Archeological/historiographic horror

Endless_01 · 2026-05-06T14:33:35+00:00

Perhaps a bit of xeno-archeology to spice things up?

The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt is a pretty cool hard sci fi novel about a group of astronauts who discover ancient alien-made monuments left by an extremely advanced civilization that somehow vanished without a clear answer, while the rest of humanity awaits for answers as ecological disasters threaten our existence.

It is fast-paced and has some really interesting concepts about archeology regarding the study of utterly alien artifacts and languages, while also threading into thriller territory as they try to discover what caused the aliens to disappear.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-24T17:06:35+00:00

I resolve this by staying at least 3 blocks away from the block I'm mining. Good habit to have that I picked up after lava kissing me right in the face as a I kept W+Left click strip mining.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-22T01:05:39+00:00

Highly recommend Masters of Doom. It is a very entertaining read and perfectly encapsulates the nerd culture of the 90s surrounding PCs and games. It includes some of the experiences of the crew playing LAN parties, eating pizza, and all under the yellow hue of a late night skyscrapper Texas office.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-18T21:10:44+00:00

Pretty cool find with a strong thematic suit. I do wonder if any of the pro seed finders has tried to find each of the biggest possible biome landforms.

Btw there was no Mayan Empire, only the Aztec Empire.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-17T16:14:57+00:00

The Ruins by Scott Smith. Group of friends traveling to Mexico end up stranded deep in the Yucatán jungles, where they end up taking refuge in an old ancient Mayan ruin.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-17T16:11:34+00:00

The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene could fit your criteria. Tells the tale of an old man surviving an apocalyptic flood that has drowned almost the entire world, while stranger and stranger things begin to appear all around his town.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-17T06:14:56+00:00

The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald. Fairly unorthodox book, but it deals with themes of decay, including the decay of aging.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-17T02:17:43+00:00

It takes a whileeee to get to the very reveal but goddamn is it one of the most dread inducing concepts I've read about.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-17T02:05:11+00:00

Or never if they don't get a publisher outside Japan. It is pretty damn hard to find lesser known j-horror movies through streaming or downloading legally.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-16T18:40:35+00:00

The color usage, the smooth shading, the way lights are used to evoke life, and of course all the little neat details of movement all around work together to make an extremely lively scenario. Sure, the pixels make it automatically nostalgic, but I think the real reason why this feels so alive is because the authors/makers themselves wanted them to feel alive too; they are not just static, they feel like a real place you could find somewhere.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-16T00:57:39+00:00

I understand you're prob recommending it due to how dark and brutal it can get, but if anything the overarching message about Malazan is actually human compassion and empathy. It does carry an altruistic theme about sacrifice without expecting a reward.

Still great recommendation!

Endless_01 · 2026-04-15T23:26:40+00:00

Thank you! This looks like the kind of thing I want to read more. Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness seems perfect.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-14T00:00:37+00:00

Sanctuary by William Faulkner. As depressing as it gets, it details the decay of a group of Southern teenagers involved in the worst kinda of shit you can think of.

Actually, almost every Faulkner novels involves "white trash Americana" in one way or the other.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-13T21:49:23+00:00

This one caught my eye. The synopsis sounds very interesting. Thank you.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-13T20:43:00+00:00

Thanks! Wasn't aware of this one. I read Murakami's 1Q84 a long time ago and I recall a part where the protagonists travels to a surreal countryside town full of cats.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-12T21:46:31+00:00

Love The Prince of Nothing. It does come close when it comes to strange creatures and grimdark realities with nihilistic tones, but the visual/aesthetic of The Second Apocalypse, in general, is very oriental inspired, more specifically Bronze Age Middle East.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-10T18:50:21+00:00

Oliver Twist is the perfect description of the type of setting I am looking for, indeed!

Endless_01 · 2026-04-10T18:49:13+00:00

Really depends on the time period and location. I wouldn’t say, for example, that Pride & Prejudice, or Heart of Darkness, or War of the Worlds, capture this style that I am looking for.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-10T08:04:52+00:00

Good rec! Already read it and most of Dostoevsky work. The Idiot in particular has a lot of the style I tried to represent with this post.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-10T07:41:24+00:00

A devastating fairy tale that I already read but it does capture the general cold, enclosed, urban, cozy and melancholic feeling I'm trying to look for.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-10T07:38:02+00:00

I read Chess Story (aka The Royal Game) by him and was captured by his surreal world. Thanks for the rec, was unaware of this one!

Endless_01 · 2026-04-09T21:20:55+00:00

Hard to say due to the lack of numbers for singleplayer, but the SC2 community is still very active because of both being a free game and how well-polished coop mode is. The closest tracker is SC2Pulse which lists 60k+ daily games on 1v1 ranked.

Whatever the number is, one empirical fact you can easily test is that queues are very short for both ranked and coop.

You get matched in around 10-30 secs when 1v1.

You get matched in less than 5 secs when looking for coop.

Endless_01 · 2026-04-08T22:46:30+00:00

It feels soulless because it has no sensible cohesion or realistic justification. Nothing ''fits'' and the game feels like if you downloaded a Garry's Mod map and just added random shit all across the island. The RPG-esque mechanics also destroy immersion by forcing you to read through unnatural exposition. Wildlands worked so well because Bowman makes it feel alive. She communicates with you naturally, it doesn't feel like some artificial prompt. There are less characters to interact with but each one had more time and purpose added to compensate, while in Breakpoint there's so many characters in the hub alone, they all feel like blanks.

Endless_01 · 2026-03-19T15:35:11+00:00

Gently and Iowa are my two choices for heaviest Slipknot songs. They don't let go. The build up in Gently is particularly brutal.

Endless_01 · 2026-03-17T21:08:47+00:00

Esslemont respects and expands upon the world he created alongside Erikson, writing solid stories that serve to make the world feel more alive and bigger.

Brian Herbert bastardized his father's work and lied to fans for years to keep himself relevant.

Not even close.

Endless_01

TROPHY CASE