theBU3NO's dumb website

patch notes 8/17/26

 2026-08-17 |  #🎮video games

+against the storm //against the storm is just so good. i don't particularly like city builders, but i do like the best shit. i love when an intense genre like this gets the roguelite treatment and it's done well. many times i've got to the end of 4x or whatever other type of strategy or management game and got either overwhelmed or overcome by the tedium. against the storm just cuts that shit right out. it's just such great game design in general. this one will be graduating to my list of all-time favorites very soon.

-league of legends //idk man. this one kills me because it just seems like the game i'm supposed to be playing. as a fan of rpg/mmo style pvp, and a despiser of pay to win, it's just seems like the pinnacle of what is available. it has players, like, a lot of them, and it has as esports seen which i love. i'm just not built for super competitive 5v5. i'm allergic to pressure and toxicity.

+jujutsu kaisen rumble survivaton //holy hell i'm so hyped for this. just a few months ago i was remarking about how i don't like anime, but i like the best anime. well thgat path has led us directly to this. i started thinking a lot about that and decided to go on a little gaming journey. it started with vampire survivors and then against the storm and balatro. i need to play those games that aren't in a genre i'd normally reach for, but are just such shining examples of quality and game design that they can't be ignored. i also picked up hades and enshrouded but that's beside the point. i found out that i really loved vampire survivors right before they announced a new pvp version based around one of the anime that i love. i think this one is largely going to fly under the radar but i'm going to be here for it.

-s&box //i must have been high when i wrote that piece about it earlier, this launched with a whimper

+guild wars 3 //what else can i say but holy hell i'm so hyped for this? i lived in wvwvw for a couple years. it was the best thing for me since the original alterac valley. well that's not fair, there were several great pvp games i missed in the 5 years after i discovered alcohol. darkfall, age of reckoning, man i really regret missing out on age of reckoning when it came out. anyway, like i've said before, there's just nothing better than a pvp game with enough players for you to sink into obscurity and do whatever the hell you want. let the zergs bang it out. i'll be on the fringe torturing the tail that got distracted with a phone call. my dumbass one-shot build might only work once every 20 fights but i'm still contributing. i'm not here to lead or follow, i just wanna put at end to whatever this guy was doing in particular.

-warlord tcg //i still like this and want to play more, i just think i'm a little more hyped for other ones and need to make room

+here be monsters tcg //the one the list maker told you not to worry about. looks really fun, i backed the kickstarter. hope to try it on tabletop simulator soon, not much else to say about it yet

+hades //i mentioned it before but i am actively playing it so i should put it on the list. obviously some of the best shit ever made, will probably have more to say about it at some point

cry havoc and let's ship wardogs

 2026-08-16 |  #🎮video games

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1867240/WARDOGS/

i haven’t played arma or squad or any of the realistic cooperative stuff. no tarkov. no hell let loose. i have a hard time committing to a squad of people and engaging in voice chat with my anxiety.

wardogs is my absolute shit though. the closest thing i can personally compare it to is planetside 2, especially after they added the base building stuff a few years ago. it’s got teamwork, but intense collaboration is not expected of you as much as in something like squad or a competitive game with a smaller player count. in my opinion it’s the perfect combination of a casual floor with a high ceiling for organized play.

i’ve heard it’s a lot like arma reforger and that seems probably true, but i don’t know anything about the way guns and other mechanics work in those games. all i can say is that wardogs is perfect and you’re probably taking yourself too seriously if you think it’s dumb.

from what others have said and from what i am imagining, wardogs is snuck between a rock and a soft place. more arcade than replica, less staccato than a match of dutyfield. you’re gonna want to stay alive if you can, but the commute to war punctuates your mistakes and gives you time to reflect on your dumb ass.

wardogs is more than it’s modern military gameplay anyway. in fact i’d prefer it was something else. escaping to sci-fi or fantasy over real human conflict suits me just fine.

no the real treat here is navigating the economy. it’s a sandbox (circle) and they reward you for whatever you decide to do. sure you can get into a fight. you can also just peep with some binoculars or slap some bandages on your friends. push your tonka trucks around and build a sand castle. just sit somewhere really, as long as you’re in the box (circle) you’re getting paid.

the vehicles are their drivers are especially meaningful, and i don’t just mean that the tanks are good. transports are necessary. the bases you spawn at are fuck off away from the center. you need soldiers in the middle to score, and you need supplies in the bases to build. and guess what? you’ll get paid when you drop someone off. you’ll get paid when you deliver a pallet of ammunition. you’ll get paid just for surviving the trip and showing back up at base.

