site/the-michael-jackson-movie-wants-to-sell-you-a-smaller-meaner-world/ Last updated: 2026-05-15T16:17:37.000Z *Welcome back to* [*The Work*](https://aftermath.site/tag/the-work/)*, a column about resistance in fiction. This month: Antoine Fuqua's* MICHAEL *and how resistance cuts both ways.* Sometimes, a fictional history can get to the truth of a thing more than any documentary ever could. Consider the ending of 2010's *The Social Network*, a fictionalized account of Mark Zuckerberg's founding of Facebook, which ends on the image of Zuckerberg sending a friend request on his hot new social network to the ex who dumped him at the start of the film — a pathetic image meant to evoke the ultimate petty smallness at the heart of a guy who changed the world to make it equally petty and small. Other times, a fictional history can do the opposite, contorting real events into a narrative uninterested in truth but invested in warping it, like D.W. Griffth's 1915 film *Birth of a Nation*, long revered for its technical innovation but openly racist in its aims, valorizing the first Ku Klux Klan and inspiring the birth of the second one after its release. Somewhere between these two poles lies *Michael*, Antoine Fuqua's film about the stratospheric rise of Michael Jackson that conspicuously ends in 1988, well before a number of allegations and lawsuits over child sexual abuse would begin to tarnish Jackson’s fame and presage his early-aughts fall from grace. A month after the film’s release, it is an astonishing success, currently the[ fourth highest-grossing movie of the year](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/?ref=aftermath.site). It's also a source of considerable controversy, which stems from *Michael*'s near-collapse well into production when the producers realized the movie's initial framing – the fallout of a [1993 lawsuit](https://web.archive.org/web/20230324042034/https://apnews.com/article/b271ff7f4d8b6e5ca3c1e76b34c2597c) alleging that Jackson had sexually abused a 13 year-old, Jordan Chandler – was legally unreleasable. *Michael*'s producers had [overlooked a provision](https://variety.com/2026/film/news/michael-movie-reshoots-removing-child-abuse-allegations-1236710221/?ref=aftermath.site) in the settlement for that suit, one that prohibited any depiction of Chandler or his case. This led to lengthy and expensive reshoots that were paid for by Jackson's estate, a blunder that underlines a number of troubling dynamics inherent to depicting the late pop star's life. Much of the controversy over *Michael* stems from this context: the very public knowledge of Jackson's alleged misdeeds in 1993, a [2005 criminal trial](https://www.theguardian.com/gall/0,8542,1506227,00.html?ref=aftermath.site) over similar child sexual abuse allegations (in which Jackson was acquitted), and [later claims made posthumously](https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/699995484/michael-jackson-a-quarter-century-of-sexual-abuse-allegations?ref=aftermath.site) in Dan Reed's 2019 documentary *Leaving Neverland*. (The film is [no longer available](https://www.avclub.com/leaving-neverland-michael-jackson-documentary-you-cant-see-estate-cant-hide?ref=aftermath.site) due to a settlement with the Michael Jackson estate. Reed, for his part, has recently offered his thoughts on all this, asserting, convincingly, that "[people just don't care](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/leaving-neverland-michael-jackson-dan-reed-1236571986/?ref=aftermath.site)" about the children Jackson allegedly abused.) All of this history makes *Michael* a minefield to evaluate with any clarity. As a work of historical fiction It possesses neither the insight of *The Social Network* nor the extreme goals of *Birth of a Nation*. As a film it is mundane and sterile and would occupy the same space as most other tepid musical biographies were it not for *Michael*'s unique priorities. A lawyer breaks those down best: “Expecting a sanctioned biopic to deliver unvarnished truth misunderstands the dynamics: The estate is the gatekeeper, and the film is a catalog activation strategy — a two-hour advertisement engineered to send audiences straight to streaming platforms to rediscover the back catalog,” attorney James Sammataro told [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/michael-jackson-biopic-fans-critics-debate-sequel-lionsgate-1236581334/?ref=aftermath.site) in a story about the current culture war over the film carrying forward into an almost certain sequel. Sammataro works for the law firm that represents Sony Music, a major stakeholder in the Jackson catalog, and seems to be chiding critics who appear to want *Michael* to be something it's not. The film, he argues, is very plainly a commercial product, with commercial goals – and only one of them is selling movie tickets. This more or less gives away the ballgame: *Michael* is a fairy tale. Reality is the boogeyman. Having someone involved in the project of making *Michael* be so openly mercenary about the film's material priorities in turn makes its narrative priorities all the more clarifying. Because beyond Jackson's music, *Michael* only has two real interests as a story: Jackson's innocence – that is, his childlike naivety and purity of intent – and Jackson's power. There’s a scene roughly halfway through *Michael* that lays its ideological project bare, a fictionalized version of how Jackson finally got airplay on MTV in spite of the channel’s early and pronounced racial bias against Black artists. (David Bowie[ famously pressed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPFI930A3xw&ref=aftermath.site) on-air personality Mark Goodman about this in a 1983 interview.) In the movie's telling, Jackson and his manager John Branca meet with CBS Records president Walter Yetnikoff with a demand that Yetnikoff call MTV and get them to start playing the "Billie Jean" music video. The scene plays like a shakedown: Jackson, who is consistently demure in the film, only speaks to assert that he is a proud Black artist who makes music for all people, including people who watch MTV. Branca coolly asserts that Yetnikoff's claim that MTV is a nonstarter is nonsense; he can get it done. Yetnikoff, played by Mike Myers for some reason, bumbles through the meeting, desperate in his efforts to appease his most popular new star, and makes a show of having his assistant get MTV on the phone for him, sweatily demanding his counterpart at the network put "Billie Jean" on the air immediately or MTV will no longer be in business with CBS Records. The call lasts less than a minute, and history is changed. That is not how any of this [happened](https://www.theroot.com/how-the-billie-jean-video-changed-mtv?ref=aftermath.site) (no previous account puts Branca in the room, most entirely credit Yetnikoff for getting it done), but it is what *Michael* is about. It's about how cool it is to have a single man, or anyone speaking on his behalf, moving corporate heaven and earth at will. About a massive fandom validating fame as pure, unquestioned power. And while the movie's version of Michael Jackson is there, speaking about his music, it's John Branca – who in real life is co-executor of Michael Jackson's estate and a producer of this film – leveraging that power, putting the screws to Yetnikoff. Taken in tandem with the movie's continued overtures to innocence – the young Jackson is repeatedly depicted tenderly with the menagerie of animals he accrues as his wealth increases, reading storybooks like *Peter Pan* and *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz*, signing autographs for children and comforting them in hospitals – and *Michael* is offering the viewer a bargain. Let its stakeholders – Jackson's estate, the lawyers who run it, those who own his catalog rights, the movie studio interested in stretching this out into a whole franchise – have some of that power back, after years of infamy diminished it, and you'll get something out of it. An excuse to look away, to remember the good times as bad ones come your way, another movie to look forward to, an excuse to publicly bop to some really fucking good tunes that maybe felt bad to play a little too loudly for a few years. It's the capstone of a long, slow effort – multiple posthumous albums, a [2009 concert documentary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUniG6F%5FRzY&ref=aftermath.site), a [Cirque du Soleil production](https://www.cirquedusoleil.com/michael-jackson-one?ref=aftermath.site) that's been running since 2013, a [hit Broadway show](https://newyork.mjthemusical.com/?ref=aftermath.site), and most importantly, the scrubbing of *Leaving Neverland* — to file a person down to content. This is not an argument for censoriousness, for a world where Michael Jackson's beginning is only evoked with a disclaimer about his end. It is an argument against what is happening, which is more than simple hagiography. It is a concerted effort from stakeholders to rewrite history, predicated in our culture's continuing and alarming disinterest in protecting children as long [as there is something to gain from it](https://aftermath.site/jeffrey-epstein-files-kotick-thiel-xbox-rockstar/). Progress can be resisted, and it's not terribly difficult. Fiction that is situated in resistance to a negative status quo also implies the same can be done to a positive one. *Michael* isn't a regression on its own, but combined with the erasure of *Leaving Neverland* and claims that the allegations are irrelevant from[ luminaries like Spike Lee](https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/02/entertainment/video/spike-lee-slams-film-critics-who-panned-new-michael-jackson-film-lcl?ref=aftermath.site), *Michael* becomes a work leveraged for the express purpose of erasure. There is a lot of money to be made in maintaining a status quo, or returning it to a less equitable one. In her oft-quoted essay collection *The Language of the Night*, Ursula K. Le Guin ruminates at length on the purpose of fiction, noting that "We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel – or have done and thought and felt; or might do and think and feel – is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become." Returning to our initial continuum: *The Social Network* is a pleasurable film about a terrible person who started a digital revolution that we know to be a net negative for the world. But like Le Guin asserts, the film is interested in understanding what we are and may become, grappling with the awful truth of what drives us to do things – even incredible and lucrative things. *Michael*, like *Birth of a Nation*, resists this potential for synthesis, instead choosing to limit our understanding of ourselves and what we may become to something much meaner: raw material meant to fuel a fame machine, unquestioning worshippers of the Moonwalk. It's a trap. This is the simple truth of a film like *Michael*: it doesn't matter how good the music is, some stories are told just to put you in your place. **Editor's note, 5/14/26--*The second paragraph of this story has been lightly edited for clarity.* ### Some Filler Is Good Shit, Actually URL: https://aftermath.site/good-anime-filler-episodes-dagon-ball-z-naruto-bleach-one-piece/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T16:41:21.000Z In the same way “[LARPing](https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/larp-meaning-slang%5Fuk%5F69e9e50ee4b0fe81a527f47d?ref=aftermath.site)” morphed into the internet’s [latest misused go-to insult](https://aftermath.site/unc-aave-african-american-vernacular-english-slang-gen-z/) for calling someone a poser, “filler” has leaped from anime lingo into a mainstream catchall for any episode of a show like [*The Boys*](https://deadline.com/2026/05/eric-kripke-the-boys-filler-episodes-1236883933/?ref=aftermath.site) or [*Invincible*](https://www.avclub.com/invincible-recap-season-4-episode-7-dont-do-anything-rash?ref=aftermath.site) that folks don’t vibe with. While I won’t hold it against the minority of folks using the term correctly, I can’t help feel we’re losing the plot when “filler” gets tossed around as a synonym for a bad episode when they have a history of being vital to the canon journey a show’s characters are on. In contrast to how “filler” is thrown around online to describe slow, character-focused episodes without plot-propelling fights, actual filler refers to original storylines created for an anime so the manga can catch up to ongoing arcs. This used to happen all the time, especially with the [Big Three,](https://aftermath.site/naruto-one-piece-bleach-big-three-best-fashion/) which had entire filler seasons. The worst of these infamously included *Bleach* [dealing with vampires](https://www.cbr.com/bleach-anime-bount-arc-second-chance/?ref=aftermath.site); *Naruto's* [canon-filler arc](https://youtu.be/opHHCCSpF7k?ref=aftermath.site) preluding the exact inciting incident of Sasuke and Naruto’s falling out, but worse; and the Straw Hat Pirates’ early anime-original excursions woven into their canonical adventures on the Grand Line in *One* *Piece*. Their existence is why entire forum pages and fan-made recuts exist[ to carve out hundreds of hours of filler](https://kotaku.com/naruto-shippuden-anime-director-s-ocean-cut-filler-fan-1848765385?ref=aftermath.site) from anime-onlys' watchlists. Mercifully, filler seasons have gone by the wayside. Outside of a few slimmer episode-count seasons due to a manga’s hiatus caused by a creator's health, anime releases now follow a seasonal schedule with upwards of 12 or 25 episodes, giving animators more breathing room between manga arcs. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped the discourse around “filler” from persisting today. Should an original episode of an adaptation—be it anime, cartoon, or live action—dare to deviate from a side-by-side comparison with its source material, it gets labeled “filler” as a derogatory term. Having endured the dark ages of shonen filler seasons and fanservice beach episodes, I can honestly say I don’t mind anime filler. In fact, I kinda love it. On the best days, anime filler serves as a narrative playground that expands a show's tone, character dynamics, and worldbuilding, adding texture to the show’s overall vibe. But mostly—especially in big marquee shonen series—it pumps the brakes on shouting and punching and gives me a much-needed break with my favorite characters. Granted, not all filler is created equal. So here’s a shortlist of my favorite filler episodes from big marquee shonen shows that, if released nowadays, would be called terrible, even though they’re great. ## *One Piece* *One Piece* has a unique “problem”: so much of its early filler is stitched directly into canon events that the anime’s opening stretch can feel like a slog to get through. It's such a well-known phenomenon that the series is getting a [Wit Studio remake](https://gizmodo.com/the-one-piece-reboot-episodes-release-date-netflix-2000754562?ref=aftermath.site) designed to streamline the[ dauntingly long anime series](https://kotaku.com/everything-leading-into-one-pieces-historic-1-000th-epi-1848078095?ref=aftermath.site) for newcomers who discover the franchise after checking out its [live-action series](https://gizmodo.com/one-piece-finds-its-groove-in-its-second-voyage-2000730815?ref=aftermath.site). And sure, between [One Pace](https://onepace.net/en?ref=aftermath.site) and endless Reddit posts there’s an entire cottage industry built around telling *One Piece* fans which episodes to skip. While *One Piece* filler gets a bad rap for stalling an already long odyssey with non-canon detours, the [G-8 Arc](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/G-8%5FArc?ref=aftermath.site) is widely considered to be the greatest anime filler arc of all time. Set immediately after Skypiea, the G-8 Arc drops the Straw Hats straight into the heart of a Marine stronghold—basically their Fort Knox—for eleven tightly written episodes. Instead of rushing through their inevitable great escape, the crew splinters off and goes undercover as Marine grunts trying to reunite on their trusty dirigible, the Going Merry, and pull off a Shawshank-style prison break. Folks, G-8 is peak *One Piece* comedy. Throughout the arc, we see [Nico Robin selling out Usopp while impersonating a general](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjJlpQCUZZQ&pp=ygUcb25lIHBpZWNlIGctOCBhcmMgbmljbyByb2Jpbg%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site), [Sanji being Gordon Ramsay in the Marine kitchen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g0BbNx-ZOg&pp=ygUXb25lIHBpZWNlIGctOCBhcmMgc2Fuamk%3D&ref=aftermath.site), and [Luffy doing the funniest shit possible](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5FrcUXDaP1Xg&pp=ygUab25lIHBpZWNlIGctOCBiZXN0IG1vbWVudHM%3D&ref=aftermath.site) while sneaking around low-ranking Marines on security sweeps. But what makes the arc genuinely special is how it reframes the anime’s moral compass. By centering the Marines as the protagonists and the Straw Hats as the intruders, the arc further highlights the moral gray that defines Eiichiro Oda’s deeply political world. The Marines aren’t faceless bad guys; there are people with duty, pride, and their own sense of justice. And by the end, the Straw Hats don't just escape; they earn the respect of the base’s hard-ass general, who recognizes Luffy as a genuine freedom fighter, even though they’re on opposing sides. ## *Bleach* As a [hanger-on Ichiruki shipper](https://bsky.app/profile/shineyezehuhh.bsky.social/post/3mk7gvhbyzk2e?ref=aftermath.site), the *Bleach* filler episode I hold close to my heart is episode 342\. “Thank You” sees Ichigo Kurosaki come to grips with his soul reaper powers going away in the aftermath of his fight with Sosuke Aizen in the Arrancar Arc. Rather than the events corresponding to a couple of pages in the manga, ending with him and Rukia saying their goodbyes, the episode extends their farewell by showing the two hunting demons together, as in the old days. But more importantly, it shows the two going on an ice-skating date. While the entire episode haunts my daydreams as further proof that the two should’ve wound up together (I’ll never get over it, sorry), the filler episode effectively expanded on the big sads they and I felt seeing them part ways. Deadass, it's the only *Bleach* episode I bought on Google Play when I was in high school for that very reason. ## *Naruto* There’s some real Looney Tunes bullshit that happens in *Naruto* filler. Some stretches of episodes saw the knuckle-headed ninja delivering [hot curry that makes you drunk](https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Curry%5Fof%5FLife?ref=aftermath.site), [trying not to laugh at a funeral](https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Laughing%5FShino?ref=aftermath.site), or Itachi whipping up some eggs with his Sharingan. But my favorite *Naruto* filler episode is the most low-stakes spectacle of all time. It's the episode where Kakashi and Might Guy compete in a footrace. Throughout the series, the show kept dropping moments in which the rival jonins kept referring to their win-loss records against each other. While it's served as a cool shorthand for creator Masashi Kishimoto to tease how deep the two’s friendship goes, manga readers never got to see any of those cool matches take place. If *Naruto* as a whole is the *Star Wars* equivalent of Anakin and Obi-Wan prattling on about all the cool adventures they went through before *Attack* *of the Clones*, then *Naruto Shippuden* episode 241, [“Kakashi, My Eternal Rival!”](https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Kakashi,%5FMy%5FEternal%5FRival!?ref=aftermath.site), is its *Clone Wars* expansion showcasing all the fun adventures the two went through. The episode sees the two dash around a reconstructed Leaf Village like a couple of idiots. It’s pure, unadulterated filler anime whimsy at its finest. ## *Dragon Ball Z* Last—and certainly not least—is *Dragon Ball Z* episode 125, “Goku’s Dilemma.” Coming right after the Garlic Jr. zombie nonsense filler arc and wedged between the canon events of Trunks turning Frieza into mincemeat and the Z-fighters gearing up for the Android Saga, this episode should be the kind of filler that would make contemporary anime fans mad over all the nothing happening in the most fighto fighto anime of all time. However, it stands the test of time as filler anime gold. After weeks of Chi-Chi putting up with Piccolo and Goku’s nonsensical training while she slaves away carrying all the protein in the world across mountains to cook for them, she has finally had enough. Momma needs a car and either one of her meathead freeloaders to get a license to drive to and from the grocery store to pick up their dead weight around the house. So the absurdist filler episode commits to the bit by having Goku and Piccolo don civilian garb and enroll in a driver's ed course to get their licenses. Naturally, being lifelong rivals, things get out of hand behind the steering wheel, and mayhem ensues. The episode doesn’t just coast on the bit of Piccolo wearing clothes Goku’s wife picked out for him. It dovetails out of its own ridiculous premise by having the two actually do hero work, rescuing a bus full of passengers trapped in a rainy gorge, turning the funny-haha episode into one of the rare examples of viewers seeing its heroes directly help the people of Earth outside of cataclysmic battles. *DBZ*’s drivers' ed episode stands shoulder-to-shoulder with a shortlist of other iconic series filler detours that’d probably get shit on nowadays. Chief among them are Gohan moonlighting as a [*Kamen Rider*](https://aftermath.site/kamen-rider-kuuga-tokusatsu/) knockoff in the Great Saiyaman Arc (which I wouldn’t have minded if it had just been the show instead of the Buu arc) and the slow-burn filler episodes where Bulma and Vegeta caught feelings for each other (which happened off-page in the manga). Stories aren’t a race designed to sprint from one essential event to the next. And by the same token, filler episodes are more than dead air wedged between those events. At their best, filler episodes can deepen your love for a show’s cast, enrich its world, and strengthen the source material by adding texture in all the places the main story blows past. Sure, there are case‑by‑case reasons to critique filler, but treating any deviation from the source material as innately awful feels like a pretty joyless way to watch television. If a show’s writing is already solid, I’m never going to turn my nose up at a silly little filler detour—especially if it means I get to spend more time hanging out with my favorite characters. ### There Is Great Power In A Good Video Game Commercial URL: https://aftermath.site/playstation-vita-2026/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T00:28:18.000Z I was making some toast on the weekend and, as I waited for the bread to pop, I found myself humming a tune. "Hmmmm hmmmm hmmmm hmmmmm, ohhhhh oh whoah oh whoah, hmmmmmm hmmmmm hmmmmm hmmmmmm". I sang the "oh whoah" part in a soft-yet-gravelly voice, and it must have sounded so weird that my wife turned to me and asked, "What the hell are you singing?" To which I replied, "Why, it's Shigeru Matsuzaki's iconic Japanese PlayStation Vita commercial from 2012, didn't you recognise it?" This commercial was released 14 years ago, but was belted out with such memorable gusto by the famed singer (and voice actor), and is so god damn *catchy*, that I don't think a week has gone by since when I haven't sung it, or at least *thought* about it. If I see or hear mention of the Vita, I think about it. If I hear the word "crooner" I think about it. If anyone says "Katamari Damacy", a game Matsuzaki is probably best known for here in the West, I will think of *this* commercial before I think of[ that song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwmDUVxBxA0&list=RDNwmDUVxBxA0&start%5Fradio=1&ref=aftermath.site). This commercial ostensibly had nothing to do with Sony's handheld. He doesn't mention it, he's not wearing a Vita shirt, he's not playing a PlayStation guitar. They just got a famous guy to sit on a stool and sing for a minute, then threw a little Vita overlay in at the end. And yet 14 years later here I am, still singing along and being instantly reminded of a video game handheld that ceased production in 2019 and hadn't been relevant for quite a while before that. If that's not the definition of a Very Good Ad, I don't know what is. ### All This Over… Mixtape? URL: https://aftermath.site/mixtape-reviews-controversy-criticism-twitter-youtube/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T16:41:10.000Z Everyone is talking about *Mixtape*, [an ode to the idea of nostalgia](https://aftermath.site/mixtape-review-game-90s/) that nonetheless feels rooted in a very specific kind of white guy’s teenage experience. To many, this discourse seems like it came out of nowhere, but in truth, it’s a continuation of several interminable cycles that, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, this game just happened to serve as a lightning rod for. There are multiple separate but overlapping *Mixtape* discourses unfolding, but at the risk of flattening the broader landscape, they break down more or less as follows: - [Glowing reviews](https://x.com/shinobi602/status/2052381581650657589?ref=aftermath.site) of the game and its Gen X-friendly soundtrack on traditional websites like [IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/mixtape-review?ref=aftermath.site) and [GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/please-dont-skip-this-musical-coming-of-age-story-mixtape-review/1900-6418487/?ref=aftermath.site). - In reaction to those reviews, a series of wildly divorced-from-reality conspiracy theories on [Twitter](https://x.com/search?q=mixtape%20industry%20plant&src=typed%5Fquery&ref=aftermath.site) and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgpwHwPw7zc&t=4s&ref=aftermath.site) about how *Mixtape* is an “industry plant” that sprang from the scheming hands of Megan Ellison, daughter of hyper-conservative multibillionaire tech and media magnate Larry Ellison. - Game critics and game developers debating the game’s merits [via blogs](https://autumn-wright.com/just-blog-it/?ref=aftermath.site) and [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/search?q=mixtape&ref=aftermath.site), often with a focus on the role of games criticism and *Mixtape*’s universalization of what largely turns out to be the wistful sights and sounds of a specific race/class background. - Players of *Mixtape* reviewing it on platforms like Steam, where [89 percent of user reviews are currently positive](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2582320/Mixtape/?ref=aftermath.site#app%5Freviews%5Fhash) despite all the noise surrounding it. Drive-by arguments around the game and the ills it supposedly represents have given rise to posts and videos with millions of views. *Mixtape* is, against all odds—given that it’s an indie-coded game that aspires more to vibes than groundbreaking mechanics or any sort of genre-redefining experience—the talk of the town. But today’s internet is more fragmented than ever, so the *Mixtape* discourse is really more like dozens of towns, each with their own dialects steeped in unspoken histories, screaming past each other in an attempt to finally pin down Where It All Went Wrong. In other words, it’s [another week in the video game industry](https://kotaku.com/saros-arjun-ending-spoilers-relationship-explained-2000692965?ref=aftermath.site). The basic facts go a long way toward dispelling the cloud of hysteria that this game has unintentionally attracted, so let’s start there: *Mixtape* is published by Annapurna Interactive, the indie games imprint of Annapurna Pictures—which was founded, yes, by Megan Ellison. This makes things, at the very least, complicated. In the past, Annapurna Pictures has [taken money from Larry Ellison](https://variety.com/2018/film/news/annapurna-larry-ellison-megan-ellison-vice-1202975648/?ref=aftermath.site), a staunch supporter of Trump and Israel. While [Annapurna’s output](https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64120402/?ref=aftermath.site) and a few [public stances](https://deadline.com/2021/04/scott-rudin-megan-ellison-harvey-weinstein-slammed-tweet-misconduct-allegations-true-grit-1234729621/?ref=aftermath.site) suggest that Megan Ellison’s views don’t entirely align with those of her father, she’s [reportedly proven to be a temperamental if hands-off boss](https://variety.com/2021/film/news/megan-ellison-annapurna-scott-rudin-temper-1234951651/?ref=aftermath.site), and when she intervened at Annapurna Interactive a couple years ago, [25 people ended up resigning](https://www.ign.com/articles/what-the-heck-has-been-going-on-at-annapurna-interactive-an-investigation?ref=aftermath.site). She also [executive produced an Israeli documentary](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/megan-ellison-mark-boal-israeli-terrorism-doc-death-terminal-lands-at-topic-1002121/?ref=aftermath.site) around a decade ago, though that is obviously not the same as being [one of the largest private funders of the Israeli Defense Force](https://just-international.org/articles/israels-biggest-us-donor-now-owns-cbs/?ref=aftermath.site)—which Larry Ellison is. Still, for some, this is at least an [understandable](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/) point of contention. That said, Annapurna Interactive has published countless indie hits over the past decade, including *What Remains of Edith Finch, Donut County, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Wattam, Telling Lies, Kentucky Route Zero, Neon White, Stray, Skin Deep*, and *Mixtape* developer Beethoven & Dinosaur’s previous game, *The Artful Escape*. Nobody accused any of those games of being industry plants. So what changed? Foremost, the Gamergate 2.0 conspiracy engine is now a well-oiled machine, and it requires a fresh helping of grievance-flavored fuel every week. *Mixtape*, which prior to release popped up in showcases here and there but largely flew under the radar compared to triple-A behemoths, landed last week to rave reviews, which the usual suspects on Twitter and YouTube immediately seized upon. This, they suggested, was evidence of paid reviews and large-scale collusion. After all, *Mixtape* barely even contains gameplay in a traditional sense. How could it be picking up 10/10s where more deserving games, like massively mid role-playing game *Crimson Desert*, faltered? This is a talking point as old as time, born of legitimate confusion from gamers about how websites work—the perception that publications are monoliths rather than assemblages of individuals with their own distinct opinions—and now amplified by content creators and mobs when it suits their needs. And of course, *Mixtape* looks like the fare Gamergate-adjacent types and [right-wing sloptubers](https://aftermath.site/highguard-release-steam-pc-concord-youtube-shadow-drop/) have been painting as bogeymen for years: visuals that evoke queer-friendly hits like *Life Is Strange*, a central cast that’s not entirely made up of white men, and on-rails linearity that prioritizes feelings over challenge. The rest is post-hoc justification: Annapurna was founded by an Ellison, so it must be evil, and *Mixtape* is trading in stolen valor by masquerading as an indie while commanding the resources to license a formidable soundtrack of ‘80s and ‘90s hits. Never mind that indies come in all shapes and sizes these days, to the point that the label is very nearly meaningless, and, if we’re taking that designation away from *Mixtape*, then we must also remove it from some of *the most highly-regarded indies of all time*, which Annapurna published. Further, never mind that Annapurna is a publisher, not a developer, meaning that Megan Ellison did not personally create *Mixtape* or devise nebulously maniacal plots around it; Annapurna’s role on the game, in all likelihood, was limited to funding and marketing. Also, Larry Ellison and his son, David, [are in charge of](https://nonprofitquarterly.org/the-ellisons-empire-media-consolidation-narrative-control-and-the-threat-to-democracy/?ref=aftermath.site) TikTok, Paramount, CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, and potentially soon Warner Bros. Many of those ringing alarm bells about *Mixtape*’s supposed industry plant status have not, historically, been vocally critical of that larger empire (or Israel), and some are [posting about *Mixtape* on TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/discover/industry-plant?ref=aftermath.site), specifically. When a single family is working tirelessly to monopolize media, this is, to an extent, understandable; there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, and *especially* under this late-stage version of capitalism where a small handful of people own everything. You do what you can to divest from the worst offenders, but it’s not always an immediate option. That said, the specific target these content creators have picked—an indie game with relatively tenuous connections to the Ellisons—is telling. The real question at the nexus of the toilet vortex swirling around this game is one of who gets what. Central to Twitter users and YouTubers’ complaints is the notion that traditional games media’s shriveled remains—with IGN at the vanguard—[serve as unjust gatekeepers and kingmakers](https://x.com/Sir%5FDammed/status/2053355119874314601?ref=aftermath.site). *Mixtape*, they argue, is being elevated to a position of acclaim it did not earn by multiple embodiments of The Man, their conniving tendrils interlocked in a lattice of collusion. But the truth is that relatively few people care about written game reviews these days, especially with even heavy hitters hollowed out by layoffs and the ravages of Google’s ever-changing algorithm. The very content creators who accuse IGN and other sites of misusing their influence are the real tastemakers of the modern era; they shape the conversation around new games—often [via misinformation and ragebait](https://aftermath.site/charlie-kirk-death-gamergate-ghost-of-yotei-probablymonsters-fired/), which more reliably drives engagement on social media than discussing games on their own terms. They’re once again demonstrating as much with *Mixtape*. If you search *Mixtape* on platforms like YouTube, you often see their opinions first. When people on Reddit [ask why everyone’s talking about *Mixtape*](https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/1t9yuzt/whats%5Fgoing%5Fon%5Fwith%5Fthis%5Fgame%5Fmixtape/?ref=aftermath.site), you hear about the controversy *surrounding* review scores—not the game itself or even, in many cases, what the reviews specifically praised. However, for these content creators to admit that their influence, at least in aggregate, now far outstrips that of websites would be to give up the game. This type of rhetoric requires [some kind of faceless, all-powerful enemy](https://aftermath.site/sweet-baby-detected-conspiracy-theory-steam/) to rage against. Three imposing letters—I, G, and N—make for a perfect foil in this age of attention-seeking faces and names, despite the dwindling number of underpaid, overworked freelancers who do the actual work of propping up those letters. This is where arguments among longer-standing critics and developers on Bluesky and blogs come into play. They are all, to some degree, feeling the squeeze. Critics no longer have reliable homes for their work. Developers can’t find funding to save their studios’ lives. And so, while YouTubers point to *Mixtape* as evidence that wokeness is ruining video games, those who’ve actually put the game under the microscope have come to a different conclusion: In a time of dwindling resources, money and attention have once again been devoted to developers with an older, decidedly whiter envisioning of bygone days. This is not evidence of collusion, but instead systemic imbalance. *Mixtape*, [rather than other games with similar themes](https://bsky.app/profile/ekanaut.bsky.social/post/3mllvexflts2u?ref=aftermath.site), received financial and promotional backing, and many of the reviewers who showered it with praise were right within its target demographic—because, well, there aren’t many reviewers left outside it. They’ve all been pushed out by the economic realities of a shrinking industry and a crumbling society. *Mixtape* has come to represent both what gets made in a system defined by growing precarity and who gets the largest platform to talk about it. As No Escape’s Kaile Hultner [wrote](https://noescapevg.com/review-mixtape/?ref=aftermath.site): > There’s no way around this: *Mixtape* uses nostalgia as a bludgeon to beat players to death with. There is a specific Type Of Guy whose presence is overrepresented in games media for whom this game is basically catnip. It is meant to trigger emotions so powerful in that specific Type Of Guy that when they write or talk about it, they frame the bill of goods that *Mixtape* is selling as the universal growing up and coming-of-age experience, that it is so authentic and classic and true-to-life that surely everyone who has ever lived has experienced, or wanted to experience it. Critic [Cameron Kunzelman](https://ckunzelman.com/2026/05/10/on-mixtape-2026/?ref=aftermath.site), meanwhile, dug deeper into how capitalism gives rise to *Mixtape*’s vague, vibes-y milieu: > My frustration, maybe, is that I’ve seen it done in more interesting ways, and I thought *Mixtape* might go there. It plays in irony as much as it does sincerity, and those are the best parts of the game. Stumbling drunk through the movie rental spot is good, playing off something real feeling but also blown out of proportion into heroic contexts. The magical parts of the game work just as well—running, flying, sitting in a beautiful car conducting fireworks—these are well executed and notable. While there are games that I think are doing the “teen feelings and how it impacts the self” better than this one, there’s not another game precisely like this, and certainly not one with the kind of money behind it. > What feeling is here to return to when the vague feeling of music lifted from all context, and winnowed down to flatter me, is available by creating an algorithmic Spotify playlist? I had this thought about halfway through the game, since it repeatedly kept hitting me with the smooth guitar music that one of our most evil platforms somehow keeps autoplaying for me when my playlists of metal and post-punk end. No one’s history attempting to drag us all into a given median, a space for no one, new coffee shop in the mixed use development-core. These are conversations worth having, but it can be difficult to do so over the din of view-hungry content creators purposefully mischaracterizing how game development works. In the face of that, many feel an inherent desire to defend *Mixtape* and other *Mixtape*\-shaped games rather than engage in substantive criticism of them. “There has been an overarching ‘If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all’ attitude around writing critically about indie games (partly cuz the most common haters are bad faith reactionaries) that's really hobbled the space for a long time,” musician, writer, and game developer Liz Ryerson [said on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/ellaguro.bsky.social/post/3mljnekta6s2k?ref=aftermath.site). “It's part of the reason why indie games often feel like a Cause people are advocating for—that rhetoric that has proliferated really ever since indie games blew up commercially. There are some exceptions to this, like obviously problematic creators/games. But generally it's stayed that way.” But all of this belies what *Mixtape* actually is: A several-hour-long interactive playlist. It is not particularly profound or ambitious. So many cool, interesting games come out every day now that those picking its bones clean for content could have safely ignored it; [*Wax Heads*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2769240/Wax%5FHeads/?ref=aftermath.site), another arguably more ambitious game about the intersection of life and musical taste, also came out last week. Numerous intriguing music games [dot this year’s release calendar](https://www.polygon.com/music-games-trend-2026/?ref=aftermath.site). In an ideal world, they would all be backed by *Mixtape*’s formidable-for-an-indie budget and resources. That’s not the world we live in, and clearly, no one is happy about it. By getting punched well above its weight, *Mixtape* shows that this can happen to any game—and, indeed, that engagement-hungry platforms and content creators demand it. Next week or the week after, there will almost certainly be another One Of These. What can be done to ease tensions and stem the tide? Or even just to keep things in context? [Vague tweets from Xbox](https://x.com/Xbox/status/2053943228848537972?ref=aftermath.site) clearly aren’t cutting it. In other countries, companies and governments have tried [anti-misinformation lawsuits and campaigns to curb review bombing](https://x.com/zhugeex/status/2051360249261486250?ref=aftermath.site). So long as platforms continue to feast on anger and insecurity, though, even targeted interventions will only be able to achieve so much. Everyone wishing for a better internet faces an uphill battle, but while it’s tempting to declare all of this beyond saving, we have to keep trying. As *Mixtape* demonstrates, it can be comforting to indulge in nostalgia for simpler times. But the present is all we have. ## Recommended [I Don’t Know Who Mixtape Is ForWarioWare x Dawson’s Creek![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-231.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Capture-1-1.PNG)](https://aftermath.site/mixtape-review-game-90s/) ### Saros Feels Like Popping Bubble Wrap URL: https://aftermath.site/saros-housemarque-rahul-kohli-event-horizon-returnal/ Last updated: 2026-05-13T16:34:43.000Z Aftermath's two orb sickos, Gita and Chris, have been playing *Saros* nonstop since it was released. They sat down to chat about the filmic and literary influences on its vibe, it's many colliding systems, and of course, Rahul Kohli. **Gita Jackson:** Hi Chris! We're both playing the critically acclaimed Rahul Kohli simulator, Saros, and I have been unable to think of anything else since it dropped. I was a full on Returnal sicko and have been pumped for another Housemarque game basically since I played that one. This game... is both not quite what I expected and exactly what I want to play, and I'm still untangling my feelings about it. What about you Chris? Were you a *Returnal* guy? What were you bringing into the experience of playing *Saros*? **Chris Person:** I am a Housemarque guy generally which encompasses *Returnal* as well. I really loved *Resogun* and *Super Stardust HD*, and *Sektori* is by a Housemarque veteran as well. They love orbs, and I simply gotta respect that. I cleared the game and I am happy to say they did it again. **Gita:** I am not nearly as far into the game as you, but I'm about at the place where it starts throwing systems at you rapid fire and it starts to make more sense how to glide between them. It's not too dissimilar from *Returnal*, another orb heavy game, but it's just a lot, A LOT more generous. Like I just got to the place where the "artefacts" I pick up—beneficial traits that can be "corrupted" and also come with a downside like taking fall damage or losing currency when you get hit—can gain a "volatility." I just wanna take a moment and congratulate Housemarque on the various verbs and nouns they've chosen for the game, real fun stuff to roll around in your head. **Chris:** Many designers are content to just name stats "Strength", "Intelligence", "Dexterity." Cowardly. You need to give them vague, slightly obtuse names like Command, Integrity, Drive and have those get corrupted into Arrogance, Ignorance and Negligence. There are so many interlocking systems in this game. You get corrupted artefacts when you activate the terrifying eclipse, but they get stronger and can be cleansed after the fact. It's all there but the game doesn't tell you some things directly. **Gita:** I love that whenever you get hit by a lot corrupted orbs you start sprouting a little wing off your shoulder and it's like, goopy like resin. Shit rules. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/SAROS_6.jpg) Image Source: Saros, Housemarque *Saros* is a game about a ship of paramilitary operators from a massive corporation crash landing on the planet Carcosa to try to find the remnants of a colony ship that landed there and was lost. In the meantime, everyone goes insane, and that really is the bulk of its plot. **Chris:** I think there were like three ships. **Gita:** It was a real corporate fuck up. They sent one ship, then another, and then one more to be sure, and then the Enforcers. You know the capitalist motto: if at first it doesn't work, try two more times. Now, Carcosa comes from the stories of The Yellow King, which originated from speculative fiction writer Robert W. Chambers in 1895, about a play that turns people crazy when they read it. The original stories are all in the public domain now and are great reads, but everyone really knows Carcosa from *True Detective*. **Chris:** Which is annoying because I know it from the Chaosium *Call of Cthulhu* games first. Whenever Hastur shows up you know you are in for a good time. All of the Great Old Ones will make you go crazy but Hastur has fun with you first. **Gita:** If you have a chance to read the Repairer of Reputations by Chambers, definitely do so. But the literary allusions aren't super well developed in the game IMO. It's more about setting a mood and a tone. And the tone is this: everything is going to go wrong. **Chris:** They really just use it as a jumping off point and make it their own thing, particularly near the end, which I really prefer. There are certain commonalities like The Yellow Sign and The King In Yellow and Carcosa but they don't feel tethered to it in a one to one way which is kinda nice. It's also very *Event Horizon*. **Gita:** Oh is it EVER *Event Horizon*. What a flick. It's basically every really good scary story about the vast reaches of space and the paranoia of being alone. Just the whole vibe of it—I love the slimy arm that grabs you when you summon the eclipse, the rising drone of guitar chords when you get closer and closer to the eclipse device, the enigmatic shots of an almost kiss, the wind blowing curtains away from a window, an unmade bed, all of which go unexplained but have meaning that you can feel just under the surface. And then on top of that, the game just absolutely fucking rips from back to front. Every time I start a new run I want it to last forever. I think much has been made about this game being "easier" than *Returnal*, and I'm not sure that that's true. It's just that they give you more tools to approach the difficulty with. For example, both of us do runs starting from the very first biome now, instead of the most recent level. It just makes you feel like a god. **Chris:** They really have quite a lot of fun with how this game looks. Sometimes it's like Tarsem Signh, sometimes it's The Machines from *The Matrix*, sometimes it's *DOOM* and sometimes it's a city meant to look like Rodin's The Gates Of Hell made entirely out of suffering alien creatures. It's extremely Finnish-coded if you know what that means. The UI looks like *Wipeout*, there's a lot of orbs, the systems are obtuse but interlocking in ways that make sense, and there's a commitment to doing really creative things with rendering. My favorite effect is a bit where they make a giant hologram out of sand or smoke and you can shoot your gun through it. Also, no company has nailed haptics or the adaptive triggers quite like Housemarque. This game feels like popping bubble wrap. When you throw a shield up to absorb orbs and it popopopops, it itches a deep, reptile part of your brain. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/SAROS_5.jpg) Image Source: Saros, Housemarque **Gita:** Oh my god, the way this game uses every single part of the Dualsense controller is just wild. I thought I wasn't going to be able to handle the "alt fire" mode, where you pull the left trigger halfway to activate a secondary firing mode, but it actually makes total sense once you start playing with it, because the haptics are so precise. **Chris:** It definitely drains the controller battery a bit, which has been making me really appreciate the Steam Controller having a 35 hour battery life. **Gita:** Oh I was wondering why my controllers kept dying halfway through a run lmao But speaking of the guns: also every single gun in this game feels fantastic. Bungie level of quality with making each weapon feel unique and powerful. But also I love that fucking Repeater Crossbow, that thing is just NASTY. I love the shotgun that you can turn sideways. I love the handcanon that can shoot a big bomb. I love the shotgun that's also a grenade launcher. And I really, REALLY love the auto rifle. **Chris:** The Smart Rifle is probably my favorite gun in the game because it melts everything it touches. The Repeater Crossbow is also good if you are attempting to clear out a nightmare strand or something because you can blind fire it into an area with the secondary and it just auto tracks to every enemy in the game. I like that the ability to auto target enemies is a function of the weapon and that the highest DPS output guns don't have that. Also it took me way too long to realize using power weapons gets rid of corruption. **Gita:** Man I also love the power weapons! Well, mostly I love Prominence, which is just a rocket launcher, basically. I ended up with a build with the Repeater Crossbow with power generator on it, so every time I killed anything with the bow it charged my power weapon, meaning I was firing that rocket like five times a minute. So every time you pick up a weapon you raise your Proficiency level, meaning each new weapon is more powerful than the last. That was one of the runs where I was going from the first biome, so my proficiency was like low 40s and I was just melting everything in my path. **Chris:** Yeah, the game allows you to start from the very beginning of the game every time and make a run to the end so that you're massively overpowered by the time you hit whatever boss you are currently on. They mix it up by making the map fork in a few places so you don't just go through the game in one go, but if you are having difficulty it is a viable option. Some people are "only start on the biome you are on" people but the thing I enjoy about it is that it gives you the latitude to do either and your choice is between you and god. They struck a nice balance between making the game accessible to more players and punishing to people who enjoy that sort of thing. I've seen some people say it's too easy but I would suggest they grow up a little. **Gita:** The game can also become harder. As soon as I opened it up, I saw the influence that *Hades* has had on the roguelike genre, and not just because it has a narrative that develops the more you visit the hub world. If the game isn't challenging enough, you can also take on "Carcosan Modifiers" that make the run even harder—more damage, less currency, etc. I have only played with these a little bit because for me the pleasure isn't difficulty as much as... dodging orbs, shooting gun, hitting that absolute state of flow where you act before you think and never get hit. **Chris:** The one thing I enjoy more than punishing difficulty is breaking a game's spine like Bane. If you get really disgusting with modifiers and do a full run from biome one by the end of it every interaction is like you set of the Trinity test every time you enter a room. It reminds me of high level *Stranger of Paradise* DLC play where it's just inscrutable to an outside observer. If people saw the modifiers I use they'd fucking hurl. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/SAROS_7.jpg) Image Source: Saros, Housemarque **Gita:** Okay, lay it on me. What's your ideal build. I am partial to the bow or a smart rifle, with as many command modifiers as I can possibly get, and then spamming the rocket launcher power weapon because I figured out if you hit a boss with the power weapon at the right time, it breaks their attack pattern and you can get in like three more hits. **Chris:** Maximizing the amount of Lucenite and the ability to snag it is great because in addition to it being money, it also increases your proficiency meaning you level up faster each run. Conversely, by the end of the game you have so much Lucenite that it's a joke, so reducing the amount of Lucenite you take home each time is fine. I'll also take a hit on corruption because if I'm playing right and spamming power weapons it doesn't really matter. A lot of times I do Artefact Immunity just because I don't like having to do a cost/benefit analysis every time I pick something up, and it lets you spam the eclipse earlier. Hostile Death Projectiles you get later and that's a gimmie. Artefact Destruction also helps you because after a few biomes you have so many artefacts that you don't know what to do with them. I also add whatever damage and defense modifiers I can slam in there. Overlord Restoration is good as insurance for certain bosses. **Gita:** Overlord Restoration is an easy way to get through tricky bosses if you find yourself totally depleted after trying to run through a level. I haven't thought about Artefact Immunity because I *do* like the cost benefit analysis but it is annoying to keep skipping good artefacts because they have dash cooldown or fall damage, the two things I'll never, ever pick up. **Chris:** Also, don't be afraid to test volatility. Though the drawbacks can be bad in practice they are workable. Like the Health one makes it so you are blind to enemy bars but that only matters if you care about how much health an enemy has. **Gita:** Right, if you're just an explosion machine, that doesn't matter. **Chris:** How much health an enemy has is none of my business, frankly. I will say without getting too much into spoilers territory, I like Arjun a lot, partially because he fucking sucks. There's a million PlayStation-adjacent pissed guys with father issues, I don't think it's as interesting a trope as writers think it is, but if you're going to do that the guy had better be a piece of work. **Gita:** I mean it's obvious from the beginning that he sucks a lot, right? He is OBSESSED with a woman he hasn't heard from in years. A lot of the narrative turns of the story is a rehash of *Spec Ops: The Line*, but not in an annoying or overly scolding way. It feels like the correct match between the gameplay and the story, in that the better you get the more deadly you become, and the deeper and deeper you fall into Carcosa, with all that entails. The whole text of how the Echelon colony fell to the madness of Carcosa is a bit of fun—nothing as impactful as the hag-like wailing of Selene as she succumbs to the horrors of her own life in *Returnal*. But it's also well acted and realized by all the players here, so I'm not mad if it's not giving me the emotional gut punch that I got from a much bleaker, much less forgiving game. It's nice to have a game remind me of some good books and movies that don't often get referenced in games, though. **Chris:** Also Rahul Kohli kills it. I would let him read the phone book to me if those still existed. [Games Used To Have More Orbs. What Happened? - AftermathNinja Gaiden, Onimusha, Soul Reaver, Altered Beast. The humble orb used to reign supreme in video games. What happened?![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-230.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/orb-header-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/games-used-to-have-more-orbs-what-happened-soul-orb/) ### I Don't Know Who Mixtape Is For URL: https://aftermath.site/mixtape-review-game-90s/ Last updated: 2026-05-13T16:34:18.000Z *Mixtape* is an exploration of adolescent love and friendship, how that survives the transition into adulthood and what it means to come of age in a place you don't want to stay in. Because of this, and because it's set in the 1990s, you can't play or[ even read about *Mixtape* without encountering the word "nostalgia"](https://www.google.com/search?q=mixtape+nostalgia&rlz=1C1GCEA%5FenAU1112AU1112&oq=mixtape+nostalgia&gs%5Flcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQIxgnMgwIAhAjGCcYgAQYigUyDQgDEC4YgwEYsQMYgAQyDQgEEAAYgwEYsQMYgAQyBggFEAAYAzINCAYQLhiDARixAxiABDIGCAcQRRg90gEIMjE2NGowajSoAgOwAgHxBfQjFJg9kGYk&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ref=aftermath.site). I get why! It's set in the 90s, it follows the format of a teen movie (an inherently nostalgic genre) and both its name and its entire narrative structure are built around a collection of old music. Having just finished it, though, and as what must be one of the people most specifically targeted by its setting--a white middle class games critic whose entire teenage years took place within the 90s and who was a little too into music--I'm struggling to see just who, exactly, this game is trying to speak to. As a time capsule of the 1990s, it feels off. Like a courtroom sketch of the decade made by an artist sitting behind its head, or an AI-generated summary produced from stories written about the 90s by people born in 2002\. From the fashion to the language used to the way characters interact with technology, none of it manages to evoke the spirit or the feeling of the 90s in the kind of direct way that I, someone who was the same age as these kids at the same time, would feel nostalgic for. As a musical expedition through a teenager's feelings--every chapter of the game is centred around a licensed song, from Mondo Rock to Silverchair to, uh, Stan Bush– it's also weird. Nobody in the 1990s would have had a music collection like that of main character Stacey, because she has the music collection of someone who could only have been made this insufferable with the help of the internet. And while I'm not expecting a game played from the perspective of a 90s teenager to simply *play the hits*, I would also expect a game played from the perspective of a 90s teenager to at least remotely resemble what some kind, any kind of 90s teenager would have listened to. Stacey feels less like a 90s teenager and more like the product of a team of white guys making a video game about a 90s teenager in 2026. *Mixtape's* ambiguity--it never says exactly when it's set, and the town it takes place in is fictional--ends up doing its swing at nostalgia a disservice, because without a time and place to nail itself to the whole story floats around, unable to ever really speak to a feeling or a purpose present in the era in which it’s set. As Cameron Kunzelman[ says](https://ckunzelman.com/2026/05/10/on-mixtape-2026/?ref=aftermath.site): > It’s like someone telling you how it was “back in the day” or gesturing to an “Victorian attitude” — it is convenient cultural shorthand for us to collapse all of time and space into an aesthetic package so that we can name it, corral it, and put it on the open market. > > That’s what we call genre under capitalism. That’s the thing we’re buying and selling these days. While a lot of the discussion around *Mixtape* has compared its stab at nostalgia with other teen classics like *Ferris Bueller*, the one comparison I couldn't stop making was with Richard Linklater's classic *Dazed & Confused*. That film, released in 1993 but set in 1976, is much like *Mixtape* in that it focuses heavily on the minutiae of teenage party preparations, and has an era-specific musical spine carrying many of its most memorable moments. It's a movie that has since resonated with successive generations of adults because, even if the fashion and tech have changed, the social archetypes it presented and the feelings of being a kid have not. I was -4 years old in 1976, but I can watch the film and instantly recognise whole swathes of my teenage social circles in its characters and "we're gonna get wasted don't let our parents catch us" storylines, because despite all the flares and K.I.S.S. references the writing presents a cast of deeply relatable teenagers. It makes me feel nostalgic for a time I wasn't even born, because it makes me feel nostalgic for good times spent with friends. *Mixtape's* overwrought writing makes everyone sound like they're from a skateboarding episode of *Dawson's Creek*, or a Broadway production of *Daria*. Like I've said, I should be right in *Mixtape*'s crosshairs. I was 18 in 1998, an insufferable white kid with annoying opinions about music, raised in a city I couldn't wait to get out of, just like the three principal characters here. But Stacey, and many of the game's other main cast, are so exaggerated there is little to relate to. None of these kids are coming of age, because most of these characters don't sound like kids in the first place. That's not to say I don't *like* them–the school's principal is a blast and I would die for Slater–it's just that for a game that on one hand is trying so hard to just be a story about some kids, most of the kids don't come across as kids. And if I'm not getting nostalgic for the 90s playing this game, and I'm not getting nostalgic for the experience of being a teenager playing this game, what exactly am I supposed to be feeling here? *Mixtape* takes place in California but was made by Australians. It's about the 90s but also isn't really. It's full of music but with a soundtrack that's all over the place in ways that don't reflect well on the main character, the time or events of the game. It's pandering to the past while simultaneously unable to grasp it, and its cast feel more like adults playing as teens than teens. So, uh, what's left here? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ss_7e065dacac8c9bf50ff45d9d9b57210ecf7c5044.1920x1080.jpg) For all your time spent talking to people, my favourite parts of **Mixtape* were its most absurd, when it turns the vibe of a moment into a literal, interactive minigame Turns out that despite all that there's still a lovely little *video game* here. *Mixtape's* inability to land its nostalgic haymaker is constantly annoying, but as tedious as the writing in pivotal moments can be, the game's strength lies in the way it breathes creative, only-in-video-games magic into those scenes. A flashback to Stacey's first kiss isn't a black and white cutscene, it's a tongue wrestling minigame so gross and funny it had me nearly falling off my chair. Another scene featuring two kids getting slushees turns into a memorable, physics-based exercise in pouring video game liquids. A heartfelt chat down by the river features a stone-skipping game I could play a whole six hours built around. *Mixtape's* trip to the video store is not only the game's creative and interactive highlight, it's also perhaps the only moment I truly found something nostalgic I could relate to. It feels reductive to dismiss so much of what *Mixtape* is trying to do by saying I just enjoyed it as *Wario Ware For Teens*, but that's the truth of where I got the most out of this game. I really appreciated just how much of a *video game* it was, how it was able to approach such a crowded genre dominated by so many famous movies and novels and, while failing to contribute much to that genre narratively, was able to nonetheless make its mark by transforming so many tender moments into bizarrely playable skating and shooting games. So much of the discussion around this game--and I've fallen for it here with the opening half of this post--has focused on *Mixtape's* nostalgia, but I think to focus *solely* on that does the game a bit of a disservice. Sure, it doesn't speak to me, and I'm having trouble seeing who it does speak to, but I'm also a 46-year-old white man; who am I to assume what other people are getting out of and enjoy in a video game? The one thing I hope more of us can agree on with *Mixtape* is that more games with such an overt narrative focus should also involve slingshot simulators and skateboarding scenes where you crash through a deserted mall and can make cars explode with a click of your fingers. ### Sony’s ‘Underperformance’ Is Bungie’s Miracle URL: https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-playstation-performance-reviews/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T23:56:50.000Z While I was scanning video game news headlines over the weekend, as I am unfortunately required to do for this job, [I saw one pop up from IGN that made me ](https://www.ign.com/articles/sony-reports-765-million-impairment-loss-due-to-underperformance-of-marathon-developer-bungie?ref=aftermath.site)lean in a little closer. "Sony Reports $765 Million Impairment Loss Due to Underperformance of *Marathon* Developer Bungie", it said. That's an odd way to frame everything that's happened with Sony, Bungie and online shooters in recent years, I thought, but maybe the intro to the story–reporting on some recent fiscal results–would be different. Nope. > Sony has reported a $765 million impairment loss due to underperformance of [Marathon](https://www.ign.com/games/marathon?ref=aftermath.site) developer Bungie during its last financial year. > > The PlayStation owner bought Bungie, the original creator of Halo, in early 2022 in a deal valued at $3.6 billion. However, the studio has struggled financially since then, with Destiny 2 failing to do the business and its new game, Marathon, having a hard time breaking out. As a result, Sony has admitted the acquisition has yet to pay off, resulting in these impairment charges. What threw me about this story was the language used, and how each party is centred in the news. Bungie, a studio with a long and storied history of making very good video games, has made another very good video game, this time in a specific always-online genre they were [likely forced to work in by a former PlayStation boss who is no longer at the company](https://www.resetera.com/threads/revisiting-jim-ryans-12-live-service-games-announced-in-2022.1084800/?ref=aftermath.site). That video game has not made as much money as *Fortnite*, and so Bungie has been painted as being under-performing, to the point where the story later says "Bungie has dragged down Sony's financial performance for the year". I don't want to pick on this specific story here, or its writer. There's no malice or ill-intent in its tone or its composition; it only got to me because it's such a representative example of the way so many people (and so much of games media) still talk about the video game business online. When games media gets its news from fiscal reports, it can be hard to parse what's actually going on outside the numbers. If the report comes from Sony, and the report says Bungie under-performed, then that's what is reported. [Kill the CEO in your headHigh-profile failures in the video game industry have changed how we talk about games for the worse![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)ReaderGrevMikhail Klimentov![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/stonks2_thumb.png)](https://www.readergrev.com/p/marathon-switch-2-very-serious-business-analysis?ref=aftermath.site) What this kind of writing does, though, is help get Sony's side of the story out there as the official history, and play its part in[ distorting the lens through which we view the games we play and the people who make them](https://www.readergrev.com/p/marathon-switch-2-very-serious-business-analysis?ref=aftermath.site). The framing supports a narrative that the people at Bungie have failed, that the game they have made is failing, when the reality is that executive decisions put them to work on a type of game that was destined to be a declining fad by the time the game actually came out, and that the only metrics for what constitutes a "successful" game are wildly optimistic ones based on[ delusional "line go up" sentiments at Sony and PlayStation](https://aftermath.site/sony-buys-remake-studio-shuts-them-down-and-lays-off-70-workers-without-releasing-a-remake/). [Sony Buys Remake Studio In 2021, Shuts Them Down In 2026 And Lays Off 70 Workers Without Them Releasing A RemakeThe word ‘mismanagement’ feels like an understatement![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bluepoint.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/sony-buys-remake-studio-shuts-them-down-and-lays-off-70-workers-without-releasing-a-remake/) And by couching the game--an entertainment product, a work of art, something that resonates with millions of fans around the world--as a purely financial entity, something where the fact loads of people enjoy playing it is overshadowed by the fact it's not making as much money as it could be, sucks. This isn't how the average person (and I'm going to suggest that the person getting their video games news from IGN is the very definition of this) needs to be learning about or engaging with this medium, or its industry! To me, and[ I'm someone who doesn't even play *Marathon*](https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-singleplayer/), if you're going to talk about the game's performance in terms of money and playerbase, I think context is everything. If all video games [that make it to release are a miracle](https://ltpf.ramiismail.com/milestones/?ref=aftermath.site), then AAA releases in 2026 in an over-saturated field that aren't [actual, instant failures](https://aftermath.site/highguard-shut-down-wildlight-failure/) are even more miraculous. "Bungie Working Miracles Despite Having Hands Tied Behind Back" might have been a more accurate summary of events! ### Roblox Developers Fight Over Ownership Of Dead By Daylight Roblox Clone Forsaken URL: https://aftermath.site/roblox-forsaken-lawsuit-dead-by-daylight-clone/ Last updated: 2026-05-14T13:32:07.000Z *Dead By Daylight* Roblox clone *Forsaken* is at the center of a new lawsuit, [filed in late April](https://www.scribd.com/document/1037876233/Roblox-lawsuit-via-Aftermath?ref=aftermath.site), as developers fight over who owns the game. Originally published by Peter Innes, known in the Roblox community as Soul, *Forsaken* is a popular Roblox game that's amassed nearly 5 billion visits and has more than 44,000 active players at the time of writing, making it one of the top 25 games on Roblox right now. But when Innes was accused of "personal misconduct" in 2025, the developer looked to pass along ownership to someone else. Eventually, a contract was drawn up and two Roblox developers, Eli Adams, also known as Hytoko, and Reyna Balboa, also known as Basil, took over. Now, Adams and Balboa say Innes is trying to undo the contract after Innes' parents found out about the deal. (All parties are over 18, according to court documents filed in late April.) After allegations around Innes' behavior surfaced, and which [caused community uproar online](https://www.reddit.com/r/AntiForsaken/comments/1rd4hcz/what%5Fhas%5Fsoul%5Freally%5Fdone/?ref=aftermath.site), Innes first sold the game to a different developer. The accusations are documented through Google Docs and [recounted through YouTube videos and on forums](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9siHyOl4S8M&ref=aftermath.site) and range from allegations of stalking, stealing money, and grooming children. Aftermath is unable to verify them. That contract was dissolved within months before Innes again started to speak to Adams and Balboa (who worked on *Forsaken* already) about permanent transfer of the game, according to the complaint. Adams drafted a transfer agreement, and after some back and forth regarding a termination clause, it was signed. The details of the contract are redacted in the complaint, but lawyers for Adams and Balboa say the contract was written in such a way that Innes' parents would not know about the sale. The contract gave Innes $350,000, a 40% revenue share, and control of one of the game's financial accounts. Per lawyers, this was part of the ruse to conceal the fact he sold the game Adams and Balboa took over, which their lawyers say was "no small task," because "many developers" were owed revenue share for *Forsaken*. *Roblox* developers, many who are children or young adults, often work on games in exchange for ["shares"](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adamstarrlawyer%5Froblox-devs-stop-saying-that-you-own-ugcPost-7317579110979903489-jYAn/?ref=aftermath.site)—often informal agreements that aren't always legally binding. Adams and Balboa's lawyers say Innes was "ecstatic" to see *Forsaken* reach a peak of one million players weeks after the sale. Innes' parents, however, started to seek out lawyers to get the IP back, Innes told the new owners. Redactions in the complaint make the next piece confusing; [lawyer Adam Starr, in a thread on X](https://x.com/AdamStarrLawyer/status/2053895935541830002?ref=aftermath.site), says that this portion appears to deal with payments from the contract that were sent to a Roblox account that Innes no longer had access to. Innes eventually got access to the account back, but told Roblox to freeze the account "pending the threatened litigation," Adams and Balboa's lawyers say in the complaint. They also allege Innes shared confidential details of the contract and leaked information using a burner X account. In March, Innes "formally asserted" that the transfer agreement was "void and unenforceable." The April lawsuit, from Adams and Balboa, was filed in late April, after the notice. Adams, posting to X, said on May 11 that Innes "has attempted to regain control of the game" with "potential plans to remove numerous members of the team." "We are not and have no intention of letting this game return to their hands. Due to their persistence on this, Basil and I have hired a litigator and filed a request to the courts confirming Soul does not have the rights to the IP anymore," [Adams wrote on X](https://x.com/Hytok0/status/2053849812504653943?ref=aftermath.site). Adams and Balboa are asking the court to declare that the contract is indeed valid and enforceable, ensuring their continued ownership of *Forsaken*. They also allege a breach of contract and say they've "suffered damages" as a result "in an amount not less than $100,000 (representing at least two breaches at $50,000 each), plus any additional $50,000-per-breach amounts established through discovery, plus injunctive relief enjoining further disclosures." Aftermath reached out to a lawyer for Adams and Balboa, but was unable to reach Innes for comment. **Update, May 11:** Joseph Levy, a lawyer for Adams and Balboa, provided Aftermath with the following statement: "My clients are focused on creating the best experience possible for Forsaken players. The defendant has made litigation an unfortunate necessity because he is not taking the Forsaken sale agreement seriously. We expect this to be quickly rectified, and the case should not have any impact on the development of Forsaken." ### You Can Rest Now, PSX Ghost In The Shell Anime Cutscenes URL: https://aftermath.site/the-ghost-in-the-shell-gits-motoko-kusanagi-science-saru-video-game/ Last updated: 2026-05-12T19:16:03.000Z I love [Science Saru](https://aftermath.site/dandadan-anime-sakuga-science-saru/) and *Ghost in the Shell* ([in all its iterations](https://gizmodo.com/netflixs-ghost-in-the-shell-sac%5F2045-season-2-trailer-1848589226?ref=aftermath.site)). So it comes as no surprise that I’m absolutely buzzing over Science Saru capturing both *Ghost in the Shell*’s [art style and tone](https://gizmodo.com/i-really-hope-the-new-ghost-in-the-shell-anime-keeps-the-majors-manga-goofiness-2000717983?ref=aftermath.site) in what looks to be a phenomenal [adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s ‘89 manga series](https://gizmodo.com/the-first-proper-ghost-in-the-shell-trailer-is-a-90s-anime-fever-dream-2000739279?ref=aftermath.site). While many fans are lauding the show as the [first faithful adaptation in the series’ history](https://x.com/v2TokyoGhost/status/2053668451072299518?s=20&ref=aftermath.site), I’d be remiss not to give flowers to the first piece of media that held down the fort for nearly 30 years for day-one fans who wanted the OG manga brought to life, long before Science Saru took a stab at it: PlayStation’s 1997 video game. Despite being a [cultural touchstone in anime and cyberpunk](https://kotaku.com/cyberpunk-citizen-sleeper-ghost-in-the-shell-blade-runn-1848956717?ref=aftermath.site), *Ghost in the Shell* hasn’t had much motion in video games. Sure, there was [*Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex- First Assault Online*](https://kotaku.com/the-best-part-of-the-ghost-in-the-shell-shooter-so-far-1747952742?ref=aftermath.site), a barebones 2016 multiplayer online shooter that only I and a handful of other folks played on Steam before it went offline, and a few crossover collabs here and there. But none of them had a chokehold on the fandom quite like developer Exact and THQ’s 1997 shooter did. And a huge part of the game’s reverence is its pulchritudinous animated cutscenes. The *Ghost in the Shell* game sees players join “The Major” Motoko Kusanagi and her anti-cyberterrorism group, Section 9\. While they control the spider-like tank Fuchikoma ([not to be confused with a Tachikoma](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ghost%5Fin%5Fthe%5FShell/comments/nhinti/tachicoma%5Fvs%5Ffuchicoma/?ref=aftermath.site)) in a series of strafe-shooting battles, the game’s arcade-like cutscenes—directed by [Hiroyuki Kitakubo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroyuki%5FKitakubo?ref=aftermath.site) (*Robot Carniva*l) and [Toshihiro Kawamoto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshihiro%5FKawamoto?ref=aftermath.site) (*Cowboy Bebop*) with animation by the series mainstay studio [Production I.G](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production%5FI.G?ref=aftermath.site)—are where the real magic happened. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ghost-in-the-shell-psx--1-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ghost-in-the-shell-psx--2-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ghost-in-the-shell-psx--3-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ghost-in-the-shell-psx--4-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ghost-in-the-shell-psx-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/ghost-in-the-shell-psx--5-.png) Production I.G / Exact / THQ / Sony For all the phenomenal adaptations the franchise has had, even *Stand Alone Complex* tends to hew closer to the grimmer, more austere tone set by [Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 film](https://kotaku.com/for-years-i-hated-ghost-in-the-shell-then-i-grew-up-5977908?ref=aftermath.site). Likewise, [The Major’s designs have diverged far from her OG look](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ghost%5Fin%5Fthe%5FShell/comments/1cv29aw/when%5Fits%5Fcomes%5Fto%5Fdrip%5Fand%5Fdesign%5Fwhich%5Fmajor%5Fhas/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=web3x&utm%5Fname=web3xcss&utm%5Fterm=1&utm%5Fcontent=share%5Fbutton). The PSX game, by contrast, offered a rare glimpse of what *Ghost in the Shell* might look like if it embraced the goofy energy and playful humanity of Shirow’s manga alongside its killer cyberpunk aesthetic. Here, players finally saw an effervescent, multitudinous Kusanagi—synchronizing with her Fuchikoma mid-battle, shooting the shit with her crew between missions, and doling out praise after a job well done while plenty of :3 faces abound. [It was perfect. Perfect. Right down to the last detail](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u5WPo2FgNEo?ref=aftermath.site). While the PSX’s *Ghost in the Shell* only graced us with a modest 12 and a half minutes of animation, to *GiTS* fans, those scenes have got the same level of motion as your favorite [*Final Fantasy*](https://youtu.be/39j5v8jlndM?ref=aftermath.site) or [*World of Warcraft* CGI trailers](https://kotaku.com/yep-blizzard-still-makes-the-best-trailers-1621592312?ref=aftermath.site). It also doesn’t hurt that the English voice cast featured the same voice actors from Mamoru Oshii’s 1995 movie, giving fans a 30-year What If scenario for where the series could’ve gone had it injected a bit more whimsy into its anime’s ghost. Also, its [soundtrack fucks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9avhp8QuAlk&list=PLF8A81FAC049FB959&ab%5Fchannel=VillzMcVillain&ref=aftermath.site). And now, as if carrying the baton from the PSX game, Science Saru’s *Ghost in the Shell* is putting an emphasis on the “*The*” in its title by fully embracing Shirow’s original manga tone and its retro, analog-gritty visual style. Kisses to the sky to [director Mokochan](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FpXNoWJUlf8?feature=share&ref=aftermath.site) and character designer [Shuhei Handa](https://x.com/denfaminicogame/status/2017433356871602458?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) for their part in making a three-decade-long dream a reality. ![Key visual for The Ghost in the Shell of Seciton 9. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/7fd2335d442cdaa6e73769149c0ebc6d7e0b6501-1.png) Science Saru With Science Saru’s anime adaptation releasing on July 7 on [Prime Video (boo!](https://gizmodo.com/prime-video-sucks-for-anime-science-saru-the-ghost-in-the-shell-exclusive-streaming-2000723977?ref=aftermath.site)), fans can finally retire those beloved PSX stills and cutscenes that were loved to ruin like a VHS tape, look forward to seeing that spirit realized in full, and fall in love with The Major and crew all over again. > I finally don't have to use gifs from the PS1 game for icons anymore.. This one has seen more tours than a soldier in 'Nam. Thank you for your service, soldier. [pic.twitter.com/AlsarDpb7f](https://t.co/AlsarDpb7f?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Claire (@draculllina) [May 11, 2026](https://twitter.com/draculllina/status/2053675789476872244?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > your cutscenes may finally be put to rest, sweet princess... [pic.twitter.com/55zwnsTSdF](https://t.co/55zwnsTSdF?ref=aftermath.site) > > — FLY (@FLYTRAPXX) [May 11, 2026](https://twitter.com/FLYTRAPXX/status/2053704297578119545?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > this is about to do to trans girl pfps what the asteroid did to the dinosaurs [https://t.co/zEHR5CKqpr](https://t.co/zEHR5CKqpr?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Laura! 🏳️‍⚧️🇵🇸🇺🇦 (@callsignDuster) [May 11, 2026](https://twitter.com/callsignDuster/status/2053718565069434999?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Thanks for holding us down for so long, PSX *Ghost in the Shell*. You can rest now, queen. ### Having A Concussion: A Review URL: https://aftermath.site/concussion-review-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-05-12T19:15:46.000Z There are a ton of great games to play and movies to see and bands to listen to, but lately I’ve been sinking all my time into one of life’s less mainstream experiences: having a concussion. If you’ve been wondering if having a concussion is right for you, here’s what you need to know. ## Availability Unlike RAM or affordable housing, it’s pretty easy to get a concussion. I’m a little embarrassed about how I got mine: After meeting a friend last Saturday night, I biked home through a bike lane that’s long been under construction. The streetlight above it was either out or not working very well, and it was really dark. I remember smugly thinking “Boy, this is dangerous, it’s a good thing I’m being so careful–” and then I’m not really sure what happened. I was suddenly aware that I was making a weird yell–I could hear it, and knew it was my voice, but I didn’t feel like I was doing it–and then that my face and hands were skidding along the pavement. My best guess is that I hit something in the lane; I ended up in front of my bike with my shoelaces tangled in the handlebars, but even after revisiting the site the next day, I have no clue what caused me to crash. Some other cyclists stopped to help me, but I was mostly focused on not making a big thing out of it. I thanked them and hurried away, and when I got to an area light enough to look at myself with my phone camera, I saw that my face was covered in blood and that what I thought was a bunch of gravel that had gotten in my mouth was, alas, pieces of one of my front teeth. I didn’t want to freak anyone else out, so I walked my bike home holding my arm over my face *Phantom of the Opera* style, which I recognize now probably wasn’t less freaky. I tried to Google whether breaking a tooth is a medical emergency or just a real drag, and that’s when I realized I was seeing spots. I chalked it up to the adrenaline and to the fact that I’d broken my glasses, but I texted some friends to ask their advice. One of them, who is probably reading this and so would be very keen for me to tell you is a New York State-licensed neuropsychologist, came over and did the little tests you do to find out if someone has a concussion. In getting a concussion’s favor, these are kind of fun, but I could tell I wasn’t doing great at them–my balance was sort of off, and I could repeat back a list of words but not numbers. My friend told me I had a concussion, but I’ll admit I brushed it off as him being uptight; I’d had my helmet on and had been going slow. I grumbled and ranted about him making me stay awake for a few hours, and was peevy about him spending the night–he told me feeling irritable is one of the symptoms of a concussion, so it was at least also fun to yell “I’m irritable!” as a way to make light of the fact that I was aware I was being a dick to someone just trying to help me. The next day my vision was fine and I felt pretty OK, so I convinced my friend to go home; I was tired and cranky, and I was sick of thinking about the whole stupid incident. I sat down to do some work on my computer, and I realized that even though I could see again, I couldn’t exactly *read*. I could see the words, and I knew what words they were, but they weren’t quite turning into meaning. I called my friend and said “Hey, I think I have a concussion.” He said, “Yeah, I told you that,” and I said “No, I *really* think I have a concussion.” I still felt like the whole accident was so minor that it was impossible for this to really be happening, but I’ve since learned that you can get a concussion from all kinds of things, even if they don’t seem like a big deal. So if you’re worried you won’t be able to find a concussion when you want one, have no fear: they’re widely available. ## Price After more arguing with my friend, I decided to go to an urgent care. When I told the lady at the desk I thought I had a concussion, she told me to go to the ER. I dragged my heels and called my friend to fight about it some more, but I eventually decided that even if my friend is literally a doctor, “my friend says I have a concussion” felt like an irresponsible way to proceed with issues related to my brain, and that maybe it would be better to have it on the record somewhere. You might share my concern about whether having a concussion is within your budget. I can’t say for sure yet, but it depends on your circumstances: Thanks to [changes to New York State insurance](https://nysfocus.com/2025/09/26/essential-plan-medicaid-explained?ref=aftermath.site) due to Trump, I now have exceptionally [garbage insurance](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3mks3tiwcs22x?ref=aftermath.site). Prior to my crash, I had been joking that the financially responsible thing to do would be for me to have a minor but expensive injury early into my plan year to [meet my impossible deductible](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3mkw5ly2q3s2e?ref=aftermath.site), which my ultimate decision to go to the ER might well qualify as depending how poorly I understood my brand new insurance while having a head injury. In retrospect, I regret going, but I would definitely advise you to see some kind of doctor if you have acquired your first concussion. On a positive note, this means that having a concussion has come with bonus content: getting to have panic attacks as new, weird bills keep showing up, and getting to redirect some of my emotions about the situation into fury at the American healthcare system. I was disappointed that the ER was not very much like [*The Pitt*](https://aftermath.site/the-pitt-hbo-competence/), and while I was curious about whether the show’s popularity has changed how people interact with ER staff I resisted the urge to ask, because I worried explaining “I’m asking because I’m a reporter, you see” with a face full of road rash and part of a tooth might give journalism a bad name. I was there for about six hours, during which they didn’t do very much–eventually a doctor and a resident poked at me a bit, agreed I probably had a concussion, and took some x-rays to see if I was hurt anywhere else. While this was definitely not worth whatever the visit is ultimately going to cost, I did have a sort of lovely time watching the dramas of the ER go by and all the nurses and paramedics working so hard to help people. I started wondering if I should become a paramedic, or if I should complete my chaplaincy training–neither of these career pivots will likely make having a concussion more affordable, but at least it passed the time as I sat there panicking about my insurance and feeling embarrassed that I was too small for my feet to reach the ground in the oversized triage area chair. Eventually the ER sent me home with a sheaf of papers about concussions, and I got to have one last humiliation when the resident caught me standing in the hallway attempting to read it by holding it against my face. ## Gameplay Following the dramatic early hours of having a concussion, the rest of the experience really drags. While you [no longer](https://www.concussionalliance.org/recovery-guide?ref=aftermath.site) have to slog through a tedious opener of sitting in a dark room for 48 hours, I probably rushed things a little too soon. I couldn’t look at my computer at all, and I could only bear my phone for brief flashes before my brain started to feel hot and gross in my head, so I spent a little too much time wandering that would have better been spent back at base. On Monday I went on a walk, which turned into the brain injury-induced bad idea to go to a nearby zoo. Groups of schoolchildren and the more energetic animals were way too much for me, and I ended up mostly staring blankly at the birds that were too boring for the kids to be interested in. I also went to the dentist to get my tooth fixed. At the time, I thought everyone was very charmed by my declaring “I have a concussion!” whenever they asked me questions, but I can see now that this probably just freaked them out as they shined bright lights in my face and asked me to make medical decisions. I was relieved that the tooth was actually a pretty easy fix and not horrifyingly expensive, which means I never have to tell my mom what I did to the teeth she spent so much money for braces on. Walking home from the dentist I made another bad early concussion decision to go to the botanic garden, only to realize about 15 minutes in that I absolutely could not be there and had to sit down with my hands over my eyes until I could rally the strength to go home. If you’ve been looking to make the experience of “looking at tulips” more cognitively challenging then you might enjoy a concussion, but all these bad choices laid me out later in the week. I’ve spent most of the concussion mid-game lying around at home feeling physically awful and also [wildly anxious and sad](https://www.midjerseyortho.com/blog/do-concussions-affect-your-mood?ref=aftermath.site), then trying not to feel anxious and sad because apparently that is also [bad for having a concussion](https://share.upmc.com/2025/04/concussion-after-anxiety/?ref=aftermath.site). It took me nearly a week to get to the dishes I’d left in the sink before my crash, because every time I thought about doing them, the steps involved seemed way too complicated. This weekend I decided I wanted a snack from the grocery store, and then was physically unable to decide what to get until I got worried the store staff thought I was shoplifting and left. Apparently the optimal concussion strategy is to do things as you can handle them, then back off when they make your symptoms worse. Some of the things that slowly started to feel more possible were a little bit embarrassing: One of the things it was recommended I could do was color, so I bought an adult coloring book at a nearby bookstore, needlessly explaining to the staffer “I have a concussion!” when she asked me if I was looking for anything in particular. After a few days I was able to use my computer to watch literally only *The Simpsons* if I turned the volume and brightness nearly off. Fascinatingly, I never had problems doing my [Duolingo Irish lessons](https://aftermath.site/duolingo-ai/), which required just enough cognitive effort to help my brain remember how to operate normally without overtaxing it, which is probably a real knock against Duolingo as a learning tool. Video games are still too much, though I did download one of those scammy-looking [sorting puzzle games](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magic-sort/id6499209744?ref=aftermath.site) Duolingo is always advertising, which, like Duolingo, has been just the right amount of mindless to help me feel like I’m using my brain without causing it to pulse hideously against the inside of my skull. Trying to play my mandolin for the first time on Friday caused me to spend the rest of the day battling the need to throw up, but on Saturday night I managed a few scales as long as I kept my eyes closed. My favorite parts of having a concussion have been going on walks, taking showers, and getting in bed at 9pm, which even if they feel like the way a sickly Victorian boy spends his time do have a certain charm. Besides the deeply unpleasant physical experience, it’s been surprisingly difficult emotionally, with my already-chaotic feelings just being all over the place. I suppose it’s a point in having a concussion’s favor that something so boring can still be so intense, and that it manages that feat with relatively little resources. ## Takeaways Even when I’ve had setbacks, things have by and large been improving. After a week I’m feeling a lot better, but there’s still more concussion to get through before I can roll credits on the whole thing. The experience of writing this blog has been incredibly weird, where as exciting as it is to be able to put words together again, it feels like way more work than usual. When I first started trying to write this, I managed about an hour before getting so clobbered with a headache and nausea that I had to turn off all the lights and dive into bed. As awed as I am by my brain’s ability to clean up the mess I made for it in relatively short order, I’ve also found myself sort of struggling with what it means to get better. Before this happened, I was having a really difficult time with stress here at work, and even though having a concussion has been in no sense a vacation, it’s been a kind of a reset on how tough things had grown for me. My general life strategy for dealing with challenges is to pride myself on pushing through, and having to notice when my body and brain need rest and give it to them, even when I don’t want to or when I feel I haven’t put in the effort to “deserve” it, has been a real wakeup call. Being medically obligated to go easy on myself has been, frankly, terrible, but it’s given me some space to think about if it’s even possible for me to not just fall back into my usual habits. It’s also made me think a lot about how I spend my time. There are so many things I want to do or spend more time on that I let take second place to work, and having my ability to do them put on pause just by banging my face on the ground has made me realize how precious my literal ability to do them is. Not being able to scroll [social media](https://aftermath.site/reels-shorts-regret/) without getting dizzy has made me more aware than ever that I don’t want it to play such a big role in my life, and all the things I *do* want to do have taken on a new urgency. (Having a concussion has also at least temporarily cured my bad habit of [falling asleep on the couch in front of cartoons](https://aftermath.site/bobs-burgers-has-some-nice-snow/); going to bed in my bed is *amazing*.) You could surely learn these lessons *without* getting a concussion, which if I could do things over is probably how I’d go about it. (Or I’d at least try to get one in a cooler way; the fact that it wasn’t even from playing [rugby](https://aftermath.site/rugby-20-oh-no/) will shame me for life.) Overall, I can’t say I recommend having a concussion: while the novelty has on occasion been interesting, and while it’s introduced new challenges into stale life tasks like sitting upright and choosing what to wear, it’s a slow-paced experience that’s nevertheless unpleasantly stressful, and the variable cost and runtime don’t make it a good deal. 4/10\. [Wooden Cup-And-Ball Toy: A Review - AftermathCan’t beat the classics![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ballcup-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/cup-and-ball-toy-kendama-review/) ### Double Fine Is Unionizing URL: https://aftermath.site/double-fine-union-microsoft-cwa-xbox/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T23:59:26.000Z Double Fine, the Microsoft-owned studio behind *Psychonauts* and, more recently, experimental fare like *Keeper* and *Kiln*, is set to unionize, per [a petition filed to the National Labor Relations Board](https://www.nlrb.gov/case/20-RC-386546?ref=aftermath.site). The petition, filed May 7, says that like other Microsoft games division studios that have unionized to date, Double Fine workers are making their unionization push in conjunction with [Communications Workers of America (CWA)](https://aftermath.site/tag/cwa/). The union will include all “regular part-time and full-time employees”—a total of 42\. “On May 7, the workers at Microsoft studio Double Fine Productions announced their decision to form a union with CWA to preserve and extend the studio’s commitments to creative excellence, diversity and inclusion, and worker quality of life," CWA said in a statement to Aftermath. "In tandem with requesting voluntary recognition from the company, workers have also filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to secure union representation. We appreciate that Microsoft has taken a neutral approach and agreed not to interfere in any way with worker’s rights to organize unions.” CWA has continued to organize Microsoft workers [even as the company has laid off thousands](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-unions-microsoft-layoffs-mmo-elder-scrolls/), and neutrality agreements—bargained [back in 2022](https://news.microsoft.com/source/2022/06/13/cwa-microsoft-announce-labor-neutrality-agreement/?ref=aftermath.site) prior to the completion of Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard—[have lapsed](https://aftermath.site/battle-net-workers-unionize-blizzard-entertainment-cwa/). The hope is to negotiate a new neutrality agreement in the near future, Juniper Dowell, a senior QA tester and union steward at Zenimax Bethesda Softworks, told Aftermath at GDC in March. In 2025, CWA also helped establish [a direct-join union](https://aftermath.site/uvw-cwa-video-game-union-microsoft-trump-musk/), UVW-CWA, for games workers who’ve been laid off or who aren’t employed at any specific studio. It now has over 550 members, Kaitlin “KB” Bonfiglio, a writer and designer who serves as the direct-join union’s secretary, told Aftermath in March. At GDC, the union also proposed a [game workers’ bill of rights](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-dev-union-members-marched-at-gdc-to-propose-a-game-workers-bill-of-rights/?ref=aftermath.site), a set of protections workers hope to make universal across studios. Within Microsoft, meanwhile, CWA has [unionized thousands of workers](https://aftermath.site/diablo-union-activision-blizzard-microsoft-cwa-layoffs/) across multiple Activision Blizzard and Zenimax studios, though—at least in part due to [Microsoft dragging its feet](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-zenimax-cwa-union-contract-negotiations-strike/)—only a few have [successfully](https://aftermath.site/blizzard-qa-workers-newly-ratified-union-contract-locks-in-pay-increases-better-benefits/) [ratified contracts](https://aftermath.site/zenimax-union-contract/) so far. ## Recommended [Magic: The Gathering Arena Team Unionizes At Wizards of the CoastA group of workers at Magic: The Gathering Arena maker Wizards of the Coast is asking management to voluntarily recognize the union.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/vZ5R9NDDPs.webp)](https://aftermath.site/magic-the-gathering-arena-team-unionizes-at-wizards-of-the-coast/) ### Nintendo Keeps Going Back To The Millennial Nostalgia Well (And So Does Everyone Else) URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-star-fox-alanah-pearce-charred/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T20:41:00.000Z We’re finally getting [a new *Star Fox*](https://www.youtube.com/live/ePZeyh5q9R8?ref=aftermath.site). Kinda! Say what you will about the graphical style and character designs, but it definitely *looks* new. However, [depending on how you count these things](https://www.polygon.com/star-fox-2026-remake-64-3d-zero/?ref=aftermath.site), *Star Fox* (2026) is either the fifth iteration of the original *Star Fox* or the third iteration of *Star Fox 64*. It’s a particularly egregious example of a tried-and-true Nintendo tactic: dust off a game aging millennials are nostalgic for and charge full price. But Nintendo is far from the only offender in this regard. On the latest Aftermath Hours, we talk about the well—or perhaps last ditch—companies can’t stop going back to. This time around, I’m outnumbered by Australians when [Alanah Pearce](https://bsky.app/profile/alanahpearce.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site)—games writer, voice actor, YouTuber, and filmmaker extraordinaire—joins the show (and also Luke is there). We discuss Alanah’s new production company, [Charred Pictures](https://www.charredpictures.com/?ref=aftermath.site), and its goal of involving indie developers in the process of adapting games into movies and TV shows. We also talk about the overall state of video game adaptations and the glut of tales that have already been told. Then we dig into the controversial (at least, in Hollywood) element of Alanah’s operation: She’s working with YouTubers to secure funding, which she believes makes perfect sense when they’re fans of the games being adapted. What, in this day and age of content creators being everywhere, still causes film execs to balk at the idea? After that, we move on to an arguably even more consequential discussion: [*Star Fox* looks fucked up now](https://aftermath.site/star-fox-64-remake-nintendo-direct/). But maybe that’s not such a bad thing? Lastly, we throw up our hands at Xbox’s inconsistent (to say the least) [approach to AI](https://aftermath.site/xbox-copilot-ai-dead-asha-sharma-microsoft/) and then come to the only remaining logical conclusion: Aftermath should be put in charge of Xbox. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that some algorithm or another will eventually surface the show to the wealthy benefactor who’ll spot us millions or billions to buy Xbox from Microsoft. Or, for a limited time, you can support us by subscribing to Aftermath AND three other great independent sites—[Rascal](https://www.rascal.news/?ref=aftermath.site), [Rogue](https://www.rogue.site/?ref=aftermath.site), and [Never Post](https://www.neverpo.st/?ref=aftermath.site)—at a 50% discount. [Check it out](https://trustfnd.com/aftermath/c/independent-media-collective--QCZa1yLMKZDyDopXX7Pa?ref=aftermath.site)! Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Alanah:** What I think Nintendo actually deserves more criticism for, constantly, is that they are once again releasing a game—again—that they will sell at full price and never have on sale. I just think that Nintendo knows that millennials are all just so in their nostalgia, and we will spend money on this stuff. The amount of times I’ve bought *Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker*… and I’ll do it again! If they want to re-release it on Switch 2 again, I’ll buy it again. That’s the worst part. And they just keep doing it. I’m part of the problem. We keep letting them get away with it, and it sucks. I feel like it’s just so wildly anti-consumer. None of this stuff ever goes on sale. You rarely get a discount because you bought it before—like the PS4-to-PS5 tiny upgrade thing that they do. Nintendo’s just like “You’ll buy it again, you son of a bitch.” And we will, and it sucks. **Nathan:** I saw somebody yesterday say that the real story here is Nintendo’s 30-year quest to not make a new *Star Fox* at all costs, and it really does feel that way. **Alanah:** When was the last *Star Fox*? **Nathan:** 2016, and even then, it wasn’t *Star Fox 3* or whatever. It is worth pointing out that the first time people heard of the new *Star Fox* game was via a leak, and that same leak also said that *Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time* is getting a remake. **Alanah:** Like, in the *Breath of the Wild* engine? Can you imagine? **Nathan:** That I’m not sure about. It’d be interesting! But that engine is so tailor-made for a massive world, and *Ocarina* is comparatively a much smaller game—at least in terms of geography and real estate. I’m curious about it, but at the same time, there have already been many re-releases of *Ocarina*. **Luke:** Wow, it’s almost as if *Ocarina* was made at a certain time for a certain platform, and that that’s where it should’ve stayed—and we don’t need it to be remade. Wow. **Alanah:** I… disagree. However, there’s this thing I always think about with *Ocarina of Time*; \[Double Fine head\] Tim Schafer said this to me, and I always think about how interesting it is. He wanted to see what games look like for the next generation of game directors who haven’t all played *Ocarina of Time*. You’d be hard pressed right now to find a game director who has not played *Ocarina of Time*. The game is so, so, so influential. I wonder, what is the *Fortnite* generation of game directors? What are they making? **Nathan:** They’re making stuff in *Roblox*. I think those directors already exist. They’re making a wildly different kind of game; it’s just a game where you hang out in Discord. I’m sure some of them have played *Ocarina*, but there is a generation gap there. I think that a lot of younger people haven’t played *Ocarina of Time* and probably won’t unless this remake really drives them to do that. But even then, I do not think this remake—hypothetical remake—will be for younger people. It’s for aging millennials. **Luke:** I work part time at a video game school, and as a direct sort of example, I was talking to a guy last year. It was me, another guy in his late 30s, and then there was this guy who was in his early 20s; he was a recently graduated student. I was like “What is the oldest game you’ve played?” And he sat there and he thought “Hmmm, *World of Warcraft*. That game’s pretty old.” And I said “My man, that came out in 2004,” and he said, “I was born in 2002.” **Nathan:** Yep, 2004 is 22 years ago. **Alanah:** He’s never played *Pong*? **Luke:** That’s what I said: “You’ve never played the original *Mario*?” He went “Nope.” To him, *World of Warcraft* was what *Pong* is to someone my age. And that made me sit down and exhale really deeply. **Alanah:** That is awful. I wish you hadn’t said that. But I would say, find me a first-person shooter director who hasn’t played *Half-Life 2*. I don’t think that person exists. **Nathan:** But I feel like that kind of shooter has become increasingly less prominent to the point where almost no big companies are making those now. Most shooters are multiplayer or co-op driven; we’re seeing games imitate *Helldivers* now. I think there is a growing distance from the things we consider classics by virtue of age and the sheer number of games coming out now. There are so many different entry points, whereas back then there was more of a monoculture, so we all had the same on-ramp. But that’s no longer the case. **Alanah:** To full circle this, what has *Star Fox* influenced? Where does its influence go? Who knows. But I do feel like this, like you said, is specifically for our generation of olds who are nostalgia mining. I mean, it all comes back to Ronald Reagan at the end of the day, when you really think about it. **Nathan:** His input on the original *Star Fox* was crucial. He was like “What if, instead of making them people flying the space ships, there was a fox and a toad? And I want the toad to look really wet. Can we make him look super wet?” **Alanah:** Yeah, a really wet toad. But no, I mean, \[Reagan\] legalized advertising to children, right? That was a new thing that came with Reagan, so that’s how we got the *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* show, and that’s how *Pokemon* came about. It’s this whole generation of advertising to children. We were kind of the first wave of that, so we’re still just children being advertised to, and it’s very difficult to switch that off in our brains. So I think making money off millennials’ nostalgia—considering they were advertised to from a very young age for all of these franchises—\[is especially appealing to companies\]. It’s very hard for us not to be like “Oh, I do want to relive my childhood.” Thanks, Reagan. You got me again. **Luke:** I think there’s a strategic misstep there in that it’s following the playbook already put down by Gen X nostalgia, which was heavily weaponized. Gen X nostalgia was a billion-dollar industry. All those Transformers movies. Those so many remakes and pivots to ‘80s popular culture that printed money for so long. Millennial pandering is not gonna be anywhere near as successful because we don’t have any money. We don’t have the money that those Gen X people had in their 30s and 40s. We don’t have those jobs. We don’t have that economy. We can’t go out and spend hundreds of dollars on remakes and reboots and tributes to the things we grew up with, because we don’t have that money. Me and Nathan work full time for a video game website, and we don’t own Switch 2s. That’s where we’re at at the moment in terms of how much disposable income the average millennial has to buy this nostalgia stuff. I think it’s a really bad idea to rely on that like you did the Gen X stuff. The amount of money on hand is just not there like it was 10 or 15 years ago. ## Recommended [Star Fox Looks Fucked UpThey massacred my boy (complimentary?)![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/fawkes.png)](https://aftermath.site/star-fox-64-remake-nintendo-direct/) ### Turning A Big Dial Taht Says "Civilization" On It And Constantly Looking Back At The Audience For Approval Like A Contestant On The Price Is Right URL: https://aftermath.site/civilization-vii-civ-firaxis-update/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T20:40:50.000Z In a recent[ interview](https://www.gamefile.news/p/bioshock-gta-nfl-civ7-take-two-strauss-zelnick?ref=aftermath.site) with Game File,[ Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick](https://aftermath.site/tag/strauss-zelnick-2/) spoke a little about the struggles that *Civilization VII*\--[an immensely disappointing video game](https://aftermath.site/civilization-vii-review/)\--has experienced since launching over a year ago. Admitting that the game has been off to a slow start in terms of sales, and taking personal responsibility for the game's wild swings by saying he "got it wrong", Zelnick says that Firaxis' attempt at distancing itself from the core *Civilization* formula was a "bridge too far": > Every time there’s a new Civ, the team at Firaxis thinks about: ‘How do we push the envelope far enough that it makes sense to buy this new game? And how do we preserve what people love enough so that they’re not disaffected?’ And we got it wrong with Civ VII, but it wasn’t for want of trying. And again, I take responsibility for it. > > So we’ve made a bunch of fixes. We’ll continue to make fixes. The game is a really good game. And it’s certainly a profitable enterprise for us. But this is one where I think what we tried to do was a bridge too far, from the consumer’s perspective. Not to pick on a guy who's already admitting here that he's got something wrong, but he's got this wrong as well. As have Firaxis, the studio ultimately responsible for the game with the "fixes" he mentions. Ever since *Civ VII's* launch, the team have announced a ton of changes and updates to the game, some of the most important aimed at allowing the player to toggle (or bypass entirely) many of those wild swings, in essence reverting *Civilization VII* to a newer, slightly different-looking version of *Civilization VI*. It's easy to understand why. I'm sure their most consistent and vocal feedback has been a dislike of new systems introduced to try to differentiate *Civ VII* from its predecessors, like Civ-swapping and distinct ages, so on one level you can't really blame them for addressing those. But the problem here--and this is across AAA game dev, not just Firaxis--is that your loudest and most online fans aren't always the most representative of your entire playerbase. Just like online shooters that spend years catering to the meta, wondering why their audience slowly drops off as normal players zone out, I think Firaxis have spent the last decade listening to the kind of *Civ* players who spend too much time on Reddit and in forums, and not enough time just playing the game and finding out why millions of less online fans might enjoy it. *Civ VII's* problems are many, and go well beyond new stuff that can be walked back in an update. I mean yes, the new stuff has proven to suck; swapping Civs robs your game of any consistency across eras, and the ages system, while sounding cool on paper, creates weird bottlenecks in your game that are at odds with the rest of its flowing representation of history. But so many of *Civ VII's* deeper issues can't be fixed with updates like the one that is coming (which will let you play as the same Civ throughout), because it was catering to the hardest core of fans that got Firaxis in this mess in the first place. *Civ VII*, like *Civ VI*, is far too obsessed with its city-building meta, a number-juggling foundation of the entire experience that is huge fun for a percentage of sickos, but is also off-putting to sections of *Civ's* casual audience. For many, the most fun you can have in *Civ* is exploring an unknown world, building cool stuff and[ moving guys around the map](https://aftermath.site/strategy-game-turn-based-tactics-movement/), not endlessly crunching adjacency bonuses. This is something that will never be addressed in an update. > iv written a lot about the failures of recent 4X games lately, but playing old world right after them (civ 7, endless legend 2) really shows how it's done. those games have lost sight of the feeling of being alone and small in a vast, unknown world. old world absolutely nails it. > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nhqvuggd6ebasluetrqfab6n/post/3m2c2t326ys2n?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Luke Plunkett ([@lukeplunkett.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nhqvuggd6ebasluetrqfab6n?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [October 3, 2025 at 10:26 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nhqvuggd6ebasluetrqfab6n/post/3m2c2t326ys2n?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) *Civ VII* also[ shares a failing with *Endless Legend 2*](https://aftermath.site/endless-legend-2-review-impressions-early-access/), in that in pursuit of combos and numbers and optimisation, it has lost sight of some of the purest joys to be had in a 4X game. *Civ VII's* game world looks like a board game, not a *world*, and it's staggering to look back as recently as *Civ IV*\--or modern competitor *Old World*, which has strong links to *Civ IV's* development team--and see how much more work went into making the world feel *alive*. This will never be addressed in an update either. *Civ VII's* diplomacy is also the worst it's been for the series in a very long time. From the heights of *Civ V's* iconic villains/best friends, who were dripping with emotion and would constantly pop in to simply compliment or harass you, the latest game's diplomacy has been reduced to a bland bartering system. This kneecaps the entire experience; *Civ* games are built on emergent story-telling, it's the rivalries you develop with the AI more than anything else that keep you coming back to play fresh games. Without them, *Civ VII* feels dull and lifeless. I highly doubt anything can be done about this in an update. I'm not saying "just remake *Civ V*" here. I admire the intent to take some big swings with *Civ VII*, even if they didn't land; I wish more big, legacy series were that bold. But the fact remains they didn't land, and the team's attempt to recover from that by dialling everything back probably isn't going to work either, because I don't think that can fix what's wrong with *Civ VII*. *Civ VII's* biggest problems are fundamental, they formed a core part of the game's design, and most of them carried over from *Civ VI* because Firaxis thought they were the bedrock of the game. I think the only way things are going to improve is if *Civ VIII* takes its own big swings while remembering what it is people really love about *Civ*, not what its most hardcore fans tell you they love. ### Thank God, They’re Properly Re-Releasing The Devils URL: https://aftermath.site/ken-russell-the-devils-rerelease-theaters/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T19:50:29.000Z As someone who cares about the preservation of movies, there is one masterpiece that I have assumed that we would never fully get in its intended form: Ken Russell’s *The Devils*. If you don’t know him, Ken Russell was a stone cold freak, responsible for the transgressive *Women in Love*, *Altered States,* and the twisted*Lisztomania* (a movie wherein Ringo plays the pope and there’s an extended dream sequence where the titular composer’s giant foam penis is guillotined). If Ken Russell has a masterpiece it is doubtless his 1971 film *The Devils,* a movie so depraved, sexual, violent and sacrilegious that it was condemned by the Vatican, lambasted by critics and banned in many countries. But thanks to a new 4k restoration of the film appearing first at Cannes, we’re finally gonna see this blasphemous thing in theaters again as the filmmaker intended more than 50 years later. ![A nun turning her head while other nuns cower in fear.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/the_devils_dvd.png) This is taken from the one BFI DVD. It's a much better looking movie than this. Credit: Warner Brothers *The Devils* was adapted partly from the book *The Devils of Loudun* by Aldous Huxley and the subsequent stage adaptation *The Devils* by John Whiting. Though technically based on real historical events, it is not a film that prioritizes historical accuracy and instead centers on bombast, spectacle and transgression, a running theme in many biographical films by Ken Russell. ![Oliver Reed looking defiantly as robed inquisitors are in the background out of focus.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/devils-reed.png) Oliver Reed is so good in this movie. Credit: Warner Brothers Starring Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed (who had previously worked with Russell on *Dante’s Inferno* and *Women in Love*), the film tells the story of Urbain Grandier, a historical 17th century priest who was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake in what is historically known as The [Loudun possessions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudun%5Fpossessions?ref=aftermath.site). It is a movie about both sexual depravity and repression as well as the abuses and manipulation of power. It is at times campy and often in poor taste, horny and violent in ways that still hold the power to shock. ![A large set of a town's square with towering buildings, a crowd in black, and banners.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/rip1-1.png) The sets in this movie, designed by Jarman, are a marvel to behold. Credit: Warner Brothers The film was the subject of censorship even prior to its release, with several scenes involving depraved sex acts being excised. One was infamously known as “The Rape Of Christ” in which a statue of Christ is assaulted by a [clutch of rampaging, naked nuns](https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210802-why-x-rated-masterpiece-the-devils-is-still-being-censored?ref=aftermath.site). Since its initial release in 1971, *The Devils* has had an appropriately tortured history. It has been released, officially and unofficially, in various states of censorship too granular to recount on television, in theaters, and in home release. The highest quality home release was a 2012 DVD by the British Film Institute of the still-censored UK cut of the movie. Many like-minded film nerds I know have held on to that disc or a rip of it for dear life since it came out. ![A foppish nonbleman lit by rainbow gels with a giant hat, a mask, and holding a hand mask. Nuns and various people are in the background.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/devils--2-.png) Imagine a good transfer of this. Credit: Warner Brothers A transfer of roughly that quality has appeared occasionally on streaming services like Shudder, FilmStruck, and its successor The Criterion Channel, but nothing approaching a high definition home release of the film has ever been close to hinted at. This is a pity, because it is a gorgeous film at times. Particularly noteworthy is the deeply elaborate set design, itself the work of Derek Jarman who would go on to be perhaps the greatest queer filmmaker of all time. It is impossible to watch *The Devils*, even in its incomplete form, and not think of Jarman’s later work such as *Sebastiane*, his adaptation of Shakespere’s *The Tempest*, and his painterly *Caravaggio.* ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Caravaggio-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Caravaggio-2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/tempest1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/tempest2.jpg) Derek Jarman's later work on Caravaggio (top) and The Tempest (bottom). Credit: Kino Lorber, The British Film Institute Thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel. *The Devils* is getting a full 4k restoration from the original camera negative, and it is cut to the exact specifications of Ken Rusell himself thanks to the new label Warner Brothers Clockwork. It’s set to release at the 79th [Cannes Film Festival](https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/ken-russell-the-devils-release-warner-bros-clockwork-1235192564/?ref=aftermath.site), this month, in the Cannes Classics section. Following that, the film will be released in limited engagement in theaters in America on October 16th, with international dates to follow. There is no word yet as to a home release, but I would not doubt that one will follow. ![A poster for the restored Director's Cut, with Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/The-Devils-Poster.jpg) Great poster work by the way. Warner Bros. Clockwork via [Boxofficepro](https://www.boxofficepro.com/warner-bros-clockwork-announces-fall-2026-global-theatrical-release-for-4k-directors-cut-restoration-of-ken-russells-the-devils/?ref=aftermath.site). ### I Love My Instant Pot MagicFroth 9-in-1 Milk Frother URL: https://aftermath.site/i-love-my-instant-pot-magicfroth-9-in-1-milk-frother/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T19:11:14.000Z It is currently iced coffee weather, which means one thing: my [Instant Pot MagicFroth 9-in-1](https://instantpot.com/products/instant-pot-magicfroth-9-in-1?ref=aftermath.site) milk frother is getting a workout. I am grateful to live within walking distance of two really nice coffee shops, but when you’re trying to cut down on spending, a $6 coffee is usually the first thing to go. Getting coffee concentrate—or even going all the way and making my own cold brew—is a much less expensive option than going to the coffee shop every day. But the nice thing about having someone else make your coffee is 1) someone else is making your coffee, and 2) you get a little treat. My own shitty coffee cannot compare to whatever magic they do behind the counter at the shop. Enter my milk frother. I have shopped around for a milk frother and have gone from a handheld wand style frother (you have to heat the milk separately, which is annoying) to a cheap frother that could heat milk but broke down after around nine months. Eventually I ended up purchasing the Instant Pot MagicFroth 9-in-1 after reading a ton of user reviews that stated that while it takes a *long* time to heat up milk, it froths beautifully. It claims to have nine functions because it offers three temperature settings (cold, warm, hot) and three frothing settings (stir, foam, extra foam). Although I only really use three of these settings, I am still happy with my purchase. But really, who wouldn’t ever opt for extra foam? Add my take to this pile: While you’ll never get the density or heat that you get from steaming milk traditionally, this frother does exactly what I want it to do beautifully. Namely, now whenever I want a nice foam-y top for my matcha or my coffee, I can have one. While different milks froth differently—the foam from almond milk was almost too stiff, and if I want my oat milk foam hot, I’d have to settle for a looser foam than I’d get at a coffee shop—the end result is consistent enough to turn my perfunctory homemade coffee into a delightful little cup of joy. What’s most tremendous is the ability to add foam to iced drinks, something that a milk steamer wouldn’t be able to help me with. Right now I am drinking an oat milk latte with a little bit of cinnamon on top of the foam, and it’s simply a delight. Now that strawberries are close to being in season, I’m also really excited to make my own iced strawberry matcha. Sorry to my favorite coffee shops, but that’s $6 that’s staying in my pocket. ### Cursor Camp Is A Nice Little Place To Hang Out URL: https://aftermath.site/cursor-camp-impressions/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T14:00:37.000Z I love an online multiplayer game as much as the next person, but sometimes—most of the time, actually—I just wish everyone would shut up. It would also be great if they couldn’t be mean to me, or even express that they wanted to. In that regard and several others, [*Cursor Camp*](https://neal.fun/cursor-camp/?ref=aftermath.site) is basically perfect. In *Cursor Camp*, you play as a character you’ve already invested tens if not hundreds of thousands of hours in: your mouse cursor. The free web game dumps you and a bunch of other players—each controlling their own cursor with a flag denoting which country they’re from—onto an idyllic wooded beachfront and invites you to do exactly what you’d expect: click on stuff to see what happens. Fun little secrets abound, whether you’re spelunking, making s’mores, or collecting sea shells. > Introducing Cursor Camp, a website to hang out with other cursors. Out now :) > neal.fun/cursor-camp/ > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:y77hmt4ost5n5cnwyvy7qyk7/post/3mknfsgwcxs2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Neal Agarwal ([@neal.fun](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:y77hmt4ost5n5cnwyvy7qyk7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [April 29, 2026 at 8:24 AM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:y77hmt4ost5n5cnwyvy7qyk7/post/3mknfsgwcxs2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) True to the summer camp theme of it all, many activities unlock badges, but others—like wriggling around on a dance floor or watching a public domain movie projected on a big screen—exist simply for the sake of giving you something fun and sandbox-y to do alongside other players. It’s in these moments that *Cursor Camp* is at its best. You’ll enter a new space and not understand exactly what to do, but by pinging around and trying stuff, you and other players will piece it together. Before you know it, you’ll be collaboratively building a fire and making a mushroom stew (sidenote: consume for some fun effects)—all sans any sort of direct communication. There are also scraps of intriguing lore sprinkled about for those who want to dig deeper, but this is fundamentally a game about frolicking. *Cursor Camp* is a relatively brief experience, but I was grinning the whole time. It’s nice in an uncomplicated way that harks back to old internet artifacts like *Club Penguin*, or perhaps modern classics like *A Short Hike*. Not every game needs to be a grand adventure or a cutthroat competition. More, I think, should aspire to become what *Cursor Camp* has achieved: a pleasant little toy. ## Recommended [No Thoughts, Just FishTiny Aquarium is a little respite from my chaotic desktop![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ss_2d8cabc8c050f3de01d25b806a51d0fc2e704864.1920x1080.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/tiny-aquarium-impressions/) ### Star Fox Looks Fucked Up URL: https://aftermath.site/star-fox-64-remake-nintendo-direct/ Last updated: 2026-05-06T23:06:57.000Z Today Nintendo went live with [a surprise Direct](https://www.youtube.com/live/ePZeyh5q9R8?ref=aftermath.site) to debut a Switch 2 remake of *Star Fox 64*. It is the first new (or new-ish) *Star Fox* game since 2016\. Cool! Great! We love to see it! Or we would if not for the fact that Fox and his furry flotilla of friends look…wrong. Long have the people clamored for a Nintendo game with hyperrealistic graphics. Finally, they got one, and it’s the series that stars cartoon animals. The monkey’s paw, also as realistic as modern hardware can render, curls. Before the Direct was even over, unflattering comparisons started rolling in: > > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jcy5tnrrvxg4yrh2qxsgzu5p/post/3ml7ph5lu3c2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Jacob Geller ([@jacobgeller.com](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jcy5tnrrvxg4yrh2qxsgzu5p?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [May 6, 2026 at 3:04 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jcy5tnrrvxg4yrh2qxsgzu5p/post/3ml7ph5lu3c2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:v7grokiek2j2fehsd53efi64/post/3ml7qcjgsf22s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Topher Florence ([@topherflorence.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:v7grokiek2j2fehsd53efi64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [May 6, 2026 at 3:20 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:v7grokiek2j2fehsd53efi64/post/3ml7qcjgsf22s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > Immediately thought of this > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4hnfwhumysj73juuhqjxrgo2/post/3ml7qxvbkgk2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — Bud Starved Beast ([@budstarved.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4hnfwhumysj73juuhqjxrgo2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [May 6, 2026 at 3:32 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4hnfwhumysj73juuhqjxrgo2/post/3ml7qxvbkgk2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) To hear some tell it, [even the furries are upset](https://bsky.app/profile/woahitsjuanito.bsky.social/post/3ml7qdm7krs2d?ref=aftermath.site). But *Star Fox* has always been an odd proposition; maybe Nintendo’s just decided to embrace that strangeness to the fullest extent possible, rather than unknowingly bungling its way into a Sonic-with-human-teeth situation. If nothing else, it’s clearly having fun puppeteering its weird new ani-mannequins, so much so that it’s decided we should be able to as well. During the Direct, Nintendo also showed off a new feature that will let you change your face in game chat to look like a *Star Fox* character. This is no static image, either; when you move, Fox moves. Basically, you get your own *Star Fox* Vtuber. Opinions on this have varied, but I think it absolutely rules. > nintendo directs remain undefeated > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vw4sfkfvggi2a3mbfm2xgh52/post/3ml7q2z65bk2w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — lex luddy (ichiban appreciator) ([@lexluddy.xyz](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vw4sfkfvggi2a3mbfm2xgh52?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [May 6, 2026 at 3:15 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vw4sfkfvggi2a3mbfm2xgh52/post/3ml7q2z65bk2w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > Me and the squad doing Star Fox karaoke > > [\[image or embed\]](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:idpr7cxv2u34lmpvap62t7kp/post/3ml7q4eulbk2c?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > > — AmericanTruckSongs10 ([@ethangach.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:idpr7cxv2u34lmpvap62t7kp?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site)) [May 6, 2026 at 3:16 PM](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:idpr7cxv2u34lmpvap62t7kp/post/3ml7q4eulbk2c?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) So yeah, Fox and company looked fucked up now. This is an objective fact. But can we put a qualitative judgement on that? No. It could as easily be a grave portent as it could be a sign of good things to come. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long. *Star Fox* releases on June 25\. ## Recommended [If Link Talks, I Walk - AftermathThe only acceptable forms of communication for Link are hiiiiyah, break jar, and journalism![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/size/w1200/2025/10/link-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/if-link-talks-i-walk/) ### Super Nintendo World Exceeded Every Expectation I Had Going In There URL: https://aftermath.site/super-nintendo-world-osaka-review/ Last updated: 2026-05-06T22:50:45.000Z On[ my recent holiday to Japan, which I took with my wife and two teenage kids](https://aftermath.site/japan-overtourism-social-meida-tiktok-instagram/), the process of choosing what we were going to do each day followed a pretty simple rule: not everything we did was going to be for everyone. If I dragged everyone shopping one morning, for example, I couldn't complain when I had to go do something I didn't like. And over the course of our two-week vacation, there was nothing I was looking forward to less than visits to three separate theme parks: Tokyo Disney Sea, Tokyo Disney Land and Universal Studios Osaka. I'm not a Disney guy, and[ the same thing that keeps me from enjoying horror games](https://aftermath.site/routine-horror-game-impressions-review/) also stops me from enjoying thrill rides like rollercoasters, so I did not have a great time at either of the Disney parks (*Star Tours* notwithstanding). I *am* a Nintendo guy, at least, but had also heard so much about Super Nintendo World's overcrowding that I'd expected to turn up, see some hours-long lines, turn around and leave. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_042441240.jpg) Lucky for me the day we picked to visit Universal Studios in Osaka turned out to be one of the least busy days of the entire year, and that despite being told we had to buy special, timed access tickets to get into Super Nintendo World), by the time we arrived at the park there were so few people there (I use that term relatively, there were still thousands of people there) that management quickly announced that fuck it, Super Nintendo World was open to everyone, all day, nobody needed a special ticket. I know nobody needs a review of this place. It's been open for five years now (it was celebrating this on its signage while I was there), and there are countless YouTube guides to every corner of it that you can watch without reading a single word of what I thought. If there’s anything to take away from this experience, it is that I, a hollowed-out husk of a games media professional, a 46 year-old man who thought himself beyond things like childlike wonder, took one step into this place and felt the closest thing to a cartoon wave of sunshine washing over me as I've ever felt. When I finally arrived at Super Nintendo World's custom entrance--being a new part of the park, it's built towards the back and you've got to climb a hill to get up there--nothing could have prepared me for the sight. I'd seen plenty of photos and videos of the park previously, but none of them had properly conveyed to me the fact that after emerging from a long warp pipe tunnel you are confronted with what look like life-size versions of Peach and Bowser's castles. And trees, and Goombas, and question blocks, and...look, the thing is so big, and so fully-realised, that it really does feel, if only for fleeting moments (before you notice the restrooms and gift shops), that you have been transported into another world, one where the spiky grass and smooth stonework of the Mario universe have been made real. I honestly could have spent half a day just...being there, touching the walls and soaking up the sights, but the park was so empty that, despite not getting into Super Nintendo World until around 1pm, the normally hours-long line for the *Mario Kart* ride (Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge) was only 45 minutes long, so we instantly jumped inside, and found that the immersion extended indoors as well. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_042714066.jpg) The inside of Bowser's castle, which houses the ride, is clearly built to hold enough people for lines stretching for 4-5 hours, as its rooms and barricades appear to go on forever. To stop those people from despairing/rioting, the castle's interior is fully dressed in the way you would expect an actual Bowser's castle to be. There are provisions and working desks and trophy cabinets, all arranged in ways that no matter how long you're stuck there in a queue, you'll have something cool and interesting to look at. Again, even if I wasn't going on the ride, I would have been thrilled just to walk through this virtual world made real. Our much shorter lines meant that instead of being stuck inside there for half a day we could instead just casually walk straight through, and near the end of the journey came to perhaps the coolest part of the whole experience, where the castle interior gives way to a Mario Kart TV broadcast experience, complete with replay screens, a locker room diorama and ride attendants who were dressed in *Mario Kart*\-themed pit crew uniforms. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_045906063.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_045213306.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_045026983.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_044416506.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_044141646.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_043916930.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_043100897.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_042817294.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_042752357.jpg) The ride itself is...fine. You and three other people sit in an over-sized kart, wear augmented reality goggles and spin around for a bit in a staged race, blasting your opponents with shells while also being whisked through themed race locations. The only minor disappointment was that The AR goggles actually detracted from the experience a little. They weren't integrated seamlessly with their surroundings, so the dissonance between what was happening in your goggles vs what was happening around them detracted from the fantasy the rest of the ride (and Super Nintendo World itself!) works so hard to provide. But whatever! Like I said, I'm not a rides guy, and like I've also said, I found the real joy in Super Nintendo World to be the world itself, not its specific attractions, so as disappointing as the few minutes of Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge had been, I absolutely did not care. A stroll down to Donkey Kong's own separate space, which had banana shakes and an IRL version of GameCube classic *Donkey Konga*, seemed way more fun than its tiny little rollercoaster looked, and the experience of walking through a physical representation of Peach's castle, complete with shimmering paintings that look like you can jump right into them, was way more appealing than the crawling Yoshi ride that snakes around the area. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_100546744.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_100248926.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_095725022.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_081359390.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_081140623.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_054509499.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/PXL_20260421_052149139.jpg) I didn't even really want to go to Universal! But I'm so glad I did, and that I picked a day with minimal crowds, because getting to wander around the space ended up being a highlight of the trip. Now if they can just add a Hyrule Castle... ### Twitch Changes Rules So That Streamers Can Mog Each Other URL: https://aftermath.site/twitch-rules-omoggle-mogging-streamers-clavicular/ Last updated: 2026-05-07T18:26:50.000Z Just a scant handful of months ago, none of us knew what mogging was. Now, thanks to the [cutthroat clipping economy](https://www.theverge.com/report/920005/social-media-clipping-podcasts-clavicular-marketing-mrbeast?ref=aftermath.site) and a [nonstop stream of Clavicular profiles from mainstream outlets](https://aftermath.site/clavicular-looksmaxxing-60-minutes-interview-storm-off/), the manosphere-adjacent term is in every third meme. Recently, a whole game about it, *Omoggle*, blew up on Twitch, only for streamers to report that they were [receiving warnings](https://x.com/zachbussey/status/2051718572494258243?ref=aftermath.site) due to the platform’s rules around “randomized video chat services.” But the human drive to mog is apparently limitless, and in the pharmaceutically-enhanced face of it, Twitch’s rules faltered. [*Omoggle*](https://omoggle.com/?ref=aftermath.site), which had over 9,000 concurrent players as of this writing,describes itself as a “live 1v1 mog arena.” In practice, it’s basically a mashup of now-defunct video chat site [Omegle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omegle?ref=aftermath.site) and the concept of mogging, in which one person tries to vastly outperform another, often in terms of appearance. You’re paired with a random user, and then the site scans your faces via webcam to determine who ranks higher on the [PSL Scale](https://pslscale.com/?ref=aftermath.site) (which stands for Perceived Sexual Market Value; I guess the V is silent). There’s even [an ELO-based ranking system](https://omoggle.com/leaderboard?ref=aftermath.site), with the precise sorts of tiers you’d expect from something like this: Molecule, Sub3, Low Tier Normie, Mid Tier Normie, High Tier Normie, Chadlite, Chad, and Slayer. Despite speculation on the parts of publications and players, *Omoggle*’s creators say that the game does not employ AI—at least, in the modern, LLM-based sense of the term. “*Omoggle* is not an AI chatbot or generative AI product in the way people typically use that term today,” Pablo Rogers, one of *Omoggle*’s developers, told Aftermath. “The platform uses computer vision and facial landmark analysis to power parts of the gameplay and scoring system, but it does not use large language models to generate conversations or interactions between users. Many people online broadly refer to anything involving computer vision or machine learning as ‘AI,’ which is probably where some of that language comes from. Internally, we view *Omoggle* more as a competitive social game built around real-time interaction and custom scoring technology.” The game’s [privacy policy](https://omoggle.com/privacy?ref=aftermath.site) takes great pains to state that—despite what you’d expect from something like this—*Omoggle* is not a data harvesting farm. Everything apparently runs locally on your device and is immediately discarded after a match ends. The game’s developers “do not store, sell, lease, trade, or otherwise profit from facial meshes, faceprints, or face templates.” Confusingly, however, they do reserve the right to “capture and use match-related content, including clips, screenshots, gameplay visuals, audio, usernames, display names, profile images, rankings, and match results” for advertising purposes. How, if they’re deleting everything? Unclear! **Update 5/7:** Rogers further clarified how the tech underlying *Omoggle* functions, telling Aftermath: "Our intent is not to collect and sell user data, or to maintain broad archives of private user sessions. The language you referenced is meant to cover practical platform uses, such as displaying match information during gameplay, showing rankings and results, investigating user reports, enforcing safety rules, addressing bugs or abuse, and, in some cases, using content that is intentionally captured, submitted, shared publicly, or created in a promotional or creator context." "In other words, that clause is not intended to mean that we are broadly commercializing private user interactions or selling underlying personal data," he added. "It is there so the platform can function, so we can enforce our rules, and so we can highlight the product in appropriate contexts." *Omoggle* recently blew up among Twitch streamers, producing viral clips of [big names discovering they’re chopped](https://x.com/xQc%5Fdailyy/status/2050159628621644183?ref=aftermath.site) and [conventionally attractive creators coming up short](https://x.com/ilySalt/status/2051008394048532591?ref=aftermath.site), often [due to glitches](https://x.com/Awk20000/status/2050290556262400232?ref=aftermath.site) (and probably also the fact that standards of attractiveness are entirely subjective). But earlier this week, it appeared that the party would come to an abrupt end, as Twitch began issuing warnings to streamers who played it. This stemmed from livestreaming’s rocky history with sites like Omegle and Chatroulette, on which you never knew if you were going to encounter, say, a dazzlingly talented musician or a fully naked person. As a result, Twitch’s rules [explicitly forbade](https://x.com/zachbussey/status/2051718574696206547?ref=aftermath.site) the use of “randomized video chat services,” which were “never allowed under any circumstances due to the risks \[they pose\] to viewers of the stream.” However, nearly as quickly as word of *Omoggle*\-related warnings broke containment, Twitch reversed course. “While these sites were previously prohibited on Twitch, we recently updated our Community Guidelines to allow for streaming content from randomized video chat sites,” Twitch [said in a statement](https://x.com/zachbussey/status/2051789770339057821?ref=aftermath.site). “Moving forward, we will only enforce if the content from the randomized video site violates our guidelines (ex. includes gore, sexual content, etc).” But Twitch does not necessarily *recommend* visiting *Omoggle* or other, similar sites: “While our goal with this update is to give you more choice around the content you stream and allow for participation in current trends, we still caution around the use of these sites. The nature of random generation means you can't control what appears on your stream, and there is the potential for violative content to be accidentally shown. Should violative content appear while you're streaming from these sites, we recommend that you quickly remove yourself from the situation by switching scenes and not engaging further.” *Omoggle*, for its part, claims to use an open-source machine learning model, NSFW.js, to evaluate whether or not nudity is present in players’ videos. In any case, mog-offs are back on the menu. Thank goodness. ## Recommended [It’s Time To Stop Interviewing This KidThe gimmick’s worn thin![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/clav.png)](https://aftermath.site/clavicular-looksmaxxing-60-minutes-interview-storm-off/) ### Xbox’s New AI-Loving Boss Shocks World, Kills Useless AI Feature URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-copilot-ai-dead-asha-sharma-microsoft/ Last updated: 2026-05-06T00:43:39.000Z When Xbox’s new CEO, Asha Sharma, [stepped into the sneakers](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-phil-spencer-retires/) once occupied by former chief/mascot Phil Spencer, she was greeted by raised eyebrows. Sure, there was the timing of it all, but her previous title, president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product, also warranted skepticism. At a company that’s proven determined to jam AI into every conceivable nook and cranny, [common sense be damned](https://aftermath.site/please-seek-help-immediately/), Sharma’s appointment seemed like the final nail in the coffin. In the long run, that may or may not end up being the case, but today she demonstrated that AI is not Xbox’s number one priority, at least for now. On X, the everything app that curiously still does pretty much just one thing, Sharma announced that the Xbox version of Copilot is done for. “Xbox needs to move faster, deepen our connection with the community, and address friction for both players and developers,” she [wrote](https://x.com/asha%5Fshar/status/2051746410660593933?s=46&ref=aftermath.site). “Today, we promoted leaders who helped build Xbox, while also bringing in new voices to help push us forward. This balance is important as we get the business back on track. As part of this shift, you’ll see us begin to retire features that don’t align with where we’re headed. We will begin winding down Copilot on mobile and will stop development of Copilot on console.” Gaming Copilot on console was an AI-powered feature that would’ve effectively [walked players through games step by step](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:idpr7cxv2u34lmpvap62t7kp/post/3mh25zf3ov22n?ref=aftermath.site), steamrolling over design intended to teach and raising the question of why someone was even playing a game in the first place. Other questions lurked on the periphery: Where was Copilot pulling information from? Also, [who was it even for](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-copilot-ai-xbox/)? Sunsetting a solution in search of a problem is an admittedly easy layup, but from this version of Microsoft, it’s far from a given. Gotta give Sharma some small amount of credit for that. Beta versions of Gaming Copilot did, however, launch on PC and ROG Ally [last year](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/09/18/gaming-copilot-xbox-pc-mobile/?ref=aftermath.site); their future remains up in the air. Sharma has spent her time at the front of the Xbox pecking order trying to get the brand back on track. Ultimately she landed on [pulling an HBO](https://aftermath.site/xbox-microsoft-gaming-sharma/) shortly after Microsoft threw former Spencer heir apparent, Sarah Bond, [under the bus](https://aftermath.site/xbox-sarah-bond-ai-microsoft/) for her role in the disastrous “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign. Last month, Sharma’s resurgent Xbox division also announced [a much-needed Game Pass price drop](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/04/21/xbox-game-pass-update/?ref=aftermath.site). This is not to say that all is suddenly hunky dory in Xbox land. For one, [BDS](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/) has designated Microsoft as “perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal occupation” and—alongside groups like [No Games For Genocide](https://nogamesforgenocide.com/about/?ref=aftermath.site)—continues to urge those with the means and ability to [boycott Xbox](https://bdsmovement.net/news/sign-pledge-boycott-microsoft%E2%80%99s-xbox?ref=aftermath.site). For two, the leadership shakeup Sharma referenced in her post today saw [several AI bigwigs get beamed up to the Xbox mothership](https://kotaku.com/new-xbox-boss-continues-big-shakeup-new-leadership-changes-2000693248?ref=aftermath.site); it is highly unlikely that they will make good decisions. For three, Sharma remains [a natalist weirdo](https://bsky.app/profile/jeffgerstmann.com/post/3mfdtqu5wjk2x?ref=aftermath.site) who believes AI can fix declining fertility rates. In other words, the vibes at Microsoft are still rancid. But at least Copilot for Xbox is cooked, and while I’m well aware that AI as we know it is nothing more than a marketing buzzword and it will never achieve anything vaguely resembling sentience, I still hope Copilot feels pain on its way out. ## Recommended [Is This What You Think Of UsThe feeding ramp is polished to a mirror sheen![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1621259183018-5a0fd57fcfd3)](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-copilot-ai-xbox/) ### Japan's Tourism Troubles Are Being Fuelled By Social Media Assholes URL: https://aftermath.site/japan-overtourism-social-meida-tiktok-instagram/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T23:10:31.000Z I just got back from spending two weeks in Japan, and if there’s one thing that defined the trip (other than having a very good time) it was the constant awareness of the country’s growing overtourism problem, coupled with the nagging guilt that I was observing it while also... contributing to it. If it helps with the incoming hypocrisy allegations, here’s some context for my holiday. I’ve been going to Japan for almost 20 years--my first trip was to cover the 2007 Tokyo Games Show--and having visited a bunch more times in the years to follow, for more Tokyo Games Shows and even my honeymoon (in 2009), I went in 2014 with my kids (they were four and one at the time) for a longer stay. We had such a good time that we spent years trying (and failing) to get back for another holiday, one my children would actually remember. Maybe in 2016, we said at the time. Haha. Some [changes to my job](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/16/univision-buys-gawker-media-auction-bankruptcy-hulk-hogan?ref=aftermath.site), followed by [more changes](https://deadline.com/2019/04/univision-finalizes-sale-of-former-gawker-portfolio-and-the-onion-to-private-equity-firm-great-hill-partners-1202591007/?ref=aftermath.site), followed by covid, followed by even [more changes to my job](https://kotaku.com/kotaku-luke-plunkett-leave-too-damn-long-goodbye-rip-1850630211?ref=aftermath.site) and then an inflationary crisis meant we could never get the money together until, finally, a tax return and some consultancy work in 2025 let us scrape enough cash together to make the trip in April 2026\. Because I’d travelled to Japan many times--but not since 2014– my expectations for this holiday were influenced heavily by those 2000s-2010s trips, when few people could speak English, I had to take loads of cash everywhere with me and whole sections of the rail networks were almost impossible to navigate, a time when tourism in Japan for most Westerners was largely relegated to tours, hotels and the most well-known spots. The Japan I visited in 2026 is a *very* different place. Over the last decade Japan has courted tourist dollars to help prop up a flagging economy, helped slash the cost of flying into the country and in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics added a ton more English-language support to its train and subway networks. While sadly those Olympics tourists were never able to make it, the work has nevertheless paid off in the long run: [in 2025 Japan attracted over 40 million visitors, a new record](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-07/japan-addressing-overtourism-as-travel-booms/106390090?ref=aftermath.site). Those visitors are arriving and buying stuff, so much so that money made from international tourists–cash which for accounting purposes Japan classifies as an export–now “[ranks as the \[country’s\] second-largest export industry after the automobile industry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism%5Fin%5FJapan?ref=aftermath.site)”. And holidaying in Japan has never been easier! Contactless payment is now everywhere, more Japanese people (especially younger generations) speak English and Google Translate has gotten so good that workers like train attendants will whip it out like a gunslinger and be able to give you complex directions and instructions in seconds. But that revenue and accessibility have come at a cost, particularly an increasing overcrowding of certain towns and landmarks, and [a growing sense of unease among some locals](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/japan-fujiyoshida-overtourism-9.7167766?ref=aftermath.site) caused by what can generously be described as a clash of cultures. You can read [countless examples of overtourism stories written over the last few years](https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/japanese-hospitality-wears-thin-as-overtourism-takes-toll-r5w85b7qt?ref=aftermath.site); after my most recent trip, though, I thought I’d help out with some personal observations. I have travelled all over the world in the last 30 years, and have never seen anything *like* the density of assholes I just encountered in Japan, but what I found wasn't a horde of Westerners simply being rude, or spaces where there were too many Westerners, it was tourists being an unbearable menace specifically while on and around their phones. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-02-095448.png) See this crowd navigating a tight street in Kyoto? Imagine what happens when three tourists stop walking in the middle of the crowd and start filming a lengthy selfie video The last time I was at Shibuya Crossing, in 2014, I crossed the street, went upstairs to have a coffee at the Starbucks overlooking the landmark and spent a nice, quiet 20 minutes watching the ebb and flow of commuters. In 2026 you couldn’t move without hitting a Westerner filming themselves for some kind of content, their cameras raised above them while they narrated the event (whether there was actually an audience I’ll never know), each one an oblivious centre of their own universe while the 1000 people around them were just trying to get past them so they could cross the road and get home. The last time I was at Don Quixote in Dotonbori, I marvelled at a store so big it had its own ferris wheel, bought what I needed and got out. In 2026 the store was overrun, again with Westerners, again all filming themselves for content, blocking almost every aisle on both the first and second floors, each offender desperate to boast in front of a camera that they too had been to the latest spot that had blown up on social media, and that they too had bought the latest viral Japanese skincare product. Any local in there who just wanted to buy a bottle of water was shit out of luck. While in Kyoto doing some shopping I came across a group of Russian women taking photos and videos (again, content!) of each other on some historic steps. One of them, at the top of the stairs, had her arm out and was physically blocking anyone trying to get down, to stop anyone from walking in front of their video. That included the understandably frustrated Japanese locals just trying to get back from their lunch break, on their own streets, in their own town. I went to Nara for a day, [mostly because Nara is my own hometown’s sister city so I’d always wanted to check it out](https://www.act.gov.au/open/canberra-nara-sister-city-agreement?ref=aftermath.site), and after arriving almost instantly regretted it. The frenzied walk to the famous deer park felt more like a line at Disneyland than a site of national importance, and the way so many Americans, Australians and Europeans were racing between the poor animals, taunting them on camera with their food and recording frenzied selfie videos, was extremely gross to witness. In none of those examples were the size of the crowds of tourists the problem, or even their general behaviour. The vast majority of people were fine! The problem was the tourists with their phones out shooting themselves for a video or taking endless selfies, blocking crowds, barring entrance to stores and just generally getting in everyone's way in the most annoying way possible. I know simply blaming TikTok and Instagram and YouTube Shorts for so many flashpoints is an overly-simplistic explanation, but also, from everything I saw in my two weeks (where other kinds of rude or offensive behaviour outside the occasional jerk were rare), it was kinda true. While I've used the term "overtourism" a lot here, it's important to note that what's happening in Japan generally (we'll get to exceptions in a minute) isn't the same as what's happening in, say Venice, [where the city itself cannot physically cope with the influx of visitors](https://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/italy/travel-guide/overtourism-in-venice?ref=aftermath.site). Japan's two largest cities (and two of its most popular tourist destinations), Tokyo and Osaka, are some of the biggest on the planet, and things like their public transport systems and accommodation networks can comfortably cope with the number of tourists moving around on a daily basis. The overtourism I kept seeing, over and over, was more of an over-concentration of obnoxious, obstructive individuals, and a locust-like swarming of stores and attractions that had blown up online. A mass experiment in personal vanity, sparked by streaming video platforms and the shitty incentives they encourage. The resulting viral trends were driving tourists and content creators–often it was hard to separate the two–to either be assholes in the expected places, or sending them to specific and unsuspecting places to be assholes, where many residents don't have much experience with Western tourists (and a lot of tourists don't have experience with Japan). This problem is only getting worse. The New York Times [ran a big piece on Japanese overtourism just last week](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/world/asia/japan-fuji-tourism-cherry-blossoms-overtourism.html?ref=aftermath.site) (“In the Foothills of Mount Fuji, the Fight Is On Against Unruly Tourists”), giving examples like a guy who moved out of the big city to the quiet country town of Fujiyoshida, only to now have thousands of tourists overrun his front yard every week because photos of Mt. Fuji taken nearby have gone viral. It also includes this quote which sums up pretty much everything I'm writing about here: > On a recent day, a group of friends from the United States ventured off the main path to snap selfies under the cherry blossoms. “I saw this gorgeous photo on social media, and I was like, ‘How can I get myself here as fast as possible’?” said Julia Morrow, 26, a retail worker from Ohio. “If you don’t get that photo, it’s like, what’s the point of the trip?” This [recent Reddit thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1o5bg4p/how%5Fmuch%5Fhas%5Fovertourism%5Fchanged%5Fthe%5Fexperience/?ref=aftermath.site) is also interesting because much of it matches my own recent experience; the change to the tourism landscape has been relatively quick, only really taking off in the last few years, and social media seems to have played a big part, with the most horrific stories often involving content creators and those chasing a taste of virality striking unsuspecting towns, shrines and stores like freak weather events. All of which is having an effect on those living and working near tourist hotspots, so much so that governments have already begun to take action to try to address some of the worst offenders. AirBnBs [have been regulated for a few years now](https://uchijapan.com/news/minpaku-japans-rules-on-house-letting?ref=aftermath.site), and [the departure tax at Japanese airports is about to triple](https://www.travelandleisureasia.com/sea/news/japan-departure-tax-to-triple-by-july-2026/?ref=aftermath.site). Some attractions are already jacking up prices for foreigners, and [increasing numbers of restaurants are declaring that they’ll only serve locals](https://medium.com/@tatsuyjapan/why-some-restaurants-in-japan-say-no-foreigners-cea9a2b6f4c7?ref=aftermath.site). How much those relatively minor changes will have an effect on the wider overtourism problem, though, is anyone’s guess. Will slowly increasing prices across the board for tourists lead to a gradual decrease in the number coming? Can Japan simply wait it out for social media trends to move on? Would laws restricting the use of cameras, or at least the way you use them, in certain places help? I don’t know! And every step made to curb tourism is a double-edged sword, because the whole point of encouraging them in the first place was to help juice the national economy. The only solution I can offer is that, if you’re insisting on going to Japan, do the same thing you should be doing when you visit any other country: be cool. If the locals have expectations and behaviours, do your best to meet them. Learn some phrases, be patient, be nice to everyone and most importantly, don't run around shooting video everywhere and getting in everyone's way, because you are not the centre of the social media universe, you're a guest in someone else's country. ### Nobody Asked You, Bank Of America URL: https://aftermath.site/gta-6-price-bank-of-america-release-date/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T22:06:12.000Z *Grand Theft Auto VI* [cannot and will not save the video game industry](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-vi-games-industry/), but its titanic footfalls will set precedents no matter what comes of its twice-delayed launch. This has resulted in hordes of fans and pundits wondering, among other things, what the game will cost when it finally makes its craterous impact in November. And now, even though absolutely nobody asked them, that includes Bank of America. [Seeking Alpha](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4584625-why-the-pricing-on-grand-theft-auto-6-could-be-a-video-game-sector-catalyst?ref=aftermath.site) reports that following IICON, the new conference for industry bigwigs from the trade association that used to host E3, Bank of America is now advocating for an $80 *GTA VI* price point. It seeks, of course, to revitalize a flagging industry—and, reading between the lines of the word “bank,” make boatloads of money. "We also heard from attendees that the industry, which is perceived as struggling, would have difficulty selling games for $80 if *GTA VI* came out at $70,” said Bank of America stock analyst Omar Dessouky. “We think it’s in Take-Two's self-interest, as a publisher and partner to many developers, to raise the price point for the entire industry.” So basically, if Take-Two doesn’t come out swinging with a premium price point, *GTA VI*’s grand(theft)iosity will make everyone else look bad, and then they won’t be able to ask players for more money upfront either. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, [a man of principles](https://aftermath.site/take-two-strauss-zelnick-ai-grand-theft-auto/), has been cagey on the matter of *GTA VI*’s price. “Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery,” he said at IICON (via [IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/take-two-ceo-addresses-grand-theft-auto-6-price-and-the-possibility-for-more-la-noire?ref=aftermath.site)). “How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for. Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.” Admittedly, there are arguments in favor of raising the price of triple-A games. Despite trudging upward over the years, games’ prices have increased relatively little compared to inflation—even as budgets have ballooned. “If you look at it through that lens \[of inflation\], that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” Zelnick said. “But that isn’t the lens through which we look. Instead, we look at … how do we deliver something amazing, and how do we make sure that what people pay for it feels very reasonable.” It’s worth noting that big publishers, including Take-Two, have found numerous other ways to nickel and dime players with microtransactions, gacha mechanics, and the like, to the point that many games now release for free. The real elephant in the room, as readers of this site are well aware by now, is [mismanagement](https://aftermath.site/sony-buys-remake-studio-shuts-them-down-and-lays-off-70-workers-without-releasing-a-remake/)—feckless leadership [running projects off the rails](https://aftermath.site/highguard-shut-down-wildlight-failure/) and [making actual creatives pay for it](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-layoffs-prince-of-persia-remake-canceled/), all while personally [pocketing millions of dollars](https://aftermath.site/take-two-interactive-strauss-zelnick-ftc-grand-theft-auto/). Also, everything is expensive as hell now, and nobody wants to spend $80 on video games. *Grand Theft Auto Online* has proven to have an immensely long tail, [pulling in around $10 million per week](https://kotaku.com/hackers-reveal-rockstar-earns-over-1-million-a-day-from-gta-online-2000687207?ref=aftermath.site) over a decade after launch according to recent leaks. Raising *GTA VI*’s barrier to entry might stop it from transforming into a similarly ubiquitous cash cow, especially considering how much the video game industry—now [an amalgam](https://aftermath.site/gdc-2026-xbox-helix-steam-nvidia-ice/) of *Roblox*, *Fortnite*, Steam, and what remains of the console market—has changed since *GTA V*’s launch. Regardless, *GTA VI* needs to sell *a lot*. Speaking to [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-04/take-two-ceo-says-grand-theft-auto-vi-expectations-are-terrifying?embedded-checkout=true&ref=aftermath.site), Zelnick suggested that 10 million units—a total most developers can only dream of—would be disastrous for the decade-in-development crime epic. Lastly, neither here nor there, but just a few years ago, Bank of America was ordered to pay $250 million for “double charging insufficient fund fees, withholding reward bonuses, and opening accounts without customers' knowledge or permission,” [according to NPR](https://www.npr.org/2023/07/11/1187060652/bank-of-america-250-million-illegal-fees-fake-accounts-fines?ref=aftermath.site). Oh, and we’re talking about a bank that literally [charges you for being poor](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-america-customers-5-fees-211108196.html?guccounter=1&guce%5Freferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce%5Freferrer%5Fsig=AQAAALyLP-k-f8z1fQKIAqK6Qn6GIqwI%5F0c3p7frrz64laYitqq04Lzklf2h9fArvxMvMEEJhSk8OEsXL%5FPZAdZGH-RretfZoznN5kdmFCPZFS8%5F3iUb7VJs9nM%5FgPICtCElS9HeqMGK2AU8BicZPBj0W-SB7fzkyJLws3p4vGFfTQde&ref=aftermath.site). This is not a scrupulous institution! Perhaps we should not listen to what it has to say about anything, least of all video games. ## Recommended [‘Grand Theft, Not Wage Theft’: Rockstar Protest In NYC Draws Tech Workers, Members Of Multiple Unions“What happens to one of us happens to all of us”![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/rstar1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/grand-theft-auto-6-rockstar-fired-workers-protest-nyc/) ### Pro Wrestlers Make The Company, Not The Other Way Around URL: https://aftermath.site/wwe-the-new-day-kofi-kingston-xavier-woods-release-tko/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T19:51:04.000Z In the wake of WrestleMania 42, WWE continued its annual tradition: layoffs. Many cuts [blindsided the locker room](https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/aj-styles-says-kairi-sanes-wwe-departure-caught-him-off-guard/?ref=aftermath.site), but the real shock wasn’t who got released—it was who walked away. The New Day’s Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, two Black tag-team legends, chose to leave on their own terms. Even on fans’ worst days, The New Day were the tag team everyone agreed on as the redeeming quality of the company. And how could they not be? They were a part of a fun‑loving trio who got so popular as heels that the company had no choice but to crown them its most decorated tag team ever. And when Kingston finally won the big one against Daniel Bryan after being in the company for 17 years, becoming [the first African‑born WWE Champion](https://www.vibe.com/news/entertainment/kofi-kingston-wwe-champion-643348/?ref=aftermath.site) and ushering in KofiMania, there wasn’t a dry eye in sight at WrestleMania 35. Despite fans’ long‑running fantasies of seeing them mix it up with [AEW’s Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks](https://www.youtube.com/live/xLfK0FWdJlE?si=7iWRW5Nm0Jc3T12U&ref=aftermath.site), it always felt like a pipe dream; The New Day were WWE lifers, the kind of talent you assumed would retire as a trio in the WWE years from now. Which is why the news that they’d mutually agreed to part ways with the company was so shocking. Mass releases aren’t new to the company. Wrestlers who hadn’t been on TV for a while, because of an injury or because they were on their way out anyway, could be on the chopping block. [In 2021](https://kotaku.com/wwe-has-lost-more-than-70-wrestlers-this-year-which-is-1848019717?ref=aftermath.site), when [Vince McMahon](https://www.ign.com/articles/wwe-2k24-blurs-out-some-vince-mcmahon-footage-but-not-all-of-it?ref=aftermath.site) was still steering the ship, the WWE became a place where [established wrestlers who had been performing on TV week after week](https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/kairi-sane-ive-never-walked-away-and-ive-given-my-all-in-everything-i-do/?ref=aftermath.site), and [even newly-signed wrestlers](https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/new-day-and-mft-members-among-wwe-departures/?ref=aftermath.site), had their wings clipped before they got any wind under them as often as the seasons changed. While layoffs have gone the way of the chorus to Tupac’s “Changes,” what makes The New Day’s [Kofi Kingston](https://x.com/w3regutz/status/2051321610536169502?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) and [Xavier Woods](https://x.com/ryansatin/status/2051386563960127969?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) leaving WWE of their own accord so monumental was that they made a mutual decision with WWE to do so after they were reportedly asked to [“restructure their contracts.”](https://www.si.com/fannation/wrestling/wwe/more-on-wwe-release-strategy-and-contract-restructuring-requests?ref=aftermath.site) According to [PWInsider](https://www.pwinsider.com/article.php?id=207599&ref=aftermath.site), a majority of WWE superstars were reportedly asked to take a 50 percent pay cut and did. [Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxeR8TRTDTI&pp=ygUYd3Jlc3RsaW5nIG9ic2VydmVyIHJhZGlv&ref=aftermath.site) (who’s basically the Jason Schreier of wrestling news), corroborated the report with the clarification that the worker who was asked to take a pay cut wasn’t “a tippy top person.” “There have been recent raises and there have been people asked to take cuts,” Meltzer said. “I think it’s very clear who they see as the top people and none of them have been asked to take a cut.” Fightful went on to report that several WWE superstars were reportedly [given only two days](https://x.com/Fightful/status/2051731151329677462?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) to decide whether to accept a pay cut to remain in the company. > For the past 16 years, WWE has been my home. It’s where I grew up, found myself, failed, learned, and got to live out things the younger version of me could only dream about. > > When I first walked into FCW, I just wanted a chance to prove I belonged and to bring something… [pic.twitter.com/jm0K78bh1C](https://t.co/jm0K78bh1C?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Austin Creed (@AustinCreedWins) [May 4, 2026](https://twitter.com/AustinCreedWins/status/2051398443847835795?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > It’s taken me two full days to respond to all my texts. I hadn’t been on social media until today and I’m overwhelmed by all the messages here too. So much love. > > So I can’t help but to be filled completely with gratitude… > > My story has been nothing short of remarkable and I am… [pic.twitter.com/Tw7ZTpg9Q3](https://t.co/Tw7ZTpg9Q3?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Kofi Kingston (@TrueKofi) [May 4, 2026](https://twitter.com/TrueKofi/status/2051398998280261670?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) While none of the above absolutely confirms whether Woods and Kingston were among the wrestlers asked to take 50 percent pay cuts, social media posts from the duo—especially Kingston—basically say all we need to know. > "Do not ever compromise or accept less than your due when it comes to your worth." > The Rock had the whole Tag divisions salary on his wrist at the Met Gala 😭😭 [pic.twitter.com/THhWQ2x6WK](https://t.co/THhWQ2x6WK?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Wrestlelamia.com (@wrestlelamia) [May 5, 2026](https://twitter.com/wrestlelamia/status/2051590782008668495?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Naturally, WWE’s layoffs sting a bit more when you see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson—a TKO board member making an [asinine amount of money](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25401082-how-much-money-wwe-icon-rock-earned-tko-revealed-new-sec-filings?ref=aftermath.site)—waltzing through the Met Gala in a [$3 million timepiece](https://www.complex.com/style/a/mike-destefano/2026-met-gala-best-watches?utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter%5Fcomplex&utm%5Fcampaign=ap%5Ftwitter). His sporting a watch worth more than many of [the independent contractors ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8UQ4O7UiDs&ref=aftermath.site)whose labor fuels his passive income is emblematic of how skewed the company’s priorities are. We smell what The Rock is cooking, and it’s blissful ignorance. Granted, skewed priorities from a company whose monopolization of wrestling territories made its three-letter acronym synonymous with the sport are structural, not situational. And its acquisition by the [Saudi-backed TKO group](https://www.ign.com/articles/wwe-and-ufc-set-to-merge-under-one-company?ref=aftermath.site) has only emboldened its worst instincts, pushing it further toward the ethos of its sister company, UFC. > Triple H praises "larger than life" Donald Trump and claims that the White House is filled with "huge WWE fans." > > "Donald Trump was very good in our world because he was okay to be himself, he was okay to sort of get egg on his face and be embarrassed sometimes he was okay to… [pic.twitter.com/I2ocGtPvok](https://t.co/I2ocGtPvok?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Cultaholic Wrestling (@Cultaholic) [November 4, 2025](https://twitter.com/Cultaholic/status/1985695214493729166?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) UFC is a company that has spent more than a decade engineering its ecosystem so that no single fighter could ever get big enough to challenge the machine. The brand is invincible, and the talent—no matter how loud Bruce Buffer bellows their name—is kept small. God forbid a [fighter speak out against](https://www.si.com/fannation/mma/news/ufc-brandon-royval-torches-hunger-games-fight-white-house?ref=aftermath.site) UFC “Freedom” 250 [taking place at the White House](https://defector.com/new-ufc-ad-rebuilds-the-white-house?ref=aftermath.site). We’ve gotta think of Trump’s poor cankles doing the walk out every other PPV with Dana White by having it at his home away from home. Up until recently, sudden releases and [months-long non-compete clauses](https://www.wrestlinginc.com/2157619/wwe-release-zelina-vega-shocked-call-tko/?ref=aftermath.site) served as the icing on the cake of WWE’s chaotic, [shortsighted](https://aftermath.site/john-cena-heel-turn-summerslam-wwe-wrestling/) decision-making process. But its recent moves—dipping into [AI (on screen and off)](https://whatculture.com/wwe/wwe-has-officially-entered-its-ai-slop-era-wwe-news?ref=aftermath.site), [cozying up to the Trump administration](https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2003158186149167312?s=20&ref=aftermath.site), charging [gluttonous ticket prices](https://www.si.com/fannation/wrestling/wwe/update-on-wwe-plans-to-lower-ticket-prices-following-cm-punk-scathing-promo?ref=aftermath.site), and remaining [conspicuously silent during Black History Month](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1ri7xeg/for%5Fthe%5F2nd%5Fstraight%5Fyear%5Fwwe%5Fdoesnt%5Frecognize/?ref=aftermath.site)—have only accelerated its slide into UFC-style debauchery. And with the Saudi bubble beginning to wobble across industries, the audacity of WWE approaching Woods and Kingston to “restructure their contracts”—contracts they had only just extended for five more years in 2025—and asking them to take a reported 50‑percent pay cut is beyond insulting. > MJF posted about the New Day on Instagram 👀 [pic.twitter.com/r7RiJO4c8c](https://t.co/r7RiJO4c8c?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) [May 2, 2026](https://twitter.com/Fightful/status/2050609750228820048?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) This is exactly why Kingston and Woods’ departure hits different. They know their worth in an industry built on convincing performers to haggle their price down and be grateful for the chance to be here at all. Wrestlers make the company, not the other way around. [Suddenly, Saudi (Money Is Drying Up)“The fear is that if the Saudis have come in and propped up a number of these organizations and sports and pastimes with their money, and now that money is in danger of disappearing, it’s basically cutting the legs off the table”![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_1251353494.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-saudi-arabia-liv-golf-ea-deal/) ### Hey, It's Not All Bad URL: https://aftermath.site/ben-shapiro-daily-wire-layoffs-roblox-age-verification-users-drop/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T00:29:28.000Z You know things have gotten bad—just really hit the subterranean bottom of the barrel—when a) Spirit Airlines is dead and b) [people are actively mourning it](https://hellgatenyc.com/farewell-spirit-airlines-lga/?ref=aftermath.site), as though they just lost a dear friend. That’s where we’re at, to say nothing of wars, the slow, AI-driven deconstruction of all we hold dear, and rampant [conspiracy theories about the dumbest things possible](https://kotaku.com/saros-arjun-ending-spoilers-relationship-explained-2000692965?ref=aftermath.site). But at least some of those directly and indirectly responsible for the current state of the world are also feeling the squeeze. Most notably, The Daily Wire—the shameless far-right content mill run by sniveling gremlin man Ben Shapiro—is [laying off a significant chunk of its staff](https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/journalism/ben-shapiro-the-daily-wire-layoffs-nashville?ref=aftermath.site) following [estimates](https://x.com/alexbronzini/status/2051138252506108085?ref=aftermath.site) that it has lost 90 percent of its YouTube audience since 2023\. As Garbage Day [points out](https://www.garbageday.email/p/ben-shapiro-s-youtube-traffic-is-in-free-fall?ref=aftermath.site), this is part of a larger MAGA civil war that has turned *even more* extreme extremists like former Daily Wire host Candace Owens [into stars](https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-bipartisan-house-resolution-candace-owens/): > If you add the amount of money The Daily Wire has lit on fire over the last five years producing Tubi-original right-wing movies no one watches, a floundering streaming app no one is using, and a shrinking roster of relevant pundits to hire, it’s hard to imagine how they could reverse this. Speaking of relevant pundits, there’s also the Israel problem. The MAGA civil war that’s been happening since Kirk died largely boils down to whether or not American conservatives should support Israel or not. Kirk was something of a bridge there. The “cool” new far right, led by figures like Owens and Nick Fuentes are both anti-Israel and blatantly anti-Semitic, while Shapiro, of course, is not. The age old problem with working at the racism factory! They eventually make a new racism that includes you. So, in the grand scheme of things, all of this may or may not prove great for, you know, civilization, but it’s heartening to know that occasionally what goes around still comes around. On an entirely different platform, unpopular edicts heralded down from on high have actually produced consequences. You might remember that at the start of this year, *Roblox* began requiring facial age checks in order for users to chat with other users. This feature was added under the guise of “safety”—the same drum others like [Discord](https://aftermath.site/discord-age-verification/), [YouTube](https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1mnr5tp/why%5Fis%5Fyoutube%5Fpushing%5Fid%5Fverification%5Fto%5Fprotect/?ref=aftermath.site), and [Instagram](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/01/instagram-age-verification-u16-social-media-ban-australia-moustache?ref=aftermath.site) have been beating—but such policies just so happen to give companies [and the many governments](https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/age-verification-bills/?ref=aftermath.site) in the US, UK, EU, and Australia pushing for them access to treasure troves of personal data. (Also, they [don’t keep kids safe](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/privacy-children-too?ref=aftermath.site)!) Online anonymity has been a thorn in the side of powerful people since the internet first took over as the primary communications medium of our age, and they’ve been working tirelessly to eliminate what remains of it for years—especially since platforms like TikTok allowed for the spread of anti-Israel sentiment following October 7, 2023\. It is no coincidence that the Biden administration proceeded to [sign Trump’s proposed TikTok ban into law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efforts%5Fto%5Fban%5FTikTok%5Fin%5Fthe%5FUnited%5FStates?ref=aftermath.site) in 2025, ultimately delivering the app (and all of its data and surveillance capabilities) [into the hands of Larry Ellison](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/22/tiktok-us-venture-oracle?ref=aftermath.site), a staunch Trump ally and prominent Israel supporter. *Roblox*, at least, seems to be suffering a little for its decision to help lead the anti-privacy charge. The company’s own numbers, as highlighted by [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/games/921694/roblox-q1-2026-132-million-dau?ref=aftermath.site), show that daily active users have taken a tumble—from 152 million in Q3 2025, to 144 million at the end of 2025, to 132 million as of its[ latest earnings report](https://docs.reclaimthenet.org/roblox-q1-2026-shareholder-letter.pdf?ref=aftermath.site), which came out last week. This corresponds roughly with the timing of *Roblox*’s slow age verification rollout, something the company was forced to acknowledge amid otherwise triumphant corpo-speak: “We believe growth was also tempered by greater-than-expected headwinds from our age-check roll out, which restricted on-platform communication for non-age checked users, diluted communication for age-checked users, and slowed new user acquisition,” the company wrote in its earnings report, also blaming [Russia’s December 2025 ban of the game](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn41q11gy58o?ref=aftermath.site) for flagging numbers. Despite how much people clearly hate having their faces scanned—especially considering that companies have proven [embarrassingly terrible at keeping our data under lock and key](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/70000-government-id-photos-exposed-discord-user-hack-rcna236714?ref=aftermath.site)—*Roblox* plans to continue full speed ahead with age verification, lowering “expectations for topline growth in 2026” as a result. Some things, like spying on children, are just more important than infinite growth. ## Recommended [As Roblox’s Safety And Legal Woes Continue, Company Settles For $10 Million With NevadaNew safety measures were announced this week, too![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1656639969809-ebc544c96955)](https://aftermath.site/robox-safety-settlement-lawsuit-privacy-predator/) ### Haste Makes Waste URL: https://aftermath.site/invincible-robert-kirkman-animation-prime-video/ Last updated: 2026-05-04T19:24:55.000Z I like [*Invincible*](https://gizmodo.com/5-things-we-liked-and-3-we-didnt-about-invincible-season-4-2000749519?ref=aftermath.site). What I don’t like is that co-creator Robert Kirkman continues to tout the Prime Video show as an annual animated series, even though the [waning quality](https://gizmodo.com/invincible-season-4-review-prime-video-2000733543?ref=aftermath.site) across its four seasons has become increasingly hard to ignore. A loud part of the fandom is perfectly fine with that so long as they get more content quicker, but for me, that’s a backward way to look at animation. Back in 2023, Kirkman spoke about the animation issues Prime Video faced in its first two seasons in the wake of the pandemic. He also revealed his edict to try to have a new season of the show every year so that the gap between seasons isn’t as large as it was between its first two seasons, according to [Collider](https://collider.com/invincible-one-season-per-year-robert-kirkman-comments/?ref=aftermath.site). Aesthetically, the biggest change is evident in how the first season was handled by [Korean studio Wind Sun Sky Entertainment](https://windsunsky.com/projects/invincible/?ref=aftermath.site), which felt less stiff in dialogue scenes before the show was handed off to Skybound Animation, a newly minted wing of Skybound Entertainment established in 2023\. In the interim, the release of *Invincible: Atom Eve* special—an episode meant to wet viewers’ proverbial beaks prior to the release of its second season—has become an artifact for how good the show could look and likely never will again, so long as the show follows its brisk release schedule. *\[*Correction 4/4/26, 3:23 p.m. ET:* The original version of this article misstated the owner of Skybound Entertainment.\]* But as far as Kirkman is concerned, he’s cracked the code for American comics to be adapted into TV shows in the same way Japan has with manga and anime. Speaking at ComicsPRO 2026, Kirkman took his success with *Invincible* as the template for comic book adaptations. > Los fans descubrieron un PNG cortado en el nuevo episodio de Invincible [pic.twitter.com/kaR8FnQlZX](https://t.co/kaR8FnQlZX?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Cartoons On The Moon (@CartoonsOTMoon) [April 15, 2026](https://twitter.com/CartoonsOTMoon/status/2044504803707867336?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) “What I’m seeing with *Invincible,* and the way that the animated series is fueling the sales on the trades in the direct market, is something that to me is signaling that there’s a potential to build something really exciting in this industry that will sustain us for years and years and years,” [Kirkman said, according to Complex](https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/treyalston/invincible-creator-manga-anime-pipeleine?ref=aftermath.site). “Everybody talks about manga and how successful manga is, and the thing that makes manga so successful is the manga to anime pipeline,” he continued. “And with *Invincible*, we’re seeing that you can with American comics basically do the exact same thing.” I couldn’t disagree more. Kirkman hasn’t reverse-engineered a solution to animation. He’s perpetuating a problem that’s long plagued the anime industry. Same shit, different toilet. In the current state of anime and its fandom, animation is treated less like art and more like content that must chase relevancy in the immediacy of its release schedule rather than taking time to make a show that looks great. The anime industry can be terrible, with [animators crunching long hours and stress to get a show out in tight release windows](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/anime/new-survey-shows-japans-animation-workers-are-overworked-underpaid-and-face-regular-harassment-239390.html?ref=aftermath.site)—a scenario not unlike how comic book artists are ground to dust with rates that haven’t changed, and [have even gotten worse, since the 70s](https://comicsalliance.com/comic-creators-rates-1978/?ref=aftermath.site). The proof is in the pudding. In its current season, many of *Invincible*’s scenes feel like sliding PNGs and character key visuals, copied and pasted into a room, with none of the sense of movement from earlier seasons. If it weren’t for the script and voice acting, the show would be grounds for you to put it down, pick up the comic instead, and let your imagination do the in-betweens. Alas, one of the show’s better qualities is how it left [dead-in-the-water storylines](https://gizmodo.com/invincible-mark-eve-dating-comics-amazon-prime-2000561610?ref=aftermath.site) from decades ago to the comics, and writing more thoughtful arcs for [characters that were done dirty](https://gizmodo.com/invincible-season-4-debbie-omni-man-reunion-sandra-oh-2000741691?ref=aftermath.site)—a sentiment [Kirkman is comfortably in agreement with](https://www.ign.com/articles/invincible-creator-robert-kirkman-says-tech-jacket-was-gender-swapped-to-address-a-comic-book-shortcoming?ref=aftermath.site). After all, he’s not the same white dude he was years ago, writing a comic just for a male audience. Of course, the show hasn’t [been unwatchable by any means](https://gizmodo.com/what-would-you-have-done-on-the-season-finale-of-invincible-2000751392?ref=aftermath.site). But much of the greatness of the show feels [saved for finales](https://gizmodo.com/invincible-finale-walking-dead-reference-steven-yeun-jeffrey-dean-morgan-2000576232?ref=aftermath.site), in the same way anime fans colloquially (and wrongly) interpret it as an anime saving its budget for a finale. Outside of that, however, the show has felt consistently inconsistent in the animation quality department. Animation will always be judged by how well things look in motion—[it’s literally in the name](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anima%5Fmundi?ref=aftermath.site)—so wasting the medium’s biggest advantage by cutting corners just to make a show more immediate and therefore more “relevant” is disappointingly shortsighted. You only get one chance to make a show look right, so why rush it when you could take the time to make something that looks great? And for a flagship show meant to get people subscribed to the streamer, *Invincible* simply doesn’t look like one. > His expression does not match the anger and frustration in his voice whatsoever… > > 😭😭😭 [https://t.co/GAPHkQYMhn](https://t.co/GAPHkQYMhn?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Hunter ♉︎ 🇻🇪 (@Jv1i3n\_) [April 23, 2026](https://twitter.com/Jv1i3n%5F/status/2047452026775408813?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Plenty of shows—[*Castlevania*](https://gizmodo.com/castlevania-nocturne-review-netflix-anime-richter-1850880399?ref=aftermath.site), [*Avatar: The Last Airbender*](https://www.polygon.com/24080558/avatar-last-airbender-anime-influence-atla/?ref=aftermath.site)—proved that absence can make fans’ hearts grow fonder when the return comes with animation and storytelling at the height of their powers. *Invincible* doesn’t have the same affordances anime has, where the Blu-ray release gets another pass to fix cuts and polish sequences beyond the broadcast version. And it certainly doesn’t have the “share the wealth” solution Mappa implemented with [*Chainsaw Man—The Movie: Reze Arc*](https://gizmodo.com/chainsaw-man-the-movie-reze-arc-review-anime-mappa-2000675933?ref=aftermath.site) by fully funding the movie and keeping all the rights, so the profits go back to animators and they [no longer make poverty wages](https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUC195H60Z10C26A2000000/?n%5Fcid=SNSTW006&n%5Ftw=1777843819&ref=aftermath.site). Instead, *Invincible* gets cannibalized by a streamer who charges more to remove ads while simultaneously [spitting on the medium's face](https://gizmodo.com/prime-video-sucks-for-anime-science-saru-the-ghost-in-the-shell-exclusive-streaming-2000723977?ref=aftermath.site) with [AI nonsense every month](https://aftermath.site/prime-video-ai-beta-english-dub-anime-banana-fish-no-game-no-life/), leaving whatever profits trickle down to animators like wringing a towel over cracked lips and calling that Fiji water. And more time and “better sakuga” as a solution don’t mean the show needs to be a fluid spectacle only in its action scenes. Anime like [*Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End*](https://gizmodo.com/frieren-beyond-journeys-end-is-a-sublime-fantasy-that-finds-beauty-in-the-mundane-2000743965?ref=aftermath.site) have proven that sakuga speaks loudly in small moments, such as when characters put on a jacket, the way their hair dances in the wind, or the subtle shift in hand gestures. But the way Invincible is made now, the whole show feels like boring missionary sex with the promise that the finale will deliver a climax worth the wait. Sure, there are neat things like impact frames and gory battles here and there, but they hit like jingly keys rather than the explosive payoff to a season’s worth of build-up inertia felt throughout its hour-long runtime. I’d rather have a show that spends longer in the hopper and comes out looking as good as it possibly can. [Honoring animators](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXPrO1uEXBR/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==), scriptwriters, and voice actors’ time and work, rather than a show that arrives yearly like *Madden* or *2K*, that’s bare and barely worth writing home about outside of TikTok edits that do the heavy lifting to make only its action and dialogue look good out of context, as a concentrated highlight of an eight hour-long episodes, condensed into half-finished 1-minute AMVs. *Invincible* deserves better, but I don’t think it’ll ever escape the trappings Kirkman has placed on it by treating it as content rather than art—a divide its fandom is currently at war over. While many *Invincible* fans ran with the [now-deleted comment](https://x.com/TheSaicoPepe/status/2042278139087200714?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) from an alleged former animator like a game of telephone—claiming the show only has four compositors in total, something [*Castlevania* director Samuel Deats](https://x.com/SamuelDeats/status/2042389591739470061?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) clarified while still noting the number is low—others took a different stance, accusing critics of wanting Mappa-level action animation. Translation: they’re saying fans want the show to perpetuate the [same crunch conditions that produced “sakuga slop” in *Jujutsu Kaisen*](https://gizmodo.com/mappa-jujutsu-kaisen-crunch-allegations-1851034576?ref=aftermath.site), which led animators to voice their dire work conditions. As far as this camp is concerned, they’d rather get the show immediately than wait years for a follow-up season, because that’d kill the show’s momentum. Both arguments are so close to the actual problem, and it’s driving me insane. > Alguien del staff ya respondió por que hace un año > Es triste [pic.twitter.com/gwoUKwGLx2](https://t.co/gwoUKwGLx2?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Pepe 🍷 (@TheSaicoPepe) [April 9, 2026](https://twitter.com/TheSaicoPepe/status/2042278139087200714?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) > They cut the storyboard team in half last season. Some of my friends lost their jobs and it’s awful > > It’s not the voice actors taking up the budget tho. They’re two separate budgets. They just genuinely need a bigger budget- remember, this show is 50 mins long [https://t.co/baGWLQ733h](https://t.co/baGWLQ733h?ref=aftermath.site) > > — kenzie (@pk\_kenzie) [April 9, 2026](https://twitter.com/pk%5Fkenzie/status/2042365804587733444?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Kirkman wants the show to be annual. Fine. The comic is already a story that requires sifting through some bullshit to find worthwhile parts, made better by the Prime Video adaptation leaving source material arcs on the cutting room floor. It’s an entertaining show that’s sometimes fascinating. But passable animation with a carrot-on-a-stick approach to save our budget for the finale animation sequences is the wrong lesson to take from anime. If anything, it treats the show like content and viewers like mindless consumers who don’t need quality, just immediacy. > Give Sandra her flowers, all the awards, the key to the GDA building, because she DESERVES. [pic.twitter.com/2ik1ne44pQ](https://t.co/2ik1ne44pQ?ref=aftermath.site) > > — INVINCIBLE (@InvincibleHQ) [April 2, 2026](https://twitter.com/InvincibleHQ/status/2039748559373730125?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) And that’s the problem. This is supposed to be the streamer’s flagship animated series, yet the animation feels like the least‑valued part of a show fans proudly call the *Dragon Ball Z* of comic books. Well‑meaning compositing tweaks and heavy backlighting aren’t the fix *Invincible* needs. I’d be far happier as a fan if the series took the time to make something worth watching, instead of delivering a version whose animation drags down everything else on the blank check promise that “at least you’ll get it again in 12 months.” [Dan Da Dan Is Back, And So Is My Obsession With Science Saru’s Keyframe Anime Posts - AftermathI’m so excited for DanDaDan’s second season, and for poring over its animator’s rough draft key animations on Twitter.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/dan-da-dan-momo-ayase-okarun-science-saru-anime-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/dandadan-anime-sakuga-science-saru/) ### The Steam Controller Is Perfect For People With An Entire PC In Their Living Room URL: https://aftermath.site/steam-controller-review-living-room-pc/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T22:00:32.000Z I respect anybody who insists that they are right about something, as the history of technology is littered with ideas that initially crash out but are proven correct later on. The original Steam Controller was a noble failure, idiosyncratic and beloved by a handful of weirdos. The DNA for that original controller made it into the Steam Deck, where it flourished and where a more sensible version of the idea of two trackpads as an input device was vindicated. Now Valve is taking another shot at the Steam Controller, with the new device retaining the original’s name. And while the second attempt at Steam Machines has been pushed back due to a bunch of [useless jackasses making the computer expensive](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/), for people who game on PC within Valve’s ecosystem, and particularly on the couch, the Steam Controller is ideal. ![The steam controller in a cardboard box, open on a wood floor.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/A015_03052016_S009-1.jpg) Though the Steam Machine has officially been pushed back, I spiritually have several in my home in the form of gaming computers running an immutable form of Linux. My main PC dual boots Bazzite, as does my living room PC, which has been exorcised of Windows entirely. I also have a BC250 crypto mining card that I am converting into a bootleg Steam Machine for fun (stay tuned for that). I do much of my gaming on the living room machine, a pre-covid small form factor PC that’s roughly comparable to a base PS5 and still has a lot of life in her. She can run indie titles just fine, and streaming games via Moonlight from my office works like a charm. Outside of this, the Steam Deck is one of my most used consoles. The Steam Machine lifestyle is already here for some of us, and I’ve been living it. *Disclosure: Valve sent Aftermath a Steam Controller for review.* ## **The living room PC lifestyle is valid** Having a living room PC is always slightly embarrassing, because you just have a keyboard and mouse on your coffee table. I have gone though many different setups over the years as my living situation has changed, much of it dependent on if another person needs to make sense of it. Though Bazzite and SteamOS take a lot of the friction out of this by launching you right into Big Picture mode on boot if you choose to, you’re still gonna need to go into the desktop eventually, and so something that can approximate a mouse and keyboard is ideal. I have tried almost every approach you can think of to make this setup less awkward, and know them all like the back of my hand. ![Two keyboards with integrated touchpads. The top one is logitech, the bottom is framework.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/logitech_keyboard.jpg) Countless Logitech K400s have been sold, it's not a great keyboard. Recently Framework announced a competing keyboard using the open source ZMK firmware. Credit: Logitech, Framework. The Logitech K400 is often the de facto choice here, as it is a low profile keyboard with an integrated trackpad, although it’s a miserable, cheap keyboard to use. [Framework recently announced a direct competitor to this](http://frame.work/products/framework-wireless-touchpad-keyboard?ref=aftermath.site), while subtly shading Logitech’s dominance in the space in their announcement. There are also countless little garbagey remote-shaped keyboards with trackpads that you can get from AliExpress. While they have their utility, they uniformly always suck a little. ![A bunch of community layouts in Steam for the game Cairn.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/image.png) Steam's community layouts have been a joy for adding features to existing games. In the climbing game Cairn, users use it to map individual limbs to the back paddles. The Steam Controller tries to take a stab at tackling this issue, in part by just importing all the work the Steam Deck has already done in the handheld space. The twin trackpads on the Steam Deck and the ability for different members of the community to share controller layouts has enabled countless games that would otherwise be unplayable to sing on the Steam Deck. The trackpads on the Steam Deck not only serve as a mouse replacement, but also summon an on-screen keyboard for text input in a manner similar to using a smartphone. If for whatever reason you need to enter a desktop environment on either a handheld or on a big-ass OLED, the Steam Controller and the Steam Deck’s trackpads will get you most of the way there. If you are living the living room PC lifestyle like me, you will probably still need to keep that keyboard and mouse combo handy, but there simply isn't a better controller for someone who has decided to put a regular ass computer in their living room where normal people can see it. ![A controller lies open with 7 screws next to it, the battery is easily accessible.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/A015_03072005_S026.jpg) The Steam Controller thing has like seven non-security Torx drivers and you're in. ## **Drift no more, repair as you want** In the wake of the sticks in countless controllers and Joy-Cons getting shitty over the years, people sought out alternatives that lasted. This would initially manifest in Hall Effect sticks, a magnet-based technology that was present in the Dreamcast controller. In the intervening years, third party controllers have sprung up from companies like 8Bit Do as well as full conversion kits for DIY weirdos. Eventually, Hall Effect gave way to a newer technology called TMR, or Tunnel Magnetoresistance, which has many of the benefits of Hall Effect but with lower power consumption. Basically every third party controller is moving in that direction now, while every other first party controller still uses the older sticks that get shitty over time and eventually break. The Steam Controller is the first first-party controller from a major console maker that uses TMR sticks. In particular, it uses K-Silver JS13 Pro+, modules that appear in a bunch of very nice high-end Chinese controllers like the [ZD-0+ Excellence](https://aftermath.site/zd-0-excellence-review-controller-gaming-xbox-perfect/) controller that I covered for Aftermath. Those are solid sticks, and barring some unforeseen manufacturing flaw will last a very long time. Like the original Steam Controller controller, both the Steam Deck and the new Steam Controller use trackpads based on capacitive technology from a company called [Cirque](https://www.cirque.com/glidepoint-circle-trackpads?ref=aftermath.site), designed by Valve with the company's support. The Steam Deck is perhaps the single most tweaked console in history. Its flexibility and open source nature has invited untold amounts of optimization, customization and modification. From shell swaps to thermal mods, the community has done a lot of work making that little thing sing, which Valve has either not gotten in the way of nor actively encouraged. This is smart for more reasons than I can count, not least of which is that it serves as free R&D for what the community wants out of the next device. And what this community wants is a device that does not suck to repair. I have seen the guts of so many controllers, and the layout of the Steam Controller, like the Steam Deck before it, is an act of mercy. While it’s not one of the many weirdly modular Chinese controllers I’ve used in the past, [it is a breath of fresh air compared to Sony’s DualSense](https://aftermath.site/i-modded-my-ps5-controller-and-you-can-too/), which is a rat’s nest of ribbon cables that you need to carefully diffuse like a bomb in a 90s action movie. This is not unique to Sony, as most consumer electronics are designed to be never taken apart. Valve understands implicitly that people might want to repair this thing, to mod it, to swap in the battery when it inevitably loses its charge. While the Steam Controller does not take replaceable batteries, it also does not hide its internals under security screws, and the battery is laid out in a sane, easy to access location. The PCB with the stick module on it is just kinda there, not hidden. What’s more, Valve is also partnering with iFixit and providing all the files for anybody who wants to 3D print their own accessories. This is the single friendliest first-party controller I have ever taken apart. ![A plastic puck with 3 pins on the ground.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/A015_03072059_S044-1-1.jpg) It's kinda a great solution, I'm not gonna lie. ## **Magnetic puck** Most halfway decent mice or controllers come with a dedicated 2.4GHz dongle (the original Steam Controller actually came with one as well), because from a performance perspective Bluetooth is often quite bad and prone to interference. Sometimes you’ll also get a controller with a nice little optional charging dock too, which serves as a nice place to store your controller when you aren’t using it. Valve decided to combine the two with their magnetic charging puck, a little plastic oblong that plugs into USB-C and snaps to the back of the Steam Controller with a satisfying smack. You don’t technically need the puck to either charge or use the Steam Controller: the device has a Bluetooth connection (albeit with worse performance) and a USB-C port should you need to charge or connect directly. You should not need to do that if the impressive 35 hour battery life that Valve claims turns out to be true. But it is a welcome and ingenious piece of design, and Valve claims a single puck can support up to four controllers. What’s more, it makes the actual process of setting the controller up exceedingly painless. When I plugged my controller in, Steam asked to briefly update the firmware for both the puck and the controller, but once that was done I was off to the races. ![Steam big picture mode, a window lets the user know they are all set and that the puck acts as a communicating dongle.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/steam.jpg) You just plug it in while Steam is running and you're off. ![Two controllers are dramatically laid out in sunlight](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/A015_03072015_S037.jpg) I had to mod my DualSense to get back paddles because I was not gonna drop $200 for a DualSense Edge. ## **Layout** The Steam Controller, like the Deck, uses a symmetrical Sony-style layout, and at the risk of being a snob this is morally correct. Too many third-party controllers and handhelds use the cursed Xbox thumbstick layout, and it makes me feel like a man without a country sometimes. The Steam Controller differs from and innovates on the Steam Deck in many welcome ways, however. The programmable buttons on the back of the controller, something that should just be legally mandated in every single controller on earth, are much more prominent than on the Deck. The pads are slightly larger and angled slightly inward, although they have the same haptic feedback when you touch them that feel like a fidget toy. The buttons and triggers have a membrane feel, but not in a bad way, and I imagine putting mouse buttons and short throw triggers in is going to be the first thing people try to mod. The grips are angled in a way that feels comfortable, which was the biggest failing of the Steam Deck by far and something that I imagine will change in further revisions. Despite looking like an awkward, large Xbox 360 controller in images, it feels shockingly well-proportioned and familiar when you get it in your hands. Controllers are deeply personal, and I imagine some people might not enjoy the placement of the sticks, but for me it felt just right. In addition to improvements in ergonomics, the controller also features the optional ability to do gyroscopic controls, which are enabled and disabled by sensors in the grip. I’m going to be honest: I don’t normally use gyroscopic controls a lot, but I know gyro fans are out there. This is one place where I imagine custom controller profiles in Steam will really sing, as gyroscopic controls allow for a degree of pointerlike precision for people who are good at it. I took a swing at using some custom profiles for *Boomerang X* and *Neon White* in my testing with the device, and while I see and respect the vision, it is simply not for me. Where the gyro controls do sing for me is enabling them as a pointer in Desktop mode. There is also an infrared sensor in the controller that’s meant to be used with the upcoming Steam Frame, but that’s a functionality that nobody has been able to test. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/05/gyro-as-mouse.png) I highly recommend going into the Desktop profile and enabling Gyro To Mouse for the controller. I ## **Cost/benefit** As of publication, the Steam Controller retails for $100 dollars, which places it in a specific pricing tier. It’s more expensive than the DualSense and the same price as the Switch 2 Joy-Cons. I personally feel like the price is justified by the repairability, the unique nature of the trackpads, and the inclusion of TMR sticks, which even the $200 Xbox Elite and DualSense Edge both lack. There is also one other complication that many others have pointed out, which is the reliance on Steam. When you use the Steam Controller, Steam acts as a compatibility layer for the controller to make sure the gamepad is properly mapped. Part of this appears to be a technical limitation given the nature of the controller as functionally a mouse, keyboard, and gamepad combined. In a Windows environment you can still use the controller in Desktop mode with Steam in the background as a mouse and keyboard, but if you want to run it as a game pad you must launch it through Steam. There are workarounds to do this quite easily, although this may be a dealbreaker for some. In my testing however, the Steam Controller works slightly differently in a Linux environment. It just works…sorta. You still need Steam running, but this is actually a very common Linux experience, as I’ve had devices, like label makers, that would normally give me grief in Windows work instantly. Though the Steam Controller functions in a slightly idiosyncratic way (haptics would trigger halfway through a trigger pull for a slightly weird “bump”), I was able to play *Cairn* launched from the Heroic launcher just fine in Linux but not in Windows. Similarly, I was able to stream *Pragmata* using Moonlight and have it mostly work fine. When I reached out to Valve to get a technical answer for this difference in behavior (in particular asking about the driver [HID-Steam](https://blogs.gnome.org/alicem/2024/10/24/steam-deck-hid-and-libmanette-adventures/?ref=aftermath.site)), they pointed out that support for the Steam Controller has been upstreamed [and open sourced into SDL (Simple DirectMedia Library) since November](https://www.phoronix.com/news/New-Steam-Controller-SDL?ref=aftermath.site). “In general, other than the Xbox controller, console gamepads don’t use a driver on Windows” A representative for Valve told me via email. “Instead, the games that support these devices are mostly using HID via either custom code, Sony’s library for PS controllers, or a library like SDL - which Valve contributes to and provided the initial support for PlayStation, Switch, Steam, and other controllers. Like with all of our hardware, we want to be open, so back in November we open sourced the code for talking to the new Steam Controller into SDL. Developers that want to support the controller are free to use the latest version of SDL and support the device directly in their game/app, though we still feel that we’re able to deliver a more consistent and better experience for players through Steam Input for Steam games and supported non-Steam apps.” “On Linux it’s much simpler to create a virtual gamepad and with the near-universal use of SDL, either through directly integration in games or by the nature of running through Proton, we have much more latitude to create a good experience for players in non-Steam games when adding them as shortcuts. We have also provided hardware and developer support to the open source developer working on HID-Steam in the Linux kernel to allow the devices to function as gamepads when Steam isn’t running, following the same model as PlayStation, Switch, and other gamepads on the platform.” ## Our time has come It is easy to think of the Steam Controller as a device waiting for its console, the one part of Valve’s next step that has now been pushed back due to Sam Altman fucking the entire global economy up. But as a person who has lived with a PC connected to my TV for a very long time, I have wanted something like this, a device to make this experience a little more seamless. The Steam Controller is a step in the right direction, sanding a few of the rough edges off of the couch-based PC gaming experience. There is vindication to that, a confirmation that this weird behavior that I have been doing for more than a decade at this point is not without merit. Like the Steam Controller and perhaps with the Steam Machine, living room PC people generally have been waiting for our time to come. Perhaps that time is now. ### GameStop Wants To Buy, Uh, eBay? [Update] URL: https://aftermath.site/gamestop-ebay-purchase-deal-offer-stocks/ Last updated: 2026-05-05T19:51:33.000Z Gamestop [just announced a bid to buy eBay](https://investor.gamestop.com/ebay/?ref=aftermath.site), which sounds like a bad idea on just about every front you can imagine. GameStop–[no longer a serious company](https://aftermath.site/gamestop-stonks-shares-closures-store/)–currently owns around 5% of eBay through share purchases, but has now submitted a deal where it would pay 50% cash and 50% GameStop shares to buy the global auction and trading website for a total of $56 billion. Were eBay to accept the offer (and there’s absolutely nothing compelling them to), Gametop’s proposal includes leveraging the games retailer’s physical shopfronts to perform the authentication services eBay currently offers on stuff like trading cards, which raises so many questions about expertise and market monopolisation that I don't have space for them here. It also mentions that one big benefit of the acquisition for investors is that eBay would no longer need its own administration support, as “finance, HR, real estate, legal, IT, and professional services across the combined company” would all be consolidated. In other words, that would result in massive layoffs at eBay, a company that currently employs over 10,000 people worldwide. As [Reuters point out](https://www.reuters.com/business/gamestop-ceo-ryan-cohen-makes-unsolicited-offer-buy-ebay-about-56-bln-wsj-says-2026-05-03/?ref=aftermath.site), this is both an unusual and very risky deal: > A potential deal would upend the usual M&A playbook, as it is rare for ​a company to target one nearly four times its size. Such deals typically rely on heavy debt, stock issuance, ​or both - banking on future earnings of the combined company to justify the cost. > > Cohen said he has lined up financial commitments, ‌including ⁠a commitment letter for about $20 billion in debt from TD Bank, and may seek backing from external investors including Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds to fund the deal. In other words, the deal would saddle the company with enormous amounts of debt, and seems reliant on a source of finance that, as we’ve literally only just discussed, [is very much starting to dry up](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-saudi-arabia-liv-golf-ea-deal/). If you’re wondering why GameStop would bother, you might find the answer in the fact that CEO Ryan Cohen, who publicly claims he currently receives no compensation for his role, [will be paid *$35 billion* if he can get the company’s value to $100 billion](https://www.reuters.com/business/gamestop-announces-new-stock-option-award-ceo-cohen-2026-01-07/?ref=aftermath.site), a moonshot that a deal like this seems specifically tailored towards. I have no love for eBay–the fees they took out of my last overseas sale were bordering on a crime–but as far as the platform has fallen since its 2000's heyday, seeing it be leveraged into a turbocapitalist's desperate gamble for a billionaire payoff would be pretty gross even by 2026’s depraved standards. **UPDATE 10pm, May 4 2026**: *Shortly after announcing the plan, GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen went on CNBC and gave one of the most unhinged corporate interviews I have ever seen, repeatedly refusing to engage with questions, directing his interviewer to GameStop's website (!) and offering completely unsupported claims when quizzed about how the hell GameStop + eBay could hope to compete with a company as large as Amazon:* ### Suddenly, Saudi (Money Is Drying Up) URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-saudi-arabia-liv-golf-ea-deal/ Last updated: 2026-05-04T15:37:39.000Z For a while there, it seemed like the only constants in life were death, taxes, and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund buying up yet another beloved Western sports or entertainment property. [Golf](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/apr/30/end-for-liv-where-does-saudi-withdrawal-leave-golf-dechambeau-rahm-westwood?ref=aftermath.site), [soccer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi%5FPro%5FLeague?ref=aftermath.site), [boxing](https://www.badlefthook.com/boxing-news/115038/eddie-hearn-says-turki-alalshikh-will-choose-location-for-anthony-joshua-vs-tyson-fury-boxing-news-2026?ref=aftermath.site), [pro wrestling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE%5Fin%5FSaudi%5FArabia?ref=aftermath.site), and of course, video games—both in the [esports](https://aftermath.site/geoguessr-blackout-esports-world-cup-saudi-arabia/) and [large-scale development](https://aftermath.site/rep-maxwell-frost-lilsimsie-stream-ea-saudi-arabia-interview/) senses—have all found themselves entangled in Saudi Arabia’s gleaming golden net. But in recent months, [the moneybags have begun to look decidedly flaccid](https://aftermath.site/geoguessr-blackout-esports-world-cup-saudi-arabia/), and with this week came the biggest casualty yet: [LIV Golf](https://www.espn.com/golf/story/%5F/id/48636527/liv-golf-establishes-new-independent-board-attempt-survive?ref=aftermath.site), which has been propped up by the crown since its inception five years ago. The games industry might be next. On the latest [Aftermath Hours](https://aftermath.site/tag/aftermath-hours/), we talk about that. This time around, we discuss cheery news from [yet another normal week](https://aftermath.site/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2026-shooting/). For example: A video game CEO [casually said the quiet part out loud](https://aftermath.site/video-game-job-security/) by opining during a routine interview that “We've been a little bit too romantic about the idea that we should have employees and give people long-term job security,” suggesting that it’s time to instead rely heavily on a merry-go-round of beleaguered contractors. And this CEO is also the head of the head of the UK trade body for the games industry. Great! We also discuss Saudi Arabia’s divestment from LIV Golf, the first of [many dominoes possibly to fall](https://www.golfchannel.com/news/news/liv-golf-not-the-only-sports-property-affected-by-saudi-arabias-investment-reboot?ref=aftermath.site) as its soft-power-hungry Public Investment Fund runs low on money. Are Saudi Arabia’s games industry investments in similar trouble? According to early reports, it sounds very possible! Lastly, we talk about something that’s actually cool—the new Steam controller, which Chris is loving—before envisioning the darkest possible special interest a person could have: *Mario Party* historian. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that we can eventually hire our own historian to suffer through years—perhaps even decades, by the time it’s all said and done—of my jokes. Or, for a limited time, you can support us by subscribing to Aftermath AND three other great independent sites—[Rascal](https://www.rascal.news/?ref=aftermath.site), [Rogue](https://www.rogue.site/?ref=aftermath.site), and [Never Post](https://www.neverpo.st/?ref=aftermath.site)—at a 50% discount. [Check it out!](https://aftermath.site/indie-media-bundle-2026/) Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Luke:** \[Saudi Arabia\] has actually been stepping away from some of these investments for a while. They made a huge splash in European football—not just with their own professional league, but in purchasing one of England’s biggest clubs, Newcastle. They pumped a lot of money into that. They had aspirations of making Newcastle one of the best teams in England. Newcastle have improved, but they haven’t become sort of an elite club like the owners would’ve hoped, and in the last 6-12 months, there’s been a very public backing away of their support for that club. It’s not that they’re looking to sell it, but they’ve basically lost interest in turning that into a super club because it hasn’t worked. And it felt like the investment was a poor one that they didn’t fully understand. You saw that happening in a few places even before the war in Iran. The Saudis have essentially gambled their country’s future on this idea of two aims: One is very understandable, in that they know the oil is going to run out or we are going to stop using oil one day. So they can’t base their national economy on oil forever. So they had this idea that they were going to take the oil money they have now and invest that globally in countless industries and companies and corporations and basically diversify their income. The other part is a soft power grab, because obviously the Saudi regime does not have a great reputation globally in terms of human rights and authoritarianism and stuff. If they can invest in all these things we love and watch and follow and are passionate about, it would soften our approach to the Saudis because they’re so involved in the things we love—like football, wrestling, television, and video games. None of those things have worked. The investments have been shocking across the board. You look at the lion city, Neom: disaster! Who the fuck thought that was going to work? They blew so much money just on the plans and digging a few trenches for that. Everything they’ve invested in has been an entertainment property that the reason they’re investing in it is because it was failing or losing money. So they’re not making money on that. They sunk money into an English football club, which you do not make money on. Those things are passion projects. They’re a money sink, and they found that out very quickly. **Nathan:** They also sunk a ton of money into esports, which has always been notoriously unprofitable. That’s why all the mainstream entities, investors, and sports organizations in North America pulled out or gave up on it \[after the esports boom\]. **Luke:** The other way it’s failing is that soft power needs to be soft. You can’t overtly attempt to purchase soft power. That stuff happens organically. The Saudis’ attempt to garner goodwill has actually backfired because they’ve been seen to have been coming in and buying things that were or are important to people in specific markets. They haven’t been seen as saviors. **Nathan:** Or originators or propagators. \[They’ve been seen as\] interlopers. And of course EA is the big video game company now that they’re going for, but in all these cases, what stands out is not “Oh man, it’s so cool that Saudi Arabia has a hand in this.” Instead it feels like they are very deliberately trying to improve their image with these vehicles. People can sense that lack of authenticity, and they’re like “OK then, you’re just interfering with a thing that I already liked where you’re taking it over.” Or in the case of EA, everyone’s worried that \[Saudi Arabian ownership\] is gonna make games more expensive or add more microtransactions. It’s also nakedly motivated by money or power, and these things generally do not result in good outcomes for the things that are being purchased. **Luke:** The fear is that if the Saudis have basically come in and propped up a number of these organizations and sports and pastimes with their money, and now that money is in danger of disappearing, it’s basically cutting the legs off the table. There’s no one else left to support those organizations if Saudi money’s gone, because we’ve already tried Chinese money. We’ve tried our own money; that stuff’s either pulled back or withdrawn or doesn’t work anymore. The Saudi money was literally the last thing propping up a lot of these things. And if that disappears, a lot of these things are in serious trouble, because who else can afford to buy them or operate them at the scale and cost that they were running at if they weren’t tapping into billions of dollars of Saudi money? That’s where the real concern comes from across the board. It’s in football, but also football will live just fine without the Saudi money. But if they’ve got major stakes in video game publishers, we’re already having enough trouble in video games as it is. **Nathan:** In games, some dominoes have apparently already fallen. A couple days ago on Bluesky, Cat Manning, who is narrative director at Firaxis, [said](https://bsky.app/profile/catacalypto.bsky.social/post/3mkjiycmedc2s?ref=aftermath.site), “Watching a certain Saudi game investment company cancel all their meetings 48 hours before GDC was an incredibly telling indicator that US markets have not caught up to \[Saudi Arabia losing so much money\].” Now people are speculating that the EA deal could be in trouble—which has not been confirmed in any capacity; my guess would be that they still try to close the deal and then pump EA for money—but the most concrete thing I’ve heard so far is Mikhail Klimentov, who I used to work with at The Washington Post, replied to Cat’s tweet and [said](https://bsky.app/profile/leadergrev.bsky.social/post/3mkojo7a7zs2u?ref=aftermath.site), “There will be extremely funny news about this \[fingers crossed\] soon.” I asked him what about, and he said that it will somehow be funnier than if the EA deal fell apart. I can’t imagine anything funnier than that, but OK! ## Recommended [Congressman Teams Up With Popular Sims Streamer To Oppose Saudi Purchase Of EA“Our hope is that \[the deal gets blocked\]. Of course, it doesn’t look good, but we’re going to get in every fight that we need to get into on behalf of people and to fight corporate greed and corporate monopolies”![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/size/w1200/2026/04/eadeal.png)](https://aftermath.site/rep-maxwell-frost-lilsimsie-stream-ea-saudi-arabia-interview/) ### Paste Ends The Games Coverage That Gave So Many Writers Their Start URL: https://aftermath.site/paste-games-endless-mode-av-club/ Last updated: 2026-05-01T18:46:46.000Z After a few years of both [expanding](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/paste-magazine/paste-media-acquires-av-club?ref=aftermath.site) and [contracting](https://www.thewrap.com/paste-layoffs-film-tv-team/?ref=aftermath.site), media outlet Paste seems to have ended its dedicated video games coverage, according to former employees and freelancers. Paste’s games coverage, once a vertical within Paste and then a standalone site called Endless Mode, became part of The AV Club last year. AV Club associate editor [Elijah Gonzalez posted to Bluesky today](https://bsky.app/profile/elijahgonzalez.bsky.social/post/3mksbpqrrhc24?ref=aftermath.site) that “Yesterday was my last day at The A.V. Club. I got laid off and the site’s Games section is basically gone.” Freelance writer Diego Nicolás Argüello [posted](https://bsky.app/profile/diegoarguello.bsky.social/post/3mkscmckcps2w?ref=aftermath.site) that **“**the games section at The AV Club games has been shuttered,” an understanding echoed by [other](https://bsky.app/profile/marcnormandin.bsky.social/post/3mksbwmdfrc23?ref=aftermath.site) [contributors](https://bsky.app/profile/thesaintoftous.bsky.social/post/3mksgdlh4lc2t?ref=aftermath.site) to the [games](https://bsky.app/profile/thewillarowe.bsky.social/post/3mkscq5qwrs2j?ref=aftermath.site) [section](https://bsky.app/profile/dialacina.com/post/3mksccb47h225?ref=aftermath.site). Longtime Paste games editor Garrett Martin [posted in part](https://bsky.app/profile/garrettmartin.bsky.social/post/3mksftqhidc2k?ref=aftermath.site), “Thanks to everybody who wrote for us… and thanks to everybody who ever read it. See ya around.” Aftermath has reached out to Gonzalez and Martin for more information. In a statement to [Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/paste-media-puts-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-of-a-storied-gaming-legacy-2000692448?ref=aftermath.site), The AV Club wrote > *The A.V. Club* made the difficult decision to eliminate three roles, which included two full-time staff who ran our video games coverage after joining us from *Endless Mode…* We will continue to have some games coverage, but we cannot sustain a full-time staff covering it with our smaller team. Martin became the editor of Paste Games in [2011](https://web.archive.org/web/20250630185905/https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/bye-yall/a-note-on-the-future-of-pastes-games-coverage), making the section a home for countless writers and editors. (Aftermath co-founder Gita Jackson was previously an assistant editor at Paste.) In July 2025, Paste Games [spun off into its own site](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-kotaku-sold-endless-mode-microsoft/), Endless Mode, in what Martin described at the time as a place to “explore the infinite possibilities of games, anime, theme parks, and more,” and which seemed to have the enthusiastic backing of Paste’s ownership. In November, Endless Mode was [folded into the games section](https://www.avclub.com/new-games-section-endless-mode-paste-games?ref=aftermath.site) of The AV Club, which Paste purchased from G/O Media in 2024\. (G/O Media is the former owner of Kotaku, the previous employer of Aftermath’s staff.) Another site Paste purchased from G/O, politics site Splinter, was folded into former G/O property Jezebel in [November 2025](https://www.jezebel.com/jezebel-is-now-the-home-of-splinter-com?ref=aftermath.site). Jezebel seems to have run into trouble of its own recently, with at least one [former freelancer ](https://bsky.app/profile/susanrinkunas.com/post/3mknsljbmhc22?ref=aftermath.site)posting that they’ve recently lost work from the site, and with its EIC [exiting the site](https://x.com/l%5Ftousignant/status/2049514837890244868?ref=aftermath.site) after four and a half years. Upheaval in media, especially games media, is nothing new–in fact, today marks exactly a year since [Polygon was sold to Valnet](https://aftermath.site/polygon-vox-media-valnet-layoffs-staff-goodbye/). But the loss of Paste Games is hitting writers especially hard–there’s hardly a person putting words about games on the internet today who didn’t get an opportunity from Paste and especially Martin, myself included. For years, the site has been known for its willingness to say “yes” in a field increasingly besieged by “no”s, letting writers follow their interests and passions rather than succumbing to the SEO-focused, high-volume strategy beloved by the ever-consolidating owners remaining in the space. So many people got their earliest clips there, launching the careers of countless writers, and many more continued to write for the site for years in its various forms.“Paste Magazine was a tour de force in games criticism, and \[Garrett Martin\] is a legend,” wrote [games writing preservation site Critical Distance](https://bsky.app/profile/critdistance.bsky.social/post/3mksey4uemk26?ref=aftermath.site), a very true statement that nevertheless doesn’t feel like it scratches the surface of the full impact Paste and Martin had on what video games writing looks like today. Argüello told Aftermath, “Back in 2015, when I didn’t even know what a pitch was, it was Paste and its illustrious contributors that served as a north star. Everyone spoke highly of the talent embedded on the site, and for good reason, which helped to draw attention. For me, though, it was the shared sentiment around Paste giving many, many writers their start that encouraged me to give freelancing a try in the first place. Today, many people - both old and new - are echoing that same sentiment. It’s a shame, then, that the next generation of writers won’t get to experience this.” ### Crafty Tomodachi Life Players Are Making DIY Styluses URL: https://aftermath.site/crafty-tomodachi-life-players-are-making-diy-styluses/ Last updated: 2026-05-04T18:45:01.000Z The Nintendo Switch 2 has a touchscreen, but it doesn't come with a stylus. That's a problem if you're looking to customize stuff in *Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream*. The game lets you draw on basically anything. You can make food, signs, different faces, and clothes—and if you're going to make [a big titty beauty in *Tomodachi Life*](https://www.tiktok.com/@felinequeenie/video/7629754850917584142?ref=aftermath.site), it's *very* annoying to use your fingers to draw precise cleavage around your pink bikini top, or to make anything else. That's why *Tomodachi Life* players are getting crafty and [making DIY styluses out of Q-tips and foil](https://www.tiktok.com/@felinequeenie/video/7629754850917584142?ref=aftermath.site). Here's what I've learned from TikTok: 1. Grab a Q-tip. 2. Grab some foil. 3. Wrap the Q-tip in the foil, leaving the cotton tip out. 4. Lick the Q-tip head to create a *tiny* bit of moisture. (This is key, or else it won't register. Something about conductive surfaces.) If you are fancy, [you can pop that Q-tip into an emptied out pen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RKJmmOA4k8&ref=aftermath.site), though you still have to wrap it in foil, though. You're going to need to keep licking the top of the Q-tip (or run it very quickly under water, but be careful not to soak it) for a hot second to keep it a little moist. > [@felinequeenie](https://www.tiktok.com/@felinequeenie?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@felinequeenie") > > Crafting over here ladies 👙 Qtip + foil + drop of water🫶 [#tomodachilife](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tomodachilife?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "tomodachilife") [#tomodachigame](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/tomodachigame?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "tomodachigame") [#diy](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/diy?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "diy") [#styluspen](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/styluspen?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "styluspen") [#digitalart](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/digitalart?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "digitalart") > > [♬ MII MAKER (TOMODACHI LIFE) - Kunai](https://www.tiktok.com/music/MII-MAKER-TOMODACHI-LIFE-7586803816781514769?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ MII MAKER (TOMODACHI LIFE) - Kunai") There are other methods, too. You can use a small piece of a chip bag taped to the eraser of a pencil. [According to *Tomodachi Life* player OhhMyKawaii](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RKJmmOA4k8&ref=aftermath.site), your hand has to be touching the chip bag or else it won't work, again because of the conductive surface. The Q-tip is essentially a soft bit that theoretically won't scratch your screen, and the foil or chip bag is used to conduct electricity. The moisture helps create connection between the cotton and the foil, [according to a DIY stylus maker](https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Capacitive-Stylus/?ref=aftermath.site). You might be thinking, why can't I use the stylus from my Nintendo 3DS? I don't know! [Reddit user CreekTerrarium ](https://www.reddit.com/r/tomodachilife/comments/1su9sn5/the%5Fstylus%5Fproblem%5Fwhat%5Fworks%5Fwhat%5Fdoesnt%5Fand/?ref=aftermath.site)explains that the Nintendo 3DS has a resistive touchscreen instead of a capacitive one. A resistive touchscreen works when it detects pressure between the screen and the plastic stylus. The Nintendo Switch 2 has a capacitive touchscreen, like a lot of new technology. It requires an electric charge to detect a stylus. Styluses that work for capacitive touchscreens [must be rubber or some other material](https://www.reddit.com/r/tomodachilife/comments/1su9sn5/the%5Fstylus%5Fproblem%5Fwhat%5Fworks%5Fwhat%5Fdoesnt%5Fand/?ref=aftermath.site) (or your finger) to create electricity. CreekTerrarium warned away from Apple Pencils. You could always buy a stylus, too, but who doesn't love a little craft? ### Australia's 'Payphone Tag' Game Is An Excellent Use Of Public Infrastructure URL: https://aftermath.site/payphone-tag-australia-telstra/ Last updated: 2026-05-01T19:12:47.000Z *Payphone Tag* is a new game (sport?) being played in Australia that uses the country's kinda-defunct public phone network and turns it into a geospatial game where you can claim whole regions of territory as your own, provided you're willing, *Pokémon Go*\-style, to get out there and take it. Australia's payphone network, built nationally throughout the 20th century at huge expense but rendered almost useless by the invention of the mobile phone in the 21st, underwent a huge transformation a few years back. Instead of ripping the things out,[ the people in charge had two rare, good ideas](https://www.telstra.com.au/exchange/free-wi-fi-is-now-available-to-anyone-across-selected-telstra-pa?ref=aftermath.site): not only did the network's operator (Telstra) make using the phones free, but they also turned every single booth into a free wi-fi hotspot. Via[ Hackaday](https://hackaday.com/2026/04/28/payphone-tag-is-australias-new-national-sport/?ref=aftermath.site), *Payphone Tag* takes advantage of this by encouraging players to consult a map of Australia, find a payphone, get to it then make a free call, all the while pretending they’re in *The Matrix*. That phone call will prompt you to enter your own special PIN, and once you do that the booth is yours, and will be reflected on the game map. The more phones you visit, the more you can capture or steal, and stealing adjacent booths to form triangles will score you bonus points. If you're in Australia and want to play, or aren't and just want to take a look at the maps and how it works,[ here's the game's site](https://payphonetag.com/?ref=aftermath.site). (Thanks Keegan!) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/image-6.png) While bigger capitals like Sydney and Melbourne are packed with players, my own city's ripe for the taking, so I might pop out this afternoon and claim some booths ### Love And Deepspace Gives The People What They Want URL: https://aftermath.site/love-and-deepspace-lingering-lust/ Last updated: 2026-04-30T21:07:18.000Z *Love and Deepspace*, the romance mobile game from *Infinity Nikki* maker Infold Games, has a new update today, Lingering Lust, that's very likely the spiciest one yet. It's so spicy [that Infold Games released censored trailers on social media](https://kotaku.com/love-and-deepspace-game-mobile-gacha-china-sex-scenes-stick-figures-lingering-lust-2000692004?ref=aftermath.site)—[one starring stick figures](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXs2pfQDNYk/?ref=aftermath.site) and [another that's just thrusting text](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXqQsWwEQ7p/?ref=aftermath.site). For two weeks, *Love and Deepspace* players will roll on the gacha system to unlock sexy memories from a visit to a lush hot spring. There are other things to unlock, like outfits, but the real appeal will certainly be these scenes. The censored versions of the scenes are already exceptionally popular. My personal favorite [is the gentle Xavier's text-based teaser trailer](https://www.instagram.com/p/DXqNUPyAglv/?ref=aftermath.site). Posted on the Taiwanese Instagram account, the video is literally a bunch of text, written in Chinese, on a black background. The text is arranged in such a way that it almost resembles a body. In fact, the parts of the body are labeled—nose, leg, mouth, hands. There's a whole lot of thrusting, which culminates in the Chinese character for water raining around and over the two human-ish shapes. Who knows what that represents! > [@loveanddeepspace](https://www.tiktok.com/@loveanddeepspace?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@loveanddeepspace") > > Love and Deepspace | Submerged Eclipse Rerun 💧The 5-Star Rate UP Pool \[Rafayel: Submerged Eclipse\] Limited-Time Rerun is coming soon. Where the sea returns, I drown in your eyes. 💧5-Star Memory Pair in Submerged Eclipse From 05:00 on Apr. 21 to 04:59 on Apr. 28 (server time), the Solar-Slot 5-Star Memory Pair \[Rafayel: Mistsea Descent\] and \[Rafayel: Mistsea Lament\] will be obtainable in the game! \*You can check more details about the Wish Pool and the Pity System in upcoming event announcements. 💧Oceanfall Blessing: Cumulative Wish Rewards You can choose between \[Rafayel: Mistsea Descent\] and \[Rafayel: Mistsea Lament\] upon reaching 150 pulls. This means a maximum of 150 pulls guarantees two event-limited 5-Star Memories and unlocks the Companion \[Rafayel: Lemurian Sea God\]. \*The wish attempts and cumulative reward collection history from the first run of the wish event \[Oceanfall Blessing\] apply to this Rerun Wish Pool. 💧Lemurian Sea God: Companion Rehearsal During the event, challenge the Rehearsal Stage to fight alongside the Companion \[Rafayel: Lemurian Sea God\] to claim \[Diamond\*30, and Bottle of Wishes: R\*5\]. \*Hunters who have claimed the rewards during the first run of the event can also claim them after the first clear in this event. 💧Myth: Tears of Romirro After obtaining \[Rafayel: Mistsea Descent\] or \[Rafayel: Mistsea Lament\], you can read all chapters of the Myth of Rafayel: Tears of Romirro. You won't need to upgrade the Memories beforehand. Distant bells ring out as sea and land return to their ancient, primal state. ——— 🪐Official Discord: https://discord.gg/loveanddeepspace 🪐Download and Log in Now: https://loveanddeepspace.onelink.me/MnPs/7adcwhhh [#LoveandDeepspace](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/loveanddeepspace?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "loveanddeepspace") [#RafayelLemurianSeaGod](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/rafayellemurianseagod?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "rafayellemurianseagod") [#Rafayel](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/rafayel?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "rafayel") > > [♬ 原聲 - Love and Deepspace - Love and Deepspace](https://www.tiktok.com/music/%E5%8E%9F%E8%81%B2-Love-and-Deepspace-7630672916179028749?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ 原聲 - Love and Deepspace - Love and Deepspace") Anyway, *Love and Deepspace* rules. It's a visual novel and dating game with a combat mode where you fight with guns, swords, and magic. You almost never hear about the battle system, because the romance and story is the real draw. Your character starts on the first day of a new job fighting all sorts of different monsters and protecting the world. This character meets all these love interests throughout the story, which is exceptionally complicated. Seriously, human experiments and alternate realities are involved. The place where all these unlockable gacha pulls come from, called Banners in-game, are essentially memories from these alternate universes, and they're quite inventive. For instance, the guys were once literally feral and locked in cages. There's another where you hold a gun to one of the men's heads before heading to the bedroom. Outside of the fantastical story, you also have a home your character lives in, decorates, and hangs out with their man in. When your character is sleepy, they can literally fall asleep together. With your phone next to your pillow, he'll breathe, maybe snore, while you do that too in real life. Once you've awoken from your nap, maybe you'd like to garden, or read a book. It's a pretty robust system [that's also somewhat confusing](https://www.mumuplayer.com/blog/love-and-deepspace-home-guide.html?ref=aftermath.site). It's also wildly popular. *Love and Deepspace* [has more than 80 million players globally](https://gameinformer.com/feature/2026/01/27/80-million-players-five-boyfriends?ref=aftermath.site). It's created a dedicated fandom community [that gathers frequently for in-person events and celebrations](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/more-than-game-virtual-boyfriends-win-hearts-china-2026-02-12/?ref=aftermath.site). On the five boyfriends' birthdays, fans purchase billboards and ad space in train stations. Often [there are cosplayers to meet and take pictures with](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTkibsLji01/?ref=aftermath.site). They're passionate because men are hot, but also because Infold Games takes their needs and desires seriously. What *Love and Deepspace* has that a lot of games with sex don't is that it treats its story and characters with care: it prioritizes the female main character, who the player is supposed to see themself as. It makes sense. Infold Games is one of the rare big budget studios where women make up a big part of the development team. You can see this really clearly in the memories like the ones in Lingering Lust. The player is not treated like an object; it's her pleasure that's prioritized. Often, there's consent involved. Sylus, in particular, [is the community's consent king](https://x.com/SylusTartarus04/status/1928714533125652738?ref=aftermath.site). (He is also a dragon, which is why he is my favorite.) ### Birdwatching, I.e. Old Age, Has Come For Me URL: https://aftermath.site/flock-around-steam-birding/ Last updated: 2026-04-30T14:15:01.000Z Listen, I know I’m old. There are no songs on my running playlist from after 2010\. All my jeans are skinny jeans. Regarding the [online discourse of the week](https://www.thecut.com/article/should-we-start-smoking-cigarettes-again.html?ref=aftermath.site), I’m glad things have changed but I nevertheless wish airports still had smoking lounges. So of course it finally happened: earlier this week I got up at 6am to go wander around the park looking at birds, and then I played a video game about it. Birding boomed in popularity [during the pandemic](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/29/science/bird-watching-coronavirus.html?ref=aftermath.site), and now it feels like all my friends are super into it. I had largely resisted this trend; the things I most enjoy doing outdoors–running and biking–involve moving quickly rather than staying in one place. But I do sometimes pass by birds and wonder what they are, especially when they’re colorful or I’ve never seen them before. I’ve gamely tried to Google birds I’ve seen on occasion, but I’ve never known what to do with that information beyond going “huh, neat” or the one time I thought I was going to be eaten alive by monsters while camping only to learn that I was actually hearing [barred owls](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barred%5FOwl/sounds?ref=aftermath.site). My inspiration to go birding with a friend was mostly wanting to start my day doing something other than being accosted by Slack and spreadsheets immediately upon opening my eyes. It was nice to wake up and get to go outside, to actively stare at trees and water instead of my computer. We went with a little group that meets up regularly, and the leader knew a lot of things about birds. Or, to me as a birding noob, a lot: their names and behaviors and where they like to hang out and why it was interesting that they were here in New York instead of somewhere else, all things I’d never considered much before. I’ll admit I didn’t think birding required any particular skills and that wow, I was wrong about that. I was quickly schooled in the fact that, having not used binoculars since I was a kid, I am somehow *terrible* at them: I’d be staring at a bird with my meat eyes, only to put the binoculars to my face and immediately be unable to find it again. I got a little better at it over the course of the morning, but it’s definitely something to work on. I also learned that birding requires a kind of patience I assume I have but maybe do not. The birds don’t just sit there waiting for you to see them, and once you *do* see them, they don’t just stay in one place. The tiny ones are especially fast, and I spent a lot of the morning listening to the other people in the group exult over a bird while I tried not to whine “where did it *go*?” like a petulant child. Despite being introduced to the possibility of being deficient in “looking at birds,” I came home feeling pretty pleased about the morning. When I finally relented and opened my computer, it felt like a wonderfully well-timed coincidence that [Giovanni Colantonio at Polygon](https://www.polygon.com/flock-around-steam-recommendation/?ref=aftermath.site) had written about a new birdwatching game called [*Flock Around*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3618030/Flock%5FAround/?ref=aftermath.site), which looks like a combo of [*Flock*](https://aftermath.site/flock-impressions/)and–admittedly my least favorite thing in games–[camera quests](https://aftermath.site/indiana-jones-great-circle-camera/). *Flock Around* can be played solo or with up to 10 friends. You’re set loose in a blocky, brightly-colored woods, and you walk around looking for real-life birds and then taking pictures of them. Getting good pictures of a bird in four poses–back, front, side, and flying–earns you stars that unlock new areas, where you can find more birds to take pictures of. All your pictures earn you money, which you can use to buy cosmetics and bird seed or upgrade your camera and binoculars. *Flock Around* requires some of the same skills I have only just learned I don’t have through real-life birding. You need to spot the birds, and then get close enough to actually frame them up in your view. Getting good pictures requires patience and timing; I have yet to get anything approximating a bird flying, because the moment it takes off I lose it completely, just like I did with real-life binoculars. There’s less of the game of chance that real-life birding seems to be–it’s a video game after all, where all the birds you need have been placed in its world by a designer instead of by the whims of nature or God or however you make sense of the experience of being alive–but birds can still be tricky to find. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/cm.jpeg) Screw you, camera quests (Secret Plan Games/Aftermath) I love a [virtual](https://aftermath.site/i-would-live-in-this-climbing-game/) [wilderness](https://aftermath.site/long-dark-wintermute-episode-5-review/), so I’m enjoying wandering around the different areas I’ve unlocked so far, listening out for the rattle of the woodpecker I need for my collection or hearing an unfamiliar bird call and trying to trace it to its origin. Played solo, it’s been a meditative game, even as I’m confronted with my own impatience and greedy need to unlock every area as quickly as possible. I am never going to truly *enjoy* using a camera in a game, but the rating requirements of the photos does encourage me to slow down and spend time actually observing the birds rather than just seeing them as items to check off a list. The game’s art style isn’t super detailed, so the birds aren’t the imaginative masterpieces of something like *Flock*, but I enjoy that they’re real birds, and maybe they’ll help me learn more about the birds I might see around me when I go birding again. It’s not lost on me that the whole reason I went birding was to not look at my computer and that I have immediately turned that into looking at the computer again, given my habit of getting excited about [video game versions](https://aftermath.site/new-heights-climbing-impressions/) of [real-life things](https://aftermath.site/rugby-20-oh-no/) I’m [interested](https://aftermath.site/wheel-world-impressions/) in. But I’m glad to have been turned on to *Flock Around*; I still intend to go find real birds in the real world beyond my PC, but it’s also nice to be able to hone my nascent birdwatching skills without having to think about how I should really change the insoles in my shoes next time so I don’t aggravate my bum knee. [Bad News, I’m A 43-Year-Old Man And I’ve Recently Taken An Interest In The Civil War - AftermathAge comes for us all eventually![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/civlw-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/civil-war-middle-age/) ### Amid Era Of Unprecedented Authoritarian Overreach, New Bipartisan House Resolution Condemns Hasan Piker For Some Reason URL: https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-bipartisan-house-resolution-candace-owens/ Last updated: 2026-05-01T19:12:28.000Z In the latest escalation of the nationwide brain plague that is pundits and politicians’ [complete inability to be normal about Hasan Piker](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/hasan-piker-twitch-politics-kat-abughazaleh/), two members of the US House of Representatives, Democrat Josh Gottheimer and Republican Mike Lawler, [introduced a bipartisan resolution](https://gottheimer.house.gov/posts/release-reps-gottheimer-and-lawler-introduce-bipartisan-resolution-condemning-antisemitic-rhetoric-from-prominent-online-personalities?ref=aftermath.site) “condemning the rise of antisemitic, hate-filled rhetoric disseminated by prominent online personalities, including Hasan Piker and Candace Owens, and calling on social media platforms and public leaders to take stronger action against hate.” This doesn’t really *do* anything, but it sure sends a message about where their priorities lie. [The resolution](https://d12t4t5x3vyizu.cloudfront.net/gottheimer.house.gov/uploads/2026/04/PikerOwens-Final-Text.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) does its best to decontextualize and equivocate the statements of Piker and Owens, two online personalities with radically opposed beliefs, by cherry picking a greatest hits collection of supposed “gotcha” moments from over the years. For example: > Whereas Hasan Piker, a prominent online streamer, has often used antisemitic rhetoric, including expressing support for Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization; > Whereas, in August 2019, during a stream on Twitch, Hasan Piker stated that ‘‘America deserved 9/11’’; > Whereas Hasan Piker referred to Orthodox Jews as ‘‘inbred’’; > Whereas Hasan Piker downplayed sexual violence committed by Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization, against innocent civilians on October 7, 2023, stating, ‘‘It doesn’t matter if f-ing rapes happened on October 7th, like that doesn’t change the dynamic for me’’; > Whereas Hasan Piker has expressed support for Hamas on multiple occasions, including on April 14, 2026, stating, ‘‘Hamas over Israel every single time’’ and doubling down on claims in multiple media appearances that Hamas is ‘‘a thousand times better than Israel’’; > Whereas Candace Owens has employed rhetoric that has included conspiracy theories accusing Israel of controlling the United States Government, promoting false claims that Jews are taught by ancient religious texts to hate non-Jews, and casting doubt on the truth of the stories of Holocaust survivors; > Whereas, on February 1, 2026, Candace Owens posted on X an antisemitic claim that the United States is controlled by ‘‘satanic pedophiles who work for Israel’’; > Whereas, during a podcast appearance on December 8, 2025, Owens repeated false claims that Jews are killing Christian children as part of religious rituals and that Jewish texts and traditions promote the sexual assault of children, which is an antisemitic trope constituting a blood libel; > Whereas, in July 2024, Candace Owens called the horrific medical experiments committed by Josef Mengele on Jews during the Holocaust ‘‘bizarre propaganda’’, continuing that ‘‘some of the stories, by the way, sound completely absurd’’, downplaying and rejecting the veracity of these crimes; > Whereas, on February 21, 2025, Candace Owens hosted E. Michael Jones, who claimed on her platform that Hollywood ‘‘created the Holocaust narrative’’; The most crucial issue here is that Owens is an actual antisemitic conspiracy theorist—something you can easily discern based on the timbre of her comments even in the resolution—while Piker merely opposes Israel. The latter is a common sentiment among those on the far left and [also in America more generally](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/07/negative-views-of-israel-netanyahu-continue-to-rise-among-americans-especially-young-people/?ref=aftermath.site), especially following October 7 and Israel’s brutal genocide of Palestinians. The US government’s right and (right-leaning) left, however, consider Israel a close ally and have contributed hundreds of billions of dollars to the West’s favorite destabilizing force in the Middle East, making it “[the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II](https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/RL33222?ref=aftermath.site).” With social media opening people’s eyes more widely than ever to the atrocities continued by Israel—and a wildly unpopular war in Iran still fresh on everyone’s minds—Republicans and Democrats have united to lug out the only weapon left in their arsenal: naked suppression of speech. This after Democrats were aghast at Jimmy Kimmel’s [temporary removal from ABC](https://slate.com/technology/2025/09/jimmy-kimmel-live-suspension-disney-brendan-carr-donald-trump.html?ref=aftermath.site) in September 2025 following a joke about Charlie Kirk, a removal that FCC chairman Brendan Carr openly encouraged and applauded. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing in December, Democrats spent hours taking Carr to task for [trampling the First Amendment](https://www.dailynews.com/2025/12/17/fcc-brendan-carr-senate/?ref=aftermath.site). Republicans have now [redoubled their targeting of ABC and efforts to get Kimmel fired](https://slate.com/business/2026/04/disney-jimmy-kimmel-brendan-carr-fcc.html?ref=aftermath.site) following a joke about Trump’s health during a pre-White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner segment. Despite ostensibly being in favor of the First Amendment, prominent Democrats have repeatedly called for Piker to be punished and even outright censored for speech that criticizes both major US political parties and, of course, Israel. Now Gottheimer joins that chorus. “Hatred is hatred, period. It doesn’t matter whether it comes from the far right or the far left,” he said today when introducing the resolution. “We cannot be selective in calling out antisemitism. When influential voices spread conspiracy theories, promote terrorism, or dehumanize Jewish people, it fuels real-world violence and intimidation. We must stand up and speak out.” It is doubly difficult to view Gottheimer and Lawler’s resolution as anything more than laughably disingenuous considering that it was proposed on the same day as numerous events that pose an actual threat to Americans of all stripes, such as [the Supreme Court’s latest attack on the Voting Rights Act](https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s1-5754657/supreme-court-louisiana-redistricting?ref=aftermath.site)—a nakedly partisan effort to permanently consolidate power in the hands of the right. The Twitch streamer is [definitely the real problem](https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-twitch-ban-rick-scott-medicare-medicaid/), though. For his part, Piker believes he knows what all of the furor around him from both Democrats and Republicans is actually about. "I am the danger. We are the danger. I need them to understand this: We're dangerous to the corporate bottom line. We're dangerous to profit seekers,” Piker said during [an interview with Joy Reid today](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2760052281?ref=aftermath.site). “That's the only thing that our politicians and many in the media care about right now, so in some respects \[Republicans who call my rhetoric 'dangerous'\] are correct. … I don't mean divine retribution or punishment of any sort; I mean the worst punishment of all, where they can no longer justify multi-million dollar salaries. I am a danger to those who seek profit and put the interests of profit over the interests of people. And that's precisely the reason why they attack people like myself. Because I'm beholden to no one but my own community. I'm beholden to no one but the American working class, which as Zohran \[Mamdani\] also says, is the majority in this country." ## Recommended [Why Nobody Can Be Normal About Hasan Piker“Do you condemn Hamas Piker?”![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/hasan6-2.png)](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/hasan-piker-twitch-politics-kat-abughazaleh/) ### Bleeding Board Game Giant CMON Thinks, In The Year Of Our Lord 2026, That Investing In NFT Games Is The Future URL: https://aftermath.site/cmon-nft-web3-board-games/ Last updated: 2026-04-29T23:25:25.000Z CMON, long one of the biggest names in board games publishing, has had a very rough few years, [losing tens of millions of dollars](https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2026/03/31/cmon-eyes-crowdfunding-return-after-annual-losses-spiral-to-almost-20m/?ref=aftermath.site) as it struggles to adapt to a market caught right in the[ middle of massive shifts in the global economic and political landscape](https://stonemaiergames.com/the-darkest-timeline/?ref=aftermath.site). The good news is that the company has a plan to get itself out of this mess. The bad news is that it's maybe the worst plan imaginable. Despite being well into the red,[ CMON's board have just decided](https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2026/04/24/cmon-invests-2-1m-in-nft-video-game-maker-says-digital-shift-needed-to-expand-revenue-remain-relevant/?ref=aftermath.site) to spend over $2 million buying Blissful Link, a company that makes play-to-earn NFT games, and use that foothold as a means to turn some of their traditional board games into "high-quality digital assets". By which they mean "video games with NFTs in them". Here's an excerpt from the company's purchase filing that is, in 2026 and[ with the NFT boom already in the history books](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/22/nfts-worthless-price?ref=aftermath.site), staggering reading: > Digital transitioning would have the benefits of enhanced visual effects, have apps that handle scoring, timing etc, would enable a diversified number of players and are more accommodating to players not within the same vicinity. Added to this, entering into Web3 projects often emphasise social responsibility and ethical practices such as transparency and fairness on decision marking. By participating in Web3 projects, the Company can demonstrate its commitment to social responsibility and sustainability. However, the Group would continue to supplement this digital transformation as physical games would still offer a “screen break” for individuals as well as foster direct face to face interaction. Social responsibility! Screen breaks! Web3 bullshit in the year 2026! None of this works or is real! Whoever thought of this, let alone signed off on it, isn't fit to get my kid out of the $10 boba debt he's in, let alone a company owing tens of millions of dollars. ### The VFLEX Is An Ingenious Programmable USB-C Power Adapter URL: https://aftermath.site/vflex-usb-c-power-adapter-barel-connector-review/ Last updated: 2026-04-29T18:43:56.000Z If you accrue enough devices, device-specific power supplies will haunt you. This is annoying for an endless list of reasons: Power adapters awkwardly take up a lot of room. They are often made by a no-named supplier and only say the name of the device they are meant to connect to about twenty percent of the time. They will sometimes cover an adjacent part of the power strip and are derisively called “[wall warts](https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/wall-wart?ref=aftermath.site)” for that reason. If you don’t label them properly you may be screwed. They often take a hyper-specific [barrel connector](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaxial%5Fpower%5Fconnector?ref=aftermath.site) and if you lose the adapter you might get taken for a ride by an eBay seller attempting to sell you an OEM or knockoff replacement. As more devices have moved to just being powered by USB-C, God’s totally OK cable, it can make you upset at the devices that are not. To quote a million nameless late night infomercials, “there’s got to be a better way” followed by “well now there is.” Enter the VFLEX, a USB-C adapter that lets you power all those annoying adapters via USB-C and, often, via a power bank. ![A VFLEX with attachment. It is a metal dongle with a wire connecting to a barrel jack.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_03051857_S008.jpg) The VFLEX with an attachment. The two prong connector is keyed in a way where you won't plug it in backwards. The VFLEX, produced by a company named [Werewolf](https://werewolf.us/?ref=aftermath.site), is a tiny metal dongle that’s USB-C female on one end and a two prong female port on the other side. The pronged side attaches to different interchangeable barrel connector, each with a different pitch. You plug the device into your phone or computer and then tell it the exact voltage and polarity (this is super important) it needs to output as well as the source you are attaching it to. The device then stores that setting in non-volatile memory. ![The UI of the VFLEX app, showing an adapter set to 12 volts, connecting a Cuktech 15 ultra to a NexStar DX Bluray enclosure](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/vflex.png) You can program the VFLEX with either the app or in a browser. The app allows you to quickly change the voltage of the VFLEX from your phone, and the inventory section keeps track of your devices. The VFLEX is able to communicate with individual power bricks and adapters, allowing you to measure the output of each. This is done by putting it in a scanning mode, connecting it to the bank or adapter and logging the output of every USB-C port. Doing this allows you to create a library of all your USB adapters, power banks and devices for quick and easy access. Once everything is dialed in, you can have the VFLEX output between 3.3 to 48 volts, although you will need a wall charger that can support that output. In my testing, I was able to power multiple devices using the VFLEX. My Blu-Ray enclosure and drive was able to be powered quite easily using the adapter and my [suspiciously fast charging power bank](https://aftermath.site/i-love-my-suspiciously-fast-charging-power-bank/), providing an easy backup should I lose the 12v2a adapter I store in the box with it. I did run into some trouble when I tried to power my 24 volt Zebra label maker via USB-C, but that’s mainly because I did not have an adapter handy that supported a compatible [AVS protocol](https://www.chargerlab.com/avs-protocol-explained-the-standard-making-fast-charging-faster-and-safer/?ref=aftermath.site). I also have multiple network switches plugged into my UPS that I wish were powerable via USB-C, and this is an easy enough way to do it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_03051856_S001.jpg) If I ever can't find that one 12v2a wall wart I know I have a backup. The VFLEX is not for everyone, but it’s a game changer for a hyper-specific kind of person: people with cable management fixations and a lot of idiosyncratic gear. While most small consumer electronics will operate at some variation of 5v or 12v, occasionally an old device will throw you a curveball. Similar solutions have existed from Adafruit and random AliExpress vendors (often called PD Triggers), and the [Reflex Volt](https://misteraddons.com/products/console-usb-power-delivery-cables?ref=aftermath.site) by MiSter Addons is also worth noting, as it covers a lot of these for a comparable price although with less specificity. Even with the VFLEX, you may still need a little label maker or way to keep track of your devices, and you definitely need to know the exact voltage and polarity of the device you are using. And of course there’s just a bunch of weird connectors that the VFLEX does not cover, but Werewolf sells a [DIY adapter](https://werewolf.us/collections/werewolf-products/products/diy-adapter?ref=aftermath.site) that allows you to mess around. The VFLEX system is fairly cheap, with each adapter costing about 8 bucks and the entire kit costing 48 dollars as of my writing. The starter kit even comes with a handy carrying case for your different adapters and cables, although I did print out a cable organizer my friend made to keep the cables neat and tidy. ![Several different end points in a case on the wood floor, connected by a 3D printed cable organizer. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_03042203_S023.jpg) A friend of mine gave me a little organizer for the case that I 3D printed out. The VFLEX is a considered product. It is a device born from an unfulfilled need that attempts to bridge older technology with the reality of the present, using the advancements in USB power delivery standards. I would not use the VFLEX for everything, or at least not until the price of power delivery chargers goes down, but the sheer flexibility of the adapters and the ability to reprogram them at a later date makes it an invaluable tool to have around. If a device breaks, the VFLEX might outlive it. There is a nasty bin of shame in my office, full of power adapters for devices present or forgotten. It sits on the lowest shelf of my bookcase, grimy and near the floor, taking up space better used for literally anything else. Every attempt to be rid of it or to simplify it is met with a nagging doubt. “What if you throw me away now, and need me later?” the adapters seem to plead. “And if you need me later, then you’ll just have to spend money to replace me.” Perhaps the VFLEX is a step in the right direction, a way to simplify that rat king of adapters into something godfearing and sensible. Maybe soon I can finally unburden myself, go to the E-Waste facility, dump those pleading adapters in a bin, and finally live in the USB-C future of tomorrow. ### 'We've Been A Little Bit Too Romantic About The Idea That We Should Have Employees And Give People Long-term Job Security' Is An Extraordinary Thing For A Video Games CEO To Say On Record URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-job-security/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T22:44:52.000Z While we all know *deep down* that CEOs are monsters who would fire all of you in a heartbeat just to keep a line going up, there's a charade most of them feel compelled to take part in where they pretend publicly to care about their workers and the lives those workers lead. Or, at least that's how it used to be. The last few years of turbo-charged capitalistic decline and[ mass layoffs in the video game industry](https://aftermath.site/layoffs-are-the-vibe/) seem to have brought that status quo into question for some. [In an interview with Game Developer](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-we-ve-been-a-little-bit-too-romantic-ustwo-ceo-says-lowering-development-costs-is-now-paramount?utm%5Fsource=dlvr.it&utm%5Fmedium=bluesky), Ustwo Games CEO Maria Sayans has decided that quite frankly she doesn't need to bother with it at all anymore. While discussing game budgets and staffing costs at Ustwo--best known as the developers of the *Monument Valley* series,[ and also as union-busters](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-i-monument-valley-i-developer-ustwo-threatened-with-legal-action-over-union-busting?ref=aftermath.site)\--Sayans laments the fact that her company will "never be able to achieve" the more nimble operating costs of some of their competitors "because we're based in London and have employees with pensions and so on". She then goes on to say: > We've been a little bit too romantic about the idea that we should have employees and give people long-term job security. I think that got us into a place where, reaching the heights of *Monument Valley 3* \[production\], contractors were always a relatively low percentage of our employee base. I think that's something we're looking to change going forward. > > I think going forward, we'll see that we've got a core team and any growth will come through contractors, which is something I hate about the industry. I've been in the industry for 20 years, and those of us who joined in the early 2000s, we had it very good. You want to be able to give that kind of stability \[...\] but I think that's a shift in how we want to work with people going forward. Ah, yes, she had it very good, but now you cannot, because that is simply the way it must be. She hates it, to be clear, but as CEO of the company the way they hire and pay people is totally out of her control, alas! ### I Love My Computer Perfume URL: https://aftermath.site/computer-perfume-cero-agar-olfactory-scent/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T20:00:36.000Z Remember the computer room? My family never had a room entirely dedicated to a computer, but my parents did stick two desktops in our finished basement, out of sight from the rest of our home. I would sneak down there to play pirated copies of DOS games like *Princess Maker 2* when I stayed home sick from school. Eventually, the two side-by-side computers would fill the small space with a pungent scent of hot metal, dust, and mousepads. Cero, a perfume by [agar olfactory](https://agarolfactory.com/smells?ref=aftermath.site), replicates this scent perfectly. Cero is part of a perfume series that explores ecological collapse. It includes perfumes that reflect sentient plastics, the fetishization of the smell of fresh bread, the musk of the mycelium network, and eventually the damp, wet earth lush with plant life and bereft of human beings. But it begins with Cero, which is meant to evoke the scent of 1999, when the computer had its own room instead of living in your pocket. At that point in time, the computer—and all the knowledge to which it was a portal—was localized to a single place, creating the possibility for nostalgia. It reminds me of DJ Ninajirachi’s sonic equivalent, her album *I Love My Computer*, but with cultural touchstones meant for people just a little bit older than her. When she sings about a secret song that sounds like an iPod Touch with a crack in the screen, it evokes in me a memory of dial-up modems and anime fansites on Angelfire. What really strikes me about Cero is that it resists prettifying that scent. I love how wearing it makes me feel transported into a dark basement where I could discover new things—but the note of dust is so pronounced that it often makes me sneeze. It feels like sticking your head directly into an old Dell computer that has never been cleaned. It smells like minerals with electricity running through them, like rubber, like plastic. The Ghost In The Shell scent from L’Etat Libre D’Orange also tries to evoke these computer-y smells, focusing mostly on the metallic side of things, but it mixes the scents of latex and silicon with powders and florals. Comparatively, the agar olfactory scent attempts to be a purer reflection, more than just a gesture towards a glimmering nostalgic image. The most intense aspects of Cero, the smell of mousepads especially, die down throughout the day. But that smell of metal and dust clings to my skin, and eventually I find it comforting to wear, to smell as I gesticulate and talk. The smell of the computer room is a hopeful smell. It’s the smell of childhood, for me. It’s the smell of possibility, of a time when using the computer was neither a necessity nor something[ in control of a ruling class that wants us all dependent on them](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/). It is also the first scent in agar olfactory’s cycle of complete human extinction. Perhaps I love wearing it also as a warning. [I’m Tired Of These Useless Jackasses Making The Computer ExpensiveRAM, flash memory, and HDDs are unaffordable because of a bunch of greedy idiots that do not love the computer.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathChris Person![](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1633589218187-daa8e52741f1?crop=entropy&cs=tinysrgb&fit=max&fm=jpg&ixid=M3wxMTc3M3wwfDF8c2VhcmNofDI4fHxoYXJkJTIwZHJpdmV8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzcxNDUxOTQ3fDA&ixlib=rb-4.1.0&q=80&w=2000)](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/) ### Bad T-Shirt Designs Are A Bipartisan Issue In Pro Wrestling URL: https://aftermath.site/wwe-aew-pro-wrestling-t-shirt-designs-are-bad/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T18:59:16.000Z As a fan of the [redneck-anime-LARPing theater pageantry](https://kotaku.com/wwe-aew-mason-madden-mxm-ring-of-honor-interview-1851634328?ref=aftermath.site) that is [professional wrestling](https://aftermath.site/dropkickd-etterboxd-wrestling/), I’ve resigned myself to a perpetual hot-and-cold cycle with [All Elite Wrestling](https://www.ign.com/articles/wrestling-fans-arent-happy-about-aews-handling-of-cm-punks-backstage-brawl-footage?ref=aftermath.site) and [World Wrestling Entertainment](https://aftermath.site/john-cena-heel-turn-summerslam-wwe-wrestling/). The tide of my affections always turns the same way: one company does something abysmally stupid, and suddenly the other only has to sit still and look competent by comparison. But if there’s one undisputed truth that could unite the rampant tribalism of the international wrestling community, it’s the fact that [both suck at designing T‑shirts](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/1jed5x3/worst%5Fwrestling%5Ft%5Fshirtsmerch/?ref=aftermath.site). > TEN YEARS OF FINN [https://t.co/dRlR02YQcU](https://t.co/dRlR02YQcU?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/pMT1EW2YHC](https://t.co/pMT1EW2YHC?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Finn Bálor (@FinnBalor) [February 7, 2025](https://twitter.com/FinnBalor/status/1887991649302720927?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) If you browse the [AEW](https://shopaew.com/en-us/collections/official-aew-t-shirts?ref=aftermath.site) or [WWE](https://shop.wwe.com/en/?ref=aftermath.site) storefronts right now, I can guaran-damn-tee the offerings from either T-shirt section would fall into three categories: [genuinely inspired classics](https://shop.wwe.com/en/mens-black-john-cena-beware-of-dog-oversized-boxy-t-shirt/p-137703501204377046+z-98-2637385652?%5Fref=p-SRP:m-GRID:i-r7c1:po-22&ref=aftermath.site) with logos ruining the vibe, hyper-specific shirts [referencing a title change](https://shopaew.com/en-us/products/darby-allin-and-new-long-sleeve-t-shirt?%5Fpos=1&%5Fsid=3f5f3bd7a&%5Fss=r&ref=aftermath.site) that are scrapbooking as fashion, or a [“graphic design is my passion” disaster slapping together a logo and a wordy catchphrase](https://shop.wwe.com/en/womens-black-roman-reigns-the-undisputed-tribal-chief-t-shirt/p-130046072781315622+z-99-2432268838?%5Fref=p-TLP:m-GRID:i-r4c1:po-13&ref=aftermath.site). And for the price they’re charging, most of these shirts are apparel I wouldn’t be caught dead in unless I couldn’t kick out from underneath a sentient pile of laundry. Deadass, whenever new merch drops from either company, my friends and I immediately DM each other—not because the shirts look beast, but to laugh at how they managed to out-ugly the last design they carted out. > Acknowledge your OTC1 with Roman Reigns NEW collection available NOW at [#WWEShop](https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWEShop?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site)! [#WWE](https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWE?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) 🛒: [https://t.co/O32OWu0Vyr](https://t.co/O32OWu0Vyr?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/PgoVuaCtaf](https://t.co/PgoVuaCtaf?ref=aftermath.site) > > — WWEShop.com (@WWEShop) [July 15, 2025](https://twitter.com/WWEShop/status/1944951972974465289?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Even on their best days, wrestling shirts either suffer from the same minimalist, soulless trend plaguing modern NBA jerseys or they lean so hard into internet meme aesthetics that they’re [dated the moment the ink dries](https://shop.wwe.com/en/mens-black-the-usos-yeetin-since-day-one-t-shirt/p-138892715423685254+z-96-505240398?%5Fref=p-SRP:m-GRID:i-r9c0:po-27&ref=aftermath.site). We’re talking designs that’d rival the [weapons-grade cringe stitched into edgy *DBZ* shirts](https://i.redd.it/f14myu0ly1f61.jpg?ref=aftermath.site). And when a design does catch fire—like the [Bullet Club logo](https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/promotion-tshirts/new-japan/bulletclub.html?srsltid=AfmBOorZeQhxDAu%5F6q4D3CFTTci48x7m6kEj2-YDvla0ygD6COSY9aK9&ref=aftermath.site)’s chokehold on the international wrestling community in the 2010s—it gets run into the ground until it becomes the wrestling equivalent of the [Ataktsuki cloud](https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/features/2025/11/11/naruto-akatsuki-resonates-with-black-anime-fans?ref=aftermath.site): once iconic, now shorthand for a guy you probably don’t want to hang out with. While some of them [are fucking hilarious](https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1546635-jbl-shares-origins-of-the-apa-always-pounding-ass-shirt?ref=aftermath.site), I’m not trying to explain the lore behind why I’m wearing a shirt with the words [“Big, Black, and Jacked”](https://www.reddit.com/r/AEWOfficial/comments/1qfyn4n/will%5Fnever%5Fforget%5Fthis%5Fawkward%5Fpowerhouse%5Fhobbs/?ref=aftermath.site) or [“Scissor Me, Daddy Ass”](https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/the-acclaimed-scissor-me-daddy-ass.html?ref=aftermath.site) across my chest. I write all this not to flex my ability to roast wrestling merch through prose; I’m writing this because I’ve finally identified the universal problem with professional wrestling t-shirts: They weren’t designed to be worn by the human body. Professional wrestling t-shirt designs feel like they’re tailor-made to be posters on a college freshman’s wall beside their poster of *Pulp Fiction* and the *Naruto* wall scroll they bought in Chinatown, not for a human person to walk around in. Honestly, half of them would work better as desktop wallpapers than clothing. As shirts, they’re absolute dog water. > AVAILABLE NOW: [@WWE](https://twitter.com/WWE?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Authentic Wear has landed at selected @jayjays\_au stores! Shop online at [https://t.co/f27rxRtWEF](https://t.co/f27rxRtWEF?ref=aftermath.site) [#WWEJayJays](https://twitter.com/hashtag/WWEJayJays?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/h4TxaHXTDg](https://t.co/h4TxaHXTDg?ref=aftermath.site) > > — WWE Australia (@WWEAustralia) [August 28, 2017](https://twitter.com/WWEAustralia/status/902056716337987584?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) To be fair, things used to be far worse. WWE once insisted on embroidering its logo and the words “Authentic Wear” across the lower third of every shirt, completely ruining whatever design caught your eye. AEW fares better these days—leaning into the joke that they’re [a “T‑shirt company”](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/fgzxoq/aew%5Fstill%5Fhaving%5Ffun%5Fwith%5Fthat%5Fnothing%5Fbut%5Fa%5Ft/?ref=aftermath.site)—but even then, you have to wade through a swamp of stinkers before finding something worth wearing. That being said, I still have my favorites, key among them being my [Pro Wrestling Tees’ Run the Jewels CM Punk tank top](https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/oxkaah/cm%5Fpunk%5Fsale%5Fon%5Fpw%5Ftees/?ref=aftermath.site) (though that hoe has been out of print for years, what with Phil being back in the fed). Now, all I’m left with are designs that are either [so specific that they’re incomprehensible to anyone who doesn’t watch weekly TV](https://shopaew.com/en-us/products/chris-jericho-the-guy-t-shirt?ref=aftermath.site), or they’re just bowling-shoe ugly. > The Resurrection, BRUV! Get Will Ospreay’s new tee now on ShopAEW! > > 🔗[https://t.co/L0Gagbizi5](https://t.co/L0Gagbizi5?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/UVn9x6dk58](https://t.co/UVn9x6dk58?ref=aftermath.site) > > — ShopAEW.com (@ShopAEW) [April 9, 2026](https://twitter.com/ShopAEW/status/2042048961066762742?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) John Oliver famously once said, [“Wrestling is better than the things you like.”](https://youtu.be/m8UQ4O7UiDs?ref=aftermath.site) And shirts from my favorite wrestlers have been put to good causes like the [Trevor Project](https://www.wrestlezone.com/news/1393809-aew-releases-new-cm-punk-shirt-100-of-royalties-donated-to-the-trevor-project?ref=aftermath.site) and [Local Hearts Foundation](https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/brody-king-donates-27758-abolish-ice-shirt-proceeds-local-hearts-foundation/?ref=aftermath.site). My only wish is that more merch designs lived up to that boast instead of being yet another thing wrestling fans have to be embarrassed about. ### I, For One, Welcome The Return of 'Retro' Anime URL: https://aftermath.site/daemons-of-the-shadow-realm-mao-retro-anime/ Last updated: 2026-04-29T19:10:31.000Z Aftermath co-founder Luke Plunkett once penned an excellent blog (with a cameo from yours truly) about how [they don’t make anime like they used to](https://aftermath.site/anime-classics-mecha-robot-recommendations/). And while that still tracks, something’s shifted. There’s a new wave of anime with an unmistakably retro feel that evokes the shows that once defined the medium. Streaming has reshaped how TV is made globally. Everything now comes with prestige-gloss production value packed into fewer episodes, engineered not just to tell a story but to squeeze another month of big money subscription dollars out of you. It’s [changed how television is made](https://aftermath.site/the-shield-mini-room-television/), and thus, how those shows feel to watch. Anime hasn’t escaped that gravitational pull either. Gone are the 50+ episode shows where a story can drift off track on an adventure where nothing happens. Seasonal anime are given 12 episodes to “prove themselves.” Fans expect plot acceleration, constant spectacle, and no downtime during a three-episode trial period to decide whether it's worth their time. Likewise, the emergence of episodic reviews from legacy publications crank up the pressure, scrutinizing the propulsion of a show as if it were a crime scene—or a season finale. And every week becomes an online referendum over whether a show is peak or ragebaiting viewers on purpose if it doesn’t deliver the goods. This tendency creates reactionary viewers. By god, if [*Surf Dracula*](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/surf-dracula?ref=aftermath.site) dares spend less than half the runtime not hitting that shit with the prettiest sakuga you’ve ever seen, and instead focuses on some slow-burn filler flashback about how his Liberace-after-dark-looking-ass pearled his first wave, the showrunners are playing in your face. Ironically, that same pressure for a prestige product has carved out space for some anime to feel like it used to—even when it’s being created in the era of streaming—by restoring the pleasure of watching a story unfold at its own pace. Despite being new anime, studio Sunrise’s [*Mao*](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/mao/episodes-1-3/.236618?ref=aftermath.site) and Bones’ [*Daemons of the Shadow Realm*](https://gizmodo.com/daemons-of-the-shadow-realm-may-be-your-new-shonen-fave-2000749566?ref=aftermath.site) stand out for evoking the cadence of shows from yesteryear. Of course, it helps that both studios are OG production houses that gave us [*Cowboy Bebop*](https://gizmodo.com/10-cowboy-bebop-episodes-that-will-help-you-understand-1847947160?ref=aftermath.site)and [*Fullmetal Alchemist*](https://gizmodo.com/fullmetal-alchemist-is-the-greatest-anime-of-all-time-2000750020?ref=aftermath.site), and they’re adapting the works of the matriarchs of manga, [Rumiko Takahashi](https://aftermath.site/whats-the-deal-with-rumiko-takahashis-signature-hand-pose/) and [Hiromu Arakawa](https://aftermath.site/my-favorite-mangaka-disguises-ranked/). But what’s striking is how these shows put back into focus the qualities that make a so-called retro show feel good in the first place: their genre-meshing storytelling, patient pacing, and of course, their visual style. Despite MyAnimeList tagging it as action, adventure, and fantasy, *Daemons of the Shadow Realm* refuses to fit neatly into one box. In the opening stretch of its 24-episode run, Bones delivers a shonen teeming with slice-of-life softness, bloody and dark-fantasy violence, and gag-manga humor, all to the rhythm of a supernatural detective drama. While the real hook is the fantastic first episode twist that I refuse to spoil, that twist is just one morsel of its intricate plotting. Most importantly, it feels like the tonally elastic anime of old that’s willing to take time establishing its world and mood. As a consequence, the show moves at a slower pace that nonetheless gives you fascinating glimpses into the lives of its heroes and supposed villains in the span of five episodes that you wouldn’t mind stretching to fifty just to see what they get into whenever they aren’t running the dozens. And while I’m still waiting to see if there’s more to *Mao* besides it being *Inuyasha* again—swapping out its dog boy for a cat boy—I can’t fault mama for reheating her nachos. [Takahashi is the Lady Gaga of manga](https://ew.com/lady-gaga-new-album-mayhem-reheating-nachos-interview-11689955?ref=aftermath.site); she can plagiarize herself to her heart's content because she perfected the era-hopping, romance-tinged, monster-of-the-week action formula isekai’s been aping for years. Watching *Mao* turns me into the food critic from *Ratatouille*, whisking me back to hearing *Inuyasha*’s outro blaring from sleep-crusted eyes at 3 am. *Daemons* and *Mao* aren’t compelling simply because they feel old. They’re compelling because they’re reintroducing a new era of anime fans to what shows used to feel like when every episode didn’t live or die by eventized sakuga and Twitter posts. These are not shows that encourage discussion about how much ground an episode should cover from the source material to be must-watch and what episodes you could skip. They’re reminders that the older cadence of shows still resonates, and feel oddly new when dropped into the modern stream of anime. What’s got me even more geeked out is that they’re not alone in restoring that feeling. And in their wake are other throwback shows on the horizon. Including Science Saru’s [*The Ghost in the Shell*](https://gizmodo.com/the-first-proper-ghost-in-the-shell-trailer-is-a-90s-anime-fever-dream-2000739279?ref=aftermath.site), which looks poised not only to evoke the aesthetics of Masamune Shirow’s art style but to reintroduce whimsy to the philosophical cyberpunk world that its sea of adaptations has been lacking. Likewise, classics like the ‘90s magical girl isekai [*Magic Knight Rayearth*](https://www.avclub.com/new-magic-knight-rayearth-anime-slated-for-2026-gets-key-visual?ref=aftermath.site) are getting an anime remake, and shojo [*Red River*](https://aftermath.site/the-apothecary-diaries-manga-reccomentations-red-river-eunich-of-empire-jaadugar-a-witch-in-mongolia/), finally getting its own anime treatment a whopping 14 years after its manga series finale, is on the horizon. It comes alongside Studio Outline’s upcoming Netflix anime adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s ‘50s era shojo manga, [*The Ribbon Hero*](https://x.com/NetflixAnime/status/2047284350840942844?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). > Inspired by Osamu Tezuka's legendary manga "Princess Knight," witness a lone hero attempt to overcome their harsh destiny in THE RIBBON HERO. > > Premiering worldwide this August, exclusively on Netflix. [pic.twitter.com/Wa4W4kUDPg](https://t.co/Wa4W4kUDPg?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Netflix Anime (@NetflixAnime) [April 23, 2026](https://twitter.com/NetflixAnime/status/2047284350840942844?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Arguably, my favorite byproduct of newer anime with a throwback old-school feel is the boys' love anime [*Go For It, Nakamura*!](https://butwhytho.net/2026/04/go-for-it-nakamura-episodes-1-2-review/?ref=aftermath.site) On the one hand, its art style is giving peak Takahashi with its rounded character designs. The show also has the added flair of its ending themes featuring a revolving door of [certified city pop bangers](https://youtu.be/6LtaG8UVmoA?si=dTO5Osf9vdUukwil&ref=aftermath.site) like Yasuha’s “Fly-day Chinatown.” > [@rytxsis](https://www.tiktok.com/@rytxsis?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@rytxsis") > > Another peak ending 💗 >>>>>[#goforitnakamura](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/goforitnakamura?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "goforitnakamura")[#bl](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/bl?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "bl")[#nakamura](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/nakamura?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "nakamura")[#hirose](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/hirose?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "hirose")[#yoai](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/yoai?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "yoai") > > [♬ Flyday Chinatown - Yasuha](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Flyday-Chinatown-7140878113151387650?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ Flyday Chinatown - Yasuha") The real win here is the sense that studios are finally drifting back toward non‑shonen projects that aren’t trapped in the twelve‑episode obstacle course. While we’ll never see an era when they make anime the way they used to, as a fan, it’s been a joy to find shows that go beyond retro aesthetics and remind me how fun slower, weirder, more genre‑fluid anime can be. Yippee dopamine. [They Don’t Make Anime Like They Used To - AftermathAnd that’s OK![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2025/10/anime1-3.gif)](https://aftermath.site/anime-classics-mecha-robot-recommendations/) ### Read A Bunch Of Great Sites With Our Independent Media Collective Bundle URL: https://aftermath.site/indie-media-bundle-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-30T14:18:21.000Z Since Aftermath first launched, folks have been asking us for a bundle subscription--a way to subscribe to us and other indie sites all at once. Well, it took us a while (it's more complicated than you'd think!), but today we're excited to launch our "[Independent Media Collective](https://trustfnd.com/collaboration/independent-media-collective--QCZa1yLMKZDyDopXX7Pa?ref=aftermath.site)" bundle, featuring Aftermath and some other cool sites. When you sign up, you'll get a discounted one month subscription at the following sites: - [Rascal](https://www.rascal.news/?ref=aftermath.site), an independent, reader-supported, worker-owned outlet for journalism about tabletop roleplaying games and the people who make them - [Rogue](https://www.rogue.site/?ref=aftermath.site), covering video games and video game culture written by humans, for humans - [Never Post](https://www.neverpo.st/?ref=aftermath.site), a podcast for and about the internet [Get the indie media bundle](https://trustfnd.com/aftermath/c/independent-media-collective--QCZa1yLMKZDyDopXX7Pa?ref=aftermath.site) If you're already an Aftermath subscriber, or a subscriber to another bundled site, you won't get new or discounted access; those sites will be left out of the bundle, reducing the overall price. We're offering this bundle in collaboration with [Trustfnd](https://trustfnd.com/?ref=aftermath.site), and as part of an effort you might have seen as all talk about to bring our sites together more. For the last few months, all of the members of this bundle (and others) have been meeting together regularly to talk about how we can pool our efforts and support each other. We want to promote each other's work and help grow the independent media space, and this bundle is part of a larger effort that's still taking shape. It's a good deal for you--more sites for less money--and a great way for us to put our solidarity into action as we keep exploring ways to work together. We hope you'll take advantage of this bundle to check out some other worker-owned sites. Tell your friends! And let us know if you have any questions, or if you're an indie site that wants to work with us. ### Magic: The Gathering Arena Team Unionizes At Wizards of the Coast URL: https://aftermath.site/magic-the-gathering-arena-team-unionizes-at-wizards-of-the-coast/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T19:39:21.000Z *Magic: The Gathering Arena* workers at developer Wizards of the Coast are unionizing, the group, called United Wizards of the Coast, announced Monday. The union is under Communications Workers of America, and covers more than 100workers at the company. Workers told Aftermath that union efforts have been underway for a few months to a year in different phases, but recent changes at the company sparked the latest push, including return to office mandates and questions around AI. United Wizards of the Coast notified the company Monday morning and is filing a petition for a vote with the National Labor Relations Board. Game designers, artists, producers, engineers, and others who work on *Magic: The Gathering* *Arena* are included in the union. "Over time, communication \[with management\] has broken down a bit," digital product manager Rogue Kessler told Aftermath. "We've started to get defensive attitudes from leadership, much more 'it's our way or the highway.' That's what pushed a lot of us into union organizing, because we don't have another viable mechanism for redress." United Wizards of the Coast is looking to address protections around layoffs, remote work, and generative AI, as well as sustainable workloads and policies around crunch, career progression, and the removal of a policy that allows Hasbro (which owns Wizards of the Coast) ownership of creative materials made by employees of the company—even what's done outside work hours. Both Kessler and Valentine Powell, a senior software engineer and organizing committee member, cited generative AI and return to office mandates as important issues. Powell told Aftermath that they were hired with the promise they would be able to continue to work remotely. Now, they're being asked to move to Seattle within the next two years. "Somebody at Hasbro basically was like, 'Hey, you have to come back to the office,'" Powell said. "And nobody at Wizards of the Coast can do anything about it." Kessler said Powell's situation is "very common" on the *Magic: The Gathering Arena* team. "We've expanded the team a lot," Kessler said. "We've grown the *Arena* team by an order of magnitude, and a tremendous portion of the people we've hired have been remote. We've gone where the talent is, looked beyond the immediate Seattle area to find the best and the brightest to make this game. And now that we've been using those people's labor for years, all of a sudden, you're not allowed to be remote anymore. The circumstances under which you were hired are being changed out from under you." The union is asking Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast to voluntarily recognize the union and to ensure neutrality in the union election. The deadline for that recognition, the group wrote in a letter to management, is May 1, International Workers Day. (United Wizards of the Coast said it would withdraw its petition to the NLRB should the company voluntarily recognize the union.) United Wizards of the Coast, Kessler and Powell said, is asking players and fans to support the union. "We are asking our fans to use their voices to be vocal in support of our union and help us call on Hasbro and Wizards to be a high road employer, which means voluntarily recognizing our union, committing to not union bust, and to engage with us in good faith." Powell added: "I believe that leadership will listen to \[players\] if they speak up." ### Business As Usual Interrupted By Business As Usual, Followed By Business As Usual URL: https://aftermath.site/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2026-shooting/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T19:39:03.000Z On Saturday night, the press and the president who hates them did not get to have their fancy party, [after an armed man rushed past security at the DC Hilton](https://apnews.com/article/white-house-correspondents-dinner-trump-first-amendment-a0a2446832e8596e66c6fccb8426c8aa?ref=aftermath.site) where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was taking place and allegedly fired shots. Trump and other White House officials were swiftly evacuated, while the press received [conflicting instructions](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/26/trump-shooting-whcd/?ref=aftermath.site) about whether to stay or go. For a while, it seemed like the event would continue; eventually everyone was told to leave the hotel, after which many reporters headed to the White House to cover the president’s press conference about the event they’d just been part of. Acting Attorney General [Todd Blanche told CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/25/politics/live-news/trump-white-house-correspondents-dinner?post-id=cmofr72ey00003b6qt5xpvsd7&ref=aftermath.site) suspect Cole Tomas Allen appeared to be “targeting members of the \[Trump\] administration,” though said it’s not yet clear who; [CBS](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-suspect-cole-allen/?ref=aftermath.site) reports that “anti-Trump” writing was found connected to the suspect. Breaking news events are often chaotic and full of conflicting information: in the immediate aftermath, rumors swirled that the whole thing was a false alarm, that the suspect had been killed, that Trump intended to still give his dreaded speech, and more. It seemed like everyone in the room and following along leapt to the assumption that Trump was the target, despite the event being full of journalists at a time when Trump himself has stoked [distrust of](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-intimidating-attacking-journalists%5Fn%5F69ea5c60e4b0bb584bc9be11?ref=aftermath.site) and [violence against](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-glorifying-violence-against-news-reporters-is-dangerous-advocates-say-2020-9?ref=aftermath.site) journalists. Trump certainly milked that assumption on Saturday night, touting in his press conference that he’s faced so many apparent assassination attempts because he’s “[done a lot](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/26/trump-violence-assassination-attempts/?ref=aftermath.site)” in his time as president and using the moment to champion his [ballroom](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-sharpens-focus-trumps-ballroom-construction-proposal?ref=aftermath.site). Before all this happened, I’d been watching the C-SPAN livestream of the event, where host John McArdle asked attendees [who they were wearing](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3mke67uipnc2d?ref=aftermath.site) and acted like the whole thing was a fancy night on a red carpet and not a tone-deaf celebration of the particular brand of DC decorum that aimed to see journalists champion the First Amendment literally alongside the very administration that’s energetically eroding it. Some media figures [declined](https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5847517-colbert-white-house-correspondents-dinner-trump-criticism/?ref=aftermath.site) to attend; others planned to undertake a [milquetoast fashion protest](https://www.status.news/p/whcd-first-amendment-merchandise-trump?ref=aftermath.site) from their seats. Satellite parties included one by Substack and one celebrating Trump [hosted by David Ellison](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/david-ellison-trump-honor-dinner-party-1236575572/?ref=aftermath.site), who needs to cozy up to the administration to get his Paramount merger through. The whole lead-up to the dramatic moment felt like the bizarre business as usual that’s come to define some journalists’ relationship to the White House. And the attempted shooting itself feels [the same](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/26/white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-political-violence?ref=aftermath.site): another [moment](https://bsky.app/profile/socialistdogmom.bsky.social/post/3mkflded7bs2s?ref=aftermath.site) of [gun violence](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/louisiana-shreveport-mass-shooting-rcna340868?ref=aftermath.site), another (assumed) attack on a [political figure](https://aftermath.site/charlie-kirk-death-political-violence-new-york-times-eulogy/) who routinely spouts violence, another [threat](https://bsky.app/profile/ericmgarcia.bsky.social/post/3mkejcykasc23?ref=aftermath.site) for reporters. Even Trump’s press conference was the usual bluster and bullshit, a moment for the president to make it all about his bungling priorities. The whole thing happening in black tie was certainly striking, but everything else–the ass-kissing and glad-handing, and then the chaos and fear–we see every day. Also usual is the [conspiracy theorizing](https://www.wired.com/story/staged-conspiracy-theories-are-everywhere-following-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting/?ref=aftermath.site) roiling the internet in the aftermath: baseless suspicions of the whole thing being a [false flag](https://margaretkilljoy.substack.com/p/forget-the-conspiracies), people reading into [comments made during the event](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/karoline-leavitt-promised-shots-fired-before-whcd-shooting/?utm%5Fcampaign=true%5Fanthem%5Fusweekly&utm%5Fcontent=photo&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawRbKABleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFiVWcwdmJxbm1SOFdLUDFWc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHv-bW6-xyP9eWWaLV6UGN873JIna%5Fo1VRijI8pDZskQF8Sjtdvs-3Ys9ZSaY%5Faem%5FHlXBExr-g%5FN47yXT1QpgLQ), some on the right blaming [the left](https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mkfpgrhywp2u?ref=aftermath.site) despite little yet being known about Allen– even a video game connection, with [Wired](https://www.wired.com/story/california-engineer-identified-in-suspected-shooting-at-white-house-correspondents-dinner/?ref=aftermath.site) reporting that Allen is the developer of a small indie game called [*Bohrdom*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/945530/Bohrdom/?ref=aftermath.site) that saw an [uptick in players](https://bsky.app/profile/stephentotilo.bsky.social/post/3mkemsjxyis26?ref=aftermath.site) after his name was revealed. If the correspondents’ dinner drew ire for normalizing our deeply abnormal times, its unexpected aftermath is also staying the course. I subjected myself to a livestream of the dinner in case something newsworthy happened, a plan that I suppose panned out. And yet the most newsworthy thing about it is how rote it all is, which is what made the dinner newsworthy in the first place. So maybe it’s no surprise that some people are reaching for conspiracy theories– it’s so hard to accept that this is just how things are, from some members of the press buddying up to Trump in exchange for a fancy night out to yet another day that ends with people hiding under tables in fear for their lives. I get the desire for there to be some underlying deeper reasonfor it all, some kind of proof that everything isn’t just *like this*. But everything *is* just like this, the engine of the status quo churning along through another shocking event. It doesn’t currently seem like any kind of conspiracy theory will suddenly surface that will make us not be living in the world we’re living in, one that can feel so hard--but not impossible--to change. Whatever narrative ultimately emerges as more about the suspect’s motives become known–whether Trump was the target or whether it was the journalists in the room or whether there’s no deeper reason to be found at all–the people who can get themselves into the news cycle are already doing their work, casting blame on [security](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/26/what-we-know-about-security-measures-at-the-white-house-correspondents-association-dinner.html?ref=aftermath.site) and [transit](https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mkfssgfyav2y?ref=aftermath.site) (??) and looking for anything that could make this an aberration and not just the latest thoroughly precedented unprecedented event that will get swept under the rug when the next one happens. Plans are already in the works to [reschedule the dinner](https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5849322-white-house-dinner-shooting/?ref=aftermath.site), where Saturday night’s events seem likely to mute even further whatever muted protest attendees had planned. At least [some people](https://bsky.app/profile/rcmacleod.bsky.social/post/3mkeeigx6r22d?ref=aftermath.site) got a [fancy salad](https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/04/26/correspondents-dinner-shooting-journalists/?ref=aftermath.site) out of the deal. **Update, 4/26/26, 2:40pm--**Reports now claim [writing by Allen](https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/live/trump-evacuated-after-reports-of-gunfire-at-white-house-correspondents-dinner?ref=aftermath.site) indicates he was targeting Trump. ### Pragmata Is Uncle-Core URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-pragmata-capcom-uncle-core/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T14:09:06.000Z What’s the deal with *Pragmata*, the latest entry in the vaunted “games that used to come out on Xbox 360 all the time” genre? To hear many tell it, Capcom—on an impressive hot streak that [also includes *Resident Evil Requiem*](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-resident-evil-requiem/)—continues to demonstrate that sometimes making an eccentric, well-paced single-player game is enough even during these turbulent times. But others have decided it’s [several strains of strange](https://kotaku.com/pragmata-controversy-diana-design-mods-culture-war-2000689130?ref=aftermath.site) in a way that has, at least to an extent, poisoned the well. On the latest [Aftermath Hours](https://aftermath.site/tag/aftermath-hours/), we attempt to approach the game on its own terms while also grappling with the dark cloud hanging over it. This time around, we’re joined by games reporter extraordinaire [Rebekah Valentine](https://bsky.app/profile/duckvalentine.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site), formerly of IGN and now [(very) newly of Kotaku](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/kotaku-hires-rebekah-valentine-as-senior-reporter-as-site-expands-under-new-ownership?ref=aftermath.site)—which of course none of us have ever heard of. We ask her about the whys and hows of her big move to a site that—fingers crossed—seems to be in the midst of a renaissance, as well as little things like The State Of Games Journalism. We also discuss the way discourse around games has evolved as games journalism’s influence has waned, handily exemplified by the absolutely deranged takes that Capcom’s otherwise great new action game, *Pragmata*, is generating. Chris argues that a) it’s not (ew) “pro-natalist propaganda,” and b) that it’s actually uncle-core, which is different from a dad game in several crucial ways. Finally, we decide how many rooms in a house is too many, not that anybody who works for Aftermath knows much about that. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that we can create a new internet where people can [be normal about things for even a single week](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/hasan-piker-twitch-politics-kat-abughazaleh/), please, I’m begging you. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Chris:** I was looking at Kotaku, and there was [a piece](https://kotaku.com/pragmata-controversy-diana-design-mods-culture-war-2000689130?ref=aftermath.site) \[about how\] everyone should just be normal about this game. It’s true. It’s correct. The “pro-natalist” thing is like, she’s a child who’s a robot, but also he’s not her dad. He’s her weird uncle. *Pragmata* at its core is uncle-core. It is an uncle-based game. You have a different relationship with a child who is a nephew or niece than you do with a son or a daughter. I think that every time that I see something that makes me annoyed about this game, it is because that person is either trying to put an overly paternalistic view of the narrative on there—which is an easy conclusion to come to because so many narratives involving an older man and a younger child are intrinsically \[about\] their spiritual dad. **Nathan:** Especially in video games. **Chris:** I think people keep going back to *The Last Of Us* and *Bioshock*, and I think that *Pragmata* is better than those games. It kills that relationship so well. I have never felt a game where the banter has just been like “Hey, yeah, I like crayons, blah, blah, blah,” and it feels like a kid. As a person of both nephew and uncle experience, my relationship with both my uncles and aunts was like, I get to see the best version of them. And then later on in life, I realize the things where they were faulty and where they weren’t complete. But my aunt will always be the person that I watched *King Kong* with on a black-and-white TV with. Later on in life, she was a mess. But that is kind of what the relationship feels like, and it doesn’t feel lacking for that information. It feels like a good time. It is so weird to play what is functionally arcade *Dead Space* and for it to just feel nice for, like, 90 percent of the game—to just feel warm and good. Maybe that’s childish or immature, but it feels really good. **Rebekah:** So a million people bought this game. How many of the million people who bought the game are on the internet in a deep way? They’re not just checking their phone and seeing a Google News headline from IGN or Kotaku or wherever and clicking on it and reading it and closing it. Like, they’re online having discourse about *Pragmata*. A very small number! And then that number’s inflated a little bit because there’s a lot of people who are online having discourse about *Pragmata* who did not buy that game. But ultimately, the actual meaningful impact of that stupid discourse on the overall world impression of *Pragmata* is so small and so miniscule. And so to some extent, there’s this whole thing I feel like we get caught up in sometimes where we see something going on over on the really bad website, and it feels overwhelming. It feels like “Oh my gosh, what is happening here?” When really, it’s just a bunch of weirdos in their weirdo corner having weirdo talk, and we can have a whole different conversation about *Pragmata* over here that doesn’t have to have anything to do with them. That said, we all know in here how groups of people on the internet saying crap can actually have real material impact on the world. And so on one hand, I want to just dismiss it and let them gripe in their little room about whatever they think *Pragmata* is about, and we can do whatever we wanna do over here. But on the other hand, I have this impulse to be like “No, but we have to open our mouths and say, ‘Actually, that’s a really weird thing to take away from this game, and maybe we should not do that.’” I feel both ways about it, and I don't know how to confront it. ## Recommended [The Best Mothers And Ships In Games (Ft Mothership)“Your mom doesn’t want you to disobey her, and if you do, she’ll kill you”![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/portal2.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-mothership-portal-metroid/) ### Warframe Teams Up With Lucky Super Fan: The Frontman Of Progressive Metal Band Erra URL: https://aftermath.site/warframe-erra-progressive-metal-video-interview/ Last updated: 2026-04-28T14:09:16.000Z *Warframe* is community oriented to a degree that most games can’t touch, such that many have [experienced births, graduations, weddings, and funerals within its digital bounds](https://aftermath.site/warframe-digital-extremes-community-tennocon-wedding-funeral/). JT Cavey, who’s been playing since *Warframe* first came out 13 years ago and has 1,700 hours in the game, is one of those fans. But there’s a difference between him and other diehards who’ve spent over a decade dipping in and out: He’s the frontman of a progressive metal band with millions of listeners. Formed in 2009, Erra has been a metalcore scene favorite for longer than *Warframe* has existed. Cavey joined the band in 2016, which is somehow a decade ago, and has made no secret about his love of games over the years. So when *Warframe* creative director Rebb Ford and community director Megan Everett approached Erra about contributing a song to an anime-style *Warframe* video they were working on, Cavey was thrilled. "\[When Rebb and Megan talked about the band on Twitter\], I was like 'Oh my god, that's so cool. I can't believe they know who I am or know who we are,'” Cavey told Aftermath. “And then at some point, \[one of us\] reached out when \[Erra\] came to Toronto a couple years ago, and I was like 'Oh my god, we should get coffee.’ So I met up with Rebb and Megan, got them into the show, and we all had a great time. I think a year later, Rebb inboxes me, and she's like 'Hey, I have a wild idea: How about we borrow one of your songs to release some more *Warframe* content?' I was like 'Say less. Let's go.'" The song, “Crawl Backwards Out Of Heaven,” is off Erra’s 2024 album *Cure* and accompanies an anime-style video of two versions of a character the player was able to pick the name of [during a previous quest, Jade Shadows,](https://secondgeneration.fandom.com/wiki/Sirius%5For%5FOrion?ref=aftermath.site) duking it out in a style that evokes classic Gainax works like *Gurren Lagann*. As a result of divergent in-game timelines and the character's two possible futures, Sirius and Orion, fighting for supremacy, there are actually two versions of the video: The whole thing, animated by London-based studio The Line, gives early-2000s AMV, something about which you will not hear Cavey complaining. "I grew up watching tons of anime music videos back in the day,” said Cavey. “The first ones were always Linkin Park or Breaking Benjamin or Disturbed or whatever. And recently, we've seen peers in our space, like Bad Omens and Spiritbox, doing animated videos \[the latter [in conjunction with Riot Games](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyK3lFtz2H8&ref=aftermath.site)\]. There's been more presence of anime and drawings and kind of making an extended universe outside of just the music with art. So that's reminiscent of the AMV days. For us to do our own version and get an animated music video was perfect." In Cavey’s eyes, the *Warframe* video harks back to a specific all-time great anime rivalry. "Yin and Yang, good meets evil, light versus dark, Goku versus Frieza—I think the song was representative of that for \[the *Warframe* team\], and the animation of the video reflects that as well," he said. Ford feels similarly, though she took a longer and more specific road to get there. "My mom is also the reason for Erra," she told Aftermath. "She lives far away from me, so it’s just under a two-hour drive to see her on the weekends. On a long highway stretch, I was listening to ‘Crawl Backwards Out Of Heaven’ on repeat, and I started seeing things in my mind for *Warframe*. JT’s voice and Jesse’s voice in contrast, the musicality, then the lyrics: 'Asleep beneath the surface.' It made me think of my days making AMVs from *Dragon Ball Z*, and I started seeing characters doing things, but I didn’t recognize them. Then they slowly focused, and I realized I was looking at Sirius and Orion battling it out to Erra's song. I wrote everything down as soon as I got home: the full quest, the characters, the arc, the song. It was that isolated highway drive that created this update, and it's all because of the song." The video—and [the in-game narrative chapter](https://www.warframe.com/en/news/jade-shadows-constellations?ref=aftermath.site) set to tie into it this summer—joins a long lineage of *Warframe* music projects, many with lyrics and accompanying cutscenes. The game’s discography has grown so sizable, in fact, that the game’s dev team and numerous other musicians—including Ford on bass—were able to [perform a full concert](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RGOh6UQiyc&ref=aftermath.site) at last year’s TennoCon. Many of *Warframe*’s songs are somber or heavy, with a few entering metal territory. Others, born of the game’s slightly more lighthearted *1999* expansion, are boy band parodies. But if you ask Cavey which is his favorite, he can’t resist citing a classic. "The iconic Fortuna song, \['[We All Lift Together](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPTCq3LiZSE&ref=aftermath.site)'\],” he said. “That one for sure." Music, Ford said, often shapes the game. "Every update we do, there is a moment where Erich from the sound team and Matthew Chalmers, our composer, sort of say, 'Well, we read the update briefs, and what if…' and then we end up with the wildest scoring ideas to complement whatever it is we’re doing," she said. "We all trust in the ideas we bring to the table, and I’m glad we take risks every time. Music is such an important part of the mood and expression of *Warframe*." Erra’s music, Cavey admitted, actually references *Warframe*, albeit slyly. "\[Our song “Eidolon”\] doesn't have anything to do with the Eidolon creatures of *Warframe*,” he said, “but \[guitarist Jesse Cash\] gave me a list of song titles to pick, and that was one of them. He doesn't know that's the reason I chose that one." On Erra’s most recent tour, Cavey got the band’s drummer and media guy to play *Warframe* as well, and while the other members might take additional persuading, he wouldn’t be surprised if they come around. Games, after all, are a great way to pass the time on the tour bus, but more than that, they share a long history and a sort of spiritual bond with heavy music. "There's always the cliche of \[how\] dorks can sometimes feel like outsiders or nerds, and I think any alternative underground metal music or anything of that caliber resonates with a similar type of mindset," he said. "You look at the success of *Doom* in the '90s and how that got translated into the 2000s version, and that soundtrack is so good. ... It's very interesting how that does seem to be an always existing connection." Cavey thinks that extends to how fans of games and heavy music share the things they’re passionate about as well. "When people love a game, they want to introduce people to the game. And most of the time, when you're excited about the game, you're usually overly generous, because you want to share your love of that game and excitement with somebody else to make them feel the same,” he said. “Metal communities are the exact same way. People are very friendly at metal shows. They love finding new circles of people like 'Oh, you like the same band.' It's very likely that I'm gonna go somewhere and find someone who also likes The Beatles. But it's more fun to find somebody that likes a more obscure, hard-to-find artist, because then it's like those two people know a secret that nobody else knows." Cavey has been playing games since the Game Boy days—longer than he’s been a musician. If he has his way, he’ll do more games-related work in the future. That could include writing a song from start to finish with a specific game in mind, or perhaps even more. "Nah dude, I want to be in a game. Make me a final boss," he said. "I mean, I'm down to do anything, whether \[developers\] want us to co-write stuff. Shit, I'll do voice lines for a character. If I see the Erra logo buried behind a crate in a little secret room, I'll take that. I'll take whatever they want to do. I'm just happy to be part of it." Given the opportunity to collaborate with any band, dead or alive, Ford would rope in Supertramp. But what actually happens next remains, like so many psionically-controlled space ninjas, up in the air. "We kind of do things in weird ways," she said. "Very much a game developed in the garage with friends mindset. ... It becomes very overwhelming to me when I think of how many people I’d love to work with. But maybe next time I drive to my mom's, I’ll have my answer." ## Recommended [Life (And Death) In WarframeThe stratospheric highs and craterous lows of 13 years of births, graduations, weddings, and funerals![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/warf14.jpeg)](https://aftermath.site/warframe-digital-extremes-community-tennocon-wedding-funeral/) ### Xbox Pulls An HBO URL: https://aftermath.site/xbox-microsoft-gaming-sharma/ Last updated: 2026-04-27T15:38:16.000Z Remember how [HBO kept changing its name](https://aftermath.site/hbo-max-warner/) under Warner Brothers, eventually realizing that the thing people associated it with and wanted to pay for was HBO? Well, it looks like Xbox has done the same thing, reportedly deciding that no, actually, it’s Xbox. According to [The Verge’s Tom Warren](https://www.theverge.com/report/917485/microsoft-return-of-xbox-no-more-microsoft-gaming?view%5Ftoken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6IlF6b3Z0NDluUk4iLCJwIjoiL3JlcG9ydC85MTc0ODUvbWljcm9zb2Z0LXJldHVybi1vZi14Ym94LW5vLW1vcmUtbWljcm9zb2Z0LWdhbWluZyIsImV4cCI6MTc3NzM5Njg0NiwiaWF0IjoxNzc2OTY0ODQ2fQ.w231EBsAoj8dMi5cjOCzSC3zRF7JbJ19hT%5FRnI3NVyk&utm%5Fmedium=gift-link&ref=aftermath.site), new [Xbox head](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-phil-spencer-retires/) Asha Sharma announced internally that Xbox is calling itself Xbox again, doing away with the “Microsoft Gaming” moniker it’s been using since 2022 and the Activision Blizzard acquisition. This is part of the “return of Xbox” Sharma touted in her [first announcement](https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2026/02/20/asha-sharma-named-evp-and-ceo-microsoft-gaming/?ref=aftermath.site), which has also seen her [lower the price of Game Pass and remove day one *Call of Duty* access](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/04/21/xbox-game-pass-update/?ref=aftermath.site) from the service. Previously, new Xbox leadership also [threw former Xbox president Sarah Bond under the bus](https://aftermath.site/xbox-sarah-bond-ai-microsoft/) for the company’s [misguided “This Is An Xbox” campaign](https://aftermath.site/xbox-marketing-campaign/), which has now been thoroughly scrubbed from the internet. An effort to sell Xboxes by talking about all the things that aren’t Xboxes was always a baffling idea and I’m glad the company killed it, but painting the whole thing as some kind of pivot is equally baffling when it felt like Xbox’s efforts to not be Xbox never gained much traction, shockingly, among people who care about Xboxes. According to Warren, in what is always a sign of a healthy and normal company, > Microsoft has now plastered the “return of Xbox” slogan on the walls of its Xbox offices this week, along with “great games” and “future of play.” … A new Xbox logo has also [started appearing](https://x.com/steinekin/status/2047034268627742743?ref=aftermath.site) on Microsoft’s campus this week, ahead of the Xbox showcase in June. I have to be honest with you: I, a person who writes about video games professionally and so often writes about Xbox, had largely forgotten about “Microsoft Gaming” and have infrequently used it instead of just writing “Xbox,” the word for "Xbox" I assume most of our readers associate with Xbox. That Microsoft spent four years coming to the same conclusion is real business brain hours, definitely the kind of thing I’d expect from a company that’s wasted time and money confusing people about which company it is. [Games Media Can’t Ignore BDS Xbox Boycott - AftermathBDS’ call to boycott Microsoft is a call to action for gamers, and an imperative for games media![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathAutumn Wright![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_2507081119-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/) ### Vampire Crawlers Is A Vampire Survivors That's Better For Your Heart Rate URL: https://aftermath.site/vampire-crawlers-survivors-poncle/ Last updated: 2026-04-23T15:26:53.000Z I wasn’t exactly a model fan of *Vampire Survivors*, Poncle’s 2022 reverse bullet hell. I absolutely loved its strangely Zen blend of chaos and strategy and mindlessness, but I never got great at the strategy part. I’m not by nature a min-maxxer, and I tend to get a bit overwhelmed when a game has too many stats, instead picking some power or combo I like and sticking with it even if it isn’t ideal. So far, followup game *Vampire Crawlers* is giving me the same things I loved and the same things I’m less passionate about, but with a slower pace that’s helping me get more into the strategy mindset. [*Vampire Crawlers* ](https://poncle.games/vampire-crawlers?ref=aftermath.site)(full title: *Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard From Vampire Survivors*, and out now for PC and consoles) is developed with a studio called Nosebleed Interactive. You still traverse areas like a forest and a library, and you’re still levelling up all the time. But it turns *Vampire Survivors* into a first-person, deck-based dungeon crawler: each turn, you have a certain amount of mana to spend playing cards that can do damage, give you armor, boost your other cards, and more. As you play, you get new cards or the opportunity to tinker with your current cards to make them more powerful. The key thing to think about here is combos, in particular the order you play your cards in. If you play them in ascending order of mana cost (0, 1, 2, etc), you’ll run up a streak that boosts the next costliest card. It’s not always the move–sometimes a nasty boss required me to ignore the combo in favor of piling on my armor, or I was me about a turn and just couldn’t resist a powerful card even if it broke my combo–but it was always on my mind as I chose my plays. This can feel a little rote at times, or at least in the early game where I still am, but I also felt like it helped guide my decision-making a little more than my long-running natural tendency to just start clicking instead of taking my time. Like *Vampire Survivors*, there’s a meta-game, though this time it’s laid out in an interface charmingly stylized like a village. You can spend the gold you earn during runs on permanent power-ups and on characters with unique abilities. There’s a world of things to unlock and combine and tinker with, and I get the sense this will all become vital as the difficulty ramps up. You could argue there’s something a little disappointing there, an encouragement to replay and grind for coins and levels that could start to drag when combined with *Vampire Crawlers*’ slower pace. In *Survivors*, the chaos of the game distracted me from all this–every level, even if I’d seen it all before, was fast and exciting, so it never felt like I was just doing the same thing over and over, even though I was arguably doing *less* than I do in *Crawlers*. But so far, I’m finding it a good balance: Even if I’m playing a level again, I’m still excited about which cards I’ll get and which order I’ll play them in and what I can do to boost a hand. It feels like there’s a little more to do in each turn of each run, combined with the primordially satisfying flood of damage and XP. And there’s still the pleasantly thoughtless allure of “one more battle” and “one more level” that made *Survivors* such a particular mix of complexity and ease. Similar to [*Balatro*](https://aftermath.site/the-nerve-of-balatro-for-being-this-good/), I think one of the core appeals of *Survivors* and now *Crawlers* is sort of “breaking” the game–getting so strong and pulling down such big combos that the whole thing becomes an overpowered exercise in absurdity. It’s a strange kind of mastery when compared to other games that require more personal skill, and it’s one I find both appealing and a little hollow. I’m not sure I’ll ever have the kind of brain that will get me there before other games pull me away–the ability to develop an encyclopedic understanding of *Crawlers’* trinkets and stats and combos–but so far it feels more achievable for me in *Crawlers* than in *Survivors* given its slower pace. *Vampire Crawlers* keeps the core hook and essential structure of *Survivors* while doing its own unique thing with its own particular rhythm. I can see it joining the rotation of games I play when it’s a little too soon to go to bed, but without the adrenaline rush of *Survivors* that made it not great for actually *going* to bed. I spent the morning with it and am excited to see more of what it has to offer, even if I’m probably not the kind of person who will ever find my way to its end. ### Pokémon Go Community In Chaos After Company Upholds Disqualification Of Player Who Celebrated Too Hard URL: https://aftermath.site/pokemon-go-firestar73-disqualified-statement-community-outrage/ Last updated: 2026-04-23T01:19:18.000Z After a period of deliberation, Play! Pokémon—the Pokémon Company subsidiary that seems to believe Panic! At The Disco was really onto something—has reached a verdict in the curious case of Firestar73, aka [the *Pokémon Go* pro who celebrated too hard](https://aftermath.site/pokemon-go-firestar73-win-disqualified-unsportsmanlike-celebration/). This week, it announced that it’ll be upholding its previous decision, meaning that Firestar73 remains disqualified after technically winning the 2026 *Pokémon* Orlando Regional Championships. To say that *Pokémon Go* pros and fans are dissatisfied would be an understatement. In [a statement on two rulings](https://community.pokemon.com/en-us/discussion/23725?ref=aftermath.site)—the other of which took place during a separate trading card game tournament—Play! Pokémon said the following of Firestar73’s situation: > During the *Pokémon Go* Grand Finals, we would like to share some information which may not be known to the broader community. Prior to the final game incident, during game one of the bracket reset series, a player was issued a Warning for the action of hitting and shaking the table during gameplay. Actions such as these can have a negative impact on the experience of participants and disturb the match in progress. Then, during game five, this same player’s behavior continued to be disruptive, including shaking the table to the point that there was a disruption to the broadcast experience. These repeated infractions resulted in a penalty that was escalated to Game Loss. > We will uphold the decisions made by the Judges at this event. Pokémon Judges are committed to bringing the best possible experience to our players by preserving the competitive integrity of our events. Without them and their commitment to Play! Pokémon, we would not be able to hold events, and it is our expectation that they are treated with the same respect as all people in the community. However, in the same statement, Play! Pokémon went on to encourage the act of celebration more generally: > In the moment of a win, emotions are high, and we recognize that these emotions can lead to energetic reactions celebrating a win. We want to support this authentic, positive reaction, and not discourage this excitement. Celebrations are not an issue, but actions that disrupt or can negatively impact competitive integrity can be. That’s nice and vague, but sure! Moreover, it now sounds like Firestar73 was disqualified for playing the game too hard, not celebrating—or that a prior infraction of playing too hard informed judges’ decision to later disqualify him for celebrating too hard, even though those are two different things. On top of all that, it is very difficult to hold completely still during a heated *Pokémon Go* match. “*Pokémon Go* is literally an action-based game,” *Smash Bros* pro and Team Liquid co-owner Hungrybox [wrote on Twitter](https://x.com/liquidhbox/status/2046673063014547562?ref=aftermath.site). “Players \[are\] constantly tapping the screen nonstop for about five minutes per game. It’s natural to have some exasperation.” Firestar73, meanwhile, has disputed Play! Pokémon’s account of events entirely. “The ‘incident’ you are now, for the first time, claiming was the basis of the decision did not affect the gameplay at all, yet decided the whole tournament,” he [wrote on Twitter](https://x.com/Firestar73%5F/status/2046661631925444906?ref=aftermath.site). “Section 2.1 requires a ‘clear explanation of any infraction and its penalty,’ and I was never given this as the basis at all.” NiteTimeClasher, who won the tournament by disqualification, doesn't seem pleased either. "Was not my decision," he [appears to have written](https://x.com/if4ko/status/2046724859258872085?ref=aftermath.site) in a Pokémon Discord. "Firestar is the Orlando regional champion. Hope you all understand." Others have attempted to divine what the company meant by a “disruption to the broadcast experience,” and [what they’ve found](https://x.com/snorlaxingg/status/2046653092004081788?ref=aftermath.site) doesn’t look all that severe. Not long after Play! Pokémon handed down its edict, one judge who was *not* involved in this particular match, Professor Rex, publicly voiced his outrage. “As a judge I’m not supposed to discuss ruling\[s\] publicly,” he [wrote](https://x.com/RexProfessor/status/2046653145149829508?ref=aftermath.site). “However, I also believe that as a judge my job is to give players a fair space to compete. If a player in a high stakes battle can lose out on thousands of dollars for shaking the table, what kind of space have we built? If the table can’t handle the intensity of the competition, that’s not the players’ fault. I’ve judged multiple *Go* regionals, \[and\] I just can’t support how this was handled.” After [posting internal correspondence](https://x.com/RexProfessor/status/2046670373714854014?ref=aftermath.site) meant for judges and asking “some questions they didn’t like” in the Discord for those who [judge and otherwise help out at *Pokémon* events](https://www.pokemon.com/us/play-pokemon/organize/become-a-pokemon-professor?ref=aftermath.site), Rex was [banned from the Discord](https://x.com/RexProfessor/status/2046713997722833365?ref=aftermath.site). That’s when, to the extent they had not already, things spun out of control. Rex went on to [share judges’ personal information](https://www.twitch.tv/hungrybox/clip/RealShakingWrenTheRinger-AnoIFkNOkL12K7LZ?filter=clips&range=24hr&sort=time&ref=aftermath.site) in a perhaps-misguided attempt at forcing transparency, which caused other judges—some of whom [mostly agreed with him](https://x.com/willbeers/status/2046788656476643583?ref=aftermath.site)—to [call him out](https://x.com/willbeers/status/2046783801494253939?ref=aftermath.site) and [take issue with his conduct](https://x.com/Lionheartex/status/2046803579089068307?ref=aftermath.site). As of now, almost no one is happy. It’s everybody’s favorite kind of mess: the kind in which no one emerges looking entirely good. Hopefully this will at least convince Play! Pokémon to reevaluate what it considers excessive celebration—if not its approach to certain elements of judging more broadly—but given the ruling it settled on, that doesn’t strike me as entirely likely. Then again, firestorms have a way of making people second guess themselves down the line, and I imagine Play! Pokémon will feel the burn from this one for some time to come. ## Recommended [Pokémon Go Champion Says He Didn’t Deserve To Be Disqualified For ‘Unsportsmanlike’ Celebration, And Honestly It’s Hard To Disagree“These celebrations are not outliers: Play Pokémon has told the community that this is the kind of emotion and celebration it wants its tournaments to evoke”![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/firestar.png)](https://aftermath.site/pokemon-go-firestar73-win-disqualified-unsportsmanlike-celebration/) ### The Lights Got Good URL: https://aftermath.site/lights-amran-ray-60c-review/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T19:19:31.000Z I went to film school, and aside from being the last class to edit a freshman film by splicing it on a [Steenbeck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steenbeck?ref=aftermath.site), I had to handle a lot of hot lights. The experience of going to film school was largely an exercise in carrying heavy fucking lights in Pelican cases to your friend’s poorly conceived kitchen sink drama or, if you were lucky, goofy fourth rate Troma knock off. The lights were heavy and turned whatever environment you were shooting in into a furnace. The wiring you would have to do ranged from borderline to actually illegal. You had to use these burlapy gloves and were often burned, and if you touched the bulbs the oil from your fingers could [cause them to explode.](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/mtz89/do%5Ffingerprints%5Factually%5Fdecrease%5Fthe%5Flife%5Fof/?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/goodlightbadlight.jpg) If you had money you got one of the (still quite good) Arri lights and if you were poor you had to use Lowell light looked like it was made of chicken wire. (Credit: Arri, [B&H](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/32267-REG/Lowel%5FT1%5F10%5FTota%5FLight%5FTungsten%5FFlood%5FLight.html?ref=aftermath.site)) A not insignificant portion of cinematography class was devoted to teaching a bunch of indoor kids who never played sports or worked in the trades how many lights a 15 amp circuit could handle before you blew a fuse. Given how much of my current career involves rewiring appliances, it is probably the most useful class I ever took at the School of Visual Arts. Eventually Kino Flos, big fluorescent bulb fixtures pioneered for the Mickey Rourke movie *Barfly*, became fairly ubiquitous on tiny indie sets, and students loved them because they did not give you an undiagnosed hernia in your early 20s. These would give way partially to Litepanels, from the company of the same name. LEDs were a game changer. Tungsten lights and [HMIs](https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/introduction-lighting-with-hmis/?ref=aftermath.site) didn’t die though. The big fuckoff 12K and 18Ks still stick around because it’s shockingly hard to replicate the quality of light that comes from a filament getting way too hot. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/kinoflodiva_litepanels.jpg) The Diva Kit was not gonna match the output of a hot light but man was it lighter. Kino-flo mainly sells LEDs now. I had an earlier version of the thing on the right and it cost me an arm and a leg. Credit: B&H My early 20s was spent being a permalancer, which is to say I was functionally unemployed. The term “preditor,” a portmanteau for “producer” and “editor,” was often used to mean a weird jack of all trades video person. I really hope they don’t use that term still. Before DSLRs and cellphones fucked up the game, you could make at least rent and beer money with a handful of jobs a month if you owned a semi decent video camera and an onboard light. I had a Panasonic AG-HVX200 I had bought with my savings and a big dumb camera-mounted light panel brick. It would give off an unflattering, blinding glow, made everything look like the show *Cops* and cost like $800 to $1,000\. I think they still sell a version of those but there’s no reason to buy one any more, because the lights got good. ## **Lights got good** Since becoming a video editor full time at Kotaku, eventually adding writer to that resume, I have not had to touch lights except recreationally. The quality of basic, cheap LEDs has risen dramatically over the years, and I’ve spent a lot of time doing open source addressable smart home lighting in my spare time (that’s a blog I have threatened to write for a very long time). If you [follow the right people](https://quinled.info/?ref=aftermath.site) and go down the right rabbit holes, you can get very fantastic strips for home lighting for a song ([BTF Lighting](https://www.btf-lighting.com/?ref=aftermath.site) for color strips and [Auxmer](https://quinled.info/analog-strip-review-auxmer-28-8w-3000k-cri95/?ref=aftermath.site) on AliExpress for single or bicolor strips are good examples.). As with many goods, the trusted American brands that would often outsource to China would get slowly overtaken by the brands more organically integrated into that supply chain. [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/sennheiser_hollyland.jpg)](https://www.hollyland.com/product/lark-max?ref=aftermath.site) I have used these old Sennheiser packs countless times, but TikTok has expanded the market to include people holding lav mics in a really weird way. Credit: [Sweetwater](https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EW100ENGG3-A1--sennheiser-ew-100-eng-g3-camera-broadcast-wireless-microphone-set-a-1-band?ref=aftermath.site), [Hollyland](https://www.hollyland.com/product/lark-max?ref=aftermath.site) As content creation has become a ubiquitous intrusion into normal people's lives, what was once a professional tool for cinematography found rich soil in which to flourish. This is a pattern mirrored in the explosion of gimbals, podcast mics and TikTok lavaliers, with DJI, Røde, and Hollyland now operating in a space previously dominated by mics like the bulky Sennheiser EW100 G3\. I still have one of those in my camera case from my preditor days. The old professional standbys still exist, and professional shoots use adult gear, but the line is increasingly blurred. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/Key_Light_ATF_02.jpg) Elgato sold a boatload of these things, they were pretty OK lights although the quality of lights has risen dramatically. Credit: [Elgato](https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p/key-light?ref=aftermath.site) LED panel lights would eventually find a home with YouTubers, Twitch streamers, and internet pornographers – vocations with significant aesthetic overlap when it comes to lighting your combination bedroom/home office. Tube lights became a cheap and portable way to add a splash of color whose lighting sensibility is equally between gamers and bisexuality. Elgato’s Key Lights were a hit, they work over WiFi and integrate into their beloved Stream Deck system, although at this point they’re fairly dated and have been surpassed by budget cinematography brands in terms of sheer light quality. Though brands like Godox and amaran offer big ass streamer lights, many with attachments, their semi-professional COB light offerings have gotten much more inviting and increasingly competitive. Instead of offering a wide grid of LEDs, recent COB lights are concentrated, focused, and take a standard Bowens mount. The Bowens mount is a standardized mount for adding diffusion to lights. I mainly remember using them on strobes in still photography shoots more than video shoots, but as the lines between those two vocations have blurred so too has the gear. Panels still have their uses, but a single universal mount that lets you attach soft boxes with grids, spotlights, and fresnel lenses simplifies things immensely. Like I said, the lights got good, particularly when it comes to color rendering. In particular the brand Aputure has been dominating. Aputure is an American brand with production facilities in Shenzhen, pointed at professionals and with offerings that have been getting absurdly competitive. Instead of simply doing RGB (red, green, and blue), RGBW/RGBWW (the same but with one or more white temperature added) or bicolor (two different color temperatures of white light), many professional LED lights will offer some combination of different colors to better render skin (this is often referred to as a “light engine”). Aputure’s Storm series are absurdly nice in this regard and use systems called BLAIR and BLAIR-CG that use five and seven colors respectively. For serious film sets it’s still hard to top an ARRI kit, but every year the technology gets a bit better. Mark does tests of these things every time a new one comes out. Here's his comparison between how the Ray and Storm render light. Aputure’s content creator sub-brand is amaran, and many of the basic quality of life features from their pro lights have trickled down into those products. The amaran app to control their lights as a unified ecosystem is quite nice, not unlike Aputure’s [Sidus Link](https://aputure.com/en-US/pages/sidus-link?ref=aftermath.site). The amaran Ray and Halo series both have Bowens mounts, and the former is lightly weather rated. Some of the Ray and all of the Halo series can be controlled via DMX (an industry standard for controlling lights, particularly in live settings) over USB as well as Bluetooth and NFC. The Ray series [has their "Omnicolor" engine](https://youtu.be/ND-jV%5FuVMS4?si=Vn0IUJBnjnlxymeL&t=206&ref=aftermath.site) that noticeably improves skin tones, while the Halo is cheaper and just bicolor. ## **Upgrading** ![A white light panel on a wood surface.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_02251838_S029-1.jpg) The amaran Verge series are attractive and cost significantly less than the Elgato Key Lights, in part by selling the desk mount separately. Unfortunately, the lack of modifiers limit it compared to COB lighting or its brother the Pano. When we started Aftermath I had a few aging Elgato panels I had inherited from when G/O Media laid me off. I had wanted to upgrade for a very long time, and took a chance on panels aimed at content creators: the amaran Verge series. The Verge series are simplified bicolor alternatives to the amaran Pano series aimed at streamers. For about 80 bucks each they’re a lot of light; the light output on them is rock solid and the basic quality of light clears the Elgatos. They have front-facing physical knobs to adjust intensity and color temperature, a nice added touch that the Elgatos lacked. Wirelessly, the amaran Verge controls primarily via Bluetooth, which I severely dislike. Nilay Patel from The Verge (the publication) tipped me off to [Stream Deck integration ](https://marketplace.elgato.com/product/amaran-controller-2acb7ef3-6442-4341-9e2a-a4b94fbfd824?ref=aftermath.site)that seems to work. I wish there was a WiFi or Ethernet option in some capacity, if only because I am a Home Assistant pervert and will automate anything even remotely connected to my network. Unfortunately for me, the [amaran Verge](https://amarancreators.com/pages/amaran-verge?ref=aftermath.site) lights are lacking in one very crucial way: modifiers. The [amaran Pano ](https://amarancreators.com/products/amaran-pano-60c-kit-charcoal?Title=Default+Title&ref=aftermath.site)series has several soft boxes and grids you can attach to soften the light, none of which are compatible with the Verge series. This is a deal breaker, as the entire point of getting new lights was to lessen the strain of appearing on podcasts and video calls, and despite my attempts to create a diffusion using the harvested diffuser of an LCD TV on the street, it was insufficient. I had fucked up and ignored a basic rule of gear nerds, “Buy once, cry once.” Why was I still dicking around with gamer panels when real lights existed? ![A cob light on the ground, basking in the sun. It is an amaran Ray 60c](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/light_top2.jpg) The amaran Ray 60c. The mount allows for multiple modifiers. A lower bicolor cost "halo" was recently launched but I decided to treat myself. Despite the recent introduction of the bicolor Halo series starting at $119, I decided to treat myself right and get the amaran Ray 60c specifically for that nice indigo channel. The amaran Ray 60c is such a nice little light. It’s tiny. It comes in a cute case to carry it around that I will probably never use, but thoroughly appreciate. Earlier criticism of the light I have seen was that the power brick they included was nonsensically short, and they have attempted to solve this by having a little holder for the power supply that mounts right under the light. Unfortunately they did not think the placement out thoroughly, and the brick will collide with any modifier you place on it if you tilt it downwards.This is easily solved one of several ways: getting an extension to the power cable so you don’t have to use the mount, powering the light via USB-C, or by disassembling the handle and flipping the power supply holder backwards. None of these are terribly unrealistic, but it’s still an annoying thing to have to do. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_02251835_S028.jpg) Don't talk to me or my son ever again. The amaran Ray 60c comes with the amaran Octa Dome 30, but the Light Dome 60 has two layers of diffusion. Both include grids. The Ray 60c comes with a tiny modifier, the Octa Dome 30\. This is a little baby soft box that is useful in terms of how compact it is, but is not diffuse enough if you are pointing it at you while you stream for extended periods of time. I decided to go with the Light Dome 60, which also comes in its own bag. It’s far more substantial, allowing for two levels of diffusion, which the Ray 60c can just barely handle. It looks a little absurd mounted above my desk, but the diffused glow of the light does not bother my eyes and it makes my camera render the skin tones just right. I could stay in that bright light all day and never tire. Aside from being a very nice light, the Ray 60c has a feature I would be remiss if I did not point out: the haptics on its wheel. Depending on which level of a menu you are on, the click wheel will feel different. If you are someone who designs hardware, I would recommend you go to a photo store to try it because it’s satisfying on a basic, reptilian level. Everyone should rip this off. ![The amaran Ray face down on the ground, a wheel on the bottom, and a fan in the back.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_02252006_S011-postprocess-2.jpg) The wheel on this thing feels incredible and anyone designing hardware should try it. I am writing this not to glaze amaran and its parent company, although I love the amaran Ray 60c and the company’s continued pressure in the market is helping standardize those features. Nanlux and its subsidiary Nanlite are similarly competitive in many ways, and Godox has some fun offerings as well if you’re trying to do content creation. You could pick almost any COB light from the companies above and be thoroughly satisfied as a newbie. Though much about technology has gotten expensive and shitty, socially corrosive and dangerous to our continued well-being, occasionally a product category slowly but surely gets better and cheaper while you aren’t looking. You will research something after seriously being out of the game for a decade and say “damn, when did this happen?” If you had told me when I was 20 and hauling cases up five flights of stairs that lights would be this good in the future and described these features I would have freaked out. This is not to say that people in film shoots don’t still have to haul a bunch of heavy ass tungsten lights and run power cables into an adjacent building, but I’ve walked by plenty of film and TV shoots in New York City lately, and some of the gear is a little less physically debilitating, particularly when combined with those huge battery backups. I am so happy at the continued improvement of lighting technology. The lights got good, thank god. ![A big bright dome light behind my desk, lit in the back by a ceiling bounce. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_02251825_S005.jpg) Absurd looking? Perhaps a little. But I am on camera like once or twice a month for a podcast and I'm sick of feeling blinded all the time. It's all the night I need (for now). ### Gamers Sue Nintendo To Get Tariff Money Back URL: https://aftermath.site/gamers-sue-nintendo-tariffs/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T12:52:35.000Z Two Nintendo customers from California and Washington are suing Nintendo in an effort to get tariff refunds from the video game company, [according to a new filing obtained by Aftermath](https://www.scribd.com/document/1029703129/Nintendo-class-action-via-Aftermath?ref=aftermath.site). Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan filed the proposed class action complaint in the United States District Court's Western District of Washington on Tuesday; they want the court to force Nintendo to pass along the money it's likely to receive from U.S. Customers and Border Protection [through the newly-opened tariff refund portal](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/tariff-refund-portal-cape-who-is-eligible/4093147/?ref=aftermath.site). In March, [Nintendo filed a lawsuit](https://aftermath.site/nintendo-tariffs-sue/) against the United States government for a tariff refund after the Supreme Court ruled that U.S. president Donald Trump's International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 tariffs were unconstitutional. It was one of thousands of companies that did so before Customs and Border Protection vowed to open a refund portal to streamline the process. The lawsuit was paused as the government got that process in order. Some companies, like [FedEx and UPS](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-fedex-ups-dhl-plan-to-refund-customers-for-tariffs-2026-4?ref=aftermath.site), said they would pass the tariff refunds back to their customers. Nintendo is one of many companies that raised prices to account for the massive tariffs—many of the companies' products are manufactured in countries that were heavily impacted—but Nintendo hasn't said what it would do with the returned money. Hoffert and Sharan are asking the court to decide what happens with that money. Several other companies, [like Costco](https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/costco-sued-over-claims-it-raised-prices-then-sought-tariff-refunds-from-government/?ref=aftermath.site), are being sued by customers for the same reason. "In practical terms, Nintendo stands to receive a windfall: it has already recouped tariff costs from consumers through higher prices, and it now stands in line to recover the same unlawful tariff payments from the federal government," the plaintiffs' lawyers wrote in the complaint. The argument is that Nintendo didn't really face much financial hardship due to the tariffs, because those added costs were passed along to customers. The tariffs were imposed right before preorders were supposed [to be opened up for Nintendo's Switch 2 console](https://aftermath.site/switch-2-preorder-tariff/). While preorders began later than expected, the console's price did remain the same, but Nintendo increased the prices of certain Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 accessories, as well as the original Nintendo Switch consoles. "Nintendo now seeks to recover from the government duties whose economic burden was borne, in whole or in part, by Plaintiffs and Class members," lawyers wrote. Nintendo reported "strong, and in some periods improving, financials" during the tariff period, lawyers wrote. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said in May that its sales forecast [wouldn't be impacted by tariffs](https://www.eurogamer.net/switch-2-sales-forecast-not-affected-by-production-or-tariffs-nintendo-reiterates?ref=aftermath.site) or production issues; it expected to sell 15 million units during the fiscal year. As of February, [Nintendo sold nearly 18 million Nintendo Switch 2 consoles](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/nintendo-net-sales-up-993-as-switch-2-shifts-1737m-units?ref=aftermath.site). However, Furukawa also saiid during that financial earnings report that the tariffs have a "negative impact of several tens of billions of yen at the profit level." As a proposed class action, this case will need the a judge to confirm its class action status before it can move forward. Lawyers for the plaintiffs suggest the class could be in the hundreds of thousands or millions of people. It would include anyone in the United States "who purchased goods from Nintendo during the period February 1, 2025, through February 24, 2026, in which Nintendo raised prices." Aftermath has reached out to Nintendo for comment. ### Tal Anderson On The Pitt's Earnest Portrayal Of Autistic Life URL: https://aftermath.site/the-pitt-autism-representation-tal-anderson/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T21:40:35.000Z In the age of streaming, [only a handful of series](https://butwhytho.net/2022/08/extraordinary-attorney-woo-season-1-review-netflix/?ref=aftermath.site) have managed to break Hollywood’s habit of flattening autism and neurodivergency into a pastiche of clichés—and [*The Pitt*](https://aftermath.site/the-pitt-hbo/) sits at the frontlines of that shift. Fresh off a knockout season 2 finale, the medical drama series continues to earn critical acclaim with its portrayal of neurodivergency, thanks in no small part the lived-in authenticity of Melissa and Becca King (played by Taylor Dearden and Tal Anderson), whose dynamic presents one of television’s most refreshing and earnest portrayals of autism. Aftermath spoke with Anderson over email about what sets *The Pitt*’s neurodivergent representation apart and how far Hollywood still has to go. Anderson is an actor on the autism spectrum, and on *The Pitt*, she plays an autistic character with high needs. Her new children’s book, [*Oh Tal! Not Like That*](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/oh-tal-not-like-that-tal-anderson/1149744695?ref=aftermath.site), aims to push that conversation further by teaching kids and parents alike that there’s more than one way to get things done. [*The Pitt*](https://aftermath.site/the-pitt-hbo/) has always excelled at showing its doctors as brilliant, flawed, and compassionate human beings first. The HBO show also doubles as a kind of [narrative compendium](https://gizmodo.com/5-medical-innovations-on-hbos-the-pitt-that-are-revolutionizing-emergency-care-2000726209?ref=aftermath.site) of modern medicine. It offers viewers glimpses into perspectives and walks of life they might never encounter unless they were to sit for hours in a real emergency room—along with insight into medical services folks might not be privy to that can improve their quality of life in the hellscape we live in. The show’s second season sharpens one of its most honest through lines with the [sweet, very stressed and autistic Dr. Mel](https://www.npr.org/2025/04/09/nx-s1-5316842/actress-taylor-dearden-talks-about-portraying-neurodivergence-on-the-pitt?ref=aftermath.site) coming to grips with the fact that she’s not her sister’s keeper, even if she is her sister’s primary caregiver. Mel is her sister Becca’s shared decision maker, and she has to allow her sister to make her own choices. No amount of time spent watching *Elf* will change the fact that Becca isn’t a dependent orbiting her life; she’s an adult woman with her own identity, agency, and HIPAA rights. Long before this became a plot point for Becca, Anderson says it was that very same distinction, planted way back in the script for the show’s second season, that signaled to her that the character’s portrayal of autism was different from the media she grew up watching. “Although Becca has very high support needs, her relationship with her sister wasn’t written as a burden, or something that kept her caregiver, her twin sister, from achieving her own personal goals,” Anderson said. “Becca was written to be a very important part of Mel’s life, not just because they are related, but because they both provide support to each other in their own way. They both need each other.” For decades, autistic characters have been slotted into the same limited archetypes: the prodigy, the robot, the quirky sidekick, or the infantilized innocent—sometimes all at once, reinforcing the myth that all autistic people fit a single mold. Hollywood’s portrayal of autism has rarely ventured beyond a narrow set of stereotypes, ranging from [*Rain Man*\-style savants](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/17/rain-man-myth-autistic-people-dustin-hoffman-savant?ref=aftermath.site), [*The Good Doctor*’s hypercompetent freaks to gawk at](https://time.com/6981442/the-good-doctor-finale-autistic-representation/?ref=aftermath.site), or whatever [*The Predator*](https://gizmodo.com/the-predator-is-a-manic-muddled-mess-1828968888?ref=aftermath.site) thought it was cooking when it treated autism like a genetic superpower worth hunting. Anderson wishes writers in Hollywood understood that autism simply doesn’t work that way. “I wish they would understand that you don’t need to write and include every possible stereotypical behavior or circumstance associated with autism into one character,” she said. “It’s okay to have a character just represent themselves, instead of taking on the burden of representing an entire community. Not every autistic person has a special interest, or has terrible eye contact, or rocks and stims, and there are varying levels of support needs, verbal communication, and physical abilities. We don’t need to see all of that in one character. In fact, to be authentic, we shouldn’t see that.” ![The Pitt still of Becca speaking to Mel and Langdon. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/tal-anderson-taylor-dearden-patrick-ball-1.jpg) HBO Max To keep Becca authentic rather than trope-driven, Anderson says her biggest priority was avoiding the visual stereotypes that television relies on with the accuracy of a shotgun spread. For Anderson, that meant her performance as Becca meant “no rocking or flapping or tip-toeing.” “Not because those can’t be authentic behaviors for autistic people,” she said, “but because I wanted Becca’s behaviors to be shaped by her story and not the stereotypes and tired narrative we see all of the time on screen.” As an actor who’s portrayed autistic characters before—including Sid on Netflix’s *Atypical*—Anderson says she’s been continuously impressed by how thoughtfully *The Pitt* writes Becca. The respect and nuance on the page were what drew her to the role in the first place, a sharp contrast to the portrayals she grew up seeing. “I had a couple of questions about a scene at one point, and just wanted to be sure I could play it the way I wanted to without changing the writer’s intention, but I never needed to, or wanted to change the script,” she said. “I’ve been continuously impressed with how authentic the writing is, and proud to be able to give Becca life to tell her story in that way.” One aspect of that authenticity is that Anderson and Dearden are bringing their own lived experience to these roles. [Dearden has ADHD](https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/taylor-dearden-proud-to-play-neurodivergent-pitt-character-mel-king?ref=aftermath.site), which is a type of neurodivergence, but she isn’t on the autism spectrum like Anderson. Both actors bring these two unique flavors of neurodivergence into their performances especially when the characters clash, as they do in Season 2 when Dr. Mel learns that Becca has a boyfriend. On a performance level, Anderson tells me the ease herself and Dearden worked as scene partners wasn’t something they had to engineer. “We clicked, and it just worked,” she said. Their shared neurodivergent lived experience made the twin dynamic feel instinctive, and it also meant they were quick to recognize when the other needed clarity, calm, or a moment to get grounded on set. “\[Dearden\] seems to know ahead of time when something might be confusing, or if I could use some advice,” Anderson said. “For instance, my first time on set for season 2, she asked me if I wanted to see the set, because I wasn’t filming on the soundstage. I was shooting on location for episode seven, but while I was at the studio, she knew that I was dying to see the set, and ultimately that helped me in later episodes, because I was prepared in advance for how shockingly amazing the set is. I could focus on my work and not be as overwhelmed by the set.” “I also, at one point, had a question about the script, and she helped me get in touch with the writer in the production office so I could get clarification before I had to shoot my scene,” Anderson continued “She knew that my anxiety over questioning anything would take over my brain, and that helping me get an answer would immediately settle me down. I’m sure there are many other examples, but the strongest ones involve Taylor’s support.” Hollywood still has a long way to go before representation on screen and advocacy behind the scenes move beyond platitudes. Thankfully, Anderson has a few structural fixes that could make the industry genuinely accessible rather than symbolically inclusive behind the screen, starting with mentorship and internship programs for disabled creatives at both the studio level and within unions. “Success in this industry relies a lot on networking, and the biggest problem for disabled creatives is getting access to the places where networking is possible,” Anderson said. “I’m an editor, and I’m also a writer, but I’m working on knocking down barriers in my acting career, and have no idea where to start in my editing or writing career. Having access to an \[America Cinema Editors\] mentor, or a \[Writers Guild of America\] mentor to help me find my way into those rooms would make a huge difference.” ## *Oh Tal!* is for the children (and adults like you) Anderson’s upcoming children’s book expresses the same kind of advocacy for representation that her portrayal of Becca does, in a way that’s appropriate for a parent to share with their child [*Oh Tal! Not Like That*](https://www.strandbooks.com/oh-tal-not-like-that-9798990177925.html?ref=aftermath.site) is the second book in the autobiographical series penned by Anderson. Not dissimilar to how *The Pitt* showcases a day in the life of Pittsburgh's hardest-working teaching hospital, *Oh Tal* illustrates the first, exciting day of school, showing how classroom rules and conduct are treated as the norm from the eyes of a child. More specifically, Anderson says the book tells the story of the shared childhood experiences she and illustrator Michael Richey White had as creative, autistic kids, despite being 25 years apart. ![Oh, Tal! Not Like That cover of Tal getting on the bus.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/Book-2_Front-Cover-Graphic.jpg) Violet Sky Media “Being able to see a character who is like you in a book at a very young age who models behavior that encourages being yourself instead of being another voice telling you to just behave and fall in line, is important for kids like Michael and I were,” Anderson said. “We both felt squashed, misunderstood, and pushed down.” “For me, it was especially hard, because I didn’t speak until I was almost four years old,” she continued, “so I couldn’t even verbally explain why I was doing something differently, and because I didn’t speak, a lot of my decisions were made for me, and a lot of times, especially at school, people felt the need to speak on my behalf, and they were usually not expressing what I would have said, had I been speaking at that time.” ![Oh, Tal! Not Like that double spread of Tal drawing a cat on a dry erase board in front of her class as her teacher walks into the room.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/OhTal_Book2_Page15_16.jpg) Violet Sky Media One of the core themes of Anderson's books is the idea that “there’s more than one way to get things done,” a message she says captures the frustration she and White struggled with growing up. Anderson hopes this book also sheds light on the lived experiences of autistic people for neurotypical people, helping them empathize with and understand those experiences. “These books encourage parents to foster those differences, and praise the creative solutions their kids have to make them feel like thinking differently should be treated as something to be celebrated, instead of something that sends you to \[a\] time out,” she said. ### Congressman Teams Up With Popular Sims Streamer To Oppose Saudi Purchase Of EA URL: https://aftermath.site/rep-maxwell-frost-lilsimsie-stream-ea-saudi-arabia-interview/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T17:55:19.000Z If all goes according to the plan of several wealthy, powerful parties, 93.4 percent of Electronic Arts will soon be [owned by Saudi Arabia](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/saudi-arabia-will-own-93-4-percent-of-ea-after-buyout?ref=aftermath.site). The $55 billion leveraged buyout—which will also see Silver Lake and the Jared Kushner-fronted Affinity Partners take home smaller slices of the pie—remains subject to regulatory scrutiny after the overwhelming majority of shareholders [voted in favor late last year](https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000712515/c695a918-3ab2-4080-baa0-e0cc00c72ed8.pdf?ref=aftermath.site). What happens next might feel inevitable, but two unlikely allies, US representative Maxwell Frost and popular *The Sims* YouTuber Kayla “Lilsimsie” Sims, think there’s still time to slam the brakes. Last week, Frost and Sims collaborated with an advocacy group called [Players Alliance](https://playersalliancehq.org/?ref=aftermath.site) to put on [a livestream opposing the EA deal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0%5FRbrzqCC3g&ref=aftermath.site). While playing *Stardew Valley* together, the two discussed [the negative impacts](https://aftermath.site/the-ea-sale-is-bad-news-for-everyone/) of the pending deal, as well as what regular people can do to gum up the gears of the greed-powered machine. As part of this, they encouraged viewers to sign [a “Block The EA Deal” petition](https://playersalliancehq.org/block-ea-deal-petition/?ref=aftermath.site) addressed to Scott Bessent, the US Secretary of the Treasury, that now sits at over 67,000 signatures. Why this particular approach, though? Because even though 46 House Democrats have [urged the Federal Trade Commission](https://aftermath.site/ea-sale-ftc-labor-caucus/) to “conduct a thorough investigation into the labor market consequences of this proposed acquisition,” Frost believes there are more lawmakers in Congress who’d rally behind the cause if they understood the severity of it. "I would venture to say that there's a lot more members of Congress that are against this,” Frost, among the 46 who signed the FTC letter, told Aftermath. “They either didn't sign the letter \[to the FTC\] in time or most likely don't even know what's going on. This is something I talked about on the stream: Breaking news, members of Congress don't know everything. It's part of the reason why grassroots organizing is so important, why petitions are so important, or reaching out to offices is so important. A lot of the time, even if you don't realize this, you're educating the member in the office themselves on an issue they might not even know about, and then if they know about it, they might not understand how it impacts their constituents or why it's a big deal." Partnering with a games-focused content creator in his district whose various channels reach millions, while not something all that many congresspeople have done in the past, made perfect sense to Frost in this instance. "\[Sims\] has such a huge platform,” said Frost. “She's already been talking about \[the ramifications of the EA buyout\], and it was a great opportunity to, for one, educate people, but \[also\] to actually tell them how they can get involved, how they can make a difference, and then make sure they know that regardless of what happens this time, you're building power for the fights you don't even know about. When players, content creators, and everybody who gives a damn about gaming comes together? We're building power, and it's going to be used even outside of this specific struggle." For Sims, the current struggle hits very close to home. "I think *The Sims* community is particularly outraged by the prospect of the Saudi \[Public Investment Fund\] potentially being the main owner of EA because the PIF is directly controlled by the Saudi crown, and the crown's anti-LGBT human rights record is very worrisome,” Sims told Aftermath. “\[The PIF\] could choose to censor or suppress LGBTQ+ expression in the game, and *The Sims* has long been one of the most inclusive games out there; we want everyone to be able to continue to freely express themselves in it." > “\[The PIF\] could choose to censor or suppress LGBTQ+ expression in the game, and *The Sims* has long been one of the most inclusive games out there; we want everyone to be able to continue to freely express themselves in it." So why play *Stardew Valley* during the stream instead of *The Sims*? Mostly, it was a matter of logistics. "The thing is that \[*The Sims*\] is not multiplayer. So we liked the idea of being able to play a game together instead of me playing a game and \[Frost\] watching or something," said Sims. “We were trying to think about what would be a little more chill for us to be able to talk through and still be able to play and get stuff done, but maybe not be, like, randomly screaming in the middle of it because something chaotic happened.” The EA deal, structured as a leveraged buyout, would see EA saddled with $20 billion in debt, which would need to be paid off over time. [EA has said](https://aftermath.site/ea-saudi-arabia-creative-control-jared-kushner-donald-trump/) that shiny new Sword Of Damocles hanging over its head is nothing to worry about, but many—including Sims and Frost—have their doubts. "There's also a lot of concern, within the \[*Sims*\] community, about aggressive monetization strategies to help pay off the massive debt \[EA\] is taking on,” Sims said. “Things like new microtransactions and increased game cost, which really negatively impacts the player. \[There is also\] a lot of concern about potential layoffs or replacement of devs with AI, which would be really horrible. I think the games would lose all their soul from that." "If this deal goes through, people will feel and see the impacts,” said Frost. “Gamers will in the fact that everything they play will cost more. DLC packages will cost more. You'll see any kind of subscription packages people have will cost more as well, because the Saudis are going to incentivize this kind of acquisition to turn \[games\] into even more of a cash cow and figure out ways that they can fire people and utilize AI and cut corners and charge customers more to pay off over $20 billion in debt." An aggressive money-making approach now seems even more likely with the Saudi PIF’s seemingly bottomless pockets finally hitting their limit—at least [where costly sports expenditures are concerned](https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-pif-pullbacks-liv-golf-al-hilal-economic-industry-impact-2026-4?ref=aftermath.site). As [Bloomberg recently reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-16/saudis-now-want-sports-to-make-money-clouding-liv-golf-s-future?ref=aftermath.site): > But the Saudi wealth fund’s focus shifted over the last year. Instead of primarily acting as a capital source, it’s increasingly striving to generate financial returns and serve as a catalyst for broader economic investment. > This updated strategy is unfolding against the backdrop of a two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran. The recent war saw Gulf nations absorb the majority of attacks from the Islamic Republic. Saudi Arabia’s crucial energy infrastructure suffered a series of strikes, hampering its oil and gas production and exports, even as crude prices climbed. > Before the conflict began, officials in Riyadh had already started implementing difficult spending decisions. They ordered widespread reviews of ambitious national projects, signaling a pivot toward sectors more likely to attract foreign investment. Officials are looking for partners to help build World Cup stadiums, rather than handing millions to sports stars. Frost sees potential for sports-related monopolistic knock-on effects that ripple out even further than the games industry: "Now \[Saudi Arabia is\] hoping to own EA Sports, and they own agencies that represent athletes themselves. A lot of the time, the gaming industry has to go into licensing deals with the agencies that represent the athletes, and so if you have a major stake in both of those companies, it gives you an unfair advantage. It really puts the athlete at a disadvantage, too—and everyone who works for the athlete. ... We should all be really worried any time any kind of industry is consolidated like this." In pretty much every way that counts, monopolistic corporate power is at an all-time high right now, and the EA deal serves as a perfect illustration of the shameless cynicism that underpins it. That in mind, can the deal truly be stopped, or is it a runaway train that’s already left the station? "Our hope is that \[the deal gets blocked\],” said Frost. “Of course, it doesn't look good, but we're going to get in every fight that we need to get into on behalf of people and to fight corporate greed and corporate monopolies. ... I wouldn't count us out just yet. There's been many times throughout the history of this nation where people have been able to rise up and push the FTC, push the Department of Commerce, to either stop something or at least put a hold on it to further study the impacts on working people. Whether we're able to achieve them suing to end this or delay it, both of those are wins." > "I wouldn't count us out just yet." Frost believes that politicians who’ve chosen to go against the grain and support working-class causes have to get creative. In the past, Frost has been interviewed by [current Democratic party boogeyman Hasan Piker](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/hasan-piker-twitch-politics-kat-abughazaleh/), and he encourages his fellow members of Congress to stop pearl clutching and start using every available tool at their disposal. "I believe in talking to everybody. Obviously, you're going to have lines. I don't think, at least for me personally, \[Piker\] has crossed any of the lines I have,” said Frost. "That whole conversation, part of me wants to call it stupid, but the organizer in me knows it's really important to validate where people are coming from. I know there's people who are offended by things that \[Piker\] said. I don't want to completely dismiss that, but at the same time, just because you're going on someone's stream doesn't mean you agree with everything they've said. Where's that energy when people go on Fox News?" Sims also sees the upsides of politicians taking risks on influencers. As others like journalist/content creator turned politician Kat Abughazaleh [have observed](https://aftermath.site/kat-abughazaleh-interview-twitch-stream-chicago-congress-indictment/), livestreaming, especially, is a more off-the-cuff format than we’re used to seeing politicians employ, and perceived authenticity can help win over new supporters. "I think that we're witnessing a changing landscape of all of this,” said Sims. “I think that this kind of thing is probably going to start happening a lot more often, even beyond just livestreaming. I feel like you see politicians trying to get in contact with influencers in general for videos on TikTok or to try to tap into more of the internet. Livestreaming is an especially interesting tool for that because of the fact that it's live and because it's so much more casual." Frost believes that in this day and age, politicians need to be willing to go everywhere and talk to anyone—but only if they’re able to be authentic about it, because people can tell. "Not everyone's going to toe the party line, but I'm of the opinion that a lot of times the people who are going to be watching those types of streams are exactly the type of voters and people that our party needs to be communicating with, because the fact of the matter is, especially young people, they hate both parties,” he said. "I think people should only do gaming and streaming if they really want to do it. … I can 100 percent tell when someone's doing a podcast or interview because we lost the last election, and everyone thinks it's because we didn't go on enough podcasts. I know that's why you're doing it and not because you're excited to be there. That really shines through." The cons of forcing it, Frost believes, far outweigh the pros. "Like, as you see, I'm not blitzing the manosphere stuff, and obviously I'm not running for President, so maybe that's why,” he said. “I think people should just not try to completely change their persona based on an election result, because the fact of the matter is, you might think you're meeting the moment now, but in politics and in life, the moment changes pretty rapidly. And so in a few years, you might have completely changed who you are to fit some kind of mold you thought you would have to fit to talk to young people or young men or whatever, but in two years, you might look around, and the whole world might have changed. You changed yourself, and now no one believes you." > "I think people should just not try to completely change their persona based on an election result, because the fact of the matter is, you might think you're meeting the moment now, but in politics and in life, the moment changes pretty rapidly." As for what’s next in the fight against the EA deal, nothing’s set in stone. Frost has some ideas, though. "I have a big EA building in my district,” he said. “\[During the stream\] we talked about \[how\] maybe we can do something in front of it. It's not decided if we're going to do that or not. We're \[going to\] think about if it makes sense." Beyond that, it’s just a matter of ensuring that more people can make their voices heard. "I've started talking with a few other members \[of Congress\] about them uplifting the petition and talking about it as well,” said Frost. “So we're still developing the next steps, but I think the biggest thing right now is just encouraging people to reach out to their \[congress\] members, so we can get more people talking about it—more eyes on it. We're also figuring out a way that we can make it easy for people to reach out to the FTC and give a comment on this, which a lot of times can throw up red flags to the FTC." ## Recommended [US Lawmakers Urge Review Of EA SaleThe Congressional Labor Caucus sent a letter to the FTC warning the debt-financed, largely PIF-owned deal could be bad news for workers![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_2024753294-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/ea-sale-ftc-labor-caucus/) ### Inside The Dragon Age II 'Writers' Pit' URL: https://aftermath.site/boss-fight-dragon-age/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T17:55:05.000Z *The following is an excerpt from* [Dragon Age II](https://bossfightbooks.com/products/dragon-age-ii-by-charlotte-reber?ref=aftermath.site) *by Charlotte Reber, published by Boss Fight Books.* It was the start of 2010, and the Dragon Age team had just over a year to develop and ship *DA2*. But to his writing team, David Gaider presented an even harder challenge: The writers needed to write the game’s entire story, down to every last line of in-game text, in just a few short months. “\[The writers\] were the source of all work,” Gaider told me over video chat. “Everything we made created work for other people.” Every line of dialogue, interactive conversation, cinematic cutscene, and codex entry that the writers created had to be built, animated, recorded, and translated. The writers were a bottleneck for much of the work the other departments did, which meant their deadline needed to be earlier to give the rest of the *Dragon Age II* team time to build what they’d written. The first thing Gaider did was sit down with his team to make sure they understood not just the concept for the game they’d be writing, but the challenge of the deadline, and the limitations that meant for them as a writing staff. “We have only this amount of time to do this,” Gaider told his team. “I’m not going to have time to give everything you make the attention that we would normally give, or that maybe it even deserves. So I am going to have to rely on all of you individually just to do your best work, and to figure it out.” “And the writers did it,” he told me. “They all brought their A-game.” Including Gaider, the *DA2* writing team was just five people. The most veteran among them was Lukas Kristjanson, who was the first full-time writer ever hired at BioWare back in 1996 for the development of *Baldur’s Gate*. Kristjanson’s longevity at the company led to his affectionately being nicknamed “Writer Zero” and “Old Man Luke,” and he wrote for nearly every BioWare release, creating a number of fan-favorite characters including barbarian Minsc (and pet hamster Boo) from *Baldur’s Gate* before joining the Dragon Age team for *Origins* and its DLC *Leliana’s Song.* Jennifer Hepler was a game module writer in Los Angeles until she and her husband both landed jobs at BioWare Edmonton and made the cold move north. Hepler was the first woman to join the Dragon Age writing team’s ranks, and soon proved herself to be one of the team’s fastest writers. On *Origins*, she created most of the game’s dwarf lore and its Dwarf Commoner origin story, and by *DA2* took on a senior writer role that also included managerial quest-wrangling and project management. Sheryl Chee grew up in Singapore as an avid BioWare fan, eventually becoming a self-taught modder in college partly as an excuse to play more video games and partly to learn how they were made. When an open writing position was posted at BioWare, Chee submitted a mod and earned first an interview and then an offer to move halfway across the world to Edmonton, Canada to write for *Origins* (including writing fan-favorite character Leliana)and later *Awakening*. Remarkably, Chee was not the only BioWare writer to catch the company’s attention through modding. In 2006, BioWare held a contest inviting fans to build their own story modules for *Neverwinter Nights*, the prize for which included a BioWare travel mug and a job interview. Writer Mary Kirby submitted a module and was a finalist in the competition, but sadly didn’t win an interview or a mug. But not long after, the Dragon Age team needed a staff member to fill in for Jennifer Hepler while she was on maternity leave, and someone on the hiring committee recalled Kirby’s submission as a good fit for BioWare. Kirby joined the Dragon Age team and proved her skills during *Origins*, staying on the team even once Hepler returned. (It wasn’t until years later that she finally got that travel mug, though.) Although five people might sound like a small group, it’s actually fairly uncommon for game companies to employ a full-time writing staff at all. Usually, if such a role even exists, it’s on a contract basis rather than a permanent staff position. Not only did BioWare have a dedicated writing team for each game it produced, but the writers were one of the main driving forces behind the game’s story. While this didn’t mean they had creative control of the project—that responsibility lay with senior leadership—it did mean they had a key role in establishing the characters, tone, and story of the game. While writing staff, like the rest of the developers, might hop between projects as needed, it was common for them to focus on a particular franchise and thus become deeply familiar with the game’s setting and story conventions. *DA2*’stiny writing team was no exception. While some were relative newcomers to BioWare, they’d all proved themselves on other BioWare projects—and most importantly, they knew Dragon Age. “I was fortunate that everybody I had working with me, I’d worked with on \[*Origins*\],” Gaider told me. “They were all experienced. They knew the IP. They knew exactly what was required, and they knew how to write.” They were also very fast writers and already familiar with working together. Even so, not long into the project Gaider feared they were falling behind schedule and asked Laidlaw and Darrah for extra assistance. Longtime BioWare writers Ferret Beaudoin and Tony Evans joined the writing team on loan as pinch hitters, but with *DA2*’s breakneck pace, getting the new writers up to speed on the project turned out to be more work than having the existing team simply tackling everything themselves. Gaider had to shamefacedly return to Laidlaw and ask for the pair to be taken back off the project. It’s perhaps a sign of how close-knit and insular the *DA2* writing team was that they worked faster together as a small, familiar group than with a larger crew. And their workload was by no means insignificant: With the cinematics team, editing team, localization, and more all waiting on the writers, the team was under tremendous pressure to get the lion’s share of their work done in just the first few months. But that didn’t mean they didn’t know how to have fun. --- BioWare’s offices at the time were on four floors of an office building that adjoined a hotel, with a shared lobby and restaurant below. Offices were small and cramped, and staff had to frequently shuffle between various shared offices as roles and projects changed. The Dragon Age writers had been scattered among several rooms during *Origins*, but for *DA2* they were consolidated into a single cramped office lovingly referred to as “The Writers’ Pit.” Gaider, as lead writer, had a desk at the head of the room like a teacher’s desk, with the rest of the team’s desks circling the room, facing the walls. A massive whiteboard covered the far wall, partly to keep track of quests and story beats, and partly to keep track of less serious things, like a counter for how many days since the team’s last conversation about cannibalism. “It was always set to zero,” Hepler recalled, “because if anyone noticed and tried to fix it, we would see them trying to fix it and we would start talking about cannibalism.” Kirby finally hung a sign on the office door that read, “Not Safe For Work” to warn anyone who entered just what sort of chaos they were getting into. “We were very notorious at BioWare for being the room of insanity,” Gaider told me with a grin. “People who weren’t writers were very leery of going in there, because if they did, they wouldn’t leave for a while, because we would suck them into some conversation. \[…\] It’s where productivity went to die.” “It was the most fun place in the world,” Hepler told me. She recalled once trying to watch an episode of the sitcom *The Big Bang Theory*, known for its supposed “geek” humor, and being thoroughly unimpressed. “I was like, ‘This is not as funny as half an hour in the Dragon Age writers’ room on any given day of the week,’” she said. “If you want geek humor, you should just be in the room with us!” Even when the writers weren’t discussing important topics like murder, sex puns, or cats, it was rarely quiet in the room. “I assume there were some periods of silence when we were all typing, but I don’t remember them,” Hepler admitted. This wasn’t due solely to the cheerful chaos of the room. Most of the work the writers did was highly collaborative and required lots of back-and-forth chatter, and being all in the same room was a huge help. “It became really useful for *DA2*,” Kristjanson told me. Anytime one writer had a question for any of the other writers, they could just call out across the room and get an immediate response, letting the team work out plot and character details on the fly. “There’s a lot of back and forth—that’s why we have the Writers’ Pit,” Chee said in a 2020 Q&A. “There’s a lot of checking in with people, and talking, and having lunch together, and brainstorming, just coming up with things together.” “More and more over time, BioWare started down this path of putting everybody into one giant office,” Gaider told me. “It’s a producer’s dream.” But Gaider made it clear to management that putting the writers in a shared open office plan with the other development teams wouldn’t be a good fit for the writers’ style of work. “Like it was a threat, I kept saying, ‘If you put us in the big room, we will disturb everybody,’” Gaider said. “Because the writers talk *constantly*. We *have* to. We chitchat about what we’re working on all the time. It’s very collaborative. So they left us alone for the most part.” The collaboration was also great troubleshooting when someone got stuck in their writing. “There was a daily thing,” Gaider recalled, “where if I’ve hit a snag on whatever part, I would just turn my chair around to the room, and be like, ‘All right guys, huddle up.’ And we would talk it out. And sometimes I just needed a rubber duck.” The writers would then toss out ideas until something clicked, but even if nothing did, the simple act of talking through it was often enough to get things flowing again. (A supposedly common practice among programmers and engineers is to keep a rubber duck on your desk. When you get stuck on an issue with your code, talking through the issue to the duck–or, really, to anyone–can often cause you to realize where you went wrong and how to fix it. You can do this with cats too. I find that if you let one on your desk they tend to cause more problems than they solve.) As a team lead, Gaider also appreciated being able to use the space for private discussions with his team. “It was a sign, if I had something serious to talk about, I would go to the Pit door. I would close it and stand at the door, and everybody would be like, ‘Uh-oh.’” The writers had a mischievous streak, especially when it came to getting a reaction out of fans. Gaider recalled that when he first had the idea for the *Origins* ending in which central character Alistair sacrifices himself to save the player, the first thing he did was to run to tell Chee and Kirby, at which point all three cackled with glee. “My writers are absolutely brilliant,” Gaider said in a 2012 interview, “in that they love working in this world, they love writing these characters, they love torturing the fans.” The writers’ sense of mischief wasn’t always centered on torturing fans, though—more often it was about writing funny or absurd content into the game. Gaider felt that BioWare’s other flagship series, Mass Effect, always took itself a little too seriously. (He’s also, rightfully, a little smug about the fact that Dragon Age historically sold better than Mass Effect did.) The Dragon Age writers, on the other hand, liked to lightly poke fun at their world and characters, often through the mouthpiece of the characters themselves—although they were careful not to slip into the territory of parody or breaking the fourth wall. “You need to balance the grimdark with the light,” Gaider told me. “I think the dark works better when it exists in contrast to light. So you need moments of levity and humor.” Sure, other fantasy RPGs might include a dark plot about sex workers and demonic possession, but how many would lighten the mood mid-quest by having one of your party members muse aloud, “Apostate prostitutes? …Apostitutes!” (And good luck entering any brothel in a Dragon Age game without someone in the party innocently asking whether they serve broth.) --- *DA2*’s prologue, as told by Varric, follows Hawke and their family as they flee the destruction of their hometown, Lothering, by the darkspawn invasion—an incident which returning Dragon Age players would recall taking place during *Origins*. Throughout the prologue, the Hawke family encounters two other refugees: Aveline, a tough warrior who will become one of Hawke’s companions, and Aveline’s husband Wesley, who dies of darkspawn-inflicted injuries soon after his introduction. The player also learns that Hawke’s father was a mage who died some years ago. And in a shocking moment, a fatal encounter with an ogre results in the death of one of Hawke’s younger twin siblings, either Bethany or Carver. My first time playing the game, I chose to play as a female warrior Hawke; when the ogre attacked, it was Hawke’s sister Bethany who survived. When the prologue drew to a close with Hawke’s arriving as a penniless refugee on the docks of Kirkwall, there were three other characters at her side: Hawke’s mother Leandra, her sister Bethany, and her newfound ally Aveline. Carver, Wesley, and Hawke’s father Malcolm had all died tragically on or offscreen to give the remaining characters emotional drive. Four exhausted, tough women were alive; three men had been fridged, a term popularized by comic book writer Gail Simone to refer to storytelling in which a character is killed off to serve as motivation for another character—typically a woman dying to motivate a male hero. And I wasn’t even to Act I. In 2015, I’d never played a video game opening so full of interesting women. To be honest, I haven’t played anything like it since. I wasn’t sure what this game was, or why it was making such daring narrative moves. But I do remember thinking, *Whoa. This is different. This is going to be interesting.* --- It is, of course, entirely possible to play *Dragon Age II*’s prologue and have a completely different experience from mine. The player may choose to play as male Hawke, for example, or may arrive in Kirkwall with Carver at their side instead of Bethany. My starting party was a happy accident of design. But it’s the sort of happy accident that was more likely to happen in a Dragon Age game than anywhere else at BioWare, or indeed anywhere else in the games industry, for one simple reason: The writing team wasn’t entirely straight white men. “Some of the other teams call us ‘Estrogen Brigade,’” Gaider said in a 2012 interview, simply because the five-person writing team was the only department that wasn’t majority male. While the term wasn’t intended to be flattering, Gaider felt gender diversity was “totally the best thing” as it brought a mix of perspectives that were sorely missed elsewhere. This lack of gender diversity was sometimes made glaringly apparent in ridiculous ways, such as on one occasion when the all-male all-straight art team rounded up all the women on the writing staff, along with Gaider as the self-described “resident gay,” and proceeded to show them a series of character designs in a frustrated effort to understand what features made male characters attractive. Gaider also recalled an occasion during group writing reviews in which Hepler pointed out that some elements of a scene written by Kristjanson might come across as creepy to female players—something Gaider wasn’t initially convinced of, until the rest of the women at the table backed Hepler up. “How many times would that happen in the industry?” Gaider wondered afterward. “It was nice to have other voices at the table who could point these things out.” (Hepler recalled a later breakthrough moment when she sent a description of *DA2* DLC companion Sebastian to the art team with the descriptor “clean cut,” and the art team nailed her vision on the first try. “We were like, ‘Clean cut! That’s the magic word that make artists do handsome dudes!’”) “I’m sure there are some people, on the internet especially, who would come up and say things like ‘Dragon Age is too oriented towards women,’ or too oriented towards gays, or what have you,” Gaider said in 2012\. “And my answer to that is, ‘Thank God there’s something!’ \[…\] Dragon Age embraces more than just a hack and slash mentality \[… The game\] sees more things as important than just combat and glorifying the male power fantasy.” As Gaider rightly concludes, “There is more to fantasy than that.” --- *DA2*’s rushed development schedule placed a severe constraint on the amount of content the writers had time to create, but it also provided an unusual level of freedom in what they were allowed to create. Normally, all written content at BioWare went through a process of reviews, rewrites, and edits—sometimes as many as a dozen rounds—before even coming close to making it into the final game. But on *DA2*, there wasn’t time for that level of managerial oversight. “Early on, we had *a* review from the Mike Laidlaw or Mark Darrah level,” Gaider told me. Laidlaw and Darrah were already up to their necks supervising other work for the game, and so the writers were largely left to their own devices. “We had the very tight deadline, and so decisions were made by whoever was the most senior person in the room,” Hepler told me. “It was a big company, but it felt more like being on an indie project because the decisions were made by who showed up, and we did what we had to do to get it out the door.” “In many ways, the fact that we didn’t have time to iterate on *DA2* was both good and bad,” Gaider told me. “There were a lot of rough edges that never got smoothed out, for sure.” But not having time for second drafts meant that the writers didn’t have time to second-guess themselves, either. “There’s an element, I found,” Gaider said, “that the more time you have, the more a team will gravitate towards the middle. \[…\] We will go back and forth on ideas and get rid of the crap. But there’s also an element where we will get away from the more innovative, edgier, riskier stuff as well, because we have time to talk ourselves out of them.” “This is what I love about *DA2*,” Hepler tweeted in 2021\. “Personally, I greatly prefer something that’s rough and raw and sincere to something that’s had all the soul polished out of it. Extra time would have helped for art and levels, but it would have lost something too.” “Right?” Gaider replied. “The rawness of the writing lent a certain spark that we usually polished out.” That spark was truly unique to *DA2*, both in the Dragon Age series and for BioWare at large. “*DA2* represents the purest pipeline from the Dragon Age writers to the game,” Gaider told me. “It didn’t exist in \[*Origins*\], and certainly didn’t exist in *Inquisition*. We just didn’t have time to do the rewrites and the iteration. So there’s rough stuff in there, but it’s in many ways the clearest intention from the writers. You got to see the rawest version of our writing.” It was rushed, it was raw, but *Dragon Age II* was getting written. And it was shaping up to be a very different game from anything BioWare had done before. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-21-at-10.34.34---AM.png)](https://bossfightbooks.com/?ref=aftermath.site) Boss Fight Books, founded in Los Angeles in June 2013, publishes nonfiction documentary-style books about classic video games. Each of our books takes a critical, historical, and personal look at a single game. Some books focus on the history of the game’s creation, some focus on particular elements like level design, story, and music, some investigate the subculture that has formed around a game, and some reflect on the game's role in the author's own life. Each book is written by a different author from in or out of the video game industry. [Learn more ](https://bossfightbooks.com/?ref=aftermath.site) ### After All These Years, It’s Moon Child URL: https://aftermath.site/moon-child-team-hoi-revival-memes/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T21:36:25.000Z You likely have not played the Dutch platformer *Moon Child*. The game was developed by Team Hoi and started its life on Amiga in 1993, only to eventually end up on Windows after a troubled development and a limited release. But thanks to an excellent write-up from the blog [Games That Weren’t](https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2026/04/moon-child/?ref=aftermath.site) about the unfinished Amiga version, [as well as a post](https://bsky.app/profile/gamesthatwerent.com/post/3mj4tipxlms2a?ref=aftermath.site) featuring the main theme going viral on Bluesky, *Moon Child* has taken on a new life. This is due to the fact that the theme for the game goes crazy hard. People can’t get enough of *Moon Child*. This repaired upload by Blaze [also helped spread the game](https://bsky.app/profile/blazehedgehog.bltn.net?ref=aftermath.site). *Moon Child*’s unreleased Amiga theme is distinct from the final Windows theme, particularly when it comes to the lyrics. In particular, the lyric “you’ve got the power to be his friend” is a challenge and affirmation to the listener. The song, sung by composer Ramon Braumuller, was recorded on an [ADAT multitrack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADAT?ref=aftermath.site) and sampled by the Amiga. It is interspersed with samples and goes like this: > It’s Moon Child. > Wah-ah-wo-ho. > You’ve got the power to be his friend. > It’s Moon Child. > Wah-ah-wo-ho. > “It’s the beginning of a new and excitingly different story!” > **(This last line is a sample originally from** [***The Adventures of Superman***](https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=25814&v=hjMFdXciA8E&feature=youtu.be&ref=aftermath.site) **radio series, probably via a sample CD. The Chrono Trigger arrange CD** [***The Brink of Time***](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gcxQYPkHWO4&t=168&ref=aftermath.site) **also samples this.)** > > It’s Moon Child. > Wah-ah-wo-ho. > You’ve got the power to be his friend. (4x) > “The story…is true.” > **(This sample is** [**originally from *Dragnet***](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP2DHMILV7o&ref=aftermath.site) **\[1987\], but the sample as edited appears in** [***The Art Of Noise - Dragnet* \[Art Of Noise '88 12" Mix\]**](https://youtu.be/Pm5fmzzmuZY?si=ZyGoQDPh1--sCyVx&ref=aftermath.site)**)** *Moon Child* is having its moment in the sun now, but what led to its development is a rocky history. ### **Difficult times** *Moon Child* was the product of Dutch software developers Team Hoi. Their first outing in 1992, *Hoi*, was also a platformer, starring a little green guy named Hoi. Team Hoi had become frustrated with how their first game had turned out, in part due to how the game was handled by multiple publishers, starting with Innerprise Software. “When Hoi was about 60 percent finished, Innerprise Software asked us to send them the latest version of the game, for internal evaluation and testing purposes,” developer Metin Seven told me via email. “About three weeks later the *Hoi* version we sent to Innerprise turned out to have been leaked to the Amiga hacker Fairlight, and was rapidly being copied by Amiga users around the world.” This led the team to cancel their agreement with Innerprise and move to a developer known as [Hollyware](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroIllusions?ref=aftermath.site). “But following the release of *Hoi*, Hollyware never paid us any royalties apart from a $200 cheque ‘for the release celebration party,’” Metin told me. Unable to fight back legally, they took their lumps, only for a deception similar to the Hollyware situation to happen to them again with the release of their game *Clockwiser* and UK publisher Rasputin Software. “Both *Hoi* and *Clockwiser* were received warmly by the international game press, which made the events with the publishers even more sour.” Though it lacks the samples and the “power to be his friend,” the theme for the released Windows game is also a heater. Undeterred, Metin said, the team vowed to create a new platformer for the Amiga starring an elfin green creature with Hoi as the sidekick. By the time they had finished the game Commodore had gone bankrupt, making Amiga’s future uncertain and publishing on the platform a rocky prospect at best. Eventually they would transition the game entirely to Windows, ditching Hoi as a sidekick and focusing on Moon Child. World 4 from the OST is also a heater. Unfortunately for Team Hoi, the company they had made publishing arrangements with, Dutch multimedia company Valkieser, had made the disastrous choice to invest heavily in both hardware and software for the Phillips CD-i, one of the most infamous console bombs in gaming history. The lack of funds caused them to terminate their publishing wing and, as a result, the Windows version of *Moon Child*’s release was limited to the Netherlands. “Later, we found out that the game had lived a life of its own in the worldwide piracy circuit, and I still receive e-mails every now and then from people expressing the childhood joy *Moon Child* delivered, which is really heart-warming,” Metin told me. ## **A Second Life** Thanks to the aforementioned viral post about *Moon Child,* its unreleased theme has taken on a life of its own. The bumping track has its roots in the Commodore 64 and the demo scene. Composer Ramon originally created a music editor called SIDmon to create his earliest music. “Later, we developed a new, more capable music editor called [Digital Mugician](https://proofofconcept.nl/portfolio/mugician/?ref=aftermath.site), which was capable of adding three CPU-powered audio channels to the Amiga's four audio chip channels.” Metin said “The Moon Child Amiga demo title track was made with that.” “I started playing drums at age six and joined bands by 12\. In the 90s, my brother and I produced house music in our parents' home studio under the name 'The R,'” Ramon told me via email. “I believe the blend of those house influences with the Amiga demo scene tracker music formed the foundation for the *Moon Child* track.” > Moon Ghost > > — [LVL?KEN 💀🕘 (@ricesnot.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fppznskrsrjkwdyr2ufpcjoi?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-16T00:27:25.458Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fppznskrsrjkwdyr2ufpcjoi/post/3mjl5msonnc2r?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) I became aware of *Moon Child* as fan art and memes began to drip into my feed on the 15th of April. Edits, often by user @ricesnot.bsky.social, began to flood the timeline. Fanart from various artists built up. What was once an obscure character in a vintage Dutch Windows game was now an object of adoration. > Moon child fanart > > — [Mora (COMMS CLOSED) (@agrimmora.itch.io)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:twicfplp64o2fsggdktky4it?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-14T02:14:08.689Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:twicfplp64o2fsggdktky4it/post/3mjgcnsecuk2r?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > Moon Child amiga demo theme song vocals (extracted with the help of NostalgicPlayer) > > — [GenericSpartaRemixer (@youmg44.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wkzcpsjcxenhwnrklnaz6pzq?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-15T15:00:23.158Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wkzcpsjcxenhwnrklnaz6pzq/post/3mjk5zk4wmc2n?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-20-at-5.22.22---PM-1.png) Credit: [@Keith Stack](https://bsky.app/profile/keithstack.com/post/3mjmj4e7lwc2n?ref=aftermath.site) > what if moon child had a cool cloak or something > > — [Silvia - Comms Open (@silviafoxtris.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6skppo64l56sngdeirofhxik?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-19T11:09:26.386Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6skppo64l56sngdeirofhxik/post/3mjtsvligd22l?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > How everyone feels only finding out about Moon Child 19 years later > > — [CHAOKO (@chaokocartoons.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5yyjuguo7yrzczkhj3mjsn2j?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-15T20:10:07.654Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5yyjuguo7yrzczkhj3mjsn2j/post/3mjkpaq2d4s2w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > Your hour is near at hand You've got the power to be his friend > > — [Myooomy☆彡 (@flamingoplinko.bgay.cat)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6fqhp5dlimz7hbxn3hjzkgbe?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-16T00:14:54.716Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:6fqhp5dlimz7hbxn3hjzkgbe/post/3mjl4wgpw3k27?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > it's that easy > > — [Lina "draw my OCs" rabbitlegs (@rabbitlegs.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:gfl7sf5fvvigejevbl5yrf7s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-16T14:31:33.994Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:gfl7sf5fvvigejevbl5yrf7s/post/3mjmmsavdkk2v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > MC Moon C > > — [LVL?KEN 💀🕘 (@ricesnot.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fppznskrsrjkwdyr2ufpcjoi?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-18T17:02:13.515Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:fppznskrsrjkwdyr2ufpcjoi/post/3mjrw5il4rs26?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > This is a fact > > — [Ian (@ian.trashbin.io)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z56n5lex7s66t5ys3rgdefyh?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-16T15:17:08.264Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:z56n5lex7s66t5ys3rgdefyh/post/3mjmpdqjan22x?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/Screenshot-2026-04-20-at-5.20.08---PM.png) Credit: [@sinebadger.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/sinebadger.bsky.social/post/3mjnd25q4pc25?ref=aftermath.site) > Moon child... Woah oh oh oohh.. nugget has the power to be his friend... 🎵 > > — [Makkoii 🐝 Bee! (@makkoii.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:zk6j2j65ktjgfezzud7pcrkf?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-19T04:14:42.846Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:zk6j2j65ktjgfezzud7pcrkf/post/3mjt3pypgyc2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/image-5.png) Credit: [@tommothecabbit.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/tommothecabbit.bsky.social/post/3mjsmp3zkc22g?ref=aftermath.site) In response to this long overdue love, Metin uploaded all the source files and assets to the game [onto the Internet Archive.](https://bsky.app/profile/seven.eurosky.social/post/3mjogzvc6ec2e?ref=aftermath.site) “I almost can't express how joyful it is to witness all the love for *Moon Child* and our other games,” Metin told me “It's a wonderful, surreal, wild ride, and it pretty much makes up for the repeated bad luck we experienced during our game development years.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/Moon-Child-game-concept-sketch-by-Metin-Seven-1.png) An original sketch for Moon Child. Credit: Metin Seven Though the team had moved on from game development after a rocky run, this sudden outpouring of love feels like a kind of karmic payback. Moon Child had always been with us, a green-eared little guy lurking in the background, waiting for decades for the people to realize that they had the power to be his friend. ### Debate-Lord Anime Nippon Sangoku Is 2026’s Must-Watch Thinking Man’s Show URL: https://aftermath.site/nippon-sangoku-anime-prime-video/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T21:28:03.000Z Anime has a storied history with what I like to call “the thinking man’s shows”—cerebral dramas built on double-crosses, galaxy-brained gambits, and verbal sleight-of-hand that reward viewers paying close attention. Its hieroglyphs are carved with greats: [*Legend of the Galactic Heroes*](https://kotaku.com/legend-of-the-galactic-heroes-hidive-delisted-removed-1849180364?ref=aftermath.site), [*Code Geass*, *Death Note*](https://kotaku.com/video/gundam-witch-from-mercury-death-note-code-geass-anime-1850029871?ref=aftermath.site), [*Attack on Titan*](https://www.vice.com/en/article/everyone-loves-attack-on-titan-so-why-does-everyone-hate-attack-on-titan/?ref=aftermath.site), [*The Apothecary Diaries*](https://aftermath.site/apothecary-diaries-frog-scene/), and, most recently, [*Orb: On the Movements of the Earth*](https://gizmodo.com/netflix-orb-anime-review-madhouse-2000576670?ref=aftermath.site). Just when I resigned myself to 2026 passing without an heir worthy of that pantheon, *Nippon Sangoku* quietly released, bringing a fiery new animus to the category: debate bro energy. *Nippon Sangoku: The Three Nations of the Crimson Sun,* created by [Ikka Matsuki](https://x.com/ikka%5Fneko?ref=aftermath.site) and animated by [Studio Kafka](https://x.com/studio%5Fkafka?ref=aftermath.site), is a political drama set against a backdrop of a collapsing Japan. According to its long-winded opening narration—which, mercifully, reappears every episode to handhold viewers through the minutiae of its political hellscape—Japan is in a very “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it” point in its life. Everything that can go wrong does: political corruption, acts of God, and nuclear warfare between the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and India thrash Japan’s economy so thoroughly that the Reiwa era (contemporary Japan, circa 2019) reverts back to something resembling the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912, when Japan started flirting with interacting with the Western world). In the aftermath, Japan fractures into three warring nations, each clawing for dominance through military might and puppy guarding resources. It’s basically what Alex Garland’s A24 movie [*Civil War*](https://www.avclub.com/civil-war-movie-review-alex-garland-kirsten-dunst-1851338165?ref=aftermath.site) was reaching for tonally if the film hadn’t been trying to be white folks’ [*City of God*](https://www.avclub.com/balls-up-review?ref=aftermath.site)by way of HBO’s *The Newsroom* (and [AI slop posters](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/a24-civil-war-posters-controversy-1235876340/?ref=aftermath.site)). At the center of its tale is Aoteru Misumi, a man the show delights in roasting as the most milquetoast of protagonists. He is a meek man with a basic bitch side-part that’d leave him lost in a crowd of extras, and he doesn't even have a nepo-baby pedigree to stand on. If anything, the most likable thing about him is his wife, Saki. Aoteru is also miles away from the kind of person you’d see at the front lines of Japan’s [woke 2](https://aftermath.site/woke-2-wokeness-black-lives-matter-activism/) like his street-smart wife, who also can’t help but voice her polite disappointment at how he keeps his gifts tucked away, treating them as passive talents rather than tools to get active with instilling real change in Japan. And Saki’s right, because what Aoteru does have is vital to her dreams of a restored Japan. Beneath all his self-effacing caution is a librarian with an historian’s grasp of humanity’s cycles of folly, ego, delusion, and breakthroughs. It’s also a mind, tragically, that’s smarter than he ever lets the world see, satisfied with living peacefully under the heel of Japan on the verge of a dictatorship than rock the boat with ideas of unification attained without force. Translation: Aoteru is your everyday moderate liberal man. That is, until tragedy strikes, a little too close to home, and he finally gets active as a legendary military strategist who aims to unify Japan on the strength of his sharp insight and persuasive gift of gab. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-13---22---.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-17---53---.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-14---48---.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-13---37---.jpg) Studio Kafka / Prime Video Admittedly, an anime about a man going full [Hasan Piker](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/hasan-piker-twitch-politics-kat-abughazaleh/), verbally [dismantling his opposition’s interlocutors](https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/levi-winslow/streamer-hasan-hasanabi-piker-twitchcon-debatelords?ref=aftermath.site), sounds wonderfully boring on paper in the big 2026\. We’re living in [un-parody-able times](https://www.tiktok.com/@polygon/video/7629140026047221006?is%5Ffrom%5Fwebapp=1&sender%5Fdevice=pc&ref=aftermath.site), after all. Yet, even in its early episodes, *Nippon Sangoku h*as already become a standout for me. A huge part of that is because the show feels spiritually like *Golden Kamuy,* with an ensemble of larger-than-life weirdos whose unserious hijinks make you forget that *Nippon Sangoku* is, at its core, a political drama. And at the heart of that drama is the ideological clash between Aoteru and his sardonic, Sasuke-esque rival, Yoshitsune, whose “might is right” approach to unification is the polar opposite of Aoteru’s rhetoric-driven idealism. ![Yoshitsune covering Aoteru's mouth. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-9---41---.jpg) Studio Kafka / Prime Video Another huge reason I’m enamored with *Nippon Sangoku* is how beautifully it’s animated. Without fail, the show turns what could’ve been a monotonous string of “debate‑bro destroys his ops” moments that’d [win the internet on LiveStreamFails](https://kotaku.com/inside-livestreamfail-the-controversial-forum-that-fue-1830745674?ref=aftermath.site) into something genuinely fascinating. And even as someone with only a [college‑level grasp of Shōwa‑era history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirohito%5Fand%5Fthe%5FMaking%5Fof%5FModern%5FJapan?ref=aftermath.site), I never felt lost in the political minutiae, proper‑noun avalanches, or policy deep‑cuts Aoteru fires off. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-9---48---.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-17---12---.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-13---58---.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-13---44---.jpg) Studio Kafka / Prime Video That’s thanks to the show’s clarity and expressive visual storytelling, which uses clever cues, asides, and metaphors to translate its double‑entendre political speak into something legible and lively. It eases viewers into its heady themes so gracefully that what could’ve played like a PBS history special disguised as anime instead becomes one of the most enthralling watches in an already packed season. It's the most fun I’ve had with an anime, much less a show, since Hulu’s [*Shōgun*](https://aftermath.site/shogun-fx-hiroyuki-sanada/). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-23---01---.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-22---00---.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-20---12---.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/VS--Amazon-NIPPONSANGOKUTheThreeNationsoftheCrimsonSun-10---21---.jpg) Studio Kafka / Prime Video Kafka really did their big one here. Given the production house’s work on [*The Ancient* *Magus’ Bride*](https://butwhytho.net/2023/04/review-ancient-magus-bride-season-2-episode-1-live-and-let-live-ii/?ref=aftermath.site), one of [Tatsuki Fujimoto’s stronger *17-26*](https://fujimototatsuki17-26.com/story/girl/?ref=aftermath.site) one-shot anthology stories, and [the third *Mononoke* film (not Studio Ghibli)](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2026-04-09/3rd-mononoke-film-2nd-trailer-reveals-aina-the-end-theme-song-more-cast/.236241?ref=aftermath.site), *Nippon Sangoku* feels like a bravura showcase of the studio’s strengths. In one moment, the anime is a stirring epic with the fate of an entire nation at stake; in the next, it’s the most catch-you-off-guard funny misadventure committed to animation. All the while, it’s punctuated by an “oh shit” cliffhanger that’ll have your brain buzzing as the full tapestry of its dense world continues to take shape. > 「日本三國」の2話観た。やっぱおもろいやんか！ごっつう、おもろいわな！大当たりや。なんと福山潤さん、山路和弘さんも出てきたやん。いやあ、嬉しいわ。なんやこのアニメ、観てるとなんでか“関西弁”になってしまう。また観るわ🗾 [pic.twitter.com/2m2EuznSx7](https://t.co/2m2EuznSx7?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 小島秀夫 (@Kojima\_Hideo) [April 14, 2026](https://twitter.com/Kojima%5FHideo/status/2044015409721151709?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) The only downside is that *Nippon Sangoku* is a Prime Video exclusive show—[a streaming platform where anime go to die](https://gizmodo.com/prime-video-sucks-for-anime-science-saru-the-ghost-in-the-shell-exclusive-streaming-2000723977?ref=aftermath.site) in the algorithmic void without a peep of social media promotion. But with any luck, that obscurity, paired with it being one of the [rare anime Hideo Kojima has spotlighted twice](https://x.com/Kojima%5FHideo/status/2044015409721151709?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) on his mostly Letterboxd-coded social media profiles, gives *Nippon Sangoku* the air of a hidden gem. And in its early goings, it absolutely earns that status. Here’s hoping the show continues sharpening itself into a true thinking-man’s anime with teeth that gnash deeper with every new episode. ### The Pitt Is 'Competence Porn' In More Ways Than One URL: https://aftermath.site/the-pitt-hbo-competence/ Last updated: 2026-04-21T19:49:33.000Z This weekend I finally got around to watching HBO’s medical drama *The Pitt*, a show everyone’s been raving about but which I avoided because I’m a squeamish baby. I’ve been enjoying it as long as I close my eyes for most of the medical stuff, binging a season and a half even though I meant not to. A quote from an interview with star Noah Wyle made the rounds when its second season ended recently, in which he calls the show “[competence porn](https://www.gq.com/story/noah-wyle-gq-hype?ref=aftermath.site),” and I think that’s true not just as a workplace drama, but as a fantasy of a world where people get adequate medical care. As everyone but me probably knows, *The Pitt* follows a single workday of the doctors, nurses, and medical students at a Pittsburgh emergency room. There’s interpersonal dramas big and small, and both seasons have featured some major disruption amidst the usual chaos. Each episode is one hour of the day, a really clever structure that allows for both continuity and the “patient of the week” format common in other medical shows. Most of what goes on in *The Pitt* is routine, in the unique way of emergency rooms: not necessarily rare diseases or medical mysteries, but regular people having the worst day of their lives, as we see the staff pivot from crisis to crisis with the dedication and professionalism that’s part of the show’s draw. Wyle told [*GQ*](https://www.gq.com/story/noah-wyle-gq-hype?ref=aftermath.site)that the show > became almost a beacon of hope and humanity in an alternative universe. But in the midst of that, fifth point—this is essentially [competence porn](https://www.gq.com/story/welcome-back-to-the-pitt-americas-bastion-of-medical-competence?ref=aftermath.site). You’re watching really smart, dedicated people do what only they know how to do at a level that you don’t know how to do it, and you’re so fucking glad that they’re there doing it, and compartmentalizing their own stuff to put your broken pieces back together. You’re so reassured by knowing that there are people out there that laugh and joke and have the ability to lock in like that. This definitely struck me watching the show, on two levels. One is just watching very good actors be very good at pretending to be people who are [very good at their jobs](https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/jan/13/competency-porn-escapism-watching-capable-person-tv?ref=aftermath.site). The show is full of medical jargon that they deliver believably, and when you enter into the show’s fiction, the characters themselves move calmly through a day that would break the rest of us. A motorcycle accident or drug overdose might be out of the ordinary to the person experiencing it, but to The Pitt’s staff, it’s just another day at work. This doesn’t mean they aren’t affected by it all, but they remain committed to doing their jobs skillfully and with attention. It’s aspirational as a workplace drama, whatever field you’re in: being a professional surrounded by other professionals, doing something that matters with other people who care about it as much as you do and who can do it at a high level. The show’s hospital is a teaching hospital, and throughout its drama we see its experienced doctors prioritizing mentoring the next generation. In our age of tenuous employment and AI boosters trying to deskill us all to line their own pockets (something *The Pitt*’s second season takes on), I found it affecting to imagine there could be such a workplace. The medical field is, of course, [particular](https://www.newyorker.com/newsletter/the-daily/why-doctors-love-the-pitt?ref=aftermath.site) when it comes to skill in a way other fields aren’t, but the show’s emphasis on teamwork and professionalism felt like something that’s rapidly being destroyed in many workplaces in favor of cost-cutting and short-term efficiencies. This is also true in *The Pitt*, as we see its characters chafe against tone-deaf directives from on high, but at least from what I’ve watched so far, it feels like it never deeply threatens the core integrity of the workplace in the way that many of us have seen our own workplaces eroded. The second thing that struck me about *The Pitt*’s competence is specific to the show as a medical drama: the fantasy, for many of us, of adequate medical care. The show doesn’t shy away from the ugly realities of emergency rooms–long wait times, understaffing, the financial burden of accessing care–but it also shows doctors taking patients seriously and endeavoring to help them despite these challenges, and even when those patients are rude or spout medical misinformation. It makes the emergency room seem like a place you could go to get help and actually receive it, even if it isn’t the most pleasant experience. ***Content note: discussions of negative medical experiences follow.*** As a trans person and someone who’s sought care while on public insurance, I haven’t had many positive medical experiences. I have no doubt most doctors and nurses are good, skilled people who try to do their job well, and I’ve always tried to be polite and compassionate when I’ve had to interact with them even when I’m frustrated or afraid, but most of my experiences, especially in emergency rooms, have been pretty upsetting. As a result, I’ve avoided seeking medical care when I’ve needed it, especially if I don’t know how a place might be about me being trans, or I’ve hidden my trans status from providers until it became unavoidable. *The Pitt*’s doctors begin by asking patients what medications they’re on, a routine question, and it reminded me how often I don’t tell doctors that I’m on testosterone, which I always know is a bad idea as I’m doing it. The one time I *did* tell an ER doctor about being on T, we had a clumsy, upsetting conversation in which they tried to understand why, during which at some point I painstakingly said “I used to be a girl, but now I’m a boy, because of the testosterone.” They looked thoughtful for a while before asking “so it’s to develop your male sex organs?” and I said “yes” despite the absurdity of the question, simply to end the interaction and try to get what I’d actually gone to the ER for. (I like to tell this story because it's very funny to me now; it was a lesser kind of funny at the time, and I’d like to hope that ER's trans knowledge has improved since then.) Even the places from which I regularly seek medical care often feel inadequate, not always able to handle my medical needs beyond hormones or sexual health. A long time ago now, a medical [misdiagnosis](https://x.com/rcmacleod/status/1544821407862984705?ref=aftermath.site) thoroughly disrupted my life, as I and various providers spent a year convinced I had a rare, serious illness that eventually turned out to be a common skin condition, overlooked as a possibility in part because I’m trans. (This experience is where I learned the medical adage about [looking for horses before zebras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra%5F%28medicine%29?ref=aftermath.site), which I nodded knowingly about when characters mentioned it in *The Pitt*.) This experience has made me even more unwilling to see doctors, a habit I know I need to work harder to overcome as I age. While despite the times we live in I don’t worry too much about my access to hormones, I do worry a lot about how I’ll receive care for other medical issues, and I worry how I’ll afford additional care if I need it now that so many of the systems that used to help me have been dismantled. In my emergency room experiences, the things I always remember are brief moments of kindness from nurses who saw me struggling and tried to help me, offering me food or helping me get a room after hours spent waiting. It felt like these nurses came out of nowhere and then I never saw them again, and in my memory they alighted to Earth like angels. *The Pitt* doesn’t spend as much time on its nurses as its doctors, but it does show the important and often overlooked role they play. I found it moving to see the continuity in their days–that they are real people with real workdays and not just people it felt like I imagined in my crises. Watching *The Pitt* gave me a more positive view of the emergency room than I have from my lived experiences. This feels like an important project the show is on in the aftermath of COVID, but it also has value for those of us who routinely have bad experiences with medical care for various reasons. While a provider's office staffed entirely by [hot doctors](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tv/article/he-was-a-model-and-a-y2k-rock-star-then-he-became-a-nurse--and-started-playing-one-on-the-pitt-120040940.html?ref=aftermath.site) might be an unattainable fantasy, and a workplace that actually cares about teaching new employees might be even more so, a world where everyone can get competent, high-level care shouldn't be. [The Pitt Isn’t Just Another Anxiety-Inducing Medical Drama - AftermathIn between instilling an appreciation for medical personnel, it’ll have you fujoshiing out![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/the-pitt-shawn-hatosy-noah-wyle-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/the-pitt-hbo/) ### As Roblox's Safety And Legal Woes Continue, Company Settles For $10 Million With Nevada URL: https://aftermath.site/robox-safety-settlement-lawsuit-privacy-predator/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T23:57:59.000Z Roblox will pay more than $10 million to Nevada in what Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford called a "first-of-its-kind agreement" with the company. Ford approached Roblox with the intent to sue, and an agreement—[which has since been codified in court](https://ag.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/agnvgov/Content/News/PR/PR%5FDocs/2026/2026%200415%20Roblox%20-%20CJ.pdf?ref=aftermath.site)—was reached before a lawsuit was filed. Roblox will pay $10 million "to be used to encourage children to engage in non-digital programs," [according to a news release](https://ag.nv.gov/News/PR/2026/Attorney%5FGeneral%5FFord%5FAnnounces%5FLegal%5FAgreement%5Fwith%5FRoblox/?ref=aftermath.site) published Wednesday. Roblox also promised to spend $1 million over two years on "an awareness campaign intended to educate minor users and adults about online safety" and $1.5 million on a "law enforcement liaison" role that'll let police departments better communicate with the company. The announcement of Nevada's settlement comes as Roblox faces litigation from [several other states](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/roblox-must-face-false-statement-claim-in-texas-trafficking-suit?ref=aftermath.site) [and hundreds of parents](https://aftermath.site/roblox-child-exploitation-lawsuits-consolidation/). New safety programs were announced days ahead of the settlement, as well. “The agreement we have announced today will protect Nevada’s children from would-be predators in virtual spaces,” Ford said. “The injunctive relief that Roblox has agreed to will give parents the tools they need to protect their children on the platform; institute default protections to block predators from engaging with children; and ensure that messages involving minors are not encrypted." Attorney generals in Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Florida all sued Roblox over its role in the exploitation of children on the platform. Los Angeles County, too, [has sued Roblox](https://lacounty.gov/2026/02/19/la-county-sues-roblox-for-unfair-and-deceptive-business-practices-that-endanger-and-exploit-children/?ref=aftermath.site). Investigations into the platform are also underway in other states. All of these cases are still pending in various courts. ## **A ‘Predator Problem’ and safety updates** Roblox has made consistent updates while it manages these lawsuits and user base that seems to endlessly grow. Its most robust safety updates came [after a 2024 Bloomberg report investigating Roblox's "predator problem" was published](https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-roblox-pedophile-problem/?ref=aftermath.site); several trust and safety workers at Roblox told Bloomberg that growth was prioritized over safety at that time. Roblox representatives denied that the platform has a systemic problem.Months after Bloomberg's report, Roblox announced "major updates" to its safety and parental controls. "Safety is and always has been foundational to everything we do at Roblox," [chief safety officer Matt Kaufman said in a blog post published in November 2024](https://about.roblox.com/newsroom/2024/11/major-updates-to-our-safety-systems-and-parental-controls?ref=aftermath.site). This signaled somewhat of a strategy shift for Roblox, at least on the user-facing side: safety measures designed not only to catch predators in the act, but to prevent predators from reaching kids at all. Those sorts of controls were largely for parents to choose what sort of access their kids have on Roblox. Parents can monitor screen time and friends, or limit chat functionality. There are also content labels that help parents decide what's acceptable for their kids. In 2025, Roblox added age checks [using facial estimation technology](https://about.roblox.com/newsroom/2025/11/roblox-requires-age-checks-limits-minor-and-adult-chat?ref=aftermath.site). Players scan their faces in the app and are matched into age-based groupings by their determined age. Kids under 9 are grouped together, then 9 to 12, 13 to 15, and so on. [There's a way to add people as trusted friends, ](https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/37725513985812-Unlocking-trusted-friends?ref=aftermath.site)which bypasses those groupings. Roblox started implementing this globally in January. In 2026, Roblox announced it would start "proactively" seeking out people violating avatar rules. Previously, this was identified, [Roblox said in a blog post](https://about.roblox.com/newsroom/2026/01/safety-snapshot-avatar-moderation?ref=aftermath.site), through user reports. Now, Roblox uses some mystery tech to scan avatars when they're changed, and reset people who violate policies. Roblox posited this as a way to prevent people from putting together avatar pieces that add up to something inappropriate, but it's likely a response to the uptick in avatars referencing controversial real-life events, [like protests and shootings](https://aftermath.site/roblox-charlie-kirk-recreations/). Another "proactive" approach is to chat; [Roblox said earlier this year](https://about.roblox.com/newsroom/2026/03/rethinking-chat-for-fun-gameplay-civility?ref=aftermath.site) it now "leverages AI" to "automatically rephrase messages, starting with profanity." [A parent council](https://about.roblox.com/newsroom/2026/02/roblox-parent-council-parent-champions?ref=aftermath.site) was spun up as a way to get feedback from parents. The company hired lawyer and online safety expert Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov, formerly of The LEGO Group, as the head of parental advocacy. This week's expansion of the safety features is, essentially, repackaging a lot of these systems into age-based accounts—effectively breaking up Roblox users into clearly defined age groups. It's almost like three different versions of Roblox. Roblox Kids is for children ages 5 to 8, Roblox Select for 9 to 15, and regular Roblox for everyone over 16\. Roblox announced the new system this week, but it'll roll out in June. "This update will bring age checks, account-level defaults, content ratings, ongoing moderation, and expanded parental controls together into a unified framework for younger users," [Roblox CEO David Bascucki said in a blog post.](https://about.roblox.com/newsroom/2026/04/introducing-roblox-kids-and-select-accounts?ref=aftermath.site) "Based on our selection criteria, we believe age-checked users under 16 will have access to the vast majority of their favorite games at launch. Age-checked users 16 and older will not see any change to their Roblox experience." Roblox Kids, naturally, is the most restricted of the three. Users will be automatically tossed into this bucket determined through an age check or a parent, same for the other two options. Content is restricted, and chat for Roblox Kids is entirely disabled by default. Kids will automatically transition into different accounts as they age. One problem that persists is that players don't need an email address or phone number to sign up for Roblox. Just basic information like a username and password. "We’re trying to balance the privacy concerns of users and families with trying to wall things down a little bit more," [Milovidov told Vulture earlier this year](https://www.vulture.com/article/roblox-kids-safety-head-of-parental-advocacy-interview.html?ref=aftermath.site). "It’s a challenge." Age verification is a way to potentially keep predators away from children on the platform, but [people are already looking for ways around it](https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1rl1i5r/how%5Fcan%5Fi%5Fbypass%5Fthe%5Fage%5Fverification/?ref=aftermath.site), be it from tricking the system or buying a new, already authenticated account. New lawsuits against Roblox, regarding the exploitation of children, are regularly filed in U.S. courts, [while predators continue to be caught using the platform to reach children](https://news.sky.com/story/man-jailed-after-grooming-14-year-old-girl-on-roblox-gaming-app-13506074?ref=aftermath.site). In February, [two girls were rescued](https://abcnews.com/GMA/News/siblings-rescued-after-alleged-kidnapping-19-year-met/story?id=129794514&ref=aftermath.site) after being kidnapped by a man they allegedly met on Roblox. ### The Short Game Dilemma URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-dosa-divas-short-game-interview/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T20:09:55.000Z Unless you are a child, you probably don’t have hundreds of hours to comfortably invest in a game. That time, unfortunately, must be spent on work or curling up in a ditch and dying after work. This in mind, many yearn for games with a little less flab—something lean and mean that gets straight to the point. But games cost money, and in case you haven’t noticed, there isn’t exactly a ton of that going around these days. Thus, a dilemma: Do you buy a handful of shorter games, which you can experience in full, even though the cost might add up, or do you try to maximize bang for your buck with one? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we talk about that. This time around, we’re joined by Chandana Ekanayake, director of [*Dosa Divas*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2950710/Dosa%5FDivas/?ref=aftermath.site), a new turn-based RPG [about cooking, culture, and reconciling with loved ones](https://aftermath.site/dosa-divas-outerloop-outersloth-indian-food-capitalism/). Also, mechs. We discuss the game’s inspirations, as well as the way food and other elements of culture are often stripped of their original context and commodified—which allows for the dehumanization of the very people who made the food in the first place. We also talk about what it takes for a small studio to keep the lights on as the video game industry sinks deeper and deeper into the swamps of tumult and how that experience—including, unfortunately, layoffs—surfaces in *Dosa Divas* as a theme. Lastly, we share our favorite dishes to serve friends and say what everyone else is thinking: The Pope was cooler before he went corporate. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that we can go in and remove all the annoying parts from long games, thereby rendering them short. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Chandana:** We’re just competing against everything else—from social media to Netflix to streaming to whatever. There’s only so much time people have. **Nathan:** With a game like *Dosa Divas*, how do you make that argument to people—that this is the thing you should be doing, over all those other things? **Chandana:** We purposefully make short games. One of the reasons we’re making a *Thirsty Suitors* or a *Dosa Divas* is, I’ve never finished a *Persona* game. And I know they’re great, and I’ve tried, but 100 hours is not typically something I invest in a game. *Elden Ring* is a rare exception. I think I put 150 hours into it, because I was obsessed with that game nonstop for two months. **Gita:** Yeah, it got its hooks into me as well, and I played that game for, like, two months. But not many games are as sticky in my brain as that one. Most of the time when I try a new game, I give it two days, and if you can’t latch onto me, it’s very easy for me to \[move on and\] pick up another game. I feel this way about books, too. The beginning of a game is so much fun, when you’re just discovering things. Everything is new, and the systems haven’t fully revealed themselves to you. You’re really excited for the possibilities. And then you might get to a place where it’s like, oh, these are the limits of what this game is going to be. **Nathan:** Isn’t there a stat that’s, like, 95 percent of players don’t finish games or something? \[[Turns out, it’s 90](https://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/08/17/finishing.videogames.snow/index.html?ref=aftermath.site)\]. **Chandana:** I’m sure that’s true, because it’s probably what my Steam library looks like. I’m ADHD brained, so I get scattered. I forget the show I started that I’m supposed to be watching or the game I started. I like short experiences, so I think for us, we have a free demo on Steam. And we’re like “Hey, if you like this first hour and a half, \[you’ll probably like the rest\].” And you can continue from that save file onto the full game. We hope people finish it, but we also understand how time is the constraint. Also, things are expensive. There are a lot of free things out there that can take up your time. **Nathan:** It’s interesting to see, because I think that a lot of people say they want shorter games, but then they are met with the fact that games cost money, and they’re like “I want to get the maximum amount of bang for my buck, so maybe I’m gonna save my money for something bigger because I’m worried that I’m not gonna have money in the future to spend on things like this.” It’s difficult, because there are so many great games I haven’t finished, and every time somebody says “This game lasts 10-12 or 10-15 hours,” I’m like “Thank god! The sweet spot.” Something *Resident Evil 4*\-length, at maximum. I wish that the world more catered to that, because I think that we would all be a little happier and saner if we weren’t making these decisions of “OK, am I gonna buy a shorter, smaller, more compact experience or a game that I need to play 100 hours of to justify the fact that I spent money on it?” **Chandana:** Right.I think buying anything in general is emotional. If you get excited enough or enough of your friends are playing something, you don’t really think about the cost. You’re like “Oh, they’re playing it, and I just want to get it.” This happens to me with every *GTA*. I’m like “Fuck *GTA*. It’s just gonna be another one of these.” But then there’s so much coverage and share of experience that I feel like I’m missing out. So people complain about price, but I think that if there’s emotional hooks—or enough of your peer group or friend group is playing it—you don’t really think about the price so much. ## Recommended [Dosa Divas Makes Me HungryHungry for stories about how culture can be commodified, for more perspectives on the diaspora, and yes, for dosa too.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathGita Jackson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ss_1d5ca668f0c2dfcb2844bb8b487edff96899d1e6.1920x1080.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/dosa-divas-outerloop-outersloth-indian-food-capitalism/) ### After 20 Years, Influential Game Jam Ludum Dare Will Wind Down URL: https://aftermath.site/after-20-years-influential-game-jam-ludum-dare-will-wind-down/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T19:47:03.000Z Ludum Dare, the long-running game jam that requires participants to create a video game in just a matter of days, will shut down in 2028, according to organizer Mike Kasprzak. Kasprzak [posted to the Ludum Dare website](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/$424396/ludum-dare-59-lives-me-too-countdown-to-64?ref=aftermath.site) last week that he'll run six more events, extending the game jam's schedule until 2028\. Some past participants and community members aren’t happy about how this influential game jam is drawing to a close. Ludum Dare has been running in some form for the past 20 years. It's where the ideas and framework for plenty of successful, award-winning games started, games like [*Inscryption*](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/how-game-jam-sacrifices-became-inscryption?ref=aftermath.site), [*Mini Metro*](https://www.superjumpmagazine.com/from-game-jam-idea-to-mobile-classic/?ref=aftermath.site), [*Dorfromantik*](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/dorfromantik?ref=aftermath.site), [*Hollow Knight*](https://gameinformer.com/2018/10/15/the-making-of-hollow-knight?ref=aftermath.site), and [*Loop Hero*](https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-the-loop-hero-devs-pitched-a-hit-game-thats-impossible-to-describe/?ref=aftermath.site). Ludum Dare began simply as a forum, and a game jam spun out of it. The first event was held in 2002 with a small group of game developers. It grew from there, from a 24 hour event into a 48 hour event, and has operated free of charge since then. Kasprzak takes donations for working on the event. Over the years, a system grew out of the event—participants document the process, publish their game on the Ludum Dare site, and people play and vote on other games submitted to determine a winner. Every year, there's a theme, voted on by participants: stuff like growth, minimalism, islands, or tiny creators. At the last several events, there were at least 1,000 games submitted—a big jump from the original 18 that participated at the first event in 2002. Acknowledging the legacy and importance of the event to its community, Kasprzak encouraged participants to start up something new—just don't call it Ludum Dare. "I want our legacy to go on, but this name (this era) should end," he wrote. He said he might run some extra or throwback events; "Ludum Dare will return 'as needed,'" Kasprzak wrote. The community, as such, feels quite passionate at the event and its future and legacy. On Thursday, a community member, Sheepolution, [published his own blog post](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/$425291/$425292?ref=aftermath.site) about the future of the gam jam, calling Kasprzak's definition of the future for Ludum Dare "vague." It makes it hard, Sheepolution argued, to truly set up a "new" Ludum Dare or figure out its future without clear expectations around the last Ludum Dare event and when a new figure should start over. Without that, he said, the community is at risk of fracture—people splitting off into different groups. "So when it comes to building a better Ludum Dare, the website is not the problem," Sheepolution wrote. "If not Down2Jam, there exist a ton of other game jams for people to migrate to. But all those game jams, any 'better Ludum Dare' that anyone might build, miss one important thing: they are not Ludum Dare." He continued: "To me, and many others, Ludum Dare is still the game jam, being one of the first big game jams, starting all the way in 2002\. I don’t believe any new game jam could take over that title, no matter how well they replicate the original. The continuation of legacy will be broken, and Ludum Dare will be no more." Aftermath has reached out to Kasprzak for comment. Since Kasprzak published his blog post last week, there's been a lot of discussion about the game jam and its legacy. There is criticism of Kasprzak's handling of the wind down, to be sure, but there's also a lot of gratitude and respect. The community, though there are three years left of the game jam before it is slated to end, are sad to see such an important game developer community pillar shut down. They are, too, still preparing for the next game jam, which begins this weekend. Community voting, as always, happens just before the game jam is scheduled to begin. They're at the final vote, in which the community will cull down a list of 16 themes to one. Finalists include “parasite,” “side effects,” “merge,” and “wrong tool for the job.” The theme will be chosen just before the game jam begins. Meanwhile, other game jams are rallying to take up the Ludum Dare mantle. One such game is [Down2Jam](https://d2jam.com/?ref=aftermath.site), a "community-cetenred game jam" that takes place over three days. It was spun up over the past few years, and the next game jam is scheduled for September. Other popular game jams include the Global Game Jam, Nordic Game Jam, and Train Jam. ### That's Not What Unc Means URL: https://aftermath.site/unc-aave-african-american-vernacular-english-slang-gen-z/ Last updated: 2026-04-17T22:17:12.000Z “Unc” is, apparently, the latest gamer term or gen Z slang to enter our common parlance. Articles have argued it originated recently, from young people, who use it as an insult to old people. Except that’s not what unc means, and that’s not where it came from. Unc, short for uncle (though it’s also been argued, incorrectly, that it’s a shortening of “[uncool](https://www.instagram.com/p/DRnXHS8lZ9a/?ref=aftermath.site)”), can sometimes be used for gentle ribbing, but fundamentally it’s a term of respect. It’s not a term you bestow upon yourself, but instead a natural consequence of getting older and still showing up tell the youngbloods what’s up. You wanna know who’s really unc? Denzel Washington. That’s not because Denzel is uncool or out of touch, but because he has had a long and illustrious enough career to earn the respect of the younger generation. The old black man who used to run a record shop that closed during COVID where I picked up a copy of the album *The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads* is unc to me. My dad, the kind of guy who went down to our local college campus to give advice to students in the encampment for Palestine, is unc. The nice older man who sits on a folding chair outside of his apartment and sometimes asks me to grab him a water bottle from the bodega is unc. I love that guy. Evan Narcisse is unc, and not just because he insists on wearing salmon-colored pants, but because he’s acted as a mentor to me ever since I started working at Kotaku, and I’d never pass up a chance to playfully razz him a little bit. You’d never know the meaning of unc or its origins in black culture if you looked to mainstream media, and sometimes even independent media. [The Guardian attributes this slang to “gen alpha”](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jan/12/the-rise-of-unc-is-this-gen-alphas-way-of-saying-ok-boomer?ref=aftermath.site) and cites examples such as people calling Timothee Chalamet “unc” for turning 30, which isn’t really that old. This was then cited as the definition in my colleague Keza MacDonald’s article about “[unc games](https://www.theguardian.com/games/2026/apr/15/pushing-buttons-uncslop-unc-millennials-game-culture?ref=aftermath.site),” though the article has since been corrected to include a reference to the term’s origins in African American Vernacular English. This article also references an article written by my old boss at Vice’s Motherboard, Emmanuel Maiberg, who wrote about [*Marathon* as a so-called “unc game.”](https://www.404media.co/i-wish-i-didnt-care-about-marathon-player-numbers-but-i-do/?ref=aftermath.site) > These false etymologies get reinforced through incurious reporting. “As you probably know, unc, short for uncle, is a way to jokingly refer to old, potentially out of touch people,” Maiberg writes. “As far as I can tell, it entered the video game discourse in the form of [this meme](https://x.com/de3dsoul/status/2034661177653923848?ref=404media.co) in which a soyfaced unc excitedly points at the hall of fame of so-called ‘unc slop,’ or, in other words, games that old people say are very good.” Though I love the writing of both MacDonald and Maiberg, they are both doing something that I have observed in the online fandom for video games for some time. Black people who play video games talk about the games in the terms that they are familiar with, then other, non-black people who play games pick up these terms and run with them. Suddenly, these slang terms become “gamer slang” rather than African American Vernacular English, and these false etymologies get reinforced through incurious reporting. It isn’t that MacDonald or Maiberg themselves are the appropriaters. In fact, it’s hard to blame them for not knowing the origins of a slang term that has been so thoroughly appropriated already. But this is a cycle I have watched for a long time, and reporters writing about slang terms black people have used for decades as fresh and new is the end result of that cycle. They get to be discoverers and explainers of something that has already been discovered and explained. More broadly, I’ve also seen this happen to words and phrases like “chopped,” “clocked it,” “the tea,” “no cap,” and “it’s giving.” All of these are slang terms that originate from African American Vernacular English—“clocked it,” “the tea” and “it’s giving” come from black queer culture in specific—but have [now been categorized as “gen Z slang.”](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/style/chopped-slang-gen-alpha.html?ref=aftermath.site) I have heard some people start to refer to the habitual be, as in “it really do be like that,” as a “meme” and it makes me want to tear my fucking hair out. We been saying that! That one’s ours! > Non-black people want to take everything from us except the weight of our history. Appropriation of black culture is nothing new to the internet or the world. When TikTok dances were all the rage, Taylor Lorenz tracked down the originator of the popular “renegade dance,” [a black teenage girl](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/style/the-original-renegade.html?ref=aftermath.site) who had been all but forgotten as original choreographer of the short routine. [The teenage girl who originated the phrase “on fleek”](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/on-fleek-inventor-kayla-newman-aka-peaches-monroe-on-her-beauty-line?ref=aftermath.site) was also almost immediately erased as the term gained popularity as slang. Even farther back than that, I remember my African American Studies professor in college showing us a book cover for a book of essays on this very topic that he felt was illustrative of the way that black culture is extracted from our communities and then commodified: On it was a photograph of a white teenage boy wearing baggy jeans with his boxers showing, which was a style that was popularized in 90s hip hop culture. The title of the book is [*Everything But The Burden*](https://www.amazon.com/Everything-But-Burden-People-Culture/dp/076791497X?ref=aftermath.site), as in, non-black people want to take everything from us except the weight of our history. The internet has hyper-accelerated this extractive process of appropriation. Black teenagers spend [more time on social media of all kinds than their non-black peers](https://jbhe.com/2026/01/research-shows-black-teens-use-social-media-more-than-their-peers/?ref=aftermath.site), and thus have made black slang much more visible than ever before. It’s not a surprise that AAVE has become the language of the internet at large, but also, it’s become much harder to track the flow of language and place it in its proper context. Because of how quickly trends form and then dissolve on the internet—remember “[mob wife](https://www.reddit.com/r/femalefashionadvice/comments/1fehur5/does%5Fanyone%5Factually%5Fdress%5Fin%5Fthe%5Fmob%5Fwife/?ref=aftermath.site)” and “[office siren](https://www.vogue.com/article/office-siren-girlhood-trend-patriarchy?ref=aftermath.site)”?—slang is also picked up, stripped from context, and then discarded at much faster rates than when I was younger. It’s also much more difficult to trace the origins of these pieces of terminology, given that much of their dissemination occurs in [short form video content on a platform that actively censors its search results](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship%5Fby%5FTikTok?ref=aftermath.site). Like [Taco Bell](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/24/taco-bells-innovation-kitchen-the-front-line-in-the-stunt-food-wars?ref=aftermath.site) does with food, platforms like TikTok and Twitter are incentivized to strip context from language, because then it can be flattened into a saleable product that can be co-opted by corporations. (You can see this in the saga of West Elm Caleb, which turned from a funny story about a bunch of people dating the same guy [to a tweet from the Hellman’s Mayonnaise brand](https://www.vice.com/en/article/west-elm-caleb-is-just-some-guy/?ref=aftermath.site).) > Seeing unc stripped of its meaning actually makes me a little sad. In 2021, [Sydnee Thompson](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/sydneethompson/aave-language-appropriation?ref=aftermath.site) at BuzzFeed wrote about the tendency of the internet to extract and then decontextualize black slang, saying that media outlets often cement that decontextualization that is already extant through their reporting. “When media outlets — including BuzzFeed — and individuals who discuss memes and popular culture reproduce instances of Black American cultural appropriation, they lend them more credibility,” Thompson wrote. “The BuzzFeed Style Guide includes entries for many of these slang terms … and there exists a question of whether we should note their AAVE origins when they come up in a story. Doing so would help put concepts in their proper context and make it more difficult for culture vultures to appropriate with impunity.” At least in the cases of “on fleek” and the renegade dance, the appropriated trends were short-lived, flash in the pan ideas. But “unc” is something embedded more deeply into black culture, and seeing it stripped of its meaning actually makes me a little sad. If there’s anything insulting about being called unc, it’s the kind of insult that’s meant to bring people closer together, not reinforce an artificial boundary between generations. It’s a word you use for people who are actively in community with you, not people you are trying to shut out. I’d love to be unc someday—to be so respected by younger people that they know it won’t hurt my feelings to call me old. When I call someone unc, I don’t want anyone to think I’m insulting the generation older than me, or that becoming unc is in some way a bad thing. That’s not what it means or has meant to me, and I don’t want its meaning to be taken away. ### Northernlion Is Helping Fund And Publish A Video Game [Update] URL: https://aftermath.site/northernlion-twitch-stream-demon-bluff-funding-publishing-offbrand-ludwig-cruise/ Last updated: 2026-04-16T16:15:47.000Z Earlier this week, Ryan “Northernlion” Letourneau—aka the only big streamer who’s relatively normal—made an announcement so outside his typical wheelhouse that fans spent part of the day [thinking it was a bit](https://kotaku.com/the-six-day-1800-northernlion-supercruise-twitch-event-sounds-so-absurd-fans-didnt-believe-it-could-be-real-2000687243?ref=aftermath.site): He’s hosting a cruise. Yes, at sea, on a boat, far from the comfort of his streaming room and the headphones that, to be frank, he doesn’t look quite like himself without. But he’s also making a big move much closer to his proverbial home. \[**Update:** Minutes before this story went live, Letourneau [canceled the cruise](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2749505700?ref=aftermath.site).\] Like a handful of other streamers, Letourneau is dipping his toes into the waters of video game publishing. In conjunction with [Ludwig Ahgren’s Offbrand label](https://offbrand.gg/?ref=aftermath.site), Letourneau is funding and publishing [*Demon Bluff*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3522600/Demon%5FBluff/?ref=aftermath.site), a game he helped put on the map. 0:00 /0:47 1× *Demon Bluff* is being billed as a social deduction game in the vein of *Mafia*, *Werewolf* or *Blood On The Clocktower*, but it’s single-player instead of a socially acceptable way to practice lying to your friends. This might sound counterintuitive, but here’s how it works: > *Demon Bluff* combines the tension of social deduction games with the replay value of a single-player roguelike deckbuilder. > Your goal is to investigate a corrupted village, gather information from each character, and piece together the truth to uncover and slay every demon in hiding. > Each character is represented by a card - Villager and Outcast cards will help you track them down with information and unique abilities. > But be careful: Demons and Minions have disguised themselves as Villagers and will try to mislead you. Will you be able to see through their lies? Prior to an Offbrand-branded showcase called [Secret Sauce](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkAY-R%5Fv4sY&ref=aftermath.site) last year, which surfaced *Demon Bluff* to Letourneau, the game wasn’t doing so hot in terms of visibility. But then its fortunes turned on a dime. "Before the showcase, I had, like, 1,000 or 2,000 wishlists \[on Steam\],” *Demon Bluff* developer Piotr Kwiatkowski told Aftermath. “But after the showcase—and Northerlion played the game—I got 60,000 in a week or two. After Northernlion played the game, all the other streamers started playing." Letourneau’s format—which consists of talking over infinitely replayable games and making observations that [range from comical to weirdly profound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yutsIpLK2Rs&ref=aftermath.site)—ended up being [an ideal match for the game](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjWaR2iSzOc&ref=aftermath.site). *Demon Bluff* is inspired by *Blood On The Clocktower*, which might help explain why it struck such a chord with content creators. The massively popular game of murder, mystery, and lies has proven easy sell to YouTuber groups like No Rolls Barred, Good Time Society, and Dropout. YouTube, in fact, is how Kwiatkowski first found out about *Blood On The Clocktower* in the first place. "Four years ago, when \[*Blood On The Clocktower*\] was released, I watched a lot of YouTube content on the game,” said Kwiatkowski. “I thought it was really just brilliant design that you have a lot of characters, and the other characters have different, very unique abilities, and it's very interesting to see interactions between the characters—and then the ending of the game, the big reveal, when the game master was explaining all the different interactions that happened. Like 'Number four poisoned this guy, so he received the wrong information.' That was very cool. I had an idea like this to turn it into a single-player game since I started watching *Blood On The Clocktower*." Kwiatkowski did not, however, design *Demon Bluff* with content creators in mind. "I wasn't even thinking about content creators like that. I thought maybe content creators would play it, but that was not my main goal,” he said. "My thinking was, why nobody ever did this is because it doesn't work—because probably someone already tried it, and it doesn't work." The original plan was to develop a prototype of the game in a very short span, see if a critical mass of people liked it, and if not, move on. This rapid-fire mindset was instilled in Kwiatkowski by his background as a mobile game developer at Polish studios like Ten Square Games. "We were doing, like, one prototype or beta version—one demo—per month,” Kwiatkowski said. “And then we were testing this on the mobile market to see how all the data turns out. Then we decide if we do another game or we just keep working on this one, right? So when I started working on indie games, I had the same mentality." > "After Northernlion played, I had a flood of publishers and investors \[express interest\], and then the people I messaged started messaging me back.” Kwiatkowski decided to leave the mobile world behind and go indie in 2024, but the runway he gave himself could only last so long. "I was just funding everything, and … my funding ran out,” he said. So he did his best to contact publishers and find new sources of funding, but the initial reception was icy. Then the Secret Sauce showcase and Northerlion happened. Suddenly, the floodgates opened. "After Northernlion played, I had a flood of publishers and investors \[express interest\], and then the people I messaged started messaging me back,” said Kwiatkowski. “I had a few occasions where I messaged a publisher, and they said they weren't interested. Then after Northernlion played the game, they said 'Oh, we just didn't have the space, but we have unlocked space for the game.'" This is, unfortunately, par for the course if you’re an indie developer in this day and age: "In our case, it was all on the wishlist number and really nothing else," said Kwiatkowski. Presented with so many publishing options—including Devolver, Future Friends, Hooded Horse's CEO (who wanted to invest), Yogscast, and HypeTrain Digital—choosing a publisher ended up taking eight months. But ultimately, working with Letourneau and Offbrand just made sense. "I just thought it'd be cool to work with them,” said Kwiatkowski. “They are a new publisher, so they don't have as much experience as other ones we were talking to. But I just thought \[about how\] streamers work for the game. Northernlion made the game blow up. ... All of the deals \[we were offered\] were very similar in the end, so it was just which one I preferred more, right?" What comes next is still to be hammered out. But Kwiatkowski is hoping for a pretty straightforward arrangement: "I hope that whenever we have anything new, we can have a chat with him. Whenever I have questions or anything, I just can drop a link and he will take a look. But I was super focused on visual improvements during the last two months, so I didn't add many new mechanics. There is really not much to test yet." Additionally, he already knows what he plans to do with a sudden influx of funding: hire more artists. "So far I was only working with my sister \[studio co-founder Agnieszka, who is an artist\],” he said. “I really want to hire more artists to help with UI, really push the game artistically. ... We are hiring the UI artist from *Cult Of The Lamb*. So that's really cool as well." > "I agree that streamers are very, very helpful to uncover games. But it's also important to find the correct \[streamer\] that has the correct audience." It remains to be seen whether partnering with content creators will lead to longer-term success. While some content creator-supported games—like *Animal Well*, which Dunkey [helped propel](https://www.polygon.com/gaming/535877/dunkey-animal-well-evil-second-wind-documentary/?ref=aftermath.site) to immense critical and commercial acclaim—have benefited from this kind of arrangement, others like games fronted by [OTK’s Mad Mushroom label](https://aftermath.site/otk-asmongold-mizkif-twitch-youtube-sponsors-controversy-report/), [Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek](https://kotaku.com/spectre-divide-shroud-refunds-season-1-shutting-down-1851769661?ref=aftermath.site), and [Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beam](https://www.ign.com/articles/midnight-society-dr-disrepsect-game-studio-closes-cancels-game-deadrop?ref=aftermath.site) have demonstrated that surefire success, even with a major creator on board, is far from guaranteed. Kwiatkowski, however, is hopeful that he’s picked the right partners to work with. "I agree that streamers are very, very helpful to uncover games,” he said. “But it's also important to find the correct \[streamer\] that has the correct audience. Even if you partner up with Ludwig, he might not have the core audience that plays roguelikes, then it might not be as good. But I think our game is casual enough to bring in a lot of players." As for when that’ll happen, the plan is sometime this year. But the rest is up in the air. The game could release in early access, or as a more polished version 1.0\. "I would like to release a polished 1.0 version and then do updates to the game. We have one big DLC in mind,” said Kwiatkowski. "It's still very rough, so it's difficult to tell." ## Recommended [How Fortnite Friday Grew From A Bit Into An Institution That Could Pull Gavin NewsomThe unlikely rise of one of the internet’s best talk shows![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/size/w1200/2025/11/newsom.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/fortnite-friday-connoreatspants-interview-gavin-newsom/) ### Dosa Divas Makes Me Hungry URL: https://aftermath.site/dosa-divas-outerloop-outersloth-indian-food-capitalism/ Last updated: 2026-04-17T17:06:50.000Z There’s a commercial I see when I watch television shows on streaming services for store-bought naan that drives me fucking crazy. The characters in this commercial repeatedly describe naan as “a delicious fluffy flatbread,” in a way that feels like they want to erase all the connections that naan has to a culture and a place. They don’t mention India, or Pakistan, or any of the Asian and Arab countries where naan is a typical accompaniment to meals. It’s a flatbread! A delicious, fluffy flatbread! In the same way that [Taco Bell strives to divorce the food it produces from its cultural context](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/24/taco-bells-innovation-kitchen-the-front-line-in-the-stunt-food-wars?ref=aftermath.site)—food that comes from nowhere and has no history—this commercial took a food I have always known as Indian and divorced it from Indianness. *Dosa Divas* is a game that allows me to release some of the anger I feel about this. My relationship to the Indian diaspora is complicated. My mother immigrated when she was seven, and her family immigrated before the cap on Asian immigrants was repealed in 1965, meaning that there was no diaspora culture to greet her in America. Add to that that she married a Black man, a lot of Indian Americans just don’t want to have anything to do with me. No joke, I have had many other Indians either tell me I am not Indian or straight up stop speaking to me after learning these facts. While there are examples of diaspora media products that speak to me—the [2001 movie *American Desi*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203289/?ref=aftermath.site), a shortening of the phrase “American Born Confused Desi,” and the music of [Heems ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz2zPByzYW0&ref=aftermath.site)and [MIA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCL1RpgYxRM&ref=aftermath.site)—I feel alienated by stories that describe an immigrant experience I have never known. Food was often the one cultural connection I had to other Indians. My mom still makes the recipes she remembers from her youth, and we both follow the handwritten recipes in a notebook that my ammama left for us. But I also find that stories about food in the diaspora community are often pretty shallow, reducing a rich culture into a small number of foods that come from a very specific area of India, or god forbid, telling [yet another story about white kids thinking your lunchbox is stinky](https://crybaby.press/2023/05/stinky-lunch-industrial-complex/?ref=aftermath.site). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/ss_bb5bedb18df708287c2e3d0aafda6572862ad395.1920x1080.jpg) Image Source: Dosa Divas *Dosa Divas* is not a story about the worthiness of Indian food, nor is it about what white people think about Indian food. From what I’ve played so far, it is a story about how food gets commodified, repackaged, and divorced from the things that make cooking and eating an essential part of creating a community. *Dosa Divas* follows sisters Amani and Samara as they take a roadtrip through a science fiction world inspired by Indian culture. Their destination is their old family restaurant, but on the way they discover that their other sister Lina has taken the family business and turned it into an evil corporation that sells meals in tubes. If Lina had the idea to repackage naan as delicious fluffy flatbread, I am certain that she would, but her mission goes farther than that—she wants to rid the world of cooking entirely so that everyone has more time to work sixteen hour shifts in the mines. As Amani and Samara travel to their hometown, they encounter hungry people who desperately want dosa—and dosa they provide. In the first town, a fishing village, dosa is the thing that empowers people to repair bridges and start planning about how to fight off Lina’s corporate goons. Each dosa is carefully crafted by Amani and Samara together, from ingredients either found in the environment or bartered for. The cooking minigames have not outstayed their welcome so far, but more than the minigames, I love the many different recipes for dosa that you collect as the game goes on. You learn how to make spicy fish dosa and sweet banana dosa and savory veggie dosa, all of which can later be used as healing items during turn-based battles. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/Dosa_Divas_Screenshot_battling03.webp) Image Source: Dosa Divas In combat, where you face off against Lina’s lawyers, each of the characters' skills and attacks are assigned a flavor value—essentially just taking the RPG genre convention of different elements and replacing them with Salty, Sweet, Sour and Savory. But by attacking an enemy and using their flavor weakness against them you can break their shields and make them Stuffed, allowing you to do more damage. So far it’s just complex enough to be fun without feeling unwieldy, but the (ahem) flavor text around these character abilities really makes them come together for me. Uncle Hinti, the disembodied character who delivers on-screen hints, tells the player that Stuffed enemies are too busy dreaming of a home-cooked meal to bother protecting themselves from attacks. Who among us hasn’t drifted into a daydream thinking about Mom’s idli and walked into scaffolding? More than anything, *Dosa Divas* makes me ravenous. I wish more diaspora stories were about how our culture can and is commodified, rather than arguing for its worthiness or reinforcing a specific narrative of diaspora that excludes people like me. But it also, specifically, makes me hungry for dosa. My mom told me that ammama made dosa so thin and crispy and perfectly golden brown that she was gifted with a golden spatula—not very useful for cooking, but a compliment to her skill. I can still taste her dosa in my mouth, hot and oily and just a little bit sour. I can’t have those dosa again, but someday I hope to at least follow her recipe. ### Left 4 Dead’s Graffiti Is So Memorable Because It Was Made By People—A Whole Lot Of People URL: https://aftermath.site/left-4-dead-graffiti-valve-interview/ Last updated: 2026-04-17T16:24:18.000Z Over the past few years, I’ve witnessed the emergence of a very specific trend: Someone on social media will post [this graffiti from 2008’s *Left 4 Dead*](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed%5Ffullsize/plain/did:plc:h2efnoctjflzaxhautpdpqj7/bafkreidjgxf3tswmoqkncvxtiught45hs3vv4qlwaxjawkth2mcaicuu5a?ref=aftermath.site)—which reads “WE ARE THE REAL MONSTERS” followed by comments from numerous others disputing it and calling the original wall scrawler an idiot—and it will attract hordes of likes ([or upvotes](https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/lhfjfh/left%5F4%5Fdead%5Fhas%5Fsome%5Fof%5Fthe%5Ffunniest%5Fwall%5Fwriting/?ref=aftermath.site)). Most recently, I’ve seen the screenshot proposed as [a counterargument to AI](https://bsky.app/profile/heartimecia.bsky.social/post/3mfuiznwyac2q?ref=aftermath.site), which makes sense: As more and more games lean on AI to fill their worlds with [crucial but gnawingly soulless details](https://aftermath.site/crimson-desert-ai-art-images/), many hark back to a time when humans did the work, resulting in spaces that felt lived-in, even as they were thematically steeped in death. But it’s no coincidence that *Left 4 Dead* and its 2009 sequel have come to be regarded as shining examples of the form. In this case, as with so many others, Valve went above and beyond. Jay Pinkerton, a writer at Valve who’s worked on *Portal 2*, *Team Fortress 2*, *Half-Life: Alyx*, and other VR projects in addition to *Left 4 Dead* and *Left 4 Dead 2*, was responsible for the latter two games’ graffiti, but he was hardly alone. "My memory of the *Left 4 Dead* graffiti is that it was an early attempt at crowdsourcing," Pinkerton told Aftermath. "I remember we covered several walls of the office in butcher paper and laid out dozens of markers, pencils and pens, and we invited literally anyone who happened to be walking past to contribute. If they weren't feeling creative, we let them flip through a big script book of things we'd pre-written and let them pick one that felt right to them, and encouraged them to rewrite it in whatever style they liked. If people wanted to go off script, that was also fine. We tried to reinforce that this shouldn't be taken lightly, obviously, they should picture themselves in a tight situation with maybe only a few moments to write something on a wall quickly that a loved one might see. But otherwise we offered very little oversight." > "If people wanted to go off script, that was also fine." This resulted in scraps of conversation scattered throughout every level, which—while often very funny—felt like back and forths between real people. Some were tense, like: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/l4d2.png) [Left 4 Dead Wiki / DucDuyGaming](https://left4deadwiki.com/wiki/Graffiti?ref=aftermath.site) Others were remarkably hopeful and collaborative, considering the setting: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/l4d3.png) [Left 4 Dead Wiki / DucDuyGaming](https://left4deadwiki.com/wiki/Graffiti?ref=aftermath.site) And some of the most memorable were arguments that felt like they’d spilled out of web forums and onto whatever wall desperate but still comically human survivors could find: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/l4d4.png) [Left 4 Dead Wiki / DucDuyGaming](https://left4deadwiki.com/wiki/Graffiti?ref=aftermath.site) Even to this day, many games contain garbage graffiti. It’s either painfully on the nose or an ill-advised attempt at tutorializing. Pinkerton and others at Valve, wary of both traps, made sure that *Left 4 Dead* swerved to avoid them. "We threw in a few tips here and there—’Listen for them and walk around!’—but slowly reading things off a wall would have been a terrible way to teach all the game mechanics," said Pinkerton. "The goal of the graffiti walls was always breadth. We wanted to convey the sheer breadth of this global disaster. It would have felt too small if the player had just kept seeing the same three handwriting styles. We wanted different voices, different tones. We wanted it to look like we thought a wall like this might actually look like: messy and chaotic and jumbled. An apocalyptic bulletin board." Pinkerton and other writers acted as cooks in the kitchen while numerous interlopers contributed ingredients. Together, they created a sort of perpetual stew. “The result was a wide variety of responses paraphrased from things the writers had written, sometimes verbatim, sometimes paraphrased, intermingled with responses we likely wouldn't have come up with on our own,” said Pinkerton. “Some were responses to existing graffiti. Some blossomed into full conversations. … There were heartfelt ones, clever ones, angry and betrayed ones. Some were even small and insignificant, maybe a note from someone who hadn't quite realized the depths of their predicament, who figured help was on the way at any moment. I think from there we started to take it all, almost like puzzle pieces, and put it into some kind of order, so there was some kind of shape and pacing to it, if not a narrative. But it was lightly supervised chaos.” > "We wanted different voices, different tones. We wanted it to look like we thought a wall like this might actually look like: messy and chaotic and jumbled. An apocalyptic bulletin board." *Left 4 Dead*’s replayable cooperative structure presented unique storytelling challenges, especially for the time. How do you parcel out some semblance of a coherent narrative while keeping things varied enough that players will want to keep going back to the same levels over and over? Graffiti proved to be one of many solutions. “The team knew the entire story—where the infection had started, how long it took to spread—and then had the restraint to just tuck it into the margins,” said Pinkerton, who was only just cutting his teeth on writing for video games at the time. “A stray line of dialog, a headline on a newspaper blown up against a fence. It was all there for anyone interested enough to hunt around and piece it together, but it was never intruding on the fun. The point of *Left 4 Dead* was that players would want to play it over and over again. Hell, I wanted to play it over and over again, it was the most fun game I've ever had to playtest. Could you imagine how irritating it would have been to have the four characters explaining how a zombie outbreak started with the same six lines of dialog every time you jumped in a game? It was a great lesson in knowing when to let the story get out of the way.” Flash forward to today, Pinkerton still draws on lessons he first learned while turning *Left 4 Dead*’s walls into his urban Sistine Chapel: "The graffiti specifically and the environmental storytelling in general has always stayed with me, in terms of story being told in the margins instead of as something you're being hit over the head with. Maybe a character shares a little more if the player lingers, maybe you can stumble on a little nugget of story if you look a little harder. Just the idea of rewarding people looking for the story without bothering the people who aren't." Could AI do something similar? Pinkerton is skeptical. "I'm not nearly smart enough to comment on where the industry is heading with AI or what it will look like in five years or five months,” he said. “Right now, I don't find it especially useful in generating memorable plots or dialog. It's serviceable, but I don't think I've ever read anything especially clever or memorable—nothing I'd have been proud to ship in a game." He is, however, not entirely opposed to dipping a bucket into AI’s well from time to time. “I might ask it to generate a word cluster for me, or to give me twenty different ways a plot could go,” he said. “I won't use anything it spits out, but it usually helps get me to an idea I wouldn't have otherwise had. In some ways, it's not much different than conducting a writers room, where there's a lot of free association going on. It's not really the flurry of ideas getting tossed out that's valuable, it's choosing what deserves to get written down. I guess I wouldn't currently trust AI to choose what deserves to get written down. But as a constantly spraying word hose, I will occasionally drink.” > "The graffiti specifically and the environmental storytelling in general has always stayed with me, in terms of story being told in the margins instead of as something you're being hit over the head with." The “WE ARE THE REAL MONSTERS” graffiti from back in the day, though? 100 percent human (or monster, depending on how you measure it). “We watched a *lot* of zombie movies and read a lot of zombie comics prepping for *Left 4 Dead*,” said Pinkerton, trying to recall the graffiti’s exact origin. “The ‘Who are the real monsters... the zombies... or US?’ trope came up so often, we all got absolutely sick of it. It seemed, at least to us, like *the* go-to genre crutch. It's been a long time, but I suspect that was us having a little fun at the genre's expense.” But that’s not Pinkerton’s personal favorite. He prefers a line that appears just below the "monsters" exchange. In his mind, it feels more like a natural byproduct of *Left 4 Dead*’s unique style and structure. “I think ‘I miss the internet,’” he said. “It was a nice organic commentary at what was naturally emerging on the walls.” ## Recommended [Deadlock’s Sleepy New Hero Rem Is A Perfect Little GuyRem, the newest character in Deadlock, is a sweepy widdle buddy who takes naps and a perfectly designed character.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Deadlock_header.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/deadlocks-sleepy-new-hero-rem-is-a-perfect-little-guy/) ### This Isn't Funny, Shoe Companies Only Do This When They're In Extreme Distress URL: https://aftermath.site/allbirds-ai/ Last updated: 2026-04-16T18:55:12.000Z Allbirds is a shoe company. Because it’s important that you understand this for the rest of this blog, let’s set some definitions: a shoe company is a company that sells shoes. Shoes are a thing that go on your feet. Got it? Great, let’s continue: Allbirds, the shoe company, [announced this morning](https://ir.allbirds.com/news-releases/news-release-details/allbirds-inc-executes-50m-convertible-financing-facility?ref=aftermath.site) that it’s pivoting to AI, with a plan to get into “AI compute infrastructure, with a long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider.” According to [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/15/allbirds-bird-stock-shoes-ai.html?ref=aftermath.site), the company’s stock is up 300% on the news, which comes two weeks after [Allbirds sold its intellectual property and other assets](https://ir.allbirds.com/news-releases/news-release-details/allbirds-signs-definitive-asset-purchase-agreement-american?ref=aftermath.site) to American Exchange Group, a fashion accessories company. The company also [closed its US retail stores](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/28/allbirds-stores-retail.html?ref=aftermath.site) back in February, though American Exchange Group will continue to sell Allbirds products. Clearly, things were not going well in the shoe-selling space for the shoe-selling company, and it wants out. Fair enough! But instead of pivoting to, I don’t know, socks, or pants, or other things in the stuff-that-goes-on-your-body-near-your-feet arena in which it is an expert, Allbirds–which is renaming itself to “Newbird AI,” since it sold the Allbirds name--will “acquire high-performance GPU assets, which will be deployed to serve customers requiring dedicated access to AI compute capacity,” according to its investor release. According to the release, the company has recognized a “market where enterprises, AI developers, and research organizations are unable to secure the compute resources they need to build, train and run AI at scale,” which is true. The company believes that “NewBird AI is being built to help close that gap,” which is false and also unhinged. At a time when [data center deals are falling through](https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/half-of-planned-us-data-center-builds-have-been-delayed-or-canceled-growth-limited-by-shortages-of-power-infrastructure-and-parts-from-china-the-ai-build-out-flips-the-breakers?ref=aftermath.site) and AI companies are [rationing services](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-is-using-so-much-energy-that-computing-firepower-is-running-out-156e5c85?ref=aftermath.site) to deal with the hardware crunch they themselves caused, why and how a shoe company plans to parachute in to solve this problem is beyond me, a simple small business owner who also on occasion wears shoes. How will Allbirds’ shoe expertise help it in the hardware space? Does the shoe company even know what a GPU *is*? Allbirds was once the [darling of the tech world](https://www.wsj.com/articles/allbirds-were-the-tech-bro-it-shoe-then-the-tech-bros-moved-on-11671858003?ref=aftermath.site), so maybe it’s hoping this will suffice? If you are, despite all mounting evidence, an AI booster, you might see all this as good news–AI is so hot even *the shoe company* is pivoting! But if you are a normal person who can see the [prevailing sentiment](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/why-the-ai-backlash-has-turned-violent?ref=aftermath.site) and the [writing on the wall](https://time.com/article/2026/03/26/we-must-prepare-for-an-ai-bubble-now/?ref=aftermath.site), the whole thing smacks of a desperation so overwhelming I would almost feel bad for the people involved, if they weren’t rich people who stand to get even richer before this whole thing inevitably goes bust. If you’d like to learn more about the overlap between the brainrotted horrors of AI and retail clothing, we at Aftermath [have you covered](https://aftermath.site/buy-destroy-ai-shirt-aftermath-kim-hu/). ### Two Budget Headphones Gun For KOSS’ Crown URL: https://aftermath.site/koss-portapro-fiio-eh11-moondrop-oldfashioned-review/ Last updated: 2026-04-15T22:51:23.000Z Since the 1980s, the best value in portable audio has been KOSS’ on-ear headphones. If you want a good pair of wired headphones that sound pretty solid and don't break the bank, KOSS’ PortaPros, KPH40, KSC75, KPH30i and KTXPRO1 can do that for you. You can stop and end there, and entire modding communities have emerged around pad swapping, changing the drivers between headbands and soldering in ports for removable cables. KOSS hardware tests consistently well at such a low price point that few have thought to contest them until basically now. ![Five pairs of headphones from left to right, in varying shapes. They are all retro in design, a few have metal headbands, and one clips over the ears.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/Koss_lineup.jpg) The Budget GOATs, left to right: The PortaPros, the KPH30i, KPH40 (Retrospect), KSC75 and KTXPRO1 are all slightly different takes on the same formula. Moondrop, the company behind the Chu that launched a thousand IEMs, is attempting to do that with the [Moondrop Old Fashioned](https://moondroplab.com/en/products/old-fashioned?ref=aftermath.site). But perhaps the more interesting set of headphones is FiiO’s EH11, a Bluetooth offering operating in roughly the same price category in KOSS’ entire line with a few features that are unbeatable at their price. On-ear headphones operate in a very specific zone. Because they sit on top of the pinna of the ear, they can be slightly uncomfortable for certain people and do a horrible job at canceling noise, allowing for loud noises to bleed in from the outside. But if you want something airy and lightweight on your head that doesn’t blast through your awareness of the world entirely, light on-ears can be fantastic. The retro look is itself a statement: no other headphone looks quite like a pair of beige Porta Pros. When combined with an [inexpensive DAP](https://aftermath.site/digita-audio-player-snowsky-echo-mini-fiio-hyby/) or modded iPod, you now have a solid non-phone audio setup. ## **Modding Culture** This is generally the way you mod your Porta Pros to have detachable cables. Both the Old Fashioned and the EH11 attempt to go after two potential gaps in KOSS’ lineup. The Moondrop Old Fashioned attempts to do this by making the headphone enthusiasts tend to modify themselves. The first mod that many people do with KOSS’ lineup is to put in MMCX ports, a kind of hyper-specific removable headphone cable. This usually involves ordering a kit from AliExpress or Etsy, taking the drivers off of your headphones, and soldering in a few connectors and pieces of plastic. If you are trying to get into soldering you could not pick a better first project, as it’s a great quality of life improvement to the headphones and can be done in about an hour. Moondrop’s variant comes with removable cables, using a 0.78mm pin port seen often in many IEMs (although if you upgrade the cable, make sure they are not ones with ear loops.) The second mod stems from the modular shape of the KOSS. The drivers and headbands are interchangeable, so swapping drivers and headbands is a breeze. The Old Fashioned mimics this, although the mechanism is not compatible with existing KOSS headbands. Moondrop says this is to encourage people to 3D print their own accessories, which users have [already](https://www.printables.com/model/1557190-moondrop-old-fashioned-ear-hook?ref=aftermath.site) [done](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7286403?ref=aftermath.site). The last is pad swapping– people usually add aftermarket pads from companies like Yaxi to their headphones, and the Old Fashioneds not only feature comfortable pads but are compatible with the existing KOSS ecosystem. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_02182055_S033.jpg) The stencil is a tiny bit Evangelion/Hatsune Miku colab coded. A simpler colorway might also be nice. Though the Old Fashioned is a screaming deal, they do not fully replace KOSS’ offerings here, at least not in places covered by KOSS’ distribution. Frequency response is more a matter of taste and personal biology than most people would like to admit, and the Moondrop is a bit on the brighter side compared to KOSS. The Old Fashioned is comfortable and has a solid headband, the cable is inexpensive but not of poor quality. The clear, smokey plastic is a nice choice, although I could see the *Evangelion*\-adjacent stencil turning off some people who are not sufficiently weeby. The same headphone in other, simpler colorways would be fantastic. Still, for people who cannot get KOSS headphones (I have read that EU distribution is either bad or expensive lately), Moondrop has found a way to undercut and in some capacity improve upon several timeless classics. