Stoic Club

Fresh Start

I enjoyed using the simple shell scripts that I made to generate Stoic Club’s many blog posts up until now (from 2024 to 2025 to be precise). I’d like to try something different for 2026. I went with the static site generator Blag. The default theme should (in theory) be dark or light depending on your system preferences.

I made some minor tweaks here and there to better suit my preferences, most notably:

My personal shell scripts were fine when making the initial posts. Unfortunately, the scripts weren’t built with future changes in mind. An entirely new script would be required that could adjust previously made posts to re-build the site. I didn’t really have the motivation to do so.

Hoping that with this new workflow, putting together blog posts will be simpler and enable me to, dare I say it, post more.

I’ve been playing Vividlope, Zexion, and Disillusion ST lately. All three are well-made indie games.

Vividlope looks like a game that could’ve been launched with the Sega Dreamcast. It’s an arcade-style game in which players move about, changing the colour of tiles on each stage. Changing all the tiles to the objective colour ends the stage. It’s pretty polished. Although simple, there’s enough variety in the stages that it stays fresh throughout. There are two difficulty options, an “endless” mode, and even a level editor. The level editor is provided “as-is”, with the developer caution that it may not be stable.

The developer has nailed the aesthetic of a game from the early 2000s. I simply had to support such a commitment to style.

Zexion is a Metroid-style game. It captures the fun of exploring a large, interconnected space. It is quite difficult, relying on quick reflexes and precision jumping. While I would prefer the game to be a little easier by default, the game has a plethora of accessibility options that allow players to fine-tune the difficulty to one’s taste. After dying ten times or more on a particularly challenging area, I was happy to be able to adjust the damage-received modifier to give myself a chance to reach the next save point.

After playing Zexion for more than six hours, I have noticed that I’ve improved at controlling the protagonist. The game encourages players to use a twin-stick control scheme. The kind of movement the game wants players to do takes time and practice to get used to. It’s great to see a game find ways to iterate on established conventions. Zexion wears its Metroid inspiration on its sleeve, yet still finds ways to stand out on its own.

Although I have yet to beat Zexion, I’m curious to check out the included randomizer. I assume it randomizes the location of progression items, similar to popular mods available for Super Metroid.

Disillusion ST is a dungeon crawler comparable to LSD Dream Emulator. I dig the art style and vibe. I tried it with combat enabled for my first playthrough just to see if I would enjoy it. Unfortunately, I don’t think the fighting mechanics are all that great. Maybe that’s why the default setting eschews combat entirely? Fighting is slow, tedious, and doesn’t offer any rewards. Actually, after writing the preceding, it seems obvious that such a fighting system ties into the game’s themes. I’m not far into the game yet, but I get the impression that it’s commenting on death, spirituality, and the possibility of an afterlife.

Some of the creatures encountered remind me of the designs found in Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou from 1994. Definitely happy to see a game take inspiration from such a bizarre title. Considering the themes mentioned above, it comes as no surprise that Disillusion ST would pay homage to Eastern Mind in more ways than one.

Out of all three of these titles, Vividlope is probably the easiest one to recommend to most people. That is not to comment on the quality on the other two games. You’re either going to be intrigued by what they’re going for or not.

Here’s to discovering and playing more cool indie titles into the new year.