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And I'm talking free games, period. You find them online at armor games, kongregate, itch.io, everywhere. You find them on steam and on personal websites. Tell me what the good ones are, tell me about the ones you played in middle school, tell me about the bad ones. New, old, I don't care. Here's a sampler to get started: Sand Game: a variant on classic sand/physics simulators. This one isn't the one I remember as it lacks SNAIL, but it has ANT and BIRD as well as C-4. Uses java. Sand: another sand game, well, toy. Shush, I like these. They're weird and fun to fiddle with. Iji: Now THIS is one of the best free games you will ever play. It's a metroidvania game where you can choose to be violent or non-violent, and the story is extremely reactive as a result. You have to download it, but it's worth it. Doki Doki Literature Club: Contains Steam as DRM, but is otherwise free. A short (2 hours or less) visual novel that gets meta in a horror way. I enjoyed it a lot! DoomRL: A roguelike where you shoot demons, and easily one of the best roguelikes. A few requests: I'd prefer it if we kept to entirely free games, which rules out F2P games such as Destiny 2. I know that games like this have a lot of content, but they do eventually ask you to pony up. Stick to stuff you can complete for no cash. I'd also prefer it if we kept to games that were free from the start, so again, Destiny doesn't work as it was originally sold for money. Give me something like bunni or knytt or anything worthwhile from the free tag at jayisgames. Meant as a companion thread to the other free games thread. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Mar 7, 2020 |
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Mar 7, 2020 22:52
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There is an interesting trend among old-school free games to release a payed for steam version even with the original free on the website or even linux package managers: Even the legendary dwarf fortress announced a plan to do so. TOME https://te4.org/ A classic rougelike, with a fascinating take on consumables. Mindustry https://anuke.itch.io/mindustry A factorio/tower defense mashup, Battle for Wesnoth https://www.wesnoth.org/ one of the best known open source games, recently went fully free on steam.
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Mar 7, 2020 23:16
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Transformice is a platformer where you play as a mouse, trying to get some cheese. Also there's one mouse that can use magic and poo poo? Also available on Steam. Much better with friends. The Submachine Series was my first encounter with the point and click escape genre, over a decade ago. Dated, but still kind of fun. Yume Nikki is one of the better known free RPGs ever released. Difficult to complete without a guide. Nuglord fucked around with this message at 02:21 on Mar 8, 2020 |
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Mar 7, 2020 23:52
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Impulse : https://deck16.net/impulse One of the hardest to google games in existence. You control a strange sphere in space. But your inertia, gravity, fuel and so on change with every level making some feel like a different game. An Untitled Story : http://www.mattmakesgames.com/ A fun metroidvania, my favourite from the generation that gave us iji and knytt. The site also has Jumper which is very popular with some people.
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Mar 7, 2020 23:58
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So I got beaten to a lot of the stuff I was gonna post but: Cave Story by Pixel is an amazingly good Metroidvania, and probably one of the reasons the genre had such a resurgence on the indie scene. As well as Iji, Daniel Remar has also released a bunch of other games -- Hyper Princess Pitch is one of the best ones on that site and one I keep coming back to. Poacher, by Yahtzee, is another Metroidvania. The action is nowhere near as tight as Cave Story, but it has some pretty fun and clever moments of its own. E: Another I remember playing the hell out of is The Cleaner, which now only seems available via the Way Back machine. Whybird fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Mar 8, 2020 |
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Mar 8, 2020 00:07
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VictualSquid posted:Even the legendary dwarf fortress announced a plan to do so. In Dwarf Fortress's case, the premium version will come with actual graphics and music and audio and stuff, and the free version will stay up to date but won't have those things.
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Mar 8, 2020 00:31
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Gotta give a shoutout to Deadly Rooms Of Death, the timeless dungeon crawling puzzle game. Within a Deep Forest is another Nifflas joint, somewhat similar to Knytt except your character is a bouncy ball. And of course, Puzzle Farter, which needs no introduction.
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Mar 8, 2020 00:37
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Nuglord posted:The Subnautica Series was my first encounter with the point and click escape genre, over a decade ago. Dated, but still kind of fun. You meant SubMACHINE. Subnautica is the alien water planet explorer.
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Mar 8, 2020 00:44
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Heroine Quest is a really high quality homage to the Hero Quest/Quest for Glory games. It's an adventure/rpg hybrid game with great retro graphics.