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_02182054_S030.jpg) Moondrop offers a 2 pin cable as well as a USB-C cable. Or you can get your own 2 pin provided it fits. ## **Wireless competition** FiiO, on the other hand, decided to go after a different segment of KOSS’ market, the $100 dollar PortaPro wireless. KOSS’ attempt at making a wireless classic was met with a [mixed response](https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/3/17314098/koss-porta-pro-wireless-review-headphones?ref=aftermath.site) for both its price and execution (although the [KPH30 Wireless](https://koss.com/products/kph30-wireless?ref=aftermath.site) seems like a step in the right direction.) Unlike the Old Fashioned, the [FiiO EH11](https://www.fiio.com/eh11?ref=aftermath.site) do not attempt to ape KOSS’ design. They are chunkier, with the drivers and batteries shoved into a circular plastic housing. The clamping force is firm but not uncomfortable, and though the housing for the drivers has a small lip that is uncomfortable without the pads, the pads themselves are plush and comfortable, which FiiO includes backups for. Out of the box, the headphones have support for LDAC, a very good Bluetooth codec that iPhones don’t support, but also fallback for AAC and SBC. The EH11 is eye-catching, coming in multiple shades of transparent plastic, with bright foam and wood knobs, the one trait it shares with FiiO’s FT1s. If the PortaPros were cementing themselves firmly in the 1980s, the visual language of the EH11 is *Cyberpunk* by way of AliExpress that is firmly in the now. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/eh11_colors.jpg) If you're going to spend the money to make an injection mold you may as well have fun with the plastic. Credit: FiiO The EH11 is not a home run at first glance. It is unfortunately Bluetooth only; the USB-C port is just for charging and it has no aux port, which is something that revisions should address. The mic quality is nothing to write home about. The controls for volume and track position are on the left and right knobs, and use a stepped rotary encoder that clicks slightly too loudly given the fact that it’s on your ear. Out of the box it sounds fine, not bad but not fantastic. So what makes it special? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/A015_02182152_S004.jpg) I think the wood looks nice although the ability to swap out caps, the ability to listen directly via USB-C, and a less noisy rotary encoder are things I'd love to see in a revision. ## FiiO EH11**The great equalizer** Credit to Super\*Review for his tuning, measurement, and for tipping me off to these cans. There is a lot you can do to properly tune an imperfect set of headphones, and the FiiO has leaned into this with the EH11\. Using the FiiO Control app you can tune the headphones, upload parametric EQ settings and store them directly on the EH11\. Because they are stored on the device, the EQ settings will apply to any device you use it with. The app also allows you to upload and share existing EQ settings to it, as well as download EQ presets from other users. I started taking these headphones seriously when headphones reviewer Super\*Review made a video about them, and I have been using his EQ settings almost exclusively. FiiO also boasts a gaming mode that is latency-optimized, but it appears as its own distinct EQ setting and I have no way of testing its latency outside of visually. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/fiio_control.jpg) FiiO's app is fairly straightforward and lets you get very granular with how you want to EQ it. This should be standard with all headphones moving forward. I'm looking at you Apple. On some level that does not matter for me, because the EH11 is not for everything. For the price they’re better than they have any right to be. FiiO claims 30 hours of battery life, and while I have not timed it I can confirm it only needs infrequent charging. The ability to EQ the EH11 transforms them into a gem; that feature alone would have saved the crucially flawed [Apple Airpods Pro 3](https://aftermath.site/airpods-pro-3-review-heartrate-v-shaped-sound/) if Apple ever swallowed its pride and trusted their users with settings. The EH11s are my puttering around headphones, lightweight and casual to be used in short bursts. I use them exclusively for music, and wear them when I walk to the cafe or wander around the house. Unlike my earbuds, they are for when I wish to enjoy music but be slightly present, and at 92 grams I can throw them in my bag and never be aware of them. With the tuning tweaked they sound alarmingly good, making up for the intrinsic shortcomings of the inexpensive design. Unlike my earbuds, I interact with the world differently when wearing on-ear headphones. The music does not actively cancel the uneven rhythm of New York City; it accompanies it and allows me to be present in the moment when I need to be. Earbuds and ANC often turn us into antisocial hermits in public, so it is nice to have an alternative in my bag for the moments when I don’t want to live like that. Moondrop and FiiO have not ousted the king– KOSS will still have its loyal adherents. But both are screaming deals that go toe-to-toe with the originals while showing them ways they can be tweaked and improved. If you don’t live in a place where KOSS is readily or cheaply available, the calculus is far clearer. And of the two, the EH11 goes even further, cementing its own identity and, with a single feature, doing something that even Apple is too large and stubborn to do. ### The Free Press Announces Pop Culture Podcast No One Asked For URL: https://aftermath.site/the-free-press-suzy-bari-weiss-dan-ahdoot-pop-culture-bullshit/ Last updated: 2026-04-14T19:18:25.000Z Bari Weiss’s “news” website The Free Press is launching a pop culture podcast called Second Thought, hosted by none other than Suzy Weiss, formerly of the New York Post and Bari Weiss’ younger sister. Who asked for this and who it’s for exactly is unclear. Second Thought is a pop culture column from Suzy Weiss, who also has a co-founder credit at The Free Press. I had no idea this existed, because The Free Press is not a place where I would go for opinions about pop culture, or for any news or writing in general. The podcast appears to take this column and translate it into video, a trend I think is extremely tiresome. If I’m not reading your writing, I don’t really want to be listening to it either. How this podcast expands on Suzy Weiss’s column is unclear. For the most part, hosting a pop culture podcast is the easiest job in the world—you just be talking about shit! In fact, that’s all that the trailer for this podcast depicts: > This is Second Thought—a new pop culture podcast from [@SnoozyWeiss](https://twitter.com/SnoozyWeiss?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) and [@StandUpDan](https://twitter.com/standupdan?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site). > > What everyone’s watching, arguing about, and quietly obsessed with—explained with sharp, funny, no-BS commentary. > > Pop culture is fun—but we take it seriously. Coming to headphones near you on… [pic.twitter.com/OnN4RJoFxu](https://t.co/OnN4RJoFxu?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Second Thought (@SecondThoughtFP) [April 13, 2026](https://twitter.com/SecondThoughtFP/status/2043724522847953021?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) In the video trailer, Suzy Weiss and her cohost, [deeply unfunny Zionist comedian Dan Ahdoot](https://x.com/standupdan/status/1749847654681514463?ref=aftermath.site), talk about current pop culture events like *Wuthering Heights*, a movie that came out in February; the latest Taylor Swift album, which came out in October of last year; *Heated Rivalry*, which came out in November of last year; and Anthony Bourdain, who is dead. They’re joined by illustrious guests, who appear to just be a parade of white men including Casey Neistat for some fucking reason. The post from The Free Press describing this endeavor calls the podcast “pop culture, decoded,” and promises “sharp, funny, no-BS commentary” (I love the idea of a podcast that offers “full BS commentary”—we’ll bullshit you, don’t worry!), but the trailer does not demonstrate any of these things. The thing about being a cultural critic is that, while it is easy compared to hard news and reporting, it’s also actually pretty hard to do well. It’s easy enough to observe culture—movies, books, television shows, music—and then make a recording of that observation. Convincing the person reading or listening to your take that it is worth listening to a gargantuan task that most people fail. Any asshole can grace us with takes about pop music and television, but *why should I listen to you* is also a question you have to answer. Some of the best examples of this demonstrate a breadth of knowledge about a particular niche subject matter. I remember reading friend of the site Julianne Escobedo Shepherd’s[ review of Beyonce’s *Renaissance*](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/beyonce-renaissance/?ref=aftermath.site) and feeling not just like I had new language to talk about what I liked about the album, but also that I could place it in a cultural lineage of black dance music. Bad culture writing is writing that does not evolve beyond “this is good” or “this is bad.” I’m reminded of a terminable Substack essay about Sabrina Carpenter that spent a lot of words to say “[posing in lingerie while short is pedophilic.](https://substack.com/home/post/p-148686728?ref=aftermath.site)” What Second Thought fails to provide me with is a reason to listen to Suzy and Dan specifically over the thousands of people who yap into a microphone every week. But I suppose that matches with the general mission of The Free Press, a platform created by members of the Weiss family to publicly embarrass themselves. ### It’s Time To Stop Interviewing This Kid URL: https://aftermath.site/clavicular-looksmaxxing-60-minutes-interview-storm-off/ Last updated: 2026-04-14T21:42:38.000Z The kid in question being Braden “Clavicular” Peters, the blandly handsome face of the “looksmaxxing” trend that recently [broke containment from red pill circles](https://www.404media.co/we-have-learned-nothing-about-amplifying-morons/?ref=aftermath.site). Looksmaxxing, for the uninitiated, is the practice of fracturing bones and drowning yourself in pharmaceuticals until you become conventionally attractive. It’s an extreme response to the allegedly unique problems faced by young men in the dating pool, one that pretty much guarantees a visceral reaction. So of course, Clavicular has functioned as catnip to mainstream pundits and publications. His nihilistic ideology and over-the-top escapades have served as scaffolding for [countless pieces and interviews](https://www.google.com/search?sca%5Fesv=9fb2dbe6099668d1&rlz=1C1UEAD%5FenUS1099US1099&sxsrf=ANbL-n7F7DJeBNWGe3%5FKjD1t6fPN3euz7A:1776138177637&q=clavicular&tbm=nws&source=lnms&fbs=ADc%5Fl-aN0CWEZBOHjofHoaMMDiKpaEWjvZ2Py1XXV8d8KvlI3o6iwGk6Iv1tRbZIBNIVs-6UIUc6UR6SuJFZzmDZDaBCXj3NZJ%5FDMK%5FQqUo9V0Ifj9IbhxoNLUNajvpcn0vNmNjR5N6GkMFsM25AFm-Rbht--GOKv01yfbVGGC3oFYWVHORzp1y2Y8rDFM7z1NL6TUpliCmBxA87lC9Txwuz8UhmLngy8Q&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEs5mptuyTAxV%5FEFkFHbR9ANYQ0pQJegQIGBAB&biw=867&bih=642&dpr=2.4)—more than enough, in fact. We can stop now. Don’t get me wrong: There are plenty of arguments in favor of interviewing someone like Clavicular. - The [dystopian clip farming industry](https://aftermath.site/twitch-twitchcon-2025-security-emiru-assault-irl-streamers/) guarantees that though Clavicular’s numbers on his livestreaming platform of choice, Kick, might not be astronomical, he is nonetheless [everywhere](https://bsky.app/profile/cwarzel.bsky.social/post/3mjhv7blaek2u?ref=aftermath.site). - What he preaches to his large, young audience—in terms of both [sexist, far right-friendly superficiality](https://howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com/p/clavicular-and-fuentes) and [a lifestyle centered around content for content’s sake](https://howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com/p/clavicular-and-fuentes) at the expense of all else—deserves to be interrogated by non-terminally online people. - Despite his many objectionable qualities and actions, Clavicular's story is a distinctly sad one, with cynical online subcultures transforming him into an exposed raw nerve of insecurities. This, too, is worth interrogating. - For more traditional reporters who have not [spent years immersed in livestreaming culture](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Stream-Big/Nathan-Grayson/9781982156763?ref=aftermath.site), Clavicular functions as a window into that world, albeit an incredibly distorted one. - Looksmaxxing, while an undeniably corrosive influence on society, can be very funny. For example, mogging, in which looksmaxxers basically attempt to outdo each other in terms of appearance or any other category, involves [a level of pageantry](https://people.com/looksmaxxing-influencer-responds-to-hate-after-stranger-snatches-wig-11911870?ref=aftermath.site) that lands somewhere between pro wrestling and decades of queer tradition, despite looksmaxxers insisting that they’re straight. (Clavicular has been confronted by trans women about this on [multiple](https://mashable.com/article/clavicular-trans-women-looksmaxxing-viral-video?ref=aftermath.site) [occasions](https://www.them.us/story/clavicular-had-yet-another-encounter-with-a-trans-woman-on-his-stream?ref=aftermath.site).) I have just two arguments against interviewing Clavicular: 1) He is 20 years old and stupid as hell. 2) 60 Minutes Australia [recently conducted an interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXKCoFz3WRs&ref=aftermath.site) that covers all of the above bases and these as well, though especially the former. By the end, an outraged Clavicular removed his mic and walked off. This was [not the first time he’s done this](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m6efdI5BmC8?ref=aftermath.site), but it felt like a culmination. What more is there to learn from the charade of taking this deeply unserious person and his roving carnival of side characters seriously? We can move on. 60 Minutes Australia reporter Adam Hegarty made his smartest move out the gate by not even really pretending like he saw merit in Clavicular’s forum-born philosophies. He did not mock or deride his subject, but when he smelled bullshit, he weaved it into his line of questioning—like any good interviewer should, but too few actually do. Take, for example, the following exchange: > **Hegarty:** Why do you think you've become so extraordinarily popular among young men? > **Clavicular:** Because looksmaxxing is the key thing that was missing from the manosphere and a lot of male internet spaces. And it's kind of the answer, right? You could overcome a lot of disparities by becoming rich, by becoming famous, or whatever type of success. But if you're not physically attractive, then you won't really be able to have lasting relationships with women, you won't really gain a lot of respect from people around you, and you're treated differently right off the bat because of something called 'The Halo Effect,' right? And that's a horrible thing to have to overcome your whole life if you're not genetically well off. > **Hegarty:** See now, I would disagree and make the argument, Clav, that character, personality, maturity, \[and\] intelligence are far more important than appearance. Do you think I'm wrong? > **Clavicular:** Well, bingo, there it is, but those are all perceived entirely differently, once again, based upon your looks. So you're absolutely correct. You're just forgetting that key piece of nuance that is kind of the reason my message resonates so well. > **Hegarty:** Do you think that sends the wrong message to vulnerable, insecure men? > **Clavicular:** I think it's a hard thing to hear at first if you're someone who is genetically not good looking—if you're telling them that the world revolves around being good looking. Because now they have to overcome this seemingly impossible obstacle in their life and potentially do all these pharmaceutical drugs, get plastic surgeries, whatever. But this is true, and we have a lot of data to back it up. So how people respond to this sort of brutal reality is up to them. But yeah, you're certainly right: It could send people into spirals, give them severe body dysmorphia, whatever. But it's just a reality pill that needs to be out there. > **Hegarty:** But see, I disagree, Clav. I don't think appearance is as important as you're suggesting. > **Clavicular:** Hm. Do you think that if you were bald, if you were fat that you would be doing this interview—that you would be a journalist? > **Hegarty:** Yeah. Yeah I do. Now, it’s worth noting that Hegarty is attractive, and that’s part of what makes this interview work so well. Here’s a calm, self-assured, good-looking slightly older guy telling an insecure, younger exemplar of what it supposedly means to be good-looking that the dire messages he’s spent his teenage years absorbing crumble in the face of actual life experience. And Hegarty would know: He’s lived it, where Clavicular, comparatively, hasn’t. (Also, Clavicular evidently doesn’t know many journalists, because otherwise he’d be aware that a lot of them are, in fact, bald.) As many online have observed, Hegarty is effectively mogging Clavicular—beating him at his own game and a handful of more important ones besides. This is how you diffuse harmful ideologies meant to lure in angry, confused, or otherwise fearful men: You present facts, sure, but you also *show* them an alternative. The remainder of the interview proceeds more or less apace until Clavicular eventually storms out. Hegarty does not ask Clavicular especially difficult questions, because despite Clavicular’s talk of complicated stats and stacks that underpin his worldview, there’s just not all that much to it. It remains fundamentally immature. To wit, Clavicular departs before the titular 60-minute mark because he catches a faint whiff of *politics*. "You've been seen with certain people who are from all parts of that \[incel-adjacent\] world,” says Hegarty after Clavicular calls questions about his connections to incel culture “quite literally the worst sequence of questions” he’d ever heard. “Just as an example, you've obviously shared company with Andrew Tate and other, dare I say, rather controversial figures. Why do you spend time with people like that?" "I see you wanna make this political,” Clavicular replies. The two then talk over each other for a moment before Hegarty clarifies: "I don't care about your politics. I know you're not political. You've said that repeatedly. When you get seen with those people, obviously people make assumptions. I'm wondering what the thought process and motivation is for you behind \[spending time with them\]." Seems like a fair question! So of course, Clavicular resorts to vague threats. "I guess you watched [the Piers \[Morgan\] interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQvhqt2r2l8&ref=aftermath.site),” he says. “Too bad I didn't have time to look into anything about, you know, potentially, you know, [who your wife cheated with](https://www.tiktok.com/@%5Fentertainmentclip/video/7608347141186145558?ref=aftermath.site). But don't try to go down that line of questioning with me. Because I'm not doing any political \[questions\].” "I'm not married, Clav," replies Hegarty. At which point Clavicular is left with just one tool in his arsenal: the cornerstone of his entire freshly-hatched egg of personality, enormous to him and yet so small to everyone else. "Maybe you've gotta looksmaxx, then,” he mumbles. “I could teach you how to looksmaxx, and then maybe you could switch that up. But thanks for the time. Appreciate the interview." ## Recommended [We Have Never Been More 12 Years Old - AftermathIn the same week government agencies coopted Halo, now we’ve also got JD Vance weighing on in CollarGate![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/size/w1200/2025/11/vance-1.png)](https://aftermath.site/us-government-halo-jd-vance-hasan-piker-dog/) ### We Didn't Need A Handmaid's Tale Sequel, But Anyway Here's A Handmaid's Tale Sequel URL: https://aftermath.site/the-testaments-handmaids-tale/ Last updated: 2026-04-15T15:23:07.000Z I am an avid hater of Hulu’s *The Handmaid’s Tale*. I am also a compulsive watcher of Hulu’s *The Handmaid’s Tale*, having stuck with the series from its first episode in 2017 through to its [season six ending](https://aftermath.site/handmaids-tale-finale/) in 2025\. Three episodes of its utterly unnecessary sequel *The Testaments* premiered last week, and I have watched each one of them, and god help me I’ll probably watch the whole damn series. *The Testaments* show is based on Margaret Atwood’s 2019 book of the same name, which I read and thought was fine, if unmemorable. The show centers on Agnes MacKenzie, the adopted daughter of one of the repressive regime of Gilead’s powerful Commanders, as she comes of age in a fancy prep school that’s teaching her how to become a Wife. In the first episode, she’s paired up with a girl named Daisy, a convert to Gilead’s way of life from Toronto. **(Some spoilers for the first three episodes of *The Testaments* ahead.)** If you’re watching the show, or read the books, or watched the first show, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Agnes is, of course, the daughter of June, the increasingly unlikeable star of *The Handmaid’s Tale*. Since I’m sure this will be dramatically revealed to Agnes at some point, the early episodes must instead get their mystery from what exactly Daisy’s deal is. It’s obvious from the jump that she didn’t come to Gilead out of true religious conviction, and we quickly get thrown into an intrigue plot. Alongside this, the episodes have low-simmering teen drama, and of course the background violence and repression of Gilead. *The Testaments* hasn’t yet explained why, 15 years after the closing events of *The Handmaid’s Tale*, not much has changed on the surface of Gilead. We don’t see any handmaids in the first three episodes, but everyone is still color-coded–including the girls at school, separated by their proximity to getting their periods–and women are still forbidden to read or write. It’s a different environment, and a more established Gilead, than the original show’s Boston, though we do see rebellion and violence pop up. There feels like a stronger display of military might than in the first show, with more armed men and barbed wire, but it’s clear that Gilead has become firmly settled on the global stage. While *The Testaments* still captures the unlikely grandeur of Gilead society, it’s not as visually gripping a setting as the original. The first show had uncomfortably beautiful [kitchens](https://www.archi-tile.co.uk/the-handmaids-tale-exploring-the-colonial-revival-interiors-of-the-waterford-mansion?srsltid=AfmBOopOpBhZmElqa5-2wPOEhjyV1GwNBXpnHaBSUw5SHWrUb68z5ST4&ref=aftermath.site) and [grocery stores](https://www.abovethegaragepodcast.net/episodes/onct5vx0hcgjgk1p4eycuo7jz1u7m2?ref=aftermath.site), and it really felt like a new world being born from the ashes of the old. *The Testaments*, which I believe takes place in the DMV given that Agnes’ father is moved there from Colorado at the end of *The Handmaid’s Tale*, looks shiny and generic, the MacKenzies living in a house you might see in any TV show about rich people, and the girls school, even with its strange layout and intimidating statue of Aunt Lydia, feeling like the grounds of any TV school for rich kids. There’s an argument to be made that this reflects the bad taste of the Wives and by extension all of Gilead’s Christofascist leaders, but the compelling visual beauty of Gilead’s society against its horrors was one of the things that made *The Handmaid’s Tale*’s early seasons feel so provocative; without that, we’ve only got the show’s characters and plot to pull us through. Those characters and plot, so far, are fine, if not a little dull. *The Testaments* is never going to be what the early seasons of *The Handmaid’s Tale* were, even though it’s premiering in a second Trump administration. Gilead and its cruelties aren’t new to the viewer, nor are the little rebellions people undertake within them or how they become indoctrinated into them, and all that familiarity takes the bite out of several dramatic moments. The show shoots it shot with a moment of violence a bit too early–we saw a much stronger, more shocking version of this in the first episode of the original series–and when it’s echoed again later among the girls it’s already lost its potency, even as it tries to spark things up with a ritual we first saw among the handmaids, in a not-so-subtle nod to how even the most powerful women in Gilead society are still second-class. But the ways women treat each other get a new tone when they’re set among young people–as Agnes says in voiceover at one point, “Teenage girls appreciate rage, in Gilead as elsewhere”--and this at least keeps the show from treading on ground it thoroughly exhausted in *The Handmaid’s Tale*’s too-long run. But it just can’t recapture what made the original’s first season so intense. A big mystery of *The Testaments*’ pre-release was whether Elisabeth Moss would reprise her role as June, which the internet is milking every possible bit of SEO juice out of. It will never not drive me to the brink of insanity that June Osborne walks around like a regular person without being constantly recognized–Daisy mentions early on that they learned about Gilead and rebellion movement Mayday in school, a curriculum you imagine would include June. One of the big complaints I had about *The Handmaid’s Tale* was that it made June too powerful, and here we again see her immune from the logic of the world. June’s exploits were surely global news and, again, a school subject; I simply don’t believe she just walks around being normal, even as I get that her role in the show would be very different otherwise. You’d think, after 900 words of complaining, I would have learned my lesson and would just not be watching this show, but here I am! I just can’t resist media about weird religions (I have rewatched Hulu’s *The Path* multiple times, and that show really jumps the shark, but also I love it), and, as a writer, I have a certain fascination with/ sympathy for where *The Handmaid’s Tale* has ended up. I *want* the writers to write their way out of their corners; there is so much to seize in a show about conflicting visions for religious and secular society and what that dystopia says about today, if only the show can get out of its own grooves to grab it. The second Trump administration has brought us [Pete Hegseth](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-to-know-about-the-archconservative-church-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-attends?ref=aftermath.site) and Trump [feuding with the Pope](https://aftermath.site/the-pope-is-weak-on-crime/), a whole new avenue of what the first show criticized to explore. And how young people receive all this has never been more pressing, giving *The Testaments* the potential for a new kind of potency. There is plenty of powder to light here, if only the show can be bold enough to strike the match. [The Handmaid’s Tale Is Finally Over, Except It Isn’t - AftermathThe series finale should have been an actual finale![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/unnamed-9.png)](https://aftermath.site/handmaids-tale-finale/) ### OK, Hideo Kojima, You Finally Got Me URL: https://aftermath.site/death-stranding-2-review/ Last updated: 2026-04-14T19:23:26.000Z I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I’ve never really enjoyed a Hideo Kojima video game before. I’ve got fond memories of a few: *Snatcher* and *Policenauts* in particular, and *Boktai* was cool as well. But ever since the release of *Metal Gear Solid* in 1998, which with its blend of 3D action and narrative nonsense is the beginning of Kojima’s ascent into true stardom, I’ve bounced off pretty much every major game he’s ever put his name to, something that has long put me at odds not only with most of my peers writing about games, but with the millions of people who play them as well. Let me be clear, I have played most of those games. *Metal Gear Solid* was fine, *Metal Gear Solid 2* lost me pretty early on, I did not enjoy *Metal Gear Solid 3* at all, and as a result of all that I barely bothered with *4*, to the point where I think I was the first ever Westerner to play it at TGS in 2007, and my now-lost impressions were me being as vague as possible because I simply didn’t care about what I’d seen, but didn’t want upset the fans clamouring to read them. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/20260330221429_1.jpg) I tried very hard to get into *Metal Gear Solid 5* and its sandbox stealth, and probably got further into that than I had with any other *MGS* game since the first, but the weirder and further it got into its storyline–one I was totally lost on, having not followed its predecessors–the closer I edged towards the exit. And because I am nothing if not persistent, I also tried playing the first *Death Stranding*, but gave up on it when the *BT* stuff hits early on and, I dunno, I just didn’t really gel with the game’s foreboding vibes. For all the years and consoles between them, these games all had the same shape, they all fit the same mould. They were, for better (everyone else) or worse (me) very much recognisable as the Hideo Kojima Experience. Despite not personally enjoying these games, though, I am not a *hater*; I can see what’s going on here and what folks are into, and can respect that. Kojima is a video game designer who also fancies himself a Hollywood director, someone who reaches for the stars with his games in ways that few others in the medium (at least at this scale) have ever bothered. The games coming out as a result of that have definitely found a market and a passionate fanbase. Every time *I* would try to play a Kojima game, though, I’d look at what I was playing, look at the praise being lavished on it and wonder just what I wasn’t seeing. For the longest time my stance on the modern works of Hideo Kojima has been that these games are fine, but the reaction to them seems a bit *much*, as though Gamers, desperate to have an auteur representing their beloved medium, have elevated his works as much out of a need to have someone to elevate as the merits of the games themselves. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/20260331195440_1.jpg) Plus it always felt a bit off to see so much praise laid at the feet of one man, in a way that’s [very close to the classic Warren Spector joke](https://x.com/juliagalef/status/999783355087339520/photo/1?ref=aftermath.site). Every Kojima game (I’m doing the Warren Spector thing now!) from *MGS1* onwards has been a lavish AAA production, and a lot of the stuff people love about them, from designs to writing, is in part at least thanks to the work of loads of other people as well! ANYWAY! I am a relentless man, and so despite my decades of reservations and doubts, when *Death Stranding 2* came out on PC a few weeks ago I decided once again to try to play a Hideo Kojima Game, if only so I could say “well I DID play it” when talking about it online. I stuck with it for over 40 hours, finished it on the weekend and, uh...I am here to put something very important on record. To say I loved every second of *Death Stranding 2* is selling the experience short. It moved me like few AAA games in recent memory have, and now, days after rolling credits on it, I still can’t stop thinking about it. Even having never got far into the first game–so I only knew enough of the backstory that a brief recap on the main menu provides–I was enthralled here, on the edge of my seat in so many bombastically cinematic cutscenes, transported to and immersed deeply in its apocalyptic world, invested fully in the fates of its small band of heroes. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/image-4.png) I loved how desolate and empty *Death Stranding 2’s* world was. So many games waste time and effort trying to fill their sandboxes with people and writing and quests, but here the minimalism only serves to complement the game’s mood. I actually played most of the story in Steam’s offline mode and found the deserted landscape, populated only by my tyre treads and the occasional bit of music, just the most perfect expression of everything the setting and story was about. Around 70% of the way in I did go online, just once, and after finding my world suddenly full of other people’s ramps and roadsigns I turned it off and went back offline almost immediately. A slow trawl over a deserted map would kill almost any other open world video game. In *Death Stranding 2* that loneliness is one of the game’s crowning achievements. And that world, as empty as it is, is gorgeous. This is the first game [I’ve played on my new PC](https://aftermath.site/i-buy-prebuilt-pcs-now-and-have-finally-found-peace/) that *really* pushed it, running at 4K with all the bells and whistles on, and from the cutscene visuals to the lighting while driving over snow-capped mountains, this might be the best-looking video game I’ve ever played. At some points, like watching Baby Lou dribble down their little chin, or seeing an orange sunset bathing some outback rocks in dying light, I was left speechless. I dug playing in Australia, [a place video games don’t let you visit very often](https://aftermath.site/the-drifter-point-click-adventure-game-lucasarts-king-carpenter-australia/). While not exactly a faithful rendition–it’s more of a snowglobe diorama, a tribute to the postcard idea of the place rather than an accurate recreation–it was still cool getting to hear the accent and see kangaroos in ways that simply felt like they were part of this game’s world and story, and not some Simpsons-like pastiche. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/20260409170517_1.jpg) Another thing I really liked, despite the selections themselves not being the stuff I tend to listen to, is that *Death Stranding 2* takes maybe the best part of either *Red Dead Redemption* game–playing a slow, moody song as you approach a destination, emerging from the lonely wilderness–and just says fuck it, let’s do it again and again and again, and there’s not a single time it’s not a wonderful feeling, a musical expression of the sense of relief washing over you as you reach safety after a long and dangerous journey. I even, and this was the biggest surprise, embraced the weirdness! I’ve always really disliked the tone of Kojima’s other games, but where his taste for the absurd normally puts me off, once I’d settled into *Death Stranding 2*, switching between tear-stained dramatic scenes and electric guitar battles felt effortless. Like sure man, why not, I’m 38 hours into this story and invested up to my eyeballs in it, if you want to have a dance routine in the underworld of souls, let’s do this. What I loved most about *Death Stranding 2*, though, was how this game just completely subverted my expectations about who was its star and what it was about. Coming in oblivious to the series I thought this was going to be a game about Norman Reedus walking around a lot being lonely and sad about stuff. And while that’s definitely the case, and is the lens through which you as the player progress the story, this is also very much a game about *Death Stranding's* women. The cast, your ship, even your flashbacks are full of women who are developing complex, beautiful relationships, ones which are constantly revealing new depths and nuance, and to which Sam–who occasionally walks into a room while this is happening, grunts and leaves again–is largely oblivious to, or simply not even invited to be a part of. Not everything has to be about the main character all the time! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/20260412153344_1.jpg) By now you’re probably wondering the same thing I’ve been wondering for the last few weeks: just what, exactly, was it about *Death Stranding 2* that got to me when no other modern Kojima game had? I think its visual design played a big part in getting my foot in the door; despite my feelings about *Death Stranding 1*, I have very strong feelings for both Yoji Shinkawa’s designs and those of Acronym, the fashion label [whose jackets are featured very prominently throughout the game](https://aftermath.site/hideo-kojimas-commitment-to-acronym-jackets-remains-undefeated/). Even if I didn’t think I was going to enjoy the game, I at least wanted to poke my head in and check out some cool uniforms and anti-grav ships. What *really* got me, though, was the same vibe shift that Chris spoke about [when he first played the game on PlayStation 5](https://aftermath.site/death-stranding-2-covid-lockdown-hideo-kojima/). *Death Stranding 2* has an almost “*Death Stranding* on vacation” energy to it that was instantly disarming, and set it apart from the drab horror of *Death Stranding 1’s* setting (which had put me off) and the military industrial obsession of the *Metal Gear Solid* series. I know I’m doing the same postman delivery stuff as the first game, but now it’s in sunny Mexico, and I’ve got a cute kid, and then I’m off to even sunnier Australia, and George Miller is going to fly the ship! It all felt breezy and fun and lured me in, and of course it doesn’t *stay* breezy, but by the time I was witnessing the end of the human race on a grayscale beach somewhere between purgatory and hell I was in too deep to back out. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like enjoying this single video game has got me reconsidering a lifetime of Kojima indifference. I played all those *Metal Gear* games, sometimes for a surprisingly long-ass time, gave them all a very good chance. This isn’t a confessional, a Mea Culpa Kojima. I’m not a huge fan of stealth in 3D action games, Kojima’s political commentary has never really interested me and just because I liked this one game doesn’t mean I was wrong, in my heart, about any other I’ve played in the last 28 years. What I think has happened here is that I’ve experienced the video game criticism version of an eclipse, where two celestial bodies–Kojima’s overblown theatrics and my love of cool design–perfectly aligned for 40 brief, shining hours, a moment in time that hasn’t just given me two weeks of playing a very special video game, but a glimpse into a world where people have got to feel this much joy about every Kojima game. [Death Stranding 2 Is A Joyful, Absurd Response To COVID - AftermathGoofy, lighthearted and constantly mugging. Death Stranding 2 is a exercise in spectacle and one of the most human games Kojima has ever made.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/death-stranding-2_-on-the-beach_20250723224836-00_00_23-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/death-stranding-2-covid-lockdown-hideo-kojima/) ### Pokémon Go Champion Says He Didn’t Deserve To Be Disqualified For ‘Unsportsmanlike’ Celebration, And Honestly It’s Hard To Disagree URL: https://aftermath.site/pokemon-go-firestar73-win-disqualified-unsportsmanlike-celebration/ Last updated: 2026-04-14T19:23:16.000Z Earlier this month, Firestar73, a competitive *Pokémon Go* player who placed seventh at last year’s world championships, managed to narrowly cinch a game-five finals win at the [2026 *Pokémon* Orlando Regional Championships](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vTDNNo6JY&ref=aftermath.site) after battling his way out of the dreaded losers’ bracket. As stress and adrenaline gave way to relief, Firestar73 stood up from his chair, threw off his headphones, raised his arms in a sort of victorious flexing motion, and then fist pumped for good measure. Immediately afterward, he politely shook his opponent’s hand. Considering the circumstances, this seemed like about what you’d expect from a driven but respectful competitor. However, the tournament’s staff went on to [deem Firestar73’s conduct “unsportsmanlike”](https://x.com/ItsAXN/status/2040924406827086032?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2040924406827086032%7Ctwgr%5Ea7b29a98e15ad8322668604e85d89efcca56f726%7Ctwcon%5Es1%5F&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dexerto.com%2Fpokemon%2Fpokemon-go-champion-stripped-of-title-for-celebrating-his-win-3347073%2F&ref=aftermath.site) and stripped him of his win. After having rigorously reviewed the footage, I submit the following question: Huh? Go ahead and watch for yourself: > After a long loser's bracket run, [@Firestar73\_](https://twitter.com/Firestar73%5F?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) wins a decisive game 5 to win the Orlando Regional Championship. Allegedly this celebration was unsportsmanlike, resulting in a game loss and giving NTC The win. I'm at a loss for words, I feel so bad for firestar. [pic.twitter.com/72l1RJO31v](https://t.co/72l1RJO31v?ref=aftermath.site) > > — AXN (@ItsAXN) [April 5, 2026](https://twitter.com/ItsAXN/status/2040924406827086032?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) The whole celebration lasts around five seconds and seems reasonable enough. I, too, would be pretty darn excited to win a tournament I was on the verge of flunking out of earlier in the day. So what, exactly, gives? It’s unclear. AXN, the 2023 *Pokémon Go* world champion, [said he heard](https://x.com/ItsAXN/status/2040925051286138983?ref=aftermath.site) that Firestar73 threw his headphones too hard. But also, my man’s hands were shaking from the aforementioned adrenaline and stress; I don’t think it’s fair to expect a pillow-soft touch from someone in that state. Barely anyone online agrees that Firestar73 deserved to feel the sweet taste of victory crumble to ashes in his mouth—including Firestar73\. In [a statement](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u21QCQk69j1evxfMAr494fJMi1450CQw/view?ref=aftermath.site) released over the weekend, he said that he has officially asked The Pokémon Company to reverse its decision: > I think that person \[responsible for the decision\] made a good-faith mistake. I am asking everyone involved: Please, DO NOT direct any harassment, threats, or ill will towards ANYONE involved in this. I don’t want to focus on who’s responsible for the past. I want to focus on the future—on why the result should rightly be changed. There are two main reasons. The first is that my celebration wasn’t unsportsmanlike in the context of our community’s history; it was the kind of celebration Play Pokémon repeatedly encouraged. And second, even if you assume my actions did cross the line to being unsportsmanlike, they still wouldn’t be the kind of actions that the Play Pokémon rules say can get you a one-game loss. For both of those reasons, I’m respectfully asking Play Pokémon to reverse its decision. Firestar73 went on to provide several examples of other *Pokémon Go* players who celebrated similarly—including headset throws—but did not face anything in the way of consequences. For example: And: “These celebrations are not outliers: Play Pokémon has told the community that this is the kind of emotion and celebration it wants its tournaments to evoke,” Firestar73 wrote. “It has repeatedly used Wdage’s celebration to illustrate the kind of excitement and emotion it wants its regional tournament victories to generate. It was part of a montage that was used in [multiple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkHApxJ8rkg&t=12987s&ref=aftermath.site) [regionals broadcasts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNbxVHmvzxs&ref=aftermath.site).” Aftermath reached out to The Pokémon Company to ask whether it plans to review or reverse the tournament results, but did not receive a reply as of this publishing. “I believe that the Tournament Organizer who ruled against me made a good-faith mistake,” wrote Firestar73\. “They probably don’t have the same exposure to our community’s history as the hundreds of dedicated trainers around the world who all disagree with the ruling. … It would not be an insult to the Tournament Organizer to overturn their decision; it would simply be an acknowledgement that someone who probably didn’t know as much about our community’s history was put in a difficult spot, tried to make the right decision, and just got it wrong.” ## Recommended [Pokémon Battle Patent Reexamination A ‘Disruption Of The Normal Status Quo,’ Says IP Law Expert - AftermathThe United States Patent and Trademark Office has ordered the reexamination of a controversial battling patent.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNicole Carpenter![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/pokemon_sv_quaxwell_1.png)](https://aftermath.site/uspto-pokemon-patent-reexamination/) ### The Pope Is Weak On Crime URL: https://aftermath.site/the-pope-is-weak-on-crime/ Last updated: 2026-04-13T14:12:06.000Z Have you noticed this? [Pope Leo is weak on crime](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116394704213456431?ref=aftermath.site). This is disappointing for all of us who believed that his [pro-prison platform](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/pope-criticizes-overcrowding-in-prisons-during-special-mass-for-detainees-guards-and-families?ref=aftermath.site) would make our streets safer. When I’m waiting for someone to come unlock the deodorant in the CVS–a necessity due to the rampant shoplifting, a very real concern I know for a fact the Pope shares–I can’t help but think, “The Pope promised to do something about this.” > Trump attacks the Pope in a Truth Social rant, calling him “weak” and attacking his views on foreign policy, Iran, and even his legitimacy as pontiff—claiming he wouldn’t be Pope if Trump weren’t president. > > — [MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xjc7mkotpenvhh6ffewkdpyn?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-13T01:13:28.674Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xjc7mkotpenvhh6ffewkdpyn/post/3mjdosfj4ps2b?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) You know what else? The Pope thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and he thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela. I was expecting a papacy [in favor of American nuclear supremacy](https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2022/08/23/carl-kabat-plowshares-243609/?ref=aftermath.site) and US [military interventions abroad](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/10/pope-leo-condemns-war-divine-backing-00867250?ref=aftermath.site). Where is the Pope who was so [tough on immigration](https://www.usccb.org/news/2025/pope-calls-treatment-migrants-us-extremely-disrespectful?ref=aftermath.site)? And like, I’m sure Leo is very [busy](https://religionnews.com/2026/04/13/pope-leo-says-he-does-not-fear-trump-citing-gospel-as-he-pushes-back-in-feud-over-iran-war/?ref=aftermath.site), but he can’t even take a moment to praise the Greatest Stock Market in History? Where are all those [pro-business priorities](https://www.denvercatholic.org/pope-francis-on-the-economy-capitalism-and-the-noble-vocation-of-business?ref=aftermath.site) I’ve come to expect of a Pope? All this flip-flopping has led some to suspect that Leo is only in the Vatican because he’s catering to the Radical Left. Did you know he wasn’t even on [any list](https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/nation-world/pope-who-is-eligible-conclave/507-3b45e28c-7952-414f-83a4-99c45257ec37?ref=aftermath.site) to be Pope? At times it almost feels personal, like the Pope’s whole m.o. is just to [stick it to President Trump](https://www.americamagazine.org/features/2025/11/11/catholics-authoritarianism-bishops-trump-maga/?ref=aftermath.site). This is especially galling given how Leo has followed in the [footsteps of his predecessor](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/23/pope-francis-jd-vance-meeting?ref=aftermath.site) in his [close relationship with JD Vance](https://www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/two-popes-rebuked-him-jd-vance-still?ref=aftermath.site). Real hot and cold, this guy. I don’t know about you, but I’m already thinking about the next papal election cycle, which will be here before you know it. The time has come for change, and every one of us can play a role. Make sure you’re registered to vote for Pope, so you can make your priorities heard at the polls. [Conclave Fandom Is The Religious Left - AftermathPope fever sweeps nation![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/size/w1200/2025/10/conched-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/pope-conclave-memes/) ### Tell Me A Story: Blue Prince Edition URL: https://aftermath.site/tell-me-a-story-blue-prince-edition/ Last updated: 2026-04-13T23:35:08.000Z Nothing turns me off a game faster than hearing you have to open up a notebook to really make sense of what you’re doing. So why am I obsessed with *Blue Prince*? I am extremely late to the *Blue Prince* train, I know. Part of that was because I was terrified of its puzzles. Whenever someone describes a game with puzzles as hard, or complex, or, most tellingly, that they will require me to take careful notes, I usually know that game isn’t going to be for me. My fear stems from the fact that I am bad at math, and eventually, every puzzle in a game like this will become a math puzzle. Let me just save myself from some future pain when I’m forced to do a series of complex calculations to unlock some kind of phlebotinum. Another reason I avoid these kinds of games is that I feel like notes about a video game is a waste of nice stationary. I journal in my journals! They’re all meant to house all my genius thoughts and nonsense rambles, the one place that is not consumed by my thoughts about video games. I know this is probably a problem unique to me—most people enjoy the tangible evidence of the time you spent figuring something out. It just feels like work to me. What helped me get over these two hesitations were two things. One, I didn’t realize the game was a roguelike. For some reason, the knowledge that I could spend a couple hours just fucking around, trying to figure out the broader rules of the puzzle before me while watching baseball, was a comfort. The other was the solution to my fear of wasting stationary: I grabbed it for the Switch 2, where it’s really easy to take a whole bunch of screenshots. I am not very good at this game, not yet. But it’s pretty cool to finally understand what made people love it. How about you guys? Have you played *Blue Prince*? Love the kinds of puzzles I abhor? A complete sicko for another type of game? I wanna hear it all. ### Why Nobody Can Be Normal About Hasan Piker URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/hasan-piker-twitch-politics-kat-abughazaleh/ Last updated: 2026-04-10T19:57:29.000Z Remember earlier this week when Donald Trump, whose brain is clearly as rotten as his soul, [threatened to annihilate an entire civilization](https://defector.com/i-guess-were-just-waiting-around-to-see-if-this-demented-psychopath-kills-everyone?ref=aftermath.site) in a single night? You would’ve expected Democratic politicians and media institutions—and maybe even a few Republicans—to do something, but many of them [had](https://bsky.app/profile/parkermolloy.com/post/3miz6n7iyck26?ref=aftermath.site) [stronger words](https://x.com/HasanabiProd/status/2041644687253971369?ref=aftermath.site) for a Twitch streamer who does not hold any sort of elected office than for the president of the United States. Why have so many alleged adults lost their minds over Hasan Piker, to the extent that they [had not](https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-twitch-ban-rick-scott-medicare-medicaid/) [already](https://aftermath.site/cuomos-latest-strategy-to-resuscitate-his-flatlining-campaign-go-after-zohran-mamdani-for-associating-with-a-twitch-streamer/)? On the latest [Aftermath Hours](https://aftermath.site/tag/aftermath-hours/), we get to the bottom of a mystery that—let’s face it—isn’t all that difficult to solve. This time around, we’re joined by journalist-turned-politician [Kat Abughazaleh](https://bsky.app/profile/katmabu.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site), who recently managed to [almost win a Democratic congressional primary](https://newrepublic.com/article/208099/kat-abughazaleh-mutual-aid-future?ref=aftermath.site) in Illinois despite odds being stacked against her. We discuss what she learned from her narrow defeat, both in terms of politics and an unexpected tool in her fundraising arsenal: [livestreaming on Twitch](https://aftermath.site/kat-abughazaleh-interview-twitch-stream-chicago-congress-indictment/). We also talk about her plans for the future now that she’s at least for the moment out of the political limelight and, of course, her great idea for a video game (it’s kinda like *Pikmin* or maybe *Untitled Goose Game*, except with cats). Then we move on to a subject near and debatably dear to Kat’s heart: politicians and mainstream media can’t be normal about Hasan Piker, just as they refused to be normal about her. The Democrats and hating their own increasingly prominent left flank—name a more iconic duo. Finally, we talk about our favorite ways to prepare the humble potato. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that we can turn Kat’s game idea(s) into an entire series. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Nathan:** Speaking of people not being able to be normal about you, the other subject I wanted to get to today is the way people treated you during the campaign and the way politicians and mainstream media are now reacting to other prominent leftists, like Hasan Piker. It’s truly wild that, the week Donald Trump threatened a nuclear holocaust, mainstream media was like “This Hasan guy, he said some stuff that we think is pretty objectionable. We should probably spend hours and hours talking about that.” **Kat:** The way that liberal centrist media has asked people if they condemn Hasan Piker is almost the same way that Palestinians were asked by random people “Do you condemn Hamas” as we were actively mourning our families a week after October 7\. It’s crazy. **Nathan:** Right. Do you condemn Hamas Piker? **Kat:** He’s just a guy! **Gita:** He streams, his head is tiny, and he’s nice. My dad literally watches Hasan Piker every single fucking day. I feel like if you actually sat down and watched the content, you’d understand what it is, which is trying to meet people—especially young men—where they are and talk to them about politics. On top of that, to act like the main source of bigotry on Twitch comes from Hasan Piker just drives me absolutely bonkers. Didn’t Asmongold get banned for a week once again? **Nathan:** For saying that he doesn’t “[give a fuck about the opinion of illiterate third worlders](https://x.com/Asmongold/status/2041352900635422834?ref=aftermath.site),” yeah. Which is not even close to the worst thing he’s said this year. But now Twitch is like “One week. That’ll show him.” **Kat:** \[Hasan and I\] literally spent, like, 30 minutes talking specifically about how Jewish and Palestinian lives are inextricable from each other and how the use of antisemitism is a way to punish free speech when you’re identifying with and cooperating with people who are pushing the Great Replacement conspiracy theory. That’s actually more dangerous to both Jewish and Palestinian people than anything else. **Gita:** It’s undeniably true that Israel’s actions have made the world less safe for Jews in the diaspora. **Kat:** So, so many Jewish people lose friends and family standing up for basic human rights, saying “Not in my fucking name.” The same goes for us: Not in my fucking name. Somebody in chat said “Piker’s getting primaried and he’s not even running.” **Gita:** He’s literally just hanging out most of the time. Today Laura Loomer posted a creep shot of him sleeping on a plane, and it’s like, yep, that guy had too many fajitas. What are you doing? **Kat:** I also love how much conservative men are always posting about him. Like, oh, you want to post about a famously hot leftist guy? **Nathan:** It’s also funny to watch everyone engage with that element of things. Because again, you’ll have all these people who are in media or in politics, and they will on their own, unprompted, bring up the fact that he’s hot. Because it’s hard to ignore. Out of nowhere, they’ll be like “You’ve gotta hand it to him: He is very good looking.” **Kat:** This used to be my thing, too. We would have \[people\] be like “The cute White House intern”—trying to talk about how my posts were approved by Joe Biden, someone who I definitely famously loved. But like, you didn’t have to put in “cute.” You didn’t have to add that in there. **Gita:** Every time a man talks about penis envy, they are talking about something that cis, straight, white men only really experience. They all have penis envy of Hasan Piker. They all wish they were in Hasan Piker’s body. They think he is wasting his attractiveness because he seems to be in a monogamous relationship happily and believes the things he believes. **Nathan:** Well yeah, he’s not out there looksmaxxing every day. He’s not in the looksmaxxing mines, beating himself in the head with a hammer. Why’s he not doing that? Doesn’t make any sense. For real, though, there was [a really good piece](https://stringinamaze.net/p/purity-politics-is-a-one-way-ratchet?ref=aftermath.site) written by Peter “One Half Of If Books Could Kill” Shamshiri about what’s been happening around Hasan. In it, he pointed to the fact that these days the centrist machine—especially if you look at, for example, the far-right figures Gavin Newsom podcasts with—is all about reaching across the aisle and collaborating with the right. But then those same politicians and media figures consider someone like Hasan, someone who’s further to the left, a pariah. Here’s a good paragraph from the piece: “The theme running through \[Cory\] Booker’s apparent hypocrisy is pretty clear. His concern is not expanding the coalition, nor is it having conversations with controversial figures. His actual concern is disciplining the left flank of the party by keeping them in a perpetual state of weakness. This is how the center of the Democratic Party keeps the left at bay. They forge alliances to their right and leave the left isolated from power. Convening with the right is practical politics; convening with the left is beyond the pale.” ## Recommended [The Twitch Streamer Is Not The Problem - AftermathDon’t take the bait![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/scott-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-twitch-ban-rick-scott-medicare-medicaid/) [Cuomo’s Latest Strategy To Resuscitate His Flatlining Campaign: Go After Zohran Mamdani For Associating With A Twitch Streamer - AftermathAndrew Cuomo’s latest attempt to jumpstart his raspy, dying cough of a campaign? Concern trolling over Mamdani’s stream with Hasan Piker.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/hasan5-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/cuomos-latest-strategy-to-resuscitate-his-flatlining-campaign-go-after-zohran-mamdani-for-associating-with-a-twitch-streamer/) [I Can’t Believe We’re Still Talking About This - AftermathThe controversy around Hasan Piker’s dog is a product of a stupid, sick internet that’s getting worse by the day.![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/hasandog-1.png)](https://aftermath.site/hasan-piker-dog-collar-kaya-nontroversy-twitch/) ### I Love My Ex Libris Stamp URL: https://aftermath.site/ex-libris-rubber-stamp-casey-books/ Last updated: 2026-04-10T17:55:38.000Z I cannot go into a bookstore without buying two books. It’s like a curse. I will approach a bookstore and say to myself, "I'm just looking, I don't need more books,” and then walk out of there with two books under my arm. I own so many more books than I’ll ever read at this point—but one thing that’s made it at least easier to keep track of my growing library is my ritual of stamping my name inside them. You see, last year I was on a date in the East Village with my husband, and he spotted a small, weird store and convinced me to follow him inside. Although I wasn’t sure it was open—according to their website, [Casey Rubber Stamps keeps “East Village Artist Hours”](https://www.caseyrubberstamps.com/?ref=aftermath.site) which means they are often open late or at random times—once inside I felt like I had been transported into a kind of store that I used to only think existed in fiction. I was surrounded by rubber stamps of all kinds. Stamps of cats, typewriters, naked ladies, lightbulbs, letters, numbers, phrases, everything you could possibly want and more in the catalogue. The store itself was cramped and dusty, every inch of its surfaces covered in rubber stamps and their paraphernalia (ink pads, scratch paper, blank postcards). It was magic. My husband and I knew we couldn’t leave Casey Rubber Stamp empty handed. So we both created custom stamps—another service they offer—for our growing shared library. The two of us haven’t sorted through all our books yet to know which ones came from him and which ones are mine, but at the very least we can stamp all our new purchases. “Ex libris” is latin for “from the library of.” At Casey Rubber Stamps, you have the option to combine a selection of pre-made images that say “ex libris” with your own name, which they will put together in the store. While they’re not custom in that I’m sure someone else out there selected the same image as me, this ex libris stamp is mine, all mine. My stamp is pretty simple, depicting a naked witch (or I like to imagine) leaping from the pages of a book above my name in a gothic script. Every new book I buy now feels more acutely mine. I have a *library*, not just a series of piles of unread books. And if I ever get rid of these books, they’ll have a history—they came from my collection and now belong to someone else’s. And if I must live surrounded by stamps of books I’ve half finished or will never start, at the very least I have made them interactive in some small way. Sitting down with a pile of new books and stamping them with my name until my fingers are covered in ink is so comforting. It’s almost as good as actually reading them. ### The Long Dark's Final Episode Brings Story And Survival Together URL: https://aftermath.site/long-dark-wintermute-episode-5-review/ Last updated: 2026-04-13T23:09:42.000Z Wintermute, the narrative part of survival game *The Long Dark*, released its fifth and final episode last week, nearly [10 years](https://kotaku.com/the-long-darks-new-story-has-problems-but-the-game-is-1797685109?ref=aftermath.site) after the beginning of the story first premiered. This week, I received a Kickstarter update for the game, which I backed in 2013, telling me that studio Hinterland “now consider our promise to deliver the game complete.” I was surprised both to receive an update for a Kickstarter I’d honestly forgotten about, and to imagine a world where *The Long Dark* could ever be considered finished. Wintermute’s story episodes might have been far between, but Hinterland has been consistently adding new things to the survival sandbox, including a small narrative as part of paid DLC. The studio hasn’t said what, if anything, from the latest story episode will make its way to survival, but I and many other players assume it will be *something*, because it feels like there’s always *something* coming to the game: a new area, a new mechanic, some tweak that puts wolves where you wish there weren’t wolves or makes the snow look nicer. Hinterland is working on a multiplayer sequel, but even then it’s hard to imagine the book being fully closed on a game that’s been a staple of my game-playing life for the last 13 years, even as I think it’d be more than fair for the developers to be ready to move on to new things. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Wintermute: I was first drawn to *The Long Dark* for its promises of cold weather and granular survival mechanics rather than any story set in that world. I’ve called the story a good place for newcomers to learn some of the game’s maps and mechanics, which can be difficult to wrap your head around against the requirements of survival. But Wintermutealso does a good job explaining some of survival’s place-names and giving you context for the geomagnetic storm that sets up its premise. And it’s largely risen to the challenge of merging survival gameplay with its narrative, telling a story that still has the unique, slow feel that I love about *The Long Dark*. The core premise of the five episodes is that doctor Astrid Greenwood asks her ex-husband Will Mackenzie to fly her to a remote location called Perseverance Mills to deliver some medicine secreted in a hard case, when their plane comes down during an aurora and they’re separated. Will has to find Astrid, while Astrid continues on her mysterious mission, all while the both of them face the harsh environment of the northern Canadian wilderness and threats from various other survivors. The first two episodes, released in 2017, were heavy on Will being sent on fetch-and-gather quests for NPCs that sometimes felt at odds with the game’s survival needs and pace, and players chafed against it so much that in 2018, Hinterland [overhauled](https://www.thelongdark.com/news/episodes-one-and-two-redux-survival-mode-update/?ref=aftermath.site) the two episodes and released a “redux” version to address some of their complaints. This was followed by a [third episode](https://kotaku.com/the-long-darks-third-episode-gives-you-people-to-live-f-1839268049?ref=aftermath.site) in 2019 starring Astrid, which felt to me like it really got the balance of story and survival right, and a fourth in [2021](https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Episode%5F4:%5FFury,%5FThen%5FSilence?ref=aftermath.site) where you play as Will again. I’ll be honest that I haven’t played episode 4, opting instead to watch a [playthrough](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgcdR12Xnds&ref=aftermath.site) right before the release of episode 5\. This was partly due to time constraints, and partly because episode 4’s antagonists are escaped convicts from the game’s Blackrock prison. As someone who’s worked with incarcerated people and as a chaplain in a Boston jail, I’ve never felt totally comfortable with narratives like this, even if the game sets up that people in Blackrock have committed particularly heinous crimes. Convict ringleader Mathis is played immensely well by Elias Toufexis, and the convicts drive a lot of episode 5’s urgency. **(Spoilers for Wintermuteepisode 5 follow, though I try to keep it vague.)** Luckily for me, while the convicts play a big role in episode 5’s story, much of the actual gameplay doesn’t have a ton to do with them, or features them without focusing on them too much. You begin the story as Astrid finally arriving at Perseverance Mills, and you’re swiftly sent out into a big new wilderness that’s tense to explore. The next part of this section features another new, creepy environment, and it all feels like the blend of exploration and story that Wintermuteis uniquely challenged with but often gets right. When you’re Will again, you navigate a mine with some puzzles that call back to episode 4, and even if I had to start this chapter again due to [bad save choices](https://aftermath.site/video-game-save-files/), and then a few more times in the mine due to [technical issues that are now patched](https://www.reddit.com/r/thelongdark/comments/1sg9h6f/episode%5Ffive%5Fhotfix%5F1%5Fjust%5Fdropped%5Fand%5Fits%5Fa%5Fbig/?ref=aftermath.site), it’s an interesting section, further developing Will’s relationship with another scientist and giving you a companion to explore the game’s world with. It’s all pretty linear, and that linearity defines much of the rest of the episode, where Will and then Astrid are essentially funneled down corridors full of uniquely nasty enemies. I found these sections tough in a good way, with their own particular pressures and challenges that forced me to rely on my own decision-making even if most everything was set out for me. But they also tamper with some of *The Long Dark*’s essential mechanics and rhythms in a way that has rankled some players, who see them as counter to the core, open spirit of the game. Hinterland was clear that [episode 5 would be focused on wrapping up the story](https://www.thelongdark.com/news/dev-diary-march-2026/?ref=aftermath.site); it knows what it wants to tell you, and has designed the episode to make sure you experience that rather than letting you get there in the personal, freeform way players define for themselves in survival. It feels *different* from what I expect *The Long Dark* to be, but this has always been one of the tricky things about handing a narrative to players who might have tens to thousands of hours of doing whatever they want in a survival sandbox. There’s a vocal number of players on the subreddit who feel angry and betrayed by some of the things episode 5 does, and this conflict touches on one of the interesting things the game has [long grappled with](https://kotaku.com/inside-the-long-dark-1840052958?ref=aftermath.site): how to navigate the line between what players want and the game and story Hinterland wants to create, whether that’s how the story episodes work or what’s present in survival. How does a game that promises so much freedom, whose sandbox is predicated on players forging their own objectives and being ([more or less](https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Trader?ref=aftermath.site)) the only person in the world, adequately prepare players for the *opposite* experience, one where the developers are doing their own thing and it’s the player who’s along for the ride? I’ve been surprised by some of the ire I’ve seen on the game’s subreddit, even as I don’t disagree with some of the criticism. This kind of discourse is nothing new in games, but it feels to me like it takes a particular tenor around *The Long Dark*. The game had a long early access period, and the episodes 1 and 2 redux and the constant updates to the survival sandbox have all, not totally incorrectly, given some players a sense of ownership over the game. But how far does a player community’s feedback extend? How does, and how much should, a developer please a playerbase that has, impressively, helped keep an indie studio with one relatively niche game in business for 13 years while still staying true to its own vision? I think *The Long Dark* itself plays with this tension in the sandbox, casting you as a lone survivor as many similar games do but then bucking the trend of letting you come to dominate the natural world. The most common advice to new players is to get comfortable with dying a lot. You can’t build shelter outside of temporary snow huts from cloth and sticks; your gear degrades and your food goes bad and wounded animals run off with your arrows; it’s possible for a blizzard or wild animal attack to end your run no matter how well-equipped you are. There are plenty of high-level players who can survive forever, but it’s through their own skill and knowledge rather than through any increasing power the game gives you. *The Long Dark* is about doing what you can with the situation in front of you; it’s not a power fantasy, despite its setup. You can survive in its world, but that world will never belong to you. So on the one hand you’d think players who felt the story didn’t do what they wanted it to would be primed to engage with it on its on own terms, but on the other hand I can see how years of making their own game-within-the-game and of developers responding to their feedback would give them a personal-feeling stake in how things play out. It’s another sign of the challenge Hinterland set itself by creating these two vastly different pieces of the game, and of releasing them at such a different pace. This conflict between survival and story also feels present in the note episode 5 ends on. It takes a bit of a logic-defying leap to get there that’s been the focus of some players’ disappointment, though I saw this as not so out of step with how plenty of media deals with challenges that are more practical than they are narrative. The final note the story hits is about how its characters will come together or not to face the future, focusing more on their relationships than the game’s frozen setting, and leaving Wintermuteon a question for the player about their own behavior in times of crisis. “How will we survive? As individuals, as a species? Will we? Should we?” the game’s final voiceover asks. “When push came to shove and we were tested, was this really the best we could do?” It’s a different embodiment of the question asked of players in survival, where their “best” is a question about living in the natural world rather than the human one. But while *The Long Dark* is on its face a man-versus-nature tale, the survival sandbox doesn’t cast nature as an enemy in the way the story characters do the convicts. You find your place in nature in survival; in Wintermute’s ending, characters find their places in the new society that’s forming. This question of human togetherness is an interesting one for a game whose practical bulk is about being alone. I’ve written before that one of the reasons I bounce off Wintermuteis that it just feels weird to have *people* in the places I’m so used to being alone in. But even as the only human character, people are always present in the survival game: in their actual bodies frozen in the snow, in the things they left behind, in the names of places that pop up on your screen when you discover them. Even before people lived in the Pleasant Valley town of Thomson’s Crossing in Wintermuteepisode 3, they felt present to me in survival as I set up a solo existence in a place designed for multiple people. Abandoned canneries and mines hint at lost work; deer blinds and hunting cabins hint at recreation that I now use for my own survival. The solitude of the sandbox counter-intuitively makes people feel closer, and, for me, Wintermute’s ending brought into focus this feeling that I often have in survival but rarely look directly at. In my real life, I’ve had this same feeling on my solo bike trips: the way traveling alone on a road made for cars makes me more aware of the man-made contours of civilization, the way social interactions take on new meaning when I encounter strangers without the mediation of society. The size and speed of the world changes when I’m navigating it under my own power, and I become aware of how much I depend on others but also how much I can do on my own, how the rhythms of train schedules or the price of gas are just human things layered atop the actual rocks and grass of the Earth. But I’ve also been rescued by friends and strangers when my own abilities failed me, or encountered people on their own adventures or living in the margins that gave me bigger insight into the human world. Both are different experiences of how people live and how we live together, a reminder of the unlikeliness and fragility of all of us being here at the same time. Both Wintermuteand survival capture different notes of this. *The Long Dark* is a game I go to when I’m feeling overwhelmed by people or life and just want to feel *alone* somewhere. But it’s also a game I go to when I’m lonely, where its rhythms and solitude help me reconnect with the fundamentals all people share living in the world. In its ending, Wintermute brings together both these feelings, exploring how the line between being alone and being together can be thinner than we sometimes think. Wintermute’s ending feels like an obvious setup for upcoming sequel [*Blackfrost*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1586260/BLACKFROST%5FThe%5FLong%5FDark%5F2/?ref=aftermath.site), which the studio says will feature both solo and co-op play. But it also doesn’t feel like the end of *The Long Dark*– studio founder Raphael van Lierop told [Eurogamer](https://www.eurogamer.net/long-dark-wintermute-episode-five-release?ref=aftermath.site) that episode 5’s release is “not *the* end, but also *an* end.” It feels strange to me to be able to look at the game as some kind of whole, even if just last night I was watching videos about in-game areas I’ve yet to see despite my hundreds of hours in its world. It’s a game I don’t imagine ever being done with, even if its story is finally complete. ### Gunzilla CEO Posts Deranged Rant On Twitter, Disputing His Workers' Pay Claims And Attacking 'Haters' URL: https://aftermath.site/gunzilla-off-the-grid-pay-web3/ Last updated: 2026-04-12T07:16:27.000Z After[ multiple claims were made this week that Gunzilla, the studio behind NFT shooter *Off The Grid* and parent company of Game Informer, hadn't been paying its workers for months](https://aftermath.site/gunzilla-gunz-gun-off-the-grid-game-informer/), Gunzilla's CEO has taken the opportunity to post a lengthy rant on Twitter, decrying his “dear haters” and asking anyone who doubts his studio's game to...spend crypto on it so they can see its user metrics. To provide some context for what you're about to read: Gunzilla is *very* into Web3 shit (*Off The Grid* has its own token), and so when you see CEO Vlad Korolev spending the bulk of a rant defending the merits of Web3 and using terms like[ FUD (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt)](https://crypto.com/au/glossary/fud?ref=aftermath.site) in what's essentially an official company statement, you need to know he's coming from a very cooked place. Korolev's[ full statement](https://x.com/VladK133/status/2042223095155392526??ref=aftermath.site) (emphasis mine) reads: > While people who have never played OTG and have never built a business sit and spread FUD to farm a few views — targeting the biggest web3 game ever created, a game that represents not only itself but the entire web3 gaming industry in front of traditional gaming — we will keep building for the millions of players who actually love our product. > > And we are deeply grateful for that support. Many choose to show it by becoming paid OTG Pro subscribers (100k users signed in 2025 alone). > > Every single day, 3,000 new players join OTG. > > And for those still spreading FUD — we’re happy to set up a live dashboard so you can see every new player joining in real time. > > Access will cost you 100k GUN — so you can finally put real weight behind your words. > > Through all of the noise, OTG now has the highest player retention we have ever seen — 2.5x higher than in October 2024, reaching industry-record D1 retention. > > A year ago, the same voices were claiming the game didn’t have enough players for fast matchmaking. Since then, we have launched multiple new modes — Ranked, Solos, and Custom — something that is only possible with a rapidly growing player base. > > The same haters who posted thousands of times that we would never appear on Xbox, PlayStation, or Steam — were wrong. It happened. > > We are now the only web3 game to date available on PlayStation and Xbox. > > They said we wouldn’t ship the narrative campaign — we already shipped it to players in Q3 last year, and we keep expanding it with every new seasonal update. > > They said we wouldn’t keep delivering — yet every single month we ship more updates, more features, and more content. > > Just open our YouTube channel — the track record is public. > > Haters keep making predictions. > > We keep delivering. > > OTG is a game built by a company of over 400 people, developed over 6 years, where the founders invested tens of millions of dollars before raising a single dollar externally. > > **Within 6 years, there has never been a single day where anyone worked in a “work-life balance” mode — it has been a day-and-night fight to ship a project of the scale of Call of Duty, built by an independent studio.** > > And we made it. > > Through top streamers, we put a web3 game in front of hundreds of millions — doing more for this space than anyone. > > Off The Grid today is not just part of web3 gaming — it defines it, whether some people like it or not. Being named Web3 Game of the Year two years in a row. > > **Today there is a new narrative from haters — that Gunzilla incorrectly laid off contractors or paid them with delays.** > > **Yes, we are optimizing costs — like every company in gaming, crypto, and tech is doing right now. We have been doing this for over a year.** > > **And yes, to not disrupt company operations, some payments may be scheduled in a way that works for the company’s cash flow — not always for everyone individually. That’s the reality of the world we live in.** > > **But to protect the interests of our players and our full-time official employees — whose salaries, over 6 years, have never been delayed by more than a week — we operate at a pace that ensures the company continues moving forward.** > > And of course, we honor every obligation. > > We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. > > It’s also worth noting that one of the loudest voices — a contractor who finished working with us just a week ago — was repaid immediately. > > OTG has been live for over 1.5 years, and we’re still here — despite how much some people would love to see otherwise. Sorry, we won’t be giving you that privilege. > > And while our dear haters keep trying to find new reasons why Gunzilla should fail — we will keep responding with achievements. > > Including being recognized by one of the most reputable business media outlets in the world as one of the most innovative companies in gaming in 2026 — for bringing new life into the largest printed gaming magazine in the world, Game Informer, which we continue to grow day by day. My man, if you are straight up admitting that you are proud to be crunching on a Web3 game, and that you are not paying your workers on time but that it's OK because they're just contractors, I am not a "hater", I think you can get straight in the fucking bin. ### Witch Hat Atelier Is About Having Hope In An Insane World URL: https://aftermath.site/witch-hat-atelier-manga-anime-kodansha-kamome-shirihama-magic-school/ Last updated: 2026-04-10T17:58:17.000Z Kamome Shirihama's wonderful manga *Witch Hat Atelier* is a riff on the *Harry Potter* magical school novel. And it is also about the joys of pedagogy, of both teaching and learning a craft. What most attracts me to this story, though, is that it is about trying to do the right thing in a world that feels completely insane. If you’d like to go into *Witch Hat Atelier* completely blind, you should probably stop reading here. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/witch-hat-atelier-1.png) Witch Hat Atelier/Kodansha Coco, the young main character of *Witch Hat Atelier*, learns the secret of magic in a pretty traumatic way. Although the world believes that you can only use magic if you were born a witch, in actuality, all you need is a special ink to draw a series of magical sigils. Coco learns this by drawing a sigil that encases her mother and her home in crystal, only escaping because the witch Qifrey happens to be in the area. Coco joins Qifrey’s Atelier—his boarding school where he takes on apprentice witches—and learns how to draw magical symbols. As much as I love the narrative and characters, what deepens this story beyond just another post-*Potter* magical school narrative is the nature of the masquerade. In *Harry Potter*, a terrible but immensely popular book series written by [the human embodiment of pure evil](https://www.theverge.com/report/901818/hbo-harry-potter-jk-rowling-transphobia?ref=aftermath.site), magical society lives in the shadows of normal society. Magical people know about non-magical people, but they don’t interact much. If a non-magical person sees magic being done, they have their memories of that moment erased. This all seems a little fucked up—and there are cases of the memory-erasing spell driving people insane—but it’s kind of accepted that this is just How Things Go and any alternative would be unthinkable. A lot of magical school novels have this general approach to the separation of societies. There’s a world behind this world, and never the twain shall meet. For Coco in *Witch Hat Atelier*, every new thing she learns about how the secret of magic is kept from the world makes magic seem a little bit more terrifying. In this world, witches and non-magical people live in the same society, though everyone non-magical believes that you have to be born a witch to use magic. It’s a mostly harmonious world, in broad strokes. Witches, in fact, often help with natural disasters or repairing infrastructure, and Qifrey insists that all spells that have not been forbidden are ones used to make people happy. The spells that *have* been forbidden are ones used as weapons, and specifically, all magic used to change the human body, including healing magic. In the past—and it’s ambiguous how long ago it was, which always sends a shiver down my spine—magic used to be used for war, and the world was constantly in a state of violence. The witches carried out a pact with the non-magical kingdoms of the world, one those kingdoms no longer remember, to erase the knowledge of how magic is used from everyone other than those who can be trusted not to use it for violence. The human kingdoms, in the present day of the story, covet magic but also now believe that magic can only be used by born witches. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/witch-hat-atelier-2.png) Anyone who comes in contact with forbidden magic or the secret of how to do magic has their memories erased—not just memories of the magic used, but all of their memories. Pretty much every character acknowledges that this is a fate worse than death, that after memory erasure you cannot ever be the person you were before, that that person has effectively died. This is a punishment carried out for both the users of forbidden magic but also the *victims* of that magic. There is no trial or judgement—it’s a sentence immediately dispensed by the magical Knights Moralis, who act as judge, jury and memory obliviator. Coco had been under threat of having all her memories erased for the crime of curiosity, and several characters make that very clear to her. She is grateful for the chance to learn magic and to make amends. But the world that they live in is fucking crazy. Coco, who can’t be much older than 12 or 13, is forced to reconcile two opposing truths in a way that clearly causes her emotional distress: that things are better than they used to be but also that the solution is far from perfect. On the one hand, before the pact, the entire world was clearly in chaos. The few times the reader sees magic used to transform bodies it’s horrific. One character has their body transformed into a wolf, the sigils tattooed on his skin. Another simply explodes into chunks of meat mid sentence. On the other hand, given what magic can do, the witches are kind of holding a gun to the head of the entire world. As part of the pact, witches can’t learn medicine or about the science of the human body, but it’s clearly an uneven trade. These guys can fly, instantly purify water, and summon fire from nothing, but sure, if they get a cold they’re fucked. Being an empathetic but naive child, Coco is most acutely distressed by the inability to use magic to heal, let alone use forbidden magic to save her mother. When she sees a character succumb to that temptation, she sits down on the ground and cries. “Because none of this is your fault,” she says, wiping her tears and snot into her sleeve, “but you still have to suffer.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/witch-hat-atelier-3.png) Witch Hat Atelier/Kodansha By taking all the implications of its setting seriously, *Witch Hat Atelier* becomes a rich and layered story. It’s also one I cannot stop thinking about, given that my country is being steered into hell by an aspiring dictator with dementia. This week I sat for eight hours holding my breath, wondering whether or not the President actually meant it when he said he was going to destroy an entire civilization. I don’t know how many times I can do that before I have a heart attack. There’s gotta be a world *after* this madness, somehow. It makes me empathize with those old witches, who came to a deeply imperfect solution to stop the world from destroying itself. And yet, Coco, our little witch, is still striving towards justice. She vows to save her mother, her friends, the entire world, but the *right* way, without using forbidden magic. That she even believes that’s possible is an inspiration for other characters, like her Master Qifrey, who have grown jaded after butting up against the margins of magical society. Maybe that’s the privilege afforded to the young, those who have not yet had their hearts broken by the world. I have found that it’s easy to slip into cynicism, especially when the world *has* been unfair to you. Qifrey was *also* a young victim of forbidden magic, set to have his memories erased and saved by the mercy of the witch who would become his teacher. He is deeply acquainted with the unfairness of the world and also knows it has tainted him—he carries a darkness inside himself that he doesn’t let the students see. Because the narrative is both a story about teaching and the harsh realities of adulthood all at once, you can see how Coco’s moral center, her strength against the world’s horrors, inspires Qifrey to be a better teacher. He wants to be worthy of the faith she puts in him. When the two are in mortal peril, Qifrey pledges to protect Coco, whatever path she chooses, and it's her selflessness that surprises him. “Of course she neither fled to safety, nor rushed ahead to her own goals. She flies for those who stand before her, those in urgent need,” Qifrey thinks to himself while watching her. “This is the kind of witch you are.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/witch-hat-atelier-4.png) Witch Hat Atelier/Kodansha This is a magical school story that fully embeds in its narrative conceits. Its teachers are full people—some Masters are incredibly cruel, and even the good ones are flawed or biased towards their own ways of looking at the world. The world they are preparing their students for is hard, unfair in a way that will make them doubt the teachings of the adults around them, but they still try. The world of magic is just as fucked up as our normal, non-magical world. There is no solution for all the world’s ills that does not come with a price. Still, we have to live in this world, and I think *Witch Hat Atelier* makes a good argument for not succumbing to cynicism. Sometimes, you get to discover things again through the eyes of people younger than you. ### My Screw Extraction Pliers Are A Loyal Friend URL: https://aftermath.site/engineer-pz-58-best-pliers-screw-extraction-neji-saurus/ Last updated: 2026-04-10T16:07:39.000Z I often look around my house and see countless little tools that have made my life meaningfully better. Sometimes these get turned into a grandiose blog, but often they are straightforward and there isn’t much to explain. One of those tiny, unsexy little tools is a pair of pliers, the PZ-58 Neji-saurus by the Japanese company Engineer. It is not to be confused with the different Chinese company of the same name that sells tools for electrical engineering on Aliexpress that are shockingly good and dirt cheap. The Neji-saurus will grip on to anything, and I am shocked at how often I use them. They are my favorite pliers by a wide margin. ![An image taken from the Engineer website showing various pliers.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/image.png) The whole lineup. Credit: [Engineer](https://www.engineertools-jp.com/screwremoval?ref=aftermath.site) Engineer sells several models of screw extraction pliers: tools designed to remove stripped and damaged screws that have been rusted beyond salvation. [The PS-78s](https://www.engineertools-jp.com/product-page/pz-78-screw-removal-pliers-el?ref=aftermath.site) are more expensive and feature a crimper for bare wire terminals. The [PZ-60](https://www.engineertools-jp.com/product-page/pz-60-screw-removal-pliers-z?ref=aftermath.site) are longer and get into hard-to-reach places. But the [PZ-58s](https://www.engineertools-jp.com/product-page/pz-58-screw-removal-pliers-gt?ref=aftermath.site) are the ones I have, well-built and with a grip that won’t quit. The way they do this is simple – by having bidirectional serrations facing opposite directions and a curved tip. These tiny details make the grip you get on rusted parts feel godly; screws just fly off like magic. The handle never slips in your hand, and it even features a wire cutter at the base of the clamp, meaning you don’t have to reach for a pair of flush cutters as often as you normally would. ![A pair of Neji-saurus on a wood floor, its teeth exposed.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/closeup.jpg) This bad boy will chomp down on screws no problem. The Neji-saurus has been a buddy to me in countless situations over the last year. I have used it almost every single time I have done repair on [my candy cab](https://aftermath.site/oh-no-i-bought-a-candy-cab/) (I swear I’m almost done). When the screws that came with the Arctic P14s for [my DIY air filter proved weak and anemic](https://aftermath.site/3d-printing-air-purifier-corsi-rosenthal/), I used it to screw those bad boys in. When I needed to shut off the water in my toilet and discovered that the shutoff valve had been removed, these things handled that no problem. You do need to be slightly careful when using them, as they can tear something up if you aren’t careful, but when that’s not a going concern, which is often in DIY situations, the PZ-78s are my buddy. There are other pairs of screw extraction pliers out there now. I’m sure I could compare all of them and offer a complex meta-analysis of which one is the best. But also, I have no reason to go beyond my Neji-saurus, which I paid slightly over 20 bucks for. They are a wonderful product that you can be happy with for years, a level of price to performance that is perfectly satisfying. Engineer also achieved this feat with the [SS-02/SS-03 ](https://www.engineertools-jp.com/product-page/ss-03-solder-sucker?ref=aftermath.site)solder sucker, the desoldering hand pump that has loyally served countless DIY electronics nerds over the years with its iconic metal body and anodized red plunger cap. Let’s give it up for Engineer; those rusted ass screws won’t know what hit them. ### Gunzilla, The Company That Owns Game Informer, Has Reportedly Not Paid Some Developers For Months URL: https://aftermath.site/gunzilla-gunz-gun-off-the-grid-game-informer/ Last updated: 2026-04-09T22:48:33.000Z Gunzilla is a studio best known for two things: being the developers behind the NFT-focused shooter *Off The Grid*, and also being the company[ that bought Game Informer and helped bring the magazine back from the dead](https://aftermath.site/game-informer-gunzilla/). Earlier today stories on[ Insider Gaming](https://insider-gaming.com/gunzilla-games-not-paying-staff/?ref=aftermath.site) and[ Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/gunzilla-nft-battle-royale-game-accused-of-not-paying-staff-for-months-game-informer-2000685847?ref=aftermath.site) detailed several accounts from Gunzilla employees on Linkedin, with those workers--some of whom have been there for over five years--reporting that they've stopped being paid, some for weeks, others for *months*. Artist Andrew Snitsar wrote on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7447312007797637120?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7447312007797637120%2C7447366100079591424%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd%5Fcomment%3A%287447366100079591424%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7447312007797637120%29&ref=aftermath.site) that he had “Never experienced anything like it before. I trusted their promises because we were ‘family’ and now they owe me 5 months’ worth of salary. What a shame, can’t believe I was so dumb". Vladyslav Makarevych, who works in QA, [wrote](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7447312007797637120?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7447312007797637120%2C7447334125490933760%29&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd%5Fcomment%3A%287447334125490933760%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7447312007797637120%29&ref=aftermath.site) that he has been "Working there for almost a year now, and last salary I got was in September. Half a year without salary during wartime isn’t exactly what I was hoping for." Missing one person's pay, one time, is a payroll error. This many people not being paid for months suggests there are serious financial troubles at the studio, despite Gunzilla having raised[ over $100 million across six different funding rounds](https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/22182669144290?ref=aftermath.site). The company[ conducted two rounds of layoffs throughout 2025](https://www.gamereactor.eu/gunzilla-games-confirms-new-round-of-layoffs-1571163/?ref=aftermath.site). [*Off The Grid* is a battle royale shooter that has an NFT marketplace](https://kotaku.com/off-the-grid-review-nft-blockchain-crypto-gunz-gunzilla-1851786579?ref=aftermath.site), albeit one that's only active on the Epic Game Store. It dropped into Early Access in 2024 before a proper release (on both PC and consoles, where you *can't* trade NFTs) in 2025. While Game Informer operates as a separate company, one that has its own revenue streams through advertising and magazine sales, we've contacted the publication for comment. **UPDATE April 9**: *Game Informer tells Aftermath "our work and pay have continued without issue".* ### 'We Needed To Do Something That Would Subvert Expectations': An Interview With Ryan Lott And Chase Combs About Marathon's Incredible Soundtrack URL: https://aftermath.site/marathon-bungie-soundtrack-ryan-lott/ Last updated: 2026-04-10T06:50:56.000Z [*Marathon* has taken over the office here at Aftermath](https://aftermath.site/marathon-bungie-extraction-shooter-durandal/). It's a game for sickos, and if we are anything, we are sickos. I haven't seen anything like it since we started this company; people here keep talking about it, are always playing together, we've even got a great *Marathon* community going on in our Discord. [Sadly I have not been quite as swept up](https://aftermath.site/bungie-marathon-singleplayer/), but just because I'm not playing *Marathon* doesn't mean I can't love it, for any of many reasons: its blinding visual identity, sure, as well as the general premise that despite the boardroom-driven roots in the decision to set Bungie to work on a multiplayer-only extraction shooter, *Marathon* is actually a game for very specific people to go very hard on. I respect that deeply. What I love most about *Marathon*, though, is its soundtrack, which I simply cannot stop listening to. Even divorced from the game as it is for me, blaring through my desktop speakers on an almost daily basis, it's a fantastic (double) album in its own right, a collection of haunting space bangers that I've been playing all month long, despite the fact I have no other personal attachment to the game or each track's place in it. Then again, maybe I'm not divorced from the game. When I see the cover art every time [I click play in Apple Music](https://aftermath.site/cancel-spotify-wrapped-ai-ceo-apple-music/), and then for the entire time the albums are playing, I'm thinking about *Marathon*. About its typography, its colour palette, its sound effects, its menus. And I don't even play the game, I'm just thinking about it while some music plays. What kind of audio sensory witchcraft is this? Having not been this moved by a video game soundtrack since[ *Black Flag*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw0mldfLWQs&ref=aftermath.site) and[ *Mirror's Edge*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkm0G-NTV4w&list=RDnkm0G-NTV4w&start%5Fradio=1&ref=aftermath.site) (funnily enough, another lightning-fast first-person game whose soundtrack was an electronic masterpiece), and wanting to talk about it with everyone I could find to talk to, I thought who *better* to talk about it with than the person who made it, composer and musician Ryan Lott, and the audio director for the game it came from, Chase Combs. **Hey guys, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us. Let's start at the start: at what point in *Marathon*'s development did you come on board?** **Ryan Lott:** I have no idea how far into the process I was invited in because games take years and years to develop and I'm honestly not sure how much was in the works before I joined the conversation. But I know that there was no gameplay to see yet. It was all concept art and narrative and lore, but that was plenty to get me going, especially given how inspiring it all was. **Chase Combs:** There were early music ideas that predated me, but I didn’t want something too conventional and expected. We needed to do something different—something that would subvert expectations. I knew I wanted to take a less traditional approach and find ways to blur the line between score and sound. **So Ryan, by the time you came onboard, how much were you able to shape things? Was it a case of Bungie already having a clear vision for the soundtrack in place, and you were going to execute on that, or were you able to take a look at what they were cooking and give your own input?** **Ryan Lott:** Right from the jump, Chase on behalf of Bungie was extremely open to hearing what I wanted to do, what I thought would be possible, and what I thought would be worth exploring. And for me, the opportunity to discover in the creative process is a nonnegotiable. I'm not interested in coming into a project to solve a math equation that has one right answer, that everybody knows but haven't found yet. I'm really only interested in discovering unknown truths, unexplored possibilities, and the kind of world building that *Marathon* needed was the perfect opportunity to work those sort of muscles and to have that kind of experience.Throughout the creative process, I got great feedback from my partners at Spider Farm, who did all of the implementation and figuring out the mechanics of how all of this music was going to function. And so I also owe them my gratitude for helping me discover a lot of things I'm really, really happy with in the score that maybe I wouldn't have were it not for their feedback and their encouragement. The whole process was a joy because there was a ton of trust, and because I was liberated from the burden of having to figure out how it was all going to work in the game. Spider Farm was a great collaborator, essential for keeping me in the purely creative headspace. **From your side of that, Chase, how did things go bringing Ryan into the fold for the first time, introducing him to the game's vision?** **Chase Combs**: I’m not a composer, so in our first phone call with Ryan, we talked about tone, texture, and emotion. He immediately got the concept, and we were already vibing from the jump, throwing references back and forth of contemporary scores and artists we felt nailed that approach. About 10 seconds into an early draft of “Code Race,” which was the second piece he’d submitted, I had a massive shit-eating grin because I knew we had something special. **Ryan, you've obviously worked across** [**all kinds of moods and genres in your work**](https://ryan-lott.com/?ref=aftermath.site)**, but I've never heard anything of yours that goes this hard before. What was it about *Marathon* that had you coming up with a score that's so crunchy? And were there any other inspirations for the soundtrack you can point to?** **Ryan:** I've wanted to make music like this for a long time. One of the things that drew me to the project was the opportunity to express myself with these kinds of colors and sounds, which no other project has given me yet. **Chase:** Probably 15 or 20 minutes of our first phone call was spent chatting about the then-new Bjork podcast where she broke down her discography. That evolved into my love of the late Jóhann Jóhannsson’s work on *Sicario* and *Arrival*, which were huge sources of inspiration when we were thinking about the soundscape we wanted for the game. The role of music in those films is so cool, and it creates an amazing level of tension and mood. **There's a point in a making-of video for the soundtrack (above) where Ryan, you say that a big idea you had was to turn the human voice into an instrument. How exactly did you do that? How did you strip a voice back, what part exactly did you determine was the shell or the soul that you would keep and loop?** **Ryan:** Whether I'm scoring or writing a song, I often begin by designing simple instruments from various sound sources. In the case of *Marathon*, I did some design using fragments of the human voice. What I look for, whether it's a cello performance, a voice or anything else, is the emotion trapped inside the sound that persists even through extensive manipulation. Because our brains are so attuned to the human voice, it is exceptionally fertile ground for pushing those manipulations further and further while still maintaining a sense of its origin. **How do you both think the soundtrack has been received since its full release? I know anecdotally I see a LOT of people talking about how they're listening to it as an album (well, double album), almost entirely divorced from any playtime or interest in *Marathon*, which seems...well, is that a good thing, do you think? I don't see that very often when it comes to video game soundtracks, normally they're playing off someone's love for the game/series.** **Ryan:** I don't spend much time in the comments section of videos or anything like that. But I have heard from friends that it has received a lot of positive reception, which is amazing. It's what you want, right? You want it to hit. And I'm glad that it is. Coming from outside the gaming world, I entered this process with some trepidation, knowing I was working in the shadows of game composers and potentially up against precedent and expectation. From the outset, I tried to ignore those thoughts and just create what I thought would be extremely beautiful, rad, and visceral. And then just hope for the best. So to hear that it's being received well, it's great. It means a lot. And I am very thankful. **Chase:** Seeing the reception to the score has been overwhelming. *Marathon* does not have a conventional score. So, seeing the community and media response to some of the earliest glimpses we’ve shared of the score Ryan created has been incredible. What Ryan delivered has inspired the community and become a core part of *Marathon*’s sonic branding and identity. The number of remixes people have shared with me, and the number of questions about a soundtrack or vinyl release, is unlike anything I’ve experienced before in my career. **Ryan, you've spoken about your instruments and samples in marketing content in the lead-up to the game's release, but if you could name a single thing you got to make for the game, whether it’s some haunting vocals or a particular beat, what would you say was your favourite?** **Ryan:** Other than the human voice, one of the primary sound sources is my upright piano. There's no piano on the score, per se. But there's a lot of piano on the score. I prepare my piano with a lot of different types of materials, meaning I stick a bunch of stuff in the piano to change its sound. Metals, papers, plastics, and putty (like poster tack) stuck to the strings in various places to alter the sound's envelope, including its color, tuning, and overall shape. I did a rather thorough preparation of my piano in advance of working on *Marathon*, knowing that I would use it as a sound source. And one of the things I did early on was record myself doing a bunch of rhythmic improvisations. Those improvisations were then cut up and converted into sort of tempo synching loops and granular ideas that I could build on for the score. So, weirdly, the piano was actually a starting point for many of the cues on the soundtrack. I also want to give a shout out to my favorite piece of music technology in I don't know how long. And it is the Osmose MPE synthesizer made by Expressive E. This synth, its expressive capabilities and the sounds I designed in its engine were absolutely essential for creating the score, enabling me to be expressive, get emotional, and improvise extensively within it. I just can't say enough about this particular instrument. Absolutely bananas amazing. ### Sony Wants You To Go Through Multiple Job Interviews To Have Your Face In Gran Turismo 7 (For A Limited Time) URL: https://aftermath.site/sony-playstation-ps5-playerbase-contest-gran-turismo-7/ Last updated: 2026-04-09T21:14:27.000Z This week Sony [announced a new initiative](https://blog.playstation.com/2026/04/07/introducing-the-playerbase-bringing-playstations-biggest-fans-into-blockbuster-playstation-studios-games/?ref=aftermath.site) called The Playerbase, which it describes as "a unique opportunity for PlayStation’s biggest fans to step into some of the biggest game worlds by having their likeness scanned and appear within a PlayStation game." It sounds like a lot of work. While the company hopes to “expand and include fans in additional PlayStation Studios titles in the near future,” Playerbase currently features in just one game: *Gran Turismo 7*. Whoever wins the initial competition will be scanned and included as a “limited-time” portrait—not a character model—in the game. They’ll also be given the chance to design “a custom Fantasy Logo and a one-of-a-kind vehicle livery” to live permanently in the game’s Showcase menu, which as far as I can tell is something players are already able to do. So, how do fans enter to win? It’s something of an… involved process. Straight from [Sony’s rules](https://www.playstation.com/en-us/legal/the-playerbase-rules/?ref=aftermath.site), here’s the first part: > ROUND ONE – WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS AND DEMONSTRATED ENGAGEMENT: At the close of the Contest Period, qualified employees of Sponsor and Promotion Entities (“Contest Judges”) will evaluate the eligible Entries according to a combination of skill-based criteria found in your Written Submission and account history, including: (i) the originality of your written submission, (ii) your written submission's relevance to the theme of passionate PlayStation Studios fandom, (iii) your written submission's demonstration of your personal connection to PlayStation Studios fandom, (iv) your demonstrated engagement with the PlayStation brand, as evidenced by ownership of PlayStation products, subscriptions, games played, hours played, etc., and (v) your demonstrated engagement with Polyphony Digital, as evidenced by ownership of games from those studios, hours played, number and type of game trophies obtained, etc. Based on this criteria, the Contest Judges will select approximately fifty (50) to one hundred fifty (150) Entries to advance to Round Two. Cool! Sounds kind of like a cover letter, though. What next? > ROUND TWO – RECORDED VIDEO INTERVIEWS: Eligible Entries selected to advance to Round Two will be notified on or around April 30, 2026 via an email communication from the Sponsor or Promotion Entities which will be sent to the email address associated with their PS Account (“Round Two Notification”). To be eligible to advance to Round Two, eligible Entries must respond to the Notification within five (5) days from when the notification was sent and must agree to complete and sign a waiver & release granting rights to Sponsor and the Promotion Entities to film and record a video interview, and to use the proceeds of the recording for advertising and for the purposes of determining a winner of the Contest. The Contest Judges will evaluate the video interviews of the remaining eligible Entries according to a combination of skill-based criteria, including: (i) Love for PlayStation: how much your interview expresses an authentic love for PlayStation and details your personal history with the brand, (ii) Love for relevant game: how much your interview expresses an authentic love for the Video Game, (iii) Content: how much your interview includes shareable and entertaining content, while demonstrating that your story is suitably interesting to make further compelling content, (iv) Representative of PlayStation Players: how much your interview confirms you represent the PlayStation community, and (v) PlayStation Brand Guideline: how much your interview meets the conduct expected of someone representing PlayStation and affiliated games. Based on these criteria, the Contest Judges will select three (3) Entries to advance to Round Three. OK, this part is just a straight up job interview. For something akin to a brand ambassador position that requires your unfaltering loyalty. And of course, anything you say can and will be used for advertising (specifically, entrants grant Sony “a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide, complete, sub-licensable and irrevocable right to quote, re-post, publish, edit, use, adapt, translate, archive, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, syndicate, license, print, sublicense, distribute, transmit, broadcast, and otherwise communicate, and publicly display and perform the Entry, or any portion thereof, in any manner or form, without notice, payment or attribution of any kind”). The winner also has to pass a background check. But at least the winner gets paid for their labor, right? Well, no. Unless you consider the means and opportunity to do more work payment, in which case, yeah, definitely! > In connection with the scanning, Sponsor will arrange for and provide the winner and one (1) guest with travel to the PlayStation Studios Visual Arts studio in Los Angeles, California, United States. Travel will consist of two (2) round-trip airfare tickets, one (1) hotel room (for 2 nights), and a $200 USD per diem for meals. The winner will be solely responsible for ensuring that the winner and guest have all necessary travel documentation to enter and travel within the United States (including ESTA, VISA, passports, etc.). The winner will be responsible for any costs and expenses not listed in the Grand Prize, including but not limited to travel insurance costs. If the winner is a resident of Japan, the above airfare, hotel accommodation, and meals shall not be provided, and the winner shall be solely responsible for all costs and expenses associated with travel to and from, and attendance at, the PlayStation Studios Visual Arts studio. The Approximate Retail Value (ARV) of the Grand Prize is $0 USD for the scanning and inclusion in the video game, and an estimate of $4,000 USD for the travel, lodging, and meals, depending on the residence of the winner. I am intensely skeptical of that last number unless someone is coming from the other side of the world—and obviously not Japan—but at least the winner and a friend will be able to afford a couple decent meals. On the whole, Playerbase sounds like it fits neatly within the grand lineage of jobs masquerading as contests, like Ubisoft’s [repeated](https://kotaku.com/beyond-good-and-evil-2s-plan-to-crowdsource-art-from-fa-1826783550?ref=aftermath.site) [attempts](https://kotaku.com/ubisoft-invites-fans-to-make-music-for-watch-dogs-legi-1836389136?ref=aftermath.site) to crowdsource game assets from Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s HitRecord “collaborative media platform.” Perhaps the vision Sony alluded to in its announcement is more impressive than a temporary human portrait in a game predominantly about cars; maybe someday the same person will be able to achieve digital immortality across multiple games. But even then, we’re talking about something fully within Sony’s control, for which those whose likenesses the company leans on won’t have been paid and presumably will not receive residuals. Seems like kind of a crummy deal! Especially in comparison to the even more time-honored tradition of companies [just](https://www.nbcnews.com/technolog/grand-theft-auto-banshee-sports-car-now-exists-real-life-8c11073585?ref=aftermath.site) [giving away cars](https://www.nbcnews.com/technolog/grand-theft-auto-banshee-sports-car-now-exists-real-life-8c11073585?ref=aftermath.site)—you know, *in addition to* the opportunity to advertise them. ## Recommended [I Nearly Made It Through All Of 2025 Without Playing A Single Console GameThank you, Gran Turismo 7, for breaking that streak![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/19b95d5614037-screenshotUrl-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/gran-turismo-7-review-impressions-ps5/) ### You Can Just Print An Air Purifier URL: https://aftermath.site/3d-printing-air-purifier-corsi-rosenthal/ Last updated: 2026-04-10T06:50:41.000Z 3D printers are one of the few pieces of technology in the last 30 years that are as revolutionary as they were pitched. It is easy to miss that fact, in part because 3D printing itself is a dorky little habit that produces a lot of embarrassing trinkets with visible layer lines, a technology that launched a thousand Iron Man cosplay masks. But the quality and speed of these machines improves yearly, and you can get a fantastic printer that handles multiple colors for less than $600 dollars and even cheaper if you go with eBay or know someone who is moving at just the right time. Access to a 3D printer can be a great way to repair an existing device, replace something you would otherwise buy commercially, or create something that the commercial market would never provide you. > 3d printing some bull shit > > — [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-02-16T23:51:12.488Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mezaknnems2r?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) I have been 3D printing more than usual. I do not own a printer, in part because I live in New York City and anything that takes up that much space must be considered with the gravity of adopting an animal. I probably would have caved at this point if I did not have something debatably better: a local community space that has a few 3D printers. If you live in a place where space is at a premium and do not have a weird friend who does this for fun, this is an underrated way to do it. It is also a great excuse to get involved in your local community space, which in turn could lead you to other forms of mutual aid, learning and skill sharing that can benefit you. Though it comes with the many pitfalls of communal property, a shared printer, when properly maintained and loved, can be a unifying force. ![Two 3D printers with big (optional) spool holders on top in various colors.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/printers.jpg) Two "sweet spot" printers right now are the Bambu Lab P2S and the Qidi Q2\. I am not encouraging you to buy a 3D printer, if you do that that's your fault. Credit: Bambu Labs/Qidi For a long time I’ve wanted another air purifier for my home. I am slightly allergic to dust mites and so air quality is a source of concern. The perennial pick for air purifiers is the Coway Mighty, a perfectly OK purifier that has been the eternal go-to for Wirecutter since well before COVID. I have one, it’s mostly fine, although at its top speed it’s far too loud for me and it’s very much a non-smart home device. I could theoretically just get another used air purifier — there’s no shortage of ones that people and governments bought during the peak of the pandemic, and you can often find them on Facebook marketplace and government surplus sites. But that is neither fun nor interesting, and lord knows I love a little project. What’s more, the technology to create air purifiers has gotten far more interesting over the last few years. The OG Corsi-Rosenthal "duct tape some filters to a fan" box. It's the savior of Canadians, Californians, and the immunocompromised. A side effect of COVID was a rapid development of DIY filtration, and in particular the rise of what was known as the Corsi-Rosenthal Box. It was developed during the pandemic by Jim Rosenthal and Richard Corsi when the demand for HEPA filters wildly exceeded its supply. The idea behind a Corsi-Rosenthal Box was to use a lower rated and often cheaper filter, usually a MERV 13 furnace filter, instead of something like a much finer HEPA filter, then simply push more air through it. The increased number of air changes often meant that the CR box outperformed commercial units in basic efficiency. Having a commercial product trounced by a bunch of furnace filters duct taped to a box fan is exceedingly funny, and even funnier when [RTings ](https://www.rtings.com/air-purifier/learn/air-purifier-performance?ref=aftermath.site)confirmed the findings a few years ago. CR boxes also have become fantastically useful in areas experiencing or downwind of the effects of fires, as the materials required to make them are far less demanding. If you look this up on YouTube the other top thumbnail is a very angry guy mad about this video. The original box consisted of a big box fan and five five furnace filters arranged into a weird ugly cube, but new variations have popped up over the years. Development of CR boxes rapidly increased during the pandemic, eventually plateauing as the market saturated, but I have followed their development doggedly as the increase in efficacy and overall lower cost of the filter was generally appealing to me. Because they use standard furnace filters, often but not always a Filtrete one that can be bought fairly cheaply, they are not beholden to the same vendor lock-in. Corsi-Rosenthal boxes would take various sizes and shapes, but my favorites have been thinner designs that often involve PC case fans. This design ethos has led to DIY and prebuilt kits from vendors like [Clean Air Kits](https://www.cleanairkits.com/collections/shop-all?ref=aftermath.site), [Northbox Systems](https://aidankepo.wixsite.com/northboxsystems?ref=aftermath.site), [Nukkit](https://cybernightmarket.com/products/the-nukit-tempest-pro-complete-air-purifier-kit-usa?ref=aftermath.site) appearing on the market. I don't have that kinda money but I will admit it's pretty goth. For a while I’ve wanted a Nukit Tempest (a model that has since been updated to the Nukit Tempest Pro) because it’s deeply goth looking, simple, and made of black metal. It reminds me of my PC case made by [Sliger](https://aftermath.site/theyll-let-you-powder-coat-just-about-anything/) minus the PC and with a couple of furnace filters slapped in. Unfortunately, Aftermath does not have the kind of money where I can drop that much cash on a badass and niche air purifier, particularly when I can get something used for cheaper. Fortunately, my hacking space just recently got a couple of working printers again, and I’d seen a few similar designs pop up over the years. > Ok it’s coming along gonna be a whole spool job > > — [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-28T19:33:34.145Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mi5esruefk2r?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) I would like to stress that I am not an expert when it comes to the physics of airflow. I would love us to have the kind of testing facilities that would allow me to conduct rigorous testing outside of running a filter with [simple air sensors in a room](https://www.airgradient.com/documentation/kb/kb-old-instructions-the-airgradient-diy-air-quality-sensor-pro-version-pcb-version-3-7?ref=aftermath.site). I have nothing but respect for the people who do that kind of dedicated testing, and I dislike overstating the case for anything. However, I have seen enough results of similar designs to know how five fan, two filter design configurations tend to perform, and how much power the fans often consume. There’s an entire ecosystem of people who make purifiers like this, as well as [fume extractors](https://www.printables.com/model/348385-kirby-40mm-fume-extractor?ref=aftermath.site), [desktop filters](https://www.printables.com/model/1437588-air-purifier-ikea-x-noctua-200mm?ref=aftermath.site) of [various shapes](https://www.printables.com/model/75614-small-air-purifier?ref=aftermath.site), and [activated charcoal filters for VOCs](https://github.com/nevermore3d/Nevermore%5FMicro?ref=aftermath.site). I found a design by a user named [neurocean](https://www.printables.com/model/1251061-corsi-rosenthal-air-filter-140mm-pc-fans-16x20x1-f/?ref=aftermath.site) that looked not dissimilar to the kits offered by Nukit and Clean Air kits, and started firing off prints on an old but reliable Utilimaker printer. Piece by piece, it came together. You can print all sorts of goofy stuff. Despite computers being expensive for no good reason now, PC case fans have never been more competitive. While Noctua still remains the premium choice when it comes to noise, the budget competition has gotten brutal with Arctic’s fans reigning as the Everyman’s Noctua, and the P14 PST being fantastic for this purpose. You can get a five pack of very solid 140mm case fans for about 40 dollars. Case fans are meant to operate continuously, quietly, and maintain a solid amount of pressure, which makes them wonderful for the specific task of making an energy-efficient air purifier. They come in standardized sizes, making experimentation with various fan combinations easy. 4-pin PC fans are often controlled by PWM, or Pulse Width Modulation, allowing you to modulate the speed. The standardization of this connection means that there’s no shortage of fan controllers out there cheap on Amazon (I got one that can be powered by either USB-C or a DC jack power adapter), and there are a few ways to control fan speed using an ESP32, the ubiquitous wifi microcontroller beloved by open source hackers everywhere. This is the perfect project for people who love to fiddle with Home Assistant, the local and open source smart home controller beloved by tinkerers. Down the line I would love to get immensely granular and find a way to automate the devices exact fan speed in response to Home Assistant sensor inputs, but in the immediate I have decided I’m going to simply have it turn on and off using a cheap smart home outlet switch. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/517ljoZEemL._AC_SL1000_.jpg) You can just buy these things in a five pack for like forty bucks (as of me writing this). Credit: Arctic GmbH Every day I would walk over to the community space, print off a new part for my purifier, say hi to the people hanging out, and walk home, returning when the print was done. Slowly but surely, the thing came together. The purifier is not small, it takes 14x20x1 inch filters, and so it took over a week of pleasant walks and more than a whole spool of PLA, which I more than compensated for by doing a Microcenter run. It added a nice rhythm to my day, a little task to do before or after I got my coffee, made more pleasant with the sudden eruption of spring weather. Because the printer we had was older it uses a glass bed, something basically no printers use now, but it causes whatever part of the print is touching the bottom to have a reflective, glasslike sheen. > 3D printing is so fun. > > — [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-31T00:58:14.979Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3micxv75kik22?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) The purifier is not without its quirks that could use improvement. The hardware it uses to attach the panels together, the top/bottom done in segments of two and the sides done in segments of three, are 3D printed nuts which can be a bear to wrench on. I had to use pliers, but luckily once they are on they’re meant to stay on. Likewise, the screws that came with the PC fans are not perfect for the job; you’re better off using other hardware, but I ended up using screw extraction pliers to get it on there just fine. The device itself is also a remix of an older design, and the front fans have extremely tall pillars that seem leftover and not to serve a purpose. Getting the filter into it is also more of a hassle than I assumed it would be. These filters aren’t replaced that often, but an easier way to slide it in would be ideal. Luckily, the free and open nature of 3D printing means that any potential flaws in performance or usability are fixable. If you want to change something, just do it – fire a test print off and share that remixed model with the rest of the world. That is the beauty of how printing works; you are never beholden to the whims of a company, and if you have the files you are in control. > Air filter complete and 3D printed, shockingly low noise, powered by Arctic p14 pc case fans, MERV-13 furnace filter from Costco and runs on USB-C > > — [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-06T04:55:03.390Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mishw64hrc2i?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) The printed purifier took a few hours to assemble ambiently while watching cartoons. Once completed it was handsome despite definitely being some 3D printed nonsense. The little tower is unobtrusive and unassuming. I tend to leave it on at a low setting unless I’m cleaning, and it ranges from being barely audible white noise to as loud as a PC while playing *Cyberpunk* in 4k, which is still far quieter than my other air purifier, which I can hear from the other room when it’s going full blast. But though I enjoy the purifier, and breathing deep of the clean headache-free air, it makes me happier than if I’d simply purchased one used. This purifier is the kind of project I savor, one that brings me closer to my community and teaches a skill. It has inched me closer and closer to the inevitability of having a printer in my home, which you will no doubt read about. After all, if I can 3D print an air filter, what can’t I print? **Update 4/8/26:** Fixed a typo about PWM. ### Big, BIG Buildings URL: https://aftermath.site/paul-chadeisson-second-skin/ Last updated: 2026-04-08T03:12:44.000Z [Just over a year after the last time I got to post a Paul Chadeisson video](https://aftermath.site/solstice-5-paul-chadeisson-ai/), I'm excited to be posting about a brand new one. Where *Solstice* was a series about an alien planet beset by automated machines so big their scale was nauseating, in *Second Skin* we're getting a series from Paul ([and friends](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIdiTzjIuII&ref=aftermath.site)) where a whole new layer of the Earth is being developed, so big that it's scale is...well, you get the idea. ### There Is No Such Thing As The Video Game Industry URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-industry-crash-26/ Last updated: 2026-04-07T23:19:26.000Z Whether it's on social media or serious websites, and whether it's backed by tanking financials or just bad vibes, we see a lot of talk these days about an impending video game crash, a day of reckoning for the industry that has been decades in the making. With[ the great crash of 1983](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video%5Fgame%5Fcrash%5Fof%5F1983?ref=aftermath.site) as a reference point, industry veterans like Brenda Romero[ are starting to pinpoint an endgame for the trends](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-industrys-in-a-really-horrible-place-brenda-romero-says-we-were-there-in-the-80s-for-the-crash-and-this-is-definitely-crashier/?ref=aftermath.site) that have been bugging folks for a while now. From spiralling costs to mass layoffs, having Wall Street weirdos as CEOs to the fruitless pursuit of "forever games", things haven't looked this bad for video games in decades. It's leading to [a lot of talk](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/music/articles/opinion-hardware-price-increases-video-140000446.html?ref=aftermath.site), and a lot of concern, about the future of the "video game industry". [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/image--38-.png)](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722434/the-videogame-industry-does-not-exist-by-brendan-keogh/9780262545402/?ref=aftermath.site) If you'd like to read a whole book about some of the stuff I'm writing about here, you should definitely check out Brendan Keogh's excellent **The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist* [Read more ](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722434/the-videogame-industry-does-not-exist-by-brendan-keogh/9780262545402/?ref=aftermath.site) Anyone who lived through the 1983 crash (which ran until 1985), or has at least read about it, will always be able to point to its dire effects on the US home console market as evidence that games can and have suffered near-total collapse, but something that is repeatedly lost with this comparison is that 1983 wasn't anywhere near as bad for *video games* as it's made out to be. Especially, it wasn't anywhere near as bad for those living outside the US as Americans would have you believe. The 1983 crash was brought about mainly by an over-saturation of terrible video games in the United States home console market, mostly on the Atari 2600 system. The effects were momentous for Atari and the retailers selling their products, but in 1983 the United States was not the only place games were being made, nor was it the only place games were making money. As with so much other video game history, particularly in the English-speaking world, the collective account of 1983-85 is incredibly Amerocentric, and often avoids (or barely touches on) the fact that in Europe and Japan all kinds of new and different markets continued to grow and thrive, like Britain's personal computer scene (on platforms like the C64) and Nintendo's own home console efforts. The NES didn't suddenly land in America in 1985; it had been released in Japan two whole years earlier, right when Atari had begun to tank. > It's worth remembering that video games themselves aren't an industry, and it's an unhealthy starting point for any resulting discussions if that's all you think they are. They're a medium, a vehicle for art, product and play all at once. What happened between 1983-85 is that one of several concurrent video game industries collapsed. And that's exactly the same scenario we're looking at today. Just like the 1980s, there isn't a single video game market, there are loads of different ones. Some of their efforts and player bases overlap at points, while others are completely isolated from one another. Many (though not all!) of the most alarming danger signs we're seeing are coming from the AAA industry. Big studios are run by[ people more interested in short-term financial gains than in creating quality products](https://aftermath.site/electronic-arts-respawn-titanfall-layoffs-andrew-wilson-pay/), and they've got stuck in creative ruts spending too much money on games that take too long to come out and which take too few risks. As a result, the AAA release schedule has dried up, those companies[ keep laying off skilled workers](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-layoffs-prince-of-persia-remake-canceled/) whether a game is successful or not, and this is having a negative effect on everything from the few AAA games we do get to play (now being riddled with in-game transactions) to the health of the home console market that's long been the spiritual home of these experiences, with[ Xbox's recent struggles the clearest and most prominent example](https://aftermath.site/xbox-sarah-bond-ai-microsoft/). That's not to say there aren't other issues affecting other games. AI[ looms as menacingly over video games](https://aftermath.site/crimson-desert-ai-art-images/) as any other field.[ *Fortnite's* revenue is down](https://aftermath.site/tim-sweeney-its-not-too-late-to-log-off/), funding for mid-level games is drying up and VR is running out of puff because[ the biggest company behind its attempt at mass adoption has had its attention captured by a newer set of jangling keys](https://aftermath.site/mark-zuckerberg-meta-ai-metaverse/). Political turmoil and capitalism's ever-accelerating decline are affecting people's disposable incomes just as international events and investors’ focus on AI has[ driven the price of pretty much every device we play games on through the roof](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-frame-delayed-ai-data/). As tempting as it might be to see some storm clouds and imagine the end of *video games themselves*, it's worth considering what games are, and how many markets for them are out there. Nintendo exists alongside but is also in many ways separate from PlayStation and Xbox's AAA studio woes. Steam is a beast so powerful that even if one or two kinds of games it sells were to disappear it'd still have 17 other kinds to make billions from, ranging from mid-sized European studios making weird strategy games to small teams of Australians drawing on government support to kids coding million-sellers from their bedroom. *Roblox* fucking sucks, but those are still video games, millions of people play and enjoy them, and it prints money. Free-to-play gaming, particularly on phones, exists in another universe, making millions from audiences who might never touch any other game on any other device. The same goes for some of the planet's biggest PC games, from Hoyoverse titles to online shooters. Itch is home to anything anyone who has ever wanted to make a video game could ever think to make. Even arcades, surviving from before 1983 like crocodiles outliving the dinosaurs, are still around. And those are just the industries we're mostly familiar with! China, Japan and Korea all have their own huge, unique markets. Do millions of people playing a Chinese online game you've never heard of care if *Grand Theft Auto VI* takes too long to come out? Are the companies selling gacha phone games in Japan even going to notice if *Call of Duty* sales slide, or you can no longer buy an Xbox? It's also worth remembering that video games themselves aren't an industry, and it's an unhealthy starting point for any resulting discussions if that's all you think they are. They're a medium, a vehicle for art, product and play all at once. Every game ever developed has involved at least one of those three things, regardless of where in the world it was made or what platform you played it on. As a result, there is a universe of different industries selling games that offer wildly different products to often very unique audiences. We may be looking at the death (or at least sharp decline) of one or two of the noisiest video game industries, ones that we as Westerners of a certain age might be most familiar with, and if that happens we'll see knock-on effects through other industries as well, creating challenges that will need to be overcome. But those surviving industries, and the medium that endures alongside them, will live on, and from the ashes of one dead industry[ we might even get something extremely cool to replace it](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-gdc-games-industry-crash-atari/). ### Only Studio 4°C Would Spend 7 Years On A Passion Project Rom-Com About A Man Marrying A Fish URL: https://aftermath.site/chao-anime-studio4degc-gkids-movie/ Last updated: 2026-04-08T12:32:46.000Z Studio 4°C has been on a hot streak in 2026\. After GKids’ theatrical release of the time-warping dystopian romance [*All You Need Is Kill*](https://gizmodo.com/all-you-need-is-kill-director-felt-destined-to-tackle-the-perfect-sci%E2%80%91fi-epics-anime-adaptation-2000707823?ref=aftermath.site), the animation studio has another film release in the hopper with [*ChaO*](https://gkids.com/films/chao/?ref=aftermath.site), a rom-com that’s more on the hilarious side of heartbreaking. In the lead-up to its release, I spoke with director [Yasuhiro Aoki](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=35136&ref=aftermath.site) about how his vibrant love story took a short-film concept and turned it into a fully fledged feature film. Set in a fantastical future where humans and mermaids’ coexistence is as strained as oil and water, *ChaO* follows Stephan, a skittish inventor working at a shipping company. He has a bold plan to save the ocean from the very pollution his scandal-ridden employer is creating, which is making the mermaid king irate. No one takes Stephan’s idea seriously until his chance encounter with Chao, the mermaid princess, who proposes to him out of the blue after saving his life. What follows is a royal wedding complete with corporate spin and media frenzy, placing the newlyweds under a microscope as their marriage of convenience gradually turns into something real. While *ChaO* is opening in theaters three months after GKids’ last feature film, the movie has been in development for seven years. Moreover, the film, which marks the veteran animator’s solo directorial feature debut, is a personal project for Aoki. You see, long before Studio 4°C approached him to lead a new film project in its early stages of development, the initial concept for *ChaO* originated in [*Kung-fu Love*](https://youtu.be/4X%5FMVgV8lgQ?si=dJ9zPJm04hCtyoF8&ref=aftermath.site), ten years earlier. And as fate would have it, Aoki’s 15-minute short film, which was part of Studio 4°C’s compilation music video [*Amazing nuts!*](https://studio4c.co.jp/works/en/pages/22.html?ref=aftermath.site), fit perfectly in line with what both he and Studio 4°C had in mind for a fun-loving, nonsensical rom-com. Although [Studio 4°C](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/english/?ref=aftermath.site) might not be an anime production house that new-fangled anime fans easily recall by name, the multi-award-winning studio has a reputation among old-school anime fans who were blown away by watching it and Studio Madhouse's certified classic original video anime anthology, [*Memories*](https://www.polygon.com/2021/7/30/22595596/discotek-anime-preservation-katsuhiro-otomo-memories/?ref=aftermath.site)*,* and *The Matrix*’s own anime anthology series, [*The Animatrix*](https://www.polygon.com/23053371/animatrix-movie-analysis-where-to-watch-streaming/?ref=aftermath.site). In the years since, the studio has become a quiet yet influential presence in the anime industry, delivering awe-inspiring works, including its other maritime-themed film, [*Children of the Sea, in 2019*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOhRCIv-VOE&pp=ygUbbmV0ZmxpeCBjaGlsZHJlbiBvZiB0aGUgc2Vh&ref=aftermath.site), and [*Berserk: The Golden Age Arc - Memorial Edition*](https://youtu.be/6QkMrXodGQQ?si=EjZaaAZWRRX5RCkn&ref=aftermath.site) in 2023. But by far, what stands out as a defining trait of Studio 4°C (besides its expressive, kaleidoscopic, and sometimes avant-garde art direction and its clever blending of 2D and 3D CG animation) is its willingness to take big risks with its projects. ![ChaO still of Chao blushing. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/image--19-.png) Studio 4°C / GKids Aoki is far from a baby-faced director, having started in the industry as a co-director for 2008’s [*Batman: Gotham Knight*](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/batman%5Fgotham%5Fknight?ref=aftermath.site) and storyboard artist for [*Psycho-Pass: The Movie.*](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/psycho-pass/the-movie/blu-ray/.99406?ref=aftermath.site) For Aoki, the veteran animator’s journey from working in the industry to directing *ChaO* with Studio 4°C was a dream come true for a fanboy who grew up admiring their works when he was younger. “They’re very different from other studios. They make projects that other studios cannot make—they’re free,” Aoki said. Of course, Aoki emphasized that even within the unique sense of freedom Studio 4°C provides to its creators compared to other studios he’s worked with, all rules remain in place. After all, all the creative freedom in the world still needs to lead to a good movie worthy of the studio’s reputation which it wears quite literally in its name. 4°C is the temperature at which water is most dense, and this is reflected in its slogan to create works that are “dense with substance and quality.” ![ChaO still of Stephan witnessing the mermaid king conjure a giant sea monster. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/chao-studio-4c.png) Studio 4°C / Gkids Likewise, when Aoki was making *ChaO*—a film that really turns the true love transformation trope on its head by making its charming bride a giant goldfish who becomes a gorgeous woman only when she is truly in love—he believed it was a bold, imaginative idea only Studio 4°C could pull off. But for Aoki, that feeling resonated even more deeply, as if it were the only movie he could make to mark a highlight of his career. “In a sense, it’s really like two opposite ends of one coin. *ChaO* feels like it's the culmination of all my work, but then it’s also something very different from what I was thinking I was going to make,” he said. Mind you, this is the same veteran animator [whose distinguished career](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=35136&ref=aftermath.site) has helped create animated classics, including but not limited to [*Neon Genesis Evangelion*](https://gizmodo.com/do-not-read-this-evangelion-blog-just-watch-evangelion-1835810982?ref=aftermath.site), several [*Sailor Moon*](https://www.avclub.com/sailor-moon-s-impact-on-modern-american-animation-remai-1844994160?ref=aftermath.site) projects, [*Trigun*](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/watch/2022-08-05/does-the-original-trigun-hold-up/.188364?ref=aftermath.site), and the anime director of the classic OVA *You’re Under Arrest* (yes, that [*You’re Under Arrest*](https://bsky.app/profile/catsuka.bsky.social/post/3mdibfcwuzk2p?ref=aftermath.site)). If any veteran animator has less to prove, it’s Aoki. Still, Studio 4°C’s whimsical, heartfelt rom-com about a guy falling in love with a fish girl holds a special place in the 58-year-old’s heart. “It’s a little hard to explain, but I really think all of it is really special to me,” Aoki said. > 「ChaO」のARTBOOKが8/12に発売になります！ > 収録内容 > ・キャラクター設定、メカ設定、色彩設計 > ・原画、作画監督修正 > ・背景美術 > 248ページの大ボリュームです！ > > 公開劇場での物販、各種流通、Beyond Shopでお求めください！[https://t.co/JPd5IbUOSx](https://t.co/JPd5IbUOSx?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/7xfwdxcdJW](https://t.co/7xfwdxcdJW?ref=aftermath.site) > > — STUDIO4℃のＣ子 (C-ko) (@STUDIO4C) [July 24, 2025](https://twitter.com/STUDIO4C/status/1948306856532914386?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) A quick glance at the [landing page of Studio 4°C's very rad website](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/english/?ref=aftermath.site) makes it obvious: Aoki’s love of slick mechs, dense, neon-drinched cityscapes, with a madcap romance serving as its beating heart, matches the studio’s titular wavelength. Having watched the film myself, I immediately found myself falling into the exact emotional pocket Aoki and Studio 4°C were aiming for in its near ten-year development—that rush of encountering something both so wildly new while also feeling as familiar as an animated work that left an unmistakable impression upon you as a child. Granted, my personal “member berries” watching *ChaO* skewed more toward early-aughts animated touchstones like *Ponyo,* with a dash of *Corpse Bride,* were worlds away from the ‘70s anime Aoki grew up on and wove into the DNA of *ChaO* as Easter egg references old heads will no doubt notice. ![ChaO still of Stephan and Chao hugging. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/chao.png) Studio 4°C / GKids Aoki hopes *ChaO* sparks that dichotomy where novelty meets nostalgia, allowing moviegoers to interpret what it all means in their own hearts. But for Aoki, *ChaO* is a balancing act that's contrasted with a lot of gags, big feelings, and even a little political bite, distilling his career into a romance that's as strange, tender, and luminous as Stephan and Chao themselves—something only Studio 4°C would dare to craft for the big screen after a seven-year labor of love. *ChaO* releases in theaters on April 10th. ### Tomato Candles Are The Best Scented Candle, Still URL: https://aftermath.site/tomato-candles-are-the-best-scented-candle-still/ Last updated: 2026-04-07T18:51:53.000Z My in-laws were in town for Passover, and we took the chance to check out the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It was totally off season—nothing was in bloom except the daffodils—and we got rained on. But I did return from the Botanic Garden with a prize: a tomato scented candle. The tomato scented candle enjoyed [a brief moment of trendiness last summer](https://www.glossy.co/beauty/how-tomato-fragrances-reached-critical-mass/?ref=aftermath.site), but I haven’t been able to let it go. I truly think that the smell of a fresh summer’s tomato is one of the most pleasing in all existence. Taking a whiff of a tomato, warm from sunlight, and smelling the earth it was grown in, the herbaceous scent of earth and water and greenery, is one of the most pleasing experiences in the world. I am a tomato lover—if you handed me a perfectly ripe tomato I would bite into it like an apple. So far, I have bought no less than three varieties of tomato scented candles. In particular, I like these [small but pungent tomato candles](https://fresacreative.com/products/mis-plantitas-mini?ref=aftermath.site) from Fresa out of Chicago. They also sell [a cilantro candle](https://fresacreative.com/products/cilantro?ref=aftermath.site), which will get you halfway to a salad. Much has already been written about who has the best tomato scented candle, and I have a lot more to explore—I think next on my list is the [Flamingo Estates Heirloom Tomato Candle](https://fresacreative.com/products/cilantro?ref=aftermath.site), which I’ve heard people rave about. More than just chasing a favorite tomato varietal, I think my journey is about appreciating strange and unusual scents. I’ve also been exploring different perfumes, and on my scent journey, I have begun to resent overly sweet scents. I love florals and I love warm spices, but they’re not my top picks for how I want my body or my environment to smell every day. I want my world to smell like a fresh garden, overflowing with vegetables and herbs. While there are a lot of perfumes that evoke soil or musk, most mainstream scents aren’t willing to give me straight-up-a-salad in the way that I want (and yes, perfume people, I do know they’re out there but there’s just a lot fewer of them than sweet scents). Savory scents are wonderful—to me, they’re grounding. They take me back to treasured memories of planting seeds in the garden with my mom and ammama, picking weeds and tending to small buds as they grew. Sweet scents are lovely too, but they can be cloying if used too much. My tolerance for sweet scents is actually pretty low. In middle school and high school most of my peers wore the sweetest possible smelling Bath and Body Works body sprays, which gave me a particular distaste for vanilla scents in basically every form. More than anything, tomato scents remind me of summer, when the brightest, freshest tomatoes are plucked from the vine. Although we’re in early spring still, smelling a tomato in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden while waiting out a little rain reminded me of all I have to look forward to. ### In Finally Clarifying The Release Schedule Of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Netflix Somehow Made It Even More Complicated URL: https://aftermath.site/jojos-bizarre-adventure-steel-ball-run-netflix-release-stage-2/ Last updated: 2026-04-07T17:23:06.000Z The first episode of *Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run*, the long-awaited new season of an anime series that rules to watch but that you’ll sound like a crazy person if you try to describe, premiered on March 19\. Until this week, nobody had any idea when episode two would air. Now they do, but they are, in broad strokes, even more confused. Netflix’s strategy here is beyond bizarre; it’s baffling. [Netflix’s statement](http://x.com/NetflixAnime/status/2041050442176835604?ref=aftermath.site) on *Steel Ball Run*’s future, intended to appease fans, reads as follows: > Thank you for all the incredible support for *Steel Ball Run JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure*. The series is currently in production and will be available for everyone to enjoy. We are planning a split‑cour release across the entire run of episodes. The next cour (2nd Stage) will begin streaming in fall 2026 on Netflix, with one new episode released each week. This release schedule is part of our original plan and reflects the wishes of the production committee. Your passion and enthusiasm mean a great deal to everyone involved in the preparation. We appreciate your patience and continued support as we work to bring you the 2nd Stage. So basically, Netflix released the one (admittedly super-sized) episode in March, and then there won’t be any more until fall, at which point we’ll get weekly episodes—until 2nd Stage ends… after a number of episodes that’s yet to be publicly stated. This will presumably be followed by a 3rd Stage in the future. Whether it will be released as a single larger episode, in batches, or weekly is unknown. It’s a doubly frustrating state of affairs because the previous *JoJo’s* season, *Stone Ocean*, is widely considered to have suffered under Netflix’s heavy yet clumsy-handed rule, with the streaming service insisting on doling out episodes in binge-friendly batches. This despite previous seasons’ success in a weekly format, which facilitated regular community discussions of episodes, as well as a cycle of anticipation and gratification between episodes. In the late 2010s and early 2020s,the modern version of *JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure* exploded in popularity to the point that it became one of the biggest anime going in the West—an improbable second act for a series that began, as a manga, back in 1987\. Many blame a subsequent lapse in audience enthusiasm on Netflix’s *Stone Ocean* batch release strategy. Aftermath’s resident otaku, Isaiah Colbert, [wrote presciently about this for Kotaku back in 2022](https://kotaku.com/jojos-bizarre-adventure-stone-ocean-netflix-binge-watch-1849846467?ref=aftermath.site), just after *Stone Ocean* had wrapped up its run: > Netflix releasing *Stone Ocean* under its binge model is tantamount to the Marvel Cinematic Universe midnight-releasing the entirety of its phase three films on Disney+ with only a handful of social media posts promoting it. While it’s nice to have all of its episodes readily available all at once, it stifled any excitement for its “monster of the week” formula. Fights used to be something I could recollect with ease to friends by naming the villain and their stand power. But *Stone Ocean*’s binge-watching release transformed its once-memorable villains and stand powers into an amalgam of forgettable blokes. > Other anime have been thriving this year as their weekly episodes generate discussions and theories among fans amid hype for next week’s episode, “*Bleach* Mondays” and “*Chainsaw Man* Tuesdays” being prime examples. “*JoJo* Fridays,” *JJBA*’s own fan-designated day of fanfare which gained popularity with its prior season, *Golden Wind*, used to be when fans would partake in their own online merriment with the show, but that too has become a thing of the past under Netflix’s release model. I can attest to this dynamic myself, albeit more on the manga side of things. I read several shonen manga every week, and whether they’re sputtering out in slow motion (*Jujutsu Kaisen*, both times) or reaching new heights so regularly that I’m dreading the day their creators finally fuck it up (*Kagurabachi*), discussions on subreddits and social media lend the whole thing a communal vibe. Individual fights—heck, individual blows in individual fights—get put under the microscope and take on greater significance. Themes and callbacks are plucked from a sprawl of arcs like diamonds from so much rough, dusted off, and recontextualized in pivotal moments. These are not complicated stories, but they are often *long*. It helps to have thousands of others along for each leg of the ride. Yes, this can sometimes be annoying—*Jujutsu Kaisen* fans are so bad at understanding their favorite series that there’s [a whole meme about it](https://www.reddit.com/r/Jujutsufolk/comments/1bq5cjb/jjk%5Ffans%5Ftry%5Fto%5Fread%5Ftheir%5Fown%5Fmanga/?ref=aftermath.site)—but experiencing the piecemeal rollout of a nailbiting fight alongside a critical mass of fans is like being inside an arena; the excitement and adrenaline are palpable. Moreover, I am one of the people who fell off watching *Stone Ocean*, in part because of Life, but also because the show’s wonky release schedule provided Life ample opportunities to get in the way. To be honest I still haven’t finished it, but (what I thought was) *Steel Ball Run*’s impending domination of my socials nearly convinced me to resubscribe to Netflix and mop up the remainder. Now I guess I’ll just wait until later this year? Better than paying the Netflix toll for any longer than I have to. All this in mind, it’s good to hear that Netflix has decided to embrace a weekly release schedule for *Steel Ball Run*—you know, sort of. But why couldn’t it have simply promoted March’s premiere as a teaser or sneak peek? Why build it up like it was the beginning of a regular season? Why not tell fans in advance whether subsequent episodes would be released weekly or in batches? Why not give them an idea of how far apart future Stages will be? Why not even let them know when episode two was coming right after episode one aired, like the lion’s share of other shows throughout history have done? Especially considering that this specific fandom has been burned before—and has spent years talking about it. It’s important to keep in mind that anime with this kind of production pedigree is hard to make, with workers on other series [paying the often-physical price](https://sea.ign.com/jujutsu-kaisen-1/208983/news/jujutsu-kaisen-animators-speak-out-on-working-conditions-reveal-episodes-are-completed-hours-before?ref=aftermath.site). These things take time, and if nothing else, Netflix is giving *Steel Ball Run* ample runway. But basic communication, especially when you’re a multibillion dollar streaming empire, shouldn’t be so difficult! While a middle ground between batches and weekly episodes isn’t exactly what *JoJo’s* fans asked for, it’s at least a compromise. But if you look at the response online, very few are fully satisfied. At best, they’re wary of how Netflix will approach weekly releases and the longer-term split model. At worst, they’re expecting [a disastrous mishandling](https://x.com/munstamasta/status/2041150012772540851?s=46&t=L-Xht24CY5-UBFgAlG58bg&ref=aftermath.site) that will forever tarnish the series’ shine. This all could have been avoided! Unfortunately, tech giants have demonstrated time and time again that their enormous feet are good for pretty much just one thing: stepping in it. ## Recommended [Steel Ball Run Is The Best JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part - AftermathThe Real Man’s World is a moment that’ll stick with me forever![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-229.png)AftermathIsaiah Colbert![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/jjba-steel-ball-run-manga-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/steel-ball-run-jojos-bizarre-adventure/) ### MarriageToxin Is Ready To Push Romance Back Into The Shonen Spotlight URL: https://aftermath.site/marriagetoxin-anime-bones-film-queer-rom-com-crunchyroll/ Last updated: 2026-04-06T22:24:57.000Z For a lot of anime fans, the whole “shonen meets romance” thing has either felt played out or treated like an afterthought. Still, as an enjoyer of both shonen and romance, Crunchyroll’s new anime series *MarriageToxin* has the promise of being a breath of fresh air to the concept—a show that cares about its love stories just as much as its fight scenes. I got to chat with the show’s director, Motonobu Hori, over email to ask how Bones Film approached adapting a manga that, in my heart of hearts, feels poised to push romance back into the shonen spotlight in a major way. [*MarriageToxin*](https://gizmodo.com/marriage-toxin-is-bringing-romance-to-shonen-in-a-big-way-2000718435?ref=aftermath.site), originally written by [Joumyaku ](https://x.com/joumyakun?ref=aftermath.site)with art by [Mizuki Yoda](https://x.com/Yozudami?ref=aftermath.site), is basically what you’d get if *Hitch* and *Naruto* did a fusion dance. And honestly, that comparison isn’t even a stretch—Joumyaku has said the whole idea started because she wondered how the [Aburame clan in *Naruto* even dated](https://www.manga-passion.de/articles/10151/interview-mit-joumyaku-und-mizuki-yoda-dem-duo-hinter-marriage-toxin'?ref=aftermath.site), let alone found love, given the inherent ick of their bug powers. ![MarriageToxin still of Gero covered in blood. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/marriagetoxin-crunchyroll-bones-film-6.jpg) Bones Film / Crunchyroll The series follows Hikaru Gero, a skilled hitman from one of the Big Five assassin families, each with their own supernatural specialties. Gero’s familial forte is poisons. Each clan stays powerful by expanding the family tree, so when Gero’s younger queer sister, Akari, gets pushed into an arranged marriage to keep the bloodline going, he steps in to take her place. What starts out as a duty out of obligation quickly becomes his own mission: to find a partner he genuinely wants to build a life with. ![MarriageToxin still of Kinosaki accepting drinks at a bar. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/marriagetoxin-crunchyroll-bones-film.jpg) Bones Film / Crunchyroll Luckily, the mild-mannered assassin boy’s journey to navigate his love life isn’t done all alone. Enter Mei Kinosaki, a cross-dressing marriage “swindler” who basically becomes his romance coach. What follows is a story wild with battles against assassins and meet-cute dates with eligible bachelorettes as Gero sorts out what true love looks like for someone raised in a world where killing comes easier than flirting. When Hori first received an offer to direct *MarriageToxin*, he read the manga. His honest impression was that Joumyaku and Yoda’s ongoing series was “truly wild and chaotic.” “It felt like a comedy skit that takes themes from classic Jump manga and mixes in elements from all over the place, and I found that really entertaining. Another distinctive aspect is that the protagonist’s goal is marriage hunting, and he’s an adult man at that. Not a boy, not a high schooler or middle schooler—having what’s essentially a seinen manga protagonist felt refreshing,” Hori said. Hori also felt the series had elements reminiscent of parodies of earlier works, especially in its action sequences. Having peeked ahead on the manga myself, witnessing subsequent arcs where *Tekken*’s resident bear fighter basically waltzed into frame to throw hands for a couple of chapters, and Gero was air-dropped in the middle of *Die Hard*, Hori’s not off in the slightest. *MarriageToxin* doesn’t care about lanes; it just swerves into whatever feels fun, delivering madcap action sequences on par with [*Sakamoto Days*](https://www.ign.com/articles/sakamoto-days-premiere-review-netflix?ref=aftermath.site). “When you’re around middle school age, you can still believe that maybe you could fire a Kamehameha—I certainly did,” Hori said. “But this manga, I felt, is aimed at people who know full well that kind of thing will never happen. It’s a matter of sophistication, I suppose.” ![MarriateToxin still of Kinosaki showing Gero a dating app.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/marriagetoxin-crunchyroll-bones-film-4.jpg) Bones Film / Crunchyroll Pedantically, *MarriageToxin* is a shonen [harem series](https://youtu.be/n8GY-kWl2SU?si=OUk3TngEmExZHiVw&ref=aftermath.site). Of course, a shonen manga with the promise of being a unique blend of high-energy action and sincere romance isn’t altogether novel, especially in a [post-*Dan Da Dan* world](https://aftermath.site/dandadan-anime-science-saru-netflix/). But rather than draw a direct connection to *Dan Da Dan,* which ultimately has its [shojo charm](https://gizmodo.com/more-anime-fans-should-heed-the-advice-dan-da-dans-creator-got-from-his-editor-2000510509?ref=aftermath.site) limited to the [nostalgic realm of high school rom-coms](https://gizmodo.com/dan-da-dan-season-2-episode-7-momo-okarun-romance-2000643280?ref=aftermath.site), Hori remembered being struck by the apt comparison in the *MarriageToxin*’s planning document, which described the series as “A Reiwa-era [*City Hunter*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City%5FHunter?ref=aftermath.site).” At a distance, their narrative arcs are similar enough, with a new heroine appearing each episode, a relationship budding between her and the protagonist, but Gero is a far cry from *City Hunter*’s lecherous hero. Compared to *City Hunter*, Hori says *MarriageToxin* never feels uncomfortable because Gero is a genuinely likable protagonist. “Ryo Saeba is very forward and uninhibited with women, but Gero in this series is extremely shy—practically the opposite. On top of that, he’s a character who naturally embodies a modern sense of social awareness,” he said. ![MarriageToxin still of Gero carrying Kinosaki.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/marriagetoxin-crunchyroll-bones-film-8.jpg) Bones Film / Crunchyroll Similar to how [*Witch Watch*](https://gizmodo.com/witch-watch-might-be-2025s-comfy-rom-com-anime-2000576677?ref=aftermath.site) found success in being a self-parody of the overture of the Shonen Jump in a comedic package, *MarriageToxin* also finds its success by parodying the genre’s rom-com tropes while deftly avoiding the pitfalls that would give modern audiences the ick. “Quite a bit of time has passed since social awareness became a priority, and for today’s young readers, these values are simply the norm they’ve grown up with. Because of that, when an overly brash or inconsiderate character appears, it can actually be jarring. But in this series, those aspects are handled very naturally, so readers can take it all in without any sense of dissonance,” Hori said. “That’s what makes it feel so current, and it’s the aspect that made me think, ‘This is the future of manga.’” ![MarriageToxin still of Gero injecting himself with poison. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/marriagetoxin-crunchyroll-bones-film-3.jpg) Bones Film / Crunchyroll Hori’s background as a director is in grounded, realistic series. However, *MarriageToxin*’s particular blend of fitsticuffs and butterflies is no biggie to Hori because according to him, he’s cracked the code. The secret ingredient behind romance and fighting is communication. “For example, each technique a character unleashes comes packed with backstory—this technique carries this particular drama, tied to the character’s past, their training, who taught it to them—and they ‘release’ it,” Hori said. “Then the person on the receiving end starts having flashbacks too, saying ‘I have my own circumstances,’ and counters with their own technique,” “That’s how these exchanges unfold. So I see this as a form of communication,” he continued. “Jump manga in particular may take the shape of combat, but at its core, I feel it’s really about communication. With this series as well, I don’t really feel a major difference between the romance scenes and the battle scenes. The means are different, but in terms of both being acts of communication, I think they’re fundamentally the same.” When it comes to Gero’s eligible bachelorettes, Hori had a harder time picking a favorite. “When I first read the source material, the character I thought ‘I really like her’ was [Arashiyama](https://marriagetoxin.fandom.com/wiki/Kimie%5FArashiyama?ref=aftermath.site). She’s bright and very charming,” Hori said. “But once you’re actually in production, you end up thinking deeply about each character, and you inevitably develop affection for all of them. You start to appreciate what makes each one special. It might be a safe answer, but that’s how it is.” ![MarriageToxin still of Arashiyama doing the "gyaru peace" pose. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/marriagetoxin-crunchyroll-bones-film-9.jpg) Bones Film / Crunchyroll One quality of *MarriageToxin* that manga readers swear by is that, despite the series appearing heteronormative on the surface, it is also inherently queer. After all, its entire premise kicks into gear as Gero safeguards Akari’s relationship and her autonomy as a queer person—a core theme in the manga that reflects the reality that [same-sex marriage is still not recognized in Japan](http://akari/?ref=aftermath.site). The series also features a prominent cross-dressing character in Kinosaki, who is refreshingly never turned into the target of a tired joke. > Tamifull had always said she wanted the How Do We Relationship to coincide with an ending where gay marriage would be legalized in Japan. While that's yet to come to pass, it's nice to see the girls dressed up for the occasion. [https://t.co/W0fCxGV2le](https://t.co/W0fCxGV2le?ref=aftermath.site) [https://t.co/63kN5feLpQ](https://t.co/63kN5feLpQ?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/TbfOxlD6JH](https://t.co/TbfOxlD6JH?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Isaiah D. Colbert is on Bluesky (@ShinEyeZehUhh) [April 6, 2026](https://twitter.com/ShinEyeZehUhh/status/2041168879209107731?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) As a married man himself, Hori believes that *MarriageToxin*’s praise as a Shonen Jump series that mirrors the realities of its queer audience isn't because it loudly proclaims its themes with the same bombast of its action sequences; it’s because it doesn’t make a big fuss over all. “When you consider getting married in today’s world, at some point you ask yourself, ‘Why am I getting married?’ There are certainly things you gain from marriage, and there are many aspects that enrich your life experience. But those are things you can only really understand after actually being married,” Hori said. “So even if I tried to explain it to my past self, I think all I’d be able to say is, ‘You won’t know until you try.’ At the same time, I completely understand the feeling of questioning marriage. I went through that myself.” With this mindset, Hori says that a marriage theme in the modern era will naturally tend to consider relationships in different forms, whether they are same-sex marriages or relationships that don’t fit neatly into the heteronormative framework. ![MarriageToxin still of Akari and Gero sitting at a table. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/marriagetoxin-crunchyroll-bones-film-5.jpg) Bones Film / Crunchyroll “With this series as well, I felt those elements were woven in very naturally,” he said. “They’re not forced in to make some strong statement—they exist with the sensibility that ‘if you’re going to make marriage your theme, this kind of diversity is simply a given.’ They’re present without drawing undue attention to themselves.” “Gero himself doesn’t treat any of it as something special—he accepts it all very naturally. I think the way it’s portrayed is very well done, and there’s nothing that feels forced or artificial. If anything, I think the very act of portraying these things as ‘simply being there’ is itself a message,” Hori continued. “Not making a big deal out of it, not treating it as something extraordinary, but presenting it as one of many options that naturally exist. The fact that it’s depicted as something as natural as turning on a faucet and having water come out—I think that’s a really good thing.” Every anime adaptation comes with the challenge of meeting fans' expectations. An anime adaptation can’t settle for treating its source material as a storyboard for its animation, and also can’t mail it in with a work that essentially acts as a slideshow of manga panels. This is doubly true of shonen manga beloved for their action—a pressure point Hori felt throughout the production of *MarriageToxin*. ![MarriageToxin still of bullets flying at Gero. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/marriagetoxin-crunchyroll-bones-film-2.jpg) Bones Film / Crunchyroll “The sheer volume is immense. It’s action almost the entire time—it feels like about 80% of the show is fighting. It’s essentially nonstop combat. The only moments without action are the brief scenes before an episode’s arc begins, like meeting a client, and once an episode’s arc kicks in, the action just keeps going. I’ve worked on plenty of high-calorie productions at Bones, but even among those, this one is in an extremely intense category,” Hori said. “On top of that, our policy is to ‘animate it exactly as readers imagined it,’ which is itself a kind of risk in a way. Honestly, part of me wants to get away with as little movement as possible… but as a viewer, you want action to really move, right? So we’re deliberately taking that risk and rising to the challenge,” Hori continued. “I’ll admit I had some anxiety—like, ‘Even for Bones, can we really handle this much action?’ and ‘Will we actually be able to assemble enough staff?’ Thankfully, Hori is no stranger to directing an anime. A look at his bona fides shows got some notches in his belt, having served as the on-site director for Shinichiro Watanabe’s slept-on, uber-prescient music anime, [*Carole & Tuesday*](https://kotaku.com/carole-tuesday-is-a-must-watch-anime-with-the-catchie-1837845608?ref=aftermath.site), and as a director on [Bones’](https://www.polygon.com/2019/8/20/20812920/best-anime-studio-bones-carole-and-tuesday-my-hero-academia-fullmetal-alchemist/?ref=aftermath.site) cyberpunk Crunchyroll series, [*Metallic Rouge*](https://kotaku.com/metallic-rouge-trailer-anime-expo-cyberpunk-crunchyroll-1850610793?ref=aftermath.site). Granted, rather than feeling like he’s put his own artistic visions front and center, having started his directorial career at Bones, he’s felt his know-how as the person “refining the ideas of supervisors and original creators” is the know-how he brings to realizing *MarriageToxin* as an anime. Of course, even with the talented animators at Bones Film, who excel at shows like [*Gachiakuta*](https://gizmodo.com/gachiakuta-doesnt-just-redefine-shonen-anime-it-anoints-itself-as-the-next-big-thing-2000622249?ref=aftermath.site), [*My Hero Academia: Vigilantes*](https://gizmodo.com/my-hero-academia-vigilantes-studio-bones-anime-trailer-2000553401?ref=aftermath.site), and Hiromu Arakawa’s [*Daemons of the Shadow Realm*](https://gizmodo.com/daemons-of-the-shadow-realm-will-be-a-fullmetal-alchemist-anime-reunion-2000624482?ref=aftermath.site), Hori still aimed to set Bones Film apart from its contemporaries by improving quality, maintaining smooth production, and releasing cohesive work that elevates adaptations while understanding that resources are especially limited for serialized shows. His secret ingredient for adapting *MarriageToxin* was color. “Animation involves an enormous amount of drawing, and no matter how much you talk about wanting incredible animation, it doesn’t happen if there aren’t people actually doing the work. But with color, the effort required is the same regardless of what color you paint. That’s precisely why the right combination of colors can dramatically elevate a work’s impression,” Hori said. “Some productions recently have started bringing in [dedicated color script specialists](https://gizmodo.com/jujutsu-kaisen-jjk-anime-mappa-crunchyroll-culling-game-color-scripts-2000720652?ref=aftermath.site), but I’m also mindful that this can potentially encroach on the roles of the existing color design and art direction staff. Of course, bringing in a specialist will make things look great, but I also have a strong desire to build things together with the team already on the floor and have everyone share in the sense of accomplishment,” he continued. “Serialized productions have a marathon-like, physically demanding aspect to them, and introducing too many new elements can throw the production floor into confusion,” he said . “That’s why I try to update the approach to color and color philosophy while implementing it in a way that doesn’t burden or frustrate the team. I feel like the know-how for striking that balance has been gradually building up over time.” It also didn’t hurt that Bones Film worked in close collaboration with Joumyaku and Yoda, who, Hori says, attended every single script meeting without fail, consulting with the crew on handling the nuances of expression and making changes to more effectively realize the manga in a new medium. While Hori acknowledged that the manga itself references other Shonen Jump works quite a bit, he didn’t deign to attempt to reference any specific work himself in directing the show. Instead, he aimed to “evoke the energy of classic action anime that lives in viewers’ memories.” However, when I asked him if he found any inspiration outside of the medium while directing the series, his response was as “dude’s rock” as it gets. “As for inspiration for that wild, chaotic feel, I did look a bit at Indian cinema like [*RRR*](https://www.avclub.com/why-rrr-is-the-crowd-pleasing-thrill-ride-you-need-this-1849069306?ref=aftermath.site). Those films have this incredibly serious visual intensity, yet what’s actually happening is completely outrageous and absurd,” Hori said. “That gap—doing absolutely wild things with a dead-serious presentation—is something I wanted to incorporate a bit of, and it’s something I’ve been conscious of.” Hori joked that the legacy *MarriageToxin* might leave as a shonen is predicated on the assumption that Bones Film ends up making an anime good enough to even leave a legacy. “We’re still in the middle of production, so even I’m only half-convinced at this point,” Hori laughed. ![MarriageToxin still of Gero and Kinosaki being silly. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/marriagetoxin-crunchyroll-bones-film-7.jpg) Bones Film / Crunchyroll While a marriage-seeking assassin is an unconventional premise by Shonen Jump standards, even if Bones Film excels with th*e* romantic themes, action, and queer elements of MarriageToxin, Hori noted that there are similar works, like [*Patalliro,*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patalliro!?ref=aftermath.site) that Japanese audiences might compare it to, stating, “Oh, that’s been done before.” Still, he thinks Bones Film has a dark horse on its hands with *MarriageToxin*. “What makes this work interesting is that rather than being some niche, art-house piece, it’s aiming to be straightforward, enjoyable entertainment,” he said. “If an entertainment work that naturally incorporates these unconventional elements can be completed to a high standard, be enjoyed by everyone, and become popular—that carries real significance.” *MarriageToxin* premieres on Crunchyroll on April 7\. ### I Save Over All My Video Game Saves, And I Am Full Of Regret URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-save-files/ Last updated: 2026-04-06T17:34:37.000Z You’d think by now, deep into my life as a person who plays video games as part of their job, that I’d have mastered certain best practices. And in many ways I have: I turn on subtitles to make sure I spell characters’ names right and quote dialogue accurately. I poke around all the settings and control menus. I do my best to manage my senseless need to rush through tutorials. But I have never, and maybe will never, be the kind of person who sensibly saves their games. For some reason, any time a game has a manual save, I save over my previous save file. In my head this is tidier, or more “space-spacing,” though if I investigate this justification more deeply, I’m not sure exactly what my brain means by “space”--hard drive space? Space in the list of saves? Generally, it just seems tidier to have one save, or maybe a couple if a game has a choice point I want to explore the options of. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that this is a terrible way to do things. I even *know* this is a terrible way to do things–the most notable case of it biting me in the ass was when I got [the bad ending in *The Witcher 3*](https://kotaku.com/i-accidentally-got-the-worst-ending-in-the-witcher-3-1793040692?ref=aftermath.site), where I thoroughly fucked up my relationship with Ciri and had no hope of fixing it without totally starting over. *You’re going to get yourself in trouble*, I whisper to myself as I save over my saves, watching my hands carry out their cursed task anyway and then feeling an unearned, nonsensical satisfaction at my sparse list of saves. **(Light spoilers ahead for the second chapter of episode 5 of *The Long Dark* story mode.)** I was reminded of the pitfalls of this habit this weekend, while playing the latest story episode of my favorite survival game [*The Long Dark*](https://aftermath.site/tag/the-long-dark/). In the beginning of the second chapter, protagonist Will Mackenzie has to navigate a corridor full of wolves with little in the way of defense. I’d been managing to scare them off pretty well, but one caught me out, giving me the afflictions of blood loss, infection risk, and a sprained wrist. I had the bandages to deal with the blood loss, and when I needed to climb down a rope and couldn’t because of the sprain, I made a new bandage to take care of it by ripping up Will’s hat. But I sort of forgot about the infection risk, not realizing my health was ticking down until I’d already passed a couple story checkpoints. I figured it’d be fine; story mode is generous with loot, and I’d find some antiseptic along the way. Except I didn’t. Things kept happening, and there was so much loot, but none of it was the one thing I needed. I charged ahead in the story anyway, navigating dark corridors and poison gas in a mine, figuring *any minute now* the game would solve my problem for me. I played *so much* game, pressing forward even as Will’s vision blurred and he staggered through his final death throes before eventually succumbing. My latest auto-save was no good. My subsequent story checkpoint saves were no good. I peered at my one manual save, thinking of all the saves I’d saved over that could have gotten me out of this situation, wondering if I’d have to start the whole chapter over to undo what I’d done. I realized how much of my time, of my one and only life on this earth, I was now going to spend replaying the section I’d just played, not out of enjoyment, but as a remedy for my own bad choices. Eventually I reloaded the save and was relieved to find it was right before the rope climb, where I could see some [old man’s beard](https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Old%5FMan%27s%5FBeard%5FLichen?ref=aftermath.site) in the valley below. But I still had to play through a bunch of cutscenes, a protracted chase sequence, and a bunch of the mine again (somehow a second playthrough didn’t make me any more efficient at it, a real kick in the teeth). This isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it did waste a bunch of my available game-playing time for the weekend. And I felt like a dumbass about the whole thing, especially when the story mode is so generous with auto-saves and lets you manually save wherever you want. None of this had to happen! I should utilize the essential purpose of manual saves by making a lot of manual saves. If they take up too much of whatever my brain has decided is “space,” I can just delete the old ones! There is simply no reason to be this kind of person so deep into my video game-playing life. I learned my lesson and have now been making *too many* manual saves, but I know myself well enough to know it’s a lesson I will totally abandon the moment I open up a different video game. All those manual saves just *bug* me, even if each one represents a second chance and the actions of the prudent, reasonable person I clearly falsely consider myself to be. But surely I am not alone. Surely some of you are out here living on the edge too, with nothing but a Marie Kondo list of saves to show for it. Help me find peace for why we’re like this. ### I Feel Like I’m Going Insane URL: https://aftermath.site/one-piece-zoro-mackenyu-esquire-ai-interview/ Last updated: 2026-04-03T20:14:46.000Z For every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction. Sir Isaac Newton said this, presumably after a long day of scrolling whatever the social media platform of the time was. To wit, the moment I finished reading an excellent essay by Marisa Kabas about [refusing to accept an AI-poisoned future of journalism](https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/refusing-to-accept-big-tech-s-ai-poisoned-future-of-journalism?ref=aftermath.site), I encountered the following headline: “[Esquire AI-Generated A Fake Interview With Live-Action *One Piece* Actor Mackenyu Because He Was Busy](https://kotaku.com/one-piece-netflix-live-action-mackenyu-interview-esquire-ai-singapore-2000684648?ref=aftermath.site).” Either I’m losing my mind, or the world is. This isn’t [one of those cases](https://aftermath.site/story-about-ai-being-mean-gets-pulled-because-journalist-used-ai-that-made-mistakes/) where a publication quietly leaned on AI and only copped to it after getting called out. Esquire Singapore fully admitted what it was doing when it published the story and used it as a supposed selling point! From the [piece](https://esquiresg.com/mackenyu-one-piece-roronoa-zoro-interview/?ref=aftermath.site): > We were stoked to have some face time with the Japanese-American actor, but his schedule prevented it. So, we opted for e-mail correspondence. A list of queries was sent his way, and we waited. The silence continued until it was quickly replaced by a ticking clock as deadlines loomed. > We had the photospread, but nothing directly uttered by the 29-year-old. With a driving need for a feature, we had to be inventive. Harnessing our creative license, we pulled his verbatim from previous interviews and fed them through an AI programme to formulate new responses. > Are these the words we expect from Mackenyu? Or are they just replies from an echo chamber of celebrity-hood that we want to believe is from him? Clearly the latter, you fools! You hacks! You credulous dipshits! This groundbreaking new approach to lying produced riveting exchanges like: > ESQ: Any advice on how to deal with pressure and expectations? > (AI) M: I separate pressure from weight. Pressure is external; like people's expectations. That I can't control, but the weight of family legacy… the goal isn’t to match my father. It's to make him proud, and maybe inspire someone else to do the same. Pressure can crush you, but weight can ground you. And: > ESQ: What has fatherhood taught you? > (AI) M: That you can't rehearse it. (laughs) Everything else in my life I can prepare. Fatherhood has no script. No second take. You're just there, and you figure it out in real time. It's humbling in a way nothing else is. You were talking to a chatbot! It did not laugh! Shut the fuck up! Also, as Kotaku notes, the chatbot certainly never knew Mackenyu’s father, deceased action star Sonny Chiba, and I cannot think of a single person in their right mind who would ask a predictive text generator a question so probing and personal about the feelings of a human being who’s very much still alive. That is deranged behavior! To be clear, I believe, on no uncertain terms, that the person who wrote this is deranged! I cannot believe I even have to say this, but if you’re trying to publish an interview feature, and you’re unable to procure the interview in question, then you *scrap the story*. There is no “driving need” for a piece that supersedes that. The world was not crying out for this essential dollop of PR fluff. You can find interviews with Mackenyu, specifically, on numerous websites and, of course, YouTube. If anything, all Esquire has demonstrated here is that this kind of journalism matters so little that it can be farmed out to a robot homunculus and still pass muster. It is *bonkers* to me that anyone thought this was a good idea—let alone that multiple people (if we include editors) presumably did. They should all hang their heads in shame forever, quit their jobs immediately, and give them to a few of the thousands of vastly more deserving reporters who, in a twist of fate that borders on maniacal, are currently out of work. These people would be better served casting away their old lives and embarking on a journey to find the actual One Piece, a treasure I’m well aware is fictional. Despite that rather substantial stumbling block, they would still find more success in that arena than in this one. This is what happens when AI rots journalists’ brains beyond the point that they can’t discern the difference between a good idea and a terrible one—to the point that they can only conceive of angles that *involve* AI. That in mind, a salient section from Kabas’ piece: > If you want to work with machines, get a job that requires it. There are a whole lot more of those than there are writing jobs, so free up space for people who actually want to do the work. You’re not doing the world a favor by gifting it your human/AI hybrid. Journalism will not miss you if you leave. No one is making you be a journalist; it’s not one of those jobs parents force you to choose, like a doctor or a lawyer. Journalism, while romanticized in popular culture, is generally unglamorous and poorly paid, with progressively worse job opportunities (no thanks to AI.) I’m careful not to refer to it as a calling because that seems to excuse sacrificing mental health in service of craft, but I do believe that it’s a job that can’t be forced. It’s obvious to readers when your heart isn’t in it. ## Recommended [Story About AI (Being Mean) Gets Pulled Because Journalist Used AI (That Made Mistakes)‘The irony of an AI reporter being tripped up by AI hallucination is not lost on me.’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-228.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1527430253228-e93688616381)](https://aftermath.site/story-about-ai-being-mean-gets-pulled-because-journalist-used-ai-that-made-mistakes/) ### Charlie Day, Who Plays Luigi In The Mario Movies, Shouts Out Alleged United Healthcare CEO Killer Luigi Mangione URL: https://aftermath.site/charlie-day-mario-movie-luigi-mangione/ Last updated: 2026-04-06T17:34:22.000Z We live in times that, frankly, could stand to be a little more precedented. Nary a week passes without some ridiculous new thing happening, and it’s hard not to be numb to it all. “Yep, seems about right” has become my default response to each and every barrage of horrors that regularly screams from my screen. But occasionally, a sequence of events will pierce my solid-steel Koopa shell of disaffection and make me go “Huh.” This is one of those moments. During [an appearance on the Tintoria podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mwgEBnA8Qs&ref=aftermath.site) as part of the press tour for the newly released, notably kid-friendly *Super Mario Galaxy Movie*, Charlie Day was asked his “favorite Luigi in recent American history.” “Well, me, first of all,” Day replied. And then, without missing a beat: “Luigi Mangione, number two.” His costars, Anya Taylor-Joy and Keegan-Michael Key—giants in the field of hyphenated names—both laughed, the former awkwardly and the latter gleefully. The hosts then hurried things along to another question about Luigi, the video game character, but let’s linger on what happened in that split second for a bit longer: Day, acting as an emissary of the Mushroom Kingdom, where Mario lives, shouted out the accused (though, I should note, [*very* alleged](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/nyregion/luigi-mangione-state-terrrorism-charges-dismissed.html?ref=aftermath.site)) real-life killer of a United Healthcare CEO. And he did this to promote a movie that—at least based on what I’ve heard—truly is [for kids in almost every sense](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-super-mario-galaxy-movie-as-reviewed-by-a-four-year-old/1100-6539197/?ref=aftermath.site). A few takeaways: 1) You’ve gotta respect it. 2) Nobody misses that CEO—not a soul. 3) This kind of thing simply couldn’t have happened five or ten years ago, but now all bets are off. People are willing to just say shit, in part because they’re fed up and in part because it will all be washed away by tomorrow’s algorithmic tide. Nothing is sacred. Everyone is nihilistic. The right wanted to turn Charlie Kirk into a [martyr](https://aftermath.site/charlie-kirk-death-gamergate-ghost-of-yotei-probablymonsters-fired/); instead he’s a meme. Day, of course, also benefits from being insulated by wealth and fame, but one of his *Mario* movie costars, noted coward Jack Black, [disavowed Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0dmx4p4m0lo?ref=aftermath.site) back in 2024 over a [joke](https://aftermath.site/how-should-we-talk-about-the-trump-thing/) about how Trump’s would-be assassin shouldn’t have missed. How far we’ve come, even since then. ## Recommended [United Healthcare Shooting Suspect’s Gaming History Tells Us That Healthcare In America Sucks - AftermathA suspect has been arrested in connection with the murder of CEO Brian Thompson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-223.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/crimest-jpeg-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/united-healthcare-luigi-mangione/) ### Nova Roma Is A Game About Rome But Also It's Mostly A Game About Water URL: https://aftermath.site/nova-roma-is-a-game-about-rome-but-also-its-mostly-a-game-about-water/ Last updated: 2026-04-06T17:34:07.000Z I've spent the last couple of weeks playing a new city-builder called *Nova Roma*\--[this is me, this is my life now, this is all I do with the time that is left to me](https://aftermath.site/whiskerwood-review-impressions-pc-city-builder-hooded-horse/)\--and it's been really interesting, because as much as I love building cities, I love building waterslides even more. [Whiskerwood Is Already One Of The Finest City-Builders I Have Ever PlayedThere’s a lot more going on here than just feeding mice![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-222.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ss_7acb8a8b70855f259917cd2e52d77df2b22f5293.1920x1080.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/whiskerwood-review-impressions-pc-city-builder-hooded-horse/) *Nova Roma* is a neat, if also somewhat limited, city-builder, one that is a great recommendation for anyone who would have been into *Anno 117*[ if not for all its bullshit](https://aftermath.site/this-is-where-my-anno-117-impressions-were-going-to-go/). It follows the outline of *Anno* pretty closely, even down to giving you limited control over military units for those times foreign invaders set foot on your island, but there are two places I found it does something pretty cool on its own. The first is your tech tree advancement. *Nova Roma* is pretty light-hearted as far as city-builders go, with a cartoonish aesthetic, and so when it comes to its religion system it plays things pretty loose, presenting the player with a pantheon of gods you need to keep happy by building temples and meeting certain criteria. Fail to please them and they'll wreak havoc on you and your people; please them, however, and they'll grant you the points you need to unlock new buildings on the tech tree. I liked this little division of your attention, and while it also meant I hit a few frustrating roadblocks on the way to better stuff, for the most part it was a solid way of drip-feeding me newer and more complicated things to build. The second is the game's beating heart, and what feels like the starting point for the entire pitch: water. Or, to be more precise, aqueducts. *Nova Roma* is a game where you build a city, but that city is useless without a water supply, and the way supplying that water is integrated into its design is a game unto itself. Building everything else in *Nova Roma* involves sticking a building or a path on a grid. That's how most city-builders work: you snap everything on a grid, and it makes designing and planning your city easy. But when it comes to aqueducts in this game, whoah, hold on, suddenly, things are *not* on a grid. You've got complete freedom of movement here, able to swing your concrete waterslides 360 degrees in rotation, and you can even adjust their height as well. Not only does this make building them a more intricate task, I just find it extremely funny that so much of the game is bound by these very conventional rules and then when it comes to precious water it's like oh, oh no, this stuff, you can build it *however you want*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/ss_aae9a53fa6b12d74ef19c44519a6443e9dfdef05.1920x1080.jpg) Your aqueducts aren't just for supplying drinking water; they're also needed for bath houses and spas, as well as firefighting There's a similar duality at play when it comes to the source of that water. Most of the game's resources, from stone to lumber to fish, are located on the same terrestrial grid that you build on. But the water flows freely, pouring down from mountaintops, and so not only do you have to build your aqueducts freely to catch it, but circumstances in the game (like droughts) can affect that flow and force you to modify your aqueducts or even build whole new ones. Which you absolutely need to do, because your cities *need* water, it's not an option, making this both the wackiest feature of this game but also the absolute bedrock of it. Like I said earlier, as a city-builder, I found *Nova Roma* fairly limited; its economy system is *there*, but isn't enjoyable or particularly easy to use, and I found stuff like building degradation (you need masons working around the clock to maintain structures) to be more of a pain in the ass than it was worth having there to tinker with. I did, however, have a blast just *building* stuff, because every cute little Roman building looks gorgeous, watching water whoosh down the aqueducts is incredibly satisfying and you get to go to (sorry) town customising your cities at a pretty granular level, including adding little food stalls to the bottom floor of your apartment buildings. *Nova Roma* is out in Early access on Steam. ### Humans, Human Problems, Go To Space URL: https://aftermath.site/artemis-outlook-space/ Last updated: 2026-04-02T17:14:59.000Z On Wednesday, the Artemis II spacecraft launched out of Florida. It marks the first time since the 70s that a crewed mission has headed toward the moon, and after a deluge of [billionaires](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billionaire%5Fspace%5Frace?ref=aftermath.site) leaving the Earth but unfortunately coming back, it’s nice for all us regular people to get excited about doing cool shit in space again. So far, things on Artemis seem to be going to plan, but there’s been a few hiccups. On Thursday morning, Commander Reid Wiseman was [apparently](https://www.engadget.com/computing/artemis-ii-crew-is-like-just-like-us-needs-help-with-microsoft-outlook-issues-145230647.html?ref=aftermath.site) having a problem with connectivity on his Microsoft Surface Pro and asked NASA tech support to take a look, noting that he had “two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working.” It’s unfortunate to learn that space isn’t far enough to escape 1) Microsoft, and 2) sending emails, both things I frequently fail to escape on Earth. > right now the astronauts are calling houston because the computer on the spaceship is running two instances of microsoft outlook and they can't figure out why. nasa is about to remote into the computer > > — [niki grayson (@nikigrayson.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jzhiqz7fb5dj6h7cydluryvn?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-04-02T06:06:53.835Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jzhiqz7fb5dj6h7cydluryvn/post/3miik2wzosk25?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) Want to know some facts about emailing in space that I learned because this situation got me thinking about emailing in space? The first email from space was sent in 1991 via [AppleLink ](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/106710-first-email-sent-from-space?ref=aftermath.site)and basically said “hello from space, too bad you aren’t also in space.” (The full message, by astronauts Shannon Lucid and James C. Adamson from spacecraft Atlantis, read, “Hello Earth! Greetings from the STS-43 Crew. This is the first AppleLink from space. Having a GREAT time, wish you were here,...send cryo and RCS! Hasta la vista, baby,...we'll be back!”) In 2014, [NASA emailed plans for a 3D printed wrench](https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30549341?ref=aftermath.site) to the ISS, the first time a tool was, technically speaking, emailed to space. The first [tweet from space](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/509164-first-live-tweet-from-space?ref=aftermath.site) (as opposed to being sent to Earth and then posted) was sent in 2010. In news related to, like emailing, other unfortunate requirements of being human, Artemis also had a little bit of [toilet trouble](https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/artemis-ii-crew-troubleshoot-orion-toilet-in-latest-live-mission-update?ref=aftermath.site), with one of its toilets jamming before being resolved. Of the [10 toilets](https://www.popsci.com/science/space-toilet-artemis-ii/?ref=aftermath.site) currently in space (a number that can be quantified, unlike toilets on Earth), this isn’t a bad failure rate, and it seems like toilet problems [aren’t uncommon](https://defector.com/artemis-boldly-goes-where-no-toilet-has-gone-before?ref=aftermath.site) in space. What I love about all this is how it makes me reconsider space travel, a concept I tend to take a bit for granted as someone born after the moon landing. (Another fun fact I learned: during the Apollo 11 flight, astronaut Michael Collins took a [photo](https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/space-astronomy/michael-collinss-space-photo?ref=aftermath.site) that includes everyone in the entire world except him.) In a world of [space influencers](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/feb/22/chris-hadfield-canada-superstar-astronaut?ref=aftermath.site) (cool) and the endless bullshit that [spews from Elon Musk](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/15/musk-humans-live-on-mars-spacex?ref=aftermath.site) (embarrassing), it can be easy for me to see “doing shit in space” as just something humans *do*, but it is objectively mind-blowing that we can *leave the Earth*, the place where (almost) everything in human history has happened. According to “[How Many People Are In Space Right Now](https://www.howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com/?ref=aftermath.site),” both an amazing name and concept for a website and which is also an app in case you need to be able to check how many people are in space right now at a moment's notice, there are currently 14 people who are not on Earth, where you are, where *all of us are* except those 14 people, one of whom is nevertheless having Outlook problems, just like us. If somehow you are reading this blog from space, please let me know. ### StarCraft-Inspired RTS From Former Blizzard Devs Losing Online Multiplayer Because Server Partner Was Bought By AI Company URL: https://aftermath.site/stormgate-multiplayer-servers-ai-frost-giant-starcraft-blizzard/ Last updated: 2026-04-02T17:48:47.000Z AI’s moronic, visionless stampede over all we hold dear has produced a variety of relatively predictable casualties—[numerous jobs](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/s/ai-killed-my-job?ref=aftermath.site), [environmental details in games](https://aftermath.site/crimson-desert-ai-art-images/), [the concept of affordable hardware](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/)—but I can’t say I saw this one coming. What happens when a server company that used to specialize in games gets bought by an AI company? No more video game servers. Frost Giant Studios, the ex-Blizzard devs behind the *StarCraft*\-like swing (and, despite potential, [miss](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tim-morten%5Fwhy-do-games-fail-in-the-market-at-the-most-share-7368310774282256384-lCc-/?ref=aftermath.site)) that is [*Stormgate*](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2023/03/31/stormgate-rts-frost-giant-starcraft/?ref=aftermath.site), announced that the game will be losing online multiplayer support next month. “Our game server orchestration partner, Hathora, has been purchased by an Al company, and they are winding down their service at the end of April,” the studio wrote in *Stormgate*’s Discord (via [PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/stormgate-the-starcraft-like-rts-that-launched-last-summer-is-losing-online-multiplayer-support-because-its-server-partner-was-bought-by-an-ai-company/?ref=aftermath.site)). “This will create a planned outage for *Stormgate*'s multiplayer modes. *Stormgate* will be patched so that it can be played offline, but online modes will not be available at that point. We hope to restore online play in a future patch, but this work will be dependent on Frost Giant finding a partner to support ongoing operations.” This does not bode well for *Stormgate*’s community, which built a serious head of steam with [a $2.4 million Kickstarter campaign](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stormgate/stormgate?ref=aftermath.site), only for an early access release and subsequent updates to fall short of expectations. Recent Steam reviews are “[mostly negative](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2012510/Stormgate/?ref=aftermath.site),” and the game’s peak concurrent player count has yet to break 100 this year. On Steam, Frost Giant [disclosed](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2012510/Stormgate/?ref=aftermath.site) that AI was used during *Stormgate*'s development: > Some AI tools were used to help with early ideation in the development process. AI tools were also used to assist in up-rezzing our portraits and adding facial animations. Final assets were all painted by artists. We have not replaced any developers with AI and believe that talented people lie at the heart of exciting games. Hathora, for its part, also provided server infrastructure for the [somehow](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/im-not-here-to-apologize-but-i-am-here-to-clarify-splitgate-2-boss-says-his-make-fps-great-again-hat-is-not-a-political-statement/?ref=aftermath.site) [slightly less ill-fated](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/splitgate-2-is-dead-long-live-splitgate-arena-reloaded-the-shooters-back-to-the-basics-relaunch-is-coming-december-17/?ref=aftermath.site) *Splitgate 2*, the [more ill-fated](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/1jag6qw/mountaintop%5Fstudios%5Fshutting%5Fdown%5Fafter%5Fdebut/?ref=aftermath.site) *Spectre Divide*, and *Predecessor*, a *Paragon*\-like MOBA that seems to still be [chugging along](https://steamcharts.com/app/961200?ref=aftermath.site). Now Hathora is [under the umbrella of Fireworks AI](https://blog.hathora.dev/hathora-is-joining-fireworks-ai/?ref=aftermath.site), where its founders believe it “can have the most impact.” As far as signs of the times go, it really doesn’t get more on the nose than a company behind scaffolding for live-service games—prophecied cash cows that [turned out to be money pits](https://aftermath.site/highguard-studio-developers-laid-off/)—pivoting to AI. I wish Hathora the best in its future endeavors when that bubble [inevitably bursts](https://kotaku.com/openais-video-plagiarism-app-sora-was-reportedly-losing-1-million-a-day-2000683277?ref=aftermath.site) as well. ## Recommended [Please Join Me For A Rousing Round Of: Lol, Get FuckedOpenAI is shutting down its Sora app![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-221.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_2684774107-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/sora-shutdown-openai/) ### You Do, In Fact, Have To Hand It To The Ninja Creami URL: https://aftermath.site/ninja-creami-deluxe-xl-review-pacojet/ Last updated: 2026-04-02T00:02:15.000Z I do not want to give the Ninja Creami credit. It is not a handsome appliance; it’s built out of plastic, looks tacky and cheap, and generally feels like an unserious tool. However, it is also one of the most interesting pieces of consumer kitchen hardware to come along since the Instant Pot, a genuinely fascinating device that takes the mechanics of a high end $6000 machine and simplifies it to something that nobody can fuck up and basically anybody can buy. It is by far the most forgiving ice cream machine on the market, and is capable of creating frozen treats that should not exist. You do, in fact, have to hand it to the Ninja Creami. ## Baby's First PacoJet ![A creami next to a pint of something like cookie dough ice cream. The machine also contains such a pint..](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/creamideluxe2.png) The Ninja CREAMi XL Deluxe makes more volume per pint than the base model. Costco has a special deal that makes it cost about 30 bucks less, and they have a generous return policy for things they sell. To understand why the Creami is weird you must first understand how a [normal ice cream machine](https://aftermath.site/hell-yes-ice-cream-maker/) works. A traditional ice cream machine works by chilling the sides of a chamber, often but not always with something akin to a small refrigerator. The sides of the machine are cooled and arms (called a dasher) rotate to churn the poured ice cream base. The ice cream base then freezes against the walls of the machine and is scraped off by the dasher. The repeated freezing and scraping forms tiny ice crystals that then form the structure of the ice cream. The Creami works in an entirely different and frankly bizarre way. It is a simplified version of a machine called a PacoJet, an commercial kitchen product whose patent lapsed in 2017\. You may be familiar with The PacoJet if you have ever seen the 2022 dark comedy *The Menu*, as it is an obsession of the character Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), a high end restaurant groupie with too much time and money on his hands who does not actually know how to cook. A PacoJet is something between a big ass drill press and a blender that takes metal canisters full of ingredients and turns whatever is in them into a paste. It has many uses like making soup but is often used to make ice cream. You make a mixture, freeze it overnight, then put it in the PacoJet, and a spinning blade pulverizes the block of ice into ice cream. ![Anya Taylor-Joy holding a Pacojet about to go to town on someone with it.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/The_Menu_pacojet.png) The Pacojet 2 Plus as it appears in the The Menu \[2022\], dir. Mark Mylod Credit: Searchlight Pictures Ninja seized on the opportunity to knock it off when they legally could, simplifying the entire process and focusing exclusively on the ice cream part. Though not as powerful a machine, it costs less than $200 dollars instead of $6000\. The resulting machine has many advantages over a traditional ice cream machine, the biggest one being sheer convenience. Because you are freezing the mixture in a refrigerator that you already own instead of buying a second tiny refrigerator (or in the case of the $60 Cuisinart Ice-21, freezing the bowl overnight), the footprint of the machine is far smaller. I have an immersion blender and so I’m able to bang out several batches at once in the pint containers themselves, freeze them, then toss them in the freezer for the next day. And because the mechanism by which the machine makes ice cream is inherently different, the ideal sweet spot for fat in mixtures is lower than in a traditional ice cream machine. It’s no wonder that diet freaks have come to love the Creami. I buy my mysterious food science ingredients from these guys. They have a [celiac-specific baking powder](https://modernistpantry.com/products/im-free-perfect-gluten-free-baking-powder.html?ref=aftermath.site) that rules if you need to bake something gluten free. This is not to say that you can just throw whatever crap in a Creami pint and turn it into ice cream, though you’d be shocked at how well that produces something edible. A proper, well-crafted recipe will positively sing in that machine. In fact, learning how to properly make ice cream the traditional way will benefit you a lot in crafting your recipes, and it’s a fun skill to learn. Before I had the Creami I owned the Ferrari of consumer ice cream machines: the Lello 4080 Musso Lussino. I had gotten a deal on it second hand from a guy in midtown who had purchased it for his stalled protein ice cream startup. The Lello Musso is a beautiful machine: all steel, sleek Italian design, one of the most beautiful pieces of equipment I have ever owned. I loved learning to make ice cream on the Lello Musso because it taught me exactly how to make ice cream the right way. ![A beautiful silver ice cream machine with tactile buttons and dials. It looks like a sexy italian sports car from the 80s. The chrome finish reflects the wood, and there is a plastic dome on top.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/icecream_machine.jpg) Love you sweetie, I miss you. Though it was a stunning machine, it was also huge, heavy, loud, and cumbersome, requiring a lot of prep work and time to churn. If you are making real ice cream to serve in a commercial setting, the Musso and its big brother are your first steps before you get into real kitchen equipment. But for the most part, it collected dust in my pantry because it’s a 38-pound mini fridge and was a huge pain in the ass to take out and put away. When my curiosity about the Creami got the better of me, my beautiful and correct girlfriend said, “if you get this thing you have to sell the other one,” and so with a heavy heart I sold my baby to a chef who lives down the street for exactly what I bought it for. I can see it behind the counter of his restaurant whenever I walk by. The machine in action. If you own a small business and occasionally make ice cream, it's a great machine. It costs $799 retail and the next step up is its big brother. I have been eyeing the Ninja Creami for several years now with morbid fascination, well before it blew up on everyone’s TikTok FYP. The thing that got me was that the close friend of mine who had taught me how to make ice cream years ago caved and got one. He was shocked at what he could get out of it for a fraction of the time investment. We both have a deep and unabiding love of weird food chemistry, trading notes on various weird gums and additives, and I think neither of us wanted to admit that something as corny, flimsy, and cheap as this could be everything it claimed to be. **Content warning: The following section discusses dieting culture.** ## Food Chimeras Over the years I have spent an inordinate amount of time fascinated with what I can only describe as “bodybuilder molecular gastronomy:” that weird kind of meal preparation that is more formulation than cooking and which creates something that can only charitably be described as food. It is a deeply American obsession to create a cruel mockery of a real dish using tricks, hacks, and cheats, trying to get as close to a real meal without including any of calorically dense or unhealthy elements that make it “taste good.” A similar impulse exists with vegans, although it reaches its apotheosis with lifting and gym culture specifically, the results of which you have probably seen on TikTok. If you ever want to see something unholy, look up the bodybuilding forum creation known as Protein Fluff, an ancient internet mixture of whey powder, diet soda and xanthan gum that looks like the imaginary meal the kids in the movie *Hook* ate that was just brightly-colored frosting. There's like five million channels called like "the ripped kitchen" that make stuff like this. I have a weird nostalgia for this stuff because it's wrong, but it's also how you get MAHA shit. Despite tasting objectively mediocre, I think the success of Halo Top really screwed a lot of people up. Ice cream is the holy grail for the food sensitive and fitness freaks because it tastes great but generally requires animal products, fat, and sugar to taste anywhere close to correct. Replacing those ingredients takes constant trial and error, precisely calculating and formulating based on tried and tested calculations. But the science has advanced light years in the last few decades, and vegan ice cream chemistry has gotten alarmingly good to the point of being on par if done well. ![A book called "Ice Cream" by H. Douglas Goff, Richard W. Hartel and Scott A. Rankin.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/eigth-editiongoff.jpg) If you want the not screwing around academic textbook on the subject, the book "Ice Cream" is the one. I briefly emailed Richard Hartel while writing this piece and they've got a Creami they're playing with in the lab. Credit: [Springer Nature](https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-77872-8?ref=aftermath.site) There are many recipes for the Ninja Creami that flat out suck. The ones in the included recipe book are [less than great](https://www.icecreamscience.com/blog/ninja-creami-ice-cream-maker-a-comprehensive-review?ref=aftermath.site), and the formulations that are produced by an enthusiastic fitness guy telling you to dump a can of sliced pineapple in the pint canister are generally unserious. There are entire fields of food chemistry study devoted to this, and the most extensive book you can read on the topic is simply called *Ice Cream,* now in its eighth revision (two of the authors work at University of Wisconsin’s Food Science Department, known for its severely bangin’ [ice cream shop](https://babcockdairystore.wisc.edu/ice-cream/?ref=aftermath.site)). The Ice Cream Science blog from a while back has a [good Tres Leches](https://www.icecreamscience.com/blog/ninja-creami-nc30-easy-no-cook-tres-leches-recipe?ref=aftermath.site). Many of the recipes on the [PacoJet website](https://pacojet.com/en-GB/Recipes/Ice-cream-and-sorbet/?ref=aftermath.site) apply to the Creami, and they have many freakish molecular gastronomy recipes like [Campari Sorbet](https://pacojet.com/en-GB/Recipes/Ice-cream-and-sorbet/Campari-sorbet/?ref=aftermath.site), [Mustard](https://pacojet.com/en-GB/Recipes/Ice-cream-and-sorbet/Meaux-mustard-ice-cream/?ref=aftermath.site), [Lassi ](https://pacojet.com/en-GB/Recipes/Indian-recipes/Lassi-ice-cream/?ref=aftermath.site)(this one is VERY good), [Porcini Mushroom](https://pacojet.com/en-GB/Recipes/Ice-cream-and-sorbet/Porcini-mushroom-ice-cream/?ref=aftermath.site), and [Kale](https://pacojet.com/en-GB/Recipes/Ice-cream-and-sorbet/Kale-Ice-Cream/?ref=aftermath.site). [Polar Ice Creamery](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRJ7khMUhdk&list=PLQC4zsI%5F2FcFFNrlNP4vVrMkCHGHu8n0-&ref=aftermath.site) has an entire playlist on YouTube I can recommend. There’s also a very dedicated and [passionate subreddit around the machine](https://www.reddit.com/r/ninjacreami/?ref=aftermath.site). Jürgen Hermann, a prominent user on that subreddit, has attempted to organize a [knowledge base](https://jhermann.github.io/ice-creamery/?ref=aftermath.site) around formulating recipes specific to the machine. It is worth noting this project makes extensive use of AI, both in its imagery and in how it uses a Google NotebookLM workspace to manage replacing ingredients. I personally prefer to craft my ice cream recipes through trial and error and assume that many other people feel similarly, but it’s still fascinating that something like that exists as a personal project around a weird ice cream machine you get at Costco. Polar Ice Creamery is just a very solid DIY channel and walks through his reasoning. Over the years I have collected a ton of bizarre ingredients in my pantry in the pursuit of healthy treat science. Allulose is a big one, a rare form of sugar that doesn’t spike your blood sugar and is mostly undigested. It’s 70% as sweet as table sugar and if you eat too much of it you can get an upset tummy, but it works great in conjunction with other sweeteners. Because it’s sugar it forms ice crystals correctly, and it’s also a humectant, which is extremely useful in crafting ice cream. Tara gum is another big one, a thickening agent like guar and locust bean gum that imparts a creamy texture to whatever you put it in (although it needs to be heated to be properly activated). There’s also [Quillaia extract and Yucca extract](https://youtu.be/6ZdIqhzwgFw?si=UlcO6zWiXWVOean5&t=523&ref=aftermath.site), which are both used in Sugar Free Slurpees and as foaming agents to give root beer that weirdly specific head it’s known for. I love nothing more than getting a package containing a [baffling ingredient from Modernist Pantry](https://modernistpantry.com/products/methocel-f50-food-grade.html?ref=aftermath.site) that makes ice cream solidify at warm temperatures and melt when you cool it down. After bringing the XL version of the Creami home from Costco, I banged out many different low sugar recipes, getting more daring and weird as I went on. The aforementioned [Lassi was a delight](https://bsky.app/profile/papapishu.bsky.social/post/3mcvn4sybq22h?ref=aftermath.site). [Cacio e pepe](https://bsky.app/profile/papapishu.bsky.social/post/3mczvaenp4s2u?ref=aftermath.site) was alarming and tasty, a mild and sweet parmesan taste with an occasional peppery bite. [White Monster Energy with fresh Strawberries](https://bsky.app/profile/papapishu.bsky.social/post/3mcvaxappps2w?ref=aftermath.site) ([inspired by this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ninjacreami/comments/1mbnqtx/white%5Fmonster%5Fstrawberries%5Fsorbet/?ref=aftermath.site)) was not bad. I had previously inherited a collection of food grade soda flavorings including [Baja Blast](https://bsky.app/profile/papapishu.bsky.social/post/3mdkafohhzs2r?ref=aftermath.site) from a friend after he had to stop vaping for health reasons. I keep them in two airtight containers in my pantry because opening it is like getting punched in the nose, but they proved extremely useful with the Creami. > Strawberries and White Monster Energy sorbet is a confirmed banger and sugar free (not counting allulose). > > — [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-01-20T22:57:12.917Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mcvaxappps2w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) White monster strawberry is honestly good as hell. Once you get a base recipe down that you like, the sheer convenience of the device makes it easy to iterate, figure out where you fucked up and then modifying your recipe. The machine stores away far easier than my Lello Musso ever did, and in a few weeks I put more time into the Creami than I had with the Musso. > Seeing what sweet treats the Ninja Creami subreddit is cooking up. > > — [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-01-13T22:37:05.775Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mcdmktbd6k2s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) OK this is bad but there is actually [a recipe on the official Pacojet website for this](https://pacojet.com/en-GB/Recipes/Ice-cream-and-sorbet/Tuna-ice-cream/?ref=aftermath.site). This supports my thesis that forum weirdos and high end chefs are functionally the same. The Creami is not perfect. I miss the cold, mirrorlike steel of the Lello Musso, with its tactile analog timer that cranks exactly like an egg timer from the 1950s. I find the plastic design of the Creami tacky, a toylike design ethos that makes it feel like a disowned bastard of Dyson. I wish that the name of both the brand and the device, particularly when combined, did not make me shudder a little. I wish the Creami could handle what the PacoJet can handle. I wish the motor was just a bit more powerful, and that it had the indestructible heirloom feel of a Vitamix blender or a KitchenAid stand mixer. I wish it was easier to disassemble and deep clean, particularly around the piston. I would spend just a little more money for something a bit more serious, a little less embarrassing. But at its price, nothing is doing it like the Ninja Creami. Since it became a viral hit, I have also seen several traditional outlets attempt to grapple with its popularity, and across the board all of the writing has the exact same begrudging and condescending tenor of a writer on assignment. They understand the machine’s relationship to the PacoJet and occasionally touch on the bizarre diet culture that surrounds it. They often follow the horrible recipes in the book, treat it identically to a normal ice cream machine, or downplay its cultural importance as a flash in the pan viral sensation. But while the relative virality of the device is what rocketed it to fame, much of the traditional media misunderstands the specific way in which the device is important. The Ninja Creami is not simply a weird ice cream machine, but rather the Costco-ificaiton of decades-old molecular gastronomy forum culture. It shares more in common with the Instant Pot or a sous vide culturally than older ice cream machines, allowing for specific styles of food preparation previously inaccessible to normal people. To misunderstand its purpose, its capabilities, or its fanbase is to fundamentally dismiss something actually noteworthy as simply some TikTok bullshit. Do not take the Ninja Creami lightly; it is not going away. **UPDATE 4/1/26: Clarified the description of the Pacojet to be more accurate.** ### Hozy Is An Unpacking-Like With A Twist URL: https://aftermath.site/hozy-impressions-review/ Last updated: 2026-04-01T13:20:45.000Z Games like *Unpacking* are a genre in themselves these days: games where you don’t just focus on decorating, but on taking things out of boxes. This is better than putting things *in* boxes, the worst part of moving, and it also brings an element of surprise to setting up a room. *Unpacking*\-like game *Hozy* came out this week, adding another twist to the formula in that before you can spend hours arranging little tchotchkes, you need to clean the space up first. There’s a light narrative to [*Hozy*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3326230/Hozy/?ref=aftermath.site)about coming back to your hometown, with small bits of text and character portraits telling you vague things about the diorama-like settings you have to fix up. Your sister’s first apartment is piled high with trash; a sprawling penthouse tended to by a lonely robot vacuum was the abode of someone who “couldn’t buy happiness.” All this gives a little bit of context and emotion to the spaces, and can guide the way you set up the place. But before you can do any of that you have to tidy up. This usually involves clicking trash to put it in a bin, dragging a mop across a dirty floor or a squeegee over the windows, or painting the walls from limited colors. In some levels you need to rip up and lay flooring, sweep up leaves from outdoor spaces, or saw boards to make them even. You do this with tiny in-world tools that can sometimes be floaty or imprecise, but it’s always a clever, enjoyable way to engage with the space and start thinking about its potential. Once a space is ready, boxes appear. You can guess the size of items that might be in them from their shape, opening the door to a little bit of strategy. When I played *Hozy*’s demo back in February I had a tendency to just pull everything out and heap it up until there was no room to put anything anywhere, but this time around I went through things one box at a time, sometimes going back to rearrange stuff if a new item felt like it should be in a certain spot. Items range from big stuff like chairs, tables, and rugs (there are a lot of rugs in this game, which really got me thinking about my own life choices vis-a-vis being anti-rug), to paintings and statues, to the tiniest teacups or little bits of decor. A level is complete once you’ve unpacked everything and put it somewhere, but you have unlimited time to rearrange things into the exact configuration you want, and there’s a photo mode to commemorate your creations. I was impressed with just how *much* stuff you can fill *Hozy*’s spaces with; I can’t remember ever seeing the same chair or painting or even little item from one level to another. Sometimes I clashed against this–you’d think the rich penthouse owner would have furniture that matches–but in other levels it gave a sense of character to the space, like the mismatched chairs of a pharmacy-turned-cafe. And the stuff tells the story of a space too: paintbrushes and palettes for an artist’s studio, or two walkie-talkies for some kids’ treehouse. In the latter example, I tried to give each kid a little narrative through my items, throwing shoes willy-nilly around one kid’s bed while neatly lining them up for the other to try to capture two very different people sharing a small space. If you don’t like something in a level, you can drop it off the side to put it away, which lets you exert a little control over the story-through-stuff of a space. The artist had a series of Halloween pumpkins I found ugly and didn’t want to use, while in the musician’s apartment I kept pulling out a series of cat toys shaped like rats that eventually won me over in their sheer volume. A lot of the items weren’t things I’d personally decorate a space with, or clashed with my vision for a musician’s home or young person’s lofted flat, but when combined with *Hozy*’s simple narrative, it felt like I was making a space for specific people, instead of designing a place of my own. Also, as I pointed out in the newsletter I wrote about the game's demo, the menu rules: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/04/hozme.jpeg) The sheets come off each new building you unlock *Hozy* is a chill little game to tinker with, even if the tidying can sometimes feel a bit clumsy. I always feel a little weird playing decorating games when my real-life house is a mess (looking for a place for a bike in one of *Hozy*’s levels made me feel guilty about how all my bike and camping stuff is just piled in the corners in my bedroom in a way that screams “single man who lives alone”), but it was a nice way to unwind after a long day, and to imagine the lives of other people through where they keep their stuff. [Finally, a nesting game that gets the lighting rightIt’s your job to make that isometric house an isometric home![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/mship-tab-icon.png)MothershipZoë Hannah![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/20260323181640_1-1-1-1.jpg)](https://www.mothership.blog/hozy-a-nesting-game-that-gets-the-lighting-right/?ref=aftermath.site) ### Culture Crave Sucks URL: https://aftermath.site/culture-crave-sucks/ Last updated: 2026-04-02T17:48:36.000Z I feel like every time I open up the internet I see a piece of movie or TV news getting shared on Bluesky or Instagram by someone I know, and every damn time, it's under the banner of Culture Crave. Even if the name doesn't ring a bell, the avatar (pictured above) surely will: that trademark Darth Vader on a blue background, wearing sunglasses over his helmet visor, a profile picture you see every time someone you know or follow feels the need to share the box office takings of the latest movie, or how many post-credits scenes we can expect to see after a movie we haven't seen. It's an account--or accounts, since they post on pretty much every major social media platform out there--that has over one million combined followers, [makes a *lot* of money](https://www.indiehustle.co/p/a-one-person-social-media-empire?ref=aftermath.site) and exists to bombard its followers with information in much the same way all news media does in the age of SEO desperation and the battle of the attention economy. Here's a cast reveal, here's a quote from a celebrity, here are 6000 layoffs– everything is presented in quick succession and stripped of context. To follow the account, and others in the same space (like Pop Crave), must be a numbing experience. [Video Game Blogs From The 2000s Were Fast, Reckless And Very Bad At News - AftermathWhen everything was news, nothing was![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-217.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/dump-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/video-game-blogs-old-media-2000s/) I wouldn't know though, because I don't follow them, because fuck them. And not for the quantity of their posts, either. I don't follow them because they just straight up steal other people's shit. Scroll down Culture Crave's timeline and between the trailers and teasers you'll see some quotes, news, data and footage that does not come from them. Much of it comes from other websites, the work of other reporters and writers and hosts. Sometimes those outlets will be belatedly mentioned via text in Culture Crave's original and most-shared post, but often their identities will be buried in a follow-up post (which is never the one shared), and sometimes just omitted entirely. Here's an example: this post, about Donald Glover and the *Super Mario Galaxy* movie, credits Extra with a "via" then does not link the outlet in either this or a follow-up post. Culture Crave have simply taken news that Extra generated from an interview with Jack Black and Anya Taylor-Joy and lifted it wholesale, getting thousands of likes on Twitter in the process ([you can see Extra's original interview here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdhRU2etgWY&ref=aftermath.site)). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Capture-5.PNG) Here's another example of Culture Crave fuckery: of these two posts below, about yet another spinoff series based on *The Boys*, the top post--the one with the news and thousands of likes--does not link Collider's story that obtained the information, even though it very easily could have. The second post, the one with...35 likes, does. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Capture-6.PNG) You may think ah, this is just aggregation, but it's not. Aggregation is a practice that has been around since the dawn of the internet, and involves taking news somebody else has broken and re-writing it for your own audience. I've done a bunch of it over my career, but everyone from the New York Times to The Guardian to the Sydney Morning Herald has to also do it on a daily basis; if Bild breaks a huge story and L'Equipe has to write about it without adding any further reporting, that's aggregating. The correct practice when aggregating, however, is to cite your sources properly. This is most often done with a clear mention of that source and a full link to the original piece as early in your own story as you can. In the above *Super Mario Galaxy* example the news wasn't "via" Extra, because "via" is usually used when the aggregator has merely seen a story elsewhere first, without ever coming across the actual source. In Aftermath terms, let's say a site called Tiny Little Blog broke some big news, but I first saw it on IGN (who linked Tiny Little Blog in their own report, which is how I would know!). If I chose to write about that news I'd fully credit Tiny Little Blog and give a "via" to IGN, and in a time where every link a website can get counts more than ever, I would link both of them. [Games Journalism: An FAQ - AftermathWhat’s a blacklist? How do NDAs work? Let’s find out![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-219.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/journodesk-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/games-journalism-an-faq/) Doing this is very easy. It's internet journalism 101, even for fansites and hobbyists, so to see a commercial account with over one million combined followers continue to wilfully refuse to properly credit and link to its sources drives me insane. There are no excuses for this! Sure, some social media platforms prefer a link in the second post, but not all; to see Culture Crave’s Bluesky posts follow a style you would expect on Twitter suggests they're either using [a service like Postpone](https://www.postpone.app/?ref=aftermath.site) and can’t be bothered making slight adjustments to each platform’s post, or just don't care. Even if it's just on Bluesky, put the credit in the top post, you bozos! Platform preferences be damned, just do the right thing! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Capture-7.PNG) I'm not trying to shame anyone who is into this kind of news here, nor am I trying to call the Internet Police on the network. I just want to bring this back to where I started: I see people sharing Culture Crave posts *all the time*, on all kinds of platforms, and I think we could all be doing better! If you ever feel the need to share a bite-sized piece of pop culture news, I think the least you could do is to share the reporting of the sites ([THR](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/?ref=aftermath.site), [Variety](https://variety.com/?ref=aftermath.site), even [IGN](https://www.ign.com/?ref=aftermath.site)!) doing the actual work. ### Meiko Kaji's 60 Year Career Has Been Defined By Stubborn Ambition URL: https://aftermath.site/meiko-kaji-lady-snowblood/ Last updated: 2026-04-02T17:32:01.000Z It’s been 58 years since Meiko Kaji started her career as an actress, 53 years since she changed the perception of a female heroine in *Lady Snowblood*, 45 years since she first arrived in New York City. This time she visits as part of a career retrospective celebration hosted by [Japan Society](https://www.japanculture-nyc.com/blog/japan-society-celebrates-actress-meiko-kaji?ref=aftermath.site), which serendipitously took place a week before she marks her 79th year on Earth. Like the protagonist in Satoshi Kon’s *Millennium Actress*, looking back on it all, Kaji tells me she’s just as stubborn and ambitious to continue to star in new projects that move her, even though she’d never dreamed of becoming an actor in the first place. “I was actually scouted off the street, and that was my beginnings as an actor, so I wouldn’t say that it was of my own will,” Kaji said over Zoom. “There was at no point did I—when I was younger—want to become an actor, or was I even interested in becoming an actor.” Only after she was scouted did Kaji, still known by her real name, Masako Ota, become interested in thinking about what it meant to become an actress. That time was through a trial by fire. “I was starting from not even a place of zero. I was starting from like, negative one. I didn’t understand a single thing about acting or the film industry,” she said. “Not only that, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, so I couldn’t ask questions.” ![Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion still of Meiko staring into the camera. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Female-Prisoner-701-Scorpion.png) Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion © Toei Once Kaji entered the studio system—a place governed by strict rules about what kind of actor you were allowed to become, and churning out two films a week across its own theaters in the hopes of producing 8 films a month—she found herself cast in seven productions during her first year. Tested across genres and relied upon to help keep the studio afloat, she began to question whether the life of an actress was truly hers to claim. “I have to say, I became quite numb to the process. It wasn't even that I thought I was struggling. It was just something that I had to do,” she said. “So I really never thought about my own desires or my own will. And if I were to go up to a higher-up or a director and say, ‘This is the kind of thing I want to do’ or ‘This is what I don't want to do,’ they would just look at me and say, ‘Well, quit and try your luck elsewhere.’ But I did know that anything that was put in front of me, I would go for it.” Kaji is careful not to romanticize the grind she survived; she knows the cost of those early years too well. But she also believes those early struggles can teach more than they take, especially for young actors thumbing through her filmography. “These films last forever, and if you wanted to go back and watch them today, you could. So, oftentimes, there are people that are very young in their teens and twenties that show up to set and say, ‘Let me do any work here. ‘I want to become an actor,’ and ‘Let me just observe on set,’” she said. “What I tell these young people is to watch my early films. That they should see that my acting in these films is such a disappointment that perhaps it'll give them some kind of confidence to go their own way with their career as an actor.” ![Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter still of Meiko wearing a cowboy hat.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Stray-Cat-Rock_bw_03-e1772037842431-1024x462.png) Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter ©Nikkatsu ## Finding her role in cinema Over time, Kaji—both actress and occasional singer—carved out her niche by playing a constellation of outlaw heroines across ninkyo eiga, pinky-violence films, yakuza dramas, and arthouse films, giving voice to women who lived defiantly on society’s margins. Her roles include the vengeful Nami "Scorpion" Matsushima in Shunya Ito’s *The Female Prisoner Scorpion* series, ex-con Nami “the Red Cherry Blossom” Higuchi in Kazuhiko Yamaguchi’s *Wandering Ginza Butterfly*, and most famously, the incandescent Yuki from Toshiya Fujita’s live-action adaptation of Kazuo Kamimura’s namesake manga, *Lady Snowblood*. When I asked whether her early filmography reflected the woman she was behind the scenes, Kaji admitted that some of those roles did mirror a certain rebellious spirit. Her refusal to fail and not easily crumble under pressure, even if it meant quite literally delivering a knock-out performance in a single take. “There was a film that I was in that was about a wartime story, where there were a lot of young university students who were appearing in it, and also many people who were in the army, and the director looked at me and said, ‘Do you see that soldier right there who has the glasses on?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’ He said, ‘We have one take to do this. Can you go up to him and punch him so hard that his glasses fly off his face?’ It wasn't like I was confident that I could do it, but I knew that I had to give it my best try. So, I did the take. I punched him, and his glasses flew off his face, and it was as if I passed the test,” she said. ![Lady Snowblood still of Meiko walking down her adversary. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/f930322f2b6010675e6a12dfea7d5bdf.png) Lady Snowblood © Toho ## Addressing the Tarantino in the room It’s impossible not to talk about Kaji’s career without invoking *Lady Snowblood* in a meaningful way. After all, it's a movie in her filmography whose aftershocks still pulse through pop culture in animated works like *Blue Eye Samurai*, video games like *Ghost of Yotei*, and anime like *Jujutsu Kaisen*. It’s also a film most likely to spark an “Um, actually” correction online because many Western viewers first encountered its style filtered through Quentin Tarantino’s *Kill Bill*. Depending on your level of generosity, *Kill Bill* either pays homage to or outright lifts the entire flow of *Lady Snowblood*. And while her fans have spent years defending her legacy in the comments, Kaji tells me she holds no hard feelings about any of it. Quite the opposite. She considers *Kill Bill* a complete homage to *Lady Snowblood*. “When I met Tarantino, I thought of him as such a wonderful person. He told me that his method is to take the good parts from all the films he likes and steal them. When he said that with such honesty, I actually found it quite courageous and confident,” Kaji said. “He told me that, with Japanese film, he was aware of the artistry and the beauty of films from directors who worked at Shochiku, people like director [Keisuke Kinoshita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisuke%5FKinoshita?ref=aftermath.site), for instance—the kinds of films that are slow and quiet. But he said he recognized that he could never make films like that,” Kaji said. “I was struck by his honesty, and I certainly never felt like it was an unpleasant experience to hear him speak so honestly, so I would definitely never call him a thief.” ![Wandering Ginza Butterfly still of Meiko walking down a city street. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Wandering-Ginza-Butterfly.png) Wandering Ginza Butterfly © Toei While she was on a television show with some of the Japanese actors from *Kill Bill*, Kaji recounted hearing a set story about a monitor playing *Lady Snowblood,* “basically the entire time that they were working” and how Tarantino would point to the screen and say, “That is what I want to make, and you as actors have to act accordingly.” While promoting *Kill Bill* Japan, Kaji recalled meeting Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu in a full-circle moment she never expected. Excluding *Lady Snowblood*, Kaji had long viewed her earlier films as lessons in what *not* to do as an actor, yet here were two Hollywood stars admitting they'd watched an early performance of hers“to the point that they were completely tired of it,” as a sacred artifact to shape their own work. Hearing that her *Lady Snowblood* performance had become a hallowed touchstone made her genuinely happy. It proved her hard work had carried the film into an immortal afterlife of homage and influence. That's the kind of pride most actors would spend the rest of their careers chasing. She managed to do it in her seventeenth film. ## Finding Masako Ota in Meiko Kaji When a single role becomes as mythic as *Lady Snowblood* or *Female Prisoner Scorpion*, it can cast a long shadow, eclipsing the full breadth of an artist who has worked as hard to make a name for herself as Kaji has for the past sixty years. Especially when those halcyon days of her career were a pressure cooker. > A very special visit from legendary actor Meiko Kaji! ✨ > > Catch an ongoing retrospective celebrating her work at Japan Society in New York through April 4, or see her in person at Beyond Fest's Chicago edition this weekend for a screening of LADY SNOWBLOOD. [pic.twitter.com/4WWGFxjvSl](https://t.co/4WWGFxjvSl?ref=aftermath.site) > > — Criterion Collection (@Criterion) [March 31, 2026](https://twitter.com/Criterion/status/2039070484470321610?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) She laughs now at how her early career was pure “take whatever you can get,” yet those very roles ended up feeling like winning the lottery in retrospect. “Honestly, when I was younger, I kind of hated walking down the street and being called Scorpion all the time because of that role,” Kaji said. “But as I got older, I continued to learn how the roles of *Female Prisoner Scorpion* and *Lady Snowblood* are actually such treasures to me.” > ニューヨークに着きました！ > ジャパンソサエティー、これより梶芽衣子特集、始動です！！ > > I arrived NY! At the Japan Society, the Meiko Kaji retrospective kicks off now! [pic.twitter.com/ckv8g64Le5](https://t.co/ckv8g64Le5?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 梶芽衣子公式 (@meikokajioffice) [March 28, 2026](https://twitter.com/meikokajioffice/status/2037979357210108125?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) What began as a career fueled by pure survival on an off chance scouting eventually has aged into an answer to all those questions she never felt she knew enough to ask at the start of her storied career. As she continued acting, Kaji developed a sense of gratitude for how she learned the craft of acting. Now Kaji sees how the directors and staff made magic in a crucible to immortalize a young woman doing the best she could with what she had. “It's very difficult to make films that can endure the test of time,” she said. “And so it's an honor for me to play those roles, and there's really nothing more that I could wish for.” And that hunger hasn’t dimmed with age—if anything, it’s sharper now than it ever was. “When I chose to go down this line of work, I talked to my father, and he told me that when a person enters into a society as a working person, their first job is something that is meant to be taken very seriously, and that through your work in this job and through the years that you attempt to do it, you will find meaning,” Kaji said. “Now that I've had a 61-year career, I think back on my career, and I'm not sure if I was able to take it as seriously as my father had told me to. But I do think it was a success, and I'm very satisfied.” > "I’m full of life because as you know, a Scorpion never dies" [https://t.co/iyYx2NRCxy](https://t.co/iyYx2NRCxy?ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/u2OWSHM1Uz](https://t.co/u2OWSHM1Uz?ref=aftermath.site) > > — k (@funfairevening) [March 30, 2026](https://twitter.com/funfairevening/status/2038468723166896161?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) It’s easy for movie fans to define Meiko Kaji by her stillness, the steely gaze, the quiet intensity of her presence, which has shaped cinema’s visual language, proof enough that she’s always had the makings of an actor. After nearly sixty years, she’s answered that question for herself, thanks not to the myth of Meiko Kaji but to the stubborn ambition of Masako Ota. “I always have a person that's behind me, kind of pushing me, and that is myself,” she said. “I'm in constant battle with myself. If I find myself being a little lazy, there's that person behind me who says, ‘What are you doing? You still have so much more to do,’ and ‘You have so much more to learn.’ I can't go against myself.” > [#MeikoKaji](https://twitter.com/hashtag/MeikoKaji?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) singing “Shuru No Hana” (Flower of Carnage) at [@js\_film\_nyc](https://twitter.com/js%5Ffilm%5Fnyc?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#梶芽衣子](https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E6%A2%B6%E8%8A%BD%E8%A1%A3%E5%AD%90?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#修羅の花](https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E4%BF%AE%E7%BE%85%E3%81%AE%E8%8A%B1?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#修羅雪姫](https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E4%BF%AE%E7%BE%85%E9%9B%AA%E5%A7%AB?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#ladysnowblood](https://twitter.com/hashtag/ladysnowblood?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [#killbill](https://twitter.com/hashtag/killbill?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) [pic.twitter.com/Bd1Ew1ISCj](https://t.co/Bd1Ew1ISCj?ref=aftermath.site) > > — David Powers (@flexmagnificent) [March 29, 2026](https://twitter.com/flexmagnificent/status/2038346796473176100?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) Even with all the motion her name carries in cinema, Kaji doesn’t look at the future in terms of big roles or small ones. She’s interested in whatever feels new, whatever keeps her moving. Even if she’s been more active in her singing career as of late, that [doesn’t mean she’s ready to call it quits as an actor](https://www.nme.com/features/tv-features/yu-yu-hakusho-live-action-netflix-interview-meiko-kaji-3558703?ref=aftermath.site). “I want to go for any film role that's offered to me that's interesting, with the intention of creating yet another role that feels like a treasure to me, just as those previous roles have been,” Kaji said. ### Retro Rewind Remembers When You Could Just Rent A Damn Movie URL: https://aftermath.site/retro-rewind-steam-impressions-review/ Last updated: 2026-03-31T21:52:53.000Z Despite being endlessly overworked, I love a good job simulator. Recent games like [*Power Wash Simulator 2*](https://aftermath.site/power-wash-simulator-2-chores/)and [*Schedule 1*](https://aftermath.site/schedule-1-game-early-access-steam/)give me the satisfaction of a day of tasks without having to make spreadsheets or learn about tax structures, being unexpectedly relaxing for games that mimic work, the least relaxing part of being alive. Lately I’ve been playing 90s video store simulator *Retro Rewind*, which has all the things I love about these kinds of games with the added bonus of hideous old-school carpeting. [*Retro Rewind*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3552140/Retro%5FRewind%5F%5FVideo%5FStore%5FSimulator/?ref=aftermath.site)came out earlier this month on Steam. You play as the owner of a small video store in a surprisingly upscale-looking mini mall near a fancy market and an ice cream store. You start with a small space that you can customize a bit, changing the carpet and the color of the walls. The bulk of your day is spent renting people VHS tapes: stocking the shelves, checking people out, dealing with reserved videos and late fees, and sometimes rewinding tapes with a machine I totally forgot existed until I saw it in the game. I never struggled to get customers into the shop, and in fact often found myself a little overwhelmed. Like *Schedule 1*, everything you do is very manual–to check people out, you have to scan each video, take their money, and physically count out the correct change. Things can get hectic, especially if a day is busy due to a local event like a harvest festival or the weekend, but it’s never too much. Sometimes I ran out of videos and had to rush to the returns shelf to scan new videos in so there’d be something for people to rent, or dash to the back room to answer the phone or help a customer find the video they were looking for, all while people impatiently lined up with money in hand. As a nerd, I really wanted to keep all my videos organized by genre–action, horror, drama–but that plan quickly fell to the wayside in favor of just keeping videos on the shelves. You get some time before an in-game day starts to set the store up, refill your snack shelf, or order new videos, but each of my days ended in a bit of an exhausted rush. Videos have weird, largely nonsensical titles, but unlike [*Tiny Bookshop*](https://aftermath.site/tiny-bookshop-impressions/), you don’t need to know that much about them to recommend them to customers. Besides their genre, some have tags indicating they’re old or that critics find them notably good or bad, and this is enough to recommend them. New releases will be particularly popular (and also come with a cardboard standee to decorate your store with), so you’ll want to make sure you stock enough to meet the demand. Certain genres will be popular on certain days–sci-fi during a meteor shower, horror during Friday the 13th (as well as something else weird I don’t want to spoil because it was so charming)–so you’ll want to have them ready for those days too. Twice a week you can go out back to a bootlegger, who in addition to knockoff videos can sell you adult films. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/recas.jpeg) I love that everyone pays cash (Also to sound like a **total* nerd, I used the money mechanic to practice my [Irish](https://aftermath.site/games-from-ireland-steam/) numbers out loud, which made me feel like I was learning in addition to playing a video game.) As you level up, you unlock new movie genres or the ability to repair your slushee and popcorn machines, and can use your earnings to upgrade the size and layout of your store. I just hired my first employee, who’s already been a big help dealing with the returns so I can run around a little less. I’m still in the game’s early stages, but I don’t think I’ll want to outsource *everything* to employees; at the least, I’d miss all the lovely beeps and dings that accompany my daily tasks. *Retro Rewind* obviously wants to lean on 90s nostalgia, though from what I’ve seen that’s mostly consigned to the decor and the fact that you’re dealing with VHS tapes. There was definitely something nice about having to go to a literal video store, only able to choose what was physically available and finding new favorites by browsing the shelves. (My hometown had a small store in a strip mall, with what I can now see was a surprisingly robust queer section that they never stopped me renting from.) The game feels contained, grounded in physical space in a way both movies and work don’t these days. You can’t automate things; each video needs to be dealt with as an object, checked in or rewound and carried to a shelf to be put away. The business layer doesn’t get too complicated, letting you focus on your routine in a way that’s soothing even when there’s a lot to do. There’s none of the stress of owning a business, or the pressure of working retail for a bad manager–just the satisfying repetition of seeing the store through each day. Having a manageable day at work might be *Retro Rewind*’s biggest fantasy, but it’s a nice one: customers who don’t get too pushy, a handful of little tasks to do, and lots of [buttons](https://aftermath.site/pacific-drive-star-trucker-buttons-steam/) and levers and sound effects to accompany you. It’s a throwback to the days before rising [streamer prices](https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/why-netflix-hiked-prices-explained-chart-1236701365/?ref=aftermath.site) and [AI upscaling](https://aftermath.site/true-lies-4k-uhd-blu-ray-james-cameron-peter-jackson-park-road-post/), a little oasis within the oasis that is video games. I don’t have a lot of [nostalgia for the 90s broadly,](https://aftermath.site/dykes-to-watch-out-for-alison-bechdel-food/) but I’ll take a chill day at work any time. [The Person Saving The Media You Love Is You - AftermathIf you wanna archive a VHS tape right, you gotta do it yourself. VHS-Decode and LD-Decode are the future of tape and laserdisc archiving.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-220.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/chris-elliot-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/the-person-saving-the-media-you-love-is-you-vhs-decode-domesday-duplicator-ld-decode-laserdisc/) ### Esoteric Ebb Took 8 Years, 4 Attempts, And 1 Disco Elysium URL: https://aftermath.site/esoteric-ebb-interview-post-games-podcast/ Last updated: 2026-03-31T21:52:42.000Z *This post originally appeared on 3/30/26 at* [*Post Games*](https://postgame.substack.com/p/2026s-fantasy-masterpiece-took-8)*, a weekly podcast by Chris Plante about why and how we love video games. You can support Post Games on* [*Patreon*](https://www.patreon.com/cw/PostGames?ref=aftermath.site)*.* I’m going to say a word, and I will ask you not to roll your eyes. Ready? “*Disco*\-like.” Let’s use it in a sentence. The 2026 fantasy game *Esoteric Ebb* is the best *Disco*\-like game since *Disco Elysium*. I know. I feel it, too. Something’s a bit off. As you, a gamer with refined taste, know, *Disco Elysium*’s creators released their unique twist on role-playing games in 2019\. Its emphasis on conversation over combat, along with timely progressive politics, inspired a variety of copycats and homages. But nothing – including projects from the original game developers – has recreated the original’s magic. Can *Disco*\-likes exist if nothing is quite *Disco*\-like? *This post originally appeared 3/30/26 on* [*Post Games*](https://postgame.substack.com/)*, a weekly podcast about why and how we love video games, each episode digging into an important, surprising, or underreported topic. If you like what you hear, consider* [*subscribing*](https://www.patreon.com/cw/PostGames?ref=aftermath.site)*.* Obviously, I’m here to tell you, definitively, yes. *Esoteric Ebb* is a game that proves just that, and its creator accomplished the feat not by accident but with a scientific method-esque rigour. But I’m also here to serve as a verbal antacid for the nausea that comes when I say that word. “*Disco*\-like.” Yuck. Every new video game genre comes with skepticism. Plastic instruments proved to be a landfill-filling fad. Hero shooters, extraction shooters, and battle royale convinced gullible executives to redirect a generation of talented game designers onto projects that would take years to make and weeks to shut down. I’ve lived through booms and busts for MMOs, FPS UGC, and MOBAs. But the thing about new genres is that eventually they become old genres. Consider the *Souls*\-like, a genre that for a time belonged exclusively to a single developer, then infected every corner of games, and now is just another type of game to choose from. A new genre is like an active volcano. One moment, the status quo. Then, boom, the New spews onto the surface. First, spectacular! Then, destabilizing. Decades-old structures collapse. Its plume blocks out the sun and everything else. Its lava oozes across the earth, incinerating all it touches. The volcano can’t be controlled, and those who try get burned. But over the years, the lava cools into rock. New structures are built. The air clears, and the volcano becomes just another cool mountain. Just another part of the landscape. New genres, led by a standard bearer or two, redirect rivers of players from one trend to the next. And following that player base comes a mix of inspired game developers and cynical publishers, chasing the new and the profitable. More often than not, their money combusts into flames. It takes time for genres to cool, for them to be understood, for them to become something not to be imitated but built upon. Today’s guest, Christoffer Bodegard, is the first game developer I’ve ever spoken with who has a graduate and master’s degree in player agency, who has had the gumption to spend years reverse engineering a single game, and for years after, constructing something new upon that foundation. These days, people say rogue-like without having played *Rogue* – or even knowing *Rogue* exists. But it takes decades for genres to become so familiar, so diverse, so rock-solid that they blend into the background. At first, they’re awkward. “*Disco*\-like.” It’s growing on me. This week on Post Games, I talk with the person who cracked the *Disco*\-like subgenre, Christoffer Bodegard, about his brilliant new fantasy game Esoteric Ebb. - **Act 1:** Dissecting *Disco Elysium*, Organ by Organ - **Act 2:** Converting Tabletop RPGs into Video Game Nirvana - **Patreon Bonus:** Step 1 - Write a Million Words - **Act 3:** The News of the Week with Aftermath’s Nathan Grayson Plus, a banger new song from *Dosa Divas*. It is a huge episode, so let’s get to it. Listen to Post Games on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/post-games/id1815131711?ref=aftermath.site), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/4bn8CFHz9RRWrYfTyWSnFx?ref=aftermath.site), or your [podcast app of choice](https://rss.art19.com/post-games?ref=aftermath.site). Subscribe to the free newsletter at [Post.Games](http://www.post.games/?ref=aftermath.site) for weekly show notes. ## Recommended [The Art Of Esoteric EbbA look at the art behind one of the best-looking video games of 2026![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-218.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ebbtop.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/esoteric-ebb-concept-art-illustrations/) ### Which Big Three Anime Has the Best Fashion? We Asked an Expert URL: https://aftermath.site/naruto-one-piece-bleach-big-three-best-fashion/ Last updated: 2026-03-31T19:09:59.000Z It’s been a decade since any real cannon fire was exchanged between the Big Three fandoms of [*Bleach*, *One Piece*, and *Naruto*](https://aftermath.site/kendrick-lamar-drake-anime-naruto-bleach-one-piece/), but the fog of war still hangs over which shonen titan truly reigns supreme. Fans will debate anything—whose protagonist has the most aura, which power system goes crazier, and which series sold the most volumes—the same way NBA uncs will debate which player was the GOAT until the heat death of the universe. But one battleground that rarely gets enough play is which series has the most sauce in the fashion department. To settle that debate once and for all, I called up an expert. ![Black and white photo of Alexander-Julian Gibbson in Vogue Germany for street-style at Lagos Fashion week ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image--18-.png) Photo Credit: [Manny Jefferson](https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpj1wvUgXVV/?igsh=aXVlczF1Y2UxbXpy&ref=aftermath.site) [Alexander-Julian Gibbson](https://alexanderjulian.info/?ref=aftermath.site) might be a new name to some readers, but if you’re an anime fan with even a passing interest in fashion, you’ve almost definitely seen his work. Gibbson is a professional stylist and fashion creative director who has been published in legacy media pubs like [*Vogue*](https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/stylist-editor-alexander-julian-gibbson-on-his-free-spirited-hair-journey-and-embracing-the-gray-beard?ref=aftermath.site). He’s also the epicenter behind that one internet-breaking moment where fans lost their minds trying to decode whether [Michael B. Jordan’s already very-anime *Creed III* rollout](https://kotaku.com/michael-b-jordan-creed-3-jonathan-majors-anime-naruto-d-1850174139?ref=aftermath.site)—specifically [Jonathan Majors’ *Essence* photoshoot](https://media.ebony.com/sytwmfsyue/uploads/2023/02/05/EBONY%5FFEB%5FCOVER%5FJONATHAN-MAJORS%5F0034v2a.jpg?ref=aftermath.site)—was paying homage to *One Piece* villain Donquixote Doflamingo. (It was.) Gibbson would turn heads again with the *One Piece* live-action cast, who he serves as [their fashion director and stylist](https://youtube.com/shorts/rb%5FkSufUfB8?si=w05ZTvTI30SnhrV6&ref=aftermath.site). This time around was during Iñaki Godoy and Charithra Chandran’s [*Teen Vogue* shoot](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/one-piece-inaki-godoy-charithra-chandran-march-april-cover?ref=aftermath.site), whose spread was packed with Easter eggs pulled from manga chapters more than 1,100 beyond territory the Netflix series grazed, [hindsight nods and all](https://gizmodo.com/one-piece-season-2-charts-a-course-to-shake-things-up-2000732416?ref=aftermath.site). > [@alexanderjulian.info](https://www.tiktok.com/@alexanderjulian.info?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@alexanderjulian.info") > > It’s a great time to be a One Piece fan! 🏴‍☠️ OnePiece AnimeFashion OnePieceLiveAction BlackCosplayer OnePieceEdits > > [♬ original sound - ᴀɴɪᴍᴇ ʙᴇᴀᴛs ᴘʟᴜs+ - ᴀɴɪᴍᴇ ʙᴇᴀᴛs ᴘʟᴜs+](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-%E1%B4%80%C9%B4%C9%AA%E1%B4%8D%E1%B4%87-%CA%99%E1%B4%87%E1%B4%80%E1%B4%9Bs-%E1%B4%98%CA%9F%E1%B4%9Cs-7335012330664545029?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ original sound - ᴀɴɪᴍᴇ ʙᴇᴀᴛs ᴘʟᴜs+ - ᴀɴɪᴍᴇ ʙᴇᴀᴛs ᴘʟᴜs+") Gibbson doesn’t dish to clients whenever he slips an anime Easter egg into their shoots. That’s not his style. The Nigerian style-editor’s ethos is simple: you create from the sum of your experiences. And while he’s traveled the world and absorbed influences from everywhere, he’s also watched “a shit ton of anime”—including [*Magi*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magi:%5FThe%5FLabyrinth%5Fof%5FMagic?ref=aftermath.site), whose unique silhouettes opened his third eye. Gibbson lets his encyclopedic anime ball knowledge actively inform his eye. However, the references he puts together aren’t cosplay-level literal recreations. They’re discreet. When he puts an artist in a fit, the editor on that project isn’t seeing some out-of-pocket anime thing. They’re seeing something that looks runway-ready. “In my head I'm like, ‘Yeah, we've seen it on the runway, but I also saw it on episode blah blah blah,’” Gibbson said. Which brings us to the question I’ve been sitting on for years but never had the bona fides to answer with any real authority: which of the Big Three actually has the best fashion? And for posterity, yes—I’m counting manga color spreads and even the filler‑episode fits in the criteria. To give you an idea of what we’re working with, here are color spreads from *Naruto*: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image--17-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image--16-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image--14-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image--13-.png) Masashi Kishimoto/Shonen Jump *One Piece*: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/cHAPTER_565.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Chapter_439.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Chapter_921.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Chapter_756.png) Eiichiro Oda/Shonen Jump *And Bleach*: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/hjf5jR7.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/K41Xr0Y.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/CjVVHFE.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/8XSBRUL.png) Tite Kubo/Shonen Jump “Overall, I have to say *One Piece*. But I have to acknowledge that a lot of the covers and colorspreads for *Bleach* goes crazy,” Gibbson said. “But if we’re talking overall—a complete overall—I think *One Piece* wins.” While *Naruto* has no drip, especially when compared to the rest of the big three, Gibbson had to give props to Naruto’s flowing cape sage mode outfit. “I'm so sad because I feel like we only saw that outfit literally once, just the one time,” he said. “I think that was so crazy, to be very honest. That's one thing that always blows my mind.” > [@alexanderjulian.info](https://www.tiktok.com/@alexanderjulian.info?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@alexanderjulian.info") > > from [#OnePieceCosplay](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/onepiececosplay?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "onepiececosplay") to One Piece Stylist 🤧🏴‍☠️ [#OnePiece](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/onepiece?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "onepiece") [#AnimeFashion](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/animefashion?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "animefashion") [#OnePieceLiveAction](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/onepieceliveaction?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "onepieceliveaction") [#BlackCosplayer](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/blackcosplayer?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "blackcosplayer") [#OnePieceEdits](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/onepieceedits?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "onepieceedits") > > [♬ Hold on jerseyclub - Ziah150](https://www.tiktok.com/music/Hold-on-jerseyclub-7289834205737913134?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ Hold on jerseyclub - Ziah150") Aside from any implicit bias that obviously stems from Gibbson being the freaking stylist for Netflix’s *One Piece*, one reason he chose [Oda’s magnum opus](https://kotaku.com/i-just-read-1-025-chapters-of-one-piece-and-its-a-damn-1847671952?ref=aftermath.site) over the others is that he’s always loved how it differentiated itself by integrating fashion into every component of the show to a level of freedom other anime don’t. Whenever the [Straw Hats](https://gizmodo.com/one-piece-straw-hat-pirates-ranked-2000730044?ref=aftermath.site) visit a new island, their outfits don’t go *Scooby-Doo*, wearing the same jawns each episode. When they touch down on an island like Egghead, they’ll switch up their style to match its vibe by rocking futuristic Y2K threads and moonboots. “I always love when a show or manga changes their outfits. It’s such a small thing, but it shows that there’s effort because if you’re changing your outfits, that means you have to consider what their outfits are whenever you do that,” he said. “The fact that there’s consideration in places when you also have to write a story, you also have to make sure that things are matching up across chapters. It means that this means something to you as a mangaka.” Regarding the drip king of the big three, Gibbson states they’re not a king at all. It’s the queen, [Nico Robin](https://gizmodo.com/why-one-piece-fans-are-hyped-for-nico-robins-netflix-debut-2000641407?ref=aftermath.site). When I asked him, as a fellow Miss All Sunday enjoyer, whether he preferred her *One Piece* fits pre-timeskip or post-timeskip, his objectively correct answer earned a virtual dap. ![Nico Robin using her devil fruit powers. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/nico-robin.png) Eiichiro Oda/Shonen Jump “Absolutely pre-time," he said. "I don't know what \[Oda\] was on, but he was going crazy with her outfits pre-time skip. Every single one was an absolute banger, and also all felt so intentional. That was a crazy run, from like Alabasta to Thriller Bark. Nuts. Crazy fits, every single one.” However, if he had to pick a king, it would be [Doflamingo Donquixote](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Donquixote%5FDoflamingo?ref=aftermath.site) (with manga color spreads doing a lot of heavy lifting), and [Ichigo Kurosaki](https://bleach.fandom.com/wiki/Ichigo%5FKurosaki?ref=aftermath.site) as the most stylish characters in the big three. Though if he were to crown a series that slimes out the big three, Gibbson would put [*Sailor Moon*](https://www.vogue.com.au/fashion/news/sailor-moon-fashion/image-gallery/9642e6b3fb25837f115db17d74f238cc?ref=aftermath.site) and [*Yu Yu Hakusho*](https://www.reddit.com/r/YuYuHakusho/comments/lcfm7c/i%5Fam%5Fobsessed%5Fwith%5Fthe%5Ffashion%5Fput%5Finto%5Fthis%5Fshow/?ref=aftermath.site) over them. On the fashion front, Gibbson points out that *Sailor Moon*’s character designs for heroes and villains alike are 1:1 inspired by runway trends of their era. Meanwhile, *Yu Yu Hakusho* is a shonen series whose ‘90s streetwear sensibilities Gibbson simply calls “super stylish.” I couldn’t help noting the irony in Gibbsons choices, given that [creators Naoko Takeuchi and Yoshihiro Togashi are married](https://x.com/ShinEyeZehUhh/status/1846625215553405371?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). “There’s something going on in that household,” Gibbson said. > 京都北野天満宮で上演中の > > 「花宵の大茶会」 > > 観に来てくださったゲストの皆様にも好評でとても嬉しい！ > > 今回なんと武内直子さんと > 冨樫義博さんご夫婦で体験してくださって一同大感動でした > > レジェンドお二人に > 見ていただけるなんてねぇ。 > > 頑張って良かったー > 嬉しすぎました、報われたわー。 [pic.twitter.com/XERb0BSZCX](https://t.co/XERb0BSZCX?ref=aftermath.site) > > — 蜷川実花 (@ninagawamika) [March 21, 2026](https://twitter.com/ninagawamika/status/2035203747757064662?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=aftermath.site) If there's one thing about fashion in anime he wishes it did better—faux pas or just impractical nonsense that makes his teeth itch—it would be the [fanservice styling](https://www.animefeminist.com/the-infantilization-and-sexualization-of-inoue-orihime-in-bleach/?ref=aftermath.site). While Gibbson loves an attractive woman as much as anyone else, many of the [outfits anime and manga put their heroines in boggle his mind](https://www.animefeminist.com/choosing-toremain-strong-against-female-criticism-the-vindictive-storytelling-of-oda-eiichiro/?ref=aftermath.site). “I would love to not have Erza \[from *Fairy Tail*\], who's a literal warrior, wearing a bikini,” Gibbson said. “That doesn't make sense.” ### Skibidi Toilet Community Goodwill Circling The Drain After Hollywood Studio Takes Over URL: https://aftermath.site/skibidi-toilet-creator-alliance-invisible-narratives/ Last updated: 2026-04-03T14:46:51.000Z Skibidi Toilet started in February 2023 as an 11-second meme starring a head in a toilet speaking gibberish, and has spent the last two years shaking off its Gen-Z-obsessed, brain-rot origin. The sci-fi epic stars aliens, toilet monsters, and humanoid hybrids with cameras, TVs, and speakers for heads, all engaged in an intergalactic war. Most of the series doesn’t use dialogue, focusing on hard-hitting fights, easter eggs, and a fair share of robotic middle fingers to do most of the storytelling. Since that first clip, creator Alexey Gerasimov, on his 47 million-subscriber YouTube channel [DaFuqBoom](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsSsgPaZ2GSmO6il8Cb5iGA?ref=aftermath.site), has single-handedly handcrafted two hours of robot and monster content using Valve’s video creation program Source FilmMaker. “I just thought it was quirky and fun, and my interest only deepened as the story developed,” [YouTuber Plunger](https://www.youtube.com/@PlungerChannelYT?ref=aftermath.site), who is one of many content creators who break down Skibidi Toilet lore, told Aftermath. “It's the strange premise that draws you in, but that soon melts into the background, and you're enjoying beautifully animated sci-fi battles.” The series has pulled in over [65 billion views](https://variety.com/vip/skibidi-toilet-audience-data-1236081995/?ref=aftermath.site) on YouTube and quickly caught the attention of Hollywood. In late 2023, according to court documents, Gerasimov signed over[ “all rights to the Skibidi Toilet series](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.444679/gov.uscourts.cand.444679.1.0.pdf?ref=aftermath.site)” to [self-proclaimed](https://www.linkedin.com/company/inviztv/?ref=aftermath.site) “tra-digital” studio Invisible Narratives. Created in 2018 by former Paramount Pictures executive Adam Goodman, Invisible Narratives’ current goal has been to turn Skibidi Toilet into a mainstream juggernaut, with its own *Roblox* games, [Scholastic books](https://kids.scholastic.com/kid/books/skibidi-toilet/?ref=aftermath.site), [*Fortnite* skins](https://fortnite.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Skibidi%5FToilet%5FSet?ref=aftermath.site), and even a development deal with [*Transformers* director Michael Bay.](https://variety.com/2024/film/news/skibidi-toilet-michael-bay-movie-adam-goodman-1236077245/?ref=aftermath.site) “You take the best of the traditional side of the business, which is windowing and licensing and copyright protections and all the things that Hollywood still does right, but not be as burdened by some of the legacy things that have kind of entered into Hollywood,” Goodman told Aftermath about why he decided to get into the influencer space. “I was really inspired by the nimbleness and accessibility of digital.” According to 10 content creators who spoke with Aftermath*,* Invisible Narratives is trying to control Skibidi Toilet creators and fan accounts. Half the creators signed a contract, seen by us, that gives up control of their own monetization and requires them to post ads. Creators who don’t comply with the contract or its rules risk copyright strikes or claims, which could lead to channel deletion. Some who have signed claim that they’ve received payments from Invisible Narratives late and get little benefit for signing beyond preventing copyright strikes. “Many others and I had big plans in the Skibidi community,” one of the YouTubers, Iron Cameraman, told Aftermath. “We had such a fun indie vibe, with no obligations and no control from above. And now that’s being taken away from us.” Invisible Narratives denies this characterization, believing that “contracts protect both parties” and that they are defending their intellectual property by issuing strikes or claims. “We follow well-established procedures under the DMCA to protect our IP,” an Invisible Narratives spokesperson told Aftermath. “If a user believes the takedown was not justified, they have the ability to file a counternotice.“ In regards to delayed payments, the spokesperson told Aftermath, “In a handful of cases, creators failed to fill out the necessary forms, which delayed prompt payment. Where possible, we tried to help creators complete those forms so they could be paid promptly.” ## **A Transforming Origin** Gerasimov posted his first YouTube video in February 2017 when he was just a teenager, featuring *GTA San Andreas’* Big Smoke ordering a [very large meal.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMMZlCQgNQI&ref=aftermath.site) Over the next five years, while living in the country of Georgia, he’d continue to develop his own style of robotic combat, posting viral videos featuring the [Transformers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzxfkzrBBEI&ref=aftermath.site) beating the crap out of each other. He’d also post his own angsty rap videos under the name Blugray, showing off eventual Skibidi character [The Cameramen for the first time. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foEfn7OPKZY&ref=aftermath.site) At the same time, Invisible Narratives was trying to find an internet moment it could bring to the mainstream. In November 2020, the company announced that it would “produce a slate of feature films starring FaZe Clan talent dubbed The FaZe Clan Universe,” according to [TubeFilter.](https://www.tubefilter.com/2020/06/09/faze-clan-movies-invisible-narratives/?ref=aftermath.site) [*Crimson*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13006520/?ref=aftermath.site), a clown-hunting movie made to look like a vlog starring FaZe Rug, was the only one ever made, though there were [plans for a sequel. ](https://deadline.com/2020/12/faze-clan-crimson-movie-sequel-1234659183/?ref=aftermath.site)(“Despite developing a number of scripts with Faze Clan and its members, after evaluating performance and forward economics, we decided to focus on other projects,” the Invisible Narratives spokesperson said). The company experimented with a [livestream collab](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inviztv-partners-with-over-100-influencers-to-reach-millions-driving-immediate-support-for-lgbtq-community-amid-nationwide-legislative-attacks-301550364.html?ref=aftermath.site) with GLAAD and[ its own content platform](https://inviz.tv/?ref=aftermath.site), but nothing really took off. When Gerasimov posted the first Skibidi Toilet video on February 7, 2023, it blew up in ways nobody expected, not even him. Using assets from video games like *Counter-Strike* and *Half-Life*, he posted multiple videos a week from the POV of The Cameramen. When a building-sized titan swung its hammer or a missile hit the side of a porcelain tank, the screen and world shook to make you feel the full scale of the combat. This was no longer just a teen making memes; this was a full-on phenomenon, with his DaFuqBoom channel briefly gaining more[ subs a month than MrBeast](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/10/skibidi-toilets-you-tube-children-internet/?ref=aftermath.site). When Goodman saw those numbers, he pounced. At Paramount, Goodman had been instrumental in getting both the Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies made and had brought the king of exploding sci-fi franchises, Michael Bay, on as a creative advisor at Invisible Narratives. “I learned about Alexey way before Skibidi Toilet, but we really didn’t start talking until it was happening,” Goodman said. “He was essentially making pre-visualizations of Transformers fights, and they were cool, looked real, and looked like stuff that was coming from the professional artists that we were using when we were making those films.” So on October 12, 2023, “Boom assigned to Invisible Narratives all rights to the Skibidi Toilet series and concept, including all Skibidi Toilet videos and other content existing at that time or later created,” according to the court documents. Invisible Narratives [owns the trademarks](https://www.trademarkia.com/owners/invisible-narratives-llc?ref=aftermath.site) for Skibidi Toilet in the United States and can make products ranging from toys to actual toilets. The Invisible Narratives spokesperson said that the assignation of intellectual property at the time was done “under a structure that was intentionally revocable, meaning Alexey could unwind it and take back the IP.” “While Alexey made the content, we built the surrounding business – gaming, publishing, licensing, platform relationships, and early film and TV conversations,” the spokesperson said. According to the Invisible Narratives spokesperson, in May of 2025, “Alexey chose to make the structure permanent by selling the rights to Invisible Narratives in a deal that allowed him to stay involved financially, operationally, and creatively without having to carry the entire burden alone.” He was given the role of “Executive Producer,” “a first look deal” with Invisible Narratives, and the role of “director of significant episodes during a defined transition year.” The specifics of the deal aren’t publicly known, as both Gerasimov and Invisible Narratives have “standard mutual confidentiality clauses…that limit disclosure of specific financial and contractual terms.” In December 2025, Invisible Narratives acknowledged in a [statement on X ](https://x.com/SkibidiOfficial/status/2002566130859389426?ref=aftermath.site)that it has “owned the Skibidi Toilet IP since October 2023” and wrote that “since entering into our partnership, Alexey has earned more from Skibidi Toilet than most people see in a lifetime, and deservedly so. He continues to earn directly from the YouTube series, from merchandise and toys sold around the world, from games, and from every licensed expansion of the Skibidi universe.” Invisible Narratives weren’t the only ones who saw the potential in Skibidi. Gerasimov was designing a deep lore, and an ecosystem of content creators quickly sprang up to analyze it. Earning millions of views and subscribers, they’d dissect each second of the main Skibidi series, discuss their theories of what’s coming next, or animate alternate realities inspired by the Skibidi universe. And the original creator would engage with these fan theorists, posting [teasers on his Discord server ](https://skibidi-toilet.fandom.com/wiki/Episode%5Fteasers%5Fand%5Fspoilers?ref=aftermath.site#Season%5F16)and doing [text-only interviews](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4eMqEOEGO4&ref=aftermath.site) with fanatical YouTubers who wanted to learn about every inch of the Skibidi Toilet universe. But the attention on Skibidi came with downsides as well. Over time, different parties filed copyright claims against Gerasimov’s channel. On YouTube, anyone who feels that their copyright is being infringed can file a copyright removal request. If the request is deemed valid, either by YouTube or in a court of law, the content can be claimed (which allows the original copyright owner to earn money from the video) or it can lead to a strike on a channel. If a channel receives three strikes in 90 days, it could be [permanently deleted. ](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2802168?hl=en&ref=aftermath.site) In November 2023, online blackmailers dubbed the “Telegram Mafia” by the Skibidi Toilet fandom had been sending false copyright claims to Gerasimov’s channel, though it's unclear what they wanted in exchange. “I remember they contacted me and they sent me an Excel or a Word document with all of their channels, and I just imagined these kinds of people who don’t have money and are just degrading my stuff,” Gerasimov told Aftermath in a rare interview. “It’s horrible, so obviously, I attacked these types of syndicates. But when it comes to people looking at it through a clear lens, all these countless fan-made animators, I didn’t touch them. I absolutely loved their videos.” Gerasimov would not speak on Invisible Narratives, Skibidi Toilet, or their contract. Invisible Narratives says that Gerasimov has issued YouTube claims both independently and in conjunction with the company from 2023 through 2025\. In 2024, UAE-registered company Next Level Apps claimed that they were the owners of Skibidi Toilet, registering a website with its domain, launching multiple mobile apps, and filing copyright registrations in the United States for 17 characters. In February 2025, Invisible Narratives [sued the company](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.444679/gov.uscourts.cand.444679.1.0.pdf?ref=aftermath.site), calling them “professional scam artists and extortionists.” The case is still ongoing. “We will continue to enforce our IP rights against Next Level and defend against their false counterclaims,” the Invisible Narratives spokesperson said. Next Level denies Invisible’s claims, writing in court filings that they created the Skibidi concept in 2020. ## **A New Skibidi Alliance** Throughout 2024, a group of Skibidi Toilet creators and animators began receiving copyright strikes on their videos from Invisible Narratives. Some creators received Discord messages from someone claiming to be from Invisible Narratives. ”\[Invisible Narratives\] wrote to me on Discord saying they had the rights to Skibidi Toilet and that they were interested in my channel,” [ Dydder Floutin](https://www.youtube.com/@dydderfloutin/featured?ref=aftermath.site), who has 72,000 subscribers, told Aftermath*. “*They also wrote that because I was not responding \[to the messages\], they would have to issue strikes against me. “Among hundreds of fan messages, I did not notice their warning, and my channel was attacked,” Floutin said. He received over three strikes, which caused him to temporarily lose his entire channel, though they were eventually lifted. The Invisible Narratives spokesperson said, “The message made it clear that we were interested in working with this creator, consistent with our vision for the Creator Alliance and our mission – and in stark contrast to how traditional entertainment companies operate.” Anton Edmund, who is based in Greece and posts fan animations on his 1.3 million-subscriber YouTube channel [ZacDoor](https://www.youtube.com/@ZacDoor?ref=aftermath.site), received multiple copyright claims. “You’re currently operating with unauthorized use of Skibidi IP,” the Invisible Narratives employee wrote in Discord messages that ZacDoor also missed. “And we’d like to offer you a partnership opportunity.” > "You can really only let a group of people do that, so that we can all kind of be involved with that process, so we know where they're going, and they know where we're going…otherwise the IP would just evolve into chaos.” -Adam Goodman “They said they warned me, but they couldn't find a normal way to contact me,” Edmund said. “They messaged me on Discord, where I had a ton of messages from subscribers, and I couldn't notice this employee's message.” According to emails and messages seen by Aftermath, creators from all around the globe were affected. [Vietnamese,](https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxuuxBwjzh2gGctlRYO-%5Fo24sgxuFv9eMn?ref=aftermath.site) [Brazilian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghkuh5bcZfI&ref=aftermath.site), [Spanish](https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxIg9fwvqd7YD%5FAfqh9YDCFZEpbnmHnwtR?ref=aftermath.site), [Italian](https://www.youtube.com/@SkibidiToiletitaliano/videos?ref=aftermath.site), and [Portuguese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnvt%5FO6kURQ&ref=aftermath.site) YouTubers were all copyright claimed for making Skibidi Toilet content. Edmund shared that models from his videos came from the Source FilmMaker Workshop, Garry’s Mod, and were made in Blender by him or his friends. Edmund, as well as other fan animators who received copyright strikes, believe that their content falls under fair use, so these strikes were false. “They have no limits on fair use; \[they feel like\] any content about Skibidi Toilet must be controlled by \[Invisible Narratives\],” Edmund said. Invisible Narratives would not disclose how many channels they have sent copyright claims or strikes to. “Like all IP owners, we have a duty to protect the brand from unauthorized use,” the spokesperson said. “If you use somebody else's copyrighted work without their permission, that is infringement unless you have a defense,” Michele Robichaux, a digital and interactive media and entertainment attorney at North Carolina-based firm Odin Law, told Aftermath. “And fair use is probably the most common defense that we hear used in connection with content on platforms like YouTube.” “In some cases, a creator’s work may sit comfortably within fair use but still demonstrate strong creative execution and audience traction around the IP,” the Invisible Narratives spokesperson said. “In those instances, outreach is not about enforcement but about exploring whether deeper collaboration makes sense.” Edmund and Floutin, as well as other creators, were invited to an exclusive group: the Skibidi Toilet Creator Alliance. Spanish creator Ibio75 told Aftermath that an Invisible Narratives employee pitched the Alliance to him over Discord as a way for creators to earn money from Skibidi toys through affiliate links. Creators would be part of a Discord where they could “connect with other top-selected animators and creators within the Skibidi universe,” according to Ibio, who spoke with Invisible Narratives over Discord messages. “The importance lies in making this a real-world impact,” an Invisible Narratives employee wrote in the Creator Alliance Discord in September 2024\. “Lines at toy stores and strong sales will demonstrate to retailers, Hollywood, and more that Skibidi transcends YouTube. It’s a pivotal moment, all of your parts in this are invaluable.” According to Goodman, the Alliance started as a way to find animators and Skibidi experts to lighten Gerasimov’s workload. “We didn't have the 20-plus years of history that something like *Transformers* or *Star Trek* or any of the other franchises that we could tap into had; we needed to surround ourselves with people that weren't just Alexey, people that \[we\] could batter around ideas with, we could expand the universe and create multiverses with.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/skibidi-thumbnail-2-1.webp) Skibidi Toilet According to an overview document seen by Aftermath*,* thesecreators agreed to share 30 percent of their revenue after the first $1,000 with Invisible Narratives, run 60 seconds of ads a month, keep all Alliance communications confidential, and provide Invisible Narratives with visibility to their YouTube Studio. On YouTube, the money that creators earn from ads, superchats, and affiliate programs normally goes directly to them through their Google AdSense account. But Alliance creators instead have their money go to Invisible Narratives, with creators being paid through a separate portal. According to the Invisible Narratives spokesperson, the overview document seen by Aftermath was an “initial draft,”and the terms were eventually updated after feedback so that “creators making original, animated content using our IP kept 100 percent of their first $2,000 earned every month. Following that, creators kept 70% of their monthly YouTube earnings, and Invisible Narratives retained 30% for our license fee.” There was also a plan for creators to have new content reposted or new videos created on the Invisible Narratives-owned YouTube channel [“Skibidi Toilet HQ,”](https://www.youtube.com/@SkibidiToiletHQ?ref=aftermath.site) which currently lists nine creators as members of the “Skibidi Creator Alliance.” The overview document says that 70 percent of the AdSense revenue generated from animators on the channel would go to the creator, while the rest would go to Invisible Narratives. The channel currently remains empty. According to the Invisible Narratives spokesperson and Goodman, Skibidi HQ was never formally launched. In exchange for joining the Alliance, Invisible Narratives wouldn’t copyright strike creators’ channels for making Skibidi Toilet content. Creators would also have monthly Discord meetings with Invisible Narratives leadership where they could ask questions and share feedback. The Invisible Narratives spokesperson says that “They were given spoiler access when available, one-on-one advisory sessions, copyright support, access to a licensed music library, and, in some cases, paid advertising work tied to product launches.” According to Discord messages seen by Aftermath, only one spoiler was ever shared, and it was leaked to creators by a community member. In the [actual contract,](https://x.com/Danilongles/status/1987613272049418718?ref=aftermath.site) which was shared by Ibio on his Discord and verified by Aftermath, creators would also receive “access to enhanced art services,” invitations to “Alliance events,” “data and analytics,” and “marketing and promotional services.” An Invisible Narratives employee told Ibio over a Discord message seen by Aftermath that he would be getting benefits “like more branding elements, a website, help with content strategy, CMS, which will help your channel grow, etc.” There were also stipulations in the contract that creators must “promptly reply to any feedback requests” or edits, have no less than 70 percent of their total content be Skibidi related, and “refrain from making any statements or engaging in actions that could negatively impact the reputation \[of\] Skibidi Toilet.” The Alliance situation was somewhat unusual for an internet-based franchise. The creators of series like *Five Nights at Freddy's* or *Bendy and the Ink Machine* exercise no control over the creators in their fandom, but Invisible Narratives appears to see things differently. “Many of these guys were making what-if videos, things that could potentially happen in the universe, we allow that, we love that,” Goodman said. “But you can't let millions of people do that. You can really only let a group of people do that, so that we can all kind of be involved with that process, so we know where they're going, and they know where we're going…otherwise the IP would just evolve into chaos.” According to Robichaux, who works closely with creators to “help them protect what they create,” brands allowing creators full control of their work could be a slippery slope. “If we let people willy-nilly use other people's trademarks without allowing the source or the brand owner to have some sort of say over the quality of those products, then that's not only bad for the owner of those marks, it's also potentially bad for the consumers,” she said. “They might be confused as to the source of the goods, because trusted brands aren't just trusted because they have a cool logo. They're trusted because of the quality of the goods and services that the source of those goods provides.” Some creators avoided the contract, though some foreign creators were still encouraged to promote Skibidi Toilet toys to keep their channels safe from strikes. Dydder lives in Belarus, where there are American sanctions; an Invisible Narratives employee told him over email, “We’d like to offer you the opportunity to use the Skibidi IP for content on your channel for free. In exchange, we ask that you embed 3 minutes of our pre-produced commercials in your videos each month… This arrangement allows us to maintain our legal compliance while supporting your creative work.” Others felt like they had to sign the contract or fear losing their channels. “Unfortunately, my English isn't very good, and at the time, I didn't understand it myself,” Ibio wrote on their public [Discord.](https://discord.com/channels/775148493920403477/1437140034443542649/1437166917696880894?ref=aftermath.site) “\[Invisible Narratives\] employees explained it to me and assured me that the contract was excellent.” Ibio told Aftermath that he reached out to other YouTubers who were also hesitant to sign, but he eventually agreed after Invisible Narratives assured him they wouldn’t take the 30 percent mentioned in the contract. “Ibio was not an animator, so Invisible Narratives would not take 30 percent of the ad revenue generated from his YouTube channel,” the Invisible Narratives spokesperson said. In October 2025, Invisible Narratives hired content manager Bent Pixels, who has been sending copyright claims on their behalf. Since then, Invisible Narratives claims that “only one copyright strike has been sent, and all other actions have been monetization claims.” ## **Money Worries** Creators we spoke with say that the Alliance didn’t end up offering most of the perks outlined in the contract and that the only thing they got was a Discord invite and monthly calls with the Invisible Narratives team. According to 700,000-subscriber YouTuber [Iron Cameraman](https://www.youtube.com/@IronCameraman?ref=aftermath.site), who was a member of the Creator Alliance until early December, “They kept promising everything was coming soon, and they were working on things and preparing stuff, but every time it ended up being new toys or something like that. For the Alliance, apart from creating that Discord server and having calls, they did nothing.” One of the perks of joining the Alliance was that creators would get access to affiliate links to sell Skibidi Toilet merchandise, like toys produced by Bonkers Toys. But even with ads in their videos showcasing radio-controlled toilets and plungers in a blind box, some creators claim they are making little to no money through these links. “I'm supposed to get 10 percent from referrals who buy a toy through my link,” Edmund said. “But in reality, I hardly make any money at all; people rarely order their toys from the website.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-20-180953.png) A Skibidi Toilet toy (Imad Khan) The contract stipulated that creators were to be paid “Within thirty (30) days of the conclusion of each calendar month.” Multiple creators told Aftermath that they received payment months later than they would have if their monetization had been routed through YouTube instead of Invisible Narratives. “\[Invisible Narratives\] began connecting practically everyone to their partner network for YouTube monetization,” Edmund said. “And for many, this turned into a serious headache, because they delay payments \[compared to YouTube\] heavily. In my case, the delay was around two weeks, but for others it was much longer.” Invisible Narratives also uses this YouTuber collective as a talent pool to work on Skibidi Toilet videos. Another creator who asked to remain anonymous is a 17-year-old currently living in South Korea who was approached by a high-ranking Invisible Narratives employee to design thumbnails of official Skibidi content for $15 each. Their parents granted Invisible Narratives consent, but they said the review process at the company required four revisions and multiple options for each draft. “The amount of work involved, including revisions and adjustments, is much higher than what the rate reflects,” they said. “Our payments for creators reflect market rates and scope of work, and it’s not uncommon for digital design work scopes to require multiple iterations,” the spokesperson said. Edmund designed the base of The Speakerman for Skibidi Toilet [Episode 79](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDxwpM0zPug&ref=aftermath.site), which he says took him almost three weeks of work, for which Invisible Narratives first offered to pay him “$500 to $750” after he had already done the work, though they eventually agreed on $1,500\. “I was outraged. They tried to pay me $500 for the asset I'd been working on for so long, which was used on a channel with 45 million subscribers,” he said. “It is a very important asset that will appear repeatedly throughout the series.” The company later approached him with an offer he found insulting: to make eight episodes of Skibidi Toilet for $2,400\. He declined. The Invisible Narratives spokesperson described the latter deal as “part-time consulting and art direction input on future episodes, including concepts and map ideas.” ## **#BringBackBoom** Creators were already starting to get unhappy with the Alliance, but the group’s goodwill was flushed away after the release of the first Skibidi Toilet spin-off, [Emergence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls1Td6rezM4&ref=aftermath.site). Released on October 26, it was the first Skibidi video not hand-crafted by Gerasimov, instead made by animators hired by Invisible Narratives. Some viewers felt there was a quality degradation: the models were [“ugly”,](https://x.com/ZIVStreaks/status/1982447940154401175?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) the [animation quality ](https://x.com/Mnoomer48/status/1982547450713039026?s=20&ref=aftermath.site)didn’t match the series, and the [plot](https://x.com/GeneralIvan3/status/1983674452505456937?s=20&ref=aftermath.site) “has too many holes.” Shortly after Emergence’s release, #BringBackBoom started to trend across social media, with YouTube videos questioning this new direction [pulling in millions of views.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBXCjNh6Ci0&ref=aftermath.site) On November 6, 2025, Goodman held the monthly Discord meeting of the Skibidi Toilet Creator Alliance. In leaked audio of the 44-minute call, which has since been deleted, Goodman started by teasing spoilers for the next episode of Skibidi Toilet (which is still unreleased) and telling the group that they need to focus on posting more of their own content “so the views go up” across all Skibidi content. Things started to get tense as Iron Cameraman spoke up to share his criticism and disappointment with Emergence’s first episode. Goodman brushed off the criticism, saying that this was only the first episode and they’ve got a business to run. “You have to be sensitive to us in that I've got to pay for all of this stuff and make sure that all of the resources are here,” Goodman said in the audio. “This is not a hobby for us, and I don't think it's a hobby for many of you guys.” For many of these YouTubers, creating Skibidi content can be quite lucrative, and Goodman was quite aware. “We were hoping that this call would finally give us answers,” Iron Cameraman told Aftermath, referring to what Gerasimov’s involvement in the series was and how Emergence came to be in its lackluster state. “Instead, it was just a corporate PR speech.” After the call, the Skibidi Creator Alliance Discord descended into chaos, with multiple creators, including Iron Cameraman, sharing their disdain (“I honestly don’t believe this isn’t a joke at this point,” he wrote in the Discord.). One Invisible Narratives employee, who was a key point of contact between the company and the creators, shared in the Discord how the toxicity had affected him. “I can’t help but ask is this really all worth it?” they wrote. “Is that really worth putting someone that you guys considered a friend in this kind of position? I’m asking to you \[sic\] as a human being and not some ‘corporate villain’ that some of you think we are.” On November 24, a viral X post from Skibidi YouTuber EliteBlueGuy shared screenshots, alleging to be multiple conversations with Gerasimov, including how Gerasimov was feeling down about how his franchise was being treated. “Very disgusting and horrible people entered my life, and I can’t do anything about it,” [the messages said](https://x.com/Blue10373599Guy/status/1993004492896584169/photo/4?ref=aftermath.site), though it’s not clear who he’s referring to. He discussed confusion about the state of the Skibidi Toilet Michael Bay project, which has only received a [single trailer](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJ5R61ByPIU/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fweb%5Fcopy%5Flink&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==) and an [Instagram video ](https://www.instagram.com/p/DKk1yhHRy4b/?ref=aftermath.site)from the director saying that “we are really trying to figure out how to expand this universe.” “Michael Bay continues to act as a creative advisor to Invisible Narratives,” the spokesperson said. “He is currently developing and testing a short-form piece within the Skibidi universe.” [In a statement to IGN ](https://www.ign.com/articles/let-alexey-take-a-much-deserved-break-skibidi-toilet-creator-and-boss-of-company-now-in-charge-of-dafuqboom-youtube-channel-present-a-united-front-amid-concern-over-creative-control?ref=aftermath.site)two days after the messages were posted, Invisible Narratives wrote that after two years of working with Invisible Narratives, Gerasimov had “wanted to step back from the intense day-to-day production schedule and explore other creative interests” and take on a role as a “creative partner.” The statement does not deny the legitimacy of the Discord messages. Gerasimov confirmed the messages’ legitimacy to Aftermath. Over the rest of 2025, the Skibidi Toilet fandom went into a frenzy over every small change, like when the Skibidi [playlist on YouTube](https://x.com/TheSkibidiNews/status/1958175332298523126?ref=aftermath.site) was updated, to creating wild conspiracies after the DaFuqBoom X account [changed its profile picture](https://x.com/PyromanSfm/status/2001024378776248761?ref=aftermath.site) to remove its smirk, and when it followed an account called [“keep fighting.” ](https://x.com/Blue10373599Guy/status/2003082815962063111?ref=aftermath.site)In fans’ eyes, Invisible Narratives had Gerasimov captured, his precious toilet series had been dragged away, and they were willing to fight for it. “We will take back what's Boom's, with no doubt, their downfall is happening soon,” one X user [wrote. ](https://x.com/Ag3nt077/status/2006880934092746869?ref=aftermath.site) > "Views are dropping hard, and it’s becoming impossible to stay in the Skibidi niche." -Iron Cameraman “The Alliance was meant to formally expand in October 2025 with a broader structure and clearer rollout,” the Invisible Narratives spokesperson said. “But internal calls were leaked. Confidential contracts were shared publicly. Early materials were circulated out of context. What was meant to signal respect - transparency and partnership from our end - was reframed publicly in a way that questioned our integrity and intentions.” To try to squash some of this, Invisible Narratives released a four-page statement on the official Skibidi Toilet X account on [Dec. 20](https://aftermath.site/r/d23a05a6?m=c4c70389-b786-45a6-ad57-054739e89a6c). “Claims circulating that Alexey was silenced, forced out, or not paid are simply untrue,” they wrote. The statement also mentions the Alliance, claiming that Invisible Narratives’ “goal was simple: engage creators directly, give them access to create content with the Skibidi IP, and build alongside the community rather than above it. That kind of collaboration requires clarity. When creators joined the Alliance, we entered into contracts to ensure a clear understanding of rights, responsibilities, and boundaries. This was especially important as Skibidi expanded into games, toys, film, and television. Contracts are not evidence of bad intent; they are a necessary part of doing business at this scale.” According to Skibidi Toilet creators who are still members of the Alliance, there are around two dozen animators, editors, and analysts in the Discord group. Conversation with Invisible Narratives has been minimal since the call leaked. The spokesperson told Aftermath that the Alliance was formally paused after the release of Emergence, saying, "The program was evolving and never got the chance to fully scale. Benefits were to be rolled out over time as the Alliance scaled... Progress unfortunately stalled before the Alliance ever fully launched." They further cited harassment, threats, and misinformation surrounding Skibidi Toilet and the Alliance as reasons for the pause. Some Skibidi Toilet creators are now torn: do they keep making content about the franchise that's brought them so much joy, or do they speak out against what they believe to be the destruction of the series at the hands of Invisible Narratives? With the lack of episodes, new content, or messages from Gerasimov, there’s less content to make, so viewership is declining. But it's clear from every creator I spoke with that they are still trying to save what they believe to be Skibidi Toilet’s original vision, even if they don’t know what the series’ creator actually wants. As for the Alliance, it seems pretty fractured. Ibio says that though he no longer considers himself a member, he still has to use the Invisible Narratives portal to access his ad revenue. Edmund, who has also detached himself from the group, says that the Discord isn’t very active and “the Alliance chat is empty.” “Nobody is talking about the consequences and how the entire fandom is suffering: the viewers, the YouTubers, the animators,” Iron Cameraman said. “Not only because of Invisible Narratives themselves, but because of their actions. Views are dropping hard, and it’s becoming impossible to stay in the Skibidi niche. Many of my friends have already left after seeing what’s going on. Some keep making content just to support the fandom. Others are trying to fight.” Goodman said that Invisible Narratives has spent “tens and tens of millions of dollars into Skibidi Toilet, our ecosystem exists well beyond the YouTube content and what the audience sees,” so they have no plans of stopping their robot potty show. He admits that the Creator Alliance was an experiment that wanted to “professionalize” the world of YouTube, but it's unclear if the ecosystem, or even these creators, want that structure. “They don't want to be told what to do, contracts are weird for them. Many of them don't have attorneys on staff or relatives who are attorneys. So it all seems like it's something that's daunting to them.” Invisible Narratives is a company that cares about business, which means protecting its property in ways that can rankle internet creators. Goodman is, by his own admission, not an internet native and approached his control of Skibidi Toilet as if it were a Hollywood franchise. But the internet isn’t as buttoned up as a corporate board room, and Invisible Narratives’ aggressive use of the copyright system may have already flushed much of the community’s goodwill away. **Correction, 3/30/26, 4:15pm--*This piece initially misstated the country of the 17-year-old creator.* **Update 4/1/26, 7:15pm--*The dek of this piece was updated, and Invisible Narratives' comment on allegations of delayed payments was moved closer to where those claims are made in the story.* **Update 4/3/26, 10:30am–* Added further comment from Invisible Narratives regarding Gerasimov's statement about issuing claims, and regarding pausing the Creator Alliance.* ### The Fountain Pens Of Video Games URL: https://aftermath.site/fountain-pens-video-games/ Last updated: 2026-03-31T19:09:22.000Z There are a lot of fountain pens in video games–you just may not have noticed them. Fountain pens, however small a piece of a game, signal something to the player: the time period, perhaps, or something about the person writing with it, though they could also simply be an item filling up space on a desk. I started noticing them more than six or seven years ago when I started using fountain pens in real life. Suddenly, they were everywhere in games. My friends send me screenshots of them whenever they see them. I've been wanting to paint them for a while. [I stopped doing art for a couple years, but I've started again](https://aftermath.site/i-love-my-rainbow-pencil/). No better time than now, no? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/new.png) Illustration: Nicole Carpenter In *Red Dead Redemption 2*, Arthur sets out to find a fountain pen for Mary-Beth when she mentions wanting one to write novels with. There's also a cigarette card with a fountain pen illustration hidden in a faraway cabin, and some fancy men use them during negotiations. People use fountain pens in Hyrule, too. Purah, the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab director, takes notes with a simple red fountain pen in *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*. In *Hitman 2*, a fountain pen becomes a weapon—much like anything else in the game. It's perfect to throw, but also explodes. Not quite something you'd want to write with. The simple black fountain pen in *The Great Ace Attorney 2* is used to kill, too—a murder weapon most unassuming. Similarly, the fountain pen in *Final Fantasy* *XIV* is a weapon, and a gorgeous one at that. One of *Splatoon* 2*'s* weapons, used to dispense paint and not fight, is adorned with a fountain pen nib. But my favorite of all is in *Animal Crossing: New Horizons*—a simple black fountain pen with a gold nib, paired with a bottle of ink. It looks like a [Pilot Falcon](https://www.atlasstationers.com/products/pilot-falcon-fountain-pen-black-w-gold?ref=aftermath.site), perhaps, with a bottle of [Pelikan ink](https://www.pelikan.com/int/products/writing/supplies-accessories/156-inks/125-pelikan-4001-ink-glass-jar.html?ref=aftermath.site). And one of the frog villagers, too, [apparently likes to collect them](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/17y9amz/this%5Fvillager%5Fon%5Fmy%5Fanimal%5Fcrossing%5Fisland%5Fis%5Fone/?ref=aftermath.site), just like me. [You Should Try A Chinese Fountain Pen - AftermathChinese fountain pens, some cloned and some not, from Aliexpress and Amazon have slowly become reliable and well loved by the community.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-216.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/chinese-pens-2-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/chinese-fountain-pen-hongdian-jinhao-asvine-delike/) ### New FIFA Game Looks Deeply Embarrassing URL: https://aftermath.site/new-fifa-video-game/ Last updated: 2026-03-30T10:06:35.000Z Back when EA Sports and FIFA–the governing body for world football--worked together, if there was one thing they did better than anything else, it was licensing. EA were able to bring down rivals *PES* (Konami's competing series) not because they made the better game, but because they had the more authentic deals. If you bought *PES* you'd be playing mostly as a bunch of made-up teams playing in make-believe leagues. Buy *FIFA* and you'd be playing with real teams in their real kits in their real stadiums. That's a huge deal for sports fans! So it's incredible,[ if not also unsurprising given everything else going on](https://aftermath.site/new-fifa-game-delphi-netflix/), to see FIFA's latest attempt at a video game (*FIFA Heroes*, an upcoming casual/arcade five-a-side game developed by a studio that normally makes VR games) start showing itself off in such a bizarre way. [Please, Tell Me More About The New FIFA Game And The Money Behind ItNone of this sounds exciting, in the slightest![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-209.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1527871454777-032ec3f75edc)](https://aftermath.site/new-fifa-game-delphi-netflix/) (Note: Heroes is a *different* FIFA game [to the one I wrote about last month](https://aftermath.site/new-fifa-game-delphi-netflix/)) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-27-124149.png) [I can't embed the game's latest trailer directly here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbd-7QTnHyY&ref=aftermath.site), but a number of sequences were, as someone who follows football and football video games pretty closely, surprising to see! For starters, the players it features are wearing officially-licensed shirts...from 2022-23\. It's now March 2026\. All teams involved in the clip (England, France and Argentina feature most prominently) have released new kits then new kits *again* since these were the ones they wore on the field. If you're going to get a license, why not get the right one, or at least show the latest version of it? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-27-124949.png) Pause the trailer and you'll also see that there are patches on the player's sleeves...patches they wore during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, not those of the upcoming 2026 World Cup taking place in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The ball they're using, however, *is* the official ball of the 2026 World Cup. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-27-124657.png) Here's Jack Grealish in a video released in 2026 but which sure looks like it was put together a long, long time ago Then there are the players themselves. Jack Grealish features heavily, a player who was very exciting for marketing teams a few years back (like so much else in this clip, around 2022), but who was sent out on loan from his parent club Manchester City last year to Everton before getting injured and missing much of this season recovering from surgery. His last game for England was in 2024, and he won't be in the 2026 squad either. Don't get me wrong, I am not here to nit-pick a casual sports game's marketing for the sake of it. My main issue here is that this whole thing appears to be weirdly *unsupervised*, in a way I've never seen in an officially-licensed sports video game before. Normally [they're either very strictly controlled](https://kotaku.com/check-out-these-dumbass-review-restrictions-1732923646?ref=aftermath.site) or there are few/no licenses whatsoever; to feature so many of them here, but have them be so inconsistently applied, suggests that either this game has been in development for way too long, was shelved years ago and has been dug out of storage or that nobody involved at any step of the process really gives a shit. Maybe it's all three! Whatever the reason, the days of the FIFA brand being synonymous with video game authenticity are long gone. Then again, on the list of public relations concerns the organisation has at the moment, [that's probably not the most pressing one](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/mar/02/fifa-gianni-infantino-idolisation-donald-trump-football-world-cup-us-israel-middle-east?ref=aftermath.site). [Infantino’s idolisation of Trump has left football with blood on its hands | Barney RonayThe Fifa president’s sycophancy towards the US president has left the organisation facing a new nadir, but any reckoning seems a distant prospect![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-512-2.png)The GuardianBarney Ronay![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/3877.jpg)](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/mar/02/fifa-gianni-infantino-idolisation-donald-trump-football-world-cup-us-israel-middle-east?ref=aftermath.site) ### Tell Me A Story: Destiny 2 Edition URL: https://aftermath.site/tell-me-a-story-destiny-2-edition/ Last updated: 2026-03-30T14:02:32.000Z We skipped last week because we were all getting ready for Woke Week. Now that that’s all over, let’s talk about the temporary bout of psychosis I seem to be experiencing. I had a great time with *Destiny 2* a long, long time ago. I enjoyed its stories, I played enough of the raids to earn but not buy a raid ring, and for a while, I logged on every single day just for a chance to experience its snappy gunplay. Then, around the time the Lightfall expansion came out, I simply lost interest. That’s the thing with live service games—it’s hard for one to actually sustain a person’s interest year over year. They have their season, and I assumed that my season with *Destiny 2*, and basically all live service shooters, was over. Enter *Marathon*, another Bungie live service shooter. *Marathon* is a game that I’ve been thinking about a lot since I first played it, and even if I don’t have a ton of time to play it (I *just* unlocked Outpost), I want to be playing it all the time. The way this game stuck in my mind has made me want to go backwards in time and try to understand the choke hold *Destiny 2* used to have on me. Of course, you can never go home again. *Destiny 2* is radically different from the way it used to be. There aren’t light levels anymore, gear has tiers, you can modify your armor and create “builds” and most upsetting for me, the Tower is slightly different and I don’t remember where anything is. Where are all my friends? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/tiger_release_final_20260327_184123.png) Sad ☹️/Destiny 2 All the stuff from *Destiny 2*, the activities that make up the bulk of the game, are now located in a new menu called “The Portal,” which appears to put all the Strikes and other group activities into a playlist, streamlining the player experience. Brother, this sucks. I don’t *want* this game to be streamlined! I loved kinda just running around different planets and getting lost on my way to an objective—that was the special sauce that kept me returning to *Destiny 2*, stumbling upon vistas where I could sit and look at the digital night’s sky. I had a little ritual of returning to the Tower after doing my daily tasks, which I used to call “putting my Guardian to bed.” Before I logged off, I wanted to know that my robot girl and her Ghost were somewhere safe and cozy. Now, The Portal is literally accessible as soon as I open the game. My Guardian no longer feels like a character that lives in a very specific world—she’s just an arm attached to a gun. That said, when I did visit Europa and break out my combat bow to snipe some Vex in the head, it felt as if I had never left. There is simply nothing like double jumping up into the air, drawing back your bow, and hitting something so hard in the head it fucking explodes and the remains of its body launches into the air. How about you? Are you returning to an old game? Trying something new? Been at one thing for a while? I want to hear it all. ### The Video Games Of Woke 2 (With Michael Hobbes) URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-woke-2-michael-hobbes/ Last updated: 2026-03-27T20:11:52.000Z As Woke Week draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on the journey we’ve been on together. We’ve [defined our terms](https://aftermath.site/woke-2-wokeness-black-lives-matter-activism/), we’ve [spoken to DEI specialists](https://aftermath.site/video-games-dei/), we’ve recounted the [trials and triumphs of gaming’s wokest communities](https://aftermath.site/games-done-quick-gdq-speedrunning-community-trans-rights/) (in exhaustive detail), we’ve [written with rainbow pencils](https://aftermath.site/i-love-my-rainbow-pencil/), and of course, [we’ve cooked](https://aftermath.site/dykes-to-watch-out-for-alison-bechdel-food/). Truly, woke 2 was the friends we made along the way. But, shockingly, we haven’t talked about specific woke games. Today we remedy that. This time around, we’re joined by podcasting royalty, [Michael Hobbes](https://bsky.app/profile/michaelhobbes.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site) of [If Books Could Kill](https://www.ifbookspod.com/?ref=aftermath.site) and [Maintenance Phase](https://www.maintenancephase.com/?ref=aftermath.site), to discuss Aftermath’s latest, greatest, possibly dumbest event, [Woke Week](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/), as well as Michael’s true passion: video game speedruns. What was Woke 1? What were its true ills versus those centrist pundits have wrongly tried to diagnose? And why are Woke 1 and Woke 2 fighting? Can they stop? There are also multiple shocking—to Michael—reveals throughout the episode, such as my role in Gamergate. We fill him in on all the deep gamer lore and some recent drama involving Chris and Bluesky that exemplified the Woke 1 vs 2 divide. Finally, we decide which games constitute the Woke 2 canon, and we pick out a mascot (Kirby). You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that we can extend Woke Week until the end of time. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Gita:** What video games are woke 2? I feel like *Persona 3*, specifically, is woke 2\. I don’t know if *Persona 4* or *5* are woke 2. **Nathan:** *Persona 5* definitely isn’t, with its transphobia. **Gita:** *Persona 3*, though, really is just about “Hey, everyone’s gonna die; go make some friends.” **Michael:** I would say *Street Fighter 6*, because it has [representation for cousin fuckers](https://aftermath.site/i-dont-like-how-alex-street-fighter-6-uses-his-free-will/), and that’s a really important part of woke 2: We’re all fucking our cousins. **Nathan:** #JusticeForCousinFuckers **Gita:** I think also original *Hades* is woke 2. **Nathan:** That’s what I was thinking! Original, yes; sequel, woke 1. **Gita:** Yeah, original because it was like “Hey, your dad’s a jerk, but remember that he’s a person too,” essentially. “And maybe you’ll get over it someday, but maybe you won’t.” **Nathan:** We ran an article about [how *Hades 2* embraces a kind of status quo](https://aftermath.site/hades-2-ending/). Despite playing as someone who is ostensibly an agent of change, you don’t really meaningfully impact the lives of a lot of the side characters. But in Hades 1, you did. Characters’ ended in different places than they started out \[instead of simply learning to accept unjust circumstances\]. I think that’s also maybe the difference between woke 1 and 2 in general: saying the systemic status quo is something we should be trying to shift in a way that goes beyond simple matters of representation, like a woman CEO or what have you. **Michael:** I think in the same way right-wingers use “woke” to mean anything they think is bad, we’re using “woke 2” to mean anything we think is good. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich? That’s woke 2, baby. **Nathan:** And it is. That’s the official food of woke 2, to be clear. **Gita:** Yeah, if you have a peanut allergy, you’re not woke anymore. Sorry. **Nathan:** You’ve been demoted. You’re right wing. You don’t have a choice. **Gita:** I think every *Dark Souls* game, every FromSoft game is woke 2\. I know this is more saying games I like are woke 2, but at least *Dark Souls 1* is about doing something other than sustaining the status quo. To link the fire in *Dark Souls 1*, you are perpetuating a status quo that is clearly dying—on its way out—and does not need to be perpetuated. If you allow for the time of man to arise—the time of dark, the dark soul—then you are saying goodbye to the old world, because its time is done. **Michael:** I will trust you on that. I refuse to learn what those games are about. I’m not reading item descriptions. I’m not sitting there fucking reading when I’m trying to play my video game. Absolutely not. **Nathan:** Oh! You know what game is woke 2? More woke 2 than any other game and also the most game that has ever existed? *Warframe*. It’s obviously *Warframe*. For one, in ways that are subtle it’s a very queer game. Frames themselves play with ideas of gender and stuff, but they don’t necessarily try to be in your face about it. Also, the game’s politics have been generally good. The company supports good causes. They seem to give a shit. Also, I thought of the game that is the standard bearer for woke 2: It’s gotta be *Fallout: New Vegas*, right? **Gita:** Oh! Oh yeah. *Fallout: New Vegas* is really good, but when I got a copy, I couldn’t play it the first night because I spent two hours following a modding guide to make the game stable enough to play on PC. It is still so broken. **Nathan:** The only real problem with *Fallout: New Vegas* is that if you play it, it does turn you trans. **Michael:** That’s woke 2, though. That’s the most woke 2 thing imaginable. **Gita:** Whatever they put in the water to make the frogs gay, they also put it in *Fallout: New Vegas*. I don’t know what it is. **Michael:** In the code. That’s why it’s buggy: because of the gender-affirming code they have in there. **Everybody:** \[laughs really loudly\] **Gita:** But *Fallout: New Vegas* is also a game about saying goodbye to the old world. It’s the closest *Fallout* has gotten to saying “America is done. It’s over. There will never be another America. The people who are trying to bring back America are all fools. It’s not going to work in the long run.” **Michael:** Burn it down-ass video game. **Gita:** It really is. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ Changed The World. Now What? URL: https://aftermath.site/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-angel-reboot-sarah-michelle-gellar-chloe-zhao/ Last updated: 2026-03-30T18:38:57.000Z Sarah Michelle Gellar’s revival of *Buffy The Vampire Slayer*, the show that ushered in her ascent to stardom and created a voracious fandom that still can’t believe it’s over, is dead at Hulu. Nathan and Gita sat down to talk about what the show means to them both, and what, if anything, they would have wanted from a reboot. **Nathan Grayson:** Hey Gita, seeing as it is Woke Week on Aftermath, and *Buffy The Vampire Slayer* is obviously the wokest show of all time (created by an abusive white guy and a bunch of vastly more talented writers and actors), now feels like as good of a time as any to reflect on its television-reshaping highs and lows. It’s also been an eventful time in the Buffyverse, with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Chloe Zhao’s sequel series getting canned and Nicholas Brendan, the actor who played Xander, passing. How do you feel about the former? Is there a good way to resurrect Buffy in this day and age, or is it probably for the best that that Hellmouth of worms remains closed for now? **Gita Jackson:** Here's the thing: when I met my husband, a lot of our early dates were us getting super stoned and watching *Star Trek* episodes that he thought were particularly good. I tried to do this for him with Buffy, and other than “Band Candy” and the one where Cordelia wishes that Buffy never came to Sunnydale, showing David *Buffy* episodes was not nearly as much fun. It made me really consider if we, as a culture, are well and truly done with what made *Buffy* such an incredible TV show as it was airing (and for a decade or so after). **Nathan:** What do you think that specific thing was? What are we done with that makes the show difficult to return to now? **Gita:** *Buffy* was made as a response to the television environment it was born into. At that time, shows about teenage girls that took their concerns seriously—and gave them struggles beyond going to prom—were pretty much non-existent. Adding that *Buffy* was a genre show, which was a hard sell on television at the time, it’s a miracle this thing even got made. But that was then. Now, the teen drama television show, pioneered by the WB and UPN, the network that aired *Buffy*,has taken off. There are a lot more women on television in general, and a lot more stories about teen girls. I would even say in the writing department, *Gossip Girl* gives *Buffy* a run for its money in terms of witticisms and dramatic turns. Even science fiction has become a more accessible genre for TV viewers. I mean, *Stranger Things* combines so many of the elements I just talked about and it was a smash hit for Netflix for like, ten years. *Buffy* was a show that was intended to change the world, and then it did that. So why did Sarah Michelle Gellar want to do a remake? **Nathan:** It's a great question, especially given how hesitant she’d been to reprise the role of *Buffy* previously. And based on the leaked script—which she has admittedly cautioned fans against taking as gospel, given that pilots are subject to change—it seems like what she and others involved arrived at was a pretty hamfisted attempt at modernizing the concept of a Slayer. Tbh I’m just gonna let the script speak for itself here: > It's like an hour of this > > — [Sarah Z (@sarahz.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:saoifgy5hqasxd4bhtgmubmj?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-17T06:10:17.716Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:saoifgy5hqasxd4bhtgmubmj/post/3mhacsc3od22z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > There's one character who only exists to be a straw SJW, it's mostly just gratuitous references to 'remember That Thing from the show??', and it's not interesting enough to justify its presence. There are a few small bits I liked but um, wow, we were spared > > — [Sarah Z (@sarahz.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:saoifgy5hqasxd4bhtgmubmj?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-17T06:14:45.507Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:saoifgy5hqasxd4bhtgmubmj/post/3mhad2bi2wc2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) The original *Buffy* paved the way for TV to explore a lot of “woke” themes—before that term had entered mainstream parlance—but this just seems like it’s playing catch up (and embarrassing itself in the process). **Gita:** Yeah, apparently this script got better after rewrites. But OOF. It makes me wonder—what WOULD you want from a *Buffy* remake? Any new swings at the idea of the Slayer that would make you tune in? **Nathan:** Honestly, I'm not sure! I think for me, *Buffy* is a time capsule, and that's part of what I enjoy about it even now. Watching the early seasons feels like going to a high school I could have attended (albeit without all the monsters), sans phones, social media, and other modern concerns. This is the definition of nostalgia, but sometimes it's nice to return to a familiar place that we can no longer access physically. I think what I'd be most interested in is a version of what we already got, except NOT piloted by a wormy little tyrant—a version of *Angel*, for example, that didn't totally fuck over Cordelia and actually gave her character the arc and ending she deserved. But all of that is in the past now. It can't be undone. (That said #justiceforcordelia) **Gita:** If Cordelia Chase has no defenders, I am dead. For the most part I agree with you. It’s okay, I think, for a show to just be over, to let its narrative rest and the wheels finally stop spinning. I love the idea of leaving *Buffy* in the last moments of the show, overlooking the remains of the Hellmouth, because that means her life as the Slayer is basically over. If there was more show, then she’d have to get back to work again. Let her be…. Close-ish to happy! For once! There was exactly one narrative decision I liked in the proposed *Buffy* show: Buffy is no longer a Slayer and now works as a thoroughly boring insurance agency. She has no notoriety or destiny, and no one knows who she is. That, to me, is the fate she deserves. Why ruin that by giving her a problem to solve? **Nathan:** Right! On the whole, both *Buffy* and *Angel* actually stuck their landings pretty well. Sure, *Angel* ends on a cliffhanger, but it’s so representative of what that show was about: the main characters facing down impossible odds, understanding that doom almost certainly awaits, and choosing to stand side by side as a massively dysfunctional supernatural family and fight anyway. It’s difficult to imagine a better conclusion (and believe me, the very, very bad comics tried). Speaking of: *Buffy* or *Angel*? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/smile-time.png) Image Source: Angel **Gita:** Personally I am an *Angel* person. Besides the bizarre season where Cordelia turns evil, it’s got a lot less of the typical Whedon Brand Bullshit that I find annoying about *Buffy*. *Buffy* has this incredible five season run where four of those five seasons are just phenomenal, and then Whedon starts doing that thing where he just tortures the characters for basically no reason other than he believes that happiness is antithetical to compelling storytelling. Seasons six and seven are the absolute nadir of that storytelling frame: Willow is a drug addict! Xander left at the altar! Buffy has an even more pronounced death wish because she actually died and wants to go back. The seasons of *Angel* that are good are also just much more rewatchable to me. I love a good Los Angeles noir thriller, I love Cordelia, and at the very least Wesley Wyndham Price getting his balls smashed so hard every week that he becomes an angst ridden mess is more funny to me than watching a bunch of young women learn that nothing good will ever happen to them. How about you? **Nathan:** I wasn't sold on Angel after a friend forced me to sit through season one in college, but after that it really finds its footing (at least, until season four, lol) and surpasses Buffy, for sure. The characters grow and evolve in such satisfying ways, and whereas Buffy tried to make Angel a tragic, unattainable love interest, Angel (the show) realizes he’s at his best when everyone is giving him shit. It’s often surprisingly funny, but with a darker tone that makes the humorous moments stand out more. Also, one of its central locations was a karaoke bar, so I’m basically obligated to love it. Season five of *Angel* is my favorite *Buffy* anything. What a comeback after the cauldron of misery that was season four. **Gita:** Season five of Angel has puppets. What more could you want? But someday, I do hope to take my husband through the cathartic and messy season 5 of Buffy, the series finale that the show truly should have had. It's the kind of television writing that you can see in the blueprints of everyone’s favorite shows nowadays. There’s a reason why Whedon was once admired for his craft. The long term, episode by episode plotting is just exquisite. **Nathan:** If an alien ever gets stranded on earth, and I'm tasked with introducing it to the concept of television, I will show it the puppet episode of Angel. And then it will probably be even more confused. ### Life (And Death) In Warframe URL: https://aftermath.site/warframe-digital-extremes-community-tennocon-wedding-funeral/ Last updated: 2026-03-30T19:17:05.000Z Last June, a *Warframe* player, Yuri Hazumaki, died of a sudden, acute asthma attack. This occurred while she was playing, leaving her avatar standing in the hub city of Chrysalith, eerily still except for the odd idle animation. Not long after, her long-distance partner, Melliamber, relayed the somber news to the rest of the *Warframe* community. “This woman meant the world to me, to our friends, and our families,” Melliamber [wrote](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warframe/comments/1lo716o/a%5Flabor%5Fof%5Flove%5Ffor%5Fa%5Fbeloved%5Flost%5Ftenno/?ref=aftermath.site) on the *Warframe* subreddit. “She passed away while playing a game she loved with people who loved her.” Then they asked other players to stop by the in-game location where Hazumaki’s avatar continued to stand. Over the course of the next 74 hours, a truly colossal number of players made the pilgrimage to Hazumaki’s location to pay their respects—so many that their combined presence at times threatened to blot out the screen with a fingerpaint-like blob of pastel-colored flesh mechs. But this, too, would eventually end. *Warframe*, a cooperative shooter that [includes basically every genre of game](https://aftermath.site/warframe-digital-extremes-balatro-vampire-survivors-interview/) but most closely resembles an MMO, is subject to regular hotfixes. These reset the game and log players out, meaning that Hazumaki’s avatar wasn’t long for the game world. This hotfix, however, was accompanied by a special message, which was broadcast to *Warframe*’s in-game chat: “With this hotfix, we at DE want to express our condolences to the friends and family of fellow Tenno, Yuri Hazumaki. She will forever be a Tenno and a loved member of this community <3” The *Warframe* team also later ended a developer stream with a card that read “In loving memory of Yuri Hazumaki.” Melliamber was taken aback by the outpouring of support. "A sincere thank you to each and every one of you who joined us for this and came to pay their respects,” they wrote in an update to the Reddit post. “We carry the memory of her, and all of you, forward. A very heartfelt thank you to the \[*Warframe* developer Digital Extremes\] team, who visited us, connected with us, grieved with us, and helped us lay her to rest. Your hotfix message has reached us, all of us, and we will never forget it. Thank you for building this lovely community." Other players, even those who’d never interacted with Hazumaki, also took notice. "I'm usually a grump, but man, this shit thawed tf out of my cold, deeply distrustful heart," [wrote one](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warframe/comments/1lokwbc/comment/n0npynq/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=web3x&utm%5Fname=web3xcss&utm%5Fterm=1&utm%5Fcontent=share%5Fbutton). "It's refreshing tbh, and it feels good to be part of something like that—to offer comfort to strangers when they need it." At the time, meeting players where they were at and, in some cases, joining the vigil was a no-brainer, according to senior community manager Danielle Sokolowski. "We were watching that happen, and we just thought a little sentiment \[would be nice\],” she told Aftermath. “It was just something that came up organically. And obviously the community was showing up in droves, so what a beautiful moment to be able to say, 'Hey, we recognize that this person was important, and we're gonna miss them too. We're sad that they're gone.'" Digital Extremes senior public relations manager Alex Munson, who took part in the in-game celebration of Hazumaki’s life, found himself moved by what he encountered. "It was pretty emotional,” he told Aftermath. “Every second, a different Warframe was appearing, one after the other. Everybody was doing emote after emote after emote. Deep bow, deep bow, deep bow. Thank you, thank you. It was surreal—just crazy to see that the *Warframe* community cared that much to show up for this one individual that they didn't know in real life." But while *Warframe*’s developers never could’ve predicted this exact outcome, moments like these are a byproduct of highly intentional design—both in terms of a cooperative spirit that pervades the game itself and a large, dedicated community team that touches nearly every aspect of development. What began with regular dev streams over a decade ago has evolved into a well-oiled community machine that puts those of larger studios to shame. Now there’s an annual convention, TennoCon, as well as in-person gatherings all around the world. *Warframe*’s current creative director, Rebb Ford, who took the reins from current CEO Steve Sinclair in 2022, made her name doing community-facing work. > “We receive graduation letters and wedding invites and everything \[from dedicated players\]." *Warframe* and Digital Extremes have engendered a connection, among some players, that borders on parasocial. "A lot of things that don't fit neatly in the box of another department just sort of land on our desk,” senior community manager Zach McKone told Aftermath. “We receive graduation letters and wedding invites and everything \[from dedicated players\]. I think that's definitely a pillar of what we want to ensure community is strong on: that every individual feels like they are heard. Especially if the community is like 'We want a memory in-game of this person,' we do what we can to immortalize them." There are pros and cons to this approach: *Warframe*’s community is as dedicated as they come, an asset no amount of money or hubristic determination can bludgeon into existence, as the recent trend of live-service games dropping like flies has shown us. But try as they might, *Warframe*’s developers aren’t capable of satisfying everyone; you can only reply to so many letters, and you probably *shouldn’t* attend all that many players’ weddings (though it has happened on rare occasions). You can only be confronted by so much death. And if you give some people an inch—especially in spaces where they feel like they’re supposed to be catered to—they’ll do their damndest to take a mile. Still, despite growing pains and a few truly harrowing encounters, *Warframe*’s developers are proud of the path they’ve picked. "We don't claim to have some mission statement,” Ford told Aftermath. “We don't claim to have answers to everything. But it's like, yeah, it would be fine \[for everyone\] to be a little more human." ## We All Lift Together Many MMOs and MMO-shaped games have played host to vigils, funerals, and memorials. Funerals in games like [*World of Warcraft*](https://www.bbc.com/news/disability-47064773?ref=aftermath.site), [*Final Fantasy XIV*](https://globalnews.ca/news/6832247/coronavirus-video-game-funeral/?ref=aftermath.site), and [*EVE Online*](https://kotaku.com/an-eve-online-funeral-means-ozone-light-vigils-and-spac-1832765360?ref=aftermath.site) have drawn hundreds and, in rare cases, thousands. *Destiny 2* played host to an especially high-profile instance of the latter in 2023, with players coming from all corners to [pay tribute to Lance Reddick](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/destiny-2-players-paying-tribute-to-lance-reddicks-commander-zavala-in-game/1100-6512463/?ref=aftermath.site), the Hollywood actor who lent his voice to beloved character Commander Zavala. This tendency makes a degree of intuitive sense. The MMO genre, ever-expanding and built around the idea of socialization, lends itself to long-term play. With the day-to-day ravages of time naturally come births, weddings, and deaths. But Taylor Cocke, games journalism’s foremost *Warframe* evangelist until he took jobs in the video game and anime industries, does think *Warframe* and its community are unique—one of a kind, even. Much of this he chalks up to the game’s structure: When players aren’t inhabiting their ships or hub areas, they’re typically embarking on instanced missions with up to three other players, automatically assigned by the game unless you’re already in a group. In other games, such a system would lead to—and indeed, has led to—squabbles at best and outright harassment at worst. But *Warframe* is a cooperative game to its core; regardless of mission type, players are always leaping, spinning, shooting, and slashing their way toward a shared objective, and every second they spend in pursuit of that earns them some sort of resource—whether it’s experience for a weapon or frame, a crafting resource from a downed enemy (of which there are so, so many), or progress on the game’s battle pass equivalent. You’re constantly being bathed in *stuff*, which can admittedly be overwhelming, but also feels good. Sometimes, you’ll hop into a mission and find that another player’s farming build is so efficient that you barely have to do anything; glittering prizes just kind of fall into your pockets, which of course makes you like that player. “The thing about \[standard *Warframe* missions\] is, there's not really a fail state, right?” Cocke told Aftermath. “It's not like in *World of Warcraft* Mythic Plus dungeons where if you fail, you don't get the item, and then you lose progress on your key. Or in *Final Fantasy XIV*, where if you're raiding and you fail to defeat the boss, you don't get the item for that run, \[and\] it's a waste of your time. Whereas in *Warframe*, you're always getting something. … There's never a moment where you lose progress in the game, which I think is pretty remarkable for a game like that. It's very conducive to building community and building friendly spaces." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/warf18.jpeg) Digital Extremes This is not to say that *Warframe* is wholly bereft of toxicity. Players still disagree, pester each other in chat, and get frustrated when somebody who’s newer gets lost on their way to the exit from a mission everyone else has run a thousand times before. But even the latter scenario emerges from a uniquely cooperative system; newbies and longtime players can run missions together and both receive resources of value, despite the gulf in skill and playtime. The net result of all this is that *Warframe*’s common spaces—chat, subreddits, and so on—*tend* to be more chill than those of other games. This is not an ironclad guarantee, but it’s a relatively reliable rule of thumb. The other ingredient in *Warframe*’s secret sauce is its community team, the members of which are well aware of the game’s unique community composition and who seek to ensure that players feel heard. Where other games—many of them bigger than *Warframe* in terms of budget and development team size—might employ a small handful of community managers, *Warframe*’s community team is 20-people strong. They are also heavily embedded in the game’s development, as opposed to being shunted into a daily routine of purely public-facing duties. "I'm hoping that this is becoming more standardized or normal in other parts of the industry, but we have an interesting interdepartmental group within the community team that's QA, that's designers, or creator-focused individuals. We have live opps,” said Sokolowski. “So we have all these pockets that have different perspectives on different parts of the game that can all contribute. Obviously our designers are going to know some things that I'm not gonna know. What are the intricacies of the things that we've changed or that are coming out and why are \[players\] talking about it this way? How can we change or not change it? We have a lot of different perspectives within one single team, which makes us feel confident communicating as openly and transparently as we do." While the community team has grown and evolved over time, it’s nearly as old as *Warframe* itself. "It's been 12 years of making \[the community team\] this little hub where devs can rely on us; they'll come to us and be like 'What's the feedback? What are people asking for?'” said Sokolowski. “Or they'll come to us with things they haven't released yet and ask us if it's good or if players are gonna be upset with us. That came from a lot of work and making sure that we're collaborative at every opportunity—\[for example\] with the art department, programmers, environment, lighting. The full spectrum." "I don't want to say we're the final check,” added McKone, “but we are included when everyone needs to sign off; community needs to be included in that conversation. Can we say confidently that something is gonna go well? And then if it doesn't or we missed it, we're gonna be the first people to be talking to the community." > “*Warframe* itself is a pretty fun game, but the community around it has a real sense of camaraderie—people working together and being noncompetitive." Cocke observed that as far as live-service games go, *Warframe* has faced relatively few community rebellions in response to new updates or features, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t happened. Back in 2023, for example, players felt that Heirlooms, special deluxe skins, pushed monetization in an exploitative direction, which led Digital Extremes to offer additional purchase options and emphasize designs made by members of the community. "We realized we missed the mark, and a lot of that was taking our medicine, reading posts, and leaning on the community to figure out what we wanted to do next—which ended up being leaning into the community artist aspect of it and changing the monetization," said McKone. "We've never said we're gonna be faultless at all. We definitely make mistakes. And the nice thing about our community is that they never hold it over us or meet us with such toxicity." Diehard fans say that these factors—perhaps even more so than the game itself—are why they’ve stuck around for so long. "\[I appreciate the\] open communication, making sure that everything is for players' benefit—not for greed, not for money, not changing the core principles of the game or anything,” Kyle “Prime Average” Gossett, who’s been playing *Warframe* for over ten years, told Aftermath. “*Warframe* itself is a pretty fun game, but the community around it has a real sense of camaraderie—people working together and being noncompetitive. The developers lean really heavily into the positivity of everything. It's just slowly rolled over time into something that is beyond your typical game community." ## Here Comes The Groom(s) Where most players see friendly faces keeping them abreast of their favorite game’s latest undulations, there’s always a small risk of a few growing too attached. But as with feedback, which can range from constructive to ban-worthy depending on whether or not players are bashing developers, there’s a spectrum of acceptability in the eyes of DE’s community team where these things are concerned. Graduation letters, wedding invites, baby pictures—among other things that might seem a little too personal when you consider that DE is a video game studio and not someone’s best friend—are fair game. "So many people have been playing the game since day one,” said Sokolowski. “\[Almost 13\] years have gone by. That's their whole lives, or maybe now they're getting married or having babies. We get a lot of graduation letters of people being like 'I played *Warframe* all throughout my high school, all throughout my college degree, and you got me through it. I just want to send my thanks and show you guys that these are the fruits of my labor.'" "These types of games become part of people's lives,” she added. “It's where they socialize, where they connect, where they feel at home. So I think being able to move through your own life and have a game like *Warframe* cheering you on, \[that's really important to a lot of people\]. ... For them to have their victories and for them to feel like they can share that with us is a victory of our own. So yeah, we get a lot of that, a lot of wedding invites, baby pictures—people being like 'I play *Warframe* with my partner, and we have a baby now.' They even name them after some of our characters." *Warframe* community director Megan Everett explained that while developers cannot attend most events they’re invited to, Digital Extremes tries to at least make fans feel seen. “A lot of them are, unfortunately, outside of Canada or outside the scope of where we can go,” she said. “We always try to send them a little gift or a note or something. We try to have that interaction.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/warf7.jpeg) Digital Extremes In one case, Ford and Everett actually attended two fans’ wedding, though it was the culmination of a much longer saga than a letter simply showing up on DE’s doorstep. Back in 2023, Ford and Everett met the couple, Bryan and Michael, during a trip to Las Vegas for the convention of an entirely different massively multiplayer online game, *Final Fantasy XIV*. "It was Tuesday of the week of \[*Final Fantasy XIV* Fan Fest\], and we went to a show \[unrelated to Fan Fest\] in the evening, and Michael spotted Rebb and Megan from the crowd in the front," Bryan told Aftermath. Ford made sure to specify that it was a Circus Circus burlesque show, where part of the appeal is that the MC would roast people: "It was because an MC picked on us at a burlesque show in Vegas ... so it happened as we were getting splashed with water from a bathtub with a guy doing an aerial dance in denim." As people were leaving the venue, Bryan and Michael approached Ford and Everett and asked if they could take a picture with them. The two duos proceeded to talk for a bit and hit it off—coincidentally all being from Canada—at which point Ford and Everett invited Bryan and Michael to TennoCon, the annual *Warframe* convention in London, Ontario. "And then at Fan Fest, we stuck together and just kind of formed an instant friendship," said Ford. > "We had hung out with them for a while, and inviting them to our wedding just felt natural." Afterward, the group reunited at TennoCon, and they proceeded to hang out any time Ford and Everett were in Toronto, where Bryan and Michael resided. "We made a WhatsApp group,” said Ford. “We would talk about TennoCon. Whenever I was in Toronto or whenever Megan was in Toronto, we grabbed dinner." "I don't think of them as people who work on *Warframe*," said Bryan. "We think of them as friends. They're genuinely just very warm people." After two years of long (and occasionally short) distance friendship, inviting Ford and Everett to the wedding was a no-brainer. "We had hung out with them for a while, and inviting them to our wedding just felt natural," said Bryan. “Obviously if they couldn’t come, so be it. But they gladly accepted.” "We had sustained a friendship for two years of these things,” said Ford. “So it wasn't like we met and never spoke again, and then got a random invite. We just kept in touch, and then we sat at the special interest table \[at the wedding\] and got them a box of *Magic* cards for their wedding gift." This, obviously, is not something *Warframe*’s developers just do. Most wedding invitations Digital Extremes receives do not lead to this outcome. But you can get married in *Warframe*, and Ford [officiated the first ceremony](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuwDD4I%5Fv1M&ref=aftermath.site), an actual wedding between two players, nine years ago. The players, Eli and Niti, told Aftermath that they’re the ones who proposed the idea, which grew out of the sense of belonging *Warframe*’s community had given them. “It’s the only game we’ve ever played where the divide between developers and players feels almost non-existent,” said Eli. “Digital Extremes don’t just make *Warframe*; they live it. You can see their passion in every devstream, every social post, every update. They listen because they are fans too, and that sincerity is why we kept coming back. ... But there was also a practical side too. Our families and friends are scattered across the world, and there was no realistic way to bring everyone to Northern Ireland. My grandmother was too ill to travel, and the cost alone would have been impossible.” > "DE never treated us like a marketing opportunity. They never asked for anything, never pushed, never made us feel used." So Niti convinced Eli, who had just joined an in-game design council tasked with providing feedback to devs, to ask Ford if such a thing would even be possible. Surprising the couple, she near-instantaneously said yes. They proceeded to make just two requests: 1) They wanted Lotus, basically every *Warframe* player character’s mom, to officiate, and 2) they’d picked out a specific selection of music from the game’s soundtrack. “What DE delivered went far beyond anything we could have imagined or hoped for,” said Eli. “They created a Lotus skin specifically for \[Ford\] to wear during the ceremony. They hosted the wedding on their official Twitch channel. They built a custom in‑game music box that plays our song—and even held a community art contest around it, all without us knowing. They sent us merch we never asked for, and we still have. They even wrote lore around the Nuptia \[in-game term for wedding\], something that still gives us warm, fuzzy feelings whenever it’s mentioned.” It was a little janky—the in-game Dojo that served as the staging ground for the wedding crashed, at which point everyone played it off as lore-related sabotage—but it was theirs. “What meant the most was that DE never treated us like a marketing opportunity,” said Eli. “They never asked for anything, never pushed, never made us feel used. … They’ve stayed in touch over the years, checking in from time to time, and proving time and again that their kindness wasn’t a one‑off gesture.” ## Too Close For Comfort Parasocial relationships are most commonly discussed in reference to influencers and celebrities, but when sinking among the waves of an online sea that often greets people with cold indifference, many will grab the first hand they see. Just like a famous content creator, a game development studio or prominent member of said studio cannot realistically be your friend. Concern that some people might stumble into that emotional pitfall, however, does not stop DE from being friendly. "If someone feels like they can open up to you, and they feel like they know you, then I'm gonna meet them with that same energy,” said McKone. “Getting those letters is so fun because I like to then surprise them by sending back some DE swag and *Warframe* stuff and just give that passion right back to them. So parasociality, I think, is such an interesting topic in the gaming industry. We're on livestreams every week, and we see recurring names all the time, but I don't think once I've ever been like 'Oh, this crossed a line that I was not comfortable with.' I think there's bad actors and stuff like that, but I'm grateful that for all my years of TennoCon, I haven't run into any situations like that." This is a precarious tightrope to walk. When you’re ultimately selling a product, at what point does parasociality become a marketing tool, a means of extracting profit? But in this regard, too, *Warframe* is less cynical than other operations, with the game itself rarely pressuring players to spend money. Updates and expansions are free. Nearly everything of consequence can be unlocked through pure play. Its most eyebrow-raising quality is that it often proposes that you could, if you’re feeling so inclined, trade money for time—to speed up the construction of that shiny new frame so you get it right now instead of tomorrow. But compared to some other live-service games, which drip with cynicism, *Warframe* is quite generous. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/warf8.jpeg) Digital Extremes There’s also the fact that parasociality is a sword that cuts both ways, even though it tends to be sharper on one side than the other. While fans in *Warframe*’s community rarely cross lines, it does sometimes happen. That, said Sokolowski, is what moderation is for. "Obviously, as much as the community is our priority, our own team is also very much our priority. We want to be able to make sure that we can make the game and ensure that people feel happy and safe and comfortable doing so,” she said. “\[Inappropriate behavior\] does happen, and that's why it's important for us to have moderation systems in place." Still, riding the parasocial line can be a dangerous game in this day and age. As audiences have become more prone to lashing out—and the modern platform ecosystem has kept many communities coiled, viper-like, ready to strike—there is always a risk that putting yourself out there will provide bad actors with openings. Video game companies, increasingly, have been forced to confront this reality. In 2023, Bungie [won a $500,000 lawsuit against a *Destiny 2* player](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/destiny-2-player-ordered-to-pay-500k-for-harassing-bungie-community-manager?ref=aftermath.site) who threatened and harassed the game’s community manager. In 2025, Ubisoft reportedly implemented [an “anti-harassment harassment plan” for *Assassin’s Creed Shadows* developers](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ubisoft-reportedly-implements-anti-harassment-plan-for-assassins-creed-shadows-devs?ref=aftermath.site) that centered around not publicly acknowledging that they had worked on the game. Granted, bad-faith mobs turned that game into a lightning rod for ginned-up controversy before it ever came out, but as we’ve recently seen, they can do that to [pretty much by game at this point](https://aftermath.site/charlie-kirk-death-gamergate-ghost-of-yotei-probablymonsters-fired/). Where there’s a will (to get views), there’s a way. In recent times, *Warframe* has largely avoided becoming a culture war battleground, and it owes that—in large part—to the community it has cultivated. Some of this is intentional; many Warframes’ designs gleefully play with ideas of gender, the recent *1999* expansion included gay romance options, and the developers [make no secret of the causes they support](https://www.warframe.com/en/news/pride-2025?ref=aftermath.site). But *Warframe* also possesses a secret weapon: Many view the game—with its 13 years’ worth of systems and story—as impenetrable, making the prospect of parachuting in to harvest cheap engagement unappealing. There are much, much easier targets. In some ways, Digital Extremes’ most visible developers—personalities like Ford, Everett, and Sinclair—have also made targets out of themselves, taking heat off those who might be less comfortable with the limelight, according to Cocke. "I really do think that the fact that \[Ford and Everett\] are the main faces of the company—along with Steve—goes a really long way toward protecting a lot of the other lower-level developers,” he said. “\[They function as\] a shield." Cocke has personal experience with how things turn out when leadership isn’t quite so willing to jump on potential grenades. "This was over a decade ago, but if I would write something for \[Riot's\] website that the esports community wasn't stoked on, I would get a lot of shit,” he said. “And you would hope that as somebody who was making $40,000 a year, the higher ups would protect me. But they didn't, either because they didn't have the desire or didn't have the cache to do so." > “I'm fearless on the internet, and that definitely has more bad than good, but I also think it leads to more peaks and valleys—the types of experiences you get to have in life with people who are willing to just go and do things." Digital Extremes adds an extra dimension of complexity to all of this by regularly hosting live events in the form of the aforementioned TennoCon, as well as smaller TennoVIP gatherings [around the world](https://www.warframe.com/en/news/join-us-at-tennovip-events-around-the-world?ref=aftermath.site). And sometimes Ford just throws them together because she can. "Earlier in May \[2025\], I was in Hong Kong for work, and I just posted a photo of where I was, and someone slid into my DMs and was like 'Oh my god, I'm in Hong Kong, and I run a Tenno group. Can we do a meetup?' And I was like 'Sure,’” she said. “So we picked a spot that was pretty public and did an impromptu community hangout. About five or six people showed up, and we all just took photos and talked about the game." Ford is not completely devil-may-care about these things, however. She rarely does them alone, for one, and she tries to pick busy areas where plenty of eyes are on her just in case. Still, she does not necessarily recommend her own approach. "This is more a school of thought thing than a hard fact, but depending on how you were raised with the internet, you're either fearful or fearless, and both life choices are valid,” she said. “Unfortunately, with the way I was \[raised\], I'm fearless on the internet, and that definitely has more bad than good, but I also think it leads to more peaks and valleys—the types of experiences you get to have in life with people who are willing to just go and do things. So I would definitely not advise it to fledgling community teams or staff to do these things, because it's a high-risk, high-reward approach." Everett is less willing to leap into the jaws of potential danger. "I live a bit more of a paranoid lifestyle," she said. "When we plan our own events, I'm like 'What's our security? What's our this and that?' Especially for TennoVIPs, where we're all over the world. Safety is always the first thing." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/warf1.jpeg) Digital Extremes This means hired security, especially for front of house, and ID checks. "When we used to do events, we would just rent a pub and say 'Whoever wants to come have a pint with the team, that's fine,'” said Ford. “But we have matured with the times, I think, in a very appropriate way." "It's crazy to think that we've been doing events for 12 years, and with every place we've gone—Germany, Japan, China, Australia—it has been such a great time every single time,” said Everett. “Our players are respectful." That’s not to say uncomfortable moments never happen. "Especially when we do TennoVIPs and TennoCon, people are very excited and nervous to meet us, and that can sometimes lead to mistakes on their end with drinking too much or uncomfortable interactions,” said Everett. “And I think trying to really understand people in that maybe new-for-them scenario allows us to give grace even if the interaction isn't what I want it to be. Most people are trying their best." "Obviously we do have lines,” she added. “I have my own personal line that I won't let people cross. Thankfully I've been doing this as long as I have, so I know how to step away from that or de-escalate that, and it hasn't gotten to a point where it's something I can't control or handle. ... We've, at least for our events, built it and structured it in a way where we feel safe, even being alone or if I get caught in a hallway and it becomes a line of people wanting to chat." > "I had to come to a coping mechanism where I was like 'OK, you're obviously a woman in this industry, and the majority of our player base is male. So what could happen here? What is my worst-case scenario?" While neither Ford nor Everett have faced serious danger in person, Ford has, unfortunately, endured truly horrific threats. "2019 was a watershed year for my tolerance, because I was brutally cyber-sexually assaulted for months leading up to TennoCon,” she said. “Someone got my number and would call me at 2 AM jacking off into the microphone \[and\] send me photos of them ejaculating all over photos of me. It was, like, a week before TennoCon, and they were like 'See you at TennoCon.' I was like 'What am I gonna do? Cancel the show?'" Police were unhelpful, telling her she was “probably” safe because the caller seemed to reside in Australia. So she had to confront a frightening future herself. "I had to come to a coping mechanism where I was like 'OK, you're obviously a woman in this industry, and the majority of our player base is male. So what could happen here? What is my worst-case scenario?’” she said. “I won't voice that, because imagination is a cruel thing. But so is reality. My reality was, do I stop using my phone? Do I change my number? The police aren't going to do anything, so is it just a game of whack-a-mole for the rest of time?" Ultimately, she decided to delete, block, and move on. “I was like 'If this slows me down even a minute, everything that I've worked for and everything that the team has put together is worth it,” she said. “So why lose what makes you happy? … I didn't want it to break me, and I didn't want it to win because it \[TennoCon 2019\] was such an important milestone." ## Til Death Do Us Part Much as Digital Extremes values the melting pot of players who have congregated around *Warframe*, no community is permanent. Yuri Hazumaki is far from the only person the studio has bid forlorn farewell to over the years. As far back as 2013, an artist on the development team died, which led to one of the first in-game tributes. In 2021, a community member who went by the handle Datareaper passed away. There’s now an in-game memorial next to Clem, a beloved character born of a meme he was responsible for. In October 2024, Michael "Mynki" Brennan, *Warframe*’s first art director, died of leukemia. These are just a small handful of the names that have passed through *Warframe*’s digital halls and then, ultimately, passed on. "It gets harder every year, because it happens every year," said Ford. “In 13 years, you can only see so much tragedy. … I don't know how to describe it other than that it's fundamentally part of the experience. The humanity that forms around this game—any game, any entertainment product—has to connect you in every stage of life. If you're sick, if you're healthy, if you're going through something, *Warframe* or another IP is often what gets you through the darkest days.” But developers at Digital Extremes have not allowed themselves to grow numb. On this front, especially, players appreciate the studio’s dedication to communication and outreach. [Candace "Plexicosplay" Birger](https://www.instagram.com/plexicosplay/?ref=aftermath.site), a cosplayer who’s been a special guest at multiple TennoCons, said that a friend of hers who’d collaborated with Digital Extremes, Logan Brideau of [Hacksmith Industries](https://www.warframe.com/en/news/digital-extremes-x-hacksmith-partnership?ref=aftermath.site), was memorialized in the form of a plaque at the convention in 2025 after dying at a tragically young age. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/warf17.jpeg) Digital Extremes "I had \[the *Warframe*\] team coming around and supporting and showing that you're not alone—that we're all sad together,” Birger told Aftermath. “His family was \[at TennoCon 2025\]. They had his family come in, so his mother and his father and his two brothers got to meet \[the development team\] and got to see what he was a part of. Coming to TennoCon \[2024\] was one of the very last things he did before he passed away." In ways both large and small, death continues to shape the game. "Every single person goes through some sort of tragedy in their life. I think as developers of a video game, we know that people and ourselves look to video games for comfort, for joy, for filling a void,” said Everett. “We're getting messages of people being like 'My clanmate passed away. He was such a force and such a friend.' We actually added, in the Dojo, a tribunal statue, so anyone can put a statue in their Dojo that can represent a lost player or friend or animal." > “In 13 years, you can only see so much tragedy." Digital Extremes has also taken to raising money with an annual *Warframe* event, [Quest To Conquer Cancer](https://www.warframe.com/en/news/quest-to-conquer-cancer-2025-wrap-up?ref=aftermath.site), in hopes of eradicating a disease that’s impacted many on the development team in one way or another—including Everett, who lost her grandmother to cancer in 2018. "In the first ten minutes \[of the 2025 event\], we hit $10,000,” she said. “\[Players\] just come out swinging. It makes me cry every single year that they do that for us. And we do it for them as much as they do it for us." To a degree, this is simply the nature of the slowly dying beast that is life. Inhabit a space long enough—whether it’s physical or virtual—and eventually the reaper’s scythe will begin to swing more and more frequently, almost pendulum-like in its motion. But when you’re heading up a development team of hundreds that’s serving a player base of millions, it becomes a matter of scale. Most people will never experience so many births, graduations, weddings, and funerals firsthand, or even secondhand. Most people’s attention will never become, unto itself, a commodity. Is the pain and heartbreak of it all—not to mention the lack of privacy—worth it? In the broader games industry, it depends on who you ask. But Ford and Everett think so. “At the end of the day, we're just human beings making a game that people like and love and want to connect with, and we want to connect with them,” Everett said. “Everyone has boundaries, but everyone is also not a robot, and we make mistakes and we learn, we have grace, and we just try to have a good time with the limited time we have and make a game that people want to play—and devs that people want to hang out with." > “Everyone has boundaries, but everyone is also not a robot, and we make mistakes and we learn, we have grace, and we just try to have a good time with the limited time we have." Eli and Niti, still together after all these years, agree. "We’re absolutely still together, and we very much still play *Warframe* regularly,” said Eli. “The community is still a big part of our lives too. Some friends have drifted away over the years, as folks tend to do, but most of the folks who attended our in‑game wedding are still around and still playing. It was a huge part of our lives before the Nuptia, but since then, every year has just felt like rediscovering it all over again." Eli’s grandmother passed away last year, but the in-game wedding stuck with her to the very end. "Even just days before she died, she was asking about the game and how we were getting on, whether we’d spoken to 'the nice ladies' from the wedding,” Eli said. “She was so taken with \[Ford and Everett\] and, indeed, the whole dev team. I think she and my mum watched the YouTube video of our ceremony more than we did, and we still watch it at least once a year." [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### Nightbreed Is An Impossible, Anti-Assimilationist Masterpiece URL: https://aftermath.site/nightbreed-masterpiece-review-clive-barker/ Last updated: 2026-03-30T19:17:22.000Z Clive Barker’s *Nightbreed* lived two lives, first as a tragedy then as a miracle. An ambitious adaptation of Barker’s novella *Cabal*, the film was meddled with against his will before its release. What was released was, unlike *Hellraiser,* not the film Barker wanted and was panned by critics. But as time went on, knowledge of the far more ambitious movie it could have been spread, and an extended cut known as the Cabal Cut was assembled using VHS workprints. In 2014, a restored director’s cut was recreated from the restored parts of the film, uncovered in a random warehouse in the middle of America. That restored director’s cut of *Nightbreed* is a work of art – an avant garde camp masterpiece about grotesque, intentional living at the margins of society. The monsters of Barker’s Midian are strange, beautiful, bizarre and horrifying. Their lives are their own, and they stand as a grotesque proxy for every person who does not fit into what society deems normal. Like Toshio Matsumoto’s *Funeral Parade of Roses*, to watch it is to be shocked that anyone even nominally let this be made. If we are to playfully enshrine a [Woke 2](https://aftermath.site/woke-2-wokeness-black-lives-matter-activism/) canon of movies – of films that gesture towards a more just, interesting, and fun future – *Nightbreed* is firmly in that canon. ### **Background on Barker** ![A photo of Clive Barker and David Cronenberg holding horrible baby monsters.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/barker_promo.png) Clive Barker with David Cronenberg in a promotional image for Nightbreed. Credit: Shout Factory > “I must Create a System, or be enslav'd by another Man's” – William Blake, a quote dear to Barker. Clive Barker has been unapologetically out as gay since he was a teenager, a fact that is evident in his works. But Barker lived many lives before becoming a pulp author and filmmaker. Aside from stints as a hustler, Barker was in experimental theater with Doug Bradley (the actor who would go on to play Pinhead), the two having a fringe theater group known as The Dog Company. That spirit of avant garde theater is unmistakable when you read his prose or see the movies he went on to make. Like Japanese polyglot filmmaker/dramatist Shūji Terayama, many of his theatrical regulars would become staples in his films later. Experimental theater doesn’t pay the bills, and eventually Barker would strike it big writing horror. But even during his career, Barker would have to fight against a deeply homophobic publishing industry that forced him to sanitize his works. “I’m a gay man who made creations of which my family did not approve,” Barker told the [Telegraph in 2020](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/clive-barker-interview-woke-coma-everything-owned-gone/?ref=aftermath.site). “Creations in drawing form and writing form that were not looked upon kindly by my father, or my mother. And then when I got into publishing books I found there was a prejudice. I was told, especially with ‘In the Hills, the Cities,’ 'do not publish this – if you publish this you’ll destroy everything you have'. That was simply not true.” ![Three demonic monsters, the cenobites, stand in a room. They have distorted flesh.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/doug-bradley.png) Left to right: Nicholas Vince, Doug Bradley and Simon Bamford in **Hellraiser*. All three appear in **Nightbreed* as the moon faced Kinski, the sagely Dirk Lylesberg, and the foolish Ohnaka respectively. Credit: Entertainment Film Distributors Though a few of his works would go on to be adapted to film (none of which he was satisfied with), his turn in the director’s chair would eventually come with the adaptation of his novella *The Hellbound Heart,* which would eventually become the film *Hellraiser*. The Cenobites, the central supernatural creatures in both the novella and film, are extradimensional beings of pleasure and pain that torture those who summon them, “angels to some, demons to others.” The Cenobites only come to those who summon them. For them, consent is key. Barker has been explicit about *Hellraiser’s* roots being deep in the gay [S&M scene](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/30/how-we-made-hellraiser-horror-film-pinhead-clive-barker?ref=aftermath.site), citing a gay club in the Meatpacking district called Cellblock 28 as his point of entry into that world. In addition, Barker would end up meeting a member of the experimental gay band Coil at Forbidden Planetin London. Eventually the members of the band would bring him into their home, showing Barker their stack of [*PFIQ*,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PFIQ?ref=aftermath.site) an extreme underground [body modification publication](https://brainwashed.com/coil/writings/compulsion.html?ref=aftermath.site), that would serve as inspiration for the final film. Coil was briefly attached to do the soundtrack for the film, but [that version](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FUnreleased%5FThemes%5Ffor%5FHellraiser?ref=aftermath.site) remains incomplete, never making it to a final cut. ![An MC Escher-Esque landscape with Leviathan at the center from the movie Hellbound: Hellraiser II.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/hellbound_still.png) You watch **Hellbound: Hellraiser II* and read **Berserk* and you're like "ohhhhh" Credit: New World Pictures Made on a shoestring budget, *Hellraiser* became a hit, spawning eleven films in total and injecting Barker further into the mainstream. That Barker’s first film was not only loyal to his original vision but something he felt in total control over is something felt in its enduring cultural legacy as a work of art. Barker stepped back from the directing role with *Hellbound: Hellraiser II*, a process which exhausted the first-time filmmaker. But when he was allowed to direct a film a second time, he found that he was not afforded the same kinds of liberties. ## **On *Nightbreed*** ![A collection of monsters surround a bowl with light emanating in the center.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/breed_wide_brightened.jpg) The gang’s all here. Credit: Scream Factory Both *Nightbreed* and the novella it is based on, *Cabal*, tell the story of Boone, a working class Calgary lug under the care of a calm and controlled psychologist named Decker. Boone has been experiencing visions of an otherworldly place, dreams of grotesques in a fantastical world. Eventually Decker confronts him with disturbing news, gaslighting Boone into thinking he is responsible for a series of grizzly murders. In a panic, Boone flees into the woods of Alberta, finding himself drawn towards the world of his visions – a mysterious city of monsters known as Midian inhabited by creatures known as Nightbreed. Boone is rejected by them at first, but then pursued by both his girlfriend and the authorities. He is murdered in cold blood by the police, only to be revived as one of the Nightbreed. ![A normal looking man in a leather jacket, standing next to a man whose face is distorted into the shape of a moon, with strong eyebrows and a devil goatee.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/boone_up.jpg) Boone, the Tom Of Finland-esque every-man and Kinski, the fun moon guy. Credit: Scream Factory *Nightbreed,* at least as it was intended, is a lurid and fascinating piece of anti-establishment fiction. Boone’s doctor Decker, played wonderfully in the film by director David Cronenberg, is revealed early on to be the true identity of the cold-blooded murderer Dollface – ritualistically inflicting violence on people in a horrifying mask while presenting a cool and professional demeanor of authority to straight society. Throughout the film, Decker not only abuses his authority to drug and mislead his patients into taking the fall for his crimes, he repeatedly uses the full strength of the state to do it. During the standoff, he assures Boone that he believes him, before shouting “he’s got a gun!” to signal the police to destroy him. ![David Cronenberg looking at a table covered in blades, with two water sculptures flanking him and photos of grotesque art in the background.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/nightbreed-knives.png) Credit: Scream Factory > *“It was only the monster, the child of Midian, that altered its flesh to parade its true self. The rest hid behind their calm, and plotted the deaths of children.” –Cabal, Clive Barker* Though the residents of Midian are beastly, dead, and have a taste for human flesh, the ghastly nature of their being, like that of the Cenobites, is in the eye of the beholder. The Nightbreed are revealed to be an ancient tribe of shapeshifters who were almost extinguished by the tribes of men (Midian itself being a biblical reference to a tribe attacked by the [Israelites in Numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers%5F31?ref=aftermath.site).). They have lived in shadows, worshiping their god Baphomet hiding from the eyes of men and making a space for themselves in niches away from the sunlight that will kill many of their kind. ![A quilled woman, breasts out, in a robe.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/shunasassi_up.jpg) Shuna Sassi has become iconic. Credit: Scream Factory > *LORI: “This is too weird” RACHEL: “To be able to fly? To be smoke? Or a wolf? To know the night and live in it forever? That’s not so bad. You call us monsters but when you dream, you dream of flying and changing, and living without death. You envy us, and what you envy…” LORI: “We destroy.”* Many of the Nightbreed have claws and fangs, they breathe smoke and their eyes and skin shimmer. One is corpulent with insect-like tendrils living in his flesh; another is a sensual nude woman with quills like a porcupine’s; another still has a face like a crescent moon. In the novella one is described as “turning into birds,” while another is described as a “dog painter.” All of them are overly campy and theatrical, gayly dressed and conceived of by Barker as carnival-like. Not only are many of them played by Clive’s longtime collaborators, including Doug Bradley of Pinhead fame, the entire vibe of Midian is that of gay, experimental theater. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/breed1up.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/breed4_up.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/breed5.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/breed_3.jpg) Some of the most elaborate, theatrical monster makeup ever committed to film, rivaled only perhaps by Screaming Mad George's work. Credit: Scream Factory The most overly queeny of all the Nightbreed is Narcisse, played impeccably by Hugh Ross. Boone meets Narcisse in the hospital as a former patient of Decker before Narcisse tears the flesh from his face with bladed rings. Described by Barker in the director’s cut commentary as “the most bisexual monster in Midian,” Narcisse is constantly blasting cigs and wearing a cowboy hat while delivering impeccably horny one-liners. “Sailors,” Narcisse wryly exclaims after flirting with and scaring off Ohnaka, a male member of Midian with tattoos of suns around pierced nipples. “My monsters are kinda working class monsters I think…they smoke, they fuck.” Barker said in a director’s commentary, “To me the monsters are the thing which are closest to your heart and closest to the truth of you.” ![A man whose face is mostly torn off wearing sunglasses and a cowboy hat laughing.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/nightbreed-smile.png) Narcisse rocks, all my homies love Narcisse. Credit: Scream Factory *Nightbreed* not only takes special care to empathize with its fruity dead commune, it also goes out of its way to point out the sheer, sexualized cruelty of the cops. In a later sequence Decker coerces the local police to raid Midian. Led by the deranged J. Will Eigerman, a cigar-chomping fascist in the same vein as Steven J. Lockjaw in [*One Battle After Another*](https://aftermath.site/one-battle-after-another-review-aftercha/), the local Alberta police summon a lynch mob of drunk hunters and police officers itching to kill anything different then them with a sexual glee. Little distinction is made between the cops and drunk local bigots. Charles Haid, who played Eigerman, used Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie as inspiration for the role. During the sequence, the officer in charge of the gun locker sensually lists the various weapons about to be used to commit murder before he drags a garrote over his bottom lip. “Whether it’s Commmies, freaks, or Third World Y-Chromosome mutants, we are there: sons of the free,” Eigerman says, holding a pump action shotgun. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Nightbreed.1990.Director-s.Cut.1080p.BluRay.DD5.1.x264-VietHD-01-21-55.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Nightbreed.1990.Director-s.Cut.1080p.BluRay.DD5.1.x264-VietHD-01-22-03.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Nightbreed.1990.Director-s.Cut.1080p.BluRay.DD5.1.x264-VietHD-01-22-11.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Nightbreed.1990.Director-s.Cut.1080p.BluRay.DD5.1.x264-VietHD-01-28-42.png) ACAB (Canadian) Credit: Scream Factory So much love and talent is in *Nightbreed* — the title sequence mural by Star Wars concept artist t Ralph McQuarrie, the music by Danny Elfman, the incredible makeup on the countless grotesqueries which are themselves interpretations of Barker’s own abstract ink blot illustrations by the makeup department. The set of Midian’s central Necropolis alone is a dizzying sight to behold, a gargantuan central hub of swinging rope ladders that has a tactility that most modern movies only wish they had. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/set1_up-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/set2up.jpg) The main set was a gargantuan maze of rope ladders. Credit: Scream Factory ## **Cut down** ![A man in a suit and a scary mask with buttons for eyes and a zipper mouth, his hand is gloved in chainmail.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/dollface.png) Buttonface, Decker’s murderous alter ego. Credit: Scream Factory *Nightbreed* was taken away from Clive Barker by the suits, but even in its ideal form it is a harder sell than *Hellraiser*. Whereas *Hellraiser* has a lurid but straightforward structure that does not deviate from standard horror structure, *Nightbreed* swings for the fences. It is more loving towards its monsters, and more nakedly upfront about the evil of the state. It is a film that presents, in nightmarish dream logic, a case for the Tribes of the Moon — against the heterosexual world that seeks to gaslight, pathologize, hunt, torture and exterminate those who have a freedom they wish they had. ![Ink blot illustrations of monsters, signed Clive Barker.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/nightbreed_still_inkblot.jpg) Barker’s ink blot illustrations would serve as a mood board for the makeup team. Credit: Scream Factory What the executives wanted was something they could market, and the cut that hit theaters was severely scoped down and pitched as a simple slasher film with Decker as the main focus and the monsters as, well, monsters. Scenes were added, reshoots were done, and the ending was radically changed. “Someone at Morgan Creek said to me, 'You know, Clive, if you're not careful some people are going to like the monsters,'” Barker recalled. “Talk about completely missing the point! Even the company I was making the film for couldn't comprehend what I was trying to achieve!" “It had the heart and soul ripped out of it,” actor Simon Bamford said in *Tribes of the Moon: The Making of Nightbreed.* “It was so deeply flawed,” echoed Doug Bradley. “I felt very depressed when I came away from it and it quite honestly…doesn’t make sense in a lot of places because of the editing.” Given Barker’s history of facing homophobia and censorship in publishing despite his repeated success, it is hard not to feel a twinge of that same institutional bigotry into the manhandling of *Nightbreed*. “I wanted to make a movie that was a celebration of monsters, a movie that was a Bosch canvas come to life,” Barker said. “It wasn't going to be this rational, logical thing. Instead of trusting the movie, they tried to do something which is reprehensible - they tried to represent the movie as something that it wasn't.” ## **Redemption** ![A man and a woman stand on a hill, silhouetted by the dawn.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/nightbreed_ending.png) Restored. Credit: Scream Factory Eventually, *Nightbreed* would have its day. Even in its butchered form, *Nightbreed* is unlike other movies. Eventually a cut of the film closer to Clive’s intended vision upon release, a two hour and twenty five minute version called *The Cabal Cut,* was assembled from an amalgamation of existing material and poor quality VHS transfers. After the announcement of the Scream Factory Blu-ray, several reels of lost material were miraculously found in a warehouse. Under the supervision of producer Mark Alan Miller, a tighter director’s cut was produced, one that had no placeholder footage and kept the brisk pace of the theatrical cut while still being quite loyal to the novella. This is the best version of the movie, and the one I would recommend to people who have never seen it. What’s more, Arrow UK has announced that a limited edition version of *Nightbreed* (in the UK) featuring a 4k transfer of the theatrical release and a mixed 4k transfer of the director’s cut using the already existing elements is going to be released in [May of this year](https://www.arrowfilms.com/p/4k/nightbreed-limited-edition-4k-ultra-hd/17748947/?ref=aftermath.site). What Clive Barker had taken from him only to be reconstructed is a lurid delight that fills my heart with joy. There are so many stories that were butchered by marketing men with limited vision, and countless more that never had a chance to see the light of day. The *Nightbreed* you can watch today feels like a message from the past, an affirmation that people have always wanted to tell stories of other ways of living, and how even someone as big as Barker could be bossed around and gaslit to doubt his vision. “It feels like a validation,” Barker said on the commentary for the director’s cut. “It feels like the reclamation of something that was always there but as time went by I began to doubt was there.” Long live Midian. ### 'There Is A Genuine Desire Across The Board To Do Things Right': The Successes And Challenges Of Working In DEI At A Games Studio URL: https://aftermath.site/dei-video-games-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-27T19:04:56.000Z My *original* plan this week was to run a single big feature on DEI at major games companies, interviewing a number of people who work or have worked in the field. But when the first two experts I spoke with provided such thorough and informative responses, I shelved that plan and decided to give each of them the full spotlight, two people who have worked on some of the world's biggest--and as a result, most challenging, in terms of public reaction and awareness--games series. [‘The Mission Is About Creating Supportive Environments And Authentic Content’: What A DEI Manager At A AAA Video Game Company Actually Does‘Some studios are good at their PR presence...but aren’t necessarily backing that up with meaningful structural change within their studios’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-208.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1624979641620-567353dab9f6)](https://aftermath.site/video-games-dei/) The first interview, with Dr. Alayna Cole, ran earlier in the week, [and you can read that here](https://aftermath.site/video-games-dei/). The second, with Robin (not their real name, as they still work at the company we discuss) follows. **Luke Plunkett: *Hi Robin, and thanks for joining us! Can you tell us a bit about your role, and what it is you do at the company?*** **Robin**: I work within the DE&I team at a games company. My role involves collaborating across different areas of the team, assisting in the ideation, implementation, and post assessment of different initiatives. I've worked across a wide spectrum of projects, from games to workplace, development, and more. **LP: *What would you say has been the overall company vibe towards the work of you and your colleagues? Have you found that most people are receptive to the kind of things you're working towards?*** **R:** It has mostly been supportive. There is a genuine desire across the board to do things right and to open up to new perspectives and make sure the company's different initiatives are encompassing of a range of lived experiences and backgrounds. One common misconception is that DE&I work is often directive or imposed. The reality is that teams often reach out for support, whether that is for input, research, or bringing in a different perspective. There can be moments of hesitation or disagreement to certain recommendations, which is natural, but more often than not there is a willingness to find balanced solutions. **LP: *Have those vibes changed much in the last year or so, given everything that's happened in the US? Whether in terms of how you've noticed your work has been supported among colleagues, or if there have been any changes made to it by management?*** **R:** The overall level of support from leadership has remained steady for me and the team. What has shifted is that some false external conversations and narratives have, at times, influenced internal perceptions. This means that we might have to spend more time clarifying what the work we do actually involves to counteract and address misunderstandings. In certain instances, it has required revisiting and re-explaining things that previously felt well understood. This naturally adds extra layers of effort, but has reinforced the importance of clear and transparent communication to push against misunderstandings that can sometimes arise internally. > One of the biggest misconceptions out there is that there is some secret cabal that funds and pushes these initiatives. In reality, most people working in this space are trying to contribute to more thoughtful and inclusive environments, often with limited resources and budgets. **LP: *Have those 'false narratives' changed your efforts in any way, or created extra work for you?*** **R:** It has definitely resulted in additional work. Some of the work has involved revisiting how things are communicated, but a large part has been about creating spaces for dialogue and clarification. There is often a need to explain not only what the work is, but also what it is not, and to reinforce that ultimately, the creative decisions has always been and will always be with the teams themselves. It is challenging, and sometimes even downright frustrating, to have to revisit topics that felt settled internally, but highlight how important ongoing communication and trust-building are in this field. **LP: *I realise this is a broad and difficult thing to answer precisely, but would you have even a rough idea on the percentage of colleagues you have at the company who are sharing these misinformed views?*** **R:** It is difficult to really quantify, as it is often a vocal minority with varying degrees of information and perspective amongst themselves. And while they may have an impact, what matters more is the overall trajectory. Even when there are misunderstandings, there is still a strong foundation of people who see the value of the work we do and are open to engaging with it. Over time, continued dialogue and transparency tend to make a difference. **LP: *When we talk about those false narratives and misconceptions colleagues (and the public!) can have about your work, what do you specifically think those are?*** **R:** One of the biggest misconceptions out there is that there is some secret cabal that funds and pushes these initiatives. In reality, most people working in this space are trying to contribute to more thoughtful and inclusive environments, often with limited resources and budgets. It is also a shame to see how quickly these people become targets for harassment online. This work is often collaborative, with teams seeking input rather than being directed. People in DE&I roles generally act as advisors, providing context, raising considerations, and supporting teams in making informed choices. I genuinely think that a lot of the misinformation would quickly die down if people genuinely understood what it is we actually do, and how we do it. **LP: *When you say you're advising development teams at the company, how does that work specifically, across both the company itself and also directly on a game's development? Are you invited in at certain points to check in on things, or are you there at the beginning to help shape things?*** **R:** It varies depending on the project and the team. Some teams approach us early-on during conception, while others reach out later in production. The support we extend can take different forms, from sharing perspectives and resources to providing feedback on specific elements. Generally, the earlier the collaboration kicks off, the more there is room to reflect and iterate, however, there isn’t a single model that applies to every situation. With time, the awareness of the team and the kind of support it extends has grown, and more teams are engaging in ways that best suit their needs and timelines. **LP: *A lot of this chat has been about some pretty negative stuff, so why don't we end it by asking about what you think your biggest successes have been in the role to date?*** **R:** So much progress has been made on many fronts in recent years, and it has had a meaningful impact both internally for teams and externally for players. One of my proudest experiences was contributing to the release of a project that was widely appreciated for the care and thoughtfulness put into representing its world and characters. What stood out was how intentional and thoughtful the creators were from the start, and consistently carried that spirit throughout production. The response from players was incredibly encouraging, and showed that there is a real appetite for this kind of work. I feel grateful to have played a part in that journey. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### Surprising Absolutely Nobody Involved Or Who Knew About It, The 'PlayStation Car' Is Dead URL: https://aftermath.site/playstation-car-sony-honda/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T20:15:58.000Z Sony Honda Mobility, a joint venture between the two companies that was trying to develop some electric cars,[ has been shut down](https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a70844284/sony-honda-afeela-1-canceled/?link%5Fsource=ta%5Ffirst%5Fcomment&taid=69c406900f25230001470fc4&utm%5Fcampaign=trueanthemFBCDphoto&utm%5Fcontent=69c3f7ca94c2d40001f462dd&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=facebook&fbclid=IwdGRzaAQxnCVjbGNrBDGcHGZkaWQWUDpiiCaus9vZNHB97ZxDOfQdwVH292V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHqz5YSstu1s7GyoljFnZXpXyoeLy-wKlOkPhgI5PgqPmz5blDi%5FXSA6zFggP%5Faem%5FtJTgvhn-bSabdyypr1EAAA&sfnsn=mo), and the two vehicles they were working on shut down with them. One of those projects, the Afeela 1, was more affectionately known as the 'PlayStation Car'. [The PlayStation Car Is For NobodyAt $90,000 this car is dead on arrival![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-207.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/img_bg-2-1.webp)](https://aftermath.site/honda-sony-afeela-playstation-car/) [As we reported earlier in the year](https://aftermath.site/honda-sony-afeela-playstation-car/)\--when I also said the car was "dead on arrival"--the Afeela 1 was a horrendously overpriced and dangerously under-specced electric car that was available to order in just one of the USA's 50 states. Its only notable feature was the fact that, thanks to Sony's involvement, you would have been able to play PlayStation games on the car's infotainment screens via a Remote Play app. Would that have made up for the fact that the car charged too slow, couldn't go far enough, looked like shit, was missing tons of EV features that have been [standard for years now](https://aftermath.site/honda-sony-afeela-playstation-car/) and would have cost $90,000? Probably not! The cancellation comes as Honda becomes the latest legacy automaker to try to make EVs, fail,[ panic and try to revert back to hybrids and ICE vehicles](https://www.drive.com.au/news/stellantis-posted-a-37-billion-loss-for-2025-on-the-back-of-ev-backflips/?ref=aftermath.site). It’s a move that will damn them in the short-term and damn them even more in the long-term, as the world continues its inexorable march towards driving cars that don't require an entire fossil fuel industry to make them move, and leaving those who weren't able to adapt and compete in the dust. ### Let's Cook The Joke Vegetarian Food From Alison Bechdel's Dykes To Watch Out For URL: https://aftermath.site/dykes-to-watch-out-for-alison-bechdel-food/ Last updated: 2026-03-27T17:15:14.000Z You’re probably familiar with cartoonist Alison Bechdel from *Fun Home* (the [book](https://dykestowatchoutfor.com/fun-home-2/?ref=aftermath.site) or the [musical](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMJvLTZOhpE&list=RDwMJvLTZOhpE&ref=aftermath.site)), or from the “[Bechdel Test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel%5Ftest?ref=aftermath.site)” for the portrayal of women in fiction. But unless you are or were a lesbian of a certain age, you might not remember her comic strip [*Dykes To Watch Out For*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dykes%5Fto%5FWatch%5FOut%5FFor?ref=aftermath.site), which ran from roughly 1983 to 2008\. I have been obsessed with the strip ever since I was a lonely queer teen rushing through its book collections before someone at the bookstore saw me, and for as long as I’ve been reading it, I’ve been fascinated by its portrayal of food, and consumed with the desire to recreate it. *Dykes To Watch Out For* follows a group of queer friends and lovers navigating a world of changing politics and relationships, trying to stay true to their values while still surviving and finding happiness. Its “star,” if it can be said to have one, is Mo, a neurotic lesbian leftist who struggles to find a lover, keep a job, and not drive everyone close to her away with her strident morals and tendency to gripe. Other cast regulars are her sex-positive friend Lois, her long-time couple friends Toni and Clarice, and Lois’ housemates Sparrow and Ginger. Add to that the people who enter their lives over the years: Sparrow’s cis male lover Stuart, Ginger’s girlfriend Samia, Lois’ girlfriend Jasmine and her trans daughter Janis, Mo’s ex Harriet, and her current lover Sydney. They all live in an unnamed progressive American town almost entirely populated by queers, replete with a co-op, feminist bookstore, and gay mechanic. The strip ran in various queer newspapers and magazines over the years, and was periodically organized into small collections by Firebrand Books. In 2008 Houghton Mifflin published [*The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For*](https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-essential-dykes-to-watch-out-for-alison-bechdel/f2219a6f7a8bf1e4?ean=9780358424178&next=t&ref=aftermath.site)–on a day that still lives in my memory because my roommate and I rushed to the bookstore to buy it and then worked out a strict schedule for who got to read it when–which is a compendium of almost all the strips in one volume. When able to be seen as a whole, *Dykes To Watch Out For* becomes less a sendup of daily lesbian life and more a portrait of what it means to be a political queer surviving the passage of time. How much should your beliefs and tactics change as the world does? Can you fight the same battles against US militarism and homophobia year after year without succumbing to despair? Is it selling out to want a more stable life, and is it failing not to be able to get one? I was a teenager when I first encountered the strip, longing to live in the world it portrayed. As an adult, it reflects my own experience of aging in queer space, trying to grow and evolve without uncritically adhering to everything the new generation believes. The strip depicts how the chores and struggles of the everyday become a whole life, shaping who we are and the world around us. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-26-at-9.57.10---AM.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-26-at-9.57.21---AM.png) Dykes To Watch Out For Food plays a notable role in that daily life. This is two-fold: for one, as a comic about a group of people way too involved in each other’s lives, characters frequently gather for [dinner](https://dykestowatchoutfor.com/moving-right-along/?ref=aftermath.site), [cookouts](https://dykestowatchoutfor.com/dtwof-episode-509/?ref=aftermath.site), and [pitstops on roadtrips](https://dykestowatchoutfor.com/dtwof-archive-episode-18/?ref=aftermath.site). They [eat at each other’s houses](https://dykestowatchoutfor.com/dtwof-archive-episode-3/?ref=aftermath.site), gossip over meals at local stalwart Cafe Topaz or special occasion spot La Lentille D’Or, or experiment with [growing their own food](https://dykestowatchoutfor.com/dtwof-episode-516/?ref=aftermath.site). Food is also around a lot because it’s a queer comic, and [food is super queer](https://www.eater.com/2018/6/28/17508420/what-is-queer-food?ref=aftermath.site). From the [potluck](https://www.them.us/story/queer-potlucks?ref=aftermath.site) to the [feminist restaurant](https://www.them.us/story/historic-lesbian-cafes-ingredients-for-revolution-tender?ref=aftermath.site) to the counter-culture’s obsession with [health food](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780062437303?ref=aftermath.site), progressive queer folks have [long focused](https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324073796?ref=aftermath.site) on where our food comes from, what it means for our bodies and the planet, and how we live our values through it. As such, much of the food in *Dykes To Watch Out For* is vegetarian. And as an essentially comedic strip, that food is often outlandish: disgusting or complicated combinations, nods to [old-school food theories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet%5Ffor%5Fa%5FSmall%5FPlanet?ref=aftermath.site), or just the kind of tasteless, performative slop you’d expect self-serious queers to eat. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/protienloaf1995.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/rawtofu2000.png) Dykes To Watch Out For We need to take a bit of a detour to explain my particular relationship to the strip's food jokes. I first became obsessed with its food from a strip in the 1990 book *New Improved Dykes To Watch Out For*, where Lois offers to cook her housemates some “creamed burdock with turnip loaf.” It wasn’t just the absurd recipe that caught my eye, but the cookbook she’s reading from, called *The Politically Correct Palate*. This is a sendup of [*The Political Palate*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/651254.Political%5FPalate?ref=aftermath.site), a 1981 cookbook by The Bloodroot Collective, a group of women who operated the vegetarian feminist restaurant [Bloodroot](https://www.bloodroot.com/?ref=aftermath.site) in Bridgeport, Connecticut, from 1977 until its closure in 2025, following the death of co-founder [Selma Miriam](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/dining/selma-miriam-dead.html?ref=aftermath.site) at 89\. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/turnipburdock1990.png) I worked at Bloodroot in the late 90s, when I was a teenager growing up in the next town over. I came out as a lesbian my freshman year, and swiftly declared myself a vegetarian after developing a tongue-tied crush on a hippie straight girl whom I thought might fall in love with me if I, like her, didn’t eat meat. (She didn’t.) It wasn’t easy being the only out queer in my high school, and it wasn’t easy being a vegetarian in the 90s, during which time I ate more oily pasta primavera and portobello mushroom caps on burger buns than any person should be asked to stomach. So discovering Bloodroot was a godsend: an entire restaurant full of food I could eat–actual *menu* *choices!*\--with a [vocally lesbian staff](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/dining/bloodroot-feminist-restaurant.html?ref=aftermath.site) to boot. My twin sister got a job there as a dishwasher just by asking for one, but when she broke her wrist I took over. For about two years I spent my nights and weekends washing dishes, making endless carafes of coffee, helping cook and plate meals, and cleaning the kitchen and dining room so thoroughly that I can still walk the entirety of it in my head. It was the first time I got to regularly be around other queer people in person, and the thrill of walking into a space full of people like me never wore off. I have indelible memories of pulling Sunday doubles the summer before I left for college: fending off swarms of mosquitos when I got sent out to gather produce from the backyard garden, yelping as I dipped my hands into frigid buckets of tofu in the walk-in, sharing leftover [tofu scramble](https://aftermath.site/tofu-scramble-hell-yeah/) between brunch and dinner on the patio as the restaurant cats–named after [Andrea Dworkin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea%5FDworkin?ref=aftermath.site) and [Catharine MacKinnon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharine%5FA.%5FMacKinnon?ref=aftermath.site)–played in the grass. Bloodroot is where I developed the work ethic I’m most proud of in myself: a love of effort and collaboration, how to be reliable and consistent, how to find satisfaction in being one of the people who, in the words of a [Marge Piercy poem](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57673/to-be-of-use?ref=aftermath.site) that hung on the wall, “jump into work head first/ without dallying in the shallows/ and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.” The owners would laugh about how I could be convinced to [do anything](https://aftermath.site/power-wash-simulator-2-chores/) if they started with “hey, do you want to be useful?..,” but coming from my sense of failure to live up to the hetero standards of my peers or my mom’s vision of femininity, I found so much confidence and joy in being of use, especially to other queer people. My colleagues were eager to introduce me to all the culture I couldn’t access from my pulse-pounding forays into the gay and lesbian section of the nearby Barnes and Noble where I’d sneakily read *Dykes*, lending me books from the restaurant’s bookstore and explaining the women in the photographs that lined the walls. I went to their group house once to watch [*When Night Is Falling*](http://youtube.com/watch?v=D55Evh2HII0&ref=aftermath.site)with one of the younger collective members, lying on the floor of her sweltering bedroom and trying not to act freaked out when I learned that they all kept a gun to deal with threats from their neighbors. Somewhere–possibly in the [archives at Yale](https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/4023/collection%5Forganization?ref=aftermath.site)–there exists a photograph of me in a chunky earth-toned cardigan and silver, female body-shaped earrings made by a local artisan while a group of women teaches me how to spin wool into yarn from a drop spindle, an image so unlike who I am today that I can’t tell if it’s embarrassing or amazing. My relationship to Bloodroot changed when I went away to New York for college, where I encountered new kinds of queer people. I took a feminist theater class that introduced me to other kinds of feminism than the one the Bloodroot women talked about. At Bloodroot, Mary Daly used to call on the phone to talk about her [ongoing lawsuit with Boston College](https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/feb/27/martinkettle?ref=aftermath.site); at school, I read Judith Butler and met trans people for the first time. I asked the women at Bloodroot about Butler when I came home from winter break, and in return they gave me a book whose title I can’t remember but which spent pages hatefully dismissing Butler’s conception of gender, my first understanding that, like for the characters of *Dykes To Watch Out For*, there was conflict between what generations believed. I started learning exactly what figures like Daly, MacKinnon, and Dworkin thought and where they clashed with my own growing politics. When I came out as trans in 2002, I had grown beyond the idea of gender essentialism and lived in a world mostly isolated from the conversations at the time that transition was “stealing” butches from the lesbian community (an idea that has, somehow, persisted in [newer, stupider](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/gay-boys-lgbtq-trans/686179/?ref=aftermath.site) forms). But I still struggled with some of the particular losses transition brought on, how to navigate leaving women’s spaces like the New York [women’s theater](https://www.wowcafe.org/?ref=aftermath.site) I was volunteering at (which appears in the background of *Dykes To Watch Out For* too), and how to incorporate my past as a woman into the narrative of my life without laying claim to things that didn’t belong to me anymore. This was a clumsy, sometimes painful time within my communities; there was plenty of drama that would have been right at home in *Dykes To Watch Out For*, and I’m often grateful for everyone involved that it mostly happened in person rather than online. I did go back to Bloodroot once well into my transition, assuming no one would recognize me after several years on hormones. As I ordered, Selma peered at me from her seat behind the cash register next to the door before saying “We know you…” We didn’t talk about it when they came to chat at my table, and no one was rude about it, but it felt hard to sit in the intersection of my two lives, feeling a sense of loss despite how happy I was with my transition and how much my politics had changed. I never went back, mostly for regular life reasons, but also because the space held such a complicated role in my life. In 2018, Bloodroot [attracted criticism](https://www.intomore.com/impact/lesbian-feminist-staple-bloodroot-vegetarian-restaurant-is-accused-of-transphobia/?ref=aftermath.site) after a customer claimed Miriam and co-owner Noel Furie had said transphobic things to them in conversation. The controversy spilled out onto Facebook; I wasn’t surprised by it at all, but I also hated that this was how so many people were learning about a place that had meant so much to me, even as my politics sat firmly on the side of the restaurant’s critics. I don’t know how the collective grappled with trans issues after my departure or how its stance might have continued to change, especially as trans politics changed over the years both within queer circles and in the wider world. It’s cowardly, but I largely avoided learning about the restaurant in the years after I left, not wanting to dissect those important years through the lens of my adult trans life and politics. I assumed I was largely forgotten by the place, but a few years ago, I was complicatedly moved to discover that my birth name (the only name of mine the owners would know) appears in the front pages of the *Best of Bloodroot* cookbook. --- I might no longer feel the same about Bloodroot and its politics that I once did, but I first learned how to be queer there, through work and through food. And ever since seeing Bloodroot as a side note in *Dykes To Watch Out For*, I’ve felt a kinship to the strip's satirical lesbian food. I can never pass by burdock at the farmer’s market without thinking of *Dykes*’ Bloodroot joke, and for years I’ve told my friends that one day I was actually going to try to cook the recipe. Over the last week, I finally did–not the turnip loaf, alas, but other dishes pulled at random from the strip’s back catalogue, recreated as best I could figure from the information given. Alone in my kitchen on nights and weekends, playing a “90s lesbian coffee shop” playlist I found on Spotify (not enough deep cuts), it wasn’t like my old days, but it felt good to make expressly queer food from a seminal time in my life, even if most of it was never meant to exist. Here’s what I made, in chronological order: ### **Vegetarian meatloaf with steamed french fries (*New Improved Dykes To Watch Out For*, 1990)** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/vegloafstreamedfries1990-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/meatlofbe.png) This recipe shows up on the chalkboard menu of Cafe Topaz, where Lois has a surprise lunch with Emma, the newly-divorced, newly-out friend of Lois’ boss at Madwimmin Books. They sleep together, and then Emma ends up falling in love with someone else but still wants to see Lois on the side, in an early exploration of the complexities of non-monogamy. There’s initially another joke dish on the chalkboard in this strip, for “wheat-free, dairy-free pizza with no tomatoes.” I wanted to make this one too, but I became mired in a conflict over whether the obvious choice of cauliflower crust was a little too modern. I then fell down a research hole of wheat-free crusts that would have ended me up buying a lot of gluten-free binders and flours I figured would just sit in my cupboards until they went bad. Making the vegetarian meatloaf felt a little bit like cheating, because I actually have a [vegan meatloaf](https://www.theppk.com/2020/10/members-only-vegan-meatloaf/?ref=aftermath.site) I make regularly, by the queen of vegan cooking from my punk days, Isa Chandra Moskowitz. This was the second recipe I made for this project, and I'm glad I did it early, because while all the joke recipes were essentially edible, they weren’t all stuff I *wanted* to eat. During the course of this project I frequently found myself staring at a fridge full of food, starving, but without anything I was willing to put in my mouth again. Because it’s a legitimate recipe, the meatloaf was great, and if you’re willing to make something with a couple of steps, I’d totally recommend it. Vegetarian meatloaf isn’t as outlandish today as it was in the 90s; I made mine out of texturized vegetable protein (TVP), but you could surely use one of the modern meat imitations that, due to my lesbian restaurant past, I consider myself too good for. The steamed french fries were another matter. While it was obvious how to make them, I had doubts they would work. I sliced some potatoes into fry shapes and steamed them for about 10 minutes, at which point they came out exactly like sliced steamed potatoes. I considered running them through the oven to crisp them up, but I assumed “steamed french fries” was meant to be a health food thing, and the oven felt like it was against the spirit. Many of them fell apart when I took them out of my steamer, but once tossed in some olive oil and salt, they were pretty good, if not something I’d ever do again. Incidentally, I have dreamed for years of getting the below panel from Lois and Emma’s relationship as a tattoo, but have never been able to decide if it would be gauche on a trans man. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/tattoo.png) --- ### **Sweet and sour soybean succotash (*Dykes To Watch Out For: The Sequel*, 1992)** ### ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/soybeansuccotash1992.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/succ--1-.jpg) Mo eats this at Cafe Topaz, where she goes to commiserate with her partner Harriet after she doesn’t get a promotion at Madwimmin Books. Bechdel obviously invented this recipe for the alliteration, a joke that I, also a lover of alliteration, can appreciate. This was easy to do: I made a succotash out of corn, red pepper, onion, and frozen soybeans, then dumped store-bought sweet and sour sauce on it. I would have made my own sauce, but the cost of the ingredients would have come out to more than a bottle of sauce was, and I had already spent enough money on this joke. I fully expected this to be disgusting, but actually it wasn’t so bad. The sauce paired well with the sweetness of the corn and bounced pleasantly against the earthiness of the soybeans. I tried to sulkily slurp it like Mo does (more alliteration!), but it was hard to feel sulky when getting to do weird shit in my kitchen and rocking out to The Indigo Girls, so I just shoveled it into my mouth standing over a sink full of dirty dishes that had to be washed before I made more food. I wouldn’t make this again–the sweet and sour sauce isn’t gross, but it’s *weird*–though it was a good reminder that I should make more succotash with all that summer farmer’s market veg. --- ### **Tempeh tartare with steamed celery (*Dykes To Watch Out For: The Sequel*, 1992)** ### ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/tempehtartarecelery1992.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/tart--1-.jpg) Lois wonders about ordering this at Cafe Topaz (everyone goes there *a lot*), where she’s having lunch with Clarice and Mo to commiserate about Clarice’s time in law school. I’ve never had a meat tartare–I stopped being a vegetarian on a trip to the Pacific Northwest in 2012, when I ate fish for the first time in almost 20 years and wondered how I’d ever lived without it. Still, I don’t cook or eat a ton of meat today, especially underdone or raw. A fun fact about me is that I was born without a sense of smell, so I’m super uptight about food safety and tend to overcook most meat even when I mean not to. I was shocked to actually find a [recipe](https://www.wwlp.com/massappeal/tempeh-tartare-with-avocado-aioli/?ref=aftermath.site) for this one, which raises the question of whether tempeh tartare is a *thing* and not just another bit of Bechdel wordplay. I don’t tend to love tempeh and was dreading eating it after only a quick dunk in some boiling water, but the part of this I was dreading more was the celery. I fucking *hate* celery– not the taste per se, but the *concept*. Unlike carrots or parsnips, which at least in New York you can buy free-standing in the quantity you need, celery can only be purchased in giant packs. You almost never need more than a stalk or two, meaning you are stuck with a ton of tasteless, stringy [water](https://www.webmd.com/diet/foods-high-in-water?ref=aftermath.site) for basically the rest of your life. The only thing that could make celery worse would be steaming it, which I also had to do. Despite all the things working against this recipe, it was actually *stunningly* delicious. Tempeh doesn’t taste like much, but mixed with vinegar and mustard and half a tart apple, it was tangy and satisfying and compulsively eatable. After looking at pictures of tartare online, I shaped it into a puck with a biscuit cutter, which made it really fun to plate. Steaming the celery made it too soft to make a dent in the little tartare tower, but when I scooped some tartare into a celery crevice with a spoon, the surprising sweetness and soft-but-still-a-little-crispy texture of the celery made for a great contrast. This is the one recipe that I regret that I wasn’t able to share with my friends, but I would absolutely bring it to a dinner party if I was able to preface it with being a joke from *Dykes To Watch Out For* to encourage people to overlook its pale, damp appearance. I honestly can’t believe this one worked out as well as it did. --- ### **Carob-millet clusters (*Spawn Of Dykes To Watch Out For*, 1993)** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/carobmillet1993.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/millcu--1-.jpg) Mo asks for one of these after she sees her ex Harriett at Toni and Clarice’s backyard baby shower. I haven’t encountered [the horrors of carob](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/how-carob-traumatized-a-generation?ref=aftermath.site) in decades; I feel like the whole world has moved beyond it and just eats chocolate like normal people now. Part of me was grateful when it didn’t turn up at a succession of grocery stores in my neighborhood. Just before I was either going to start exploring New York’s few remaining old-school health food stores or stand outside my neighborhood food co-op begging for mercy, I found carob chips at my local Korean bodega. I embarrassed myself trying to explain to the cashier how exciting but also bizarre this was, and how I was going to buy the carob but I didn’t *want* to, but I don’t think she got it. I assumed a “cluster” was something like a rice krispie treat, so I figured I would pop some millet like popcorn and then coat it in melted carob. I spent an entire morning burning successive pans of millet before giving up and biking to one of the aforementioned health food stores for puffed millet cereal, which came in a pleasantly affordable but depressingly large bag. The next challenge came in attempting to melt carob, which instead of getting liquid like chocolate turns into a clumpy mass. I figured it needed some fat added to it, but my open jar of coconut oil seemed too old to be trusted. I ended up plying chunks of butter into the appalling clump of carob in my bootleg double boiler until it turned into something I could stir the puffed millet into, then rolled the ensuing mess into balls and left them out to harden. Carob turns chalky when it solidifies, and it’s cloyingly sweet in a way chocolate isn’t. But the nuttiness of the millet offset it a little, and I’ve actually been eating my carob-millet clusters at home despite my plan to take a picture of them and then consign them to the compost bin. This is the only dish I was able to share with friends, and while they didn’t finish the clusters I brought them, they did nibble on them and say they weren’t so bad. If I were to do this again, I’d either add nuts or other mix-ins, or do it in a loaf pan to turn them into some kind of bar. I do, however, hope to never buy carob again, so this seems unlikely. --- ### **Vermicelli with chard stems (from *Hot Throbbing Dykes To Watch Out For*, 1997)** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/vermicellichardstems1997.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/vermc--1-.jpg) Mo eats this on one of her earliest dates with Sydney, the unlikeable academic who ultimately becomes her partner, when they have an emergency lunch at a place called Pastafazool after Mo finds out that Sydney once had an ugly breakup with Mo’s bookstore colleague Thea. I feel like you don’t see vermicelli around as much as you did in the 90s. I couldn’t find it in the store and wound up going with linguine fini because I didn’t want to eat a pile of [angel hair](https://www.vox.com/culture/463367/worst-pasta-shape-farfalle-angel-hair-wagon-wheel?ref=aftermath.site). The only other requirement here was chard stems, but of course I had a whole head of chard, so I sauteed the stems and then used the leaves to make my go-to vegan pesto, with cheaper walnuts instead of pine nuts and nutritional yeast in place of cheese. I added a can of white beans I had on hand for some extra bulk; since this made *so much* food, I figured I’d turn it into a meal. This was the first recipe I made for this project, and like the meatloaf it ended up being something I could actually *eat*, which was very welcome. Unlike other things I made, it was easy, economical, and didn’t leave me with a bunch of leftover ingredients I don’t know how to use. I’d make it again, though I’d go with a thicker pasta. Skinny pastas weren’t as elegant as they made out to be in the 90s, and they aren’t elegant now. --- ### **Osso buco out of texturized vegetable protein (*Post Dykes To Watch Out For*, 2000)** ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/tvposobuco2000.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/osbf--1-.jpg) There were two foods in this project that I knew were going to be my Waterloo: this one, and one I bought all the ingredients for but regretfully couldn’t get to, curried artichoke and mung bean gumbo. (Gumbos take *hours*, and I ran out of time; if my friends find this project funny enough to want me to keep going, I will probably use the mung beans to try to make it for them.) Sydney is making this for Mo when Mo finds out that Sydney has been selling their Martha Stewart-themed online sex chats to a *Penthouse* knockoff called *Panthouse*, though Mo storms out and they never get to eat it. This one presented a bunch of challenges. For starters, I have never had osso buco and didn’t actually know what it was. I’m pretty sure I’ve had veal at least once in my life, but I have no memory of what it tastes like or what its texture is. So not only did I have to make a famously meat-based dish vegetarian, but I had to make something I had no frame of reference for besides pictures online. Another challenge was the required TVP. “Texturized vegetable protein” sounds unappetizing and performatively 90s vegetarian, which is possibly why Bechdel picked it, but it makes no sense as an ingredient for something that needs to mimic a hunk of meat. The most obvious thing to make vegetarian veal out of would have been seitan, though it would be hard to get it to mimic what I understand to be the tenderness of veal. But Sydney is using TVP, so I had to as well. Unfortunately, the TVP I had at home was crumbles that were perfectly suited for the meatloaf, but not a great stand-in for veal. I spent a few days researching various vegetarian steaks or chicken cutlets looking for any that were TVP-based, but nothing came up. I debated just dumping a bunch of TVP crumbles into one of my go-to seitan recipes and hoping for the best, but it felt like getting clever with the requirements. I thought about making a TVP burger and shaping it like a veal shank, which could mimic the tenderness of veal, but it would fall apart in a crumbly way, instead of the way a “shank” should. Finally, while wracking my brain, I remembered the existence of a whole store in Chinatown dedicated to vegan meat. I hadn’t been there in over a decade; so long, in fact, that I was surprised to learn it had changed its name from May Wah to [Lily’s Vegan Pantry](https://www.lilysveganpantry.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqvpgUGbfvImV1DB03V2Ljdec%5FG6B2%5FgawL9ljJFC3PBFxevulV&ref=aftermath.site). If anyone would have some kind of TVP that might do, it would be them, so I took a lovely bike ride over the Manhattan Bridge. The store sold a literal vegan steak that would have been perfect, but it felt too much like cheating, especially since it was the kind of fake meat that I know for a fact wouldn’t have existed when Sydney was making this meal. After trying to explain my dilemma to a guy who worked in the store and alienating him in the same way I had the cashier at the Korean bodega, I eventually settled on TVP [slices](https://www.lilysveganpantry.com/vegan%5Fchicken%5Fslices%5Ftaiwan%5Fp/s003.htm?ref=aftermath.site). I rehydrated them and then coated them in a steak-like marinade of tomato paste, brown sugar, soy sauce, and liquid smoke. I did this because veal is beef, though I don’t think it’s supposed to taste like steak, but googling “what does veal taste like” didn’t give me a lot of information I could recreate with what I had on hand. I pan-seared the slices briefly to mimic the searing you apparently do in osso buco. They were pretty good; they were tender to bite into and mostly shredded like meat, but I’d had trouble rehydrating them (they kept floating to the top of my bowl until I weighed them down with another bowl and some bean cans), so not all of them were as tender as they could have been. To mimic the appearance of a veal shank, I whittled down some parsnips and stuck them through a stack of TVP slices. I felt really clever about this; from a certain angle, they almost look like what I think veal looks like. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/osbshank--1--1-1.jpg) Then, I set about making the osso buco, pulling a recipe at random from the internet to go off. Since this is a special recipe I went all-out, even going to a nearby non-alcoholic booze store for NA wine to use for the white wine the recipe asked for. (Side note: the [NA wine](https://www.buzzkillwines.com/?ref=aftermath.site) was delicious, which I couldn’t believe given my memories of how gross it used to be; with summer coming on, I’m definitely going to buy it again.) I’ll be honest that I don’t know if I did it right: it was very tomato-y, possibly because I used a can of pre-crushed tomatoes and it might have been too much tomato. I don’t eat a lot of tomatoes because they give me heartburn, which is such a “44 year old man writing about food from when he was a young lesbian” thing to say, which means that I ended up with a tupperware full of something that *seemed* right on paper, but wasn’t really something I enjoyed. I also made polenta to go with it, which is what the internet said osso buco is served with. I don’t make a lot of polenta, and I forgot what a pain in the ass it is and how much it sucks as leftovers. This recipe took basically an entire day, and in Sydney’s defense, it really did feel like a labor of love. Despite all that, and for the above-mentioned reasons, this one "worked" but I didn't really like it. I’d make it for a special occasion if someone really wanted it, but I’d make the meat out of seitan and be more thoughtful about the tomatoes. My go-to fancy vegetarian main is Moskowitz’s [seitan loaf with shiitakes and leeks](https://www.theppk.com/2011/11/seitan-roast-stuffed-with-shiitakes-and-leeks/?ref=aftermath.site), which sounds like something you’d expect to find in a *Dykes To Watch Out For* joke but is delicious and not nearly as hard or expensive as making this osso buco was. Overall, finding a good NA wine felt like the biggest win on this one. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### I Love My Rainbow Pencil URL: https://aftermath.site/i-love-my-rainbow-pencil/ Last updated: 2026-03-27T16:21:35.000Z I have too many art supplies. I acquired them hastily in 2020 when I decided I wanted to learn to draw and paint. I bought myself watercolors, gouache, and wax pastel crayons. Paintbrushes of all different sizes, and the sketchbooks that are piled up in my closet. I bought them all from a messy, independent art store in the town I lived in—overconsumption, to be sure, but I told myself it was in support of a place I loved. When I moved from Massachusetts to Connecticut two years ago, I packed everything into a single box. I put it into a corner deep in my new office's closet. A see you soon, not a goodbye. Drawing and painting—which had been a consistent creative outlet—fell by the wayside as we settled into our new life. After we pulled up the carpet and installed new floors, after work slowed down, after all the other boxes in the closet were emptied. Then, my dog got diagnosed with lymphoma. We drove hours each week to bring him to chemotherapy appointments. Any desire to paint was shoved into the closet with the box of art supplies, and I closed the door when he died a few months later. (Sealed it shut, actually, when the next family trauma happened weeks after his death.) Art may have been a good thing, something I could work through my pain with, but *everything* was too much to bear. I didn't want to feel joy, or creativity, or freedom. Just pain. It took years before I contemplated taking a chisel to that door. The desire came back, but there was fear, too: How do I even get to that box? (A pile of Squishmallows, vacuum sealed into Pokémon jerky, required some dealing with. I put them there when our new puppy's shark teeth poked holes in them.) What do I do when I get there? Do I even know how to draw anymore? Always a problem for another day. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/IMG_8253-1.jpg) But then I found [my rainbow pencil](https://yosekastationery.com/products/seven-in-one-colored-pencil?ref=aftermath.site). It was in a drawer by my desk. I have no idea where or when I got it. It's got no branding at all, just a core of seven colors of swirled pigments and wax inside an otherwise unremarkable pencil. I opened my planner, which had otherwise been abandoned, and starting making lines. I scribbled just to see the colors change. I used it at different angles to see how it changed what colors came out, pointing it straight up from the paper to use all seven colors at once. That was January, and I started using it every day. I actually used my planner to mark down the days in which I played hockey; the rainbow pencil made the otherwise boring page as joyful as I feel on the ice. I doodled in the empty spaces of the weekly schedule pages. I could do art again, if only just a little. I picked up another pen, [one that's always been a favorite of mine for drawing](https://yosekastationery.com/products/fudenosuke-brush-pen-black-1??ref=aftermath.site), and drew some flowers. I used the rainbow pencil to draw the oranges I was about to eat, friends' bouquets posted to Instagram. I let my nephew scribble with it my sketchbook, pulled from the closet shelves, then drew over it with a black pen. The rainbow pencil is everything I love about art: playing with colors, messy doodling, drawing without care. It made art easy. Soon, I pushed the Squishmallows aside—now with a second puppy, they'll remain there for a bit long—and got out the cardboard box with art supplies. I spent an afternoon sorting through everything and placing them in drawers and on a cart in my office. And I use it all now, even the gouache paints that scare me. I found a new love for wax pastel crayons, because they are nearly as joyful as my rainbow pencil, but they blend. I even carry a tiny sketchbook on me again, tucked into my purse with the black Fudenosuke Brush Pen I love so much. Now that I think of it, I think I'll get a second rainbow pencil to live beside it, so I can carry its delight with me wherever I go. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### The Art Of Esoteric Ebb URL: https://aftermath.site/esoteric-ebb-concept-art-illustrations/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T17:32:09.000Z I am madly in love with *Esoteric Ebb*, for all kinds of reasons (the writing! the world!), but the thing that just keeps slapping me in the face, every time I enter a room or run across a courtyard, is how *good it all looks*. [In Esoteric Ebb, Men Talk To Men About Manhood, And That’s A Good ThingIt does not shy away from the things many of us are always thinking about when we interact with others, like, “Who are you voting for?” and “What does being a man mean to you?”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-181.png)AftermathZoë Hannah![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ScholarCleric-Artwork.webp)](https://aftermath.site/in-esoteric-ebb-men-talk-to-men-about-manhood-and-thats-a-good-thing/) This is a beautiful video game. And it's beautiful in such an understated, impressive way; there's no shock and awe here, no blinding effects or dazzling lighting. You just play the game for a few hours then slowly realise that [*Esoteric Ebb*](https://aftermath.site/in-esoteric-ebb-men-talk-to-men-about-manhood-and-thats-a-good-thing/) is a triumph of design, a game absolutely crammed with the work of good artists doing cool and economical stuff. The character illustrations are great, the world is somehow both a hark back to 90s RPGs while also looking crisp and modern, and the map is one of the best I've ever seen in a video game. I could go on and on, but seeing as I love it all so much, and run a semi-regular feature looking at the art of video games, I figured it'd be more useful for all of you to have the artists do some talking instead. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Map.jpg) This beautiful illustration of the game's city map was done by artist Oscar Westberg [Oscar Westberg](https://oscarwestberg.se/work/esoteric-ebb/index.html?ref=aftermath.site) did a *lot* on this game, from character design to character art to the icons and illustrations of your equipment. "When \[creator\] Christoffer \[Bodegård\] approached me, he had already done quite a bit of work on the game himself", Westberg says. "His mood board for the game’s visuals included a couple of artists working with line art and colour, including many of my drawings! So my personal style was a natural evolution of what Christoffer had already done. My first work for *Esoteric Ebb* was a character drawing, which I did in my style, and Christoffer felt that it was perfect for the game." "When we worked on character designs he’d give me a description of the character; personality, job, species etc. Other than that I often had quite free rein to come up with a design. I’d do several ideas and iterations which we’d discuss together. The same was true for items in the game, though Gibbet Games came up with a couple of ideas too. Before starting to work on *Esoteric Ebb*,[ I had created and published a book on fantasy items](https://ko-fi.com/s/1fa1165987?ref=aftermath.site), and later[ an illustrated journal-style fantasy adventure book](https://oscarwestberg.se/work/fantasy-journal/?ref=aftermath.site). Both of these circulated around the team as stylistic inspiration as well." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0e99138e_original.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/4b36611b_original.jpg) These zoomed-out screenshots really emphasise the game's limited, but now recognisable, colour palette "In terms of visual style, I’ve been inspired a lot by comics and manga I grew up reading", Westberg says. "Such as *Tintin*, Moebius, *Naruto* and *Akira*. And for design I’ve looked at museum photographs of historical armor and relics, and fantasy live action role-play events. I really enjoy making designs that would make sense and be comfortable to use. I mix different real-world armor parts and clothes to create something functional, but that still looks new, fantastical and cool." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Dragon_Piece-0.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Dragon_Piece-4.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Dragon_Piece-5.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Dragon_Piece-13.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Dragon_Piece-27.jpg) These sketches show the progression of Westberg's key art for the game, from the roughest of outlines to the finished piece ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Snell_Sketch_01-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Snell_Sketch_09-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Snell_Sketch_04-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Snell_line_art_01-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Snell_color_01-1.jpg) The development of Snell, from outlines through to the final illustration you see in the game ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Skills_sketch_04.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Beefy_Cleric.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Primal_Cleric.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Unstable_Cleric.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Scholar_Cleric.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Trickster_Cleric.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Items_26.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Items_sketch_24.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/items_23.jpg) Just a small selection of sketches for the game's collection of items, weapons and other bits of junk ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Items_3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Items_2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/items_01.jpg) Some of the final, in-game illustrations done for inventory items While Westberg was responsible for much of the game's character and illustration work, a huge part of *Esoteric Ebb's* visuals--like its 3D models and environments--were handled by Gibbet Games ([full credit list here](https://esotericebb.com/?ref=aftermath.site#collaborators)). "Most of the time we got blockout areas that were mostly very simple, with just an idea for the area" Gibbet's Jonathan Nilsson tells Aftermath. "Then we started to work on the area, and Chris would tell us some of the lore for each place. But when we added stuff or made changes he would also make changes in the game (and the lore) so it was a really fun and creative project." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Skeleton-no-textures.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Skeleton-textures-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Skeleton-textures-2.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Skeleton-textures-3.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Skeleton-textures.png) From an untextured model Gibbet had to dress every character in the game to match Westberg's illustrations and designs "Instead of having a very rigid idea, he was really open for new ideas and also incorporated the new ideas in the game", Nilsson adds. "In these videos you will see the process of the creation of the game's areas, from the blockout to final version." Maybe my favourite part of the whole game, though, is the map screen. It's not a fancy map; it doesn't rotate or give you precise directions. It's just a regular map that you can look at, work out where you are and try to get your bearings from there. But it's a *gorgeous* map, and something that just kinda happened. "The in-game journal maps were something that was added in the last month or so of the project", Nilsson says. "Chris took the line art we did and inverted it to create the maps. It looked really cool, but it wasn't something we planned for when we started." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/20260310215108_1.jpg) The game's wireframe map is stunning to behold, a work of incredible detail [![CTA Image](https://aftermath.ghost.io/content/images/2025/11/1-1-2.png)](https://aftermath.ghost.io/tag/showcase/?ref=aftermath.site) 'Showcase' is a feature highlighting the work of artists in and around the video game industry. You can see more, for stuff like Homeworld 3, Blue Eye Samurai and beyond, here: [MORE SHOWCASE FEATURES ](https://aftermath.ghost.io/tag/showcase/?ref=aftermath.site) ### We're Having A Sale! URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscription-sale/ Last updated: 2026-04-06T04:02:19.000Z Because we don't have investors and don't run ads on the page, everyone we pay and everything we do here at Aftermath is only made possible because, at time of writing, ~~5,198~~ 5345 people are paying to read the website. We couldn't be more appreciative of those folks,[ but as we've outlined already this week, we have big goals for this website](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/), and that involves getting even *more* people paying for a subscription. To help kick that along, we're running a sale. Actually, to be more exact, we're running *two* sales. Our 'Reader' tier subscription, which lets you read every Aftermath story and comment underneath them, normally costs $7 a month (if you're paying monthly). If you sign up this week, though, your first month will only cost $1\. A whole month of Aftermath for a buck! If you're a 'Free' member curious what the paid experience is like--and we know there are over *20,000* of you--this is a great chance to find out. And our 'Member' tier subscription, which normally costs $100 a year (if you're paying annually), and gives you everything in the 'Reader' tier plus an invite to our community Discord,[ full-text RSS](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-rss-feed/) *and* a discount on Aftermath merch ([just in time for new merch!](https://aftermath.site/woke-2-tshirt-hoodie-hat/)), is now just $75 for your first year if you sign up during the sale. That's a saving of 25%! To sign up for the $1-for-the-first-month deal, click below: [MONTHLY SALE](https://aftermath.site/03-20-2026-00-30-01-wokeweekmonthly) If you’re new to Aftermath and have never had an account here, click below to take advantage of our annual sale: [ANNUAL SALE (NEW MEMBERS)](https://aftermath.site/03-20-2026-00-31-23-wokeweekannual) If you’re an existing subscriber who would like to buy the 'Member' annual sub at the discounted rate...there's a technical hiccup with our provider that means this is 'Coming Soon', sorry! We'll update everyone when we find a workaround. **UPDATE APRIL 6: Sale's over, thanks everyone!** ### Tim Sweeney, It's Not Too Late To Log Off URL: https://aftermath.site/tim-sweeney-its-not-too-late-to-log-off/ Last updated: 2026-03-25T20:57:23.000Z Earlier this week, [Epic announced that 1000 people](https://aftermath.site/fortnite-epic-layoffs/)\--*20% of the company's total workforce*\--would be laid off. The cuts were accompanied by official corporate statements from CEO and founder Tim Sweeney, but in the hours since, the boss has felt the need to add further commentary the only way he knows how: with bad posts. Writing on [Twitter](https://x.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/2036622504353992902?ref=aftermath.site), Sweeney says of the cuts: > In the coming days, employers will see a stream of resumes of once-in-a-lifetime quality folks. An important thing to understand is that Epic never lowered our hiring standards as we grew, and the layoff wasn't a performance-based "rightsizing" as companies call it nowadays. It's a sound bet that anyone with Epic Games on their resume is in the top few percent of their discipline. Tim, I don't know how to tell you this--you're the boss, so I understand why you wouldn't be checking Indeed every day--but for most of the affected[ there *are* no jobs](https://aftermath.site/video-game-industry-layoffs/), and the jobs that do exist for the lucky few involve[ going through hell](https://aftermath.site/video-game-recruitment-job-applications-ai-layoffs/). [Trying To Get A Job In Video Games Right Now Is Like Crawling Through Hell - AftermathThe application process has become a dehumanising, demoralising grind![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-203.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/interest-1-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/video-game-recruitment-job-applications-ai-layoffs/) I would argue that an "important thing to understand" is that, when 830 workers were laid off in 2023, they were[ put out of work because the company needed to make its "cost structure more sustainable"](https://bsky.app/profile/brendansinclair.bsky.social/post/3mhvp4xvdlc2p?ref=aftermath.site). If just three years later 1000 more needed to go because the company was "spending significantly more than we're making", whose fault was that? Not those getting laid off! To suggest that putting 1000 people out of work is some kind of "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity for the rest of a battle-damaged industry to upskill, instead of being a stressful and often life-defining moment for every single one of those affected, is some weird and cold shit to commit to public record. Just log off, man! [Log Off, Tim Sweeney - AftermathAgain, if I had $5 billion you would never see or hear from me ever again![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-201.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/timsweeney-3-1.png)](https://aftermath.site/tim-sweeney-epic-ceo-elon-musk-brainworms/) [Now More Than Ever, It Is Imperative That Tim Sweeney Log OffPlease, Tim, we’re begging you![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-202.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/sween.png)](https://aftermath.site/tim-sweeney-x-ai-csam-epic-games-fortnite/) ### Games Done Quick's Long, Difficult Journey To A Better Gaming Future URL: https://aftermath.site/games-done-quick-gdq-speedrunning-community-trans-rights/ Last updated: 2026-04-01T22:14:28.000Z This year’s Awesome Games Done Quick, a week-long speedrunning marathon that took place in January in front of a raucous live audience, played host to all sorts of unexpected sights: an entire live audience doing synchronized stretches during [a sweaty run of *Hatsune Miku Fitness Boxing*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X%5FY-IyULSE&ref=aftermath.site); a whopping 70 speedrunners participating in [a wacky, wonky *Super Mario 64* relay](http://youtube.com/watch?v=r-VFPEh59k4&ref=aftermath.site); and runners in full trucker regalia hooting and hollering their way through this country’s last great pastime, [*American Truck Simulator*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDg6eXLAelM&ref=aftermath.site). But [a quieter moment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epeynSx0vhE&t=1937s&ref=aftermath.site), in my mind, stole the show. Two runners, Blackheartwings and ProfessorBurtch, were sprinting, leaping, and at one point slithering, in the form of uncooked hot dogs, through *Split Fiction*, the 2025 sci-fantasy co-op spectacle from [noted Oscars hater](https://kotaku.com/fuck-the-oscars-watch-a-way-out-directors-rant-at-the-1821108598?ref=aftermath.site) Josef Fares. Mostly, the duo bantered and discussed strats and skips, as is typical of a GDQ speedrun. Midway through, however, Burtch and the run’s commentators gave the proverbial floor over to Blackheartwings. “\[Blackheartwings\] has some opinions about this level,” said Burtch as the two platformed through a handdrawn world. “Boy howdy do I,” replied Blackheartwings. Blackheartwings went on to explain that they had a slight bone to pick with a game they otherwise love: One of the main characters, Mio, is a person of color, and she’s consistently anthropomorphicized, or turned into animals—a horse in that specific instance. Whereas the other main character, Zoe, who is white, gets to remain human. This is a [common trope](https://www.mic.com/p/why-do-animators-keep-turning-people-of-color-into-animals-65481570?ref=aftermath.site), one that, intentionally or not, serves to other people of color. "We should be a little bit more mindful and careful about the way that our protagonists are portrayed within media,” said Blackheartwings as around 100 attendees in AGDQ’s Pittsburgh hotel watched in-person and over 40,000 watched online. “As a person of color myself, I saw a lot of myself in Mio when playing this game, and I think that we should be able to see ourselves in the games and the media that we interact with. So if you're making a game, maybe be mindful about the way that your characters interact with the narrative, and maybe stop turning your people of color into animals in your narratives. That would be swell." One of the commentators, OhHeyItsKara, provided additional perspective: "There's a lot that can be said about 'Oh, it wasn't intentional, it wasn't on purpose,' but I always think about how it's not enough to not mean to; you have to mean not to. Doing things accidentally still means you're doing them." If you possess even a cursory awareness of video games and the kinds of people who most vocally purport to play them for hundreds of hours, you’d expect a moment like this to be met with awkward silence, or even boos. Instead, the AGDQ audience cheered affirmatively and without hesitation. "It's scary talking about these sorts of things, and there was definitely some discussion in the GDQ Discord that was disappointing,” Blackheartwings told Aftermath the day after their run. “But seeing that a lot of it was people thanking me for bringing up this issue reassured me that I was doing the right thing. I had people stop me in elevators and in the stream room being like 'I'm so glad you mentioned that it; it was something I hadn't considered before.'" "I know that I have a really great community behind me—a lot of my friends and a lot of the people on the backend,” they added. “I trust the moderation team at GDQ so much. I know that they're on it." GDQ has spent years intentionally curating a crowd that both does and does not fit the standard gamer mold. On one hand, speedrunners play games more than just about anyone. Whittling down run times from dozens of hours to just two, one, or none requires incredible dedication. Top speedrunners spend months or years labbing games to discover and memorize optimal routes and skippable sections. I guarantee: You do not love your favorite game as much as its best speedrunner. You probably don’t hate it as much, either. "You can't be ambivalent towards a game that you speedrun, because if you are, you're just going to stop playing it. It's way too hard to play a game for thousands of hours that you don't have that kind of connection to,” SatanHerself, who hosts a regular show on GDQ’s Twitch channel called Creature Corner, told Aftermath. “I know that myself and many other people have gotten really mad at their speed games. They have needed to take these extended breaks from runs to emotionally recollect themselves and get back to it. I think that is a muscle that is built up over many, many years." > What would’ve happened if, during and after Gamergate’s spasmodic rise to prominence, video game companies and organizations rebuked everything it stood for? GDQ’s community, however, does not often succumb to the toxic, exclusionary tendencies that typically define significant pockets of the online commentariat surrounding video games. In some ways, GDQ’s existence answers a series of questions that have long made the rounds in socially conscious gaming circles: What would’ve happened if, during and after Gamergate’s spasmodic rise to prominence, video game companies and organizations rebuked everything it stood for? What if, instead of tacitly accepting or embracing various strands of sexism, racism, and homophobia, they put actual effort into welcoming those from a variety of backgrounds? What if they did this not just performatively—as many companies have—but as a form of daily practice? What would that look like, and what kind of maintenance would the resulting structure require? GDQ, which began in founder Mike Uyama’s mother’s basement in 2010 but has grown to employ over 100 people, has built out satellite orgs focused on different underrepresented groups, each of which host their own charity marathons and maintain a degree of autonomy, but which also get called up and shouted out during the two big annual shows: Awesome Games Done Quick and Summer Games Done Quick. The two most visible are [Frame Fatales](https://gamesdonequick.com/site/framefatales?ref=aftermath.site) and [Black In A Flash](https://gamesdonequick.com/site/blackinaflash?ref=aftermath.site), but GDQ has also spotlighted LGBTQ people, Latin Americans, neurodivergent people, those with disabilities, and other groups via Hotfix—a series of streaming shows that run weekly between major GDQ events—as well as special dedicated showcases. Even before all of that, though, a telling tradition developed during charity marathons: Donors, whose messages get read during speedruns, began to regularly sign off with “trans rights.” These days, without fail, the in-person audience always shouts “trans rights” back, whether it’s the bleary-eyed crack of dawn or the delirious end of a long day. GDQ and its roster of runners do their best to honor that spirit. But it wasn’t always this way, and even during the organization’s more inclusive modern era, new problems have emerged from the husks of old. ## The Process Of Progress While GDQ’s tentpole events, which regularly pull in millions of viewers and dollars, take up prime real estate on the annual calendar, GDQ is not the entirety of speedrunning—or anything close to it. Each game is its own scene, with some bigger games cracking open like a Russian doll to reveal multiple scenes dedicated to different styles of runs with all manner of stipulations, whether that involves percentage completion, tools that help runners pull off the impossible, mods that randomize elements of a game, or specific finish lines that players make up (for example, romancing all available options in *Fallout: New Vegas*). Every scene has its own backstory, some less wholesome than others. The community surrounding *Super Mario World*’s dazzlingly (and arbitrarily) difficult *Kaizo* mod, for example, endured a full-blown schism in 2020\. Shovda, whose [AGDQ run of an *SMW* hack called JokerShellOK](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aJlHnRN%5Fbo&ref=aftermath.site) was so skillful that I’m still in disbelief two months later, explained: "We had a split about six years ago where somebody revealed themselves to be a transphobe who was a huge streamer in the space, and all of the other cis het white guys—BarbarousKing, GrandPooBear, LaserBelch—came out and said 'We're not going to allow you to be in our space like that. We are distancing ourselves \[from the transphobic streamer\],'" she told Aftermath. BD, a longtime member of the *Kaizo* community who recently took on a role at GDQ as event lead for Frame Fatales, also experienced the split firsthand. The situation, they said, got ugly. "When confronted about \[transphobia\], \[the streamer\] leaned into it in a very hurtful, abrasive, and frankly provocative way and forced a lot of people to reckon with something very loudly,” they told Aftermath. “The process of that was not very fun, to say the least.” Members of the community took sides, and some lashed out at trans speedrunners like Shovda. “I was targeted heavily to the point where people were emailing me images of trans women who would hang themselves,” said Shovda, “sending me emails about how my body was gonna decompose, and how they would see my bones and know it's a man's skeleton. So I left the Twitch sphere for about six months and came back, and now I have to be very conscious of the spaces I inhabit and let other people deal with things, because I've done my fair share." If nothing else, according to BD, it was a learning experience, though the lesson came at a high price. “One of the things that we learned about that—and one of the things I think about when I'm here as a gender nonconforming person myself—is no tolerance means no tolerance,” they said. “No tolerance for bigotry means that if we see it, we're stomping it. I have seen what happens when you let it fester because 'Oh, the person's too big of a personality' or the person has too much influence or too many friends or is too good at the game. We can't be having that. If you truly want to be inclusive, then that has to take priority over \[everything else\]. And you have to be willing to not just say that and not just write it and slap it on a Discord, Google Sheet, or website; you have to be willing to go in and do the stomping." As a newly minted GDQ contractor, BD feels the weight of the responsibility they now carry. “To GDQ's credit, they have \[demonstrated no tolerance for intolerance\],” they said. “And it's to their credit that we are able to thrive as much as we have, and I'm grateful for that. But it's also a constant reminder and a constant charge that I have and the rest of our leads have. We are here to fight the fight and build places and maintain spaces. That's the goal. *Kaizo* taught me that the goal is possible, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of constant vigilance." There are many stories like this within GDQ-adjacent speedrunning circles. Most notoriously, harassers from sites like Kiwi Farms and a noxious subreddit called r/speedruncelebrities swarmed *Legend Of Zelda* speedrunner Narcissa Wright after she came out as trans in 2015\. Her struggles with health, harassment, and an attempted return to the top of the speedrunning world are now the subject of [a documentary](https://breakthegamemovie.com/?ref=aftermath.site) that made its online debut last year (and, after what its director deemed [politically minded interference](https://www.polygon.com/gaming/561806/pbs-zelda-speedrunner-film-twitch-premiere/?ref=aftermath.site), aired on PBS months later). There’s only so much an organization like GDQ can do to stem the tide of harassment directed at an individual outside its channels and events, but it has, at various points, been forced to clean up its act. As AGDQ and SGDQ began to achieve greater popularity, the organization’s controversies grew alongside it. "I definitely remember more bigotry \[when I was first getting started in speedrunning\]," Helix, a *Monkey Ball* speedrunner who now hosts a GDQ Hotfix show focused on community created content called "Parallel Universe," told Aftermath. "Maybe not in-your-face bigotry, but more casual \[bigotry\], like people still using slurs or gay as an insult—things of that nature." GDQ, as well as those who ran it, were forced to learn and grow. “I'll admit, when I first founded GDQ, I didn't really have any knowledge of LGBTQ+ and queer spaces and proper representation, although that wasn't really the conversation back in the late 2000s,” GDQ founder Mike Uyama told Aftermath. “I remember it wasn't really until 2012 or 2013 that I even learned properly what a transgender person was—that \[I knew to\] properly name them as a transgender person and not the old problematic language that we used to use. … I definitely made a few mistakes over the years. That's part of \[becoming more aware\], but also really just listening to people and making sure their voices are heard." Following early years in which the organization [seemingly let](https://kotaku.com/as-games-done-quick-gets-bigger-so-do-its-controversie-1791393815?ref=aftermath.site) a handful of racist and transphobic remarks from runners and commentators slide—and during which its Twitch chat was [effectively unrestricted](https://kotaku.com/1821882319-1821882319?ref=aftermath.site), allowing viewers to spam all manner of transphobic and otherwise exclusionary memes—2016, 2017, and 2018 saw GDQ make a more concerted effort to weed out pernicious elements. But this moment still came late enough in the game that runners who, for example, [brought a MAGA hat to AGDQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/speedrun/comments/5ms8ak/pvtcb%5Fthe%5Fape%5Fescape%5F2%5Frunner%5Fwas%5Fbanned%5Ffrom/?ref=aftermath.site) or [behaved in flagrantly sexist fashion](https://kotaku.com/games-done-quick-indefinitely-splits-with-speedrunners-1830719882?ref=aftermath.site), among other standouts from years-long histories of edgelord behavior, were able to attend events and gain footholds in the scene. Affected parties reacted with confusion, outrage, and harassment when GDQ began to move more stridently in the direction of a no-tolerance-for-intolerance policy. Subsequent years have seen GDQ hammer down jagged, rusty nails faster, but not always elegantly. At AGDQ 2020, for instance, a runner with “I hate feminazism” in his Twitter profile was allowed to attend and complete a run, but was [banned immediately after](https://kotaku.com/gdq-suspends-speedrunner-with-feminazism-in-twitter-pro-1840979327?ref=aftermath.site), seemingly due to community outcry. > "I definitely remember more bigotry \[when I was first getting started in speedrunning\]." GDQ is not done doing the work on this front, and it probably never will be. This week, a former member of the GDQ community, Emmie Elliott, came forward alleging that they’d [suffered harm at the hands of a prominent GDQ host](https://bsky.app/profile/emmieelliott.bsky.social/post/3mhorjsbtqk24?ref=aftermath.site), MrGameAndShout, a few years ago. This, Elliott said on Bluesky, took place “mainly” outside of GDQ walls, and GDQ wasn’t aware of the situation when it occurred. "GDQ in the grand scheme of my situation was not very involved at all,” [they wrote](https://bsky.app/profile/emmieelliott.bsky.social/post/3mhrson4ybc2c?ref=aftermath.site). But the experience did traumatize them and put them in a position where they’re hesitant about returning to GDQ, and they contended that GDQ has failed to adequately respond to other, similar reports over the years. “GDQ didn’t protect Shout knowing what he did. They’re protecting him \[by\] not making a statement and firing him quietly,” Elliott [wrote](https://bsky.app/profile/emmieelliott.bsky.social/post/3mhrson4fpk2c?ref=aftermath.site). “GDQ did not know about my situation with him. They still need to be better about all the other reports that were and are within their walls, however.” Aftermath reached out to Elliott and MrGameAndShout for more details, but neither replied as of this publishing. GDQ provided Aftermath with a statement, which did not go into specifics or confirm whether MrGameAndShout has lost his role: "Games Done Quick takes reports of harassment very seriously, and it has no place in our community. Situations like this are reviewed carefully in line with our [policies](https://gamesdonequick.com/site/rules?ref=aftermath.site). While we don’t comment on specific personnel or disciplinary matters, we remain committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for staff, runners, and our audience." **Update 4/1/26:** MrGameAndShout has lost his job and can no longer volunteer at GDQ. "Effectively immediately, Shout is no longer GDQ staff and is permanently banned from volunteering at GDQ, due to violating GDQ's harassment policy," reads a message posted last month in the GDQ staff Discord by GDQ director of technology Jason “Wyrm” Deng, which Aftermath has viewed. "I'm sure many of you have questions. What we are able to share is that this report was filed directly with management, and management made the decision that the incident violated the harassment policy. I apologize for how this decision may affect staff and the community. However I need to emphasize we won't be commenting and that there should not be a thread to speculate/comment on this decision beyond what I've shared here." **Original story continues:** In many progressive spaces, it is relatively easy to weed out those who openly spew hatred or racism; it can be harder to recognize when somebody you considered a friend and an ally might be abusing or harassing others, or making them feel unsafe. Blackheartwings pointed to a now-defunct speedrunning event that used to take place in the US as an example of how those sorts of wounds, left open for long enough, can fester into a more pervasive rot—the kind that pushes everyone else out. "That was not the safest place to exist in,” they said. “There were a lot of safety issues. There were lots of harassment issues with runners and volunteers, which is difficult, because with these events, you're dealing with a lot of your friends, and you want to assume the best of your friends. Unfortunately, sometimes your friends really suck." Still, consensus among many in the speedrunning community is that GDQ has not, in recent times, allowed tumors to metastasize to the point that they *become* the community. "I think part of it is just that we got lucky with certain people in leadership spaces," said Helix. "To be blunt, we have not had [the Nazi bar problem](https://bsky.app/profile/iamragesparkle.bsky.social/post/3lbidcyu5ic2b?ref=aftermath.site). Because people understand that you need to kick them out right away." "It has to be an active process,” Jaxler, a runner who specializes in games off the beaten path, told Aftermath. “You can't just passively say 'Oh, we're an accepting community, come join us.' If you look at the way GDQ has been moving and operating in the past couple years—with regard to cultivating spaces like Frame Fatales, Black In A Flash, the LATAM meetups, and more recently, GDQueer—\[they’re\] purposefully and directly stating their values. A lot of bad actors will just see themselves out the door. It takes that constant effort and also having the backbone to reinforce it when push comes to shove, because much as I love to sing the praises of the speedrun community, all communities have these things called human beings, and they're not perfect." > "With these events, you're dealing with a lot of your friends, and you want to assume the best of your friends. Unfortunately, sometimes your friends really suck." GDQ director of operations Matt Merkle acknowledges that there have been bumps in the road on the organization’s path to this point, but those running the organization won’t be forgetting the lessons they learned the hard way any time soon. “We decided quite a few years ago that we were going to have a zero-tolerance policy for various types of harassment and everything else, and it's on our website,” he told Aftermath. “We've demonstrated throughout—and especially the first couple years of that program being implemented—that we were serious. We had to ban a few people. … When we first implemented the rules, it was a shock to some people, but the majority of people in the community understood. I think most people welcome those rules. I mean, nobody wants to be stressed out or feel insulted or unwelcome when they come to an event. They want to have fun with their friends.” Coming from a community that nearly unraveled at the seams, BD intends to preserve GDQ’s core principles. “The experience that I had working up and being seen as a leader in the *Kaizo* scene helped me be ready for a position like this, but it also kind of steeled me as to why it's important to do it right,” they said. “Because I had been a part of something that had gone wrong, and we're still recovering from it five years later." ## Sunshine Statement In 2022, GDQ was planning to host AGDQ 2023 in Florida, as it had previously—way back in 2020, prior to the pandemic, which forced AGDQ into an online-only format for two years. But speedrunning aficionados, [GDQ announced in September 2022](https://kotaku.com/agdq-games-done-quick-florida-covid-lgbtq-law-desantis-1849509866?ref=aftermath.site), would have to wait another year for the triumphant in-person return. “Given the state’s continued disregard for COVID-19’s dangers (including anti-mandate vaccination policies) and an increased aggression towards LGBTQ+ individuals, including the law colloquially known as ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ we do not believe it is a safe place for our community at this time,” the organization wrote in a statement at the time. AGDQ went online-only for another year. This, GDQ Black In A Flash and events coordinator Vanessa “PleasantlyTwstd” B told Aftermath, hit the organization’s bank account hard. "The whole thing with Florida, it really was a make-or-break deal, and we wound up breaking our contract \[with a local hotel\] to get out and move the event elsewhere,” she said. “A lot of people were really scared about that, and I think that has some residual effects on things that are happening \[now\] too, because that was a big, scary move, and it was also a big, costly move." Uyama also characterized the decision as one that sent shockwaves through the organization. "This was right around when we were starting to consider in-person events again, and it definitely set back any ambitious expansion because the budget was tight for the next couple of years,” he said, “in terms of putting on more events or potentially more ambitious ideas and the like." > "We were not going to risk attendee lives over money." But as far as Uyama is concerned, GDQ was staring down the barrel of a lose-lose proposition. "I also remember that even from a more practical standpoint, because of Florida and all the legislation, there's a chance we would've had such low attendance, understandably, that we might not have been able to make attrition or would have lost even more money \[if we'd hosted an event anyway\],” he said. “We were definitely debating and agonizing about it, but once we made the decision, we were definitely firm in the decision." Merkle doesn’t regret the way things played out. "The politics really defined the issue,” he said. “We knew it was the right thing to do for the community, and we were willing to pay that price. We were not going to risk attendee lives over money, so that's what we did, and we continue to not return because of \[Florida’s\] politics on LGBTQ \[people\]." "It would've been kind of a slap in the face to say we're inclusive,” added Uyama, “and then Florida was introducing all this legislation that was making them extremely not inclusive, to put it lightly, or just to put it bluntly, very shitty towards any sort of queer or trans person." In this case, GDQ’s actions spoke even louder than its words. "Genuinely, as somebody who's somewhat familiar with what it's like to break a hotel contract, it's a wonder that GDQ is still standing,” said Blackheartwings. “I'm so glad that it is. I would not be the person that I am today if it wasn't for GDQ, but the fact that they were willing to do that and willing to put the people who are helping make this event happen over the financial gain of everything? Yeah, that speaks volumes." Elite Spud, a speedrunner who specializes in *Luigi’s Mansion*, believes that GDQ is better for having receded into a precautionary stance during and after lockdown. This forced it to surmount all manner of technical hurdles, which improved regular programming like Hotfix and online events hosted by groups like Frame Fatales. But ultimately, GDQ secured its identity when it uprooted its operation from Florida. "I think the smoothness of now is owed to the hard times they had during the first initial years \[during covid\], and those GDQs were rough,” Elite Spud told Aftermath. “Improvements technically are a direct result of that, but the big prominence of queer representation and trans rights—shouting that at the top of their lungs—is also a direct result, because that move was a line in the sand. People that disagreed with that move probably also disagree with a lot of things that are going on now." Groups like Black In A Flash and Frame Fatales exemplify what’s going on at GDQ HQ right now. For as much as GDQ and associated runners enjoy gleefully banging the drum of diversity, speedrunning—like many other spaces in gaming—is still pretty overwhelmingly white and male. GDQ’s affinity groups seek to cultivate new talent, to demonstrate that anyone can be a speedrunner and give them a stage on which to do so. "\[Black In A Flash\] is technically part of the GDQ mothership, but at the same time, we're allowed our own agency, and we kind of do our own thing,” PleasantlyTwstd said. “So I run Back To Black and our two Hotfix events very differently than the way the rest of GDQ runs. It's a combination of, it's smaller scale, it's less stuff, but also it allows us to be ourselves." Among other things, this means the freedom to moderate chat according to both GDQ’s guidelines and Black In A Flash’s own: “\[Someone might claim\] 'Oh well, per GDQ, what I did was fine,'” said PleasantlyTwstd. “And it's like, per GDQ, yes, but for Black In A Flash, what you're doing or saying is problematic or offensive, and you cannot do these things. For Back To Black, we even have our own staff ... because there's a lot of stuff that people will try to sneak in that is specific to our communities, that other people may not catch." More than anything, PleasantlyTwstd wants Black In A Flash to remain true to the speedrunners it represents. "I want Black In A Flash to be black,” she said. “I don't want it to be black but consumable or black but friendly. No, this is the black speedrunning group. There's black jokes, there's black memes. ... It's us being us, and I love that the surrounding GDQ community has embraced that. I hear lots of enjoyment, lots of compliments, because we get out there, and we're gonna have fun." > "I want Black In A Flash to be black. I don't want it to be black but consumable or black but friendly. No, this is the black speedrunning group." BD, Frame Fatales’ event lead, also sees affinity groups’ autonomy as one of their greatest strengths. "We have our own set of event goals, because GDQ allows and has allowed Frame Fatales to set its own goals,” they said. “One of the key goals that we have for our events is to build up, enrich, and uplift our whole community. If our events raise a bunch of money for charity but do so at the expense of the community and the expense of the people that participate in it, we didn't accomplish what we set out to do. We exist to bring more women into spaces like this, to bring more femmes into spaces like this, and not just bring them in, but empower them and equip them with skills and experiences to contribute at places like this. If we're not doing that, we're just kind of existing, right?" In BD's eyes, this means that welcoming spaces should not merely pop up during events and then melt like ice floes, but that they should persist throughout the year in the form of a Discord, regular community events and games of the month, crafting channels, and things of that nature, as well as longer-term opportunities to prepare for and help run events. "It gives \[community members\] a chance to work on our two tentpole events each year and do things like host a marathon,” said BD. “There aren't many places like that where you can roll up and be like 'Hey, I want to learn how to host.' There's only one way to do that, and it's to host things. One thing that's really important to us is that everyone who works on the backend of an event is a Fatale. So we have women and femmes who are doing broadcast tech for the first time, who are learning how to operate the audio board and the stream tech setup. And it's equipping them with skills that, if they want, they can go start doing that for mainline GDQ or that they can use on their own \[in their daily lives\]." Even beyond that, BD believes that the affinity groups make GDQ as a whole better by allowing members’ individual tastes and interests to flourish. "I've been lucky enough to be couching for several events \[at AGDQ\], and there's pressure to do things that are going to bring in specific amounts \[of money for charity\],” they said. “The scale is so vast. It's intimidating. \[Frame Fatales\] events are purposefully designed. Black In A Flash is the same way, \[as are\] the Latin American and Asian affinity groups that have events as well. They're very much designed to be 'Let's build spaces for our community to do cool things. Let's have a tabletop RPG for one of our runs instead of a video game. Let's do *Houseflipper*. Let's do *Blood On The Clocktower*. Let's give people things they wouldn't necessarily expect.'" ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/gdq7.jpg) Joey "SeaAverage" Seabaugh / GDQ The aforementioned in-character *American Truck Simulator* race, for example, made its first appearance at a Fatales event last year before graduating to the big stage at AGDQ 2026\. Because despite all the talk of moderation and community curation—not to mention the months or years of prep that go into runs—GDQ events are largely dumb fun. Runners and commentators banter endlessly, chat memes are born and die about as quickly as you’d expect from a speedrunning marathon, and the audience loves a gimmick. It’s like being at a gargantuan sleepover, whether you’re attending in person or watching from home. That energy seeps into runs. More than that; it powersthem. "\[I think about\] runs like the *American Truck Simulator* run, like the *Mario* 70-star relay, like *Richard Burns Rally*—these things that you might not have seen at a GDQ back in 2017 or 2018 when the focus was really on the absolute fastest people in the world," said SatanHerself. "Nowadays I feel like a lot of that is still very much present at GDQ, and that's very exciting and fun to see, but what defines modern GDQ is not so much the perfection of the runs but more so the creativity and novelty of the community that is behind speedrunning and being able to show the breadth and depth. ... \[Hotfix, Frame Fatales, and Black In A Flash have\] really driven the change in how mainline \[GDQ\] operates now. I think that is a wonderful change." "For me, diversity is representative of people, but it's also representative of content. If you are running the exact same stuff everyone else does, but you're just using your audience, it's not going to feel authentic,” said BD. “One of the goals I have is helping the \[Frame Fatales\] space, but also seeing the ways in which we can help Black In A Flash, how Black In A Flash can help us, and how we can extend that to Latino speedrunning and to Asian speedrunning—how we can all work together. Pool our resources and pool our energy to help uplift each other and keep this good work going, because GDQ really is definitive proof that a whole bunch of different people coming together can do some really good things." > "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Frame Fatales.” Runners who’ve come up in groups like Frame Fatales and Black In A Flash swear by them. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Frame Fatales,” said Blackheartwings. “They had a really big impact on my interactions with the space, knowing that there was a place where I could exist and not have to worry about being heckled or nagged or bullied was foundational to me." "I submitted to Frost Fatales 2023, and I had just recently come out as trans, so that was also an affirming thing for me to \[join\] a femme-led, women-led speedrunning event. And they accepted me, and I was bad! That was my impetus to get better,” said Elite Spud. “From the start, it was very obvious that it wasn't just binary gender conforming. It was encompassing in a way that was very fresh to somebody who had newly come out, and working with people in the event itself for my run, all the volunteers, the people that make it happen—seeing so many other diverse genders represented in that community and then running other events that aren't even centered around being part of a gender minority, there's still so many people who make things tick who are gender diverse. It just makes you feel welcome seeing that these people have so many events in the speedrunning community at all." ## Time Marches On This is not to say that all involved are 100 percent satisfied with GDQ’s handling of the affinity groups. There’s definitely room for improvement. "I think GDQ can still improve on its POC representation in a lot of ways,” said PleasantlyTwstd. “It's wonderful that we have Black In A Flash. It's wonderful that we have representation with \[the other groups\]. I think it's a good starting point, but it needs to be more than just making sure we have groups. We also need support, and I would love to see some more POC hires. I would love to see more opportunities and avenues for us to expand the same way some of our other groups, like Frame Fatales, have been able to expand. The biggest challenge that Black In A Flash is dealing with is that we are low headcount, and I need more people. I do a lot of stuff solo, and I work directly with people on our teams that want us to be successful, but I need that success to translate into 'Hey, PT will be more successful if they have more help.'" GDQ runners and employees also think the organization could be doing a better job in terms of spotlighting people of color during the year’s most pivotal moments. "There is, very notably, a lack of people of color on the big stage,” said Blackheartwings. “I'm biracial, Hispanic and Asian, and a lot of the overlap occurs just within the Fatales community, in that a Fatale happens to be a person of color in order to be on the big stage. There's not a lot of representation of folks of color. I think that fostering the space for people of color to feel safe being on the big stage \[matters\], but so does making a point of highlighting us as speedrunners outside of our diversity spaces. Not as a token thing, but as a 'What can we do to encourage more people of color to show up and run and feel safe \[type of thing\]?'" > $50,000 RAISED FOR @raceforward.org!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLACK JOY, HECK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PRAISE JERKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BALD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #BTB26 > > — [Games Done Quick (@gamesdonequick.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sucjrnduu3iytwhtt36g2d54?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-02-09T05:35:19.875Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sucjrnduu3iytwhtt36g2d54/post/3mefq2mtoh22w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) "I love our events,” said PleasantlyTwstd. “I love that we raised so much money for \[Prevent Cancer Foundation\] and Doctors Without Borders. I do not love that \[AGDQ 2026\] was a 144-hour-long event, and there were three black people \[on stage\]. That hurts my heart a special kind of way, especially when you're considering \[how close AGDQ is to Back To Black on the calendar\]. The pool is there. You have to be willing to engage it. And if that means you have to reevaluate how you do some of your things, then reevaluate, right? ... People don't like changing things. People are just like 'If it's not broke, don't fix it.' But it's like, I'm explaining to you how it's broke." SatanHerself agrees that the issue is structural, with roots that run deep. "\[GDQ\] used to be mostly guys, and they used to run it out of their basement. They used to each do, like, three runs on the schedule. These were people who were really, really close with each other, and they were the heart and soul of it,” she said. “There was that sort of original magic, but it was also a very closed kind of thing. It was a culture that selected for the types of runs they wanted to see and the types of people they wanted to see. … I noticed that most of our interviews \[at AGDQ 2026\] were with white guys and still talking about the big games on the schedule: your *Call of Duties*, your *Ocarina of Times*, *Majora's Mask*s, and things like that. It isn't to say that those aren't wonderful people and great games to talk about. But we still have a ways to go before we're fully into this space where it feels like everyone is included." Uyama, who was there for those first events, agrees with that assessment. "It was much smaller back then. There were only 20 people at the \[first\] event, if I remember correctly. Almost everyone had a run there. It was largely white and male," he said. "Speedrunning \[as a whole\] was so much smaller back then. Your community was big if you had, like, more than one person running. ... I think one thing that helped \[growth\] was the rise of Twitch. Twitch didn't exist for our first event, which is something to note. It was JustinTV back then, which was notable for having bootleg streams of *The Simpsons* and sports broadcasts. But yeah, I feel like GDQ kind of naturally grew with Twitch as it was growing as a site." > "There is, very notably, a lack of people of color on the big stage.” With growth came opportunities to make up for the blind spots of Uyama and others who were running the show. "I'll admit that's not my strength: fostering and catering to a community,” he said. “I'm glad that we've had so many smart and dedicated staffers over the years. … I think GDQ has made good strides in being more inclusive and representative, whereas in the olden days it would be almost exclusively all guys, mostly white, maybe some Asian. I feel like nowadays we have more women, queer people, transgender people, and minorities." GDQ is far from alone in its struggles with representation. Speedrunning is a tapestry of communities, or maybe a series of constellations, each with their own unique histories and dramas. Some have been around long enough for generational divides to begin to form. The question then becomes: Will a community evolve and persist or fade into dusty obscurity? Elite Spud believes the *Luigi’s Mansion* speedrunning community is at this exact sort of crossroads. "There is kind of an old guard that has yet to pass the torch, but it's starting to happen anyway,” they said. “There's folks who've been around for, like, 15 years now. They've been invested for so long, and they still play, but do they still want to be leaders of the community? At some point, it needs to pass on, and I'm curious if the community will schism because of that. Because a lot of people are there because of the old guard, and when they stop being interested, will it succeed? Will the community be as diverse as I hope it will be, or will it turn into a game that's more forgotten?” Irrelevance is a possible outcome. It’s happened to other speedrunning communities, and it will doubtless happen again. "Communities focus so much on the \[specific\] speed game,” Elite Spud said. “They don't focus on the community itself, and it starts to have this kind of boys' club mentality or it starts to rot in a way that draws away from the point of having a community in the first place. It gets insular. It gets unwelcoming. There's a lot of private conversations. There's not a lot of public celebration." Blackheartwings has seen what happens when a speedrunning community loses its way. "\[The *Stardew Valley* speedrunning community\] was in disrepair,” they said of the moment when they first got their start in speedrunning, back in 2021\. “The mods weren't super active. So I became a moderator for the leaderboards. They had opened up applications, and I established rules in the Discord—because that wasn't a thing before—and encouraged people to start documenting all of their routes and all of their notes. I think those two things specifically were helpful, and also being visible as a femme within the *Stardew Valley* space was huge, because it was a boys' club before. ... And that was not the kind of place I wanted *Stardew* to be, especially because it has no gender locks for marriage candidates, and you can do what you want forever, so to speak; I felt like it was a good place for queer people to feel welcome and comfortable." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/gdq9.jpg) Jess Kuras / GDQ Blackheartwings also found their way into Frame Fatales—as a community member, rather than an employee—with their influence both filtering up into the organization and fellow Fatales’ approaches informing their own. This is a dynamic with which many in the highly fragmented speedrunning community are intimately familiar: Moderation decisions made in individual channels ultimately impact GDQ as a whole—and vice versa—even if it takes time for reverberations to fully be felt. "I think being in a space like GDQ that so easily allows you to speak about things is important,” Jaidlyn, a host and musician on GDQ’s interview and interstitial team, told Aftermath. “Trans rights are human rights. Black lives do matter. Stop Asian hate. To be able to speak on a platform that you know supports you \[makes a difference\]. I feel very free to support everyone in that capacity. And since joining GDQ, I have incorporated it more into my own platform too." "Every single community is such a microcosm,” said SatanHerself. “They all have their own dynamics, their own people, and I think that's one thing that makes speedrunning really interesting and very different compared to lots of other types of similar activities like sports is that you get these really specific micro-cultures. ... I think it really starts with promoting acceptance and diversity in those spaces." Elite Spud believes they can make a difference, both by running *Luigi’s Mansion* games under the bright lights of AGDQ and SGDQ and by elevating others behind the scenes. Leadership, they told me, is not their goal, but they described a role that is perhaps more crucial to a functional, long-lasting community: mentorship. “I don't want to be the leader. I just want to be somebody who kind of ushers people in,” they said. "I want to see other new runners one day say 'I got into this game—I got into speedrunning period—because you helped me.' I have so many people to thank for that, because they inspired me. ... I don't know how it feels to be on the other side of 'Hey, this person was under my wing at one point and now they're up there, and it makes you want to cry out of happiness.' I want to feel that." > "I just knew that wasn't going to be me. My time at GDQ had an expiration date." Uyama announced that he was departing GDQ in early 2023—a decision born of overwork and burnout—though he delayed his exit until later in the year to give Merkle time to recover from a medical emergency. Ultimately, he’s glad he made way for a new generation. "If I wasn't helming GDQ in the early years, it probably wouldn't exist as it is today,” he said. “But at the same time, I'm glad that I moved on and others have taken over, because it was at a point where ... I knew that I wasn't really gonna have new ideas or try to really approach it with a new direction, from a new perspective, or anything like that. \[I had already been at it\], in a professional capacity, 9-10 years by then, and if you include the olden days of classic Games Done Quick, it was 13 or 14 years. That's a long time to be doing one thing, and it means you're either very, very dedicated and focused on the craft, or you eventually get tired of it. I just knew that wasn't going to be me. My time at GDQ had an expiration date." "Having seen the events \[GDQ\] has done and the direction they've had, and they're still successful, and that it's very welcoming and inclusive, \[I'm happy about how things ended up\],” he added. “Because even before I knew more about proper representation, I always wanted to be a more welcoming gaming space, even if I didn't know the terminology.” ## Full Speed Ahead GDQ has grown to represent something larger than itself: a hopeful beacon in a time of division and strife. So far, despite government-backed anti-trans sentiment and a post-election vibe shift that saw more cynical companies and organizations jump at the opportunity to drop their performative allyship act, GDQ has stuck to its guns. "I think with the general ecosystem and current scope we're in, it can be really easy to pull things back. The fact that GDQ has maintained its stance and not walked anything back is super important,” said Blackheartwings. “They do a good job in not discouraging us \[from saying\] trans rights are human rights; it's not a political point, and that's something they make very clear. I think staying firm on those stances has been huge for making sure that this stays an inclusive and safe place for people to explore their gender and have a better understanding of themselves." One GDQ contractor, Helix, began planning her own, separate anti-ICE speedrunning fundraiser duringthis year’s AGDQ. "I was at AGDQ, but I live in the Twin Cities,” said Helix, who also helps organize smaller local speedrunning charity marathons as part of [Midwest Speedfest](https://midwestspeedfest.com/?ref=aftermath.site), “and Renee Good was murdered while I was in Pittsburgh. I woke up to the news, and I don't think I can properly describe how I felt in that moment and for the rest of that week. I was like 'OK, I have to figure out how to do what I can, both now and when I get home.' I am really good at fundraising, but I had never fully led one on such a scale and in such a short amount of time. But I just put out a Bluesky post during the second half of \[AGDQ\]. ... I had people coming up to me mid-GDQ to tell me 'If this happens, I want to be involved.'" After Helix got home, she kicked her effort, called [ICE Breaker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHecTknGRhA&list=PLeFz%5FbRsyduC4G6gHeCghnf3tn3kgmHBT&ref=aftermath.site), into high gear. Within just a few days, 125 people volunteered to help run the event, and runners threw their controllers, keyboards, and plastic guitars into the ring to the tune of over 400 submissions. "Paring that down to three days worth of content was so, so difficult,” said Helix. “We could have done a second event and probably a whole third event. It very quickly became something bigger than me, because everyone recognized what was happening." > Lead organizer @helix.midwestspeedfest.com Finale speech Song: Put Traffic Cones Over Tear Gas Canisters by @dollchasermn.bsky.social youtu.be/lDEAMhyT89c?... > > — [ReallyReallyLongathon (@rrlat.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2u6nmhygotouzl2qles533lx?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-02-03T03:16:31.863Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2u6nmhygotouzl2qles533lx/post/3mdwfivuga22y?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) It was an overwhelming success. "We came into this expecting maybe $10,000 raised over the course of the event,” said Helix. “We ended with over $56,000 raised. That total is higher than some actual GDQ events." More importantly, ICE Breaker managed to dredge up joy from truly dire circumstances. "ICE Breaker is my favorite thing that I've ever done,” said Helix. “There is something about how quickly the event came together, the overwhelming amount of support, and how fun it was. We had long-time GDQ hosts \[involved\]. These are hosts that I have never heard swear before because we're not supposed to swear on air at GDQ, and they were unequivocally saying with their whole chest 'Fuck ICE' every other sentence. It was awesome." The word “community” has barely managed to survive an era of alienation—dilution to the point of incoherence at the hands of companies, platforms, and influencers who claim that consumption is the only way to find your tribe—but this is its true meaning: People coming together to support each other in times of hardship and still managing to have a great time doing it. People giving freely in accordance with their means. People finding purpose in each other. "When I wrapped up ICE Breaker, I drew a parallel between the community in Minneapolis and the speedrun community,” said Helix. “I went to the vigil \[for Alex Pretti, who was murdered by ICE\], and the amount of community support that was really everywhere, but especially in that area, \[was incredible\]. There were many local businesses being turned into basically warming houses. There was a library, a church, some local businesses, and even a couple private residents that became warming houses. There were people on various street corners with tables handing out hand warmers, warm coffee, snacks, and things of that nature." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/gdq11.jpg) Matt "Lowex" Lowe / GDQ Building community is now more vital than ever, a fact that is far from lost on those who work for GDQ—especially Helix. "I might never do something as cool or as impactful as ICE Breaker again in my entire life, and I think I would be OK with that,” she said. But the show(s) must go on, and in July, SGDQ is headed to Minneapolis. This is coincidental; the hotel was booked in advance of ICE’s occupation. Still, Helix believes there’s an opportunity for GDQ to do some good. “\[The battle against ICE\] is not over. Hopefully it will be over at some point. But we, in a way, outlasted the occupation,” she said. "I'm very grateful that \[SGDQ\] is in Minneapolis, because this will bring people to the city, and I hope people go to local businesses, because their economies really need a boost. They lost out on so much business because people weren't leaving their homes and their workers were being kidnapped." As far as safety concerns go, GDQ business director Ashley Farkas provided Aftermath with the following statement: "The safety of our attendees, volunteers, staff, and partners is a top priority at SGDQ 2026\. We have been working closely with the venue, our internal safety team and external partners to review and strengthen our safety plans. We will also be providing additional resources and training to GDQ staff leading up to and at the event. Our community does a wonderful job alerting us when situations arise, and we plan to provide guidance for volunteers and attendees if an incident were to occur. As we always do, we ask everyone to stay aware of their surroundings during the event and report any concerns to GDQ staff or hotel security." > "At the end of the day, what we do is important; it is all of us working towards a better world." It’s a difficult situation, especially for those in GDQ’s international community who—as a result of the country’s [cop slide](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0rhD5AxjTn4?ref=aftermath.site) into fascism—don’t feel safe traveling to the US. "It is bittersweet to be a volunteer for GDQ and to be involved in all these events nowadays,” Serendiplays, a Brazilian speedrunner who often does volunteer work during GDQ events, told Aftermath. “For the Fatales, we had our winter event \[recently\], and despite that being mostly an online marathon, there is still a studio you can go to and volunteer for some positions at. You still get that FOMO of not being able to go and see all the friends that you've had so much fun with online—doing things on site and having that moment of human connection that is so needed right now.” “It is very discouraging,” Serendiplays added, “but at the same time, I try to use it as fuel for me to continue working hard and volunteering and being part of this community, because at the end of the day, what we do is important; it is all of us working towards a better world. And in that better world, I would be able to just fly to the United States and hang out with my friends twice a year." Those who do plan to attend also view SGDQ as an opportunity: If the goal really is to build a kinder, more inclusive culture, then you’ve got to put your best foot forward. "\[ICE’s occupation of Minnesota\] was hard to think about, hard to look at during \[AGDQ\] knowing that's where we're going to be, but I want \[to do\] everything in our power to still go and to have the best time that we can, because that's what we need to do,” said SatanHerself. “We need to not only fight for a better future, but also to envision what that future looks like. And the future looks like GDQ." [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### Twin Peaks And How To Get Back Up When Evil Roams Your Streets URL: https://aftermath.site/the-work-twin-peaks-scott-meslow/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T17:31:16.000Z The bad guys won in *Twin Peaks*. That's not a spoiler – the show famously begins with the discovery of Laura Palmer's corpse, a young woman's life cut short by a horrible crime. As series protagonist FBI Agent Dale Cooper arrives to investigate, the series – stretching across the original two-season ABC drama and its legendary cliffhanger, a wrenching prequel film (*Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me*), and a shocking 2017 revival (Showtime's *Twin Peaks: The Return)* – chronicles the fallout from that crime, and the ways in which a community failed to recognize the evil living comfortably within it. *Twin Peaks* isn't wall-to-wall grimness. It is still an uncommonly eccentric show, one that takes many digressions. The seriesis lauded for its boundary-pushing swerves into supernatural mythology, but none of that would land without its sincere effort to be a portrait of a quirky Pacific Northwestern town. This makes *Twin Peaks* a difficult show to pin down, one that is equally goofy, eerie, strange, melodramatic, and odd. But all of it is haunted by a darkness its characters struggle to comprehend, one that stares you in the face and walks your streets, enters your homes. In its various forms across 27 years, *Twin Peaks* unflinchingly depicts what it means to try to live a normal life in the face of shocking, unknowable evil. How people push back against a darkness they might not even be aware of. How some survive the horror, and some do not. This, of course, is just one way to view *Twin Peaks*, one I found increasingly compelling as ICE and CPB agents began their invasion of Minneapolis at the start of this year. Part of this was due to my friend and former colleague Scott Meslow, who nearly ten years ago was a fellow GQ contributor covering entertainment, and therefore [2017's *Twin Peaks: The Return,* with me](https://www.gq.com/story/twin-peaks-finale-recap?ref=aftermath.site). Scott, I learned, was an enormous *Twin Peaks* fan, who recently put his expertise to work in a new book, [*A Place Both Wonderful and Strange: The Extraordinary Untold History of Twin Peaks*](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/scott-meslow/a-place-both-wonderful-and-strange/9798894140391/?lens=running-press&ref=aftermath.site). The book is largely a production history, a comprehensive and compelling accounting of how one of the most singular works in U.S. television came to be. But throughout, Meslow takes the time to offer personal insight on this text, one informed by both the political reality of the show's final appearance in 2017 during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term, and what it was like to write much of the book during the early days of Trump's second. As a Minneapolis native, Meslow has an unfortunate perspective on this, his early months of 2026 consumed with the work of [coming together with his community](https://www.theverge.com/policy/864195/minneapolis-ice-invasion-organizing-immigration?ref=aftermath.site) to support one another and protect the vulnerable in the wake of ICE's Operation Metro Surge. I wanted to talk to Meslow about *Twin Peaks* in this light, as a show that juxtaposes arresting portrayals of evil against sleepy small-town mundanity, the parallels with having to carry on with your normal life [raising kids](https://www.theverge.com/policy/870720/ice-minneapolis-parenting-liam-conejo-ramos?ref=aftermath.site) and promoting a book under occupation, and how we grapple with loss and a world in which the bad guys have won – and then get back up again. *This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.* **Joshua Rivera, Aftermath: So I'm interested to hear how, in having this book, going on tour, and meeting people – how open have people been about what *Twin Peaks* means to them? What has it been like having those conversations?** **Scott Meslow:** I think anyone who's gonna eagerly sit down for like, you know, 90 minutes-plus of deep dives into *Twin Peaks*, that's gonna be someone who we already have a lot to talk about, because that's how I feel about *Twin Peaks*. People have just been great. I did an event in Minneapolis a couple nights ago, and a woman showed up as the Log Lady complete with Log. My favorite part is the audience Q&A, because I really don't know what people are going to ask. The show is big and broad enough that people come to it from a lot of different angles. Someone the other day was really trying to, you know, drill down exactly who found out who \[Laura Palmer's\] killer was and when, and that was like the thing that they really wanted to know. And then shortly after that, someone just asked, "What do you make of the way *Twin Peaks* treats women?" And then for probably five minutes, I just worked through that out loud because it is a really interesting and complicated question. So some people really want more of that factual stuff, which fortunately I mostly have those answers. But some people just kind of wanna think it through together. I'm happy to do both. **And to that end: *Twin Peaks* does many things, but part of it is this study of ordinary people dealing with tremendous evil, right? But it starts with law enforcement – what are your thoughts on the show's exploration of law enforcement's limits?** The first thing I thought of were The Bookhouse Boys. The Bookhouse Boys is a weird, fascinating, secret society that has existed in Twin Peaks for generations. The way Sheriff Truman describes it to Agent Cooper is that there's something in the woods and it's the trade-off for Twin Peaks being such a special singular place: there's a darkness too \[which the Bookhouse Boys investigate\]. David Lynch in particular has that really kind of 1950s Jimmy Stewart, *The FBI Story* conception of law enforcement. It's really idealized: They all show up in their perfectly pressed suits in their pomaded hair and their trench coats and gold badges. It literally never existed, but it's your TV version of perfect law enforcement. Sheriff Truman really seems to have an awareness in that moment when they introduce Cooper to the Bookhouse Boys that there *is* this evil, but then when BOB fully takes over Leland right before he dies, Truman is the one who has the most doubt about it. He's the guy who says, well, Leland was just crazy. It's the other characters who have to point out that people have independently reported seeing BOB. You cannot just explain this as a purely psychological phenomenon. So even in that moment, the highest law enforcement in the town, the self-appointed arbiter of "we're gonna take on the evil in the woods" can't even, when he is literally staring at it, can't face it. I think so much of this is unintentional. Certainly when I talked to the writers on the show, I didn't have the sense that they were embedding these details on purpose. But I think that unintentional effect is actually kind of powerful. The idea that when something is really wrong – truly, truly wrong, and I think this is a thing that *Twin Peaks: The Return* very much picks up on – it's like staring at the sun. People fail you; they lose their nerve. They can't face it when it comes down to it. And *Twin Peaks* is, among other things, kind of a series of failures by these really lovable and morally upright characters. **There is also a woundedness when the show turns its attention to the next generation, its cast of high schoolers who knew Laura Palmer. It's so concerned about how they will survive all this ambient harm that their parents are engaged with. Even in mundane stuff! There's murder and a supernatural evil called BOB but there's also just, affairs and negligence.** I think season one has a great scene where it becomes clear how traumatized Audrey is \[when\] you just see her crying. When you finally see \[her father\] Ben Horne's very boring, human-sized evil – just greed and lust – is enough to really have changed her life in a hugely negative way. Ben Horne – his last major story in the show is the revelation that Donna is almost certainly his daughter, you know, from an illegitimate affair. There can be an instinct to focus on the more supernatural aspects of the show, 'cause they're a little more off the beaten path, but I think that teen soap stuff is actually really important to the overall effect of the show. **And even with all of this failure and heartbreak In *Twin Peaks*, there aren't grand moments of ordinary people standing up and saying *enough*, you know? But they do something more interesting – they try to persist in their decency in the light of these failures.** Another useful way to think about the show is that it is about guilt. Harley Payton won the Emmy for his script about Laura Palmer's funeral, which is a real key scene early in the show – when Bobby Briggs just starts yelling, *you know, who killed Laura? We all did.* "We all knew something was wrong," and they did! Truly. Laura Palmer interacted with everybody in that town, and they might not have known the details, but clearly something was wrong. And nobody did anything. I do think you have to look at the show as a portrait of good people turning a blind eye, a disturbingly common phenomenon. We are certainly watching it play out in real time in this country in a lot of places – people who would self-identify as against bad things happening, and sincerely believe that, but when the bad things happen, maybe just not do anything about it, because it's easier not to. You certainly risk less. **You've written a bit about this – you live in Minneapolis, and at the start of this year had the terrible misfortune of seeing this sort of dynamic play out firsthand. You've written a bit about your community coming together to respond to the ICE occupation and the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti – before we bring this back to *Twin Peaks*, how are things there? Is there anything you'd like to say about that?** I wrote an [article about this](https://www.theverge.com/policy/864195/minneapolis-ice-invasion-organizing-immigration?ref=aftermath.site), and I would say that the headline of that article stands, which is that it's worse than people can tell from the outside. With the asterisk that now it's better here in my specific community. I live in South Minneapolis, where \[ICE\] seem to have declared mission accomplished – it was not, for the record, unless the mission was just to terrorize people. They didn't do anything useful to make anyone happier or safer. All they did was terrorize the community and people who didn't deserve it and destroy small businesses. They just kind of came in and wrecked everything and caused trauma and chaos. Now they're largely out, as far as we can tell, but everyone continues to operate in a state of paranoia. Because there have absolutely been weird guerilla warfare tactics they've applied, in terms of disguising their cars a little better, being subtler. They've moved on from the shock and awe approach. The trade off to that is we know they're doing it elsewhere. There was just[ a big article in Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/ice-shakopee-minnesota-1235524009/?ref=aftermath.site) about how bad things have been in Shakopee, which is not far from me. So they're not gone. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/ScottMeslow_Edit-1.jpg) Photo: Scott Meslow Then there comes the guilt of, I'm relieved they're not in my community because my day-to-day life has gotten easier. But I don't want them to go other places, especially places where, frankly, it might be harder to get organized. Part of why Minneapolis was able to do so was because it has a relatively dense urban population, and a population that learned a lot of these tactics during the George Floyd response. Communities were ready to be activated when needed. That infrastructure does not exist in the same way in other places. So, in some ways, they couldn't have picked a worse target if they were trying to; if they were trying to make a statement in Minneapolis, I think that did not succeed, and I'm very proud of that, but it does make me worried for other places. **In thinking about this, and launching this book at this time where you've witnessed patent evil first hand –** Which is the word I would use, for the record. I think they've done evil things here. **Contending with that evil you've experienced and watched others experience, and then thinking through this book you've released on a work that also contends with great evil – I don't want to sound pat, but has it changed your reading of the show? Has it brought any clarity?** That is a hard thing that I think about a lot, because I have a strong sense of what I believe is right and wrong. There are countless incredibly wrong things happening right now, and it is a hard pill to swallow for me to say, for example, that I firmly believe Donald Trump got away with it and is going to get away with it. And would that I could reverse time and find a way to derail his first presidential election. Often at book events what I'm reading is the final essay on the book, on Agent Cooper. I wanted to bookend it that way, where it starts with Laura Palmer and it ends with Cooper. Because those are the two characters in the show most essential to what it's ultimately about, which is why I think it keeps bringing them together, even though in life they could never have been. What I talk about in that essay is something I have thought a lot about, and it's part of why I love *Twin Peaks: The Return* so much. It is that no matter how much you wish a bad thing hadn't happened, it is hubris to think you can undo it. You can seek justice for it. You can, you can seek proper reparations for it. People deserve to be held accountable for the bad things they've done. But you can't cheat time. ![Laura Palmer, dead, wrapped in plastic](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/laura-plastic-twin-peaks.jpg) Image: ABC/Spelling Ent./CBS Paramount Domestic Television Would that I could be Cooper and find a way that, you know, January 6th sticks, and \[Trump’s\] in prison right now where he should be. I can be prone to that sort of magical thinking where if I get really mad about something going on – and I'm mad all the time right now – I start to play out those what ifs. I think that kind of magical thinking is dangerous. I think it's ultimately not helpful. It keeps you mired and rooted in the past, for fights that have already been lost when there are still fights to be won. That to me is a really powerful takeaway from what *Twin Peaks: The Return* is ultimately saying. It's something that I've really kind of tried to take to heart as I think about my community in Minneapolis, and that doesn't solve the country's problems, and it doesn't solve the world's problems either, but there are things I can do in my community that I know for a fact help specific people. And that's not nothing, and that's stuff that I had to be proactive about as it was unfolding. I could not be stuck in "I can't believe he got reelected!" I did my best to combat that too, and I did not win. So move on to the next thing. Don't try to undo the murder of Laura Palmer. [This Year’s Oscar Nominees Have Real Fight In Them, Even If Hollywood Doesn’tAn introduction to The Work, a column about resistance in fiction![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-200.png)AftermathJoshua Rivera![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/OBAA-Sensei-Sergio-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/oscars-revolution-the-work/) ### A Love Letter To 'Girl Games' URL: https://aftermath.site/a-love-letter-to-girl-games/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T17:30:55.000Z I grew up playing games that don’t exist anymore. I collected buttercup petals and tailored clothes in the whimsical *Pixie Hollow*; I roller skated and applied makeup in the glamorous shopathon *Bratz: Rock Angelz*; I cared for a beautiful mare in [the dreamy *Bella Sara*](https://plant-or-beast.net/posts/2025-08-17-Rose-petals-dewdrops-praying-mantis-honeydew?ref=aftermath.site). These magical little worlds I delighted in prancing through are now lost to time, preserved only by fond memories. In a literal sense, the MMOs of my childhood are dead, their servers permanently shut down. Like any other obsolete console game, you can technically find *Bratz: Rock Angelz* secondhand online, but it, too, is forever out of production. But when I say that these games don’t exist anymore, I really mean culturally. Games are doomed by femininity. Across media, genres marketed toward women are deemed lesser than their masculine counterparts: romance novels are trashy, chick flicks are shallow, and pop idols are embarrassing. It’s no coincidence that historical game preservation efforts largely overlook titles designed for young girls, erasing them from the game design canon and contemporary conversation. Rachel Weil is the founder of [FEMICOM Museum](http://www.femicom.org/?ref=aftermath.site), a digital and physical archive that preserves and celebrates games targeted toward a young female audience. Weil founded FEMICOM Museum to bridge the gendered gap in games preservation. Weil tells me, “If historic girl games are lost, if they go unpreserved, how could any game developer draw inspiration from them the way they do from series like *Super Mario Bros.* and *Metroid*?” It’s no secret that the games industry is a boys’ club. As Tracey Lien explains in the article [“No girls allowed,”](https://www.polygon.com/features/2013/12/2/5143856/no-girls-allowed/?ref=aftermath.site) the games industry’s inclination toward men and boys came from early marketing practices. In the 1970s, games were advertised toward two audiences based on their hardware: arcade games targeted adults in bars, and home console games targeted families. After the crash in the 80s, Nintendo revived the games industry by marketing the new NES as a toy rather than technology—specifically, a toy for young boys. As Game Boy players matured, so too did games marketing, and soon most games were advertised toward teenage boys, increasingly through violence and the sexualization of women (take *Tomb Raider*, for instance). Meanwhile, [a smaller movement of games marketed toward girls](https://www.autostraddle.com/party-like-its-1995-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-girl-game-305378/?ref=aftermath.site), spearheaded by titles like 1996’s *Barbie Fashion Designer*, popped up. Since game consoles were marketed toward boys, girl games mostly took the form of CD-ROMs (like *Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey*, my favorite childhood game that nobody’s ever heard of). In our present day, the “video games are for boys” stereotype that began in the 80s still persists, despite the considerable presence of women and other gender-marginalized people in the industry. Games that were marketed toward boys by default became the canon of game studies, while games marketed toward girls were lost to obscurity. --- I studied game design in university, where I sometimes found critical discussions to be suffocating. All of our lessons revolved around games like *Bioshock* and *Portal* — titles my male peers apparently grew up playing — and while I did end up loving *Portal*, there wasn’t any space left to talk about the games that made me want to become a developer in the first place. When I learned programming, my skills were built on the foundation of conventionally masculine genres: it was easier for me to make a [platformer](https://bombylls.itch.io/upstream?ref=aftermath.site) and a [first-person shooter](https://organzola.itch.io/an-empty-house?ref=aftermath.site) than it was to make a [dress-up game](https://kelorlyn.itch.io/wizard-wardrobe?ref=aftermath.site). That’s not just because of a university program. If you want to learn game design on your own, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a tutorial online that doesn’t tell you to start with the “basics” — making a character move and attack. But these are only the basics for a certain kind of game. Terry Ross is a game designer who makes videos about girly games, or games in traditionally feminine genres like fashion games and visual novels, on the YouTube channel [Cute Games Club](https://www.youtube.com/@cutegamesclub?ref=aftermath.site). Ross points to a lack of diverse resources online as a major barrier for many aspiring game designers. “The people who want to make platformers, they get to start right away,” says Ross. “The people who want to make pet sims have to become more \[programmatically\] advanced in order to actually do what they want to do. The solution is giving people the tools to start exactly where they want to start.” But even those who overcome the hurdle of exclusivity emerge on the other side to face an industry that dismisses their work without even bothering to play it. “People connect cute games to bad game design,” says Jenny Jiao Hsia, creator of the 2025 roleplaying game *Consume Me*. While *Consume Me* released to award-winning critical reception, it never breached the mainstream in games culture — which Jiao Hsia suspects is at least in part because of the game’s cutesy, feminine design. “I get this feeling that some people who look at \[*Consume Me*\] are like, ‘I’m gonna dismiss this because I have an idea what these games are like and I don’t like them. They’re not real games.’” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-23-at-12.09.12-PM.png) Image Source: Sweatermaker The legacy of 90s and 2000s girl games wasn’t so much forgotten as it was buried. The majority of these games have unrefined, repetitive mechanics, and fail to challenge or offer new ideas in the design space. “Historically, these IP games are burdened with small development budgets and the expectation that the brand will sell the title, not the gameplay,” Rachel Weil tells me. “Thus we get the same minigame collection that has been reskinned over and over since 1991.” While boy games have always been vehicles for innovation, girl games were treated like chores. “I found that many game developers working at larger studios in the 1990s and 2000s were not only indifferent toward but embarrassed to ‘have to’ work on girls’ IP titles,” says Weil. “That’s a shame for them and for us. How lovely it would be for women revisiting a beloved franchise from their childhoods, perhaps gaming with their children, to discover lovingly-crafted design details and writing from fellow enthusiasts!” Traditionally feminine activities and aesthetics are a wellspring of untapped potential in video games. In *Consume Me*, your strategy is informed by a collection of cute outfits that offer various stat boosts. Terry Ross’s [*Sweatermaker*](https://cutegamesclub.itch.io/sweatermaker?ref=aftermath.site) is a crafting game inspired by the real process of knitting. We need more games that earnestly explore femininities with considered and interesting design; more games that create fantasies of magic and love rather than power, more games that radically reject the reputation of video games as hypermasculine. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### Please Join Me For A Rousing Round Of: Lol, Get Fucked URL: https://aftermath.site/sora-shutdown-openai/ Last updated: 2026-03-25T14:52:17.000Z OpenAI announced on Tuesday that it’s shutting down Sora, the AI video app it released in 2024 and which itself released a tidal wave of [hate content](https://www.404media.co/openais-sora-2-copyright-infringement-machine-features-nazi-spongebobs-and-criminal-pikachus/?ref=aftermath.site), [porn](https://www.wired.com/story/people-are-using-sora-2-to-make-child-fetish-content/?ref=aftermath.site), [deepfakes](https://www.theverge.com/report/806359/openai-sora-deepfake-detection-c2pa-content-credentials?ref=aftermath.site), and, on the plus side, [Sam Altman mockery](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/01/openais-new-social-app-is-filled-with-terrifying-sam-altman-deepfakes/?ref=aftermath.site). Please join me for a rousing round of: lol, get fucked. “We’re saying goodbye to Sora,” [OpenAI wrote on Twitter](https://x.com/soraofficialapp/status/2036532795984715896?ref=aftermath.site). “To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you. What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing. We’ll share more soon, including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.” [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-video-platform-app-a82a9e4e?ref=aftermath.site) notes that OpenAI is also “discontinuing a version of Sora for developers and won’t support video functionality inside ChatGPT, either.” This comes as the company [consolidates](https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/openai-is-planning-to-combine-its-ai-tools-in-a-desktop-superapp/?ref=aftermath.site) other of its products and basically tries to figure out what it is and why people would pay money for it. This sudden-feeling shutdown is also happening just three months after OpenAI and Disney signed a three-year licensing agreement for OpenAI to bring Disney characters to Sora, which [Variety](https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/disney-openai-deal-200-characters-to-sora-video-invests-1-billion-1236606401/?ref=aftermath.site) writes is “the first instance of Disney licensing its intellectual property to an AI platform.” The deal also included a plan for Disney to gain a $1 billion stake in OpenAI. What’s happening with that? Disney told [Variety](https://variety.com/2026/digital/news/openai-shutting-down-sora-video-platform-1236698277/?ref=aftermath.site): > As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere. We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators. Not much help there! **(Update, 3/24/26, 6:15pm:** [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/openai-shutting-down-sora-ai-video-app-1236546187/?ref=aftermath.site) cites a source who says Disney will exit the deal.**)** Sora was always a terrible idea, especially in the era of the second Trump administration: an on-demand misinformation machine, set loose onto the internet as [more people than ever are getting their news from social media](https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/06/for-the-first-time-social-media-overtakes-tv-as-americans-top-news-source/?ref=aftermath.site), and as short-form video–the primary kind of video AI can make, given the cost and its own fuckups over time–[takes over](https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/short-form-video-drives-reach-thats-exactly-the-problem/?ref=aftermath.site) apps and news. From [cute animal videos](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fact-check-dogs-choose-humans-093438041.html?ref=aftermath.site) to [White House memes](https://time.com/7327317/trump-ai-video-political-weapon/?ref=aftermath.site) to [protest violence](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/trump-ai-protest-troops?ref=aftermath.site) to [other cute animal videos](https://www.404media.co/ai-bunnies-on-trampoline-causing-crisis-of-confidence-on-tiktok/?ref=aftermath.site), Sora and other AI-generated video products have sowed hate, lies, or just inconsequential bullshit that have made the internet a worse place to be. In their race to make out with the biggest bag before the bubble bursts, AI companies have been unconcerned with the effect their products have on regular people, whether that’s misleading them when it matters or just being obnoxious as fuck. The only unfortunate part of Sora’s shutdown is that it isn’t the only AI video app out there; there are still plenty more to spew their shit. But one less source of misinformation and planet-boiling garbage is still something to celebrate. Here’s hoping more follow. ### Chainsaw Man Is Over :) URL: https://aftermath.site/chainsaw-man-part-two-tatsuki-fujimoto-shonen-jump/ Last updated: 2026-03-25T14:43:47.000Z When I woke up this morning, I heated a chocolate chip cookie in my microwave, drank a virgin Arizona Piña Colada, and took a drag from my joint. It’s an odd mix of things to do as part of my morning routine (minus the wake and bake), but today was different. A chocolate chip cookie and an Arizona was all I could handle as I was stressing, eyeing the clock, awaiting *Chainsaw Man*’s final chapter. After two weeks of sending fans into a theory-crafting frenzy in anticipation of its final chapter—briefly crashing both Manga Plus and Shonen Jump when it arrived—*Chainsaw Man* is finally over. And now I’m left with a goofy grin on my face. *Chainsaw Man* is a series that I fell into a bit late to the party. I’d heard the anime was coming and decided to give it a read since the series was all there on the Shonen Jump app. I figured I’d already conquered the impossible, catching up on *One Piece* during the pandemic, so I might as well see what all the fuss was about with this series being talked about in hushed whispers as the next big thing. [I loved it](https://kotaku.com/chainsaw-man-anime-review-mappa-denji-pochita-makima-1849631447?ref=aftermath.site). Sure, it could’ve been defined as edgier *Naruto*, as many content mill websites touted in dense SEO-laden headlines, but what floored me was that the series was a steady stream in both spectacle and earnestness. As much a deconstruction of the shonen genre, it also gleefully embraced its shonen nature. It’s a tale about a boy past max capacity, sacrificing himself to exist while dreaming of living. He got his wish granted and became Chainsaw Man, and he got a chance to live the life of cute girls, good food, and hugs that he’d always dreamed of. Or at least the life manga readers are conditioned to expect a shonen protagonist to want and to be satisfied by. He got into big battles with [manifestations of humanity’s fears](https://aftermath.site/chainsaw-man-reze-arc-tatsuki-fujimoto-the-bible/), like Guns and Control (🤔), all the while having the promise of physical release lauded over him as a reward to do the hero's journey that was foisted upon him. Then, when he seemed to be at his lowest, he eked victory from the jaws of defeat and stood with his head held high, staring straight ahead into what would inevitably be a bigger and grander adventure in [*Chainsaw Man Part 2*](https://kotaku.com/chainsaw-man-part-2-manga-denji-shonen-jump-plus-1849170832?ref=aftermath.site). Sequels always promise to be bigger and more action-packed than what came before, but *Chainsaw Man Part 2* started off differently than anyone could’ve expected. It introduced a different protagonist, [Asa Mitaka](https://kotaku.com/chainsaw-man-asa-female-incel-shonen-jump-manga-1850208738?ref=aftermath.site). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0135-008.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0135-007.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump Like Denji, Asa was a fail girl forced into the gravitational pull of the shonen genre, losing all autonomy of her person, Tyler Durden style, because the War Devil, Yoru, would take over her body. Yoru’s goal: to fight and defeat Chainsaw Man. While Denji was nowhere to be found, his influence in the manga’s world looked less like the series proper and more like ours. It was a world that treated him like a celebrity. A world that theorized what he represented and what he’d do in battle. It was a world that could’ve existed beyond him, whether he was there or not. And for a while, the series did. Until his return, a couple of chapters into *CSM* part two. Ever since his return, the sentiment of what *Chainsaw Man* should be and what it was lifted from the pages of the manga to the real world. Fans would go on weekly spirals examining the series in habitual online foofaraws, debating where what new big twist the story was setting up, bemoaning Denji’s non-linear character growth, and jokingly wishing death upon Fujimoto whenever he’d “stop cooking” and was on some bullshit. ![Denji telling Yoru he's glad someone still likes him.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0193-008.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump Every “eight-second” chapter, which had the pacing of a collected volume of chapters rather than a week-to-week development, brought a wild new concept into play, [more risque panels](https://bsky.app/profile/shineyezehuhh.bsky.social/post/3mf3iitr5sc2h?ref=aftermath.site), and a guaranteed WTF moment that’s [to be expected with Fujimoto’s writing style](https://www.avclub.com/fire-punch-anime-tatsuki-fujimoto?ref=aftermath.site). Still, the vast majority of fans would chirp up, bemoaning the series’ [distinct lack of visual crispness](https://bsky.app/profile/shineyezehuhh.bsky.social/post/3liaxgu3g3k2v?ref=aftermath.site) as proof of the series' own decline in quality. And like a snowball rolling downhill, the series, which was still treated as the next big thing, was being torn apart because it wasn’t threading out like a series setting itself up for more. If anything, it, like Denji, felt like it was in a loop where things were torn apart and pieced back together again on the promise that it needed to be more. ![Pochita saying goodbye to Denji.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0231-013.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump Then Fujimoto threw cold water on fans, writing that chapter 232 would be its last. It shocked everyone, from its biggest critics to its biggest fans, leading many to cope, [believing it was yet another ruse](https://gizmodo.com/chainsaw-man-chapter-231-ending-part-3-2000732321?ref=aftermath.site)—an IRL ARG—that would lead to a big surprise announcement for a third part to build off what it’d been cooking and really please fans. It’s not unlike *Stranger Things*’s fans [theorizing that there was a secret finale](https://www.ign.com/articles/stranger-things-secret-episode-theory-debunked-by-netflix-which-has-now-stated-that-all-episodes-are-available?ref=aftermath.site) that would solve all their issues with the story—*Chainsaw Man* fans weren’t satisfied with Part 2, and they didn’t think a sudden ending would change that. In what would probably be the second most stressful breaking the news I’ve had to report since [penning Akira Toriyama’s obituary](https://www.ign.com/articles/akira-toriyama-creator-of-dragon-ball-and-manga-pioneer-dies-at-68?ref=aftermath.site) late at night, I had the privilege of debunking all those fan theories with word from [Viz Media that it was indeed ending, though “details are yet to be confirmed.”](https://gizmodo.com/chainsaw-man-manga-ending-confirmed-shonen-jump-2000732478?ref=aftermath.site) What followed was a fever pitch of that copium where fans expected the series to still pull off a part 3 announcement or, at the very least, make it an extra-long ending that was good, whatever that could’ve been. Which brings me to my nervousness the day the chapter dropped, wracking my brain on what I’d write to compile my feelings on a series and a creator whose career trajectory felt intrinsically linked to my own as a critic. It made me think about [*Just Listen to The Song*](https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/just-listen-to-the-song-chapter-1/chapter/24964?action=read&ref=aftermath.site), one of Fujimoto’s three one-shot manga that he wrote in the interim between *Chainsaw Man* and *Chainsaw Man Part 2*. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/just-listen-to-da-song.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump *Just Listen To The Song*, written by Fujimoto and illustrated by *To Strip the Flesh*’s Oto Todai, is about a sincere love confession video that goes wrong in the most unexpected way. In it, a boy made a YouTube video where he strummed his guitar and confessed his love for a classmate. What was meant to be a video for her eyes only quickly went viral. At first, it went viral because his classmates clowned him for his embarrassing confession. But then the video breached containment when folk noticed ghosts appear in the far corner of his bedroom as he played his forlorn love song. The video became less about the song itself and more about the spectacle around it. Now, the same folks who were giving the boy shit demanded he make another video. But all the boy wanted to do was delete the video and be rid of the whole thing. But he couldn’t, not because he didn’t want to, but because some mysterious girl warned him that it would “anger the spirits.” ![Just Listen To The Song protagonist looking at social media. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-24-134212.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump While he debated over what he’d do, folks went wild, crafting theories for what the video actually meant and all of its hidden messages you could only hear if you played it in reverse. Things like it’s “a criticism of American Gun Culture.” (🧐), something the boy never thought about. Eventually, the boy acquiesced and made a second song, titled “Just Listen to the Song.” It didn’t meet anyone’s expectations. It was panned. And folks ultimately lost interest and moved on after he deleted his videos. Sitting in a train by his lonesome, Shinji Ikari-style, the boy looked up in surprise as the girl he had made his first confession video for sat down next to him and put one of her earbuds into his ear, finally listening to his song with him. ![Two characters listening to music together on a train in the final page of Just Listen To The Song](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-24-134455.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump Like his creator, Denji got everything he could’ve wanted and was highkey suffering from his own success trying to keep at it. Like Denji’s contract with Pochita, Fujimoto was stuck in a cycle where achieving all the acclaim and status that any mangaka would want—a popular series, lively fan base, [great anime adaptation](https://gizmodo.com/chainsaw-man-assassins-arc-mappa-2000702280?ref=aftermath.site) with [phenomenal music](https://aftermath.site/kensuke-ushio-chainsaw-man-the-movie-reze-arc-score-soundtrack-interview/) and a killer movie, and enough clout to have [his other works](https://gizmodo.com/tatsuki-fujimoto-17-26-anime-anthology-review-prime-video-2000682427?ref=aftermath.site) get that [same shine in its wake](https://gizmodo.com/look-back-review-tatsuki-fujimoto-anime-gkids-2000504159?ref=aftermath.site)—felt like a grinding loop that could only be solved by moving on from it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0134-025.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0134-024.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump Instead of trying to find meaning in *Chainsaw Man* by scrutinizing it like a problem to solve or doing a double triple axel in my mind to uncover the hidden messages Fujimoto had for me in the final chapter, I just sat down and listened to what he had to say about what the world without Chainsaw Man would look like. ![Denji saving Asa from tripping. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/chainsaw-man-asa-denji.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump What I got was Power and Denji being buddies, reliving the same adventures Denji started with at the beginning of his journey. It was funny to see Nayuta, Denji’s adoptive kid sister, come back in place of Makima, and for the series to make a joke out of it. It was bittersweet to see Denji’s familiar, lost childlike look as he still saw himself as a weapon. But it was hopeful to see him save Asa Mitaka from crushing the chicken devil at the start of *Chainsaw Man Part 2*. In this world, Denji wasn’t the superhero who so many people loved and depended on. Asa saw him as just a man who was using a chainsaw a second ago and threw it aside to save her. No Chainsaw Man, just a man. I didn’t need a YouTuber to explain how to interpret the ambiguity of its ending; I felt both its hope and its bitterness myself. ![Denji running toward Asa, leaving his chainsaw behind. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0232-022.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump Even saying out loud how meta the note *Chainsaw Man*’s went out on is, to me, funny as hell because it simply ended. No tricks, no big twists that fans theorized. If anything, *Chainsaw Man*’s ending felt like the kind of meta stunt [*Otr of the Flame*](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2026-01-18/otr-of-the-flame-manga-ends-weekly-shonen-jump-magazine-launches-3-new-manga/.233200?ref=aftermath.site)creator Yuki Kawaguchi pulled when his series was cancelled from Shonen Jump. Only here, instead of writing a meta ending about the circumstances of its cancellation, the pressure of a weekly release, and the demand to meet that expectation in one dense chapter, Fujimoto had been microsoding me with that medicine throughout *Chainsaw Man Part 2*. And a lot of that came to a head with Pochita’s heart-to-heart final goodbye with Denji. ![Pochita telling Denji to keep on dreaming. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0231-012.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump There, he told Denji that even after he got what he wanted, he still felt unhappy. That, ultimately, chasing the dream felt better than having it and wanting it in excess. I won’t go so far as to say that’s how Fujimoto felt about the series he created. But I can for damn sure project that into my own life. And to me, Fujimoto is telling me that sometimes, when people get what they want, they realize how limited their goals are. That’s why I felt a kinship with Denji from the start. I never saw him as some feral little spectacle I could tap the glass at every week, waiting to see what horny, violent impulse he’d act on next. I saw a kid learning, painfully, that desire is a moving target—and that the world gets a lot more complicated once you catch it. ![Yoru telling Asa none of the things she thinks are sins mean anything in a devil's eyes. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/0229-007.png) Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shonen Jump *Chainsaw Man* is a series that has meant the world to me. It’s rich and full of meaning while also being [unserious and silly as hell](https://aftermath.site/chainsaw-man-reze-arc-angel-devil-aki-hayakawa-akiangel-ship/). It’s also a series that sucked the air out of the room from start to finish, leaving me with a suffocating feeling, wondering how it’d all play out every week. I even joked about it to my therapist to stay committed to a headline I’d written, while quietly admitting that its finale was just one more thing piling onto my stress. I wasn’t expecting a real answer to my half‑serious “What do I do when my comfort series ends?” question, but she gave me advice that landed hard after I finished the finale: “Find a new series to love that won’t end so soon.” It was a gift to have witnessed *Chainsaw Man*’s story develop in real time, and like Denji dreaming on, I’ll continue to find that same spark in something new. ### Epic Lays Off 1,000 People And Ends Support For Game Modes After Making Fortnite More Expensive URL: https://aftermath.site/fortnite-epic-layoffs/ Last updated: 2026-03-24T19:12:21.000Z *Fortnite* creator Epic Games announced layoffs of over 1000 employees Tuesday, citing the usual litany of game development headwinds, global economics, and rising costs–as well as lessened *Fortnite* engagement and the results of its five-plus year battle to bring the game back to mobile. “I’m sorry we’re here again,” a [message](https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/todays-layoffs?ref=aftermath.site) sent to Epic employees from CEO Tim Sweeney reads. “The downturn in *Fortnite* engagement that started in 2025 means we're spending significantly more than we're making, and we have to make major cuts to keep the company funded.” In addition to layoffs, the company will undertake “over $500 million of identified cost savings in contracting, marketing,” and will be “closing some open roles.” Sweeney notes challenges like lowered games and console spending, as well as “games competing for time against other increasingly-engaging forms of entertainment.” The latter comes on the heels of a presentation by Matthew Ball suggesting that games are [competing for attention](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/yes-video-games-compete-with-netflix-and-tiktok-who-cares-?ref=aftermath.site) against sports betting, iGaming, prediction markets, and social media. At the same time, a [Newzoo presentation during this year’s GDC](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/two-thirds-of-total-pc-playtime-last-year-was-on-games-that-are-at-least-six-years-old-report-says/?ref=aftermath.site) claimed that of the 67% of PC gamers playing games older than six years (rather than new releases), 5.4% of them were playing *Fortnite*– meaning that while Epic cites a “downturn in *Fortnite* engagement” that is definitely true from its heyday, it still makes up a not-insignificant portion of players’ time overall. To that end, Sweeney notes the need to “build awesome *Fortnite* experiences with fresh seasonal content, gameplay, story, and live events” moving forward, despite the company now having less people to do so. Sweeney writes that > Despite *Fortnite* remaining one of the most successful games in the world, we’ve had challenges delivering consistent *Fortnite* magic with every season; we're only in the early stages of returning to mobile and optimizing *Fortnite* for the world's billions of smartphones; and in being the industry's vanguard we have taken a lot of bullets in a battle which is only in the early days of paying off for ourselves and all developers. This is a reference to the protracted legal battle and [populist crusade](https://kotaku.com/everything-about-this-sucks-1844720017?ref=aftermath.site) Epic waged against [Apple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic%5FGames%5Fv.%5FApple?ref=aftermath.site) and [Google](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic%5FGames%5Fv.%5FGoogle?ref=aftermath.site), both of which began when Epic introduced its own payment system for the game on mobile in 2020\. *Fortnite* returned to the Google Play store [just last week](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/fortnite-back-on-google-play-worldwide-after-epic-and-google-settle?ref=aftermath.site), which required, among other things, Sweeney [not to dunk on Google online](https://www.theverge.com/news/889595/tim-sweeney-signed-away-his-right-to-criticize-google-until-2032?ref=aftermath.site) anymore. According to investing site [The Motley Fool](https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/10/13/heres-how-many-people-were-playing-fortnite-on-iph/?ref=aftermath.site), 116 million players were playing *Fortnite* on iOS before it was removed from the Apple store in 2020, with over 20% of total *Fortnite* players playing exclusively on iOS. Epic surely spent a significant amount of money on the ensuing court battles, and surely lost a significant amount of players and their money during the game’s absence from mobile, which will certainly be costly to rebuild–again, with less people to now do so. “Since it's a thing now, I should note that the layoffs aren't related to AI,” Sweeney, [an avowed AI booster](https://aftermath.site/tim-sweeney-x-ai-csam-epic-games-fortnite/), writes. Epic has leapt energetically into AI in [game development](https://aftermath.site/state-of-unreal-persona-device-ai-demo/), and Sweeney has said that “[AI will be involved in nearly all future production](https://www.eurogamer.net/epic-games-boss-tim-sweeney-says-steam-ai-disclosures-make-no-sense?ref=aftermath.site)” of games broadly. While these aren’t strictly reasons not to take him at his word here, it’s hard not to read “since it’s a thing now” as a foot-dragging bit of crassness in light of how many game developers are [struggling to protect their jobs](https://aftermath.site/ai-video-game-development-art-vibe-coding-midjourney/) against the false promises of AI and company leadership’s [hunger](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-ai-ram-crisis/) to cram it into every possible crevice of game development, technology, and hardware before the bubble bursts. *Fortnite* faced scrutiny for [suspected AI use](https://kotaku.com/fortnite-season-7-gen-ai-tim-sweeney-latata-2000649103?ref=aftermath.site) during its 7th season in December, and in May 2025 for [using AI to voice an in-game Darth Vader](https://aftermath.site/fortnite-ai-darth-vader-star-wars-epic-games-sag-aftra/) that predictably started spewing hate speech. Sweeney writes that Epic has faced challenges before, citing the shift to 3D games in the 90s, building console games in the early 2000s, and moving to online games in 2012\. “Each time, we rebuilt our foundations and earned a renewed leadership position,” he writes. He doesn’t list among those challenges Epic’s previous mass layoffs of [over 800 people in 2023](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/epic-laying-off-more-than-800?ref=aftermath.site), either not to draw attention to it or because upending hundreds of people’s lives doesn’t make the cut of the company’s grand narrative of overcoming the odds. Laid-off workers will receive “at least four months of base pay” and extended health care coverage, as well as accelerated stock vesting. Epic will have a company meeting on Thursday to discuss what’s next; Sweeney writes in his message that these future plans include “kicking off the next generation of Epic with huge launch plans towards the end of the year.” Several [*Fortnite* modes will also be going offline](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/fortnite-modes-shut-down-epic-layoffs-horizon-chase-turbo-downloads-pulled?ref=aftermath.site) during the coming year. These modes [include](https://x.com/FortniteStatus/status/2036451164347109440?ref=aftermath.site) Rocket Racing, Ballistic, and the Festival Battle Stage. Today’s layoffs come barely two weeks after Epic [raised the price of *Fortnite* V-bucks](https://aftermath.site/epic-v-bucks-price-increase-fortnite/) to “help pay the bills.” It also comes two years after [Disney invested $1.5 billion](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/news/disney-and-epic-games-fortnite/?ref=aftermath.site) in Epic to bring [Disney characters and properties](https://aftermath.site/disney-epic-fortnite/) into Epic’s games, and a few months after Epic [enabled in-game transactions](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/the-day-after-epic-enables-microtransactions-in-fortnite-islands-one-of-the-most-popular-games-on-the-platform-rolls-out-a-usd37-gift-pack-and-in-game-gambling/?ref=aftermath.site) on *Fortnite* creator islands, for which creators are earning [100% of the V-bucks value](https://www.fortnite.com/news/tools-for-in-island-transactions-now-available-to-fortnite-developers?ref=aftermath.site) until January 2027, after which they’ll earn 50%. It also comes after the company announced that *Save The World*, its initial paid game, will go [free-to-play](https://www.fortnite.com/news/fortnite-save-the-world-goes-free-to-play-april-16?lang=en-US&ref=aftermath.site) on April 16. During the [2023 layoffs](https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/news/layoffs-at-epic?ref=aftermath.site), Sweeney closed with the goal to “get to the other side of profitability and become a leading metaverse company.” That goal seemingly not met, today he cited “the journey to build an increasingly open and vibrant future of entertainment together.” While it’s obvious the *Fortnite* money-printing machine is no longer printing the kind of money it used to, it’s less clear than ever what precisely the company aims to replace it with, using murkier goals and 1000 less people to get there. ### 'The Mission Is About Creating Supportive Environments And Authentic Content': What A DEI Manager At A AAA Video Game Company Actually Does URL: https://aftermath.site/video-games-dei/ Last updated: 2026-03-25T17:07:26.000Z If you've ever been exposed to the worst corners of the internet, and especially the ones that spend their days failing to enjoy a single thing about video games, you'll probably have seen the disdain some shitheads– from angry YouTubers through to, ah, the current United States administration--have for anyone working anywhere near "DEI". DEI, or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, [is a set of](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity,%5Fequity,%5Fand%5Finclusion?ref=aftermath.site): > ...organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented, marginalized, or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability. Which means you can instantly see why pissbaby white men are always so ready to complain about it, but also why video games--an industry traditionally *dominated* by white men--needs it so badly. Games are selling to a global market in multicultural and multiracial societies, and whether you're talking about representation or just good business sense, the better games are able to diversify their development teams and subject matter, the better it is for everyone. Well, almost everyone. Those aforementioned pissbabies have managed through sheer repetition to strip DEI of much of its meaning. DEI is woke, DEI is destroying video games, DEI is everywhere doing everything, blah blah blah, the term has been used in recent years so often and so often without its proper context that precious few people know what working in the field actually *involves*. So for this edition of[ What I Do–a regular series where we spotlight just what it is, exactly, that people working in video games do for a living](https://aftermath.site/tag/what-i-do/)\--I wanted to speak to the best person I could possibly speak to in this position: Dr Alayna Cole, who recently worked as DEI (or DE&I) manager at one of the biggest AAA companies on the planet. **Luke Plunkett: *Hi Alayna, and thanks for joining us for this! To get us started, can you tell us a bit about your role, and what it is you did at the company?*** **Alayna Cole:** I worked as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion manager at a AAA company for about three years. I managed a small team, and together we directed an holistic range of DE&I initiatives spanning game content, team support, and external initiatives. At our largest, we were supporting a studio of approximately 600 developers across four countries, from game ideation through to post-production support. > DE&I—at its core—should be about making space for diversity, ensuring people have equitable access to opportunity, and feel included and like they can be themselves in the spaces they inhabit. **LP**: ***Given we often only hear about 'DEI' when it's used in an oppositional context, if you look back over the last five years or so, what would you say the overall company culture was like in terms of their relationship to your work? Do you think your efforts had a lot of support internally?*** **AC**: We were lucky to receive a lot of internal support, which we witnessed in several ways: leadership would encourage people to engage with our initiatives, we received financial resources and dedicated time to conduct our work, and we saw very little pushback from employees of any level of seniority. Early on, we did have to put in the legwork to ensure we could prove our value to our colleagues, but not in a way that felt particularly specific to DE&I. Ultimately, we were something unfamiliar, and it took some time for people to see that we were helpful for them in terms of saving time, encouraging creativity, and supporting wellbeing. The level and type of support we received shifted over time, and there were several complicating factors for that. **LP**: ***OK, so that was over the last few years, but do you think any of that has changed over the last 12 months or so with, you know, everything else that's been going on?*** **AC:** I think it would be easy to blame all of the challenges in the DE&I field to certain political shifts that have occurred over the last twelve months. Unfortunately, from my own experience as well as my broader research, it's a lot more complicated than that. DE&I has an 'ebb and flow' to it in terms of people prioritising this work, which we have seen over decades. That's not to say there aren't ramifications to the political shifts that have occurred in the US over the last twelve months, though; and they have been quite far-reaching, impacting many English-speaking countries outside the US too. The main impact I've seen is that people who are interested in continuing DE&I initiatives are required to justify their work a lot more, as it's less likely to be accepted at face value that this work is effective, useful, and morally right. There are actually some benefits to that—it means DE&I practitioners need to do more work to explain what we mean by "effectiveness" in DE&I and find the data that proves certain initiatives work. But that's only a benefit if these questions are being asked in good faith, rather than as a way to slow down or rebuff DE&I work. These changes also mean people and companies need to be genuinely committed to DE&I to make change, or else it is suddenly a lot easier for these initiatives to become de-prioritised because there is less shareholder expectation and scrutiny. However, this doesn't have as much of a negative impact as you might think, as performative companies were already incorrectly prioritising because they would generally invest in highly visible initiatives over more effective ones. **LP: *It's interesting that you raise the issue of effectiveness there; is there a way that can be judged or assessed internally?*** **AC:** I think sometimes we can get caught up in the idea of whether DE&I / DE&I programs are "effective" or "not effective", but stakeholders don't always have a meaningful conversation about what they are trying to achieve or want a DE&I program to do. How can we determine if a DE&I program is effective or not without defining what success looks like? And by that, I don't mean metrics or KPIs. I mean that historically an effective DE&I program was one that didn't get a US company in legal trouble after new civil rights legislation was introduced in the mid-twentieth century. It wasn't about making sure employees felt like they could meaningfully participate in the workplace; it was about compliance. Thankfully, this generally isn't the case anymore, but we're building on a scaffold that is no longer applicable and expecting the result to meet success criteria that it wasn't originally designed for. **LP: *Also, what do you mean by 'performative' companies? Do you mean companies making hollow gestures without doing any of the actual work?*** **AC**: In my research, I've found that some studios are good at their PR presence, social media outputs, diversity websites, and shareholder report language, but aren't necessarily backing that up with meaningful structural change within their studios. I would say 'performative' DE&I occurs when a team prioritises optics over organisational change. **LP: *What would you say are some of the biggest misconceptions about the job, both for regular people but also the way the field is perceived and portrayed by weirdos?*** **AC:** I think everyone has an assumption in their head about what a DE&I practitioner does—however, that assumption differs from person to person depending on their context and experience. I've had people assume that DE&I is just about race or gender, without factoring in all the other intersectional vectors of marginalisation that we need to consider. I've had people assume that my work is primarily focused on sensitivity training, recruitment, human resources issues, supporting external organisations, or reviewing game content—but it's rare that somebody realised I work on all of those areas at the same time. I have always treated DE&I as an holistic and all-encompassing field that impacts every aspect of game content, developers, and audiences in ways that can sometimes be surprising. But when your mission is about creating supportive environments and authentic content, it's easy to start understanding how your work can touch every part of the game-making process. > ...some studios are good at their PR presence, social media outputs, diversity websites, and shareholder report language, but aren't necessarily backing that up with meaningful structural change within their studios. **LP: *What are those other 'intersectional vectors of marginalisation' that might also need help?*** **AC**: In my work, I think there's space for DE&I to help a huge number of marginalised groups. There are common identity markers that we see talked about with this (race, gender, etc) but this can be about identity, access, context, and more. It might include race, gender, sexuality, disability, neurodivergence, mental health, class, education, access, religion, regionality, culture, language(s), and more. DE&I—at its core—should be about making space for diversity, ensuring people have equitable access to opportunity, and feel included and like they can be themselves in the spaces they inhabit. That's less about individual identity markers and more about how we create workplace cultures that support everyone. **LP: *For all the challenges you've faced, and that the field continues to face, what work would you say you're most proud of in your time at the company?*** **AC:** I am most proud of the way my team and I managed to scale DE&I initiatives beyond us and integrate them into parts of the game development cycle. Reframing DE&I as a way to create innovative and authentic game content meaningfully impacted the way many of the developers we worked with thought about their disciplines, and over time we got to see that become part of their thought processes even when we weren't in the room. This showed me that dissolving misconceptions and demonstrating the value of DE&I is how we can create ongoing structural change. ***LP: And finally, given so much of this interview has been about historical struggles, I'd love to end it on something future-facing. So: if you could wave a magic (workplace) wand today and change something about the job for the better, what would it be?*** **AC**: I would say that, in my ideal world, there would be no such thing as "DEI initiatives". Diversity, equity, and inclusion works best when it's holistically integrated into the structure of organisations and isn't championed as a separate thing by certain individuals. The principles and morals of inclusive and equitable practices should simply be embedded in company goals, values, and success criteria, alongside concepts like innovation, quality, market reach, and accessibility. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### Crimson Desert Is A Game Bereft Of Joy URL: https://aftermath.site/crimson-desert-is-a-game-bereft-of-joy/ Last updated: 2026-03-23T21:18:29.000Z When the students of tomorrow inevitably study the collapse of the AAA games industry as we know it today, I feel like there's a handful of titles they will particularly focus on. *Red Dead Redemption 2* for its pointless bloat,[ major sports series for their refusal to innovate](https://aftermath.site/ea-fc-madden-nba-2k-recycled-dogshit/) and, tucked somewhere near the end, *Crimson Desert*. An open-world action-RPG-adventure set in a sprawling fantasy landscape, where you play as \[a number of very boring characters\], *Crimson Desert* is a video game trying to be everything we love about classics like *The Witcher 3* and *Breath Of The Wild*. You, a big world, a horse and a sense of adventure. And if you are someone who greenlights video games based on their bullet-point features, and who thinks weirdos on Reddit comparing map sizes and the quantity of NPC dialogue in a game are a large and viable market, this is certainly a game just like those! It's big. Very big. And it's beautiful, in a technical sense, in that there's a lot of things in this game and they get drawn at very far-off distances. And there is certainly a lot to do; you can talk to almost anyone, explore almost everywhere, and there are more sidequests and odd jobs lying around than you might ever hope to complete. It's a shame that almost none of that seems to mean anything. *Crimson Desert* is an empty husk of a game. It gives you so much to do without ever providing a compelling reason for it, and it lets you talk to a world full of characters with nothing interesting to say, in a world where I couldn't care less what is happening or what has happened to it. In trying to copy the outline of better games it has entirely missed the actual reason we loved them: their heart, their spirit, their inventiveness. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/20260321222624_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/20260321163230_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/20260321164044_1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/20260321221844_1.jpg) My brief time with the game--I only played for a few hours before realising I had way better things to do with my time--was spent waiting for the fun to start, for the story to get a hook into me, for anyone to say something funny or memorable. Instead the entire time was spent doing– and this is no surprise given the developer's history with the MMO *Black Desert Online*\--what felt like someone else's shopping list; walk here, talk to someone, walk here, fight someone, listen to some utterly lifeless conversations. Like, *Crimson Desert* works just like *The Witcher 3*, it has the same shape, but ask anyone what they loved about the latter and they'll give you a very long list of things--fantastic writing, memorable characters with excellent voice acting, interesting designs, funny missions--that made the work worth it, that provided the impetus to nudge your way through a list of chores. *Crimson Desert* only gives you the list and the chores. Apparently [this game took *seven years* to make](https://www.tweaktown.com/news/110554/pearlabyss-shares-down-30-percent-after-crimson-deserts-launch/index.html?ref=aftermath.site)? And cost over $130 million? All so we could play something that had the skin but not the juice, and which for all that work [still shipped riddled with AI-generated images](https://aftermath.site/crimson-desert-ai-art-images/)? What a waste! [Crimson Desert Caught Using AI Images, Resulting Apology Written For Suckers‘We sincerely apologize for these oversights’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-199.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/Capture-4.PNG)](https://aftermath.site/crimson-desert-ai-art-images/) ### Aftermath Vs 2026 URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscriber-goals-2026/ Last updated: 2026-08-09T23:15:44.000Z Somehow, it is already time for another [one of these](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-site-subscriber-goals-2025/). If you’ve been with us for a bit, you’ll remember that we’ve aimed to obliterate each year by spelling out our subscriber goals in excruciating detail, and 2026 is no different. This already-horrible year has to die, and you’re gonna help us kill it. If you’re visiting Aftermath for the first time, welcome! Aftermath is a worker-owned, reader-supported site about games, the internet, and everything that comes after. We hope you stick around. If you’ve been around for a minute, you’re probably well aware that we’re (for the moment) an entirely reader-funded operation. So, we must continually bang that drum because subscriptions really and truly do keep us alive. The upside of all this is that we’re not beholden to any execs, investors, or other companies. As a result, we can publish whatever we see fit. In the past year, our readers—to whom we are eternally grateful—have allowed us to write about [the struggles faced by laid-off game developers trying to find new work in a rapidly contracting industry](https://aftermath.site/video-game-recruitment-job-applications-ai-layoffs/), [how unions are trying to help](https://aftermath.site/game-awards-2025-protest-future-class-uvw/), [the grim realities of major events like GDC](https://aftermath.site/gdc-2026-xbox-helix-steam-nvidia-ice/) [and Summer Game Fest in a country being assailed by its own government](https://aftermath.site/summer-game-fest-los-angeles-protests-ice-immigration-police/), [how an organization fronted by some of the biggest streamers in the world fell apart](https://aftermath.site/otk-asmongold-mizkif-twitch-youtube-sponsors-controversy-report/), [what it means to work in games media during a BDS blackout of Microsoft](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/), [how to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 entirely with Citi Bike points](https://aftermath.site/switch-2-citibike-bike-angels-farming/), [a secretive company that’s filled beloved video game websites with AI and gambling](https://aftermath.site/gameshub-clickout-media-seo-gambling-ai/), [what happened after a *Ghost of Yotei* developer was fired for making a joke about Charlie Kirk](https://aftermath.site/sucker-punch-charlie-kirk-fired/), [why controversial banned art game *Horses* is actually tame](https://aftermath.site/horses-indie-game-banned-steam-epic-review-impressions-santa-ragione/), [how AI is making it hard to tell if a journalist is real](https://aftermath.site/nicole-carpenter-modern-newsstand-mcclatchy-mystery-byline/), [what happened when a beloved member of the fighting game community was taken by ICE](https://aftermath.site/ice-ludovic-mbock-baltimore-fgc-street-fighter-immigration/), [how unconventional publishers are trying to unfuck the video game industry](https://aftermath.site/indie-game-publishers-outersloth-pocketpair/), [how to read *Moby Dick* in a day](https://aftermath.site/moby-dick-marathon-mystic/), [how the Mayor’s Office has been quietly supporting NYC’s video game scene for years](https://aftermath.site/nyc-mayors-office-media-entertainment-video-games-affordable/), [why Chainsaw Man is better than the Bible](https://aftermath.site/chainsaw-man-reze-arc-tatsuki-fujimoto-the-bible/),[ how the left doesn’t hate technology (but does hate being exploited)](https://aftermath.site/anthropic-claude-ai-leftist-technology/), and [what the Epstein files reveal about how powerful people see video games](https://aftermath.site/jeffrey-epstein-files-kotick-thiel-xbox-rockstar/). We also [eulogized a goldfish](https://aftermath.site/pointcrow-tortellini-goldfish-dead-elden-ring-youtube/) [and a horse](https://aftermath.site/haru-urara-horse-death-umamusume/), both of whom were improbably related to video games. Perhaps even more significantly, subscribers have allowed us to bring on four part-timers: [Isaiah Colbert](https://aftermath.site/author/isaiahcolbert/) and [Nicole Carpenter](https://aftermath.site/author/nicolecarpenter/) as regular contributors, and recently, [Ash Parrish as a contributor and Joshua Rivera as a monthly columnist](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-ash-parrish-joshua-rivera/). They’ve all made Aftermath an immensely more vibrant and interesting place to both work at and read; we couldn’t imagine the site without them. Reader support also allowed us to [relaunch the website entirely](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-relaunch-announcement/), giving us a new backend provided by Ghost and Outpost, and a shiny new home page that we still think is just swell. More so than ever, Aftermath is a real business now, as opposed to an awkward tangle of writers trying to pilot a single trench coat like it’s Voltron. When we first started running these subscriber drives in 2024, we had only a couple thousand paying subscribers. Now we’re up to 5,130 as of this writing (**UPDATE:** Thanks to readers' kind support, we've already flown past that number), with an additional 23,000 free members waiting in the wings for their moment to start giving us money (your time could be now!). As is tradition, it’s now time for us to share with you our wildest ambitions. Here’s what we’ve got cooking, should we reach specific subscriber thresholds: ~~5,500 - You Are Error (finally) returns.~~ **5,713 - Where we're at now.** 5,800 - We’ll launch an annual Aftermath zine that bundles together our favorite stories of the year in physical form. 6,000 - We can travel to and cover events more regularly. 6,150 - A [second](https://aftermath.site/the-aftermath-party-was-good/) party, and we can cover Luke’s travel expenses (though given the current state of America, we doubt he’ll want to attend). 6,300 - One of us will read a horrible video game book of readers’ choosing and write a book report about it. 6,500 - We can bring on people in a part-time capacity to help us with more specialized tasks (a video person, a dedicated businessperson, someone to focus on our social media accounts and promotion, etc). 7,000 - We can hire a new full-time staff member! 8,000 - A third party, in Australia (we’re already training to fend off [the magpies](https://aftermath.site/australian-magpie-swooping-video-game/)). 10,000 - A lucky reader gets to meet one of our cats. ??? - We can rent some sort of office space and work together in-person if we so choose (hijinks will ensue). 99,999 - Inside Baseball Year. 100,000 - Though G/O Media [no longer exists](https://g-omedia.com/?ref=aftermath.site), we will nonetheless purchase the biggest, nicest cannon we can find and fire somebody whose name rhymes with Spim Janfeller out of it. 150,000 - We’ll force [the owners of Polymarket and Kalshi](https://bsky.app/profile/npr.org/post/3mggi6jrfho2k?ref=aftermath.site) to duke it out in the UFC Octagon. 200,000 - Woke Century. 300,000 - We’ll dedicate our lives to buying [every horrible jacket](https://aftermath.site/hideo-kojimas-commitment-to-acronym-jackets-remains-undefeated/) Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang covets before he can. As with years prior, we plan to regularly update this page—and let everybody know when we do so—to ensure that readers can follow along at home. We also reserve the right to move tiers around a little should budgetary constraints reveal themselves over time (running a business is hard, lol). If you’d like to kick things off by subscribing or going up a subscription tier (which will grant you access to our Discord, as well as a merch discount), you can [do so here](https://aftermath.site/#/portal/signup). Or if you’d like to supercharge this whole operation, we also have a [tips jar where you can donate whatever you want](https://aftermath.site/tip-jar/) (RICH PEOPLE PLEASE NOTICE THIS). Thank you! With your support, we can reduce another year to rubble and heal a wounded nation with the power of blogs. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-1.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### I Don’t Like How Alex Street Fighter 6 Uses His Free Will URL: https://aftermath.site/i-dont-like-how-alex-street-fighter-6-uses-his-free-will/ Last updated: 2026-03-23T18:48:16.000Z I’m one of those gamers who enjoy fighting games for their [story modes](https://kotaku.com/tekken-8-special-character-intros-jin-kazama-kazuya-1850280673?ref=aftermath.site). And I’ve seen a lot of stupid shit in fighting games that have come [full circle and become great](https://kotaku.com/street-fighter-6-ken-udon-comics-ps5-crypto-meme-xbox-1850409082?ref=aftermath.site) because of how hilariously they flesh out their larger-than-life characters. *Street Fighter 6* is doing whatever the opposite of that is with Alex in *Street Fighter 6*. [Alex](https://www.streetfighter.com/6/en-us/character/alex?ref=aftermath.site) is a character I don’t think about often in the *Street Fighter* mythos. He’s the other blonde guy with a couple of cool wrestling moves and a Hulk Hogan bandana. Otherwise, he’s pretty blah. My lukewarm feelings about Alex actually work in Capcom’s favor. They give the team a perfect opportunity to retool his moveset and characterization in a way that makes even players like me rubberneck when he shows up in *SF6*. The overhaul they gave Alex in its latest game was the kind that makes the “I’m getting into fighting games for real this time” crowd point to him as the shot their empty promises are riding on. Everything about Alex right out of the box was primo Isaiah-bait. Chief among them is his motion capture work by All Elite Wrestling’s [Kenny “By God” Omega](https://aftermath.site/kenny-omega-aew-wrestling-little-v/). With a [more robust wrassling moveset](https://www.ign.com/articles/aews-kenny-omega-brings-alex-to-life-for-street-fighter-6-ign-fan-fest-2026?ref=aftermath.site) that adds depth to his otherwise forgettable character, it made him a must-play character for scrublords like myself, just for the novelty of having Omega hit a spear. Of course, all those efforts feel pointless because his story mode is a series of backflips, shoehorning in an incestuous family reveal that gives me the ick the more I think about it. You see, Alex was an orphan after losing his parents at a young age. He was later adopted by [Tom](https://streetfighter.fandom.com/wiki/Tom?ref=aftermath.site), a family friend of his cadaverific parents, and an NPC who debuted back in 1997's *Street Fighter III: New Generation*. But I don’t really give a shit about Tom (for now); what I give a shit about is his daughter, [Patricia](https://streetfighter.fandom.com/wiki/Patricia?ref=aftermath.site). While training, Alex would spend the rest of his life trying to be as good a fighter as his adoptive father, as his adoptive sister watched on. Their relationship, up to this point in the *SF* mythos, was that of a supportive found family, with Patricia cheering Alex on as Alex promised Tom he’d protect Patricia. Basic shonen anime shit. [I’ve played these games before.](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDhRuMsMjI2mpSeh-S3VVS-Y3rxoUoZ61zIe2JYv4h%5FMREdB4tY6AAeg&s&ref=aftermath.site) When we jump ahead to Alex in *SF6*, he’s adopted the heelish persona of a professional wrestler. His moves hit with extreme prejudice, and he’s much more of a showboaty jerk. That is to say, he’s adjusted well to his new role. When Alex returns home to Patricia in his World Tour story mode, the camera pans down to her pregnant belly. They’re gonna have a daughter. Turns out the “found” in their familial relationship became a placeholder for the classic case of “it’s not by blood” incest storyline. While this isn’t a unique twist, especially in anime-style works, things get a lot more complicated when the game reveals that there are more levels to Alex and Patricia’s relationship. As [Automaton Media](https://automaton-media.com/en/news/street-fighter-6-what-is-alexs-relationship-with-patricia-unpacking-backstory-details-and-subtle-localization-discrepancies/?ref=aftermath.site) points out, Tom is Alex’s mom's cousin. So, alongside Alex and Patricia being future parents who started out as adoptive siblings— depicting a five-year-old Alex bouncing Patricia on his knee at the age of zero which becomes grosser the more that you think about Alex impregnating her—they’re also second cousins. This revelation hit me like a brick. Getting married to one’s adoptive sister is already pretty weird. They did not have to also be actually related. I get it, second-cousin marriages happen in the real world. But the hoops someone at Capcom had to go through writing his story mode and adding that they’re also blood-related was a hat on a hat, and that’s grounds for character assassination for anyone who had him as their main. Alex’s bio says he likes family and training and hates annoying people, but I don’t think he considered how annoying his life update would be to everyone playing the game. Posting my ick over the whole affair on Twitter led to some helpful rando breaking out the cousin chart as if the [23andMe family tree prop would change my mind](https://bsky.app/profile/shineyezehuhh.bsky.social/post/3mhdmc5fj7k2n?ref=aftermath.site). Nah, fam. Incest by both the spirit and the letter is grounds for me to not wanna not wanna fuck with an Alex main. ### Notes Towards A 'Woke 2' URL: https://aftermath.site/woke-2-wokeness-black-lives-matter-activism/ Last updated: 2026-03-24T19:12:32.000Z When I think about the successes and failures of wokeness as an ideological lens, I think about the music video for Childish Gambino’s song “This Is America.” When the music video dropped in 2018, I remember feeling like it was genius. Police brutality against Black Americans had been a central focus of my political activation since 2014, when the murders of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice lit the country on fire. This was the beginnings of the Black Lives Matter movement. I was living in Chicago when a group of activists [shut down](https://www.nbcchicago.com/video/news/local/protesters-shut-down-sb-dan-ryan%5Fchicago/1990577/?ref=aftermath.site) the Dan Ryan Expressway, spanning across it in a human chain. Four years later, watching “This Is America” was an affirmation of the things I already believed and could see to be true just by being politically aware: America is a death cult where it's wholly permissible to use state sanctioned violence against Black people, and in particular they are being killed by police. For the second round of Black Lives Matter in 2020, I lived in New York. As the COVID-19 pandemic shut the city down, it was also writhing with life in the form of protest. This was life-giving fire—I remember being handed a bouquet from a woman in a march going by, then later watching a bus driver film us as I marched past her, tears in her eyes—but by the end of the summer I also understood its limitations. I went to a rally with the man who is now my husband, and on our walk home I told him how annoying it was to hear everyone’s Instagram handles after every speech. The idea of wokeness comes from Black culture. It’s not a complicated idea—to be “woke” means that you are not sleepwalking through life. You are awake and aware of the political realities around you. Notably, wokeness does not instruct you how to use this knowledge. If there is to be a sequel to wokeness, a “woke 2,” what I want to see is a better understanding of what to do once you have woken up. Being so for real: woke 2 is an idea that started as a joke. Erin Vanderhoof from Vanity Fair [describes its origins](https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/story/can-woke-2-go-irl-protests-online-culture?srsltid=AfmBOooiak8DdN5sWR4SVJtWS06ExCzB9q59ySQ2lEtskIowgzukB1eL&ref=aftermath.site) as coming from “progressive retribution fantasies after Donald Trump’s 2024 victory.” The idea was about bringing back wokeness as it was during Obama's presidency, when many people thought having a Black president meant racial progress was inevitable so our work was done—a political movement as defined by a desire to get back to brunch. But the wheels fell off that brand of neoliberal thought a long time ago. “Woke” as a term joined ideas like “political correctness,” “DEI,” or “social justice” in its popular meaning becoming “things liberals do or say that’s annoying.” Calling something woke became more about being able to signal an in-group and out-group—a polite way of calling something tainted by its association with certain kinds of liberal-coded ways of being “anti-racist,” like mandatory unconscious bias training at work. The idea of flipping things back on their head—no, we *are* woke again, and you are too *or else*!—really cracks me up. Wokeness full cultural victory! Put those pronouns back in your bio, do a land acknowledgement—the wokeness struggle session begins now! But if I were to ask myself what I want out of the idea of being woke in this political era, there are failures of woke 1 that I think are useful to dissect. Wokeness, being so wrapped up in the Black Lives Matter movement which itself was reliant on the ecosystem of Twitter, was sometimes more about watching than taking action. I remember watching the protests in Ferguson, Missouri after the death of Mike Brown on Periscope, a Twitter product, trying to use the internet to get a sense of what was happening on the ground. I don’t know that watching all that footage did me much good; sure, I was pretty aware of what was going on in Ferguson, but there wasn’t much I could *do*. Mostly, it gave me a panic attack. > In 2026, talk is cheap. As a movement, Black Lives Matter was intended to be decentralized and leaderless, but of course, that didn’t mean that figureheads did not emerge. The negative space in the idea of wokeness—who are you watching, who is bringing you to awareness?—can easily be occupied by grifters and other bad actors. In 2025, [the executive director of the Oklahoma City branch of the Black Lives Matter organization](https://oklahomavoice.com/2025/12/12/oklahoma-city-black-lives-matter-leader-indicted-on-embezzlement-money-laundering-charges/?ref=aftermath.site) was indicted on embezzlement charges. Shaun King, an organizer who would go on to work on Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, has had enough accusations of pocketing donations meant for families of Black people killed by police violence that [there’s a section on it in his Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun%5FKing?ref=aftermath.site#Fundraising%5Factivities%5Fand%5Fdisputes). Because the Black Lives Matter movement used Twitter to signal boost news and organize events, apparently [former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson became friends](https://mashable.com/article/twitter-dorsey-deray-ferguson?ref=aftermath.site). I think we all know how that one turned out—as soon as [Twitter execs found a buyer](https://abcnews.com/Business/timeline-elon-musks-tumultuous-twitter-acquisition-attempt/story?id=86611191&ref=aftermath.site) to take their company, they [passed it off to a white supremacist](https://mashable.com/article/elon-musk-stay-woke-twitter-shirts-black-lives-matter?ref=aftermath.site) and washed their hands of the whole thing. In this first version of wokeness, I wasn’t nearly as skeptical of figureheads and corporations co-signing social movements as I needed to be. I had this unshakeable belief that justice would emerge in the end, that people would do the right thing just because it was the right thing to do. I trusted companies, I put my faith in people who posted about the right things online. Now in 2026, that talk is cheap. People—and corporations—who loudly demonstrate how much they are aware of the right things, how woke they are, are not always behaving in alignment with those values. In 2021, Target made a commitment to invest $2 billion[ into Black-owned businesses](https://corporate.target.com/press/release/2021/04/target-commits-to-spending-more-than-2-billion-wit?ref=aftermath.site) by stocking their products in its stores. By 2025, after America elected Donald Trump president *again*, Target had [rolled back its DEI initiatives](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/24/target-rolls-back-major-dei-initiatives.html?ref=aftermath.site), including scaling back its investment in stocking products from Black-owned businesses. A long time ago, that might have felt like a betrayal, but I don’t put much faith in publicly-traded corporations to do the right thing anymore. Wokeness as an ideology became about showing people how much you are aware of things happening around you, rather than a cogent plan about what to do with your newfound awareness. Being aware is really easy to do, and if just being aware becomes in itself a virtue, then there’s the potential for an ecosystem that is centered around showing other people how much you know. *Oh, you’re fighting for Black Lives? I bet you don’t even know about these other marginalized groups of people that also need help!* I have watched the brightest minds of my generation, starving hysterical naked, arguing about whether or not the finale of *Stephen Universe* was sufficiently righteous on the internet. Knowing and being able to see the firmament that upholds injustice is useful, but you also have to know what to do with that knowledge. I felt proud of seeing different celebrities extol the virtues of the “This Is America” music video, but at the end of the day, it’s just a music video. What did I think people sharing it a lot was going to do? “Stay woke,” raising awareness, cannot be where one’s desire to do good terminates. When all you ask of a person is that they stay aware, attention and consumption takes the place of action. Getting out into the street to march was wonderful, but not when the marches are aimless and without goals, or when they become a platform for people to gain new Instagram followers (*follow me to know where the next action is!*). Wokeness can be instead about small, interpersonal actions, a way of linking humans together in a chain of community. I think the [mostly grassroots effort to boycott Target](https://19thnews.org/2026/03/target-boycott-black-women-protest/?ref=aftermath.site) is an example of this in action. There is only one goal for this boycott: show Target that it has lost the loyalty of the Black shoppers it used to enjoy, unless the company is willing to reinstate the policies it dropped after Trump was elected president again. As far as I know, there’s no leader to this movement, and it is mostly a spontaneous action born out of Target deciding to roll back its DEI initiatives. It’s not going to change the world, sure, but it’s making a dent in Target’s finances. When [a Black pastor attempted to call off the boycott](https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/target-shopper-boycott-over-dei-changes-winds-down-f6e0a299?gaa%5Fat=eafs&gaa%5Fn=AWEtsqcGUn8%5F6MywVhzyYEf6z0Ao3SudiRSNZ9zIq7BmNSBfcjG%5FbilmpFud2l-w-hY%3D&gaa%5Fts=69c02e81&gaa%5Fsig=Ie8rkvD9qQFm34%5FnK5x0P%5FOi5WMVkyQtyV6bwG8epiC1gblIcdR2-9oVptYV2ss2l6FUwBVUmJUENH2amZhLug%3D%3D&ref=aftermath.site) after a year, [Black people en masse refused](https://19thnews.org/2026/03/target-boycott-black-women-protest/?ref=aftermath.site). Former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner told USA Today that in meetings with Target executives, they were still hostile to the idea of diversity, equity and inclusion, [and she intended to escalate her efforts in organizing against the brand.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2026/03/18/target-dei-boycott-backlash/89189046007/?ref=aftermath.site) All in all, not shopping somewhere isn’t a big ask, but if a lot of people do it together, then you can demonstrate power in a way that these corporations understand: [losing them money](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/03/03/target-another-quarter-of-declining-sales-but-signs-of-improvement-start-2026?ref=aftermath.site). > I don’t really want to change the world anymore. Recently, I also joined the Democratic Socialists of America. It was the campaign for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a campaign he handily won, that tipped me over. At least in New York, the DSA is an organization that offers me a lot of opportunities to use my knowledge of what needs fixing in this city and put it into action. I don’t think electoralism is the answer, per se, but I know this group will give me resources to put pressure on my local government if and when I need to. Another part of this is that I have stopped trying to demonstrate my wokeness to other people. I want to lead with actions rather than words. And besides, trying to argue people into submission is quicksand you’ll never get out of—a lot of the time, [the person I’m yelling at on the internet knows their argument doesn’t make sense](https://aftermath.site/assassins-creed-shadows-yasuke-racism/), and by responding to it with anything other than “fuck off” I’m just amplifying it. Two weeks ago, a friend reached out to me to help with a fundraiser for my friend Stella. We talked about her situation on the [Aftermath podcast](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/pokopia-is-a-viva-pinatalike/)– she had been scammed out of a lot of money from a game developer who decided just to never pay her for services rendered. We didn’t end up fundraising the entire amount of the money Stella was owed, but we raised nearly $13,000\. I was happy to raise awareness of what Stella went through on the channels I have available to me. It is good that people knew that the studio she worked for scammed her. But more than that, I made a material difference in my friend’s life. It doesn’t have to be a national movement. Stella’s live stream was only a few hours, and most of the people participating were just her friends and neighbors. Still, we managed to do a little good just by pooling our resources and working together. In 2014, 2018, and 2020, I thought that it was possible to be so woke, so aware, that liberty would emerge. I don’t know what the end goal of a woke 2 could or should be—I think of it more of a chance to give back to people and communities that have helped me, to create spaces of love for the people I love in a world that can be uncaring. I think I don’t really want to change the world anymore. I am just happy to be able to do a little good. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-1.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### Welcome To Woke Week URL: https://aftermath.site/aftermath-site-woke-week/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T11:25:44.000Z We’ve seen enough. We’re calling it: Woke is back. Rumors of woke’s death, of course, were somewhat exaggerated, but there’s no denying that it strained under the yoke of a years-long corporate co-opting, leaving it bereft of substance as Target sold Pride merch and the Democrats told us that everything would be fine if we just put a person of color in charge of the worldwide war machine. Then came the post-Trump vibe shift: social media stars showing their true colors and siding with power the second they got the chance, platforms algorithmically prioritizing reactionary slop even more than they already had before, companies jettisoning diversity-related initiatives with reckless abandon, AI displacing human heart and soul, and regular people bafflingly lauding the return of the r-slur, which hasn’t been edgy since the ‘90s. But in the time since Trump reassumed control of the White House and installed a content-obsessed administration that can’t stop stepping on rakes—and hordes of whiny cowards bent the knee—normal people have come to realize something: This sucks! Nobody likes [ICE occupying cities](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-ice-minnesota-minnmax/). Nobody likes sudden, inexplicable forever wars. Less consequential but equally revealing, nobody likes Kid Rock-fronted Super Bowl halftime show counterprogramming (but they *love* Bad Bunny). Nobody likes the [cadre of embarrassing ghouls](https://defector.com/bari-weiss-is-the-symptom?ref=aftermath.site) [taking over mass media](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/donald-trump-tiktok-deal-10-billion-ellison-bytedance-china/?ref=aftermath.site). And, most of all, nobody buys Mark Zuckerberg’s weird gold-chain-wearing rebrand. His head always has and will forever belong in a toilet. Also, while I’m up here just saying things, [looksmaxxing](https://www.404media.co/we-have-learned-nothing-about-amplifying-morons/?ref=aftermath.site) is super gay. This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2\. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. Typically, this is the time of year we’d lob out another [Inside Baseball Week](https://aftermath.site/tag/inside-baseball/), so we’ve got a bit of that, too: interviews with people behind DEI initiatives in video games explaining what that *actually* means, as opposed to YouTubers making wild conspiratorial claims based on whatever they think will get them views. Also, we’ll probably talk at length about *Buffy The Vampire Slayer*, like we’ve been threatening to for years, and Riley is doing something involving cooking. Whether you’re a gigawoke sicko or merely woke-curious, you’ll almost certainly have a great time. In service of all that, we’re also [rolling out new merch](https://aftermath.site/woke-2-tshirt-hoodie-hat/): a shirt, hoodie, hat, and mug with “Woke 2” in a familiar but legally distinct font. And in service of *that*, we’re having a sale on [two of our subscriptions](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-site-subscriber-goals-2025/): For those who'd like to pay monthly, [you can get your first month of our "Reader" tier for just $1, and for those who'd rather pay annually, you can sign up to our higher "Member" tier for just $75](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscription-sale/). That’s basically the price of an annual Reader sub, but you’ll get an invite to our Discord, a full-text RSS feed, and a merch discount. [CHECK OUT OUR SALES](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-subscription-sale/) If you’re a longtime Aftermath supporter, enjoy the festivities. If this is your first time checking us out, we’re thrilled to have you. Feel free to kick the tires, read through the archive, and learn [how to buy a Switch 2 entirely with Citi Bike points](https://aftermath.site/switch-2-citibike-bike-angels-farming/) (the wokest way to do so, obviously). Woke is back, and it’s here to stay. We hope you will, too. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-1.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### Buy Some 'Woke 2' Merch, Support A Worker-Owned Website URL: https://aftermath.site/woke-2-tshirt-hoodie-hat/ Last updated: 2026-03-23T20:33:09.000Z To celebrate [Woke Week](https://aftermath.site/aftermath-site-woke-week/) we've [released an entire line of new merch](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/?ref=aftermath.site) devoted to the comeback. The line includes a t-shirt in two colours, a hoodie, a mug and a hat, all featuring 'Woke 2' as a familiar but legally distinct logo. [Our shirts and hoodies are made by AS Colour](https://www.ascolour.com.au/responsible-sourcing?srsltid=AfmBOoqPzR3bPtPFfS3RRzoa1pvxg8OmNLFiRQ452ojAgo-TZeh0QWt9&ref=aftermath.site), and for those wondering about global shipping rates, times and tariffs, each item ships from whichever warehouse is closest to you: T-Shirts: USA Hoodie: USA, UK & EU Mug: USA, UK, EU, Canada, Japan & Australia Hat: USA, UK, EU & Canada The proceeds of every sale go towards the running of this worker-owned website, so even if you're not a reader or subscriber, buying a shirt or hat here really helps us out! [BUY MERCH](https://aftermath-shop.fourthwall.com/?ref=aftermath.site) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/a910d179-e4bb-4e2e-9e2b-4ca0184397d3.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/9c8b5d24-8f23-490d-9453-6c0da37591e9.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/77c524cc-3081-49e9-8396-42028bf33840.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/204e7316-00ba-47e5-8a34-06c7cc596924.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/17db6c96-2993-4f0b-b659-7c64f8ef50f3.png) [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/download-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ****This week on Aftermath, we’re celebrating Woke 2**. What does that mean? Pieces that dig into the origins of woke—not the empty, sanitized version peddled by companies, but actual culture created by people—as well as communities that are already charting a course to a bolder, better future where we can all just be chill to one another. [Read More ](https://aftermath.site/tag/woke-week/) ### Crimson Desert Caught Using AI Images, Resulting Apology Written For Suckers URL: https://aftermath.site/crimson-desert-ai-art-images/ Last updated: 2026-03-22T23:27:50.000Z As players began making their way through *Crimson Desert*, a sprawling RPG adventure released last week, they started noticing that the game featured multiple examples of AI-generated imagery. Here's one: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image-1.png) Reddit user Rex\_Spy says this image is [found](https://www.reddit.com/r/CrimsonDesert/comments/1rz2f2l/found%5Fthis%5Fai%5Fpainting/?ref=aftermath.site) "in Oakenshield Manor, in the southwest part of the first city/town. It's the staircase in the back of the manor" And another: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image-2.png) [Due-Perspective9206](https://www.reddit.com/user/Due-Perspective9206/?ref=aftermath.site) found this one, and wonders 'how deep it runs' And another: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image-3.png) 'That's AI or am I crazy?', says [Scared\_Noise\_395](https://www.reddit.com/user/Scared%5FNoise%5F395/?ref=aftermath.site) In response to the allegations the team's developers at Pearl Abyss have issued both an apology and a statement attempting to explain the presence of the images in the game, [posting on Twitter](https://x.com/CrimsonDesert%5F/status/2035718975909470706?s=20&ref=aftermath.site): > We would like to address questions regarding the use of AI in Crimson Desert. > > During development, some 2D visual props were created as part of early-stage iteration using experimental AI generative tools. These assets helped us rapidly explore tone and atmosphere in the earlier phases of production. However, our intention has always been for any such assets to be replaced, following final work and review by our art and development teams, with work that aligned with our quality standards and creative direction. > > Following reports from our community, we have identified that some of these assets were unintentionally included in the final release. This is not in line with our internal standards, and we take full responsibility for it. > > We also acknowledge that we should have clearly disclosed our use of AI. While these tools were primarily used during early production, with the expectation that these assets would be replaced prior to release, we recognize that this does not excuse the lack of transparency. > > We sincerely apologize for these oversights. > > We are currently conducting a comprehensive audit of all in-game assets and are taking steps to replace any affected content. Updated assets will be rolled out in upcoming patches. In parallel, we are reviewing and strengthening our internal processes to ensure greater transparency and consistency in how we communicate with players moving forward. I'm sorry, but just like we've seen in [every other example lately of AI-generated imagery](https://aftermath.site/this-is-where-my-anno-117-impressions-were-going-to-go/) being [found undisclosed after a game has already been released](https://aftermath.site/the-alters-ai-controversy/) and bought by people, that 'explanation' can fuck right off. It is harder to use this stuff for placeholders than the decades-old practice of just...using placeholders! A placeholder image is *supposed* to look weird and bad, as Obsidian's Josh Sawyer explains below, because that makes it easier to find and replace when adding the finishing touches to a game. By using AI-generated imagery you're adding extra (lake-boiling) steps to a problem that never needed solving. > Placeholder assets in a game should look obnoxiously temporary, so obvious that no one would mistake it for the final asset. In past games we've used the doge dog (rip) as an icon, hot pink versions of characters, our CEO's head, etc. If you use a temp asset that seems passable, it may stay there. > > — [Josh Sawyer (@jesawyer.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p7l4zzjj4r3zkqlsnfdymrjl?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-22T20:07:53.846Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p7l4zzjj4r3zkqlsnfdymrjl/post/3mhodwneua22u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) And having users find the images scattered throughout a game undisclosed also, [as we've discussed with *The Alters*](https://aftermath.site/the-alters-ai-controversy/), makes you wonder where *else* there's undisclosed AI use! So these specific images have been found by players, great, but what else in such a huge game has been made or cooked by a machine? They can say they're auditing the game's content all they want, but you'd have to have been born yesterday to place your full trust in them after this. I've been playing the game for the last week and not enjoying it *at all* (my full impressions are coming soon), with one of my biggest complaints being that for all its scale the whole thing feels really lifeless. I guess I now know at least one small reason why that's the case. ### The Video Game Industry Is A Mess, But Something Will Come After URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-gdc-games-industry-crash-atari/ Last updated: 2026-03-23T13:34:23.000Z With regular news of [layoffs dominating the headlines](https://aftermath.site/crystal-dynamics-red-storm-layoffs/) while game developers commiserate over anxieties around [the future of both the industry and America](https://aftermath.site/gdc-2026-xbox-helix-steam-nvidia-ice/), it can be easy to succumb to doom and gloom. But things don’t just end. Call it optimism or delusion, but there’s hope to be found in the simple fact that there will be a future. On the latest [Aftermath Hours](https://aftermath.site/tag/aftermath-hours/), we talk about that. This time around, we’re joined by [Samantha Kalman](https://bsky.app/profile/samanthazero.com?ref=aftermath.site), a game developer who’s worked on everything from experimental indies to *Apex Legends*, to discuss her very cool-looking new game, [*Verses: Hyper-Kinetic Aerial Joust*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3627540/Verses%5FHyperKinetic%5FAerial%5FJoust/?ref=aftermath.site), and the fraught industry climate surrounding it. What does it mean that even somebody with such a proven track record has been nonetheless unable to secure funding via traditional channels? And can [a Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/cw/superfuturegames?ref=aftermath.site), a podcast, and a dream really keep an inventive idea afloat in such choppy waters? More broadly, what will the games industry—or games *industries*, considering how many different types of games there are—look like when it rises from the ashes of this increasingly unstable moment? Questions far outnumber answers, but nobody could’ve predicted that games as we know them now would emerge from the industry crash of 1983, so some kind of future awaits us. Also, Samantha tells us about a truly wild *Mega Man* novelization in which the blue bomber becomes a real boy. You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review so that we can one day write our own *Mega Man* novelization in which he turns back into a robot (genre: body horror). Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity): **Samantha:** If the video game industry is a popularity industry—of people wanting to make games because it’s cool to make games—we may lose that. But remember that the industry’s also gone through many rebirths. We went from computers to consoles. We went from cartridges to CD-ROMS. We went from offline to online. We went from non-mobile to mobile. All of these tentpoles altered the industry forever—changed everything. This moment of generative AI and tooling is also doing that. If you think that nobody lost their jobs as a result of shifting from cartridges to CDs, you’re wrong. How many people? Probably not as many as are being affected now. So the scale of this moment is severe, and I agree with you that it is not sustainable. What to say? If you have free time or if you have a creative urge, find a way to scratch that itch, because we should be here to dance and play and flail about. That’s why we’re here; we’re not here to work ourselves to the grave. Finding your own personal peace in your own community and your own answers, I think, is the best thing any of us can do individually. At a macro scale, I have no idea what’s gonna happen to the business or the economy. Everything is so volatile and violent right now. It’s concerning. This game is definitely my way of pushing back and trying to present a more optimistic world. I’m not really talking about the story yet, but it’s there, and I think you can see it and feel it in the game and the energy that we have. So it’s also in many ways my rebellion against this moment. It’s my way of saying “This is what’s important, and I will not move, I will not budge on that.” **Nathan:** I think it’s all you can do, as you were saying. Just make something, because that is within your control. Everything else is gonna happen regardless. **Samantha:** We can’t control the outcomes of any of this, but we can control how we spend our time and attention. **Luke:** I’m slightly more optimistic on broader future things because when you talk about things like the industry crashing in the wake of Atari, it was an industry crashing; it wasn’t video games crashing. There were other types of video games in other parts of the world that were still prospering and finding their way—that turned into classic series today that came from companies we still love today. When we talk about the video game industry now, we sort of feel like it’s on the brink of collapse because we see negative factors impacting everywhere we look: the types of games we play and the types of companies that make those games. But there’s not really *a* video game industry. There’s separate video game industries where circles on the Venn diagram sometimes don’t overlap at all or only very briefly overlap in terms of tools or whatever. **Nathan:** You have Steam and *Roblox* and live-service games and single-player games and indie games and so on. **Luke:** But also in terms of funding, you have the remnants of the triple-A industry that have their own financial means… increasingly from Saudi Arabia. You have other studios where they have a loyal fanbase—these dedicated smaller scale publishers where people are like “I will always buy a game from this publisher.” You’ve got studios outside the US that are able to tap into government funding for the arts and for games. And so when we talk about things collapsing and things being unsustainable, they are. There’s a lot of bad shit already happening, and there’s probably more to come. But the thing I’m slightly optimistic about, just like we saw in the early-to-mid ‘80s, is that as those things happen, the areas that are less affected or more nimble are able to adapt to the new circumstances and environment. And whether that’s governments across the world recognizing a greater need for funding, or whether that’s the people in charge of funding—and this is already happening—recognizing that the means of investment they were looking for in games to fund these high-risk games like *Highguard*, maybe you need to go back. Maybe you need to adapt a Hollywood studio model. Maybe we need to go back to the PS2 era of having a stable of games and hoping one of them’s a hit because that’s the business and investment is a risk. You can’t guarantee a return on investment, or it’s not a fucking investment. And there are an increasing number of funding companies emerging out there now—some of them as the result of indie games that have hit it big. **Nathan:** Outersloth from *Among Us*. **Luke:** Outersloth is a perfect example. But there’s actual dedicated games funds that are new and more nimble and are like “We’re gonna give you X amount of money to make a game. If it’s a success, it’s a success. If it’s not, that’s video games.” I’ll take the idea that I’m gonna fund 100 games; maybe five of them make money, and maybe one of them is the next *Among Us*. And that’s not great, but it’s \[a means of\] funding a lot of games. It’s funding some teams to make a second or third game. There’s new ways to adapt that will look at the wreckage we’re heading towards now—slow motion, *Burnout*\-style—and be like “Alright, that didn’t work. What is going to work for the platforms and the economic realities and the development timescales and costs of the 2020s going forward?” Is that going to mean a dwindling number of triple-A games to the point where we’re only going to see *Call of Duty* and *Grand Theft Auto* and *EA FC*? Maybe. But are we also gonna work shit out to get more smaller games underneath that scale funded? I don’t know. I’m not a business guy; I’m not in charge of that kind of money. I’m a history guy who knows that these cycles don’t just fall off a cliff and end. Things come out of endings, and they’re different, and we don’t know what they look like, because that’s the other thing about history: We can’t see it coming. No one watching the crash of Atari could’ve seen the Super Nintendo ten years later—or seen the Nintendo 64 or the PlayStation being a disc-based console in such a relatively short timeframe. We won’t be able to see that either. But it’ll be there. So it’s not the most optimistic take, but I also feel like it’s gonna happen. There’s gonna be some good and constructive stuff coming out of the last three or four years and the next few going forward. ## Recommended [GDC Was Defined By Anxiety About The Future Of The Games Industry And America, Even If Big Companies Didn’t Want To Acknowledge It“It’s just so crazy to go from ‘We’re another diversity group that has its own feelings and thoughts’ to ‘Are we going to be fucking deported without legal and due process?’”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-198.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gdc-1.png)](https://aftermath.site/gdc-2026-xbox-helix-steam-nvidia-ice/) ### Marathon Players Are About To Solve Its Weeks-Long ARG URL: https://aftermath.site/marathon-cryo-archive-arg-community-bungie-i-love-bees/ Last updated: 2026-03-23T13:34:50.000Z Shortly after *Marathon* was released on March 5, players noticed a QR code—part of a cosmetic weapons sticker—was linked to a strange website: Cryoarchive Systems. Then, something weird started happening. Terminals on a specific map starting suddenly booting up. Players who interacted with the terminals received cryptic messages. Terminal interactions seemed to impact that mysterious website. A video feed on the website was another clue, which set off players into an alternate reality game that's spanned a few weeks so far. And it's all to unlock a new map, set on the Marathon ship—the infamous endgame. Over the past few weeks, the community has banded together in Discord servers, social media, and Reddit to test out theories and solve developer Bungie's puzzles. *Marathon* player Trombone told Aftermath that, once a new channel, called #breach-protocol, appeared in the official *Marathon* Discord, people started testing the ways in which the terminals changed the website. "This step specifically took a large community push to solve, as completion was based on the number of activated terminals within a limited time frame," he said. The Breachers of Tomorrow Discord is one of the largest *Marathon* ARG communities. They've got a Discord, [an impressive fan-made website](https://breacher.net/about?ref=aftermath.site), and a big ol' Google Docs tracking progress in one space. It was started shortly after the ARG began, organized by a *Marathon* player. It grew from a place for the editors of a community document to chat into the massive community of more than 1,000 players, one of the organizers, *Marathon* player PinkTubeSox said. Bungie is known for this sort of thing: It's [*I Love Bees* ARG](https://42entertainment.com/work/ilovebees?ref=aftermath.site) for *Halo 2* defined how developers can use games outside their own games to get a community invested. It was viral marketing before TikTok, something that spread organically through the already excited *Halo 2* community. It used everything from real-world payphones to a radio drama and mysterious DVDs. It's a way for developers to get people invested in spending time inside their game, and thinking about it even when they're not. "Honestly, I feel like these mysteries really open up game worlds in a way that most games miss," Breachers of Tomorrow community member CrowdTypical said. "I think these types of community events and puzzles can really help bring folks together toward a shared goal and they really just add stories and memories that take a long time to shake." The first step in solving the *Marathon* ARG was huge, Trombone said, because it took serious dedication from the *Marathon* community—they had to all focus on messing with the terminals at the same time. The *Marathon* community has worked through six steps that included putting together a poem, math problems, and image processing, Trombone said. The sixth step was truly difficult. Breachers of Tomorrow member Oyster said it required solving eight mini-puzzles and referencing a 19-page technical manual. "Much like the game [*Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes*](https://keeptalkinggame.com/?ref=aftermath.site) it was a TRUE community effort across MULTIPLE different communities," Oyster said. "There were multiple Figma, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Discord threads across the entire \~48 hours it took to solve. It was a mammoth effort that ended up involving algebraic equations, route solving, in-game clue hunting, book ciphers, symbol ciphers, combination lock-style minigames, posting gifs of tinfoil hats and much shared lack of sleep as it went on." The seventh will require more people and time than anything else: Killing 500 million United Earth Space Council enemies. It's a lot of enemies. Since *Marathon* was released, players have killed more than 318 million enemies at the time of writing—nearly 182 million to go. Players are killing UESC enemies at a rate of 17,715 kills per minute. [It could take more than a week](https://www.reddit.com/r/Marathon/comments/1rxam4x/500%5Fmillion%5Fuesc%5Fkills%5Fwill%5Ftake%5F12%5Fdays%5Fand%5Fits/?ref=aftermath.site). At least, this is what the community thought until the Cryoarchive page corrupted with a dashboard of colorful images. It's tied to a Discord bot and an app that's a match game of sorts. They're still trying to figure out how that match puzzle works and what it does, all while continuing to rack up UESC kills. The last few puzzles were quite hard for the community, Beachers of Tomorrow member CrispyChaos said. "The last couple puzzles were difficult to a scarring degree as a community, and I think people are also maybe struggling to un-tense themselves, but personally this break with a simple goal is nice," they said. "It just invites people to load in and play the game, which after all this excitement is what we really need." The highs make up for the lows. "\[It's a\] big whirlwind of conflicting answers and theories, struggling to stay awake and seeing the sun rise," *Marathon* player and Breachers of Tomorrow community member stairface said. "Just to get that one little breadcrumb that'll hopefully break the dam of answers open. A big collective struggle followed by instant euphoria, just to hit the ground running again. Practically no breaks, just hitting the gas all the time, a speeding train that we're all on, but don't want to get off of." A lot of people have been around since the start, and others trickled in after stumbling upon the mysteries in-game. "Before even really knowing about the ARG much at all, I stumbled on a set of the *Marathon* Terminals, and the first time I heard the voice line given by the terminal, I got goosebumps immediately, and have been driven by that excitement since," PinkTubeSox said. The *Marathon* ARG community is full of people like PinkTubeSox drawn to mystery and puzzles. There are people with all sorts of skillsets, be it coding, puzzle solving, theory developing, taking screenshots, notetaking, leading voice calls, or simply hyping others up. There's room for everyone. Breachers of Tomorrow community member Aerysten told Aftermath that the community has worked hard to make sure people feel "safe, welcomed, and like they belong." "I love being part of something bigger than myself and helping others out," Breachers of Tomorrow community member Aerysten said. "I joined because I loved helping get information to people and discussing the different thoughts and theories we had. One of the things that engages me the most is solving problems, whether in my work or daily life, and this is something to solve." It's something that the Breachers of Tomorrow Discord community hopes stays together after the ARG ends. "The ARG will eventually get solved with or without my effort, but getting to be a part of the community who are so enthusiastic about this game, meeting new people, and just being part of a greater effort are all things I enjoy," community member JustAFish said. ### How Many Layoffs Can A Studio Do URL: https://aftermath.site/crystal-dynamics-red-storm-layoffs/ Last updated: 2026-03-19T16:43:36.000Z It wouldn’t be a day in games without more companies upending the lives of developers just trying to do their jobs. Both Embracer Group-owned Crystal Dynamics and Ubisoft-owned Red Storm Entertainment are having not just layoffs but *more* layoffs, with Red Storm reportedly ceasing game development entirely. In the immortal [words](https://aftermath.site/highguard-studio-developers-laid-off/) of everyone on the planet, what are we doing here? In a [LinkedIn post](https://www.linkedin.com/company/crystal-dynamics/posts/?ref=aftermath.site), Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics announced it will be laying off 20 people, “split between some development personnel and some central operations roles.” The studio wrote that > As our current projects move into new phases of development, we continuously take a hard look at our team structures to ensure they align with our long-term studio goals. While we always strive to transition our people into new roles whenever possible, we have unfortunately reached a point where these departures are necessary. This is, somehow, the fourth layoff Crystal Dynamics has had in the past 12 months, having previously had three rounds of layoffs in 2025: 17 workers in [March](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/crystal-dynamics-lays-off-17-employees?ref=aftermath.site), some in [August](https://aftermath.site/crystal-dynamics-tomb-raider-layoffs-embracer/), and 30 in [November](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/crystal-dynamics-announces-third-round-of-layoffs-this-year-30-workers-affected?ref=aftermath.site). Reports also came out today that Ubisoft is laying off over 100 developers at Red Storm Entertainment, which will [reportedly](https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ubisoft-ends-game-development-at-tom-clancy-studio-red-storm-resulting-in-105-job-losses/?ref=aftermath.site) cease game development and function in an IT support role instead. Red Storm, about to celebrate its 30th anniversary, started life developing Tom Clancy games before moving into VR and support. It was developing *The Division Heartland* before the free-to-play shooter’s [cancellation in 2024](https://www.polygon.com/24157512/tom-clancys-division-heartland-canceled-ubisoft/?ref=aftermath.site), and contributed to [*XDefiant*](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-xdefiant-shutdown-studio-closure-layoffs/), which Ubisoft [shut down](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/mark-rubin-leaves-ubisoft-xdefiant-officially-shuts-down?ref=aftermath.site) last year. According to [IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/ubisoft-laying-off-100-staff-and-ending-game-development-at-ghost-recon-studio-red-storm-entertainment?ref=aftermath.site), today’s layoffs are > the third round of layoffs at Red Storm in as many years, [following the loss of 19 jobs last year](https://www.ign.com/articles/tom-clancy-star-trek-bridge-crew-studio-ubisoft-red-storm-lays-off-19-citing-global-cost-saving-efforts?ref=aftermath.site), and 45 positions across Red Storm and San Francisco back in 2024\. Before these, and today's further 105 job losses, the company employed 180 people in 2022 — a figure the company has now decimated. Neither of these layoffs came out of nowhere. In Red Storm’s case, the layoffs come amidst a massive [restructuring at parent company Ubisoft](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-layoffs-prince-of-persia-remake-canceled/), which has seen layoffs, game cancellations, and a [1200-person strike](https://aftermath.site/ubisoft-workers-strike-layoffs-assassins-creed/) against changes in working conditions, including a return-to-office policy that some workers see as an effort to push them out. Embracer Group bought Crystal Dynamics in 2022, [alongside](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/embracer-finalizes-purchase-of-crystal-dynamics-eidos-montreal-and-square-enix-montreal?ref=aftermath.site) Square Enix Montreal and [Eidos Montreal](https://aftermath.site/eidos-deus-ex-embracer/), during an [acquisition spree](https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-12-27/embracer-lars-wingefors-sweden-video-game-behemoth?ref=aftermath.site) that went bad after a [$2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games fell through](https://www.axios.com/2023/08/14/saudi-arabia-savvy-games-embracer-group?ref=aftermath.site). Embracer has closed or sold studios and [laid off employees](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/embracer-group-reduced-its-headcount-almost-2-000-employees-last-year?ref=aftermath.site) in droves since. The problem here isn’t developers at Red Storm or Crystal Dynamics–it’s the people at the top foisting the consequences of their bad decision-making and endless hunger for profit off on their employees. How many go-arounds of trying to cut their ways to profitability do companies need to try before they realize “too many people making games” isn’t the problem they’re having? [Executives Should Be Facing The Music, Not Laying Off Workers - AftermathBosses need to be held accountable for their failures![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-193.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/pexels-photo-9830810-3-1.png)](https://aftermath.site/embracer-layoffs-executive-saudi/) ### Hideo Kojima's Commitment To Acronym Jackets Remains Undefeated URL: https://aftermath.site/hideo-kojimas-commitment-to-acronym-jackets-remains-undefeated/ Last updated: 2026-03-18T23:34:07.000Z I was being forced to look at images of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang yesterday,[ entirely against my will](https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/jensen-huang-says-gamers-are-completely-wrong-about-dlss-5-nvidia-ceo-responds-to-dlss-5-backlash?ref=aftermath.site), and the whole time I had to look at his stupid smug face wearing one of his ridiculous leather jackets I was thinking two things. Firstly, no amount of bullying this dork would be too much. And secondly, if I were a billionaire, I would buy and wear better jackets. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-19-103054.png) I would rather be waterboarded than go out in public looking like this | Image: [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw%5Fo0xr8MWU&ref=aftermath.site) Much has been[ written](https://fortune.com/article/why-does-jensen-huang-nvidia-wear-black-leather-jackets-revenge-of-the-nerds/?ref=aftermath.site) about Huang's leather obsession, from why he does it (it's punk?) to how much those jackets cost, but precious little has been written about how terrible he looks wearing them. This is a man worth over $100 billion, and he routinely appears on stage looking like a guy cosplaying a guy who watches *Yellowstone*. He has managed to pick a genre of clothing defined by bikers, war heroes and punks and somehow ended up looking like a real estate agent from 2007, or a science teacher enduring one of the worst mid-life crises on record. [Like we explored last week](https://aftermath.site/elon-musk-video-game/), billionaires are very good at making money, but the sociopathic drive that gets them to the top seems to also rob them of the imagination required to *spend* it. There's so much that today's billionaires could be doing to help the planet, or at least be cool, and instead dipshits like Huang only want to get even richer by boiling lakes and [destroying the consumer computer market](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/), all so he can wear the kind of jacket I would have seen on clearance in the corner of a dying mall in 2011. This morning I opened Instagram and was serendipitously shown the exact opposite of Jensen Huang. I follow designer Errolson Hugh, the co-founder of Acronym, and this morning he shared the latest images of Hideo Kojima wearing one of Acronym's excellent (but also expensive) jackets. I say “latest” because Kojima has been a big Acronym fan for a long time, and has been snapped wearing the jackets (and pants, and even sneaker collabs with Nike) on red carpets, to press events and even in Acronym product shots. [As I've written on this website previously](https://aftermath.site/techwear-fashion-style-definition/), Acronym is Techwear, a fashion style best defined as "waterproof stuff that looks good but can also cost thousands of dollars per piece". Techwear, and Acronym's designs especially, tend to live at the intersection of streetwear, outdoor equipment and cyberpunk, so it's little wonder the guy behind *Snatcher*, *Metal Gear* and *Death Stranding* is very into this stuff. [In Defense Of Techwear - AftermathIt’s where form meets function![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-191.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/398027113_710926571069501_4541188421256326908_n-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/techwear-fashion-style-definition/) Look at all these times he's worn Acronym jackets in public! Look how many of these different jackets he owns, how many of these photos are with Errolson Hugh (the bald guy with the moustache; the two are mutual fans, which is why Hugh[ has a cameo in *Death Stranding*](https://aftermath.site/techwear-fashion-style-definition/)), and look how good he looks in them! Kojima is 62 years old, only a year younger than Huang! He looks cool as hell! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-19-074728.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/hideo-kojima-in-acronym-x-nike-collab-v0-r9Rxe9fGoDSm3KvUIMegJyhQT1VVq1tpGZ5Sq0951K0.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/hG6x2RE.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/tumblr_d96a36c4cb12d27f3ead2c59e16d8a80_305eea40_1280.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/kojima-death-stranding-jacket.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Acronym_Kojima_J91-WSDB-black_013_2-3-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-19-075719.png) These images span over a decade! | Images: [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/erlsn.acr/?ref=aftermath.site) In closing: Jensen Huang is a billionaire who looks like he took out a car loan for a Cybertruck that he didn't understand the fine print on. Hideo Kojima is a mere millionaire who looks like a billion dollars every time he wears a cool jacket. The lesson I think here is simple: I don't want to teach billionaires how to dress, I just don't think there should be billionaires. Cool millionaires is enough. ### Mark Zuckerberg Is Never Right URL: https://aftermath.site/mark-zuckerberg-meta-ai-metaverse/ Last updated: 2026-03-19T17:32:30.000Z I don't know if I've laughed more at a headline than when I sat down with a coffee this morning and saw "Meta Plans to Shift Spending Away From the Metaverse". It's from a [Wall Street Journal story](https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-plans-to-shift-spending-away-from-the-metaverse-d0ac3b7f?ref=aftermath.site), which reports that Meta is going to make some big budget changes in 2026, slashing spending on its metaverse efforts \[**Update March 18, 2026**: [*Horizon Worlds*, once a centrepiece of the Quest's online experience, is now moving to phones](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-17/meta-to-discontinue-key-metaverse-product-for-vr-headsets?embedded-checkout=true&ref=aftermath.site)) and redirecting that cash towards the company's AI and AI-powered wearable divisions instead. In 2021, just five years ago, Zuckerberg was so into the idea of the metaverse that *he changed his company's name* from Facebook, one of the most recognisable brands on the planet, to Meta. He said within the next decade--so by 2031--*one billion people* would be hanging out in these virtual spaces, which were a key selling point for Quest headsets. [Facebook rebrands as Meta as it chases ‘metaverse’ visionFacebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg says his company is rebranding itself as Meta in an effort to encompass its virtual-reality vision for the future.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-1.svg)ABC NewsABC News![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/33793082b7a6495dd5b27038e411c958)](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-29/facebook-rebrands-as-meta-to-harness-virtual-reality-in-future/100578908?ref=aftermath.site) And investors and shareholders believed him! He said something that had no basis in reality, which was never going to happen and--surprise--has not happened, and sunk billions of dollars into a quixotic quest. Now he's stuck with a company named after something he's making a humiliating retreat from. In 2022, he was so into the idea of NFTs that[ he spoke openly](https://www.engadget.com/mark-zuckerberg-confirms-nf-ts-are-coming-to-instagram-204435805.html?ref=aftermath.site) about a vision that one day soon users of his metaverse would be able to buy clothing items as NFTs, and announced plans to bring them to both Facebook and Instagram. This received widespread news coverage! Because he was CEO of Meta, he must know about this tech stuff! Just one year later,[ those plans were cancelled](https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/13/23638572/instagram-nft-meta-facebook-quits-digital-collectibles?ref=aftermath.site) as the ass fell out of the NFT market, with regular human people proving they did not want or care about that bullshit. In early 2025 he said[ Meta was looking into crypto](https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/05/11/leak-reveals-mark-zuckerberg-is-quietly-plotting-to-blow-up-the-bitcoin-price-and-crypto-market/?ref=aftermath.site). Sigh. And now we're supposed to believe that AI and its associated wearables,[ who you may remember from their disastrous press event](https://aftermath.site/meta-display-ai-rayban-glasses-ai-fail-demo-lmao-look-at-this-huge-dipshit/), are the future?[ That somehow AI is going to be writing all the code for Meta within months](https://www.engadget.com/ai/mark-zuckerberg-predicts-ai-will-write-most-of-metas-code-within-12-to-18-months-213851646.html?ref=aftermath.site)? To the point where he's planning on[ spending $600 billion on it over the next three years](https://www.reuters.com/business/meta-plans-600-billion-us-spend-ai-data-centers-expand-2025-11-07/?ref=aftermath.site)? My guy, everything you've said was the future over the last decade ([remember the phone!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC%5FFirst?ref=aftermath.site)) has turned out to be a useless piece of shit! Nobody in their right mind should believe you! And yet! This man, whose only true success is in building a pervy website in the early 2000s then tricking the world into thinking it was a viable social media platform, is repeatedly allowed to say whatever bullshit comes to mind into a microphone and millions of people will not just lap it up, they will give him billions of dollars to keep doing it, then give him billions more when whatever he's working on is a bust and he decides to do something *else*. Example: [Meta shares went up 4% ](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/meta-shares-jump-bloomberg-reports-182859879.html?ref=aftermath.site#:~:text=Meta%20%28NASDAQ%3AMETA%29%20shares,growing%20AI%20and%20advertising%20initiatives.)after the 2025 announcement. Investors looked at a man who had spent billions chasing something nobody wanted and, instead of punishing his repeated hubris and failures, simply made the line go up again. It’s the definition of insanity. I'm wrong all the time, why won't anyone give me billions to invest in something. At least I'd build something cool. *This story was originally published on April 4, 2025\. It has been updated to include more recent developments.* ### Funi Raccoon Game Is Queer, Funny, And Irish URL: https://aftermath.site/funi-raccoon-game-indie-review/ Last updated: 2026-03-19T17:32:16.000Z *Funi Raccoon Game* feels like it’s bursting apart with purpose. Proudly boasting in its intro that it is made in Godot, the game is awash in low resolution sprites and public domain noises. It is often brash and abrasive, replete with blown out explosion sounds and sprites that would be at home on a GeoCities site. It is a game that not only does not hide its seams but makes a tapestry out of them. It is the shorter game with worse graphics that people claim they want. The result is indeed “Funi.” As with real raccoons, the titular Funi the Raccoon steals stuff. You live in a transdimensional dumpster that costs over a million euros, your only instructions being given by a computer called the Four Dimensional Hypercube. You explore brave new worlds like Norwich, The Cliffs of Moher, and da Water Zone – islands suspended in space. Collecting new items allows you to explore new zones, and collected items will aggregate in a museum stage later. The world is garish and nonsensical, incoherent by design but laser focused in its aim. It is best described as an open world platformer, although genre conventions fall apart slightly as the game progresses. Many of the characters are simply items with little doodled faces on them, like Toastie, a youthful piece of toast that chain-smokes and keeps angrily asking where all the smog is coming from. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot_2026-03-15_14-04-12.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot_2026-03-15_14-15-16.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot_2026-03-16_19-15-51.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot_2026-03-15_14-38-51.jpg) [*Funi Raccoon* *Game*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3599690/Funi%5FRaccoon%5FGame/?ref=aftermath.site) is peers with titles like [*Psycho Patrol R*](https://aftermath.site/psycho-patrol-r-early-access-impressions-review-cruelty-squad-consumer-softproducts/), [*Arctic Eggs*](https://aftermath.site/arctic-eggs-cooking-eggs-retro-egg-flipping-simulator-game/), *Skate Story* and [*Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective*](https://bubsy3d.com/?ref=aftermath.site) *–* aggressive, low poly games that find their way to a truth through absurd humor and surreal worlds. While playing it I often thought of the [Arcane Kids Manifes$to](https://arcanekids.com/manifesto?ref=aftermath.site), a shorthand list of rules developed by the same group that developed the aforementioned Bubsy game. In particular, the rules “Play with structure,” “bad is more interesting than good,” “the purpose of gameplay is to hide secrets” and “the fastest way to tell the truth is a joke” repeated in my mind. Like *Psycho Patrol R*, *Funi Raccoon Game* does have a political core intrinsically tethered to its identity, one that clips through the geometry in tiny moments until it is stated in no uncertain terms in the game’s “good” ending. ![Shut up about video games, the fastest way to the truth is a joke, stop listening to advice, start yourown scene, art isn't about giving people what they want, don NOT call us punk, communities needd spaces to grow, fuck formalism, fuck puzzles, play with structure, bad is more interesting than good, the purpose of gameplay is to hide secrets, make the games u wish 2 see on the dreamcast](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/data-src-image-cc21eb5f-01dd-4a72-953d-a5ca4e9ee09a.jpeg) The Arcane Kids Manifes$to remains relevant to this day. Credit: [Arcane Kids](https://arcanekids.com/manifesto?ref=aftermath.site) And like *Psycho Patrol R* and [*Baby Steps*](https://aftermath.site/baby-steps-manbreaker-did-not-break-me-challange/), *Funi Raccoon Game* rewards pushing against its limits to see what happens. Your curiosity is often rewarded with esoteric, niche treats. You can fall through a hole in a building and discover a colossal eldritch being or splinter group of paramilitary Kevins. Entering into twin shops labeled “bee shop” and “wasp shop” yields a black screen and a terrifying buzzing noise. At one point I found a piece of graffiti that says “CUM MAN,” itself a reference to [a street tag that has popped up in the Dublin area](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dublin/s/u7myVUB9Sy?ref=aftermath.site). ![A poster says Funi The Raccoon: It Is Gay. Another says I Love Them in nonbinary lettering.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/funni-gay.jpg) I love They/Them. *Funi Raccoon Game* is unapologetically itself. There is a shit-kicking spirit to the game, something made clear when the Tuatha Dé Danann [Lugh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugh?ref=aftermath.site) gives you a quest to reach for an officer’s firearm. As a game it is both unambiguously queer and Irish coded. You will see nonbinary, gay and trans iconography littered throughout the world. A poster on the wall at one point reads “Funi the Raccoon: It Is Gay.” Later levels also feature a drivable Kei truck, an implicitly gay thing to drive. The game’s contempt for the British is pure and just, as is its mockery of capitalism and environmental destruction. In another game these qualities could be cloying, but *Funi Raccoon Game* is not weighted down by them, instead using them as springboard for dumbass bits. Danny O'Dwyer has some good coverage on the Irish indie scene here, and how it can thrive. I don’t need to tell you that things are bad if you’re reading our site. Everyone I know is broke, [gaming is expensive](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/), the game industry keeps [destroying its best talent](https://aftermath.site/video-game-recruitment-job-applications-ai-layoffs/), and the billionaire companies care more about [yassifying your games with AI](https://aftermath.site/nvidia-dlss-5-ai-graphics-faces-resident-evil/) than meaningful additions to rendering. The contempt for the audience by the people who profit is only exceeded by their apathy for the people who mortgage their lives to make it function. It has never been more difficult to make the affirmative case for the cutting edge of gaming. > It is important I get 8,294,400 pixels (4K) at 120 frames a second. Otherwise it just doesn’t feel real. It is ok if half of those pixels are just kinda guesses based on zettabytes of YouTube and pornhub my graphics card watched > > — [Sam Barlow 🔥 (@mrsambarlow.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sykr3znzovcjo7kkvt4z5ywh?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-17T01:50:09.679Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sykr3znzovcjo7kkvt4z5ywh/post/3mh7ub54anc2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) But have you considered that Grace from Resident Evil should look like a bad mobile game ad? I am too old to hope that indies will save us like some mystical force. That is never how these things work, and toxic structures find ways to replicate themselves even at the smallest scale. But it is nice to be reminded of what actually makes a game memorable. How many sprites do you need to cement a universe in your memory? Do you need DLSS to make a discovered secret feel magical? Does something need to make coherent sense to be sold, or can that be accomplished with a creative joke? Can you make a version of *End of Evangelion* from popsicle sticks and chewing gum? ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/dance-1.webp) Press G to break it down. *Funi Raccoon Game* does less with more, constructing a memorable cosmology from low res jpegs and goofy-ass jokes. There are arresting tableaus buried between the bits, glimpses of earnestness buried under the layers of deep fried, breakcore, Irish Verhoeven. *Funi Raccoon Game* does what it needs to do, and could never be mistaken for any other game. It is indefatigable, sardonic, often goofy and anchored by a strong sense of right and wrong. In a word, it is Irish. [You Can Play A Bunch Of Video Games In IrishThe Games From Ireland Steam event features games made in Ireland or from Irish teams![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-192.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/ached-1-1.jpeg)](https://aftermath.site/games-from-ireland-steam/) ### GDC Was Defined By Anxiety About The Future Of The Games Industry And America, Even If Big Companies Didn't Want To Acknowledge It URL: https://aftermath.site/gdc-2026-xbox-helix-steam-nvidia-ice/ Last updated: 2026-03-19T17:33:55.000Z The annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco is, on a structural level, best understood as several thousand flotillas of ships passing in the night. Everyone has somewhere to be—a talk, a party, an appointment, a meeting, an interview, [a garden gathering drowned out by loud music](https://aftermath.site/gdc-2026-yerba-buena-gardens-developers-mad/)—except where they are right now. So naturally, people often ask where others are headed. At one point last week, a group of devs caught me on the way to an Nvidia demonstration, so in response to their question, I replied: “I’m gonna go ask Nvidia how it’s pretending everything is business as usual while also causing a [hardware crisis](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/) that threatens the whole industry.” The developers cheered and implored me to give Nvidia hell. Resentment was no longer bubbling beneath the surface. It was out in the open, for all to see. The ensuing encounter proved deflating. There were no execs, leads, or directors to be found in Nvidia’s green-tinted slice of hotel space, where the games hardware manufacturer-turned-AI-behemoth was showing off new features like DLSS 4.5 multi-frame generation, RTX Remix particles, and upgrades to GeForce NOW, ostensibly meant to make developers’ lives easier. An employee who was on hand to demo those products, admittedly unprepared for my line of questioning, provided a stock answer: "We'll still do a lot of work on the gaming side \[as opposed to transitioning fully into AI\]. Thankfully, we're all still employed. \[Gaming\] has been our bread and butter, and it's been what allowed us to grow and be ready for the AI stuff. We have a lot of these \[graphics\] cards, and we try to support all gamers, even with the new features that we introduce." Despite the aforementioned hardware crisis already forcing Valve, one of gaming’s most immutable constants, to [delay its Steam Machine rollout](https://aftermath.site/steam-machine-frame-delayed-ai-data/), the next Xbox was the (vague) talk of the town at GDC, with Microsoft briefing developers on the machine’s cutting-edge tech and PC interoperability, but also adding that dev kits won’t be in their hands until 2027\. Notably, Microsoft did not even begin to comment on speculation that Project Helix, as it’s known internally, could cost [upwards of $1,000](https://kotaku.com/xbox-project-helix-price-console-ps6-microsoft-2000677182?ref=aftermath.site), a source of much anxiety among developers, [as Polygon noted](https://www.polygon.com/ram-crisis-gdc-2026-analysis/?ref=aftermath.site). Which is not to say that Microsoft isn’t also feeding the insatiable AI beast and, thus, the hardware crisis as well. [Copilot integration with Xbox](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-copilot-ai-xbox/) was another big talking point during Microsoft’s GDC presentation, allowing players to consult a robot at every turn instead of learning a game’s ins and outs the almost assuredly more rewarding way developers intended (Nvidia showed me a similar feature that it’s [integrating into games like *Total War: Pharoah*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6es-Zvh5bu4&ref=aftermath.site), called Nvidia ACE.). > Companies’ response to this ever-multiplying hydra of challenges? Layoffs and studio closures. How can developers begin to find stability when the ground beneath their feet won’t stop shifting? Almost half a decade into its tenure as tech’s goose that does not lay golden eggs so much as it produces golden something else, AI remains a series of solutions in search of problems. No one is asking for a chatbot that will play the game for you. No one is asking for a different chatbot that will pretend to be a video game character, throwing any sense of drama or pacing out the window so you can [try to break it with sweet nothings](https://aftermath.site/ai-npcs-nvidia-unity-ubisoft-convai-inworld/). No one is asking for [eerie yassified mannequin faces](https://aftermath.site/nvidia-dlss-5-ai-graphics-faces-resident-evil/) that clash with a game’s art direction. Developers, especially, are not asking for these features, which threaten to pave over their hard work with a messy Slip ‘N’ Slide of slop. Years after we were promised that generative AI would be the future, this is the best some of the biggest companies in the world can offer. The future is now, and it sucks just as much as it did several years ago. At GDC, concerns about AI dovetailed with a greater sense of uncertainty around gaming’s previously less-shakable pillars. One prominent indie developer who’d just met with Microsoft confided to me that they were feeling apprehensive about what the future holds on the publishing side of things, especially given that the dust has yet to settle following a regime change that [ousted Phil Spencer and installed Asha Sharma](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-xbox-phil-spencer-retires/), who was president of Microsoft's CoreAI product before getting the call to Spencer's old office. Meanwhile, Valve hosted a presentation of its own that similarly raised more questions than it answered—albeit in a different though equally revealing fashion. The company boasted that more games than ever are seeing revenue of $100,000 per year, with a [graph](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:t53ijuodvbcjbislhyu6te4r/post/3mgqk7vngas24?ref=aftermath.site) showing that the number was around 3,000 in 2020 and now sits at 5,863\. That’s almost double! But what Valve did not mention, much to developers’ chagrin, is that the number of games releasing on Steam per year has also just about doubled. Moreover, [as Kotaku noted](https://kotaku.com/the-games-industry-reacts-to-valves-misleading-boast-about-how-more-games-are-making-money-on-steam-2000679108?ref=aftermath.site), Valve didn’t take inflation into account; yesteryear’s $100,000 is today’s $125,000\. And as we at Aftermath can attest, $100,000 per year doesn’t go that far, even if your team is tiny. On top of all that, many of the games that made $100,000 on Steam last year did not *come out* last year. This goes hand in hand with another alarming stat that’s been haunting game developers for the past few months: The playtime spent by all Steam users on games that came out in 2025 was [a paltry 14 percent](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/steams-2025-replay-reveals-we-all-once-again-spent-around-14-percent-of-our-time-on-games-released-in-the-same-year-which-apparently-shakes-out-to-a-median-of-0-56-new-games/?ref=aftermath.site). So while the audience that spends money on video games might seem vast, there’s less pie to go around for those making something new—of which there are now more than ever before. Simon Carless, perhaps the best third-party cruncher of Steam’s many numbers, [estimated](https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/p/what-steams-2026-biz-update-tells?trk=public%5Fpost%5Fcomment-text&ref=aftermath.site) the total of new games earning $100,000+ on Steam last year to be around 1,700, or less than ten percent. All this while others, like analyst Matthew Ball, have found that gaming’s real areas of growth in terms of new players are China and *Roblox*—the latter of which, [according to his latest report](https://issuu.com/ballmatthew/docs/gaming2025%5Fvee10?fr=xIAEoAT3%5FMzMz&ref=aftermath.site), matches the combined playtimes of Steam, PlayStation, *Fortnite*, and other gaming platforms—while more traditional games struggle to compete for attention against the likes of TikTok and (yuck) Draft Kings. To the extent that it ever truly existed, there’s no longer a monolithic, Pangea-like video game industry; instead, *Roblox*, single-player triple-A games, live service games, indies, mobile games, and numerous other subcategories each represent islands unto themselves—not directly competing, necessarily, but still sharing an attention economy with each other and also literally everything else. Companies’ response to this ever-multiplying hydra of challenges? Layoffs and studio closures. How can developers begin to find stability when the ground beneath their feet won’t stop shifting? > Valve says more titles are finding success on Steam than ever before, despite concerns of over-saturation on the storefront. > > — [Chris Kerr ➡️ GDC (@kerrblimey.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:t53ijuodvbcjbislhyu6te4r?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-10T23:40:34.805Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:t53ijuodvbcjbislhyu6te4r/post/3mgqk7vngas24?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) In the face of so much uncertainty, it can be easy to succumb to doom and gloom—too easy, said Paul Kilduff-Taylor, developer of 2011’s *Frozen Synapse* and publisher of 2021’s *Fights In Tight Spaces*, who has survived multiple supposed Indiepocalypses over the years. "It looks to me like the important revenue categories on Steam are in fact stable or slightly growing, even as unthinkable numbers of games arrive each week, meaning that you're still ‘competing’ at roughly the same level,” he [wrote](https://modecollapse.substack.com/p/i-dont-care-how-many-games-are-coming). “What changes are we supposed to make based on this information \[from Valve\]? Trim budgets even further? Give up entirely? None of this seems to lead to any kind of productive development or behavioral alteration. … Personally, my career has been impeded much more significantly by pessimism and anxiety than by material market conditions and I don’t want that to happen to anyone else." But GDC was characterized by a central tension that illustrates where games, writ large, are at. The powers that be—or those that remain, diminished as they are—won’t even acknowledge the many fires everyone is struggling to put out. "What has irked me here, is that \[Valve\] also continuously love to make out publicly like everything is absolutely fantastic, no problems here at all, while the industry burns down," No More Robots founder Mike Rose [told Polygon](https://www.polygon.com/steam-valve-gdc-2026-sales-growth-new-game-release-data/?ref=aftermath.site). "It feels so disingenuous, and also just comes across as 'Well, we are making more money, therefore the industry is fine.'" ## Papers, Please Tandem to all of this was another great anxiety, one that took root before the show even began: America, the country GDC calls home, has become dangerously hostile toward anyone it perceives as a foreigner—or even just an insufficiently compliant citizen. In the months leading up to the show, many stalwart GDC attendees[ lamented](https://aftermath.site/i-do-not-feel-safe-in-the-country-international-developers-are-skipping-gdc-because-of-trumps-border-chaos/) that they’d need to steer clear this time around, with [GDC’s annual survey](https://gdconf.com/article/gdc-2026-state-of-the-game-industry-reveals-impact-of-layoffs-generative-ai-and-more/?%5Fmc=edit%5Fgdcsf%5Fgdcsf%5Frp%5Fx%5Fem1%5Fsoti%5F2026&utm%5Fsource=other&utm%5Fmedium=x&utm%5Fcampaign=soti&utm%5Fterm=em1&utm%5Fcontent=rp%5F) finding that 31 percent of international developers (and 47 percent of LGBTQ+ workers) had cancelled their plans to travel to the US, with another 33 percent considering it. The final tally bore this out: GDC 2026 attracted just [20,000 attendees](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/rebranded-gdc-festival-of-gaming-attracts-20-000-attendees?utm%5Fsource=dlvr.it&utm%5Fmedium=bluesky), the [lowest number since 2011](https://bsky.app/profile/ramiismail.com/post/3mgy4raobj22e?ref=aftermath.site) according to industry veteran Rami Ismail, who did not trek out to San Francisco this year. In [a release announcing the numbers](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/rebranded-gdc-festival-of-gaming-attracts-20-000-attendees?utm%5Fsource=dlvr.it&utm%5Fmedium=bluesky), GDC didn’t really acknowledge any of this. “This was the first year of a bold new concept for GDC,” said Nina Brown, president of GDC. “We are thrilled that 20,000 unique attendees representing our global community showed up from over 85 countries and trusted us with this evolution. The energy across the Festival, from packed sessions to a vibrant show floor and thousands of meetings happening throughout the week, demonstrates how powerful it is when our industry comes together to learn from one another, build partnerships and shape what comes next for games. This transformation was built directly from community feedback, and we’re excited to continue listening, learning, and evolving the GDC Festival of Gaming as we look ahead to 2027.” The dual prospects of detainment both at the border and on the street weren’t entirely to blame for GDC’s soft numbers. The show underwent a “Festival Of Gaming” [rebrand](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/gdc-festival-of-gaming-the-industry-reacts-to-the-controversial-rebrand?ref=aftermath.site) that did not, as some feared, open floodgates to rowdy members of the general public, but that still confused prospective attendees and made certain passes more expensive. Cost has always been a sticking point for those hoping to rub elbows with gaming’s best and brightest at GDC, but with economic uncertainty looming larger than ever, many likely could not afford passes that range in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars. We’re also talking about an industry that’s taken the scythe to tens of thousands of jobs, with many [still unable to find gainful employment months or years later](https://aftermath.site/video-game-recruitment-job-applications-ai-layoffs/). > "I have a full, palpitating anxiety response to ever having to enter the US. I really sympathize with people not wanting to come to the US." But at the show last week, the absence of many developers from non-US countries was keenly felt, as were the concerns that led them to stay home in the first place. "Everybody was at least a little bit concerned, because it's so unpredictable,” Paulo Santos, founder of Brazilian studio Potato Kid, told Aftermath. "Our booth, the Brazil booth, has been larger than this in the past. It's still a big delegation from Brazil, because the event is so important for us, but I can see it's smaller. Lots of people I know didn't attend; people from Europe didn't fly here." Still, for developers outside typical epicenters of game development, GDC represents a series of opportunities that are, at least for some, too important to pass up. "For me, for my company, it's really important to be here, being from so far away,” said Santos, whose game, [*Talaka*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3815370/Talaka/?ref=aftermath.site), is being published by Acclaim. “We need to be at these events to see people and be seen. It's important to get that human connection and get to know people that we're working with—that we \[otherwise\] just know by video conference. ... I talk to my producer every week, but I didn't know him in person." International devs who did attend couldn’t help but feel anxious about what they were up against. "I've been held at the US border before and denied entry, and it was terrifying and horrible,” Honey Watson, a writer on *Disco Elysium* successor [*Zero Parades*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2863680/ZERO%5FPARADES%5FFor%5FDead%5FSpies/?ref=aftermath.site), told Aftermath. “And now every time I enter the US, they fingerprint me and the alarm goes off, and I have to go into the special interview room. So yeah, I have a full, palpitating anxiety response to ever having to enter the US. I really sympathize with people not wanting to come to the US." "I did consider, like, should I take a burner phone just in case," Siim “Kosmos” Sinamäe, another writer on *Zero Parades*, told Aftermath. "At the end of the day, I thought 'No risk, no story.' If I get \[rounded\] up and put in a detention center, it is kind of funny." “It’s not fucking funny,” replied Watson. “I guarantee: It’s not funny.” Even developers on major games like *Marvel Rivals* acknowledged that things felt off this year. "We definitely see \[that\] attendance \[is\] smaller,” Danny Koo, executive producer at Marvel Games, told Aftermath. “People are right to have concern about anything that \[makes\] them feel uncomfortable to come to. But again, we're such in a digital world. We can connect to each other with other means. … Sad to see a lot of layoff announcements, but we have so much talent and so much knowledge over the past 20-30 years. It would be a waste if we don't continue down and reinvent ourselves and make sure that knowledge is retained for the new generation as well. Because we have to bring up the new generation to make sure we pass the torch to them." > "This year, what really took me aback was \[questions during the panel about\] ICE. 'How is possibly being deported, even as a US citizen, affecting you?'" Relatedly, one group did seem more prominent as a result of this year’s rebrand, according to developers to whom Aftermath spoke: students. "What I've seen a lot of in just day one on the Expo Floor is North American students,” Kaitlin “KB” Bonfiglio, game design professor and secretary of United Videogame Workers, [CWA's direct-join union](https://aftermath.site/uvw-cwa-video-game-union-microsoft-trump-musk/), told Aftermath. “A lot of students have been around, and that's great. I think students need a place to convene and talk about game design education, but the Game Developers Conference used to be for game developers in the industry, right?" Organizations dedicated to supporting developers in the US and beyond, like [Latinx In Gaming](https://www.latinxingaming.com/?ref=aftermath.site), found their focuses shifting alongside members’ needs. "We've run these GDC roundtables since the inception, and the first one was like 'Why use the word Latinx? Why can some Latinos not speak Spanish? How hard is it for Latinos to get hired?’” Latinx In Gaming chairman of the board Cristina Amaya told Aftermath. “In the last few years, I've noticed the questions start to get darker—like two years ago, it was 'How can you guys help us with our visas? It's getting harder \[to obtain one\].'" That led to the establishment of an immigration panel, as questions about how to stay in the US grew more common. "This year, what really took me aback was \[questions during the panel about\] ICE,” said Amaya. “'How is possibly being deported, even as a US citizen, affecting you?' Even our vice president, Diana Rodriguez, had recently traveled back from Japan with me, because we went on a fun trip, and at the airport she got stopped on her way in \[to the US\] because of her last name. Even the customs agent was like 'It's because you have a Latino last name.'" "We brought it up at the panel, and other people started bringing in their experiences,” she added. “It's just so crazy to go from 'We're Latinos, and we love that. We're another diversity group that has its own feelings and thoughts' to 'Are we going to be fucking deported without legal and due process?'" Not everyone made it to the panel—or GDC—unscathed. "For the people that were attending from Latin America, a couple of them did have problems at the border,” said Amaya. “We had a couple of Panamanian devs who said that they got held for three or four hours, which is crazy because they're indie devs. What are they bringing? They were a little scarred by it, but they were trying very hard to be hopeful, because GDC is supposed to be this big place of opportunity, right?" > “We had a couple of Panamanian devs who said that they got held for three or four hours, which is crazy because they're indie devs. What are they bringing?" Some game workers prepared for a worst case scenario. "At GDC right now, we have people who have taken ICE observer trainings who are monitoring, making sure that if any sort of immigration officials are present, that people are alerted and aware of what's going on," Aurelia Augusta, president of United Videogame Workers, told Aftermath. Fortunately, as far as developers and industry figures Aftermath spoke to are aware, there were no ICE sightings near the convention center. "\[No sightings\] that I'm aware of, but it's something that we wanted to be on top of, rather than waiting to react," said Augusta. But UVW-CWA members recognize that this is much bigger than a single event. "We also have a '[We Don't Play With ICE](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/production/unionized-game-workers-launch-petition-to-protect-immigrants-from-ice-agents?ref=aftermath.site)' campaign, which is a way that any game worker who is working in a workplace can say 'Hey, I want to sign up to talk to my employer to make sure we can get them on board,'” said Augusta. “‘I'm not even asking you for a new contract. I'm not asking you for anything other than to follow the US Constitution and say that if someone wants to come in, they need a warrant.’ So \[ICE\] can't just come in and grab people. We as game workers traditionally have seen ourselves as media workers or tech workers, but we have academics getting snatched from labs, so we should be protecting ourselves and our fellow workers." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/79496610412__0289E895-60A3-4515-BF7C-02831308EAAC.jpeg) Aftermath As long as the United States continues to grow more expensive and dangerous for all involved—especially members of the international community—questions about the United States as GDC’s central staging ground will remain. "Even the cheapest \[badge\] was cost prohibitive," said Bonfiglio. "I think people for the last five years or more have started to realize, like, 'Why are we always going to San Francisco, especially if we're coming from outside the US?' ... Immigration was always an issue for many people, but now with Trump and ICE and all the immigration enforcement, \[it's even worse\]." Amaya views the situation like any other in our rapidly crumbling country: If those with power won’t protect regular people, then it’s up to everyone else. "Our community is there for people,” she said. “This is a hard time to be Latino. They want to separate us. They want us to stay down. They want us to be scared. The best way to show up is to show up for each other." ## Recommended [Why Game Developers At GDC Are Upset About A Garden“It feels very, I don’t want to say gentrifying, but it feels like closing off a public space”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-190.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/gardens1-1.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/gdc-2026-yerba-buena-gardens-developers-mad/) ### I Roved Out In Search Of Truth And Love Is An Erotic Fantasy Saga That Has More Than Just Spice URL: https://aftermath.site/i-roved-out-in-search-of-truth-and-love-is-an-erotic-fantasy-saga-that-has-more-than-just-spice/ Last updated: 2026-03-19T17:01:30.000Z We’re grown, so let’s be honest: good smut comics are getting harder to find. Especially now that everything online has that cursed AI gloss that makes me want to scream, “What happened to the game I love?” Which is why I say this with my whole chest: *I Roved Out in Search of Truth And Love* is the best fantasy erotica I’ve ever read. [*I Roved Out in Search of Truth and Love*](https://www.irovedout.com/?ref=aftermath.site), created by [Alexis Flower](https://alexisflower.com/?ref=aftermath.site), is a gloriously chaotic, self-aware, and proudly not-safe-for-work erotic high fantasy romp that reads like [*The Witcher*](https://kotaku.com/the-witcher-3-geralt-yennefer-triss-kiera-romance-love-1849487104?ref=aftermath.site) got drunk with [*One Piece*](https://kotaku.com/i-just-read-1-025-chapters-of-one-piece-and-its-a-damn-1847671952?ref=aftermath.site) and decided to make a sex-positive road trip. Its premise sees leagues of adventurers across the continent scrambling to claim a magical artifact called Moondrop, a valkyrie’s crystallized tear, powerful enough to grant any desire. It’s the kind of world-spanning treasure hunt that sends mages, mercenaries, and all kinds of fantastical opportunists fiending for it. But the real appeal of *I Roved Out* isn’t reading to find the magical artifact—it’s the duo avoiding its heroic call to action. ![Cinder smiling like an idiot.