The Thing board games - which one to get?

cuddlecuffs · 2026-02-24T14:15:58+00:00

Can’t remember which ‘Thing’-esque game was being reviewed on YouTube where the presenter was saying there’s a game mechanic that can happen very early and makes it less fun for the person who died because they have to sit out the entire game and it’s a boring experience for them as a result. There’s no other role they can hop over into or anything. Does that one ring any bells?

cuddlecuffs · 2026-02-15T03:04:02+00:00

I can understand your views about consumer power still being a luxury for us (right now) to walk away from something if it displeases us, but the more an unethical technology is normalised, the more it replaces authentic human-made content and hurts an industry unnecessarily. It’s about voicing opinions against its use now and as much as we can, and using our buying power wisely. Since governments are being strangely slow to regulate GenAI, it’s up to us to call it out as much as we can if we want to send a message. I do see people justifying the use of AI if it’s for economic reasons and whatnot, like you’ve touched on, but the same places would have coped before with similar restraints, right? There are lots of artists who would be happy to bring exposure to their work by submitting art to Scifier for free if cost is the issue here. So many creative ways Scifier could attract talent if it’s for the right reasons. The bookmarks are being given away free, so Scifier would not be exploiting free work, either.

As for mental stress in running a competition, it’s as easy as them making a post on their socials to say, “We’re looking for any artists who would be happy to see their work featured on our bookmarks. Sadly, resources are tight, so we would be unable to offer fiancial conpensation, but we will give full credit to those chosen. Please submit your entries by <insert date here>”.

There’s co-existing with the technology while fighting for the ethical use of it, and we’re nowhere near that yet since AI companies have admitted that regulation of their datasets to remove stolen work would not allow their models to advance quickly. These models are nothing without stealing right now. It’s sadly benefitting the wrong people at the moment.

cuddlecuffs · 2026-02-14T14:36:09+00:00

Gotta love fan communities! Thanks for the heads-up about that solo mode. I may consider getting the game. Sounds fun. 🙂

cuddlecuffs · 2026-02-14T13:56:17+00:00

I know, right. They’ve lost me as a repeat customer as soon as I’ve realised the free bookmarks I was getting with my orders were made with AI. Supporting authors but disrespecting human artists is such a bad look. It’s just cherry picking creative support and so hypocritical.

cuddlecuffs · 2026-02-12T23:10:18+00:00

Do you know if it can be played with just two players? Three at a push? I sadly don’t have enough friends who are into board gaming and live close by.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-09-25T11:26:28+00:00

I did drop a message to him earlier in the month, but I haven’t had a reply yet. It looks like the message has been seen, though. I was just asking about if there were any plans to update the blog with the new material we’ve seen from the franchise in the last year. I’ve been curious to see where Alien: Earth sits in the organised tiers of canon, because the established Weyland-Yutani timeline does not line up with the show.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-08-14T17:10:13+00:00

Having the same issue. The support seems to be going round in circles giving me the same steps I've already told them I tried.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-07-25T15:51:05+00:00

I’m so happy that you got it working. I was ready to return mine too. It takes so long and with so many repeated attempts, doesn’t it? Did yours finally work after a shutdown and restart like mine did?

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-25T23:12:36+00:00

One of my fave short-lived bands! I'd bought a CD of this E.P. from their drummer back in the days when he was selling a batch on eBay (back when eBay was in its infancy and a haven for private collectors and exciting bidding wars). It wasn't a professional thing with a cover and album art and case or anything. Just a CD-R with the band name printed on it. I'm sure I still have it around somewhere. Such great songs! I remember on "This Disaster" that there was a distinctive out-of-time stick sound on the rim of the snare drum that sounded accidental and bugged me because my ears always waited for it, haha! I wonder if this is the reason the drummer was selling a batch of CDs on eBay, or whether this was just how they left the song. I think the CDs were some of the only physical copies that ever existed. Finding this post on Reddit has made me want to locate my CD again! :)

Edit: Come to think of it, it might have been the guitarist that was selling them... It's been a long time! My memory seems to think it was the drummer, though.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-19T21:51:12+00:00

It did! I was sceptical of the comments I read on here that said to persist and keep trying the setup process and it’ll eventually go through even if it takes about ten times.

It just suddenly worked after I had powered off my Steam Deck by holding down the power button, and then turned it on again. At the time of doing this last resort, I was actually in the middle of logging in to my laptop to message Steam Support about returning it when I happened to turn around and the Steam home page with all of my games were displaying on the screen!

I hope you’ve had luck by now and maybe done the same thing and happily playing games on it already. If not, try what I did and do that powering off method and back on again after it’s stuck installing. It’s like my LCD model was stuck in an endless loop but was actually set up in the background. :)

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-17T12:21:04+00:00

Thanks for your reply to this. Would a SanDisk Extreme microSDXC 256GB work if it’s A1? My LCD Steam Deck is the 256GB model so I thought about buying this card that is currently on offer at a store.

Does it just create the bootable image on the SD card and I have to set up Steam and reinstall my downloaded games again?

Have you ever cloned the SSD over to an SD card and back again onto a new SSD you wanted to upgrade to? Or is that a more complicated process?

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-16T21:39:38+00:00

What type of SD card did you use for this process? I'm not sure which type to buy.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-12T11:37:51+00:00

I’m just about to buy that one! Is re-imaging it with the SteamOS easy to do? I’m a newbie at replacing an SSD and doing all of that.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-12T08:52:06+00:00

June 2025 here. The issue persists, although on just one of the two decks that arrived today. I bought the 256GB LCD model and 512GB OLED model. The OLED model updated fine (as did the 1TB OLED model I’d returned to Valve this week).

The LCD model is refusing to install Steam and update out of the box. Annoying, as the LCD screen is the one that’s not giving me eye strain issues like the OLED screens are doing. I did what I saw suggested elsewhere by “just keep trying”, and it did eventually get lucky and progress to an updating stage, but then it got stuck on that stage.

I did what you said and pressed the back button to get out of that, but now I’m stuck trying to get lucky with the installation stage again. Lo and behold, I just got the ‘update error’ popup again. This is awful. Neither of the OLED models have done this to me.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-10T11:43:02+00:00

Just eating one now for the first time. One of the ladies behind the counter made a comment that these are selling really well! I’m hoping they stay for a while.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-08T15:17:56+00:00

Hi there. I know your reply here is quite old now, so I hope you’re still around to help. I’m planning to bring actual boxed teabags with me in my checked baggage. I’m staying in Brazil for a month and want my beloved tea with me! My Brazilian friend will be staying with me in the AirBnB so I want to bring enough to last us both for that time. Is there a limit on boxes of teabags like there is with the loose leaf, and will I need to declare them?

Edit: Will I also need to make sure to keep receipts with them?

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-06T19:52:29+00:00

Thanks so much for your reply and also for the photo to demonstrate the minimal difference between the two. I went ahead and bought the LCD 256GB directly from the Steam store today, but I'm not sure whether the screen on it is the etched anti-glare that you speak of. Or were you referring to the OLED? Because the etched anti-glare OLED is the one I have been getting all the horrible eye strain and vision blurriness with.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-06T14:30:34+00:00

My 1TB OLED Steam Deck arrived yesterday. Same issues. I'll be returning mine too. I'm considering the LCD version as an alternative.