my favorite part is the smaller area (circle) called the hot zone or whatever nestled inside the main circle (area) where you score double. it floats around the map so you either chase it around or try to hole up where you think it’s going. there is always a fight there. always. and it’s so easy to just show up there and be a valuable part of the team. just start shooting and picking people up. and the base building isn’t just for fun. the towers and bases let you pull the hot pocket to them which is incredibly valuable to your wallet and the score.

while the shotguns in this game have been my favorite of any title so far, i used the binoculars more than anything. anyone can ping a location for their squadmates, but if you spot someone with binoculars it tracks them for the whole team, and when they die, you guessed it, you get paid. and making money feels just great.

the game just feels so rewarding. i think it’s because of the rewards. i mean of course people are generally going to play for the team in a team game, but it really pushes you to help each other, more than just to win the match like usual. you will get revived, they will bring you supplies for your f.o.b., and they will give you a ride to the hot box, because they get to take the money home with them.

i was making a silly comedy joke before when i said it was perfect. of course i have some concerns. almost all i’ve talked about is the cash incentive, and that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t do anything fun with it. you can only bring risk-and-reward into the conversation if it really means something to you. they need to deliver on skins and collectables worth buying, and stick to their guns about not selling them for real life monies. they’ve said a lot of very promising shit in their videos but if they don’t back it up then all it proves is they have a great marketing team.

i also have a feeling it’s going to be really hard to balance this sprawling meta economy. like, a whole team spamming tanks might be an issue? but maybe there are enough tools in-game to deal with anything. and you know what? the whole match is like an hour, and you can just leave and join another one. there’s probably some guy with 100 missile launchers that would love to take your spot in that server. the amount of money you get for specifically winning the round is a drop in the bucket of one pretty decent life where you got a few kills, so if they want to spend all the money they farmed for one match, i’ll let them have it.

if you try not to take it too seriously i think you’ll have a blast in wardogs.

we get another test next weekend so i don’t have to be depressed for a whole month straight til it launches. this singular game even convinced me to pay $800 for a stupid 5070 gpu. it ran pretty fuckin ok on potato mode with my 3060 ti and 5700x3d, but there were some spots when it would drop down to 60-70 fps and not feel amazing. a 5070 should let me upgrade the trees from looking like i drew them with crayons and keep the frame rate from dropping under 90 which is the sweet spot for me. 120+ is great but i can’t stay immersed in 60 fps anymore, and 45 looks nightmarish.

ok i want to try to write something about against the storm before this game launches or i might not ever get the chance.

fairly emblematic

 2026-04-17 |  #🎮video games

i kind of don’t know how i skipped fire emblem

i loved advance wars and final fantasy tactics is in my top 10 for sure.

i guess i was a junior in high school by the time the first western version came out, and i was mostly mmo’ing and playing physical tabletop stuff at that point.

for the purpose of this post i planned on blaming it on how i’ve never been interested in anime, but i had been playing pokemon for years and i liked yu-gi-oh so that’s no excuse.

but let’s ignore that change of heart because i still want to talk about anime

it’s true that i was never interested in watching it, but defining a clear why is difficult. there’s a whole mess of shit that comes to mind when i think of anime in a general sense. most of anything i saw passively was either too childish, over-the-top cutesy, or exactly the opposite and creepy as hell. AND THAT’S FINE i’m just not interested in any of that.

then there’s the fandom.

ok i think it’s time to really go in on something. we’re only like two steps down and i’m just going to have to go deeper if i want to articulate an answer that i’m satisfied with. the problem with deeper is we’re entering the realm of subconscious feelings and fleeting images and i don’t know how to type those.

this is where i would usually abandon a topic. quick before stumbling around a genuine feeling. right on the cusp of an actual opinion.

i get so fucking pissed at those videos where someone roasts the way that someone else is cooking their rice.

if your ego can drive your body to audibly express that breaking spaghetti before putting it into the pot    actually     matters      fucking       at all? i think i might actually hate you.

the way i feel about that is a tiny bit like the way i feel when someone’s whole life and personality are defined by something like anime, or ford trucks or whatever. it’s just a gross little pang i feel in my soul.

i’m not saying that’s you, or that it’s common, OR THAT IT’S BAD. that guy just makes me feel some kind of way, and something about anime makes me think of that guy.