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Mar 8, 2020 00:49
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I remembered one more while you were talking about adventure games. http://www.monochrom.at/suz-game/sektor1/index_en.htm Sovjet Unterzögersdorf is a live acted fully voiced point and click adventure games created
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Mar 8, 2020 00:55
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Guardian of Paradise is a neat Zelda-like title, Japanese, but there's a translation. It's fairly linear, with a stronger focus on puzzles than combat, and a decent length as well. The creator's page appears to be down, and I'm not sure which download links I found searching are trustworthy so not going to link to any right this moment, but it's still out there. This is the project page on Aeon Genesis, where there's some screenshots. ETA: Also, while I dig through my massive folder of RPG Maker games for ones worth suggesting, I'll just pop a good one off the top of my head here. Star Stealing Prince AngryRobotsInc fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Mar 8, 2020 |
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Mar 8, 2020 01:04
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Shameful to mention Iji but not HeroCORE. Standstill Girl is a neat little RPG by a Japanese indie dev. It's pretty straight forward, but I have a fondness for it. It's got some lovely music, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbigNqZ-mII https://www.talesofgames.com/related_game/barkley-shut-up-jam-gaiden/ Barkley Shut Up And Jam Gaiden is still unironically a very well made RPG. https://rdein.itch.io/ Though not as good as 3 and especially 4, the first two Momodoras are fun little action platformers. Cactus has some neat horror or otherwise weird games like Norrland and Mondo Medicals but I have no idea where to download them anymore. I'll add links as I find them because linking on a phone is always a pain but a few other ones that are good: Oneshot, a neat little meta adventure game (before Undertale came out and made that kinda played out). There's an extended version on Steam. Awesome music too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYQzoZ4GwSg A Very Long Rope To The Top Of The Sky, another JRPG made by Kasey Orzymy, who went on to create the also excellent but not free Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass. Does the Chrono Trigger thing where you can end the game early for different endings which I think is neat. Mogeko Castle, an RPG maker adventure horror game. It was suppsoed to get a spinoff/sequel but that's not looking likely anymore.  OFF, another RPGmaker classic. (A lot of these good free old games are rpg maker or game maker, huh?) It's gameplay is pretty basic but the strange world it's set in and seeing more of it makes it worth playing. Cuntellectual fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Mar 8, 2020 |
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Mar 8, 2020 01:33
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MekWars: https://www.mekwars.org/ This is an open source computer version of the Battetech table top game. It has been supported and updated for decades at this point.
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Mar 8, 2020 02:05
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mateo360 posted:You meant SubMACHINE. Subnautica is the alien water planet explorer. Yeah even while I was looking for the link to the game I kept typing it over and over. Corrected the other post, now to correct my brain cells.
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Mar 8, 2020 02:22
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Demon! It's Shin Megami Tensei fusion mechanics/demon-summoning in a roguelike! It's free, it's pretty, and it's fun!
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Mar 8, 2020 03:33
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You can still download .kkrieger. It's not actually good but it's neat for what it is. https://kkrieger.en.softonic.com/
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Mar 8, 2020 03:48
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VictualSquid posted:TOME https://te4.org/ A classic rougelike, with a fascinating take on consumables. This game is absolutely worth your time. I've put hundreds of hours into it.  Really loving good if you enjoy this kind of game. I prominently display an achievement for it on my steam profile.  It's all single player, but while playing you're connected to a game chat with everyone else playing. The dev who works on the game hangs out in there a lot of the time shootin' the poo poo with everyone and causes special events to happen in everyone's own game. Zesty fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Mar 8, 2020 |
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Mar 8, 2020 05:01
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Beret is a 2D puzzle platformer where the main character has telekinesis based on line-of-sight to the object. This lends itself to simple combat, tricky maneuvering, and fiendish combinations of elements that lead to puzzles to get stuck on for hours or days. There's a built-in level editor and a small but decent number of user-published levels too. Unlike a lot of other games in this somewhat crowded genre, this one has multiple save states available, so despite being in real-time it is fairly forgiving as far as execution goes. It is multi-platform, but unfortunately since the game was written in a custom C engine, it doesn't seem to run as well on modern Macs as it used to. Still runs pretty well in Wine, though. The soundtrack stands pretty well on its own too.
