Action RPG ambience! We’re hanging out in the bosom of a shielded start-point of a “Soulslike” game (we’re not bothering dragons, skeletons, or aggrieved town folk in this episode). So whether you're studying, working, reading, sleeping, or unwinding after a long day, this immersive ambient Soulslike soundscape provides the perfect background track. No talking, no interruptions. Ignore the world.
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What’s going on with me this week? OH—caught myself explaining COVID to some lady in a pharmacy line.
Sometimes people say things and my brain leaps in to add context. Not context for what we were talking about, just ancillary context. Like someone says “chicken,” I’m thinking plantains and gravy go great with chicken, and plantains are bananas, right?
“Did you know Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O” was a song of rebellion?”
"Huh?"
(At least my mansplaining is off-topic)
Anyway—the pharmacy line lady is like, “Do long lines for medication ever feel like we’re back in COVID?”
My mouth launched: “OK, so it’s 2020… got a cold… assumed the worst.” I described waiting in a line of cars for a pharmacy window where a pharmacist could watch me thrust an overlong Q-tip up my nose; “scratch your brain,” the person encouraged.
The line lady accepted my slew, started five words back into COVID lines, and then stopped and admitted she forgot what her initial point was. Amateur. (Granted she probably just wanted a normal human connection to sort an intrusive memory and she picked the one dude in line that might be crazy.)
Oh, what ambience are we doing this week?
OK, so it’s Summer 2026 (huzzah) as far as the temperature is concerned. The trees outside my windows are mid-season green.
And while our timelines are flush with Halloween people pushing pumpkins and witches—our eyes are instructing our brains to throw a towel over a patch of grass and lie in the sun with a Danielle Steel novel.
And so with a winking nod to Halloween sans Fall we will enter a fictionally creepy “Soulslike” mildly medieval world. Er, mildly in the sense that it’s medieval but there are also dragons, demons, and detritus.
I purchased (COUGHrented) a Soulslike game expecting challenging play—the game dropped me into desolation and epic ambient sound. Then a game-over screen less than twenty paces into whatever the hell that was.
Can I describe myself a gamer if I run it on easy and still get ****** up? Dr. Wily, the green lizard from SM2, Machine Gun Willy—all had my number. I never met Gannon. Psycho Mantis kicked my ***. No Man’s Sky had a self-fulfilling title—I could never figure out how to fix my spaceship.
And before anyone is like: “You stink at games, but that’s ok—at least we’re not being forced to read a screed about commercial news this week...”
Look—(here we go) you want to know how your ****** precious news feels about you? Pay attention to the commercials—imagine pitching an ad break to your grandmother. “Dearest Nan, may I interest you in free bets or **** pills? Also, you’re joining the Air Force.”