within the past couple months i’ve watched jujutsu kaisen, frieren, and dandadan, and i absolutely loved all three. i thought to myself: oh my goodness i like anime!

so i put on black clover, and fullmetal alchemist, and one piece, and thought to myself: ah nope, i don’t like anime, i just like the best shit.

i like the best anime, and the best videogames, and the best trucks or whatever.

so i picked up a fire emblem game the other day and knew immediately that it’s a thing for me. i’m starting with 7 or [untitled] or the blazing blade or whatever you personally call it. the box says “fire emblem” and it’s the first one that came out in the usa and i heard it has the bangingest tutorial.

there are heaps of other ones, including SIX that came before and never even released in the states. after 7 i think i’ll pick up the sacred stones, awakening, three houses, and engage.

i’ll play the really good ones, and i think i’ll stay off the subreddit

patch notes 4/15/2026

 2026-04-15 |  #🌐website #🎮video games

-marathon //it's just not happening. at this point for me to be interested in marathon they would have to be adding deathmatch lobbies and we know that's not coming. i think it'd be just swell though. you would still have to engage with the extraction mode to find the gear you like, but the stats would all be equalized since you're not dealing with the risk-and-reward mechanics. it's all reward baby.

+wardogs //i haven't been this hyped for some time now. 30v30v30 shooty faction pvp with an economy. every decision this game made is right up my alley. well it's not sci-fi but i probably would have hyped my ass of it was. a little planetside, a little battlefield, and the devs are saying all the right things as far as monetization goes. there's a player economy with all the risks and rewards you could desire. earn money on your performance, and spend it on gear to go again. i think they'll totally flop on balancing the economy and settle into it as time goes on. there are seasons of course, that magical replacement for the vertical progression treadmill.

-ashes of creation //oof. holy shit lol

+s&box //i forgot about this one for a while. i got in for testing a couple years ago but didn't really do much. this, uh, package? is an inevitability. i mean it's the sequel to garry's mod, it's going to be around for a long time whether it becomes the next roblox or not. then you've got the ability to ship games outside of it's own ecosystem to really make things interesting. this feels like some kind of moment to me.

^tetris attack added as all-time favorite

+fire emblem //see next post

some big ping is happening

 2026-02-14 |  #🎮video games

i don’t know what popped into your head after you read recently-viral-essay ‘something big is happening’, but allow me to share the wrong thing to worry about. let me tell you how fucked multiplayer gaming is.

i don’t know how the hell i’m going to lay out all these dumb thoughts, so let’s just start with the second thing i thought of, since the first thing i thought was actually man i hope universal basic income is coming pretty soon.

the second thing i thought about was, what would i even do with an ai, being an unambitious antisocialite such as myself? well i’d probably use it for some dumbass game.

no no i don’t mean make a game with it; i mean, like, what if it watched me play league of legends and told me what i should be doing? like you should probably go help your team with the dragon or whatever.

and so obviously this is the end of all recreation.

i’m mostly kidding of course

but really what are we actually supposed to do

one strand of this stupid ass thought-mop is how i think gaming, or at least specifically mmos and pvp, is in a meta solving crisis. well crisis is the wrong word, it’s just a fundamental issue. a fundamental issue with humanity and the internet perhaps. it’s probably just nature. you collect information and everyone figures out the best way to do something.

this is a good thing probably. it’s science. or maybe all that comes from awareness is misery. regardless this definitely makes games less fun.

next is cheating.

cheating is the deep pit for me. it is the inescapable arms race that ruins everything. it’s war, and it’s everywhere, and it’s getting worse.

it used to be obvious. everyone in the lobby saw it and they had the tools to kick them out. there was a certain eh, turing test quality to it.

now it’s true that the developers took the keys to the moderator cabinet away, centralizing servers and making matches, but the cheating is too subtle now anyway. we’d just boot everyone that’s any better than us or has a good ping.

for a little while i thought ai would be the answer. it could ignore the software, look past the hardware, and just judge the numbers. you reacted too quickly badbrony694206-7, kick rocks.

that’s just a number though, and no matter how many decimal places you add it will be figured out, and the speed limit will be set. and even at the speed limit they’ll still be driving a lot faster than you are.

i think both of these issues will get reduced down and multiplied to the masses, and it won’t be cheating. look at the overlays for teamfight tactics or hearthstone, or addons for world of warcraft. you can get so much additional information, you should get additional information to play better, you must get additional information if you want to compete.

