If this capitulation fails to protect the ACA, can we call a no-confidence vote on our elected officials? At the very least, can we take his name literally and Chuck Schumer?

I can't believe we elected people who are this fucking naive, and unless healthcare is *actually* addressed (by which I mean, people who need to see doctors can do so, affordably), every single Democratic senator who caved and paved the way for this needs to be primaried and removed from office.

Out of fairness, while a 50-year mortgage is designed, like a 30-year one, to keep you in debt forever, so is the rental market.

Maybe if the government had to pile interest deductions on top of the standard deduction, they'd think a little more about the impact of, say, a 50-year mortgage. Citizens shouldn't be the only ones hurting.

Worst of all, for me, is that the government is supposed to work for the people. What's the argument in favor of cutting this valuable FREE service that allows citizens to comply with the law? How about you let me deduct the cost of professionally filing from my taxes.

What I find most concerning about the talk of a third term is in the way proposals (like Ogles') are specifically worded to disqualify anyone other than Trump (like Obama). It's brazen AND cowardly, a treasonous "patriotism" (to a person, rather than the country). It just makes me sad.

This is one of the things that I routinely ask about while streaming solves, and yeah, no matter how clever the surface, if you are removing non-consecutive letters, right order or not, I think you'd need a crystal-clear indicator to that effect.

Has anybody given Maelstrom Legacy: The Tesla Mystery a whirl? It reminds me of those old Usborn puzzle books (or more contemporarily, the Professor Layton games), and if it's good, I think it's exactly the sort of palate-cleansing thinky game I want next: store.steampowered.com/app/2016820/...

Who the fuck is looking to nominate Mamdani for president, a job he isn't eligible for? The fact that he CAN'T run and will therefore focus on NYC is one of the appealing things about him. If politicians talk this way on your show, stop inviting them on. Their unfounded accusations are dangerous.

Just a reminder that I'll be streaming another live solve of puzzles from @unchcrosswords.com Issue #1. Last time I got through two, hoping to do three (or maybe four) tonight from 9:00 to around 1:00 Eastern, over at twitch.tv/thatcrypticguy. You can get the print-only issue at unchcrosswords.com.

Good things are possible and we don't have to settle (thank you ranked choice primaries, and Brad Landers).

Okay, kids are asleep. Going live shortly!

Remember, I'm stream-solving cryptics tonight from ~9 to 1 Eastern; a @sarathegood.bsky.social Browser, AVCXs from McCarroll, Cohen, and Weisz, plus some lively minis from koha, Kyle Dolan, and @polslaw.bsky.social. Maybe a Gnomon? More @unchcrosswords.com on Thursday. www.twitch.tv/thatcrypticguy

I'm hoping they meant exododous, as in "look at all those idiots go" but the Post isn't that smart.

The only person who shouldn't be assigned to a review is someone who is determined to write something positive (or negative) regardless of what they they experience while playing. Beyond that, there's no higher praise for a game than winning someone over who normally doesn't like the genre.

Friendly reminder today that "A vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani" is math that makes no sense, unless a vote for Mamdani is two votes for Mamdani.

I mean, good, but it also speaks to the narrow-minded selfishness of 15% of "independents" who were OK with the things Trump initially proposed because they weren't yet personally affected, and now they are.

I love this kind of recommendation. You have to be as big as Jason to get away with it, but with some games--especially this one--the less said, the better. If you must know what's going on, I streamed it here (www.twitch.tv/videos/26060...). Watch only so far as it takes to convince you to buy it!

Keymailer was nice enough to send a copy of #EchoesoftheEnd, and the Enhanced Edition from October is very solid. I wish the combat were more creative: you fight lava snails, skeletons, and soldiers in the exact same way. But the puzzles show promise, from illusions to riddles and gravity wells.

To be clear, YouTube Premium has essentially made regular YouTube worthless for me, and while I'd play a nominal fee for certain features that I need, there's no way I'd pay $13.99/month for, say, the ability to play music/videos in the background of my phone while putting my kid to sleep at night.

Jurassic World Rebirth is both bad *and* unnecessary, and entirely misses the "new" meaning of "rebirth." It's a mutated clone, much like its centerpiece dinosaur, stuck with yet another island, another batch of children in danger, another recklessly greedy corporation.

Hannah Kaner's Fallen Gods series would make a fun open-world ARPG. Run around, with or without companions, using stealth, steel, and sorcery to fuck up shrines of specific gods to draw them out for an epic fight. Tough moral decisions about which gods to make deals with for the power to kill other.

Do companies just not care about errors any more?

Every Halloween costume was enhanced yesterday by suddenly and spontaneously running toward someone with hands out like wings ala Weapons.

"[Dragon Quest I has] raw and unadulterated turn-based combat in its purest form, but that doesn’t make it any less engaging." You can't just say retro, turn-based DQ1 is as engaging as Persona or Clair Obscur, or suggest it's because you're solo. Lines like this warrant more, well, engagement!