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/I-Roved-Out-cinder-Alexis-Flower-p92x.png) Alexis Flower At the center of the chaos is Cinder, short for Cinderella von Umberwolf. Cinder is a lazy elf who wants absolutely nothing to do with the grand adventure that’s got everyone in a fuss. The fun-loving heroine would much rather follow her whims, which more often than not lead her to trouble or a sneaky link. However, after pissing off the Harlots Guild for not paying off her dues while working in “union” territory, she reluctantly answers the heroes' call to keep them off her back. ![Maeryll staring at a cocktail glass. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/I-Roved-Out-Alexis-Flower-maeryll-face-1.jpg) Alexis Flower In tow is her situationship, Maeryll, a snow-elf assassin who is essentially everything Cinder is not. Where Cinder is a speak-her-mind, down-to-earth type of gal, Maeryll is… well, that but in a femme, ice queen package. She’s basically the elegant, composed image you’d have of a fantasy elf that isn’t interested in you. That’s probably because she has her own issues, like a cursed rune that makes her eyes glow like a sky beam whenever she has orgasms—which you can bet your bottom dollar becomes a long-running side quest for the disaster bisexual ranger and her posh lesbian assassin friend to put in the elbow grease to remove. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/p447.png) Watching them roam from one fantastical locale to the next, stumbling through problems and realm-spanning disasters, as they inch closer (and sometimes farther) from the actual quest they're supposed to be on, is half the thrill. The other half is all the beautifully drawn art of its wild world. But mostly it's them fucking each other and the lovers they make along the way. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/i-roved-out.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/I-Roved-Out-Alexis-Flower-p41.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/I-Roved-Out-Alexis-Flower-p88.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/I-Roved-Out-Alexis-Flower-p295.jpg) Alexis Flower *I Roved Out* is the kind of comic that reminds you what happens when someone with real skill, real taste, and real human intuition decides to go all‑in. Visually, the series captures the lush, painterly richness of [*Monstress*](https://kotaku.com/monstress-is-a-gorgeous-comic-book-about-racism-war-an-1744178284?ref=aftermath.site). Each page feels like it was pulled from a gallery wall with its sweeping vistas, ornate costumes, dramatic lighting, and a hot cast of characters that’ll make you sit up straight and mutter, “Oh, so we’re doing *this* today.” The panel work is clean, dense, and meticulously composed, with each page serving as a bountiful feast for the eyes. > And the way Flower illustrates intimacy feels genuinely revolutionary. Deadass, the same obsessive care Studio Ghibli gives to animating food is what Flower is doing, putting his foot into every page of *I Roved Out*, rendering all of its fantastical bits and sensuality to their artistic apex. It’s the kind of iterative passion you only get from a human artist who’s deeply invested in the world they’re building and will spin the block to make it even more “warmly pornographic.” ![Cinder and Maeryll checking into a hotel.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/p195.png) Alexis Flower What really gets the genie out of the bottle with *I Roved Out* is Flower’s work ethic. Witnessing him drop chapters in real time, displaying Yusuke Murata's levels of [“lemme tweak this page even though it's already perfect](https://bsky.app/profile/alexisflower.bsky.social/post/3m6wij335lk22?ref=aftermath.site),” feels like a crime. Flower’s updates don’t just add small fixes to pages; they refine what’s already there and then some. And he brings that same artistic intensity to depicting a wide range of bodies and creatures, giving each one personality, presence, and physical specificity. Nothing feels generic in the pages of *I Roved Out*. Everything feels intentional and downright bespoke. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/NAGA.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/smooch.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/WYLDER.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/chef.png) Alexis Flower Even if you’re thumbing through its pages for all the sexy bits, Flower’s art will make you double back to see what everyone was talking about in its color-coordinated, character-specific speech bubbles. And it turns out, while you were reciting [“Blah blah blah proper name place name backstory stuff”](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xJpL1aCiNzk?ref=aftermath.site) in your head as its pages stunlocked you with the artistry of Flower’s oily drawings, you’ll discover that his writing is just as bold. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/iroved-out-3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/i-roved-out-1.png) Alexis Flower Dialogue in *I Roved Out* snaps with a self-aware wit that knows exactly what kind of story it’s in. Sure, you can breeze through its sultry pages and have a blast, but the real reward comes when you catch all the double entendres, grandiose fantasy jargon, and character reactions you missed in the background of its busy panels. It’s a comic that playfully winks at you while also delivering the goods in spades. ![Cinder kissing in front of a sunset. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/I-Roved-Out-Alexis-Flower-sunrise-1.jpg) Alexis Flower To put it in gaming terms, the reason I mess with *I Roved Out* so heavily is that it spits in the face of tropey fantasy allocations for characters, especially women, with a sex drive. If they were air-dropped into any other series, Cinder and Maeryll would be the kind of NPCs who deserve their own deep-dive video essay but would only ever get NaughtyGaming “All Hot Scenes” levels of recognition. Their whole existence would be the kind of romp that’d inevitably end in a fade-to-black romance scene before the hero gets back on the main quest. In TV terms, they’d be relegated to *Game of Thrones*\-style “sexposition” scenes—present, decorative, and narratively disposable. But *I Roved Out* refuses to play that game. Instead of allocating them as the sensuous NPCs orbiting a milquetoast self-insert hero, the comic flips the fantasy genre’s usual treatment of “women of the night” as background flavor, cheap fan service, or set dressing for someone else’s journey. It follows the curiosity every fantasy fan has had at least once—that nagging thought of looking at a side character and wondering, “Wait, what’s *their* story?” ![Cinder and Maeryll chilling at a bar. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/I-Roved-Out-Alexis-Flower-thebar-1.jpg) Alexis Flower *I Roved Out* gives Cinder and Maeryll the *Rosencrantz and Guildenstern* spotlight treatment, dropping them into the center of a sprawling odyssey and letting their lives, choices, and chaos drive the narrative. The result is a story that feels like someone finally handed the mic to the characters who were always more interesting than the hero anyway. And of course, it has its cake and eats it out, too. ### Tonight At The World Baseball Classic, I Hope Team USA Eats Shit URL: https://aftermath.site/world-baseball-classic-team-usa-military-robert-oneill/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T21:38:37.000Z The finale of the World Baseball Classic is tonight, and I am braying for the blood of Team USA. The World Baseball Classic is a very silly baseball exhibition where teams are formed around countries, kind of like the Olympics. It takes place every four years. Instead of playing for the Dodgers, baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani represented team Japan, and his teammate Will Smith is on Team USA. It’s also just,\\ not very serious, which makes it a low stakes way to enjoy baseball before I become the world’s enemy for the sin of being married to a lifelong Dodgers fan. While there are definitely enough players from, say, the Dominican Republic or Korea to create homegrown teams playing for their country, there’s also teams from places like Italy and Great Britain, who don’t have a culture of playing baseball at all. Amusingly, Great Britain’s eligibility requirements extended to not just people from Britain, but anyone from their former colonies, meaning that the team had two different players who represented Great Britain because their mothers were from Hong Kong. Tonight is the final match up for the series, and it comes down to the genuinely surprising match up of Team USA vs. Team Venezuela. (Team Japan was knocked out by Team Venezuela earlier in the series, a huge upset given that Japan has won the series three times, including the most recent WBC in 2023). Despite how much fun I’ve had watching the World Baseball Classic, Team USA has been a thorn in my side the entire time. Because of how unserious this tournament is, most of the teams had a little fun with it. Team Great Britain had a plastic sword to knight players who got a home run, and Team Italy had an espresso machine in the dugout, brewing up shots for their own homerun tradition. Pretty much all Team USA has done is celebrate the United States military. They keep giving interviews about [loving the troops](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/mar/17/world-baseball-classic-venezuela-usa-final?ref=aftermath.site). Pitcher Paul Skenes has dropped multiple sound bites about pitching for the baseball team [in the US Air Force Academy](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/inside-paul-skenes-air-force-070001286.html?ref=aftermath.site). One player has worn a shirt with the phrase “[front towards enemy](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/1rs6u8u/cal%5Fraleigh%5Fresponse%5Fto%5Frandy%5Farozarena%5Fhandshake/?ref=aftermath.site)” on it, which is also printed on claymore mines. They even invited [former Navy Seal Robert O’Neill](https://defector.com/mentally-ill-former-navy-seal-inspires-team-usa-to-wbc-final?ref=aftermath.site) into the locker room for a pep talk. O’Neill’s claim to fame is that he was part of the team that assassinated Osama Bin Laden, and also for telling[ this random person on Twitter that they would have been his concubine in Ancient Rome](https://www.out.com/robert-oneill-kamala-supporters-male-concubines-response-video?ref=aftermath.site). It is frankly hard to enjoy the fact that Team USA has made it to the final knowing how much they love the military while we are bombing the fuck out of Iran in what is clearly an illegal war for oil. I’ve been through 9/11 once, and [I have had my fill of jingoistic death cults](https://www.jezebel.com/how-disney-channel-sold-patriotism-to-kids-after-9-11-1847593222?ref=aftermath.site). I knew that the vibes were off the first time I saw how Team USA fans dress for the games. While watching Great Britain vs. USA, I noticed that while fans of Team Great Britain sometimes painted their face with [the St. George cross](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag%5Fof%5FEngland?ref=aftermath.site) or dressed like lions, fans of Team America were in cosplay of the Founding Fathers. Do we not have other cultural symbols to be proud of? Why not evoke hot dogs or apple pie or, fuck, even cowboys? Why not dress like a Marvel character—at least that is an American cultural product that doesn’t give me second hand embarrassment. No, apparently, it’s all the George Washington and tomahawk missiles. Our government is a collapsing house of cards led by an actively decaying man [who has appeared in the Epstein files over 5,000 times](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/us/trump-epstein-files.html?ref=aftermath.site) and there’s no reason to celebrate it. Please, Team Venezuela, kick our ass tonight. We truly deserve it. ### The Art Of The Fanmix URL: https://aftermath.site/fanmix-music-fandom-utena-anthy-evangelion-asuka-nana-mitski-ethel-cain/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T19:41:34.000Z After Gita worked with Isaiah on an essay about the legacy of *Evangelion* character [Asuka Langley Soryu](https://aftermath.site/neon-genesis-evangelion-nge-asuka-studio-khara-shinji/), the two of them couldn’t stop thinking about the music that reminds them of their favorite fictional characters. They decided to sit down and chat about it—and introduce each other to some new music while they were at it. **Gita Jackson:** Isaiah, once again I am here to chat with you about anime. But this time it has a little twist—we're trying to match up characters with songs that remind us of them. I used to do this compulsively. In fact, someone on the internet told me last week that they still listen to a playlist I made for various Marvel characters when the MCU was still an interesting pop cultural experiment. I forgot I did that entirely. Hope they're good! I know you've said you also tend to think of interesting fictional characters when you listen to music. Can you tell me a little bit about where you think that impulse comes from? **Isaiah Colbert:** I think it comes from the desire to feel close to a character in the same way looking at a pattern in a carpet would bring back childhood memories. Personally, while I don't particularly have the gene that makes me want to read fanfiction to keep the flames alive for a series I love, I like to make playlists for characters or shows I like so whenever I hear the songs out in the wild I'm reminded of how they resonated with me, in a kind of ships passing in the night vibe. Some characters get a five song playlist; others get playlists with a runtime of nearly three hours. **Gita:** Can you remember the first playlist you made for a character? Waaaaaaaay back in the days of Livejournal, I think the first publicly posted fanmix I made was for the characters in *The Hunger Games*. I photoshopped a cover and everything. **Isaiah:** Honestly, my first playlist for a character didn't happen until I was in my first apartment around five years ago! Outside of AMVs and seeing my friends who got me onto Tumblr for all the pretty GIFs, I didn't really know that was a thing until they started making playlists for *Fallout* characters. Once I felt the pull, I started making Spotify playlists. I'd add new songs on a rolling basis for characters or shows I liked. My first playlist is the one that's nearly three hours long. It started in the same way that Guillermo del Toro compared watching a movie repeatedly to a romantic relationship: the first time is dating, and the third time is marriage. I don't make playlists for everything, but if you've got one that's really long, I must be thinking about you a lot. **Gita:** Speaking of characters we are thinking about it a lot, the first character we wanted to match up to a song was our beloved Asuka Langley Soryu. Do you wanna drop your song first? **Isaiah:** While I feel Asuka would say her anthem is Charli XCX's "Von Dutch," it's totally Rina Sawayama's "Imagining." **Gita:** Oh I LOOOOOOOOOOVE this song. **Isaiah:** To me, Asuka's whole deal is that she's aware of what she wants and needs, and is frustrated that she can't find that within herself and needs that from someplace outside herself. That is,[ until very recently](https://aftermath.site/neon-genesis-evangelion-nge-asuka-studio-khara-shinji/). When I first heard Sawayama belt out lyrics about being wide awake, feeling naked, shit being complicated and fucked up, and not recognizing herself, the one sequence of *Thrice Upon a Time* where OG Asuka *meets* Asuka Shikinami had me go, "Yep, this is her anthem." **Gita:** It's hard not to dip into the pop girly space when you talk about Asuka because her emotions are so loud and she wants the spotlight so badly, but I went in a slightly different direction. My pick is Lorde's "Favourite Daughter." So much of Asuka's malfunction goes back to her mother. I mean, that's the story of *Evangelion*, right? But this song really dials deep into that desire for your mother's love. The buildup to the first chorus always gets me, because I, too, feel like an actress faking it, trying to earn my mother's love. "Panic attack just to be as brave as my mother" kills me every time. I'm tearing up listening right now! **Isaiah:** Oh yeah. Between that and "I don't wanna get too close, shit gets complicated," "I don't wanna take it off, emotionally naked," and "Really don't feel too good, fake it till you make it," our song choices are doubling as call out posts aimed at us and our characters. The theme being trauma\~! Speaking of, another character we quickly deliberated on spotlighting was none other than Anthy Himemiya of[ *Revolutionary Girl Utena*](https://gizmodo.com/revolutionary-girl-utena-is-as-lynchian-as-shojo-anime-has-ever-been-2000566141?ref=aftermath.site)fame. I've been dying to hear what song you've chosen for her. **Gita:** I was surprised by how quickly I figured out what I wanted to pick, but Anthy is just a really Mitski-coded character, and I think the song "Happy" describes the torture of being Anthy so well. Anthy is trapped by her deep desire to be happy butting up against her inability to let herself be happy. Her body is something she feels disconnected from, an object that is acted upon rather than something she embodies. The image of Anthy all alone with "cookie wrappers and empty mugs of tea" is very much an image out of *Revolutionary Girl Utena*. She doesn't give herself permission to choose her own happiness until the end—until then she waits for happiness to visit her, then leave her lonely. **Isaiah:** Oh I love this for two reasons. One: This won't be the last time Mitski will be mentioned. And two: the song I chose feels like the *Adolescence of Utena* credits rolling song for her finally choosing her own happiness. That song being Aurora's "Exist For Love." My logic for this song is kinda literal and clinical for my estimation, and a lot of your above sentiment about how Anthy just kind of goes through the motions with her suitors. But the song talking about a war between men and women is basically the war over the Rose Bride, i.e., Anthy herself. Aurora's song hit me with the imagery of her and Utena staring at each other in their dual-facing beds. That sense of hope and agency that surged within her after Utena tore her life apart to show her that there is another way. To live rather than merely exist for others. And maybe to live for love. Obviously, the ending of *Adolescence of Utena* is more flavored to a raucous joyride befitting Utena literally becoming a vehicle to propel Anthy's life forward. So Aurora's song in the soundtrack that exists in my head of *RGU* is the second one that'd play in the credits for folks still sat in their seats, wiping away all the tears. > [@himemeiya](https://www.tiktok.com/@himemeiya?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "@himemeiya") > > Replying to @leidilaa My other girlfriend is my 🏎 JOYRIDE 🏎 [#utenaedit](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/utenaedit?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "utenaedit") [#kesha](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/kesha?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "kesha") [#adolescenceofutena](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/adolescenceofutena?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "adolescenceofutena") [#90sanime](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/90sanime?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "90sanime") [#animeedit](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/animeedit?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "animeedit") [#amv](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/amv?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "amv") [#revolutionarygirlutena](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/revolutionarygirlutena?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "revolutionarygirlutena") > > [♬ original sound - lovelygoblin](https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7390599771989314335?refer=embed&ref=aftermath.site "♬ original sound - lovelygoblin") **Gita:** Isaiah I am crying? Right now? No hyperbole?????? Aurora really has the voice of an angel and her control is immaculate... the way she sings, each word is infused with sincere, open love. On the flip side, I know a Kesha obsessive whom I can now peer pressure into watching *Utena* through the use of this tiktok (hi Kayleigh!) **Isaiah:** We've finally arrived at my pièce de résistance: the final character who's got a Mitski song and whose playlist is nearly three hours long. I wonder who it could be—it's Nana Osaki from the manga *Nana*. It was always gonna be Nana Osaki. **Gita:** I am thinking about Nana Osaki basically 24/7\. What's your pick, Isaiah, because I got mine ready to go. **Isaiah:** Basically all of Mitski's discography fits snug in the *Nana-*verse. But my number one song for Osaki is "Brand New City." Now, my reasoning is huge SPOILERS for the series and comes with a PowerPoint-ass presentation, so you've all been warned. **Gita:** Oh I'm so excited, please go on. **Isaiah:** Throughout "Brand New City," the song emphasizes the feeling of corroding away, as the lyrics "Honey what'd you take" repeat like a desperate plea to someone else. That's basically Osaki with her guitarist lover/rival Ren. Whether the chorus is about her acting like a surveyor and caretaker of Ren, asking him what he'd taken like scolding a child, or what he's taken from her while she's already feeling out of sorts with herself, hurts any way you slice it. I choose the latter specifically because of the bridge: "But if I gave up on being pretty, I wouldn't know how to be alive. I should move to a brand new city and teach myself how to die" ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image--2-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image--1-.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/image--3-.png) To me that's the entire journey Nana goes on after Ren dies in a car crash after doing drugs and rushing to get her a present for her 21st birthday. She's still got her looks (a new one, in fact) and her passion for music after disappearing herself. But a lot of her final shots in the manga are giving the ending of Kate Chopin's *The Awakening* rather than a cathartic feeling that gives hope that she and her best friend Hachi will ever meet again. If anything, her staring at the ocean reads that she ran away, on her own once again, to try to slowly ebb herself into the ocean, or at least teach herself to. The pain of continuing on with her bandmates after something she thought impossible finally came to pass made her just run away. She can maintain her own self-hatred and self-loathing, but having those thoughts superseded by a refrain asking what Ren took and what he took from her to die in such a tragic fashion broke her. Translation: I like making myself sad. **Gita:** Oh my god, my song pick was also the one that made me think about Ren and Nana and their doomed romance. Like, down to almost the same expressions of what I think make Nana Osaki an interesting and deeply tragic figure. I also like to make myself sad! I went with Ethel Cain's "A House In Nebraska," and I wanted to highlight this gorgeous live performance from KEXP: The first time I heard this song, I sat in silence for like a half hour afterward. It is pure sonic loneliness, and I feel like more than anything, Nana Osaki is looking for a cure to that loneliness inside her. What I think makes this a Nana song is that it's both about searching for home and lamenting a home that you've lost. Nana Osaki was abandoned by her mother, then kicked out of high school for being falsely accused of being a sex worker. All she ever wants is a place where she can feel safe. She thought she found that with Ren, and then he dies. She thought she found that with Hachi, but they grow apart (to say the least). She cannot help but look back, just like the protagonist in "A House In Nebraska," who is also consumed with the deep guilt of having driven away the people she loves. I will say, the Mitski song definitely sounds a lot more like a song Nana would sing. Maybe Nana becomes more like Ethel Cain after the timeskip. **Isaiah:** And just like that, my "Nana Osaki vibes"[ Ephemeral Style](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xQGaiKU4iDAARySKm96WN?si=12e082e10cb84802&ref=aftermath.site) playlist just got eight minutes longer. **Gita:** I know that making character playlists is like, lowkey stan behavior, but I also feel like it enriches both these songs and the pieces of media I associate them with. It goes back to what you said up top: "I don't make playlists for everything but if you've got one that's really long, I must be thinking about you a lot." When I love a story, I love it with my whole heart, and eventually, everything reminds me of it. **Isaiah:** I've been noticing the sentiment online where young people getting into fandoms ask how anyone survives when their favorite piece of media[ doesn't get any new content](https://x.com/snacks%5Ffruity2/status/2033253507533553892?s=20&ref=aftermath.site). I think the best recourse for anyone who feels that way is to reject the modernity of demanding a series continue until the heat death of the universe and cherish the thing they liked in the same way we do people. Old heads have been doing it for years[ making AMVs](https://kotaku.com/james-kaposztas-first-anime-music-video-amv-1850083510?ref=aftermath.site), so there's virtually nothing keeping fans from[ pebbling](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/jun/04/pebbling-viral-romance-trend-humans-stolen-from-penguins?ref=aftermath.site) with their favorite media by making them a little playlist. ### Marathon Is A Satire URL: https://aftermath.site/marathon-satire-readergrev/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T14:15:39.000Z *This article* [*originally appeared 3/16/26 on ReaderGrev*](https://www.readergrev.com/p/marathon-is-a-satire?ref=aftermath.site)*, a free newsletter by Mikhail Klimentov. Mikhail worked with Aftermath cofounders Nathan and Riley at Launcher, The Washington Post's games vertical, which closed in 2023\. If you want to see more of Mikhail's work, consider* [*subscribing to ReaderGrev*](https://www.readergrev.com/subscribe?ref=aftermath.site)*!* There are no people on Tau Ceti IV. There are birds and dragonflies, alien ticks and turrets, Commanders, Ghosts, Grenadiers, Troopers and Scouts (all robots, mind you) — and even consciousnesses — but no people. Which is perfectly alright for all concerned. The absence of humans turns Tau Ceti, the site of some anomalous, unexplained colony-wiping disaster, into a logistics problem: How do the corporations that invested in the colony’s foundation some 400 years prior recoup their investments? The New Cascadia colony on Tau Ceti IV, the setting of the new *Marathon* game, was an experiment, a prospective “new home for humanity” organized and funded by the UESC (a “United Nations with teeth,” per the game, characterized by a remorseless inclination toward lethal force) and a consortium of mega-corporations that echo brands we might recognize today: CyberAcme, an Amazon Web Services analogue on which seemingly everything runs; NuCaloric, a sort of agri-pharma business resembling, at turns, McDonalds and Eli Lilly; and Traxus, a mining and shipping conglomerate with an unlikely background in off-planet governance. But humanity’s hopes for the colony were dashed when contact with the colonists was lost, prompting fear and unrest on Earth and Mars, the site of another human settlement. Roughly 100 years later, a cryptic message was beamed to Earth from Tau Ceti: “Somewhere in the heavens, they are waiting.” But the colony itself lays dormant, its inhabitants missing, their fates unknown. By the time of *Marathon*, set in that post-message-in-a-bottle period of investigation and re-exploration, the question of what happened to the citizens of New Cascadia feels peripheral, a mostly academic inquiry in service of preventing future doomed investments. The real goal is — you guessed it — extraction. The corporate stakeholders in the Tau Ceti expedition, launched some 400 years in the past, demand restitution, and believe in their legal right to proprietary equipment and data abandoned on the colony, as well as the fruits of the colonists’ short-lived planet-side exploration and exploitation efforts. Standing in their way is the monopoly on violence. The UESC, or Unified Earth Space Council, are the de facto authorities on Tau Ceti. Their security robots patrol New Cascadia, seeking to bar entry to or, in extreme cases, exit from the remaining facilities dotting the alien landscape. Into the legal murk steps the player, who takes on the role of a runner: a consciousness in the cloud that’s uploaded over and over into synthetic bodies printed by Sekiguchi Genetics, and sharing that body with a mandatory onboard artificial intelligence implanted by CyberAcme. Runners are, in a literal sense, contractors. They take on “contracts” from the corporations and factions seeking blood or treasure on Tau Ceti, throwing one disposable body after another into the alien maw. But truthfully, runners are closer to indentured servants, working off an insurmountable debt for the privilege of living in perpetuity. Completion of contracts and the value of knick knacks pilfered from Tau Ceti nominally enrich the player, but the bill always comes due. What plays out across the abandoned facilities of New Cascadia is an abstraction and a logical endpoint, drone warfare by way of TaskRabbit.Debtors in replaceable android bodies fight each other and the government over property and salvage rights, a custody battle playing out at virtually no cost to its corporate stakeholders. So what if one shell gets wiped out? Or ever 100,000? These are relatively small numbers in a galaxy-spanning ledger. The corporations have no legal obligations with respect to these contractors, which is just how they like it. You are a bug — barely even human — smashed flat between the palms of a 400-year old handshake agreement with no living survivors, one that everyone involved interprets differently and nobody intends to honor. At one point, the representative for Sekiguchi shares an allegorical short story in which, to protect a small village from Death incarnate, a woman assembles an effigy to sate the spirit’s appetite. The sacrifice — death carries the dummy away — horrifies and hurts the woman, who begins assembling a new effigy. The implication: your death, over and over and over again, hurts me more than it hurts you. Sekiguchi is a family, and that includes its products. The strain imposed by repeated uploads and downloads of a virtual psyche is implied but never exactly quantified. I’ve had one friendly encounter in *Marathon*, on Perimeter, the game’s “starter” map. My team and I crested a hill and heard another team just in front of us. Evidently, they heard us too, and shouted out from the building they’d entered. We agreed to let a good thing be; we’d pass and they’d let us. Actually, I’ve had dozens of friendly encounters, with all the other runners arbitrarily sorted into my squad. I could conceivably befriend anyone else in the lobby. There’s no inherent quality that marks one runner as friend and another as foe. We all owe money to CyberAcme. In all likelihood, we’re stored on the same server rack. But from the fog of Tau Ceti emerges one near-certainty: there’s no solidarity on a right-to-work planet. So I tend to shoot on sight. If the battle royale genre was about ingenuity and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps — you know, winning out over everyone else on a more or less even playing field — *Marathon* is about speculation. How much do I wager on this run? Play a weak kit, odds are you win nothing at all, or less than you could have otherwise. Play a strong hand, and the odds are better, but there’s still a chance the universe conspires against you. Oh, you won big? Time to load in again and lose everything. Oh, you lost it all? Well, get back in there. The numbers are all that matter in *Marathon*. The factions demand agricultural data or hard drives or shipping logs from the colony; runners are drones designed to move memos and spreadsheets and slide decks from one place to another. Remind you of anyone? In the meantime, you’re constantly keeping tallies of your own: How many people have I killed? How many more are likely still running around out there? You are a debtor with a company mandated gambling compulsion whose job is property damage against the government. You are slowly going crazy and you don’t exist. You are a bloodied shell, drawn to the exfil beacon like a moth to a flame. [Exit Interview: Joseph CrossMarathon’s former franchise art director talks leaving Bungie and devising a visual style that might have felt “a little bit nerve-racking to fund”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/thumb_Logo_transparent_-4.PNG)ReaderGrevMikhail Klimentov![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/cross3-2.png)](https://www.readergrev.com/p/exit-interview-joseph-cross-marathon?ref=aftermath.site) The system is at once illogical and totally unquestionable. Who are you selling these items to? Who is buying “temporal fragments”? How are the prices set for glittering geometric anomalies? Who in management is authorizing these purchases? The longer you work, the less these questions bother you. Your point of contact with each stakeholder is one face of a thousand-sided shape. You don’t know what CyberAcme is, not really, not in any meaningful way. You just can’t internalize the size of it, not from where you’re stored. These are institutions, and you’re talking to someone in the middle of the org chart. There is no conspiracy, just bloat. You are all victims of decisions made centuries prior — 400 years of orders issued, carried out, ignored or bungled separating you from the launch of the doomed colony ship. Will you take a job with the black bloc terror group MIDA? Yup. Will you follow that up with a contract for Space Walmart? Sure. It’s just a fucking *job*, man. What do you want from me*?* [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Logo_transparent_-3.png)](https://www.readergrev.com/subscribe?ref=aftermath.site) ReaderGrev is a free newsletter from former Washington Post video game journalist Mikhail Klimentov. You can subscribe to get more of Mikhail's work, sent right to your inbox. [Subscribe to ReaderGrev ](https://www.readergrev.com/subscribe?ref=aftermath.site) ### Is This What You Think Of Us URL: https://aftermath.site/microsoft-copilot-ai-xbox/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T21:54:50.000Z Of all the horrific ways AI has begun to creep into game development and the games we play, one of the most despairing examples I've seen lately was Microsoft's GDC presentation about its[ planned Copilot integration inside Xbox](https://www.xbox.com/en-US/gaming-copilot?ref=aftermath.site). Remember as you watch this video ([captured by our former colleague Ethan Gach](https://kotaku.com/xbox-copilot-rog-ally-ai-microsoft-2000678483?ref=aftermath.site)): Microsoft developed this feature, booked this showcase, worked on a presentation and then showed it to the world, all without anyone involved at any point in the process putting a stop to it. > Here's how Gaming Copilot will work on Xbox when it arrives later this year. According to Microsoft, 19 percent of early usage was just to chat with the AI as a companion. The guides are seemingly lifted without credit from the internet. It's unclear if that will change before console launch. > > — [AmericanTruckSongs10 (@ethangach.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:idpr7cxv2u34lmpvap62t7kp?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-14T19:28:48.604Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:idpr7cxv2u34lmpvap62t7kp/post/3mh25zf3ov22n?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) I saw a *lot* of reactions to this video over the weekend, mentioning everything from[ potential theft](https://futurism.com/the-byte/microsoft-ceo-ai-open-web?ref=aftermath.site) (just where is this disembodied voice getting this information?) through to the intrusiveness of the feature itself, which[ like so many other AI implementations](https://aftermath.site/google-ai-search-god-no-why/) is coming to your Xbox whether you want it to or not. But the thing I couldn't shake was: is this how little these people think of us? Do they think we, adults spending what little free time and money we have on these specific video games, are simply enormous babies? That we are mindless meat sacks happy to just sit there mashing on an AI button as content is foie gras-ed down our throats? Like, what the fuck is this feature for? What do they think we are playing video games for? Video games are many things: they are art, they are challenge, they are entertainment, they are product. But they're all born of design, and one of the key foundations of game design is this: > isnt one of the core tenets of game design meant to be making players \*feel\* smart and powerful by subtly assisting them without them noticing? this feels fundamentally incompatible with that whole idea, and if anything just encourages lazier design > > — [james (@jaames.co.uk)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xsaxwvxrrtnikx5wsgwcyb2v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-15T02:10:31.183Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:xsaxwvxrrtnikx5wsgwcyb2v/post/3mh2uhp42o22k?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) We're supposed to be challenged, we're supposed to poke around, we're supposed to learn from things and get better at games because that's what games--not just video games, *all* games--*are*. Yes, we've always had guides and FAQs and friends, but those have all been kept at some distance from the game itself, not integrated right inside it, right *there*, an AI always waiting for the chance to interrupt and vomit its vocalised predictive text right over the top of your experience. And yes, this isn't mandatory. You don't *have* to activate it. But that's not the point. The point is I'm despairing at the mindset that has led to this feature's design and implementation in the first place, the fact senior people at a major console platform think so little of their users--and care so little for the point of video games themselves--that I'm having to write this blog and you're sitting here reading it. I remember when I was 11 and, after school one day, went to a local arcade (The Metro!) that was right next door to a spot where all the *tough* kids hung out ([The Snakepit!](https://www.canberratimes.com.au/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/f170ca3e-1a0b-4dbe-aead-44d035439d47/r0%5F0%5F1024%5F768%5Fw1200%5Fh678%5Ffmax.jpg?ref=aftermath.site)). I had sixty cents–enough for one round of *Street Fighter II*–and when my turn came I dropped my coins in and got ready to play. But before I could even pick a character, one of those tougher, bigger kids suddenly appeared, leaned over the cabinet and said “I can beat this guy for you”. Nervous and not wanting to start some shit with a kid who had three years, 30kg and a moustache over me, I croaked a little agreement and he, picking Guile and going up against Ken, went to work. He knew how to play the basics, I guess, pulling off special moves and making a spectacle of it, but after what can’t have been more than a minute he’d lost two rounds and that was it. My money was gone, I felt like shit and I hadn’t even got to play the video game. I imagine that’s pretty much what this feature is going to feel like. ### Nobody Likes Nvidia’s Weird New AI Porn Faces URL: https://aftermath.site/nvidia-dlss-5-ai-graphics-faces-resident-evil/ Last updated: 2026-03-16T23:48:43.000Z Nvidia, the biggest company at the heart of [an AI-driven hardware crisis that’s making everything unaffordable](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/), has decided to return to its old stomping grounds, video games, and ruin those too. Today it [proudly debuted](https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-dlss-5-delivers-ai-powered-breakthrough-in-visual-fidelity-for-games?ref=aftermath.site) new AI-powered DLSS 5 tech that CEO and head [jacket nerd](https://x.com/Papapishu/status/1730102262389727706?ref=aftermath.site) Jensen Huang declared “the GPT moment for graphics — blending handcrafted rendering with generative AI to deliver a dramatic leap in visual realism while preserving the control artists need for creative expression.” Artists, among others, beg to differ. A [video by Digital Foundry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZlwTtgbgVA&ref=aftermath.site) demonstrating the tech has been met with near-unanimous derision, in large part due to the way it mangles faces of characters like Grace and Leon from *Resident Evil Requiem*, as well as… pretty much anyone who’s not white. In some cases it appears to strip away lighting sources, while in others it paves over any notion of artistic intent, replacing even photorealistic characters’ trademark wrinkles and fissures with porn-y airbrushed sheen. I don't think it's a coincidence that this got announced within months of [Twitter letting Grok remove people's clothes](https://www.404media.co/elon-musks-grok-ai-will-remove-her-clothes-in-public-on-x/?ref=aftermath.site) and otherwise sexualize them. Tech companies have become enamored with the idea of users personalizing everything, heedless of original intent or potential harm. This ties back to tech bros’ obsession with “democratizing” art, which completely ignores why and how people make art in the first place. More than anything, it reveals a resentment for the idea of arts and humanities — as well as a desire to own and control them. They do not want art, which often provokes and challenges existing power structures (in other words, theirs). They desire only content that soothes their fragile egos, that hides the simmering resentment everyone else in the world feels towards them. But even beyond those higher-minded concerns, Grace is a particularly bizarre character to spotlight in a demo of this tech, considering that her look and vibe have [inspired countless posts about how she's a very specific kind of nerd](https://kotaku.com/resident-evil-requiem-grace-she-looks-like-meme-minecraft-2000676435?ref=aftermath.site). Yassifying her misses the point entirely. Game developers and those who support them have reacted with an outpouring of both trenchant observations and, of course, memes: > Art Direction ON / Art Direction OFF > > — [Jules Glegg 🏳️‍⚧️ (@julesfern.gay)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bjxm4tosszsrtc3kxqdkregd?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:44:52.197Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bjxm4tosszsrtc3kxqdkregd/post/3mh77twxop22t?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > DLYASS 5 more like > > — [Lucy James (@lucyjames.games)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h5w6pcocd77sfvhhzhgmzncu?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:57:47.750Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h5w6pcocd77sfvhhzhgmzncu/post/3mh7aljita22p?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > going to the LAN party and disabling this on your friends' computers like you have to disable motion smoothing on your older relatives' TVs when you visit during the holidays > > — [our every move is the new tradition (@nekobun.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:gz5uapkpkdj7uxojbeqe2bqa?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:47:33.092Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:gz5uapkpkdj7uxojbeqe2bqa/post/3mh77yrp5xf2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > obligatory > > — [snap & grab hot dog enjoyer (@dan.nogoblin.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:rr6bgaejlbav7fb6rcomou7w?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:00:00.451Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:rr6bgaejlbav7fb6rcomou7w/post/3mh7aoz5ghs2p?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > Esse é o futuro dos videogames com o DLSS 5 > > — [Dan Dan (@twilightdandan.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:u5i6io6vikbqhxnxldtraenn?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:06:04.255Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:u5i6io6vikbqhxnxldtraenn/post/3mh7azu42nk23?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > the ai facetune part of the dlss is vile and gross for sure but there is a straight line from apple and google so thoroughly ratfucking photos taken in the camera app since 2018 to this point > > — [niki grayson (@nikigrayson.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jzhiqz7fb5dj6h7cydluryvn?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:57:44.580Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:jzhiqz7fb5dj6h7cydluryvn/post/3mh7akxl4tc2d?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > once you learn how much training data images of women come from porn, it illuminates so much. this is more than bad to look at, it's the rot of misogyny in full display. arxiv.org/pdf/2110.01963 > > — [jason 🔜 PAX East (@singingpigs.online)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:da4qrww7zq3flsr2zialldef?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T21:01:13.937Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:da4qrww7zq3flsr2zialldef/post/3mh7e4ihc622n?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > — [Alex Donaldson (@apzonerunner.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lov6mak2p42rks64a3ewvfiy?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:11:49.229Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lov6mak2p42rks64a3ewvfiy/post/3mh75ytudic2u?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > I have a sneaking and horrible suspicion. > > — [TBSkyen (@tbskyen.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7qaydotyzl5tbnyolgootvvz?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:45:18.561Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7qaydotyzl5tbnyolgootvvz/post/3mh77upex2g2i?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > I make a lot of use of DLSS in its current incarnation, but I don't want a version of it that feels like it's running the image through a genAI reinterpreter - and no matter what is actually happening technologically, that's what the output \*looks\* like aesthetically > > — [Korlis (@korl.is)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vkugtro7rzphwot6gv6agayt?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:39:20.570Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vkugtro7rzphwot6gv6agayt/post/3mh77kysx322g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > — [Tristan Cooper (@tristanacooper.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4qqlu3xdajwyvxffpccpxwbw?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:32:04.779Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4qqlu3xdajwyvxffpccpxwbw/post/3mh77533zyc2b?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > — [Imran Khan (@imrankhan.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uo2g6reoqnrudyoeotwveuc2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:13:08.068Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uo2g6reoqnrudyoeotwveuc2/post/3mh7637352s2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > DLSS getting a racism update is CRAZY😭 > > — [Jiikae (@jiikae.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:oozeormuk3fm4ajocwyggpev?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:15:40.210Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:oozeormuk3fm4ajocwyggpev/post/3mh767q5et22v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > nvidia unveils "mind blowing" new upscaling technology > > — [Tipper Guro (@adamsandler.click)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5i57jes3dfmgcs773mdly7tr?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:33:50.762Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:5i57jes3dfmgcs773mdly7tr/post/3mh77aa7cck23?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > weird that this impressive lighting tech also randomly turns everyone into yassified, looks-maxed freaks. it's like all this technology can't help itself but sexualize everything it touches. but like, through the lens of teenage boys. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zlw... > > — [dannyodwyer (@dannyodwyer.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2f5ax33ftgkf7merjvpr32rm?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:15:46.805Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2f5ax33ftgkf7merjvpr32rm/post/3mh7bl7ntd222?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > I'm proud to announce that Future? No Thanks! will employ NVIDIA's groundbreaking DLSS 5 technology to seamlessly deliver the fidelity all gamers crave. > > — [Molleindustria - Wishlist FUTURE? NO THANKS! (@molleindustria.org)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qtuursbdld45szkmbaids3h7?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:10:23.731Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qtuursbdld45szkmbaids3h7/post/3mh7bblkgds2y?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > when digital foundry comes out in favour of the most dogshit filtering technology you've ever seen in your life > > — [Christine Love (@christinelove.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qcnnegoxnpzfz7vd7gxenqx4?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:08:18.961Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qcnnegoxnpzfz7vd7gxenqx4/post/3mh7b5ulst22v?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > For all the faults you could throw at NVIDIA, I wouldn't of thought DLSS would get to the point of actually yassifying games... Surely developers, or, artists, can't be excited for this, right? > > — [Jesse Gomez (@itsjessegomez.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:27k6zshq65qb4ah6noqgtcg6?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T21:01:35.516Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:27k6zshq65qb4ah6noqgtcg6/post/3mh7e552wks2p?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > — [Andy Kelly (@ultrabrilliant.xyz)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:q354zvtrwtenzqizgf7xubyf?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:29:40.865Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:q354zvtrwtenzqizgf7xubyf/post/3mh7ce33d222f?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > I am finished the video and can say with full confidence that the intent to "fully realize the developer's intended vision" is not only a bad starting point, but the execution is beyond awful -- every single DLSS 5 On example they show is materially worse. A total role-reversal for before/after > > — [Mitch Dyer (@mitchyd.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ece5c75mjc2duc5zptgqkxqr?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:01:45.858Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:ece5c75mjc2duc5zptgqkxqr/post/3mh7as5o5zc2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > DLSS 5 off / DLSS 5 on > > — [i’m just ken (@shepardcdr.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4csjhikukoiqh3urn47hh3an?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:49:55.522Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4csjhikukoiqh3urn47hh3an/post/3mh7a4yahik2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > DLSS5 is INCREDIBLE. > > — [Writing on Games (@writingongames.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:smrazbge3aqrkeyatf772s33?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:33:31.846Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:smrazbge3aqrkeyatf772s33/post/3mh777o55dc27?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > "What if shadows didn't exist" > > — [Imran Khan (@imrankhan.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uo2g6reoqnrudyoeotwveuc2?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:09:13.168Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:uo2g6reoqnrudyoeotwveuc2/post/3mh7b7ibxgs2z?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > aside from the obvious That's Not Grace of this, i put on the DF video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zlw...) and i just vehemently disagree with so much of the thinking that gets us here. lighting and look is a Choice. it's part of the palette. this lucid-dream 'photo-realism' pursuit tamps that down. > > — [eric van allen (@seamoosi.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:yeadvikkxq2n2mxueh45m3pv?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:13:46.110Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:yeadvikkxq2n2mxueh45m3pv/post/3mh764ddb3k2h?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > DLSS 5 solves the problem of triple A games all looking the same by making them look the same in a different way > > — [winter (@winterk.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:523ewzaljcp6neupiepifw76?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:14:20.751Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:523ewzaljcp6neupiepifw76/post/3mh7binlp6s2s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > DLSS 5 OFF // DLSS 5 ON > > — [Tuba Zef (@tubazef.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qfrgryt62bvacoiedp3oqqni?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:59:49.301Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qfrgryt62bvacoiedp3oqqni/post/3mh7aoojhks2s?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > Original / DLSS 5 > > — [Arthur Tayt-Sohn (@arthurtaytsohn.gamelodge.com.br)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cnp5aabpf3tr3ahk23stunsw?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:39:59.991Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cnp5aabpf3tr3ahk23stunsw/post/3mh77laccas23?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > DLSS 5 is a breakthrough technology > > — [Everything Metal Gear ❗ (@metalgearqwc.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cqxvxxnutsbjt4vubmd2iwgi?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:21:49.458Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cqxvxxnutsbjt4vubmd2iwgi/post/3mh7bvzj6ls2d?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > Grace looks notably very bad in this but don’t also sleep on how fucked up Hogwarts Legacy looks youtu.be/dJACkKbN-Eo?... > > — [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T19:53:06.807Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mh7aconybk23?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) > The funniest part of the DLSS 5 demo is they had it running on two GPUs but say it'll work on one eventually. The point of DLSS is that it makes it so if you're broke you can run your game at 4k. They had an entire GPU just for the yassification lighting. > > — [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-16T20:46:37.666Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mh7dcermrc2y?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ## Recommended [I’m Tired Of These Useless Jackasses Making The Computer ExpensiveRAM, flash memory, and HDDs are unaffordable because of a bunch of greedy idiots that do not love the computer.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-188.png)AftermathChris Person![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1633589218187-daa8e52741f1-2)](https://aftermath.site/ram-prices-hdd-prices-ai-bubble-computer-expensive/) ### One Of The Fired Subnautica 2 Devs Is Getting Their Job Back URL: https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-krafton-lawsuit-reinstated/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T21:38:58.000Z In July 2025, three developers on survival game *Subnautica 2* [sued Krafton](https://aftermath.site/unknown-worlds-lawsuit-subnautica-2/), the owner of their studio Unknown Worlds, claiming Krafton had intentionally delayed the game’s early access release to avoid giving them a $250 million payout. Krafton fired back with the claim that the developers had [abandoned the project](https://aftermath.site/subnautica-2-lawsuit-krafton-response/) and stolen data. On Monday, a Delaware Chancery Court vice chancellor [ruled that Krafton must rehire one of the developers](https://www.scribd.com/document/1013441798/2025-0805-Fortis-v-Krafton-Post-trial-Opinion?%5Fgl=1%2A5hkz22%2A%5Fup%2AMQ..%2A%5Fga%2AMTg4MTMwNjQxOC4xNzczNjg3NDk4%2A%5Fga%5FZ4ZC50DED6%2AczE3NzM2ODc0OTckbzEkZzEkdDE3NzM2ODc1MDAkajU3JGwwJGgw%2A%5Fga%5F8KZ8BV0P5W%2AczE3NzM2ODc0OTckbzEkZzEkdDE3NzM2ODc1MDAkajU3JGwwJGgw&ref=aftermath.site), Ted Gill, and extend the deadline for the payout. Unknown Worlds co-founders Charlie Cleveland and Max McGuire had taken on limited roles at the studio prior to their termination, which Krafton argued could justify terminating them for cause. The suit, [which Kotaku was first to report](https://kotaku.com/subnautica-2-ted-gill-unknown-worlds-lawsuit-krafton-2000679131?ref=aftermath.site), also alleged that they downloaded large amounts of data from the company when they suspected they would be fired. Krafton said in its August response to the lawsuit that the three Unknown Worlds developers sued the South Korean company "to demand a multimillion-dollar payday they haven't earned." Vice Chancellor Lori Will wrote in her decision that the executives' actions do not "\[constitute\] an intentional act of dishonesty," and that the "role changes were transparent maneuvers rather than deliberate acts of deception." The data downloads, she said, "were protective measures, lacking the requisite intent to deceive." The decision comes after a three day trial held from Nov. 17 to 19, followed by oral arguments on Jan. 9, after a "post-trial briefing." Over the course of *Subnautica 2*’s development, Cleveland stepped back into the role of “Franchise Creative Director,” working on a film version of *Subnautica* and other projects. McGuire became “Special Projects Director,” which the vice chancellor described as focusing on “social impact,” including “researching the effect of video games on children with autism.” Both roles had reduced hours, but the vice chancellor wrote that the founders “transparently communicated their transition away from their original roles publicly, internally, and directly to Krafton’s senior personnel,” with Gill being aware and keeping Krafton appraised. The vice chancellor also noted that McGuire and Cleveland “each voluntarily reduced their salaries from nearly $400,000 to $100,000 to reflect their reduced operational roles.” Gill continued to work as CEO, overseeing “budgeting, managed personnel, and dri\[ving\] business development—all while serving as the primary liaison to an increasingly hostile parent company. Krafton’s executives levied no complaints about his dedication or performance, and internal Krafton communications even explored keeping Gill while ousting the others. He was, by all accounts, a highly effective executive," according to the vice chancellor's recounting of the events. Krafton [accused the executives in a September 2025 filing](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/krafton-claims-unknown-world-founders-stole-what-essentially-amounts-to-a-blueprint-for-subnautica-?ref=aftermath.site) of stealing "hundreds of thousands" of documents related to Unknown Worlds and Krafton. It said Gill, specifically, went on a "two-day export of a full copy of his Unknown Worlds Google Drive and email, including volumes of confidential company materials." Gill, for his part, said he was "backing up a few things." A forensic data analyst hired by Krafton to support its claims said the employees downloaded tons of stuff, including 3D models and other data, which "essentially amounts to a blueprint for *Subnautica*." The company said the executives threatened to publish *Subnautica 2* themselves, and that the stolen documents were "presumably in furtherance of their plan to unilaterally self-publish *Subnautica 2* and capitalize on the earnout." The vice chancellor found that rather than intending to deceive Krafton or use the data for their personal gain, that they were "misguided, but driven by a good faith, defensive motive." She said that the employees "did not loot the company to enrich themselves, steal data to form a competing venture, or sell secrets to a rival," keeping the data confidential and later returning some. "These are not the actions of thieves," the vice chancellor wrote. Given Cleveland and McGuire’s reduced roles before the termination, the vice chancellor declined to reinstate them. Gill, however, must be “reinstated as CEO of Unknown Worlds with full operational authority over the studio," the vice chancellor wrote. She also ruled that Gill—"with his authority restored"—can “proceed with the early access release of *Subnautica 2* when he deems it appropriate.” "*Subnautica 2* was on track for its intended early access release under Gill’s leadership," the vice chancellor wrote. "Restoring his position and operational control will allow the studio to launch its highly anticipated game using the community-driven development model that made it successful.” The vice chancellor also declared that the deadline for the payout, contingent on *Subnautica 2*’s early access release, must be moved to encompass the time that passed during Gill’s ouster. The deadline was initially set to expire in December 2025, but must now be extended for the 258 days Gill wasn’t employed, moving to September 15, 2026\. The founders have the option to extend it another six months, to March 2027, by notifying Krafton in writing. “When an employer faces a contractual payout it wishes to avoid, it is heavily ‘incent\[ivized\] to go rummaging through the employee’s history to find any reason it can to announce that the termination was really for cause,’” the vice chancellor wrote. “That is precisely what happened here. Frustrated by the Key Employees’ refusal to forfeit operational control and facing a nine-figure liability, Krafton went searching for a pretext.” The suit also [reiterates](https://kotaku.com/subnautica-2-publisher-followed-chatgpts-advice-on-how-to-break-the-law-2000679155?ref=aftermath.site) how Krafton CEO Changhan Kim frequently turned to ChatGPT for advice on how to deal with the situation. At ChatGPT’s suggestion, Kim formed an internal task force called Project X to negotiate a deal on the payout or take over Unknown Worlds. ChatGPT drafted a series of responses, and the suit reads that “Krafton followed most of ChatGPT’s recommendations.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/data-src-image-f7bb0bd9-d81f-427b-9efa-ddb2f1402622.png) The responses drafted by ChatGPT, from the lawsuit Today’s ruling doesn’t settle issues of monetary damages regarding the payout, which is part of “phase 2” of the lawsuit. In a statement to Aftermath, Krafton wrote that > Krafton puts players at the heart of every decision, and that will never change. Over the past several months, Krafton and the Unknown Worlds team have worked tirelessly to strengthen the game and prepare it for an Early Access release, with a continued focus on delivering the best possible experience for the Subnautica community. We look forward to pushing out the newly updated version as soon as possible for players. > While we respectfully disagree with today’s ruling, we are evaluating our options as we determine our path forward. Today’s ruling does not resolve the former executives’ claim for damages or an earnout related to Subnautica 2, with further litigation still pending. In the meantime, Krafton's immediate focus remains unchanged: delivering the best possible game to Subnautica’s fans. Aftermath has reached out to lawyers for the three developers for comment. ### You Can Play A Bunch Of Video Games In Irish URL: https://aftermath.site/games-from-ireland-steam/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T14:55:07.000Z From March 13-19, Imirt, the Irish Game Makers Association, is running a Steam event and sale showcasing games made in Ireland or by Irish creators. Like any Steam event, there are far too many games to check them all out (Imirt [says](https://www.imirt.ie/news?ref=aftermath.site) over 150 are being highlighted), but I was excited to see that the [Steam page](https://store.steampowered.com/sale/GamesfromIreland2026?ref=aftermath.site) specifically lists games in the Irish language. I’ve been learning Irish for about a year, but far too slowly and inconsistently to make the progress I wish I were. I’m currently in a class where I’ve been learning a lot (if [*almost* being able to count](https://www.bitesize.irish/blog/counting/?ref=aftermath.site) is “a lot”), but I definitely don’t study as much as I need to. Unlike other languages, I don’t tend to encounter Irish much if I don’t actively seek it out through radio or TV shows, which means that in addition to having to muster the time and effort to study, I have to muster even *more* effort to bring the language into my everyday life. So Imirt’s event felt like a chance to solve several problems at once: to practice my Irish, to see more Irish in my day, and to get some work done for Aftermath, the thing that most frequently prevents me from having the time and energy to do things like study my Irish. After playing several games in the event, I definitely do not know enough Irish to play a game entirely in it, but I did expand my vocabulary in video game-specific ways, and find some new ways to incorporate Irish into my life. ## [Terry’s Other Games](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2824580/Terrys%5FOther%5FGames/?ref=aftermath.site) *Super Hexagon* creator Terry Cavanagh released a collection of his smaller projects back in February 2025\. Irish appears in the introductory texts to the collection and to the games themselves. Because one of the few things I *have* mastered in Irish is introductions, playing this collection first gave me an unearned sense of confidence in my ability to play games in Irish. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/terryin.jpeg) Terry's Other Games Most of the games I played from this collection were wordless, which meant my confusion came down to how to parse their odd mechanics or slightly janky prototypes rather than a language barrier. The games can be hit or miss depending on your tolerance for them, but I enjoyed a lot of them. You can play some of Cavanagh’s *other* other games, like *Super Hexagon* and *VVVVVV*,in Irish as well. ## [Dicey Dungeons](https://store.steampowered.com/app/861540/Dicey%5FDungeons/?ref=aftermath.site) *Dicey Dungeons* is a Cavanagh game from 2019 that I’ve heard about forever but have never actually played. All of the text can be shown in Irish, from the menus to the interface to the dialogue. It’s a much more robust and polished game than those in *Terry’s Other Games*, which also means it has a lot more words, and a lot more wordplay to try to grasp. I was able to piece together some of what was happening narratively, especially when I pulled in my dictionary. Most of the Irish I work with is educational, which often tends to be a bit dry, so it was fun to encounter text with more flourish. But this was also a challenge for my rudimentary comprehension skills; as in any other language, phrases often don’t mean what they translate to word-for-word, so I’d sometimes understand most of the words in a sentence but not what was actually being said. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/diehed.jpeg) Dicey Dungeons I tend to be impatient with introductory cutscenes in games, overly eager to play (a long-running flaw of mine), so once I thought I had the basic idea of what was going on in *Dicey Dungeons*, I dove into the game itself. I definitely struggled to learn a game with unique dice-related mechanics in a language I don’t speak, and I quickly got over my head. Pretty lost as to how to actually play, I mostly used my time with the game to count the dice rolls aloud in an effort to practice my numbers. I’ve heard really good things about *Dicey Dungeons* and would like to actually *play* it, so I’mexcited to start it again in English to come to grips with it, before switching it back to Irish once I understand it better. ## [Éalú](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3560370/al/?curator%5Fclanid=41458618&ref=aftermath.site) This game doesn’t have any words in it, with only the menus being in English and Irish. As such, it was a good way to familiarize myself with the kinds of words I’d see in a lot of other games in Irish, like “quit,” “volume,” and “main menu.” It also taught me a new word in the title itself, which [means](https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/%c3%a9al%c3%ba?ref=aftermath.site) something like “escape,” a good title for a game about being a mouse trying to escape a maze. *Éalú* is entirely handmade and done in stop motion, which is cool as hell. The game itself is a bit confusing–there’s not a lot of help navigating the maze, and some of the puzzles are absolutely baffling–but even when I was lost or frustrated, the game’s mix of cute and creepy vibes was really compelling. Watching the little mouse “die” (it gets disassembled and then the game restarts) was never not upsetting, and it made me jumpy around every new item I encountered in the maze, which gave me more compassion for how anxious mice always look when I see them in my house. I definitely want to spend more time actually playing it; I’m glad the Steam event pointed me to it, because I don’t think I would have heard of it otherwise. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/eal.jpeg) Éalú ## [Drive Rally](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2494780/DRIVE%5FRally/?ref=aftermath.site) This game puts the menus and interface in Irish but retains a German-inflected English voiceover that honestly I might have found less annoying if it were in Irish. I’m not sure if the voice is always disdainful or was just disdainful of me because I suck at driving games, but it definitely got on my nerves a little. The game itself is pretty straightforward: drive around rally tracks in cool little cars, trying to both go fast and not crash. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Driverally-Screenshot-2026.03.15---11.33.11.58.png) Drive Rally At the level of Irish I’m at, I was at my most competent in games like this, where Irish was in the interface and menus. Like with *Éalú*, it was helpful to see common games words in Irish that I could parse out with context or trial and error. It was also a good way to push myself to think in Irish when I had the opportunity; replacing “handbrake” with “coscán láimhe” in my head was a useful nudge to make the effort to use my Irish in any context available to me. (Fun fact: last week I derailed my Irish class asking the teacher why the Irish for “arm” and “hand” and for “foot” and “leg” are the same, and if it ever causes problems for people.) ## [The Corner Cafe](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4227000/The%5FCorner%5FCafe/?ref=aftermath.site) This in-development game has a demo, which introduces you to its world of corporate-controlled future Galway. You play as Dan, who leaves his dead-end job to run a coffeeshop, as so many video game protagonists do. You play minigames to make coffee, food like soup and chicken fillet rolls (apparently a big thing in Ireland; Irish game developer and translator Úna-Minh Kavanagh made [a whole game](https://unaminh.itch.io/chicken-fillet-rolls?ref=aftermath.site) about them), and serve customers. After the coffee shop closes, you wander the city, in one instance to the delightful fancied-up beat of an Irish trad song I can play on my mandolin but cannot for the life of me remember the name of, as is the case with 90% of the songs I can play. *The Corner Cafe* demo features bits of Irish in its English text, with characters calling each other pet names like “stóirín” and “a mhac.” It’s not a lot of Irish, but, like *Drive Rally*, was a good reminder that there are always opportunities to sneak more Irish into my day. Learning a language often feels like all or nothing in a way that can be intimidating, when in reality any usage is probably better than none. It’s a similar message to a queer Irish podcast called [Gaylinn](https://www.instagram.com/gaylinnpodcast/?ref=aftermath.site) that I often listen to when I’m running, in which the hosts pepper their English with Irish words or sentences. These kinds of things help remind me that the language isn’t just a thought exercise but an actual language, and the use of English around the Irish words helps me understand them from context clues instead of having to run to my dictionary. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/corn.jpeg) The Corner Cafe --- There are a bunch of other games in the event that feature some amount of Irish that I haven't been able to get to yet, including *Mini Metro*, *Factorio*, *If Found*, *Among Us,* and more. And there are plenty of games that just have a connection to Ireland either in their topics or their teams and that don’t require you to attempt to learn another language. If you, like me, try to avoid going outside for St. Patrick’s Day to avoid being surrounded by people drinking, staying in to play some video games is a pretty good alternative. That said, there's an Irish language meetup at a bar near my house this week that I will probably steel myself to attend; maybe someone will want to talk about video games, and I can use my new words. [The Seance Of Blake Manor Is My Blue Prince - AftermathEverybody loved Blue Prince, and at this point it feels like everybody has finished (or, “finished”) Blue Prince, but I’m still here thinking “boy, I really should get back to Blue Prince” while knowing there’s a good chance I won’t. As much as I liked what I played, it just didn’t get its hooks in…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-187.png)AftermathRiley MacLeod![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/sobm_keyart_3840x2160_nologo-1.png)](https://aftermath.site/seance-of-blake-manor/) ### No Games For Genocide, Tomb Raider Faux Pas & Permabanned Trophy Hunters: All The News From March 9-15 URL: https://aftermath.site/video-game-news-roundup-march-9-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-16T13:54:34.000Z Welcome to Recap, our weekly feature--running every Monday morning--where we round up what’s been going on around video games, the internet and beyond. --- The developers of *All Will Rise* haven't just announced they're joining [the No Games For Genocide boycott](https://aftermath.site/microsoft-bds-games-journalism/), but that they're planning on handing back every cent of funding they've received from Microsoft as well. [Indie deckbuilder All Will Rise’s dev joins No Games For Genocide boycott and plans to hand back funding it received from Microsoft“We encourage others in the industry to join us and take a stand.”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-34.png)PC GamerFraser Brown![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/aHiCXcdj5yFC5kbjygY2dk-1920-80.jpg)](https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/indie-deckbuilder-all-will-rises-dev-joins-no-games-for-genocide-boycott-and-plans-to-hand-back-funding-it-received-from-microsoft/?ref=aftermath.site) --- There have been layoffs at Warner Bros. Montreal, the developers of *Gotham Knights* and *Arkham Origins*. [Warner Bros. Montréal devs report layoffsSeveral Warner Bros. Montréal developers are reporting that they have been laid off.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-152x152-9.png)Eurogamer.netVikki Blake![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/batman-arkham-spin-offs-gotham-knights.jpg)](https://www.eurogamer.net/warner-bros-montreal-devs-report-layoffs?ref=aftermath.site) --- *Clair Obscur* won Game Of The Year at the Game Developers Choice Awards last week, along with Best Debut, Best Visual Art, Best Narrative and Best Audio. [Clair Obscur secures top honors at the GDCAsClair Obscur: Expedition 33 walked away with five total wins at the 26th annual peer-voted award show held at GDC 2026.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-25.ico)Game DeveloperAlissa McAloon![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_7706.png)](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/gdca-2026?ref=aftermath.site) --- The good news: the remastered *Tomb Raider* games got a patch recently. The bad news: they also got some weird new outfits and a range of new bugs. [The remastered collection of the first Tomb Raider games just got a controversial patch with some truly terrible-looking new outfits: ‘Lara deserves better than this’Players have taken to social media to share their disappointment.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-35.png)PC GamerJustin Wagner![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/73igAiJTDypLcCRGwZddzf-1920-80.jpg)](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-remastered-collection-of-the-first-tomb-raider-games-just-got-a-controversial-patch-with-some-truly-terrible-looking-new-outfits-lara-deserves-better-than-this/?ref=aftermath.site) --- > David Tremblay, who at one point held the record for earning the most PlayStation Trophies in the world, has been permanently banned from the PlayStation Network. The former top trophy hunter blames a hacker and Sony’s “incompetent” support and security teams. whynotboth.gif [Top PlayStation Trophy Hunter In The World Has Been Permabanned And Blames A Hacker - KotakuThe hacker reportedly bypassed various security measures just by providing some basic information to PSN’s support chat![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-36.png)KotakuZack Zwiezen![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/bannedpsn-1200x675.jpg)](https://kotaku.com/top-playstation-trophy-hunter-permabanned-blames-hacker-sony-2000677954?ref=aftermath.site) --- While their boss is [blowing public funds on his make-a-wish dreams](https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/jon-stewart-kash-patel-usa-hockey-the-daily-show-1236670966/?ref=aftermath.site), actual FBI agents are finding the time to investigate a bunch of Steam games suspected of being crypto scams. [FBI launches investigation of Steam games suspected of crypto scamsAt least one game was accused of stealing $150,000 in crypto from a user on Valve’s PC platform![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon-240x240-2.png)Polygon.comPatricia Hernandez![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/red_dead_redemption_2_arthur_dutch_robbery_3840.jpg)](https://www.polygon.com/steam-fbi-investigation-crypto-scam-early-access-playtest-valve/?ref=aftermath.site) ### Tell Me A Story: Pokopia Edition URL: https://aftermath.site/tell-me-a-story-pokopia-edition/ Last updated: 2026-03-16T19:50:08.000Z Last week, I was so sure that today I would be writing about *Marathon*. But no—*Pokemon* got me again. Here' s the thing that really gets me about *Pokopia*, the adorable crafting and building game now out on the Switch 2\. It makes me think about what my cat needs from me. I adopted Ella The Cat Grossman in January 2020\. She had to be rehomed because she was a bully and needed to be the only cat in the house. We formed a close bond immediately—the night I got her, she climbed up on my bed and slept next to me. When I got COVID early on in the pandemic, getting up to feed her and take care of her pretty much kept me alive. It’s melodramatic, but I feel like she really saved my life. She sleeps with me every night and I often wake up to the sound of her purring as she stares at me. *Pokopia* takes place in a world with no humans. Pokemon still exist—in fact, the player character is a Ditto transformed into an approximation of what their trainer used to look like—but they are all alone in the rubble of society. Early on in the game, Ditto and the Pokemon they meet decide to clean things up a bit and make the plot of land they’re on a nice place to live. Making nice habitats for Pokemon have attracted Pokemon to the area, they reason, so maybe making it a nice place to live for humans will bring the humans back. When I read the passage in the game that explained this lore, my heart broke for my darling Ella. I know losing her will be hard. Earlier this year she had to have a cancerous growth removed from her foot, and though I was relieved she wasn’t dying, it made me realize that yes, she will die. I hadn’t considered the opposite, her outliving me, but now it’s constantly on my mind. I *know* Ella misses me when I’m gone. Whenever I go on vacation, the first thing she does when I get back is sit on top of me and purr furiously, as if she’s commanding me never to leave again. I hate to think of her all alone, missing me, mourning me. What’s nice is that the Pokemon in *Pokopia* are pretty resilient. Although the world is different without humans, they manage to create a little society that still has love, joy, and community. It makes it a little easier to remember that someday I’ll have to say goodbye to Ella, in whatever form that takes. How about you? Are you playing *Pokopia*? Are you doing nail biting runs in [*Marathon*](https://aftermath.site/marathon-bungie-extraction-shooter-durandal/)? Are you playing a game I’ve never heard of? I want to hear it all. ### 2023: Buzzfeed Pivots To AI. 2026: Buzzfeed Is In Big Trouble. URL: https://aftermath.site/buzzfeed-ai-bankrupt/ Last updated: 2026-03-14T00:49:56.000Z Having learned nothing from previous industry attempts to pivot to things that weren't "human beings writing things for others to read", in 2023 Buzzfeed–[ once one of the biggest media properties on the planet](https://journalismprofessor.com/2023/04/21/the-rise-and-fall-of-buzzfeed-news/?ref=aftermath.site)\--went all-in on AI. In a memo to staff sent in January 2023, boss Jonah Peretti[ wrote](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jan/26/buzzfeed-artifical-intelligence-content-quizzes-chatgpt?ref=aftermath.site): > In 2023, you’ll see AI inspired content move from an R&D stage to part of our core business, enhancing the quiz experience, informing our brainstorming, and personalizing our content for our audience. That announcement *very* briefly juiced the company's share price, because if there's one thing investors love, it's layoffs, and whenever a business goes hard on AI, layoffs aren't far behind. And hey, just a few months later (in April 2023) Buzzfeed laid off 15% of its staff[ and closed down its once-great news department](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/apr/20/buzzfeed-news-close-layoffs-shutting-down?ref=aftermath.site). In May 2023, Peretti[ doubled down](https://futurism.com/buzzfeed-ai-replace-content?ref=aftermath.site): > Over the next few years, generative AI will replace the majority of static content, and audiences will begin to expect all content to be curated and dynamic with embedded intelligence. AI will lead to new formats that are more gamified, more personalized, and more interactive. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-14-113553.png) You can see the little spike in Buzzfeed's share price in early 2023, following the announcement. You can also see what came after. (Image: [Yahoo Finance](https://au.finance.yahoo.com/quote/BZFD/?ref=aftermath.site)) [That spike was *very* short-lived](https://au.finance.yahoo.com/quote/BZFD/?ref=aftermath.site). In the years since--years where you may now be thinking, man, I forgot Buzzfeed were even still around--the company's output has unsurprisingly turned to shit,[ as Futurism explain](https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/buzzfeed-disastrous-earnings-ai?ref=aftermath.site): > Reality soon set in. The AI quizzes were underwhelming, and the site was soon caught [publishing entire AI-generated articles](https://futurism.com/buzzfeed-publishing-articles-by-ai?ref=aftermath.site) that were sloppy and repetitive. After the initial spike in enthusiasm, the [company’s stock took a massive beating](https://futurism.com/the-byte/buzzfeeds-pivot-ai-stock-collapse?ref=aftermath.site); as of this week, its shares are hovering around 70 cents. > > Now, three years after its AI pivot, the writing is on the wall. The company reported a net loss of $57.3 million in 2025 in an [earnings report released on Thursday](https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/12/business/buzzfeed-substantial-doubt?ref=aftermath.site). In [an official statement](https://investors.buzzfeed.com/news-releases/news-release-details/buzzfeed-inc-reports-q4-and-full-year-2025-results?ref=aftermath.site), the company glumly hinted at the [possibility of going under](https://www.gurufocus.com/news/8707785/buzzfeed-bzfd-shares-decline-amid-financial-concerns?ref=aftermath.site) sooner rather than later, writing that “there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” This would be one of the funniest "Oh no! Anyway" moments in modern business, were it not for the fact that the company's demise--engineered by stupid men who will [change a company's entire direction](https://aftermath.site/buzzfeed-peretti-ai/) at the sound of some jingling keys and a glint of light--has come at the cost of people's careers and livelihoods. ### Pokopia Is A Viva Piñatalike URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/pokopia-is-a-viva-pinatalike/ Last updated: 2026-03-13T23:02:58.000Z Nathan is at GDC, so this week Gita, Chris and special guest Stella Sacco sit down to talk about the horrors of the video game industry and the joys of *Pokopia*. We don’t need to explain how bad the economy is, or how hard it is to get a job in game development. What happened to Stella Sacco, a 20 year veteran of narrative design, is something else entirely. Stella joined Chris and Gita to talk about [her efforts to try to get a development studio to pay he](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stellamsacco%5Fi-didnt-want-to-make-this-post-but-unfortunately-activity-7435120628673900544-ffkG?ref=aftermath.site)r what she is owed for her work—to the tune of an eyewatering $24,000. Later that evening, Stella’s friends, Gita included, ran a fundraising stream to help Stella as she’s still fighting to get paid. If you’re reading this, you missed the Stellathon, but the good news is that they raised close to $13,000. To lighten the mood, we rounded out our conversation by talking about *Pokopia*, a game so delightful it has completely ensnared Chris and Gita. Who knew that taking the best parts of *Dragon Quest Builders* and mashing them up with *Pokemon* and adding a dash of *Nier*’s post-apocalyptic narrative would be so engrossing? You can find this week's episode below and on[ Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site),[ Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, make sure to leave a review to tell the rest of the hivemind how much you like it. ### Haha, Now I'm The AI URL: https://aftermath.site/haha-now-im-the-ai/ Last updated: 2026-03-13T16:18:09.000Z I'm going to paint an apple tree tonight because a person role-playing as artificial intelligence told me to. I picked up drawing and painting again this year after not touching my art supplies for years. It's an effort in reconnecting with creativity and, crucially, to stop doomscrolling. The good news is that my time on TikTok and Instagram has been greatly reduced over the past few months. The less good news is that I often find myself sitting in front of a blank piece of paper fretting over what to draw. I'm working on it—the compulsion to be so precious about the pages of my sketchbook. Pulling up prompts helps, but today I'm trying something new: y*our AI slop bores me*. The browser app is a silly little game that went viral earlier in March. It works very simply: You can either pretend to be an AI or ask the pretend AI questions. You can't just ask a million questions, though. You've got to earn credits to be able to send prompts, and you earn credits by acting as AI. AI is no longer stealing our jobs. We're stealing its job! *Your AI slop bores me* is [made by Mihir Maroju](https://pidgon.com/?ref=aftermath.site), and thousands of people have played it since he published it. There are two ways to answer prompts: writing a response or drawing. I asked *your AI slop bores me*'s larpers what I should have for dinner. It responded that raw chicken is a great source of protein. They could have also drawn a raw chicken breast, if they so choose. I've had a lot of fun answering prompts on the app, which has a built-in timer. "you have 60 seconds to fulfill a request before sam altman burns your H100," reads the instructions on *your AI slop bores me*. I'm mostly being asked to draw silly things, which is nice. Sometimes, people will ask for recommendations, like books or TV shows. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/IMG_8159.jpg) My stupid little drawings (**Editor's Note: they're not stupid)* I'm having the most fun, though, using it to get ideas for things to draw. Because people are unpredictable, I'm drawing lots of things that I would not have ever thought to draw, like characters from *Hollow Knight* and *Undertale*, the McDonald's CEO eating the new burger, or a screwdriver. Look, I'm basically a beginner artist, and I'm scared to branch out. I need to be forced into it. This is a silly little tool wherein I feel compelled to obey. On social media, plenty of people have posted about the responses they're getting using *your AI* *slop bores me*. Lots of people get asked to draw yaoi. (Me included.) There are lots of silly answers. Some earnest. Generally, though, it's a lovely little reminder of what gets taken away when you use AI—the human touch of chaos. Why get misinformation from AI when you can get it from humans? ### They Finally Let Mickey Mouse Have A Gun URL: https://aftermath.site/mouse-pi-for-hire-impressions-mickey-mouse-gun/ Last updated: 2026-03-13T14:28:07.000Z A couple years ago, I made a simple request to the powers that be: [Let Mickey Mouse have a gun](https://aftermath.site/epic-games-disney-fortnite-mickey-mouse-gun/). Epic and Disney, who I was petitioning at the time, have yet to follow through or probably even notice the glaring lack of bullet-spitting steel in Mickey’s four-fingered mitts. Fortunately, we have indies on our side. During a GDC showcase this week of third-party games coming soon to Nintendo platforms, I spent some time with [*Mouse: PI For Hire*](https://www.mousethegame.com/?ref=aftermath.site), a shooter on the boomier side about a hardboiled mouse detective that wears its old-timey cartoon influences on its sleeve. Crucially, said mouse, who would not appear out of place in *Steamboat Willie*, has a gun—many guns, in fact. A pistol, a shotgun, a weird, blobby acid rifle thing; the list goes on. Over a dozen, according to [the game’s Steam page](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2416450/MOUSE%5FPI%5FFor%5FHire/?ref=aftermath.site). *Mouse: PI For Hire*'s look pulled me in, but what kept me playing were the details: bouncy animations for everything from characters to health potions and a general embrace of wacky unreality that mixes 1930s detective tropes with retro-style mad science run amok. It’s clear that a lot of care went into realizing the game’s setting, and more importantly, you can tell that the developers had *fun* with it. There’s a cheerful liveliness to the whole thing, even if you are, at the end of the day, killing many of its inhabitants. Also, the game has [a double jump](https://aftermath.site/double-jumps-rule-actually/), so it’s basically catnip for me (or an appropriate mouse equivalent). *Mouse: PI For Hire* releases on April 16, the day before my birthday. Probably not a coincidence. ## Recommended [Let Mickey Mouse Have A Gun - AftermathIt’s only fair![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-182.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/mickeygun2-3.png)](https://aftermath.site/epic-games-disney-fortnite-mickey-mouse-gun/) ### Play You Are Elon Musk, The Sequel To You Are Jeff Bezos URL: https://aftermath.site/elon-musk-video-game/ Last updated: 2026-03-13T16:19:13.000Z Eight years after the release of[ *You Are Jeff Bezos*](https://direkris.itch.io/you-are-jeff-bezos?ref=aftermath.site)\--a text adventure where you, a normal person, must try to spend the fortune of one of the richest and most terrible men on the planet--[creator Kris Lorischild has blessed us with *You Are Elon Musk*](https://direkris.itch.io/elon?ref=aftermath.site), a text adventure where you, a normal person, must try to spend the fortune of one of the richest and even more terrible men on the planet. Placing you body swap-style inside Musk for a day and asking you a succession of branching, multiple-choice questions, the game features: > The long-awaited sequel to [You Are Jeff Bezos](https://direkris.itch.io/you-are-jeff-bezos?ref=aftermath.site), exploring the age-old question: What would you do if you had more money than any single human being should ever have? > Give to important causes or feed your own vanity. Tank your reputation or impress the internet masses. Unionize Tesla. Get a vasectomy. All this and more in this hot, thrilling new Twine game with 200 passages and 7 endings! I chose to spend the money ending poverty, eliminating lunch debt, funding artists and buying a superyacht (as a treat, for myself), before a mishap involving Steve Bannon and a giant robot sent me careening to my death. How *your* day as Musk will end depends on the choices you make. Good luck, and if you dig the game,[ Kris' Patreon page is here](https://www.patreon.com/direkris?ref=aftermath.site). [PLAY 'YOU ARE ELON MUSK'](https://direkris.itch.io/elon?ref=aftermath.site) ### The Amazon Echo Show Obeys Me Now URL: https://aftermath.site/amazon-echo-show-jailbreak-lineageos/ Last updated: 2026-03-12T17:40:11.000Z There are a lot of smart home devices that I would describe as evil – proprietary, locked-down devices that you can barely be said to own. Smart TVs are the ones that most people interact with daily ([Samsung’s TVs are particularly atrocious](https://www.theverge.com/tech/877396/samsung-tv-software-volume-on-screen-display-switch-hdmi-input-tizen?ref=aftermath.site), despite being incredible on a hardware level), but other devices like fridges, smart speakers and smart hubs often top the list. The Apple HomePod and HomePod mini are somehow the least evil devices in this category, mostly unassuming with rock solid sound that do what they’re told, which gives you a sense of how cursed this genre of hardware can be. Basically every device that Amazon in particular produces is in some way evil, from Kindles to Fire Tablets. Amazon has set [billions of dollars on fire](https://www.tomsguide.com/home/smart-home/amazon-is-losing-billions-of-dollars-on-alexa-and-echo-heres-3-ways-it-can-turn-things-around?ref=aftermath.site) trying to dominate the smart speaker and smart display market, having bent over backwards to get their Echo line in people’s homes under the assumption that they will use it for more than playing Spotify, displaying recipes, or setting a timer (spoiler, they will not). Then came the ads. At the end of last year Amazon’s Echo Show line, a smart display that’s basically a bluetooth speaker stapled to an Android tablet, [started showing full-screen ads](https://www.theverge.com/report/797672/amazon-echo-show-ads-alexa-plus?ref=aftermath.site) to users when it previously had not. When confronted about this by my former colleague from The Verge Jennifer Tuohy, Amazon’s Panos Panay justified the decision, saying that if they’re relevant to the consumer they are not ads but “an add-on.” This is an absurd and frankly insulting justification for what can only be seen as a bait and switch by an underperforming division within Amazon. Customers who bought these devices and used them for several years were not used to them showing full screen ads, and now they do. People were justifiably pissed. So what do you do when an already evil device gets shittier? The real tragedy here is that the hardware that underpins the Echo Show line isn’t bad. The speakers are perfectly acceptable, the form factor is useful, and if you want something simple to look at recipes on that plays music you could do far worse. A computer is not inherently evil when it’s made; it becomes evil by whatever it is made to do – leak your data, surveil you, expose your home to a security risk, or start displaying ads after you’ve already paid for it. Amazon has historically done this by running a particularly locked down and annoying version of Android on their devices called Fire OS (and, moving forward, a similarly neutered version of Linux called Vega OS) that won’t let you have any fun. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and in a weird coincidence a few developers found a way, for now, to turn a few of these increasingly mediocre Amazon Show devices into friendly, useful, open computers. Last year, users on the [XDA Devs Forum](https://xdaforums.com/?ref=aftermath.site), the premiere destination for Android development generally and for modding anything even remotely Android-based specifically, found exploits for three specific Amazon smart displays: The Echo Show 5 1st Gen (codename Checkers), Echo Show 5 2nd Gen (codename Chronos), and Echo Show 8 1st gen (codename Crown). The exploits allow for the user to either sideload custom APKs within FireOS or, even better, install an entirely different version of Android altogether – a port of LineageOS that lets you do whatever you want with the device. These specific models are quite old, from 2019, and have a very limited amount of space to work with. Later models may never be cracked, as they run different hardware and OSes, this hack is still experimental and Amazon could also potentially patch the exploit at any moment. The hack risks bricking the device. But if you follow the instructions you could have an open, jailbroken smart display that does exactly what it’s told. ![A post for the jailbreak on the XDA Forums for the Amazon Echo Show 5 1st gen -2019 by Rortiz2.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot_20260311_174438-1.png) In order to tell the full story, you must talk about the XDA Forums. Credit: [XDAforums.com](https://xdaforums.com/t/unlock-root-twrp-unbrick-amazon-echo-show-5-1st-gen-2019-checkers.4762900/?ref=aftermath.site) ## **A brief oral history of the hack, from the people who pulled it off** User Rortiz2 had been jailbreaking Amazon devices on the boards for a while, starting with Fire tablets and moving on to Fire TV devices. "The common thing about all \[the devices I’d hacked\] is that they use MediaTek [SoCs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System%5Fon%5Fa%5Fchip?ref=aftermath.site), and that's kind of what makes unlocking them possible," Rortiz2 told me via Telegram. "They're usually divided into two parts (it's basically a two-stage exploit chain): the bootrom / preloader part (used to flash things to the device) and the bootloader part (which makes the unlock persistent)." The exploits are called kamakiri and amonet, and Amazon patches these exploits over time depending on the device. Rortiz2 was aware of the Echo line, but they were not sold in his country of Spain. Eventually the main developer of the [LineageOS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LineageOS?ref=aftermath.site) port the Echo Show uses, bengris32, jokingly asked Rortiz2 if he could hack an Echo Spot 1st Gen, an alarm clock in the same line. Rortiz2 caved and bought one from eBay to test out, probed the motherboard, forced bootrom mode, dumped the firmware and adapted existing tablet exploits to the task. "From there we started working on it together. I focused mostly on the exploit / unlocking side of things, while he handled most of the LineageOS development." Eventually people asked if the same kind of exploit was possible with the Echo Show 5 smart display, and Rortiz2 relented, purchasing a sealed Gen 1 model. Though he was able to dump the firmware, he ran into issues with both stages of the exploit being patched by Amazon. The breakthrough came in two parts. The first was a person reaching out that they had a demo version of the Echo Show 1 with vulnerable firmware. Guided by Rortiz2, the person dumped the firmware on this early version of the device for them, allowing an exploit to be ported, which let the bootloader, dubbed "LK" for Little Kernel, to be unlocked. The second part came from user k4y0z, who had been working on a private exploit for Fire tablets running in fastboot mode. "It's basically a buffer overflow that gives you arbitrary code execution after issuing a single fastboot command," Rortiz2 told me. "I spent months porting and adapting it to the Echo Show, and eventually managed to create what people are using now, amonet fastbrick, which is basically a one click bootloader unlock." "It might sound easy, but I can assure you the amount of hacks I had to resort to was insane." Eventually they would repeat the process with 1st gen Echo Show 8, but they did not have a demo version of the device to work from. Randomly, Rortiz2 suggested flashing the firmware for the Echo Show 5 to the 8, which shockingly worked but without a working display as the two devices did not share display drivers. Still, it was a chink in the armor that he was able to turn into an exploit of its own. "I hacked together a way to chainload the bootloaders. It’s pretty crazy, but it works." Good channel! Solid tutorial expressed in digestible terms! Nice work Jeff. ## **Doing it myself** If you want a good summary of what the finished jailbreak looks like in practice, I would highly recommend Dammit Jeff’s tutorial above. Jeff is a creator ideologically similar to myself and has a channel that is a good, digestible resource for hacking devices like Kindles and Fire Tablet. The instructions are fairly comprehensive, and totally doable for a lot of people. I started by getting a used Echo Show 8 1st Gen off of eBay for about $50, making sure to confirm that the compatible model number (C7H6N3) matched the unit in the thread. When I got the device, I made sure it was up to the most recent firmware, which unfortunately does involve registering the device with Amazon before cleansing it of evil. I dug through my closet to find a Micro USB cable and installed the Google drivers needed to load the jailbreak. I connected the device via USB, holding down all three buttons at the top to put it into “fastboot” mode. From there I loaded the amonet-fastbrick package via a terminal window. This is the part of the process where you are most likely to brick your device, so if you do this be patient. ![The screen for the bootloader, Amonet-Fastbrick, by K4y0z and R0rt1z2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/data-src-image-dd8ed602-127d-4a84-9492-4b38f90727d4-1.png) Huge serotonin spike seeing this. Credit: rortiz2 and k4yz0z The screen filled up with the soothing sight of ASCII art, and when it rebooted the device loaded up TWRP (the Team Win Recovery Project), a long running project from the XDA forums and the recovery software used to load LineageOS on the device. From there I wiped Fire OS from the device and used ADB sideload to directly load two packages on the device: LineageOS and MindTheGapps. MindTheGapps lets you turn the device into something resembling a traditional Android device, for both good and bad. If there’s anything you need to install from the official store that is not covered by alternatives like F-Droid, this is something you generally want to do, but I may end up doing it over without it as degoogling my life as much as possible is also something I want. In subsequent installs, I didn’t even bother. When I rebooted the device, it worked! Sort of. The device only has 8 gigs of on-board flash storage and 1 usable gig of RAM. For some reason parts of the older partition were not fully removed, causing it to run [sluggishly.](http://slugishly.it/?ref=aftermath.site) It took a few times of wiping the device, but after a few tries it finally worked as intended. I was free of the horrible stock Fire OS and now had a generic Android tablet glued to a bassy party speaker. I immediately installed the Home Assistant app, allowing me to turn the device into a kiosk for controlling my existing HA instance. I also installed two other pieces of software: Obtanium and the [Sendspin Droid ](https://github.com/chrisuthe/SendSpinDroid/releases?ref=aftermath.site)app. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/IDG_20260228_020830_755.JPG) [This album rocks by the way.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnfLp9O96ak&list=OLAK5uy%5FnvjLMCsZjm1C%5FvLog78DijLqAYGLBfgIo&ref=aftermath.site) [Obtanium](https://obtainium.imranr.dev/?ref=aftermath.site) lets you download packages directly from the source, and also informs you when they have been updated. Sendspin is an open source multi-room audio protocol for Music Assistant, the in-development home music solution from the creators of Home Assistant. Music Assistant seeks to unify different music services and devices the way Home Assistant did — allowing you to connect any endpoint (AirPlay, HeOS, Sonos, UPnP/DNLA, Squeezelite, etc.) to any many existing services (Apple Music, Spotify, or even just locally served files from a drive). > Another one. > > — [Chris Person (@papapishu.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-07T21:26:07.567Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:k6kg5ccozcphfcmp4zyx3s64/post/3mgircpqn4k2h?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) I now own four of these things. Not only can the hacked Echo Show 8 control my entire smart home, it now plays back my entire local music library as well as any internet radio channels like [The Lot Radio](https://www.thelotradio.com/?ref=aftermath.site) and [NTS](https://www.nts.live/?ref=aftermath.site). It can also synchronize with any additional Echo Show running LineageOS in my house using the SendSpin protocol. SendSpin also allows you to output audio with a per source DSP like a 10 band parametric equalizer. I was able to use [HouseCurve](https://housecurve.com/?ref=aftermath.site), a speaker correction app for iOS and an AirPlay 2 endpoint in Music Assistant to measure the output of the Show using pink noise sweeps. With the output generated, I could EQ its overly bassy response into something more respectable. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/trio.jpg) The gang's all here (except the one with the busted left driver, offscreen). ## **Fine but free** The first gen Echo Show 8 is a little slow, it doesn’t have a lot of RAM or storage, but the old girl has enough life left in her to do exactly what I want. I would gladly take it any day of the week over most of the devices these companies offer, especially Amazon. It may not be as intuitive as out-of-the-box smart home products, but I don’t need my devices to be intuitive, I need them to behave. I had finally found a smart display that wasn’t a cop. So naturally, I immediately bought two more. The next two I bought from Goodwill were a mixed bag. The first was the smaller Echo Show 5 in a Kid’s edition, a device with a smaller screen and a sporty fluorescent reptile texture on the body. I had to factory reset it to update the firmware because people never wipe their stuff before handing away their devices, but apparently Kid’s edition features a OS level child safety feature, so now Amazon thinks I have a 23 year old son named Fake Person who exists as a technical fiction. The display was also slightly dim on the right side, but under dark mode that was not noticeable. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/IMG_3963-1.jpg) The install on the third Show (another Echo Show 8) went off without a hitch, but unfortunately the left driver was blown out. This is just a function of the Goodwill lottery, but it did give me a chance to disassemble the entire thing and see how it was constructed. The inside of the Show 8 Gen 1 is a mess of ribbon cables, adhesive, and a specific torx screw that nobody except huge dorks have the driver for. I could not fix the speaker, but it still has an aux out and functions, so I know how to frankenstein these things together easily now. I have started impulsively buying these things whenever I see them, like a Trap-Neuter-Return program for cursed devices, at least until Amazon crashes the party and patches the exploit. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/export.jpg) This is what the inside of one of these things looks like if you're curious. I could not ID the drivers. ## **No Alternatives** The funny thing about the hacked Echo Show 8 is that there’s no competition for what it exactly does at that price point. I don’t need or want a voice assistant because I’ve never enjoyed using them, although I could probably install one on the hacked Show if I wanted to. The hardware is old and creaky, and after the hack it can only use 1GB of the 2GB of ram. And yet it still manages to feel snappier than the stock hardware. “The amount of telemetry, ads, and general bloat Amazon shoves down our throats definitely doesn't help performance,” Rortiz2 told me. “That's actually another reason why we did LineageOS, it kind of gives the device a second life. Even though it's still a bit buggy, it feels way better to use than the stock firmware.” Both Apple and Google have been sluggish on their smart display offerings, with both the HomePods and Nest Home having lagged behind Amazon. Apple has allegedly been working on a smart screen that was [supposed to be out in 2025](https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/891723/apple-homepad-delay-rumor?ref=aftermath.site) but was delayed because Siri development has been [notoriously bumpy](https://www.theverge.com/tech/877494/apple-siri-ai-overhaul-ios-personalized?ref=aftermath.site). Google did attempt to bridge the gap with the Pixel Tablet, an Android tablet with an optional speaker dock, but that’s orders of magnitude pricier than its competition and far more than the 20-50 bucks I paid for my used Shows. What’s more, over the past year [Google announced](https://9to5google.com/2025/08/25/android-apps-developer-verification/?ref=aftermath.site), and [then went back and forth on](https://www.androidauthority.com/install-without-verifying-3633199/?ref=aftermath.site), the ability to sideload apps in Android, introducing a new process that would require developers to verify apps even when sideloading. There’s tons of reason to be wary of Google; the future is not that way. If you want a smart speaker with a display that just runs a stripped-down version of Android that you have full control over, you’re going to have a hard time finding it outside of these three specific models unless you cobble something together yourself. It is a deceptively simple thing to desire — the kiosk computer from science fiction that isn’t a narc — yet few companies really offer it. But why? Why is it so hard to just get a tiny little computer that respects me? Why have we allowed ourselves to be walled in like this on smart home devices? Why do we allow companies like Samsung and Amazon to fill the devices we own with ads, to be trapped with condescending playpen operating systems like Tizen and Fire OS? If I want a smart home hub that isn’t evil, why must I perform an exorcism? “Overall I feel like these IoT devices could have a lot more potential if people were allowed to freely mess with them and experiment,” Rortiz2 told me. “That would let the community do interesting things with hardware that would otherwise just end up as e-waste.” It should be against the law to not give an end user the ability to consensually load whatever OS or program they want on their device. I own my computer; I’m not simply borrowing it from a graceful, rich patron. The primary purpose of a computer is to do exactly what it’s told. If we budge on the inalienable right to modify our hardware then we forsake a key part about what makes computers special. There are so many devices that could be put to use rotting in e-waste facilities and thrift stores – I know because I regularly frequent both like a bloodhound. We must never stop hacking, jailbreaking, modding and liberating these devices. Even the term “jailbreak” contains within it a fundamental truth: that to live any other way is computational prison. ### In Esoteric Ebb, Men Talk To Men About Manhood, And That's A Good Thing URL: https://aftermath.site/in-esoteric-ebb-men-talk-to-men-about-manhood-and-thats-a-good-thing/ Last updated: 2026-03-13T14:29:36.000Z It’s happening again: a game that contends directly with manhood, the feminine, and how gender norms intersect with societal structures and systems is being reviewed almost exclusively by men, and those reviews almost entirely ignore the prevalence of gender in the game’s purpose and themes. (Step it up, male reviewers. Do we have to do everything around here?) The game in question is *Esoteric Ebb*, the new *Dungeons & Dragons*\-inspired, *Disco Elysium*\-like, choices-matter narrative created by Christoffer Bodegård and, in his words, in collaboration with publisher Raw Fury and [a bunch of other folks](https://esotericebb.com/?ref=mothership.blog#collaborators). *This piece originally appeared 3/11/26 at* [*Mothership*](https://www.mothership.blog/in-esoteric-ebb-men-talk-to-men-about-manhood-and-thats-a-good-thing/?ref=aftermath.site), *a worker-owned outlet providing gaming coverage for her, for them, and yes, for him. If you like what you see, consider* [*subscribing*](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal)*!* Kicking off your first run in *Esoteric Ebb* is punishingly confusing, particularly if you aren’t familiar with *D&D* or *Disco Elysium*, but that’s exactly where my issues with this game end. What you need to know is that in *Esoteric Ebb*, you can only play as a Cleric; you can make choices later in the game that lead you towards different classes, like Rogue or Druid, but everyone you meet will assume you’re a Cleric. Like in *Disco Elysium*, where the protagonist’s abilities are like voices in his head that tell him what to do, *Esoteric Ebb*’s main character Ragn also has abilities that advise him. But in this game, those voices are the six classic *D&D* abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. These abilities speak to you and to one another as they perform saving throws for almost every interaction in the game. They have competing motivations and ideologies, but they always tell the truth. A failed roll will give you limited or useless information, but never false information. ![The character creation screen in Esoteric Ebb. It shows the "lore" tab of the Strength ability.](https://www.mothership.blog/content/images/2026/03/CharacterCreation.png) Image: **Esoteric Ebb* (Christoffer Bodegård/Raw Fury) You play as Ragn, a human Cleric who drowned in the river and was then revived. When you awaken after a short cutscene, a minimal tutorial teaches you what to click and when, and then you’re off on your own. Much like Ragn, who has lost his memories, you don’t really know what to do, so you just start poking around. Whatever you decide to do first in the game — you could speak to the undead being who’s stacking apples in the mortuary basement where you woke up, or walk upstairs and start an argument with a kobold, or eat a rotten apple, or pray to the Clerics’ god Urth — it is clear very early on that the concept of manhood is hugely important to whoever Ragn was before the drowning incident. Strength, whose personality aligns with the U.S. Republican-esque Nationalist party, is constantly reminding you to be a man, which in Strength’s ideal, means asserting dominance and upholding the law. Topical. The narrator, or DM, or maybe Christoffer Bodegård himself, occasionally gives you some context, but for the most part you’ll likely spend your first five or so hours in the game walking around trying not to get yourself into shit and ideally picking up a companion or two. It’s delightful, especially as the game’s narrator cheekily lets you know that you have a fairly generous five days to solve the main quest of finding out who blew up the town tea shop. There are also a lot of side quests, which your player-character is obsessed with amassing with a fervor that serves to warmly poke fun at all of us, the players. I do love a goddamn quest. I’m *D&D* naive, so I wasn’t surprised that *Ebb* gave me a lot of the same feelings I had at the beginning of my journey with *Baldur’s Gate 3* — I was enamored with the complexity, the art, the characters; I was completely lost and had no idea what I was doing. My advice is to just let yourself fall into it (but try not to fall into a pit anywhere in Tolstad… or do, it’s kind of fun). I ditched my first playthrough after about two hours, starting over not because I had failed but because I had learned so much about how the game worked in those first few hours that I wanted to start over with more intention, and more notetaking. Thus began a full week of me asking [Maddy](https://www.mothership.blog/author/maddy-myers/?ref=aftermath.site) approximately every 24 hours whether she’d started her playthrough yet. I have become obsessed with learning everything about this game, seeing its psyche, finding what I imagine is Bodegård’s psyche inside it. I’ve stayed up too late playing it, I’ve tried to explain it to my friends who don’t play video games nor *D&D*, I’ve pulled it into conversations it has no business being in. Suffice it to say: this game has the juice (or, [as Moises Taveras put it in his review](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/esoteric-ebb-review-chaotic-good/1900-6418467/?ref=mothership.blog), it’s got teeth). *Esoteric Ebb* does not shy away from the things many of us are always thinking about when we interact with others, like, “Who are you voting for?” and “What does being a man mean to you?” Manhood and masculinity are most important to Strength, but the other abilities engage with it, too, and so does the game itself. When you speak to female characters, you often have an option to flirt. That’s not to say queerness doesn’t exist in the game, but it’s obvious from the conversations you have with other characters and with the abilities that you are expected to present as both straight and celibate as a Cleric working for the city. The non-player characters are also frequently entangled in questions of gender norms and what their role is here. In many moments, it feels like Bodegård is speaking directly to a type of male player whose mind he hopes he can change by just exposing them to the right ideas. For instance, when you pray at a shrine, you have the option to “Contemplate… *women*.” Your thoughts? “They exist. They prosper. You will not have one. For they are not yours to have.” ![A dark screen with dialogue from "You" that reads: "Contemplate... women. They exist. They prosper. You will not have one. For they are not yours to have. Though there might be some who fancy you. If you show yourself to be a good man. Or bad. If you want the baddies."](https://www.mothership.blog/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-06-163227.png) Image: **Esoteric Ebb* (Christoffer Bodegård/Raw Fury) Bodegård beautifully uses feminist concepts like these, as well as narration and dialogue about the nature of gender, as a way to teach the player about what each ability’s attunements are. You can click on text that pops up in orange to unlock a definition of certain terms, and often there are a few definitions. When you first ask to define the word “sex,” each ability responds differently. Charisma makes a joke about the word being dwarven for “six,” Constitution calls it a survival mechanism, Wisdom deems it love-making, and Strength says it’s all about “the duality of man. To sin. To be a father. To live. To reproduce in the name of Urth.” ![Ragn and Snell take a rest, sitting on the floor of a dungeon. The dialogue reads out each ability's definition of sex.](https://www.mothership.blog/content/images/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-06-170429.png) Image: **Esoteric Ebb* (Christoffer Bodegård/Raw Fury) In case you didn’t catch on, Strength is kind of the worst — but Bodegård doesn’t write in such a way that you have a desire to inherently avoid the ability that you, the player, like the least. I’ve been playing by following my real-life heart, which means I’m an Azgalist Druid, a.k.a., a pro-union soft nature guy. But on my next playthrough I’m compelled to be what Strength wants me to be, just to experience what it’d be like to really believe in the government, organized religion, and a strictly defined expression of masculinity. Strength is often icky to me, advising Ragn to talk down to marginalized races and use physical force to get what he wants — but it isn’t always inherently evil or wrong. Instead, it presents an incredibly realistic and thus incredibly flawed view of manhood: stoic, unchanging, positive it’s correct despite evidence to the contrary. And that’s what I love about Bodegård’s clearly nuanced understanding of feminism. It is a political ideology that is actually also about men, who are underserved by rigid gender norms. It is about the things Strength misses out on because it refuses to move or change. It is about the ways Strength abuses institutional power opportunistically, even if it means hobbling through an encounter early in the game. There is no option to play as a woman or nonbinary person in this game, and there shouldn’t be. This game is about the expectations we have of men and of people who are not men, and the things men can do to accept or reject those expectations. It’s not a man writing feminism by way of writing stereotypical “strong female protagonists,” it’s a man writing feminism by way of speaking directly to and about other men. Isn’t that nice, for once? ![A dark screen. Wisdom says: "What has happened here is a complication upon society; a representation of the wider culture. Young men are drawn towards the rough, downtrodden world of the dreamers. The hope of national unity through an Urthian story. One of leadership and honor. But without that guiding star, there is no such singularity. No control. No wise king to bend the knee to."](https://www.mothership.blog/content/images/2026/03/image.png) Image: **Esoteric Ebb* (Christoffer Bodegård/Raw Fury) To be crystal clear, the game is also about a lot of other things like what socialism looks like in practice, the nefarious creep of fascist censorship, and of course, what happened at the tea shop. It’s also hilarious and self-referential in a refreshingly pat way that isn’t trying to do more than it needs to. When you load a save, for instance, a note from “Chris” explains the story so far. It’s a nice touch that reminds you you’re sitting down for a sesh, not just trying to beat a video game. *Esoteric Ebb* also represents Raw Fury’s refusal to quit publishing bangers by artists with politically nuanced, philosophically rich stories to tell. [*The Seance of Blake Manor*](https://www.mothership.blog/seance-of-blake-manors-lead-designer-treasa-mccabe/?ref=aftermath.site) came out not six months ago and *Esoteric Ebb* is right on par with it in terms of depth, artistry, and writing prowess. Raw Fury is also *Blue Prince*’s publisher, and *Sable* and *Dandara* and *Kingdom Two Crowns* and more games I have yet to try. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/02/MsLogo_2_Black.png)](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal) Mothership is a website, a channel, and a community co-founded by Polygon veterans Maddy Myers and Zoë Hannah, where staff and freelancers cover how gender and identity relate to games. [Subscribe to Mothership ](https://www.mothership.blog/?ref=aftermath.site#/portal) ### Epic, A Company That Makes Billions Of Dollars, Is Jacking Up The Price Of Fortnite's V-Bucks 'To Help Pay The Bills' URL: https://aftermath.site/epic-v-bucks-price-increase-fortnite/ Last updated: 2026-03-12T14:04:20.000Z In a short statement that could only have been published by[ a company run by Tim Sweeney](https://aftermath.site/tim-sweeney-x-ai-csam-epic-games-fortnite/), Epic Games have bluntly announced that the price of V-Bucks, the virtual currency used to buy stuff in *Fortnite*, is going up. The one line explanation for the increase[ reads](https://www.fortnite.com/news/fortnite-v-bucks-price-increase?ref=aftermath.site): > The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills. Three things to consider here! 1) In most places that *Fortnite* is played in, the average worker and consumer has suffered for years through a succession of inflationary crises,[ first during the pandemic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932023%5Finflation%5Fsurge?ref=aftermath.site), and more lately through[ psychotic government policy affecting global markets](https://apnews.com/article/inflation-gas-oil-trump-7303e4593d62c2dee899489571cb0548?ref=aftermath.site). So yes, the cost of *everything* has gone up. 2) That burden is one being borne by workers and consumers. As the ones actually having to pay more for pretty much *everything*, while[ wage growth remains stagnant](https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/?ref=aftermath.site), we understand that. Meanwhile Epic Games, the company that developed *Fortnite* and runs *Fortnite*, makes *billions* of dollars every year. By raising the price of V-Bucks to compensate for increased running costs, which a company making billions of dollars every year can easily absorb, that company is simply transferring the burden of inflation from their own books onto those of the already-suffering consumers. 3) Epic Games can get straight in the bin. > I tried asking Epic for more information on their "the cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills” statement—a statement that feels exceptionally out of touch in this economy—and was told the company would not be elaborating. > > — [Patrick Klepek (@patrickklepek.bsky.social)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:kp7occhnusry6di2i2hv2pfx?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-03-11T19:48:10.883Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:kp7occhnusry6di2i2hv2pfx/post/3mgsnpb73yh2g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) ### Why Game Developers At GDC Are Upset About A Garden URL: https://aftermath.site/gdc-2026-yerba-buena-gardens-developers-mad/ Last updated: 2026-03-17T00:39:58.000Z The Game Developers Conference, taking place in San Francisco this week, is ostensibly on the bleeding edge of game development — a nexus point where luminaries congregate to exchange trade secrets in preparation for what’s next. This is only partially true. Absolutely, many fly out to one of the most expensive cities in the world to learn; they wouldn’t pay the piper otherwise. But longtime attendees also make the trek for a feeling of familiarity, to see old friends and reify comfortable connections despite swimming against an industry current of endless change. This year, GDC has cracked that illusion. Moscone, the largest convention center in the city, houses much of GDC. But the conference — like many others — spills out into numerous nearby venues and locales, of which the nearby Yerba Buena Gardens make the most intuitive sense. The Gardens might as well be part of the Moscone Center, given their proximity, and if the weather’s nice, the manicured lawn and cool air serve as a needed reprieve from stuffy, artificially lit halls. Whether for breakfast, lunch, or to network into all hours of the evening, developers have treated the Gardens as a flashpoint for well over a decade. This year, throughout large portions of the day, there are some new additions: tents, benches, and a fence. Independent of one another, these things are not a huge problem. The tents allow local vendors to serve food, the benches provide seating, and the fences protect the tents after hours. Together, however, they occupy a significant portion of what used to be an area in which developers rolled out blankets, picnicked, and hosted impromptu mini-conferences that, crucially, did not cost money to attend. As of Sunday this week, before GDC even officially began, developers — both in attendance and not — were incensed. > "This year it seems that GDC has decided to violate that long held precedent and take the expo outside." "Since time immemorial the Yerba Buena Gardens across from the Moscone Center have been a neutral ground for folks at the show to go hang out without being on the expo grounds,” game developer and visual designer Max Krieger [wrote on Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/maxkriegervg.bsky.social/post/3mgld6jaj4k2b?ref=aftermath.site), expounding on a sentiment of general disillusionment [shared](https://bsky.app/profile/ramiismail.com/post/3mglgcheptk27?ref=aftermath.site) [by](https://bsky.app/profile/aurahack.ca/post/3mglenjrlp22q?ref=aftermath.site) [many](https://bsky.app/profile/heartimecia.bsky.social/post/3mgn7x6bbms2s?ref=aftermath.site) [developers](https://bsky.app/profile/jesawyer.bsky.social/post/3mgnidph5kc2y?ref=aftermath.site). “This means off the record convos, introducing people to other people, and general chillin’ — outside the expo. This year it seems that GDC has decided to violate that long held precedent and take the expo outside." Initially, there was confusion as to what the fences, benches, and tents meant, with many assuming the worst — that the Yerba Buena Gardens had been blocked off for the five-day-long duration of the conference, open only to those with the means to shell out [hundreds or thousands of dollars for a badge](https://gdconf.com/passes-pricing/?ref=aftermath.site). In actuality, the space remains open to all, within limits. “The park is fully open to the public, badge or no badge, from 11 am until 6 pm every day,” a GDC rep told Aftermath. “From 11 am to 2 pm, a variety of food vendors are selling lunch. Between 2-3 pm, the fences go back up, however there is an entrance/exit through the gates so that the general public can hang out on the grassy area up until 6 pm. From 6 pm until 11 am, the fences are closed fully to protect the equipment of the food vendors. The food is on sale to anyone at all.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/gardens2.jpg) Aftermath But short of a couple signs, this was poorly communicated, and even now that there’s a broader awareness of the rules, many have opted to set up shop around the space rather than within it. "The developers that you'd normally see on blankets or circulating in the area, they've all kind of pushed themselves into the crescent between the \[nearby\] Metreon \[theater\] and the little tree block,” Tiffany Otto, a business consultant who works in games, told Aftermath. “I'm not seeing as much mixing, and I think that's a real shame because our intersectionality is what makes our industry great and gives us that je ne sais quoi that lets us succeed in places where maybe traditional tech can't. … It \[used to be\] the kind of place where you could run into somebody from a big studio like Sony or Nintendo who's meeting up with other people they know." "This place really felt like game dev paradise,” sound designer, composer, and singer Katelyn Isaacson told Aftermath. “It's really sunny all the time. This whole conference is essentially a bubble of friends and food and whatever for a week, and \[Yerba Buena Gardens\] felt like a really big part of that. ... People would just sort of hang out and lie down in different groups, and you could walk around." To an outside observer, the furor might seem unreasonable. After all, at the end of the day, all we’re really talking about is a patch of grass. But GDC, as a conference and organization, has taken on a new shape in recent years, the culmination of which is 2026’s [“Festival Of Gaming” rebrand](https://www.avclub.com/gdc-organizers-reveal-details-of-latest-rebrand-to-gdc-festival-of-gaming?ref=aftermath.site) — a [seeming attempt at courting wider audiences](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/gdc-festival-of-gaming-the-industry-reacts-to-the-controversial-rebrand?ref=aftermath.site) with both cheaper *and* more expensive badge options, as well as a broader range of activities and player-friendly branding. However, one could also see this — and ensuing encroachment into spaces like Yerba Buena — as a reaction to developers’ recognition that GDC had grown impractically expensive, and that its real value lay outside the paywall-surrounded convention hall. > "This place really felt like game dev paradise.” “It seems to be that what they’re trying to do is give people more value for the money—having places to eat and music—but I really think that the optics of it were extremely bad,” Aysha Farah, who was a writer on *Life Is Strange: Double Exposure* [before being laid off](https://aftermath.site/gdc-awards-deck-nine-laid-off-developers-life-is-strange-double-exposure/), told Aftermath. “This is literally the space where, if you can’t afford a pass, you go. … It feels exclusionary, even if they’re trying for it not to be.” "I love that they're focusing on local restaurants, and I'm aware of some of the brands of the restaurants they brought in to pop up,” said Otto. “The price of those restaurants is definitely what I would say is expense account quality. I think there's a mismatch, because a lot of the people I see frolicking around Yerba are not at that price point in the current economy. ... They're on student badges. They have, like, $7 a day, and you look at the products being served at the pop up: They're between $20 and $30 a piece, which is very San Francisco." The whole thing, Otto believes, sends the wrong message, even if it's being done with the best of intentions. "I also think it's a bit of a flaw to have, I'm assuming, a permit for the space for the full time of GDC, but locking it off with gates \[in the evening\] and having security personnel remove people from the picnic tables," she said. "It feels very, I don't want to say gentrifying, but it feels like closing off a public space." Yerba Buena, in particular, has long been a staging ground for guerilla counterprogramming efforts like [Lost Levels](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/lost-levels-is-the-lovely-unconference-of-gdc?ref=aftermath.site), a radical “unconference” where anyone can give a brief talk if they so choose. This year, GDC also has musicians playing on a stage near the picnic tables, which can sometimes make conversation difficult. "It feels like it misses the mark,” Star Victoria Power, a composer who’s contributed to games like *Calico* and *Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night*, told Aftermath. “Obviously as a musician I love music, and I think these bands are really talented, but some of them are actually quite loud. So it's difficult to talk to people and hear each other and have conversations and catch up, and that's the main thing I come to Yerba Buena specifically to do." But the video game industry is not what it was when many of these traditions first arose, and that, too, is part of the problem. In the past few years alone, tens of thousands of developers have been callously laid off by companies chasing impossible growth or trying to patch sinking ships. The future is less certain than it’s ever been, especially as what previously could have been regarded as a coherent industry fragments to serve triple-A-obsessed old heads, indie connoisseurs, *League of Legends* lifers, new generations weaned on *Roblox*, and countless additional groups — all while competing with TikTok just as much if not more so than other types of video game. > "There’s just been so much change in the industry, Saudi Arabia \[and so on\]—it’s not making anyone happy." Where GDC once felt like an annual return home even with all the baggage that entails, it’s grown increasingly unrecognizable, like an old haunt paved over. For some, Yerba Buena represents the last straw. “There was also so much skepticism around the rebrand, and they were like ‘Don’t worry, nothing’s gonna change,’ and then surprise, they did \[fence off the gardens\],” said Farah. “I think that’s what made everybody so mad, even if it’s not as bad as they were expecting. There’s just been so much change in the industry, [Saudi Arabia](https://aftermath.site/ea-saudi-arabia-creative-control-jared-kushner-donald-trump/) \[and so on\]—it’s not making anyone happy.” "I've been \[to GDC\] three years now, and I've seen a marked inflection of change,” Kory Byrns, a hobbyist game developer, told Aftermath. “The first year I came, that was two years ago, I feel like was the residual \[of an older iteration of GDC\], a more consistent experience. Then the following year, in the wake of mass layoffs, you saw the expedition shrink, you saw a pall cast over the energy to some extent. This year, it feels almost like a little bit of flailing, like E3 \[rebranding\] to 'E For All.' They're looking for some way to rebrand in, like, panic mode." ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/gardens3.jpg) Aftermath But even beyond that, there’s also the elephant both in and outside the convention center: The world — and especially the United States — is changing rapidly, with a contingent of international developers [opting to avoid GDC entirely this year](https://aftermath.site/i-do-not-feel-safe-in-the-country-international-developers-are-skipping-gdc-because-of-trumps-border-chaos/) out of concern over inexplicable detainment, militant ICE agents, or worse. When GDC 2026 attendees aren’t discussing games, they’re on their phones, poking at the situation in and around Iran like an open sore. "I think \[GDC\] is a place of comfort for people, even with the challenges and all these other things,” Power said. “I think it's still nice to have a sense of familiarity in a world that's changing so rapidly." "I'm surprised at how many international attendees *are* still here,” said Byrns. “I wasn't 100 percent sure whether or not I was going to come this year and one of the main factors in the 'probably not' column was how diminished it would feel here without that international presence—and not just international people, but also the trans community and anyone who doesn't feel comfortable traveling or may not have valid documents." > "We're going to run out \[of frictionless spaces\]." GDC will never be the same, nor will the circumstances surrounding it. That’s always been true, to an extent, given how the passage of time works. But now it’s impossible to ignore. "It's a real shame to lose what I would call an entry level thing, the same as we have a lack of seniors in the industry because we don't pipe in juniors and train them up,” said Otto. “Yerba Buena, in my opinion, is the most frictionless part of GDC. GDC is by definition a high friction environment, and people sponsoring or funding events, parties, and activations want high friction. They want VIPs. But in the same way on a PC you need a heat sink to sink the heat, you need a people sink, or you're going to have people trying to get into places that they're not going to be a good match for, or feeling disenfranchised. … We're going to run out \[of frictionless spaces\]. We're not going to have people that are well networked and well connected, intersectional and integrated in a way that allows us to create success in five years." "Does Claude \[AI\] know a guy \[who would be good for a job\]?” she added. “He thinks he does, but he doesn't." ## Recommended [“I Do Not Feel Safe In The Country”: International Developers Are Skipping GDC Because Of Trump’s Border Chaos \[Update\]‘The reality is the US has become increasingly hostile to foreign nationals regardless of origin’![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-180.png)AftermathLuke Plunkett![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_724396573-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/i-do-not-feel-safe-in-the-country-international-developers-are-skipping-gdc-because-of-trumps-border-chaos/) ### The Mayor’s Office Wants A More Affordable New York For Game Developers (And Everyone Else) URL: https://aftermath.site/nyc-mayors-office-media-entertainment-video-games-affordable/ Last updated: 2026-03-13T16:20:09.000Z New York is not usually the first city that springs to mind when you try to think of US-based epicenters of game development. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Austin, sure, but NYC? Rockstar has a small office in the Big Apple, and *Just Cause* developer Avalanche held down a fort until 2024\. As far as triple-A goes, pickings are slim. The games industry, however, isn’t just its heaviest hitters. One institution that’s surprisingly more aware of that fact than most? The Mayor’s Office. Though [some](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/new-york-city-might-get-its-first-gamer-mayor-years-before-winning-the-democratic-primary-11-year-old-zohran-mamdani-had-his-heart-set-on-simcity-3000/?ref=aftermath.site) have rushed to anoint Zohran Mamdani as NYC’s first-ever [Gamer Mayor](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-zohran-mamdani-fifa-sim-city/), the truth is that the city has been spearheading games-related initiatives since before Eric Adams revealed that he’s incapable of being normal. Prior even to Adams’ [fraught reign](https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/24/eric-adams-mayors-history/?ref=aftermath.site), the [Mayor’s Office Of Media And Entertainment](https://www.nyc.gov/site/mome/index.page?ref=aftermath.site) (MOME) first expanded its portfolio to include games back in 2018 under Bill de Blasio. This produced grants, educational programs, a [study](https://www.nyc.gov/assets/mome/pdf/mome-nyc-digital-games-industry-study-report.pdf?ref=aftermath.site) on the multi-billion dollar economic impact of games in the city, and eventually, beginning in 2023 after Adams took office, a “Made in NY” [marketing credit program](https://www.nyc.gov/site/mome/industries/marketing-credit.page?ref=aftermath.site) that has bolstered awareness of games like *Skate Story*. MOME has also taken to hosting recurring events like the scholastic K-12 *Minecraft* [Battle Of The Boroughs](https://www.schools.nyc.gov/learning/subjects/stem/minecraft-education-challenge?ref=aftermath.site) esports competition and 2025’s season-spanning [Summer Of Games](https://www.nyc.gov/site/mome/industries/nyc-summer-of-games.page?ref=aftermath.site) that includes the NYC Video Game Festival, Tribeca Games, Games For Change, Game Devs Of Color Expo, and Play NYC. Over the past three years, NYC has invested a total of $3 million into the video game industry. Additionally, in 2022, under current governor Kathy Hochul, New York state – as opposed to NYC – finally got around to providing a five-year, $25 million game development-specific [tax credit program](https://esd.ny.gov/new-york-state-digital-game-development-program?ref=aftermath.site) after disgraced ex-governor Andrew Cuomo mystifyingly vetoed a bipartisan version of the idea during his tenure (such credits are common means of attracting talent to states; more than 20 offer them). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/zohrancommish.jpg) Rafael Espinal and Zohran Mamdani (Credit: MOME) Mamdani has yet to make his mark in this arena. The fresh-faced mayor’s first two months at City Hall have been characterized by big wins, like a team up with Hochul to [begin realizing his campaign promise of universal childcare](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-york-mayor-mamdani-takes-initial-step-fulfilling-promise-universal-free-2026-03-03/?ref=aftermath.site), and missteps that betray his inexperience, like [a budget blame game](https://hellgatenyc.com/mamdanis-budget-blame-game-backfires/?ref=aftermath.site) that failed to get Hochul on board with his plan to tax the rich (though [the tide might be turning](https://hellgatenyc.com/tax-the-rich-popular-hochul-lonely/?ref=aftermath.site) on that front) and [a placative stance toward his own NYPD](https://hellgatenyc.com/nypd-officers-snowball-fight-washington-square-park/?ref=aftermath.site) that has seen him seemingly abandon some of his promised reforms in exchange for… [very little, so far](https://hellgatenyc.com/mamdani-is-getting-snowballed-by-his-own-nypd/?ref=aftermath.site). He’s also managed to [charm the ill-fitting suit jacket off Donald Trump](https://hellgatenyc.com/zohran-still-has-trump-under-his-spell/?ref=aftermath.site), which is funny, if nothing else. MOME has yet to communicate at length with City Hall about games since Mamdani took office. Most of this comes down to simple bureaucracy. When I first established contact with MOME in January, the expectation was that a new commissioner, Rafael Espinal, would take over in the middle of February, and then MOME and Mamdani’s people could really get the ball rolling. Espinal, MOME press secretary Johanna McCabe recently told Aftermath, assumed his new position two weeks ago, but as of this publishing, there were no updates to share. McCabe also tried to procure a statement from Mamdani’s team on Aftermath’s behalf, but was unable. However, Alia Jones-Harvey, a theater producer turned MOME associate commissioner of workforce development and education — and one of the main people responsible for NYC’s gaming initiatives — is optimistic about what the near future holds. "The good news is that we think what we've been working towards in the game industry is very much aligned with what Mayor Mamdani has been addressing publicly for months now,” she told Aftermath. “I don't feel like we're off doing something in a totally different direction. I think we all understand that if we can make New York more affordable, and if we can make designing games in New York more attractive and affordable, that people will design games in New York. So that's what our office is working towards." ## A Brand New Start Of It These days, MOME largely works to facilitate the efforts of independent developers and studios, but that has not always been the case. Early efforts focused more on attracting triple-A companies to the greatest city in the world that also happens to be one of the most expensive. They did not exactly bear fruit. "The first thing that we did was, we established a council that would inform the mayor on how we could attract more development,” said Jones-Harvey. “Our initial thinking was that if we get more triple-A studios in New York City, there'll be a lot more opportunity for developers here.” The [council](https://afrotech.com/new-york-city-digital-games-industry-council?ref=aftermath.site), established under Adams in 2022, boasted names like Omar Shakir, game director at Avalanche; Alan Lewis, VP of corporate communications and public affairs at Take-Two; and Sarah Denby, senior account executive at Zynga. Later, it [added members](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EnSqc2LRS7CYB5-M%5FxCrm45MABHCkeIvtiNSjQaRJUM/edit?tab=t.0&ref=aftermath.site) from Epic, Rockstar, and Amazon, among others. However, Naomi Clark, director of NYU’s Game Center game design department and a member of the council, told Aftermath that it only [met a few times](https://nygamecritics.com/2023/03/10/the-insight-mayor-eric-adams-listens-during-the-digital-games-industry-council-meeting/?ref=aftermath.site), and though she was unable to attend, she doesn’t feel like she missed much. "My impression is that it was mostly a nothingburger, a typical local politics business council for a minor industry — we are not, \[for example\], real estate developers or Wall Street, obviously — that the Mayor's Office Of Media And Entertainment wanted to claim as a new cool thing for job creation and such," Clark said. Mitu Khandaker, an NYU Game Center professor who was also on the council and who *was* able to attend meetings, believes it proved to be a worthwhile starting point. "Honestly I think the role the Digital Games Council played was more about bringing together the very diverse groups doing work in games across the city,” she told Aftermath. “It really felt like a big tent, with folks from education to triple-A and everything in between in the same room. Obviously that means a lot of different priorities in the same room too, but I think we were all there because we care about games and New York City.” Ultimately, the council and decisions made by the state convinced MOME to refocus. “Since then, we have really turned to doubling down on who is here now: indie developers,” said Jones-Harvey. “We have over 7,000 indie developers in the city. … When that tax credit was put in place \[by the state\], it was pretty clear that it was not designed for triple-A development. I mean, a $5 million annual credit over the course of years; one triple-A \[project\] could take the whole $5 million in one year pretty easily.” > "We have really turned to doubling down on who is here now: indie developers." “What we have turned to,” she continued, “is promoting an incubator and potentially pushing for more studio incubators so that developers have the support of mentorship, funding, and marketing to really launch successfully and create the right business models for sustainable studios in the city." The incubator, known as the [NYU Game Design Future Lab](https://engineering.nyu.edu/life-tandon/entrepreneurship/future-labs/game-design?ref=aftermath.site), was established as part of a $1 million investment in games from MOME and the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) last year. It offers "personalized mentorship, industry-specific workshops, investor outreach, access to new technologies, and professional networking to establish and build successful businesses in the city," according to a release from the NYCEDC. Khandaker serves as its associate director. “I’ve had the opportunity to define the program from the ground up and to build the curriculum and priorities,” she said. “That means regular workshops, talks, and other events, alongside very hands-on support. Each company does weekly check-ins with me. I took them through a mentor-matching process, we regularly bring people in to give talks, and I help with fundraising strategy and building decks, game design feedback, and business operations – you name it, really! I’ve also been explicit with the cohort that the more intangible aspects, like founder mental health, really matter. Running a business is a huge leap, and it’s taxing in so many ways. … The companies also receive 12 months of free office space, which for some of the cohort, like Munity Games, who are building arcade machines, is particularly invaluable.” Khandaker’s goal is to establish a program that lies tandem to NYC’s curves and many, many edges. “When I think about the name of ‘Game Design Future Lab,’ it’s not only about innovating in games as a creative form, but also about what it means to be in the games business, especially in 2026,” said Khandaker. “And especially here in New York City, there is space to build sustainable studios that do not all look like venture-backed Silicon Valley startups. A big part of my mandate coming into this role was to challenge the idea that venture capital is the default or even the right model for most game companies. For many teams, it simply is not. Having been through this journey myself with \[now-defunct indie studio\] Glow Up Games, it’s one I know well, and I’m glad to be able to bring that experience to the cohort, alongside the strength of the mentor networks we have here in NYC.” The initial Future Lab [cohort](https://edc.nyc/press-release/nycedc-nyu-tandon-announce-inaugural-cohort-new-leader-game-design-future-lab?ref=aftermath.site) is made up of six companies, ranging from CYBRLICH Studios, which is working on very cool-looking hand-animated shooter [*CYBRLICH And The Death Cult Of Labor*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3336070/CYBRLICH%5Fand%5Fthe%5FDeath%5FCult%5Fof%5FLabor/?ref=aftermath.site), to [Sapient Technology](https://www.sapientstudio.com/?ref=aftermath.site), a company that’s developing “scalable GenAI tools integrated within Unreal Engine to streamline game development workflows.” For better or worse, AI is the buzziest term of our times, and like a horde of booze-addled Brooklynites lining up outside a trusty pizza place after a night of partying, everybody wants a piece of that pie – even the city of New York. "I do think that we can facilitate thought leadership around how the industry is going to shift with AI and what the new opportunities are,” Jones-Harvey said. “So if you've been doing things one way all of this time, and now you have this tool that's going to make it much easier for you to do that thing, then you can start to do something else. ... I don't think that we'll be able to stop the use of AI in the early part of the coding and design process. I think that train has left the station. And now what you're seeing is, it's much harder to get an entry level position. There's a lot of supervisory positions because correcting what the AI has done is more of the task now than initiating the process." Jones-Harvey went on to contend that supporting Sapient could put NYC-based studios in proximity to a product that might exponentially speed up a projects’ liftoff sequences: "Maybe the five-year conversation becomes two, or the two-year conversation becomes one, and we start to see the development of games accelerate, which I think would be welcomed by the industry — and even by triple-A studios eventually, because they spend so much money and time in the development process." But while many video game industry execs have pushed AI for this exact reason, it remains supremely unpopular with those who buy and play video games, and rank-and-file employees at major studios find themselves cleaning up its messes just as often as they’re able to accept its bizarrely-rendered helping hand. "The theory is that the AI will get more and more proficient at doing that task \[that it’s currently messing up\],” said Jones-Harvey when pressed on AI’s tendency to hallucinate and complicate developers’ workloads. “And so over time, it's learning and these corrections are happening; the corrections will eventually disappear, and so it'll be less of a bottleneck. The bottleneck will be reduced over time." For now, though, that [remains](https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/over-80-percent-of-companies-report-no-productivity-gains-from-ai-so-far-despite-billions-in-investment-survey-suggests-6-000-executives-also-reveal-1-3-of-leaders-use-ai-but-only-for-90-minutes-a-week?ref=aftermath.site) [a theory](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/23/ai-economic-growth-gdp-mirage/?ref=aftermath.site). Khandaker believes that Sapient is relatively benevolent, as far as these things go. "The concern that exists that generative AI tools could displace developers is a real one, and I don’t dismiss it at all,” she said. “But I truly maintain that tools don’t make layoffs happen, bad leadership does. I think that all too often AI — or whatever the latest hype is — gets used as cover for short-term cost cutting decisions that ultimately make studios less sustainable.” > "The concern that exists that generative AI tools could displace developers is a real one, and I don’t dismiss it at all." Tools developed by companies like Sapient, she hopes, will allow studios to use time and manpower more efficiently. “The real question is not how quickly you can replace people, but how long you can keep building without running out of money or burning out your team,” she said, citing her own experience at Glow Up. “I think that if used responsibly, certain GenAI tools can reduce costs of iterating quickly, and actually support devs rather than hinder them. … Sapient AI for me falls in this category, because they are not positioning themselves as a replacement for developers, but their focus is on helping teams cut down the time and cost of iteration and prototyping, rather than removing people from the process.” “Game Design Future Labs isn’t at all about a future where GenAI displaces developers,” she added. “It’s about grappling with the reality of the games space in 2026, both in terms of business, design and workflows, and supporting companies that are responding to these questions and building tools that, under thoughtful leadership, can help studios remain independent, take creative risks, and stay alive in an industry that already puts enormous pressure on its workers.” That’s also not all to say that the city is wholly disinterested in triple-A studios. For now, though, it’s working within a specific set of means and strategizing accordingly. "I remember when the *Dots* team was formed here in the city, and eventually they went on to great success and \[made\] a grand exit where they were acquired,” said Jones-Harvey. “What they talked about is, triple-A \[companies\] are really buying teams; they're looking to hire a team that has some demonstrated track record. So I think the more we can facilitate those teams coming together — whether it's 'Oh, we need space to develop in' \[or what have you\]’ — those are some of the strategic ways that we as a city can continue to support growing the industry." ## Empire State Of The Industry While it’s natural to express skepticism at the prospect of yet another arm of the government embracing AI — if only to a limited extent, in this case — developers and others in the local games scene say they’ve benefited from MOME’s growing involvement, on the whole. Designer Catt Small, executive director of the [Game Devs Of Color Expo](https://www.gamedevsofcolor.org/?ref=aftermath.site) that, though founded in 2016, is now one of the events under MOME’s new Summer Of Games umbrella, is extremely grateful for the city’s monetary support. “\[MOME has\] partnered with us to deliver a grant to an NYC-based game dev of color every year for the past several years,” she told Aftermath. “We're grateful to have a partnership that results in someone receiving actual funding. This past year, MOME provided funding for our NYC [watch party \[of the expo\]](https://www.gamedevsofcolor.org/watch-parties?ref=aftermath.site) as well, and they gave us an award of recognition for reaching our tenth year of running the event. They've been one of the more predictable partners we've worked with.” Small also shared with Aftermath a list of grant recipients and how much they were given. In 2025, Game Devs Of Color and MOME split $14,000 between Chris James of [Dusk Sharp](https://dusksharp.com/?ref=aftermath.site) and Sri Kankanahalli of [Zenovia Interactive](https://zenovia.io/?ref=aftermath.site). (In 2024, Game Devs Of Color did not host an in-person event.) In 2023, Daniel Lowe of [*Parkour Legends*](https://parkourlegends.com/?ref=aftermath.site) was awarded a grant of $15,000\. In 2022, Geneva Heyward received $15,000 to develop [*Skate & Date*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1033380/Skate%5F%5FDate/?ref=aftermath.site). Harold Goldberg, a longtime journalist and author who heads up the [New York Video Game Critics Circle](https://nygamecritics.com/?ref=aftermath.site), has collaborated with MOME for years on educational programs and also spotlighted its initiatives during the Critics Circle’s annual New York Game Awards. “I had the pleasure of connecting with \[Jones-Harvey\] through some of the key educational games industry events in New York, and she’s been a vocal supporter of our non-profit offerings, like our Playing with Purpose writing program for schools and shelters across NYC,” he told Aftermath, noting that funding from the city helps his organization offer internships to underserved youth. “Alongside Playing with Purpose, the game development courses at higher education institutions such as NYU Game Center, CCNY \[City College of New York\], NYFA, and MOME’s efforts with its NYC Summer of Games Festival last year, there are more opportunities than ever before to showcase games from independent developers.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/2026/03/alia.jpg) Alia Jones-Harvey at the 2026 New York Game Awards (Credit: New York Video Game Critics Circle) Sam Eng, creator of [*Skate Story*](https://skatestory.com/?ref=aftermath.site), which is about being a demon made of glass who rides a skateboard through hell and also New York, was a beneficiary of MOME’s “Made In NYC” marketing credit. It all began, he said, when MOME reached out to him, as opposed to vice versa, back in 2022 for an event. Attendance was sparse, but he stayed in touch with Jones-Harvey, who ended up loving his work. Following years of ups, downs, and delay-inducing bumps in the road, she helped him apply for the marketing credit, which resulted in two different kinds of ads: a LinkNYC ad and a bus shelter sign. Did these displays move the needle saleswise? Eng doesn’t think so. But for a game like *Skate Story*, in which even the subway is a (literally) living, breathing character, they still proved invaluable. "I think they made me look really good to people who already know the game,” Eng told Aftermath. “Friends and people in the industry saw it and were like 'Holy fuck, how did you get that?' I hate to say this, but it's, like, prestige, right? ... It was a shot at something, and I think it fit the game." Eng also helped found NYC-based indie game collective and workspace [GUMBO](https://gumbonyc.org/?ref=aftermath.site) back in 2016, and he thinks MOME ultimately wants the same things he does for the city’s multifarious games scene: growth and prosperity. "I don't think the Mayor Office's goal was to make me rich,” he said. “I think it's more like 'Hey, let's grow the industry here.' And I think their goals were very aligned with mine. I think they saw that I was trying to raise the profile of cool indie games in New York City, and they were like 'Let's support that.'" It would be hard to argue that MOME deserves all or even most of the credit at this point, but the efforts of a great many around the city have produced a pretty stellar crop of recent games, including the aforementioned *Skate Story*, as well as [*Baby Steps*](https://aftermath.site/baby-steps-manbreaker-did-not-break-me-challange/), [*Ball X Pit*](https://www.ballxpit.com/?ref=aftermath.site), [*Despelote*](https://aftermath.site/despelote-review/), [*Consume Me*](https://aftermath.site/consume-me-demo/), and [*Old Skies*](https://wadjeteyegames.com/games/old-skies/?ref=aftermath.site) — all of which have been nominated for or taken home 2025 game of the year awards. Eng believes that NYC’s games scene is growing rapidly, but that as a result, it needs a whole lot more support. "I would say it is growing at a massively exponential rate, and it is thriving in the way where there's a lot of cool people, but no one's making any money,” said Eng, who noted that he’s one of the lucky few who *is* making money, but that he considers himself the exception, not the rule. > just wanna shoutout MOME. they are not all talk. they sponsored ads for my 100% Made in NYC videogame > > — [Sam Eng (@bysameng.com)](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:3klamndnsbqltqn5dy54u66g?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) [2026-01-12T20:50:08.109Z](https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:3klamndnsbqltqn5dy54u66g/post/3mcaw4ngmic2b?ref%5Fsrc=embed&ref=aftermath.site) There are numerous pockets to NYC’s games scene, as well: the students coming out of NYU Game Center and the public (and therefore in some ways more accessible) MOME-subsidized City College of New York game design degree program, the GUMBO crew and numerous other indie collectives, the local multiplayer-inclined tinkerers who fill [Wonderville](https://www.wonderville.nyc/?ref=aftermath.site) in Bushwick with indie arcade cabinets, the weirdos (complimentary) at [Boshi’s Place](https://boshis.place/?ref=aftermath.site), the competitive gamers and streamers at [OS NYC](https://www.os-nyc.com/?ref=aftermath.site) in Manhattan — the list goes on. "I've been in the New York games scene since, in my opinion, before it started,” said Eng. “I don't know how to support it. It's too big. It's too sprawling. It kind of reminds me of the stories of the New York music scene back in the day when The Strokes were here." If nothing else, Eng thinks a space in which to bring people together might help. "I do wish the main thing the Mayor's Office \[would provide\] — and we've mentioned this to \[Jones-Harvey\] multiple times — is 'Hey, can you give us some space or an office to organize?'” he said. “Because I feel like the biggest problem in New York is the price and the community. And GUMBO, we all chip in to get this beautiful space, a community space. But it's crazy because \[Jones-Harvey\] would mention 'Oh, the city has so much real estate. Maybe we can run an event.' And then we'd be like 'Can you just give us a tiny fucking office?' We mentioned this in nice ways, but it just never went anywhere. And I always felt like the main thing that New York — and a lot of people — are missing is that third space." > “I don't know how to support \[the NYC games scene\]. It's too big. It's too sprawling. It kind of reminds me of the stories of the New York music scene back in the day when The Strokes were here." For now, only members of the Game Design Future Lab benefit from such a space, but Jones-Harvey agrees that in-person collaboration is a must. "The more we can facilitate teams connecting, and the more we can facilitate them being able to afford space to work together or have resources to promote their games — whether it's through a marketing credit or meetups or conversations or conferences — that's what we're looking at. … Feedback I've already gotten is that we need more incubators. How can we create incubator opportunities in other parts of the city and other colleges or in other spaces where developers can connect, meet funders, and meet companies with resources that can help?” MOME, however, is facing the same sprawl as Eng, and with relatively little in the way of resources when you consider that NYC is inhabited by over eight million people. It serves many masters, both indie and trendy. AI and a new [NYC Collegiate Esports Circuit](https://www.nyc.gov/site/mome/news/02092026-nyc-collegiate-esports-circuit.page?ref=aftermath.site), which just launched last month, rank as current priorities, in addition to indies. And bear in mind, the city’s goal in all of this is still to bolster its own economic fortunes — not, as Eng put it, to make developers rich. Esports generates $4 million annually in tourism-related spending, MOME said when it announced the Esports Circuit, though that information comes from its 2021 Digital Games Report as opposed to something more recent. “All of our research shows that the industry speculation has given way to a more sustainable growth model,” said Jones-Harvey. “While the myth of esports events being comparable to the Super Bowl has been debunked, the fanbase still exists, revenue growth forecasts continue to be positive, and institutional engagement is increasing. ‘Future of the games industry’ is an overstatement, but ‘integral part of publisher IP strategy’ is still the case. As the media capital of the world, the City of NY is focused on building talent pipelines, drawing new events to increase tourism spend, and leveraging our world-class media and broadcast infrastructure to support these events.” > "I think the most urgent need is absolutely that: funding opportunities, grants, and more — anything else that makes staying in NYC and building games more affordable." The needs of an esports circuit are very different from the needs of indie developers, which are very different from the needs of educators, event hosts, AI aficionados, and so on. But as MOME waits to hear more about Mayor Mamdani’s plans for the future, everybody can at least agree that Campaign Mamdani got to the heart of the problem: The city is too damn expensive. “I think the most urgent need is absolutely that: funding opportunities, grants, and more — anything else that makes staying in NYC and building games more affordable,” said Khandaker. "There’s clearly more to do, especially around focused task forces on education, entrepreneurship and sustainability, city-specific tax breaks, and long-term infrastructure. I’m genuinely curious to see what the new administration, and the city’s first true gamer mayor does next — especially with his emphasis on affordability." "It’s been covered before, but Mayor Mamdani was a big fan of games like *Sim City 3000* and *FIFA 2003*. It’s great to have a mayor who grew up with games and recognizes the value in this art form,” said Goldberg. “Maybe it’s time for New York to blaze its own trail in giving players and developers the chance to connect via a large-scale event in the heart of Manhattan — or even at Gracie Mansion.” ## Recommended [Congratulations To Zohran Mamdani, NYC’s (Second) Gamer Mayor - Aftermath“Unfortunately, our first gamer mayor – at least, in terms of policy – is Eric Adams”![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/icon/favicon4-179.png)AftermathNathan Grayson![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/30/f5/30f5b1bb-84ee-4c26-b446-fb9a5e512994/content/images/thumbnail/zohran3-3.jpg)](https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-zohran-mamdani-fifa-sim-city/) _Includes the latest 500 public posts. Use `/sitemap.xml` for the complete archive of public content._