oh yeah also gambling exists.

i don’t have any answers. this is just an essay on depression. i like competitive gaming, and i think it’s a fallacy.

emergency maintenance

 2026-02-06 |  #🌐website #🎮video games

+heroes of might and magic: olden era

this is not a drill, we have a strategy rpg with ranked pvp in late-stage development

i remember seeing HOMMOE quite a while ago and being like yeah sure. i loved those games forever ago. i just don’t get excited for something like that anymore unless it goes really hard on multiplayer or it’s like strategy game of the year. you usually either have to go full board game mode and simplify it down, or lean all the way into asynchronous play to accumulate enough descriptor tags to peak me up.

age of wonders 4 is a magnificent game but that series was never built for multiplayer. i’m not going to dive into all the details, but generally the turns in these types of games are just so long that you (if you’re trying to make your game playable with other humans) need to either let players do their turns all at the same time, or let them put the game away while everyone else is rotating through their actions. unfortunately this falls apart in various ways when you’re trying to have pvp or co-op battles. instanced combat putting more turns inside your turns complicates things even a bit more.

turns out these guys are going really hard on multiplayer. they have announced that there will be ranked multiplayer for all of their modes. that is just absolutely unheard of for a turn-based strategy rpg. i haven’t seen anything to back me up yet but that gives me a lot of hope. maybe they actually have the dedication to finally solve some of these issues and open up competitive play for this classic genre.

a couple other quick changes while we’re here

-lego party! //this one still looks great to me, it just didn't pop off enough societally for a full-price purchase

-light of motiram //lol sony straight disappeared it

i'm not gonna try highguard

 2026-01-28 |  #🎮video games

highguard looks cool and neat and interesting and innovative. it looks smooth. being the last game showcased at the game awards means absolutely nothing to me.

i’m just not interested in a 3v3 competitive shooter. that’s all there is to it.

well.. ok, that’s all there needs to be to it but of course there’s some bonus bullshit.

i’m especially not interested in a 3v3 competitive hero shooter

i’m especially not interested in a 3v3 competitive hero shooter where i have to farm at the beginning of each match and pray to rngesus.

i’m like, super-duper not interested in a 3v3 competitive hero shooter in a gigantic map with castles where all i can think the whole time is “damn i wish there were some more fuckin people here.”

i think i’m really just mad at myself

Highguard is a PvP raid shooter where players will ride, fight, and raid as Wardens, arcane gunslingers sent to fight for control of a mythical continent.

i took what they gave me and i dared to dream. i foolishly imagined that you might want more than 3 guys to capture a magical continent. i hopelessly fabricated a world where maybe like 16 folks could be involved in the battle with the 50 foot tall siege engine.

i say this a lot but i’m fully aware that 3v3 being uninteresting is a me problem. my preferences were shaped by tribes 2 and alterac valley and planetside. it just hurts when something goes from being ripped straight out of my dreams to just another next in the discovery queue.

i hope highguard is a good game and you enjoy it.

edit 1/30: guys they heard me and added 5v5. i’ll try it when we get to 12v12. good on them though that was real quick

patch notes 1/23/2026

 2026-01-23 |  #🌐website #🎮video games

-towerborne //once again i convinced myself that i will surely organize some friends to play this fun multiplayer game with me, and once again i find myself wanting. my favorite part about towerborne was that i could make myself green with long ears so i could role play a goblin

+total war: warhammer 40k //oh shit oh fuck oh shit. i was really into 40k as a lad. i was really against 40k as a chap. i think this game is going to be really fuckin good as a bloke

-destiny 2 //it's just run it's course. i think you can get a degree in destiny 2 studies at the university of phoenix. top notch game in general but they really ruined it for me with how disjointed all the story stuff was. i ==absolutely== despise that there's campaign content you can't even play. pvp was very very good but i justdon't have it in me to keep up with the gear. so when pvp is all i care about it just seems like i should be playing something else

+mahjong soul //ive become infatuated with riichi mahjong. i'm not going to write a tutorial but it's kind like anime poker. there's an ebook called 'riichi book 1' that i'm supposed to be reading but instead i'm just losing real badly and having fun anyway. now, mahjong soul specifically is the most popular riichi mahjong client. i don't like the gooner bait booba and upskirts but you just gotta live with that if you wanna play where the people are

-warhammer online return to reckoning //bleh gear grind meh player base, super fun if you are a chronic pvper that can deal with older games

-warborne: above ashes //lol. the best bad game i ever played. truly a moment in time i will remember forever. the pvp. the drama. i went to war those boys and i'm coming back stronger

+dawn of war iv //dawn of war 1 is my most played rts and the only one i actually went online to play against randos with. incredible game. dawn of war 2 was cool. dawn of war 3 was deedee megadoodoo.

-mechabreak //super cool combat, the modes available just didn't end up being my thing, also i'm pretty sure the progression was ridiculous but i didn't get far enough to find out

+league of legends //mm watcha say? i'm playing a lot of aram. league of legends invented queue anxiety but you can't deny that it's a good pvp game

+divinity //hell yeah

-repo //i would still play this, i'm just not actively hoping for it to come up

+twilight imperium digital //really cool board game that's just too girthy to fit, now in digital form so you can stick it anywhere

-reaper actual //i got excited when i saw the word planetside in the news. i got unexcited when i saw the words modern military extraction in the news

=marathon //arc raiders did this game nasty style. i'm gonna leave this on the list for now, just a slight balance adjustment. i got real inflated for a new bungie game but the air has been squeaking out. i'm completely in love with the art direction and the cyber easethetics and all that shit, and i'm 100% going to try it, i just have a suspicion that the zero dollars for the prerelease test they announced is all they're gonna get from me

-dune: imperium //i'm pretty certain this is one of the all-time best deck building games, i just get sleepy whenever i try to play it.

^root promoted to all-time favorite

-digimon survive //i'll probably still finish this game, maybe it'll get added to the all-time favorites. for now there's just nothing to be said about it

patch notes 7/10/25

 2025-07-10 |  #🌐website #🎮video games

-dune: awakening //the closer this got to launch the more certain i was that it was not going to be a game for me. or maybe just that this game obviously wasn't finished and wouldn't be worth $50 to me? cause let's be honest if it showed up in my library i would have played it for 30 hours easily. unfortunately i was looking at this game through the lens of an mmo pvp gamer, and those tags never came into focus.

+lego party! //just when i decide nintendo isn't for me, smg studio comes along and says they've got a replacement for one of my favorite series, mario party. i love a competitive mini action boardgamelike and i've only really had pummel party as a viable option.

-pummel party//speak of the devil. great game. this is mostly just a hopeful move as i'm imagining lego party will overtake this one until the next franchise bash comes along.

+outer wilds & +nier: automata //it's downright disrespectful that i just bought these two

+reaper actual //it's got some planetside 2 devs so i just can't help but be interested.

+shadow tactics //another game that i've known for a long time that i would enjoy if i just sat down and played it. only a couple levels in but i will finish it eventually. the controls are pretty hardcore and take awhile to get used to each time i return to the game. i'm looking forward to moving on to other games in the genre like desperados 3, commandos: origins, and shadow gambit.

+return to reckoning //a warhammer online private server. a really good classic pvp mmo with some amount of regular players.

patch notes 5/27/25

 2025-05-27 |  #🌐website #🎮video games

-marvel rivals //my friends are no longer playing this, and that's the only reason i was interested

^heroes of the storm promoted to all-time favorite //by far my most played competitive game, will always love it but there would have to be some pretty big news to keep my interest at the moment

-keyforge //great card game, my hype bandwidth is just taken up by others right now: hubworld: aidalon, warlord, and sorcery

-mario party jamboree //is it finally time? i think it's time for me to give up on my nintendo dreams. i just don't have the friend group or the finances to support a full-priced suite of games on a separate system. i love the parties and the karts and the wonders, but i routinely find just as much enjoyment from indie games at a fraction of the price on a device that supports multiple ecosystems. don't get me wrong, this is purely a me thing. i'm a budget gamer and a minimalist, and modern nintendo has just never worked out with my lifestyle.

+albion online //post warborne test drought. warborne is just absolutely made for me, but i definitely have concerns, especially the queue system, balance, and pay to win. i played so much for a month during the playtest and i still want more. albion is probably just to hold me over until the next test

i was going to have a separate page for these dumb little patch notes just for fun, but then i started writing stuff about each game i added or removed and it seemed like i may as well just post it to the blog. content! i’ve got a backlog of previous changes i’m going to put here, then i’ll make new posts for them in the future. i’m still going to do a link to a list of some of my all-time favorite games that i don’t want to keep on the list all the time.