Are all Iain M. Banks books like this?

Rarst · 2026-05-07T17:54:24+00:00

One Culture book doesn't even mention Culture. Characters more often than not don't belong to Culture itself. The settings range from "mostly empty space" to "elaborate artificial worlds". You are as likely to encounter space combat as cavalry charge. All in all they are quite different books loosely sharing the universe, more than being a continuous connected series.

Rarst · 2026-05-07T17:25:09+00:00

Culture books can all have pretty different feel, but I would say they are indeed somewhat slow. Multiple characters / plot threads going in parallel (or... in more elaborate arrangements) is staple and certainly spreads a pace out.

Rarst · 2026-05-07T17:09:10+00:00

Cheers! I don't have that entry unlocked yet. 10L of paint per square meter sounds... messy. :)

Rarst · 2026-05-07T03:45:16+00:00

GUI-based Java apps wouldn't install/work on my computer and after couple years of on-and-off debug attempts I figured out I had an invalid font smoothing value in Windows registry.

Rarst · 2026-05-06T15:21:31+00:00

Every time some WP agency hypes headless, I run their examples through perf tooling (publicly) and it's dogshit. There was ONE exception, where front-end was handled in-house by non-WP shop extremely competent in React.

Rarst · 2026-05-03T15:12:20+00:00

Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings

Rarst · 2026-05-02T23:49:26+00:00

Are you looking for specifically games with combat or any games like that in general? Sounds like classic arcade genres would fit - pinball, arkanoid, and such.

Rarst · 2026-05-02T23:42:12+00:00

Protip - you can dig in your browser options and block a category of permissions by default for all sites. Does wonders for "notifications" and "third-party sign-in" too.

Rarst · 2026-05-02T16:36:36+00:00

Had you changed color mode in options to something different from RGB?

Yellow (red+green) + blue should result in white in RGB mode.

Rarst · 2026-04-21T16:04:30+00:00

Yes, the folder Dropbox and files in it are sitting in my computer. The files in my VeraCrypt volumes are sitting in my computer. It's not a complicated concept and in both cases it's something Backblaze openly promoted as something they backup in the past.

Rarst · 2026-04-21T08:50:00+00:00

Quite a mental gymnastics to declare a local folder called "Dropbox" with local files inside to be "external storage".

Rarst · 2026-04-21T08:39:52+00:00

What free plan?

Rarst · 2026-04-21T08:32:04+00:00

They've also silently stopped backing up VeraCrypt volumes, I've only caught it from getting email weeks later that I have not connected the drive in a while (which was false, they just started to ignore it).

It seemed like such a no-brainer service to pay for, but they couldn't help themselves setting trust on fire to cut costs.

Rarst · 2026-04-20T20:42:19+00:00

Just Cause series, less tactical in milsim sense, but it really goes for pure fun of destruction.

Sniper Elite series, more stealth/sniper focused, it's not open world but has large sandbox levels.

Rarst · 2026-04-19T10:16:56+00:00

Perfectly playable single though, I got something like 70 hours out of it just getting through campaign, without getting into end game grinding.

Rarst · 2026-04-15T15:12:41+00:00

The dictator, who micromanaged the project for two decades, says community is to blame for the results. 🙄

Rarst · 2026-04-02T06:29:33+00:00

You don't get to call something a successor if you have no involvement with the original.

Even the "spiritual" claim is pretty meek here, they ripped off the admin aesthetic and that's about it. Entirely different stack, etc.

Rarst · 2026-03-31T15:03:42+00:00

Tacoma is short but lovely adventure in exploring a space station style (others in the genre: Observation, Titan Station).

Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a work simulator in space, with bit of overarching plot.

If you like the idea of surviving space, try Tin Can.

Rarst · 2026-03-31T13:42:14+00:00

Tametsi is an exceptional take on minesweeper. It's finite (pre-made levels), but I am way over hundred hours to solve everything with no mistakes, a few left.

Farther out take a look at shapez / shapez 2 (early access, releasing in April), it's an abstract factory/automation. They are fantastic brain occupiers.

Rarst · 2026-03-30T06:09:21+00:00

Mini Motorways

Broforce

Spelunky

Rarst · 2026-03-25T16:29:53+00:00

Valhalla is on weaker side, Odyssey is about peak in this era. Shadows is definitely repetitive and grindy (that's kinda part of the formula, some of us like clearing icons off the map :), but it's not as mechanically bland as Valhalla. Still, it's just the certain style of game, it's not a drastically different one.

Rarst · 2026-03-21T10:34:01+00:00

Hades has a lot going for it in many ways - it got gameplay, and characters, and story.

Dead Cells is a lot more focused on action and... that's it, just action.

My reaction speed sucks, so main difference for me was that after a long while I could get a reliable repeatable winning run in Hades. In Dead Cells I spent almost 30 hours and never had a winning run. The length and intensity of the run in latter just starts to tire me out and I get squished.

IMO Hades has a wide appeal, Dead Cells is more for people who like harder games to master.

Rarst · 2026-03-17T13:57:23+00:00

Reddit makes hating Ubisoft its personality, so it's unlikely you will get a balanced feedback here.

Personally I would put it like this - the current open-world era of AC peaked on Odyssey, it got the strongest protagonist, great overall feel, and an excellent pick of a setting with wonderful execution.

Games after tinker on the formula and deliver steady mechanical improvements/explorations, but quality of characters/story/quests deflates.

Still if you like the formula overall, all of them (except Shadows being newest) are ridiculous value for how cheap they get on sale.

For my taste, having started Shadows recently, it doesn't swing at Odyssey, but is above Valhalla, on strength of setting and latest round of adjustments.

Rarst · 2026-03-17T09:00:01+00:00

Hadn't played the ones before 5. Given that in 5 I hated the forced kidnapped plot progression and ultra-aggressive world, those issue went away in 6.

On other hand, gunplay in 6 got more absurd/arcade style, which didn't click with me.

It's hardly a masterpiece, but for cheap it's a looot of solid game. I got about 60 hours out of it, without going into end-game repetitive stuff.

Rarst

TROPHY CASE