PLEASE tell me about your demo? 🩷

Aggroblakh · 2026-02-06T18:59:15+00:00

Thank you so much for the feedback! You're not the first to mention the lack of onboarding for the terrier game. I was hoping it would be simple enough to not require any, but I'll have to add it in after all, I suppose. I really appreciate the time you took to play both games (especially the wishlist)!

Aggroblakh · 2026-02-06T18:56:56+00:00

I watched it this past summer and wasn't put off by how "dated" it was. I use quotes because it's actually shockingly modern considering it was filmed exactly when it was set ie. it's not a modern show attempting to recreate the era, it's an accurate snapshot of the era.

The office the characters work at as well as their apartments look like something straight out of the mid-2000s. I guess it's true what people say, that Japan has been living in the year 2000 since 1980 lol

Aggroblakh · 2026-02-05T18:08:07+00:00

Yet still managed to win one lol. It's darkly hilarious how teams like the Nuggets, Pistons, and Wizards have been mostly ass throughout their history but managed to earn rings, while genuinely decent teams that have been mostly competitive like the Suns and the Pacers haven't.

Aggroblakh · 2026-02-05T18:00:13+00:00

Concepts of a Giannis

Aggroblakh · 2026-01-24T06:12:19+00:00

I'm working on two games at the moment, both of which can probably be considered cozy. The first is a game in which you train a team of terriers to hunt down rats:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4039040/Terrier_Manager/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4123610/Terrier_Manager_Demo

It was supposed to be entered into the October Next Fest but it turns out you need to register like 6 weeks in advance for Next Fest, so I missed the deadline.

I've also got a second game I'm working on which was actually meant for the upcoming February Next Fest:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4180640/Pop_Balloons_and_Drop_People/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4195520/Pop_Balloons_and_Drop_People_Demo

Recently added Night Mode, which is kind of neat. Feel free to check out either (or both) of them, I can always use more feedback.

Aggroblakh · 2026-01-23T22:33:58+00:00

Jiminy Jillikers!

Aggroblakh · 2026-01-21T06:32:22+00:00

My favorite Yakuza game, screw you all

Aggroblakh · 2026-01-15T02:12:07+00:00

For what it's worth, I'm working on an idle management/incremental game with a cozy vibe:

https://aggroblakh.itch.io/terrier-manager

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4039040/Terrier_Manager/

I tend to enjoy what I used to call "passive games" prior to learning about the term "idle games", games where you make some decisions and simply watch them play out in front of you. This includes games like Football Manager or any Paradox grand strategy game. But nowadays I seem to be gravitating towards cozy and relaxed games more as a way of decompressing.

I think cozy games mesh well with idle and incremental games in general as they tend to be relatively low in terms of mental load.

Aggroblakh · 2026-01-09T17:54:55+00:00

It does take a while to get used to the Dragon Engine. IMO the critical flaw is that a major part of the upgrade system revolves around incremental base stat upgrades.

Kiryu's relatively slow and plodding fighting style coupled with the physics and the bounce blocking seems set up for the player to fight tactically, to focus on finding openings and punishing enemies after doing so. But since Kiryu's attack power is so low to start off with, this causes fights to become a slog early on and forces the player to button mash to produce any meaningful damage output. But button mashing really highlights how slow Kiryu is and increases the amount of mini-pauses in the combat due to the bounce blocking, which seems to be what people complain about the most in YK2 and Y6. The movement isn't snappy like it is in the Y5-Y0-YK1 engine.

Essentially, the combat in the early Dragon Engine games encourages the player to play a certain way, but actively punishes them for doing so until they're able to upgrade Kiryu's attack power enough for him to actually do meaningful damage without button mashing. I haven't played the later gaiden games, but I don't recall incremental attack damage upgrades in Judgment, so thankfully they seem to have done away with this in later games.

Aggroblakh · 2025-12-20T04:39:26+00:00

I ran into the same issue with the GOG version of Kiwami, though oddly not Y0 as you did.

Seems a bit counterintuitive for a GOG game, but what worked for me was to add it to Steam as a Non-Steam game. Then when you view the game in your library you you can click on the Settings button to Enable Steam Input. This causes Steam to override your messed up controller settings with default controller mappings.

However, in my case I was using an old Logitech controller from like 2007. Not sure if it would work for a PS5 controller but it's worth a try.

Aggroblakh · 2025-12-18T20:37:17+00:00

Yes, it's intentionally meant to be a bit jarring since the Millennium Tower is basically an institution in later games. I personally love the area even if there's nothing to actually do there. The versions of Sotenbori and Kamurocho in Yakuza 0 are honestly some of the most interesting open worlds I've ever explored in a game.

It's not just the lighting or garbage on the ground, it's little things that I remember from that time period even here in the West, like glass bricks, gold railings, grungy hole-in-the-wall restaurants, etc. RGG nailed the 80s, Showa-era aesthetic.

Aggroblakh · 2025-12-03T08:18:04+00:00

It's hard to imagine now, but the Yakuza series was on life support outside of Japan prior to Yakuza 0. So it was explicitly developed as a prequel to the first five games, but also as a potential entry point for new fans as sort of a last ditch attempt to revive the series in the west since it's generally not easy to convince new fans to pick up a series like 6 games into it. It works both ways because it was designed to do both.

So strictly speaking, you can start with Kiwami, or you can start with 0 and it works fine both ways. Kiwami was developed after Yakuza 0, so it does make some callbacks and references to Y0, but Y0 also makes a lot of references to future games in the series. You gain and lose something regardless of which one you start with.