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Mar 8, 2020 05:20
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Leylite posted:Beret is a 2D puzzle platformer where the main character has telekinesis based on line-of-sight to the object. This lends itself to simple combat, tricky maneuvering, and fiendish combinations of elements that lead to puzzles to get stuck on for hours or days. There's a built-in level editor and a small but decent number of user-published levels too. For anyone who liked Deadly Rooms of Death, Wonderquest Dreams was a pretty great variant on it; more variety and story. You can probably still find it here, search the page for WonderQuest_Dreams_Setup_42.exe, it's the second instance where it's in small print in the left column under RabidChild. That appears to be the last surviving link, its own webpage has disappeared.
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Mar 8, 2020 06:46
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Can't go without mentioning Soldat, a 2D online multiplayer shooter with jetpacks that I put at least as many hours into with friends as counterstrike back in the 2000s. According to the website it's also apparently getting a Steam release, on March 31st.
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Mar 8, 2020 07:15
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Age of Empires Online was brought back from the dead by the guys of Project Celeste. Now you can play it online or offline with all the premium poo poo (like some premium civs) unlocked. Check it out if you like RTS.
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Mar 8, 2020 08:14
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The Ninth Layer posted:Can't go without mentioning Soldat, a 2D online multiplayer shooter with jetpacks that I put at least as many hours into with friends as counterstrike back in the 2000s. According to the website it's also apparently getting a Steam release, on March 31st. That's great news. Soldat kicked rear end.
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Mar 8, 2020 08:27
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Runman: Race Around The World is like sonic if sonic were mspaint and had a bluegrass soundtrack. The Mystery Of Time And Space is pretty much the game that made escape room games into A Thing Space Funeral is an RPGmaker game no wait where are you going this one's actually goodit's avant garde and surreal and disturbing
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Mar 8, 2020 10:32
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Whybird posted:Runman: Race Around The World is like sonic if sonic were mspaint and had a bluegrass soundtrack. Space Funeral is hysterical as gently caress and only about an hour long. It is well worth your time to play it!!
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Mar 8, 2020 10:40
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http://nethack.org The original and still great. Just got a bug fix update 2 months ago, and the next feature update is in development. There's also good phone versions, finally.
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Mar 8, 2020 10:46
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one night, hot springs - a very very short visual novel about a transgender woman in japan. It is incredibly honest and wholesome, and you should read it.
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Mar 8, 2020 14:29
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Mordja posted:You can still download .kkrieger. It's not actually good but it's neat for what it is. Gave this a shot and you're right, it's not very good...but drat if that atmosphere isn't haunting. It gives up a very...the Void kind of vibe, like you're in a place you absolutely shouldn't be. I love it!
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Mar 8, 2020 14:41
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Ikachan is a game Daisuke Amaya/Pixel (Cave Story dev) did early on. It's got a few issues here and there, but it's cute and short enough that it doesn't overstay its welcome.
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Mar 8, 2020 15:10
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This is a great thread! There was a span of time in my late teens/early 20s where I didn't have a lot of money for games, so hunting down great free indie games was my big thing. Looking forwards to seeing what people dig up here, because my dumb ape brain got tricked by Steam sales and now I have a Sisyphean backlog of cheap games constantly demanding my time over free games, so I've been missing out on some good freeware I'm sure. I think the 2020 7 Day Roguelike challenge ends today, so maybe I'll take a look at a few of those and post what I find here. Suprised nobody has mentioned the games of Locomalito yet. A single driven dev making very polished retro arcade style games and releasing them for free. All of the games on his site are wonderful, so please try at least one! Hydorah and Maldita Castilla are his games I've played the most and come highly recommended. AngryRobotsInc posted:Ikachan is a game Daisuke Amaya/Pixel (Cave Story dev) did early on. It's got a few issues here and there, but it's cute and short enough that it doesn't overstay its welcome. Daisuke Amaya's later game Guxt is also quite good and short. A peppy little jog if your'e a fan of shmups! Amorphous Abode fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Mar 8, 2020 |
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Mar 8, 2020 15:34
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While we're posting classics, I gotta post about the game that finally convinced me that AAA games are dogshit and that I should forever submit myself to the beautiful obscure. Cicada Marionette's CRYPT WORLDS. Toil in meaninglessness, ignore god, embrace a superior hellworld, piss on everything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEv5k6vk8Js I also recommend Tape Dream, or exploring the rest of her website. It's a rabbit hole I've been down many times and I'm still not sure how deep it goes. Also, there are millions of free games. Probably. They never stop! My proof of this and favorite resource is Warpdoor. It's a blog that features games. Not everything listed is always free but everything is definitely DIY indie or at least interesting or at least weird, and paid games are always linked as "Purchase on whateverplatform" for easy scrolling-past at a glance. They've been at it for years. It's updated regularly. I have never seen even one comment on a single post.
