It's been a few weeks again. Can't say much has happened with me. The mundane routines of my life are pretty starkly contrasted by all the messed up stuff that's happening in the world. Mass protests in the midst of a global pandemic and I'm just sitting in an office like an NPC in the story of the world.

I don't know if I'm in a weird media bubble that is using all this strife in the world to captivate my attention for monetization purposes but who the fuck knows anymore. Not like I could do much about the situation even if I wanted to.

I've been trying to the bare minimum at least. I think I mentioned this a few months ago but I finally went about and joined the EFF. It's been a long time coming and I'm pretty pissed that I laid it off for so long. I've been giving to their drives and stuff like that to maybe do my little part to stave off the dystopian future for a few more years. Recently there was an itch.io sale that I also joined that raised almost 7 million dollars for the BLM cause. It's amazing how things in the US are having such a massive impact in Europe and around the world. I guess the facade is finally crumbling and the underlying systems of oppression are finally being revealed to most people.

But thinking about it, there's something else here. I think a lot of people are aware of how dire the system is and how utterly unfair it all seems. Yet as long as we can make a living and keep our possessions safe for the most part, we'll accept it. I am actively accepting it every time I wake up and go to the office. It requires a critical mass of people to lose the little they have to get this kind of movement rolling. It is no coincidence that the record unemployment in the United States right now due to COVID-19 is allowing for these mass protests. Enough people don't have anything to lose anymore.

I've been reading articles that are surprised at the violent response of the police to protests and it puzzles me that people really thought it could go any other way. On paper people in the US should be able to peacefully gather in demonstrations but like a lot of things in the US, it's mostly talk. If things get anywhere near serious to the point it threatens the established order it has to be shut down. The brutal police response is not an overreaction. It's intentional, a show of force. If after all of this people return to their homes and no legitimate change occurs, the summer of 2020 will act as a message to anyone who feels upset with the status quo: stand up and you will be cut down.

This turned into a bleak post. It's a weird feeling when the future seems to be going into dark oppression but my everyday life is pretty comfortable. So this is what middle-class life feels like. Cool.

Speaking of middle-class comforts, been playing some cool games recently. Along with starting up a co-op game of Vermintide 2 a month back I recently got a game bundle from Steam to support COVID-19 research that is a bunch of horror games. I bought the bundle for a single game, "Summer Night", that is a game like those old electric handheld games Tiger used to make in the 90's. It really got the feel right and I really like the idea of an innocent game that on the surface looks so simple and stupid hides this horrifying secret. The game doesn't really purely on the LCD screen to invoke fear and uncertainty, there are sound effects in the "environment" you play the game in and all that, and it makes the game legit creepy. I felt the creep factor for sure. The game also only take 10 minutes to play, a fantastic experience.

There are other games as well in the bundle, I tried one called "Shatter" by Lovely Hellplace. It was a cyberpunk horror game with a PS1 aesthetic. The game was simple enough but the visual style of the world was really cool, the color palette is really distinct. The story is also very engaging and deep despite being such a sort game and had all the cyberpunk elements I like. Well worth playing. The whole bundle only cost 10 bucks.

That's going to be it for now. It's the perfect blog post: a troubled musing on the state of the world followed by a milquetoast game review.