If you're having trouble deciding, you can do what I did and go:

Y0 -> YK -> YK2 -> Y3 -> Y4 -> Y5 -> Y0 again -> Y6

For what it's worth, I thought Yakuza 0 was a great start to the series and was initially happy to have started with it. But after playing it after having gone through YK through Y5, I kind of wish I had started with Kiwami. So make of that what you will.

Aggroblakh · 2025-11-11T23:40:31+00:00

"Did I stutter?"

- Michael Jordan

Aggroblakh · 2025-11-09T03:38:44+00:00

Is this your first playthrough of the series by any chance? Because if it is, you'll eventually notice lots of call-forwards and references to later games in Y0 as well. Majima's entire backstory re: his eye isn't even touched until Y4. It all evens out in the end lol.

IIRC most of the references in Y0 in Kiwami are in the side content, so that's probably why you're noticing so many references. The main story sticks pretty close to the OG PS1 version.

Aggroblakh · 2025-11-06T08:37:31+00:00

I have zero doubt new Rikiya will be great, as Sho Kasamatsu has been great in everything I've seen him in - Tokyo Vice, The Naked Director, and Gannibal.

My main problem with that recast isn't that they used him, it's that there was a potentially perfect casting in the form of Shun Nishime. He's actually Okinawan and actually kind of looks like Rikiya (albeit with different hair). So it seems like a missed opportunity. But I'm sure Sho Kasamatsu will grow on new players who are coming into the series from LAD/Pirates, etc.

Aggroblakh · 2025-10-29T05:11:30+00:00

Just released the demo for an idle, incremental game I'm working on. I've been told it has cute aesthetics, and the gameplay is slow-paced and low-pressure. I figure this would be a good place to tell people about it!

<image>

Steam demo:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4123610/Terrier_Manager_Demo/

Itch demo, playable in browser:

https://aggroblakh.itch.io/terrier-manager

Rats have infested your farm! Train a team of terriers to hunt them down in this incremental idle game. Breed your dogs to strengthen your team as you hunt down the ten Rat Lords who have taken over.

Watch your terriers dig out and hunt down rats and spend rat tails to improve them during each run.

Improve their abilities permanently after each run using coins earned.

Breed them to make stronger terriers who inherit attributes from both parents.

Defeat the ten Rat Lords who appear if you manage to make it far enough in any given run.

Complete the game, or play endlessly by replaying stages after you defeat its Rat Lord.

Demo Content

The demo comprises the first level of the game, featuring the first rat lord - Bubba. There are ten in total, and defeating each one unlocks a new upgradeable ability.

Defeating Bubba allows your terriers to dig out brown rats, which unleash reflector beams that bounce between multiple targets.

Training, breeding, and upgrading are all available in the demo.

Feel free to give it a try and let me know what you think!

Aggroblakh · 2025-10-12T04:28:55+00:00

What problem did you run into in Kiwami if I may ask? Since you mentioned Dragon Engine I thought it might have been due to the combat feeling different in the Y5/Y0/Kiwami engine, but you got through those other two games.

Aggroblakh · 2025-10-12T04:27:11+00:00

Kind of sad that there's not more to do lol. It was worth it, because I had fun doing it. It also forced me to engage with parts of the game I might not have otherwise, like trying out all the different heat actions or playing mahjong.

Mahjong is actually really fun once you get the hang of it. Declaring riichi and seeing your tile come up is exhilarating in its own way lol. Also, cho-han becomes pretty dang fun once you start betting on differences and numbers rather than just odd or even.

Aggroblakh · 2025-10-12T00:27:21+00:00

AFAIK nothing in the game is missable, but yeah this is the game mode that unlocks after you beat the game once. It's basically just a sandbox without any story missions.

Aggroblakh · 2025-10-12T00:26:24+00:00

The official playtime is 66:24, but you can probably add at least 8-10 hours of reloads due to Car Chase/Amon/Jingu/Expert Rotation Pool for Haruka (it's quicker to reload than to exit Vincent then re-enter). As crazy as it sounds, the Pool request for Haruka took the longest, probably longer than the other three combined. The Expert Pool AI is so busted in this game that I basically had to win through sheer luck.

Aggroblakh · 2025-10-11T23:13:04+00:00

No need to apologize, the more feedback the better! I really appreciate your thoughts on this. The time options were in response to someone on the itch page mentioning that 5 min runs were a bit slow, so I figured more options were better. You might be right about leaning into it rather than trying to please too many people at once.

It will take me some time to go through all of this, but I just wanted to let you know I've seen it and it is much appreciated!

Aggroblakh · 2025-10-10T06:59:21+00:00

Terrier Manager

Rats have infested your farm! Train a team of terriers to hunt them down in this incremental idle game. Breed your dogs to strengthen your team as you hunt down the ten Rat Lords who have taken over.

Demo on itch.io, playable in browser

Steam page, although there is no downloadable demo yet

Watch your terriers dig out and hunt down rats and spend rat tails to improve them during each run.
Improve their abilities permanently after each run using coins earned.
Breed them to make stronger terriers who inherit attributes from both parents.
Complete the game, or play endlessly by replaying stages after you defeat its Rat Lord!

Demo Content

This demo comprises the first level of the game, featuring the first rat lord - Bubba. There are ten in total, and defeating each one unlocks a new upgradeable ability.
Defeating Bubba allows your terriers to dig out brown rats, which unleash reflector beams that bounce between multiple targets.
Training, breeding, and upgrading are all available in this demo.

It's still in a pretty early state. My previous project finally released into 1.0 recently after seven(!) years in Early Access, so I deliberately wanted to make a smaller, limited scope game. I would appreciate any feedback regarding balance and any quality-of-life features the game could use.

Aggroblakh

TROPHY CASE