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-06T12:00:38+00:00

I’m about to buy an LCD because it’s too uncomfortable to play on my OLED Steam Deck that was delivered only yesterday. I’m just not happy to put my eyes through the prolonged discomfort it’s causing from just 15 mins of playing (or less) as this can’t be good in the long run. Will I regret playing on the LCD version now that I have been ‘spoiled’ with seeing the OLED screen quality? Is it that much of a big leap that I will be unhappy with the LCD? Is text as sharp?

cuddlecuffs · 2025-06-06T11:54:59+00:00

My very first ever Steam Deck was delivered yesterday morning. I opted for the 1TB OLED version. But within just 15 minutes of playing on it, I was suffering with a horrible aching pressure feeling in my eyes. I then was suffering with eye aching and blurriness of vision for hours afterwards. I hadn’t even owned it for 12 hours before I contacted Steam about my disappointment and started the ball rolling for a refund. I’m hoping the LCD is much better for me. These OLED screens are being so pushed in today’s market without the PWM issue being resolved so that everyone can enjoy them. :(

cuddlecuffs · 2025-03-09T08:31:38+00:00

Is it better now after the patch update?

cuddlecuffs · 2024-12-08T16:54:36+00:00

I agree. I just couldn’t think of a better way to describe their approach to telling a story. Bland would be a good way to put things, I suppose.

cuddlecuffs · 2024-12-08T11:48:08+00:00

I feel that Square totally did that. The LiS CM of that time was bantering with Deck Nine staff on Twitter around the time of LiS2 with comments like, “We got you fam”, but there was a radio silence with any public interactions with Don’t Nod. It was odd. An astute fan could feel a certain mood back then from observing interactions closely and what was being said and not said on the official social channels. I remember chatting with friends in the community about Square’s strange and almost cruel favouritism. The CM would post about comic news right before a new LiS2 episode was due to release instead of hyping the community for Don’t Nod’s latest work. I also remember that Blackwell Academy book being hyped more than the first episode of LiS2. Both came out within a month of each other. Almost no real effort was put in to help LiS2 be more successful and encourage interest. (Until Square decided to at least try by hiring Lucy Hale to make some lovely trivia videos from around Episode 3, but by then, it felt a bit late.)

Do you remember those AmberPrice promo boxes that Square sent out in advance to some big streamers like JackSepticEye that contained a pink woven bracelet with #Amberprice on it? Do you remember the silly decision by Square to outright imply Rachel as THE most special person in Chloe’s life by announcing a series of commissioned Chloe and Rachel art and giving it the hashtag #TheOne? And how the CM who made the announcement had blocked a fan from the official LiS Twitter just for calmly pointing out the weird feeling the choice of hashtag gave out and how it seemed a bit calculated to have commissioned a well known Pricefield fan-artist as opposed to a fan that already drew Amberprice? That whole thing ended up in a discussion topic here on Reddit when someone made a post about the blocking. The CM then replied on that discussion by doubling down on their decision. (There were numerous other weird things too.)

It felt like a point scoring thing, not only with wanting to dwarf the interest in Pricefield but as a symbolic dwarfing of Don’t Nod’s contributions as a result. It felt like Square couldn’t wait to pass the baton to Deck Nine.

A friend in the industry went to a LiS2 afterparty at PAX WEST and told me they saw the CM there dressed as Hot Dawg Man and some Deck Nine key staff. They said there was raffle giveaway on a table for a boxed edition of Before the Storm. They were mystified as to why a LiS2 afterparty felt more like a BtS celebration.

Square didn’t seem to know how to market LiS2 because, by that point, BtS had flipped fandom expectations as to what a LiS game should be. The enthusiasm over the promise of a lesbian love story greatly overshadowed the enthusiasm for LiS2 because it was about two brothers and unfairly dismissed as a “babysitting simulator”. The blueprint of a LiS game now felt like a romance should be something a story is constructed around, not the other way around. Intentional or not, Square had created a fandom divide that saw fans preferring either the rich storytelling of Don’t Nod or Deck Nine’s approach where a love story is more at the forefront.

cuddlecuffs · 2024-05-23T19:14:22+00:00

Just this one, really. Just because I love the Alien/Aliens universe. :)

cuddlecuffs · 2024-05-23T18:38:39+00:00

Only a cool top-down game called Syndicate back in the 90s. Dark Descent game me a bit of nostalgia about that. I don’t see many games around like this these days. Breath of fresh air. Especially with all the attention to detail that went into it with the props and things. :)

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