Solving spooky cryptics at ~9:00 PM Eastern tonight, www.twitch.tv/thatcrypticguy @sarathegood.bsky.social brings a themed Browser #244 and a variety WSJ "Cauldron" @mossdef.bsky.social has an Oktoberfest from Outside the Box @therackenfracker.bsky.social is at Eights and Nines (no more 6-7)

Honest question: which game do you think has the more frustrating controls/learning curve? Baby Steps? Or Egg? :P

Going live!

Not counting a few charity packs, AVCX will forever get to say that they were the first to officially publish one of my cryptics (and I'll forever thank them for that). More importantly, they'll be one of the only places to take US-style submissions in 2026, so solve them, support them, etc.

I finally get to play DEVICE 6 and that makes me so happy.

Delighted to announce Heartbeats, Dreams and Laser Eyes: 15 Years of Simogo, and equally thrilled to be working with @hollynielsen.bsky.social, @nadiaoxford.bsky.social, @illogicaljoker.bsky.social and Christian Donlan, who will be contributing essays to the book. Preorder at the link below!

On tonight's twitch.tv/thatcrypticguy stream of cryptic crosswords, I'm going to be "crossing the pond" and solving puzzles from the premiere issue of @unchcrosswords.com, which you can pick up at unchcrosswords.com. To be clear, I am *not* good at UK puzzles, so come help me, ~9:00 PM Eastern!

It's a credit to the design of Escape Simulator 2 that even though I get mild motion sickness while playing it (and its predecessor), I keep pushing through. Hope to stream a few "spooky" rooms later this Halloween week, if anyone's interested in that.

This as well. I have been fortunate to make some personal connections over the last decade so that I get some code offers even when I'm not formally covering for Slant, but I would have to be independent wealthy to personally buy every game I wanted to consider for mid- and end-of-year coverage.

Gotta add MOTIONREC. I've seen elements of this type of gameplay before where a memory or preprogrammed clone of yourself completes some of the work, but never on its own, and I love the look and feel, like asynchronous co-op where you're every player. store.steampowered.com/app/2602230/...

I'm so tired of people saying the media doesn't cover indie games. We try! When we find stuff we like, we share it as much as possible! (It helps that code for this went out well in advance, which helped make sure many of us had time to dig in.)

The only correct response to this inane comment is: "OK, Mr. Bessent—cherry prices are up X%."

Disco Elysium was covered by lots of press. It won awards. The "average" readers don't read them, and they don't care. The issues lie elsewhere, and it's not a price point, because Game Pass makes indie stuff available alongside CoD 7: people actively choose NOT to explore their membership perks.

This is what makes a Gamer. If you're genuinely into games, you love trying them. If you're into a single genre, or a specific franchise, you're a COD-er, or a Halo-er, etc. And I'm not saying you have to LIKE Disco Elysium, but as I always tell my THREE-year-old, don't knock it till you try it.

It feels good to feel good about a politician. To think that they actually care about something, have values, and may want to change the world for the better. I had all but forgotten.

I just think remakes are weird. I'm a firm believer that in film, a remake should have something new to say - like how the film's original message can be adapted to new contexts. I don't see why that can't be applied to games? (Other than Access to orignals as the key difference between them)

Reposting this, as with 20+ games here, I can use some recommendations on where to best focus my GOTY attentions before lists start closing.

In addition, here's a partial list of stuff I missed: HYPERBEAT SPINDLE ABSOLUM BATTLE SUIT ACES CONSUME ME STRANGE JIGSAWS IS THIS SEAT TAKEN? CIPHER ZERO EVERDEEP AURORA KAIZEN: A FACTORY STORY A SOLITAIRE MYSTERY FRETLESS URBAN MYTH DISSOLUTION CENTER DEAD LETTER DEPT. ENDER MAGNOLIA

Once more, an end-of-year list looms and I've got tons of cool looking games just out (or coming soon) that I might not have time for. What do you all think about these? THE LONESOME GUILD A cute, colorful game in which you swap between a band of "misfit" animals to solve puzzles and fight evil.

Going live soon with a big Bob Browser, some AVCX, and some WSJ. Might get to that @cranberryfez.bsky.social MyCrossword tonight, but likely will hold for Tuesday night when I break out @unchcrosswords.com.

If Tormented Souls 2 were a new franchise, I'd heap praise upon what it accomplishes: clever puzzles, frightening atmospheres, creepy monsters. As a sequel, the basic gameplay should be less . . . tormented. The easier assist mode is a must, since you can lose progress when tangled in the camera.

Alright, you monsters. I've dutifully (belatedly) checked out Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth AND I've figured out how to beat the game-breaking glitch in Chapter 4 on a PC (Steam should delist games with known issues until they're patched). I have to admit, I'm underwhelmed; lots of repetition.

I am curious, though, as to what's the difference between "parries" and any precise mechanism in a game, such as dodging a move or otherwise learning an attack pattern to avoid it. "Press B to parry" feels identical to "Press A to jump."

Attempting to put the kids down now, so hopefully see you all around 9:00 Eastern. Might try to squeeze in an Unch puzzle, but likely won't start those until next Tuesday, 10/28.

Want some spooky action *not* at a distance? SPOOKY EXPRESS is a fun little Halloween puzzler from the team that brought you Cosmic Express, and I love all the little interactions between these humans and monsters as you try to route them to their final resting places (or otherwise kill them).