Game dev and Linux user
I agree with what others said that more customization is generally good, but not all games really need that level of customization. For something like animal crossing, I think the body type thing is fine, since the designs are more neutral unlike what you’re describing. I think what could help is a third option that’s a more neutral body type. Or maybe if it’s not relevant, just don’t have a body type option.
I also don’t know much about runescape, but I assume this was an update that just changed the names from genders to body types, so adding other options might have increased the scope of the update. I think at least uncoupling that from gender is at least an improvement over before. Plus, I kinda disagree that people would only pick the corresponding pronouns. Plenty of people have a gender expression that doesn’t necessarily match their gender identity.
Distance is a criminally underrated racing platformer cyberpunk horror game. Worth it for the campaign alone IMO but there’s also multiplayer, a level editor with workshop support, two bonus campaigns, car customization, and a track generator.
Half-Life and Portal had a huge impact on my life. In high school I was in the source modding community, so I’m probably too familiar with valve’s engines and games. I made a few mods, the most well known being hl2 classic, and it kinda got me into game development.
But needless to say, it’s a fantastic series. I had a chance to play alyx and it was nuts. It’s crazy how influential this series and its technology is on gaming as a whole.
And a fun fact: quake had a feature where level designers could make a light flicker with a pattern of brightnesses. There were some premade patterns you could select as well. These made it into the goldsrc engine, then source, then source 2 - so Alyx, Quake, HL1, HL2, Portal, Portal 2, and more have lights that flicker in the exact same way.
They’re not interactive but Spec Ops: The Line’s loading screens stick out to be. They start out as pretty standard tips and lore info, but then starts giving you stuff like the definition of ptsd, a fun fact about increasing suicide rates in the military, or just telling you you’re not a good person. Occasionally the normal loading screen is entirely replaced with a ghostly image.
I use a switch pro controller regularly on mint, so it should work. I believe support got merged into the kernel a while back.
If not, joycond also works (although it’s a bit janky in my experience): https://github.com/DanielOgorchock/joycond
12 Minutes. It sucks because I was really looking forward to it - it’s published by Annapurna which has an amazing track record, and the trailer and concept looked really interesting. But it just kind of devolves into a really basic point and click game with one location where you just have to try every combination of things until something works. And the story itself is just a trainwreck. I wasn’t left satisfied or with any interesting thoughts, I was mostly just confused as to what the hell I was supposed to get out of it.
If you want a good time loop game published by Annapurna, just play Outer Wilds.
Inside and Naissancee have a lot of moments that just gave me a huge sense of awe. They have some really haunting, yet beautiful scenes.
Thumper just makes me constantly question how the hell the devs made the game look that way.
Half Life Alyx is weird because it didn’t so much blow me away with the huge things as it did with the small things. There’s so many small objects and details everywhere that stand up even when you’re physically shoving your face into them.
Haven’t played observer, but the aesthetic and horror aspect remind me of SOMA.
If you want something more action focused with a cyberpunk aesthetic, I can’t recommend Distance enough. (If you need a pitch: racing game with horror and your car can fly). I also just started playing Severed Steel and I’m enjoying it a lot so far.
I will also concur with the other person who recommended Outer Wilds. Don’t look up anything about it, go in as blind as possible, and try to see it through to the end. You will not regret it.
There’s a singleplayer game with a similar concept, Time Rifters
Thanks for the fun rabbit hole. They can’t really solve the halting problem though, you can make an oracle solve the halting problem for a turning machine but not for itself. Then of course you can make another oracle machine that solves the halting problem for that oracle machine, and so on and so forth, but an oracle machine can never solve its own halting problem.
Not a unique opinion, but Portal is probably the closest thing to a perfect game. Nothing feels unnecessary, and every part of it (story, gameplay, visuals) is not only good on its own, but also work together to make the game better than the sum of its parts.
Portal 2’s also great but suffers from a lot of fluff imo. The analogy I like to use is Portal 2 is like a big feast of really good food, while Portal 1 is just one small dish, but it’s the best version of that dish you’ve ever tasted.
I think System Shock belongs here too. It was an immersive sim in 1994, was one of the first games to make use of audio logs, and had 3D models and environments before Quake. It initially released on floppys without voice acting so it didn’t sell too well, and it wasn’t until later that it started getting more widely appreciated as the groundbreaking title it is. Another thing is that the controls and graphics can make it a bit of a pain to play today - this was before WASD and mouselook were standardized.
These are good but none are compatible with the php gender class.
Dont forget cs2, plus the short (but very fun) Aperture Desk Job)