Game-related ramblings.

Tag: Heather Flowers

Year Two Of Scratching That Itch

The Scratching That Itch series is where I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

It’s now been two years since I started the Scratching That Itch series, randomly picking things from the 1741 entries in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality and writing about them. I’d hoped this was a way that my humble blog about games could keep the conversation about racial justice going, but it feels like some of the momentum is being lost. Last year I was able to point to the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, and some associated steps towards police reform, as tangible achievements. Of course, there was also the insurrection in the U.S. capitol on January 6, 2021, when a mob of racists tried to overthrow the presidential election and reinstate Donald Trump, who is basically openly fascist. As I write this, the House of Representatives is holding hearings on the insurrection, and I wish I could say I was optimistic that real consequences will come of them. But I am not.

It’s been a steady stream of bad news in the last year. There have been more than 250 mass shootings in the United States just in 2022 so far, including racist incidents like the Buffalo shooting, not to mention the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which 19 students and teachers were killed. We’re not merely seeing a backlash against racial justice efforts, but a broad wave of hatred and intolerance sweeping across the country. The Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing states to ban abortion, and Texas has already passed a law that effectively bans abortion by empowering private citizens to take legal action against any facility that offers abortion services. We’re on track to pass a record amount of anti-transgender legislation in 2022. We’re seeing a rash of voter suppression legislation passed in many states. The message is clear: any attempt to address systemic inequality is seen as a threat to the unjustly privileged position held by white men, so politicians and lawmakers are making aggressive moves to preserve it. And that’s just what’s happening in America. It’s clear we still have a lot of work to do.

On a brighter note, I randomly picked and wrote about 57 games (and other things) from the huge bundle, bringing the total over the first two years to 126, more than 7% of the entire thing. Like last year, I’ve highlighted some of my favorite picks below.

Getting Even More Extreme With EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER: BOUND BY ASH

This post is part of Keeping Score, a series about games and their soundtracks. As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

About five months ago, I wrote about the first season of episodic game Extreme Meatpunks Forever (which should be in all caps, but I’m too lazy to do that), subtitled Powered By Blood, as part of the Scratching That Itch series. Spoiler alert: it’s fantastic. I wanted to play the second season, Bound By Ash, while the first was still relatively fresh in my mind, so I grabbed it from itch.io and fired it up. Like the first season, Bound By Ash comes in six episodes, picking up where our misfit band of fascist-killing “gay disaster” meat mech pilots left off. And it’s even better than the first season.

Scratching That Itch: EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER

This is the ninety-ninth entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. This particular entry is also an honorary member of the Keeping Score series, about games and their soundtracks. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

It’s time to get extreme with our next random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The random numbers have picked EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER, by Heather Flowers. Its tagline in the bundle reads:

Gay disaster mech pilots killing fascists

It was bound to happen eventually. Extreme Meatpunks Forever (I cannot bring myself to continue using all caps for its name, even though it earns them) is one of the better known games in the bundle, and one which I personally have been meaning to check out for a while, having read a lot of good things. From those, I learned that not only is it about gay disaster mech pilots killing fascists, but also those mechs are made out of meat.

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén