cromulent media

posted 2025-09-24

…or, in other words: I just think they’re neat!

this blog post will serve as my personal recommendations list for just about anything I can think of. mostly video games and music though.

this list will be updated whenever I feel like it.

I also am not sorting these by genre or anything, since the definitions of those constantly shift and I’m not one to really put labels on things.

vidya

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk: JSRF spiritual successor. funky music, cool tricks, and plenty of disrespecting authority figures. I also worked on a few things for a multiplayer mod for this one a few years back. it also has a sequel that was recently announced!
Labyrinth Of The Demon King: a horror-themed first-person dungeon crawler inspired by the classic King’s Field series, which, in case you don’t know, is literally Dark Souls before Dark Souls. a very punishing and lonely game.
Northern Journey: as the steam description says, “A norwegian happysad game set in a northern land”. basically the average day in Norway, complete with giant bugs and witches. the art style and sound design in this game are amazing. the gameplay veers more towards “boomer shooter”, but even if that’s not your jam, give this game a shot. the environments alone are worth it.
Easy Delivery Co.: a cozy and somewhat lonely game about making deliveries in a snowy mountain town. the story was kinda disappointing, but the gameplay makes up for it in my opinion. it’s just fun to drive around and deliver stuff.
Half-Life & Half-Life 2: I really don’t have to say anything about this one, do I? spent way too long hanging around the modding scenes around these two. they deeply influenced who I am today, shaped my tastes in video games (for better or worse) and pretty much got me into game development in the first place.
Skin Deep: an immersive sim + stealth game running on idTech 4?! yes, correct! this one comes from Blendo Games, which also made abstract bangers like Thirty Flights of Loving. a wonderfully goofy story about cats in space, time shenanigans and an evil clone. it’s also open source!
Dead Space (2008): a horror classic with delightfully loud, aggressive and crunchy sound design, incredible atmosphere, and perfected gameplay. I never really got too deep into the story, but just the vibes alone are a huge inspiration to a horror nerd like me. ~~they made RE4 but good.~~
ATLYSS: a 3D action rpg with a low-poly art style, singleplayer and multiplayer (both co-op and pvp), an absolutely banging soundtrack, fun character designs, and simple, but incredibly satisfying combat. highly recommend checking this out with a friend or two! ~~also the music makes me think of the Dreamcast. is it just me~~
F.E.A.R.: that one game everyone brings up when they talk about good enemy AI in video games. they’re not actually that good, they just yap a lot. also all the videos glazing this game’s gunplay are correct, all the particle effects and wacky ragdolls flying around in slow motion are badass.
Condemned: Criminal Origins: this might be the only game ever made to have good first-person melee combat. made by Monolith, same folks that made F.E.A.R.. a fascinating mix of horror, a detective story, paranormal shenanigans and brutal melee combat.
Crow Country: an isometric oldschool survival horror game set in a theme park. fun progression, lots of replayability, an alright story and plenty of charm.
Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series: this is a remake of the original Klonoa games. I only actually played the first one (mostly on PS1). an adorable sidescrolling platformer with wildly varied level design.
My Summer Car: a car building, tuning, breaking, fixing, breaking again, dumping into a ditch and drinking until you black out game. uh, I don’t really know how to describe this one. it makes you think it’s a car game, but in reality it’s more of a life sim. you’ll either love this game or hate it with a passion.
SIGNALIS: another isometric oldschool survival horror game, but this time with some weird time things going on. and also lesbians.
Rollcage & Rollcage Stage II: both originally PS1 games. high-speed racers in space where you can drive upside down on walls and ceilings while shooting rockets at people. also has an amazing soundtrack. the links are for slightly fixed up PC ports from one of the original developers.

music

if I tried to write a paragraph about all of these, we’d be here for a month, so I’m just gonna drop links to songs/albums/artists that I like here. also if a member of any of these bands did X bad thing Y years ago then don’t yell at me, yell at them or whatever. I just listen to tunes.