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Mar 8, 2020 16:45
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StrixNebulosa posted:Gave this a shot and you're right, it's not very good...but drat if that atmosphere isn't haunting. It gives up a very...the Void kind of vibe, like you're in a place you absolutely shouldn't be. I love it! It's also 96 kilobytes, which is my main reason for posting it. Just a cool example of demoscene,
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Mar 8, 2020 17:06
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BreakQuest is still probably the most fun Breakout/Arkanoid-style game out there, and it has a memorably great soundtrack. I wish its sequel hadn't been a PS Vita exclusive.
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Mar 8, 2020 17:11
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Anyway, here's an old, free game that's probably only really fun if you have someone sharing the keyboard. I'd be surprised if anyone knows of this one. Tremor 3, a top down deathmatch game that me and my brother only ever really against the AI. The twist is that said AI is actually a roaming, giant robot boss that can really mess you up. We actually played it again on a trip a couple years back and it was still a lot of fun. I was always sad the game was never expanded or got a sequel.
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Mar 8, 2020 17:13
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Rollersnake posted:BreakQuest is still probably the most fun Breakout/Arkanoid-style game out there, and it has a memorably great soundtrack. BreakQuest owns balls, it's up there with Shatter as a great brick breaking game with a sick soundtrack. Maniacs of Noise on the BreakQuest OST I believe, very good stuff.
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Mar 8, 2020 17:29
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Interactive fiction! That is to say, games in the vein of old-school text adventures. As a genre it has a very low bar to entry: you don't need a graphics designer or an animator or a music composer, you just need someone who can write. There's a vast library of every indie IF game at the IF Archive and it's all free. The key names that I can think of are Emily Short, Adam Cadre, Andrew Plotkin and Graham Nelson -- much of the stuff they've written is very good and very free. For more CYOA-style games, check out Choice Of Games -- they have similarly very many games, with Choice of the Dragon being my personal favourite.
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Mar 8, 2020 17:52
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Mordja posted:It's also 96 kilobytes, which is my main reason for posting it. Just a cool example of demoscene, In the same spirit, Cryptic Sea AKA Alex Austin (probably best known as the programmer of Gish) has a super unique flight simish deathmatch and strategy game called A New Zero packaged in just under 1mb. It's tremendously fun and maintained a small community for years but that's in the past, although if you can't gather a few people to play it with the bots work well enough to entertain in either game mode. Similarly, another of his games, Hockey? is a goofy hockey sim that formed a grassroots tourney scene complete with shoutcasted matches years and years ago, and it's still sort of kicking along. People are still playing it occassionally, anyway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJwF0eOoTcs&t=595s Content warning: note that these are hockey fans, along with all the baggage being a hockey fan generally entails. I haven't kept up with the scene but there was a decent amount of homophobia back in the day.
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Mar 8, 2020 18:08
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Here's some more fun and/or interesting free games for the pile: STRAWBERRY CUBES. It's kind of a trip, good luck wrapping your head around it. Khimera: Destroy All Monster Girls. A pretty good 2D beat-em-up platformer. You Have to Win the Game. A retro-looking platformer. Simple to pick up, difficult to master. Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt. Yet another retro-inspired game, short and sweet. It's also got a sequel that's worth the small price they're asking.
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Mar 8, 2020 19:11
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/248570/Toribash/ Toribash if you don't remember it is a ragdoll fighting game where players control individual muscles for a second at a time to fight while usually looking like an idiot - it still has a decent enough turnout on the servers.
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Mar 8, 2020 19:20
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Geemer posted:Here's some more fun and/or interesting free games for the pile: You weren't joking. Real Yume Nikki vibe to this one.
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Mar 8, 2020 20:40
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speaking of weird surreal experiences Space Funeral is a classic RPGmaker game from 2010; play as a perpetually sobbing child named Phillip and his companion Leg Horse as they embark on a journey to the City of Forms (as a bonus it also introduced me to some incredible music I had no business not knowing about already) developer thecatamites has a bunch of weird poo poo up for free alongside that; I learned of Goblet Grotto through a goon's entertainingly bewildered playthrough some years back e: I was just reading through to find something to play and it was already posted lol, it was super late last night when I first found the thread and I either missed/forgot about it, play it anyway and then go listen to Les Rallizes Dénudés flesh dance fucked around with this message at 04:48 on Mar 9, 2020 |
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Mar 8, 2020 23:40
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