Having a frankly joyous time chilling out and replaying Hollow Knight as a way of christening my new laptop. If you're one of the handful of folk who haven't played it yet, it truly is one of the best metroidvanias ever made.
Remote
Ellie, Who Slows the Sunset
@euphoriagremlin@retro.pizza
mastodon 4.7.3All about Magic: the Gathering, video games, LGBT rights, and writing about the above. She/her.
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/elliewhoslowsthesunset
367 Followers
152 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 07, 2022
Reviews Blog:
MTG decks:
Magic fics:
Road work ahead? Well yeah I sure hope it does!
showing my age there with memes from ye olde vine
#videogames #gaming #thelastofus
🏳️⚧️ Happy #TransDayOfVisibility ! 🏳️⚧️
I spent my day getting spoken down to by insecure cis people 🙃
You can cheer me up by giving my words about videogames a quick read, and if you feel like buying me a pizza, there's even a cheeky donate button as well :3
Don't have any pithy commentary about WotC's latest blunder re: TOR art. Suffice it to say that I have not bought sealed product for a very long time now other than the occasional EDH precon, when I do I buy them from secondary market sources, I buy singles, and I proxy aggressively.
I love the game of Magic, I really do. But I engage with it strictly only on my terms now. I don't mind contributing as little as possible to Hasbro's bottom line.
As far as mail days go, I'd call this decent
2026 gaming backlog #11 - Gradius (NES)
Also crossed off Gradius today! I've really found myself enjoying shmups recently, and this is one of the all-time classics. A foundational part of the genre, and still a tough but fun challenge.
Been enjoying Mobile Suit Gundam!
This moment in Ep. 6 has been my favourite filmic bit so far; the contrast between Amuro, the successful Gundam pilot, retiring to his room alone and in massive emotional distress, and Char weaving plot after plot even in defeat is really well done.
We have welcomed a new member into our family - Murphy! He's a 6 month old dachshund pup, and super friendly and sweet ♥️
2026 gaming backlog 14 - Eastward (PC)
Beautiful pixel art. Excellent soundtrack. A fantastic Zelda-like with some really strong character writing and a marvellous world full of personality. Wants only for some tighter pacing and some marginally sharper plot explanations.
I don't know anything about Crimson Desert other than it has people mad at it being reviewed as merely "good" and it's got AI art in it so it's unplayable as far as I'm concerned. I don't give a shit about playing the hot new thing if that means playing things shored up by AI.
2026 gaming backlog #20 - Sheepo (PC)
A perfectly adequate tiny metroidvania with a focus on platforming. Personally felt like the nondescript environments and lack of combat let it down a bit, but he transformation mechanic is sweet and creative.
Been enjoying taking it slow through Eastward recently. Been hankering for a Zelda-like for a while, and it's also "sad dad game"-adjacent, what with the MC being the taciturn digger John looking after the spunky kid he dug up from far underground before getting exiled to a post-apocalyptic surface.
The pacing is maybe a touch slow, but that just means there's lots of character building and excellent writing. Plus, getting to spend more time hanging around the absolutely beautiful world in it is hardly a hardship
Dad's funeral in an hour. Feeling pretty rough. Give your folks, or your friends, or whatever beings matter the most to you, a really good hug and tell them you love them for me today
New review! 397 - Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
(PSP, 1993, Konami)
This week, Ellie treads once more through the haunted halls of Dracula's castle in Rondo of Blood!
https://thealmightybacklog.wordpress.com/2026/07/27/castlevania-rondo-of-blood/
#gaming #videogames #retro #retroGaming #blog #writing #review
Replying to
If anyone does have any recs, the stuff I have watched before:
- About 7 Ghibli films
- K-On
- Cowboy Bebop
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
- Elfen Lied
- One Punch Man S1
- some bits of Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon?
I think that's genuinely it, and most of those were about a decade ago. So, I'm open to pretty much anything to try.
New review! 380 - Gato Roboto
(PC, 2019, Doinksoft / Devolver Digital)
This week, Ellie explores an alien planet as, uh, a kitten in a mechsuit?! Video games are rad, y'all.
https://thealmightybacklog.wordpress.com/2026/04/01/gato-roboto/
#gaming #videogames #indiegame #review #blog #writing #metroidvania
Gaming backlog #21 - Mika and the Witch's Mountain (PC)
A cozy, adorable adventure-platformer game where you play a trainee witch delivering stuff to an idyllic mountain community. Short, sweet, lots to explore - the woolly flight is my only bugbear really. Reminds me a lot of A Short Hike.
2025 gaming backlog 13 - Ninja Gaiden II (NES)
Just as hard as the first one, and with many of the same frustrations. Can't deny though the cool new powerups, once you learn how best to use them, help a lot. New stage hazards are also pretty sweet!
Ok, so I'm just in the last main case in Ace Attorney: Spirits of Justice and it's pulled perhaps the most baller move in the entire franchise - and it's only the first day of trial in it!
Getting massive "end of AA3" vibes from this one, it's absolutely awesome 😁
Now my cards have arrived, spent a bit of time modifying the TMNT precon with some more Turtles cards, so it's ready to roll for some B2 games 😁
Opted for Leo up top so I can randomly flip a Partner every game rather than the crazy value of Heroes in a Half Shell.
Gotta pick my grand company in FF14, they're all a bit unappealing 🤣 wishy-washy forest people, war economy: the city-state, or yarr harr murder pirates 😅
Replying to
@jerbear@kind.social hah, no, this is the reprint of The One Ring. It is credited to Dan Frazier but his agent confirmed he only did the background and the art of the ring itself has been copied by WotC from one of the old prints of The One Ring, flipped and muddied up in photoshop and then slapped back onto one of the upcoming Hobbit set's boxtopper reprints. So not only is this really obvious hack job being attributed to Frazier, but it's also not crediting the artist of the Ring art and obfuscating the meddling done by someone at WotC
New review! 377 - Venba
(PC, 2023, Visai Games)
This week, Ellie takes some time to reflect after playing Venba, an arresting, powerful story about immigration, culture, and parenthood, all contained within a gentle cooking puzzle game.
2026 gaming backlog #19 - Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice (PS4)
An excellent finale to the Apollo Justice games - he really came on as a character in the 2nd game and this one caps it off very well. I can see why it has mixed reviews, but I always enjoy AA's brand of fantasy anime law.
Only taken me 47.5 hours but I've finally gotten through Orange Stake and unlocked every deck in Balatro! Phew, that's been fun but a heck of a slog 😅 😮💨
Replying to
@jerbear@kind.social I did, it's all a massive clusterfuck and a real blow to see an artist as storied and iconic to the game as Dan Frazier do this.
I shall continue to not funnel money into WotC I think; it's all just a real mess at the minute :(
Closing in in 9 hours in Eastward. Some thoughts.
Firstly, definitely liking it. It's not blown me away, but it's been gentle and fun and heartfelt, and that suits me just fine.
Second, I can see why it gets criticism online for its pacing. It's certainly not in a hurry to push its story along - there's lots of filler to build the characters up and shape their personality. I like it though; it reminds me of SNES-era ARPGs in how light and charming it can be, and I respect the lackadaisical approach to plot pace.
In that, it feels like an oddity in the modern game market. I think the popular trends atm are either short linear narratives or lengthy sandboxes, and that middle ground isn't always well used by devs. Eastward bucks that, and is content to amble along at its own pace, and I really enjoy that.
I also finished listening to every Alestorm and Gloryhammer album and considered doing a tierlist for them but every category would just be:
"Remember that time Chris Bowes was a massive racist who had a game with his band to sleep w/ fans of different ethnicities as part of a touring checklist"
I've really missed playing Ghave since dismantling it last year. Decided to rebuild it, but this time as less of an aristo-combo deck and more of a B2-friendly Saprolings and Spore Counters matter list, trying to turn sideways with myriad 1/1s and slap face with fun guys.
2026 gaming backlog #12 - Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
One of the many NES sequels that shook things up dramatically compared to its predecessor. Interesting, but I don't think I could really say it hits the heights of SMB1 by any stretch.
2026 gaming backlog 15 - Outpacked (PC)
A sweet and short puzzle game around packing stuff into cases, but with increasingly hard to fulfil logic requirements defining where things can go. There's even an adorable story that plays out over it!
Phew, _finally_ finished this week's (now belated) review of Venba. Between dealing with massive brain fog, intense brain med fatigue, and trying to put into words the heavy topics of the review, that was a really tough one to write.
Sertraline has done me a great good in that I'm slowly beginning to get my brain back and not be weighed down all the time by endless paralyzing anxiety
but also it's made it so if anything wakes me up from 3-4 am onward I'm like, fully awake and can't sleep again and that is GRIM AS FUCK
Replying to
You can listen to this review on RSS and YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5QKNQSIYi0
https://rss.com/podcasts/the-almighty-backlog/2809024/
#podcast #youtube
Replying to
@xavdid@mastodon.social Oh I love this system, that's really nice!
I opted for 7 originally because I felt I wanted a tiny bit more nuance between scores, but maybe the answer is simplifying it down more.
Replying to
I also need to spend a bit of time messing with my thumbnails for the audio versions of my reviews I think. I don't care about making them "YouTube friendly", but RSS specifically offers a smaller, square space for thumbnails so I need to be more efficient with the information on it 🤔🤔
Replying to
@xavdid@mastodon.social Yeah, that's what's always kept me away from a 10 point scale, alongside wondering how worth it it is to delineate between, say, a 3 and a 4 or a 6 and a 7.
I dunno, I might end up keeping the one I have. Just thinking out loud a bit I guess. Something's been gnawing at me with the scoring recently but I can't put my finger on precisely what.
Replying to
@Blahmage@mastodon.art Haha doesn't help Limsa's case that I find it confusing to navigate anyway because I've spent so little time there so far 🤣
Replying to
As ever, if you prefer, you can listen to this review on YouTube and / or RSS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVKIb0H8A2c
https://rss.com/podcasts/the-almighty-backlog/2789213/
#podcast #youtube
Replying to
@Artemis201@mstdn.social Heck yeah LOVE some wonderful kitties! They're all so cuteeeeeeeeeeee :blobcat_aww:
Since there's been some buzz about it, spent today watching The Amazing Digital Circus. Turns out it's... actually really quite good!
I expected it to be horror-adjacent. It's not quite that but it's definitely got wonderful offbeat eerie vibes, presented in a charming way, and shored up by excellent character writing.
2026 gaming backlog 36 - Golden Sun: The Lost Age (GBA)
Despite its reputation, I found Golden Sun 2 a bit of a slog. Excellent core mechanics, but really bland writing and long, dull dungeons. A white whale game for me, but one I'll never replay I think.
#videogames #gaming #rpg
Replying to
You can also listen to this review on RSS and YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kagYlaV1HiE
https://rss.com/podcasts/the-almighty-backlog/2754799/
Replying to
@the_gneech@meow.social Haha, I'm afraid I'm going with the tree huggers. My character is a Roegadyn Gladiator - she's been a while in Ul'dah and wants a change, and the sea holds little appeal for her since that's the life she used to lead.
@GlitchGhost@retro-gaiden.com It's very Star Wars-y for sure! I'm sure that's not accidental, I imagine the OT was a huge influence on the shmup genre in the 80s