Rosalia Rambles

Category: Gaming

  • Redundancy Review: Day 41, “Damn Gubbermint”

    Redundancy Review: Day 41, “Damn Gubbermint”

    (for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

    Good morning senators and representatives, welcome to Day 41 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    As your standard left-wing trans girl, I do not have a very high opinion of the UK government (what a topic to start Monday morning am I right?). This dislike comes from a wide variety of factors, some of which might be too heavy to discuss in an easy-reading blog series, but today is going to start with a micro-rant against Universal Credit.

    Universal Credit is the main benefit you can claim in the UK when unemployed or going through hardship, it was created with the intent of combining several other benefits in the UK to streamline the system with people not having to process multiple different claims for benefits.

    Having been through the system twice myself, once in 2020 after graduating university and from June 2024 onwards as part of a joint claim with my partner which then translated into me dealing with the system in regards to my redundancy…

    I cannot stand the fucking process of Universal Credit and the Jobcentre.

    Over the last year or so, my partner and I have had to deal with all manner of different crises in claiming. From degrading interviews with people who do not fully understand or care to understand our circumstances, to the system being incredibly obtuse and plagued with IT issues at every turn, this process has been exhausting.

    But it would all be worth it, right? You deal with stressful interviews and jumping through constant hoops in exchange for extra money to help with bills, right?

    Wrong.

    Over the last year, we have received a pittance due to the benefit being means-tested, meaning it reduces as income is made and is deducted based on your savings as well, punishing you for being smart with money and building a nest egg. This tapered off our UC by an insane amount due to my salary and savings at the time, with it going completely to zero once my partner got into work.

    That makes sense though, right? We were both in work, so it would make sense that it tapers off to nothing as we were both making enough – and yeah, that is right for the time we were both employed.

    But from the moment of my redundancy, Universal Credit and the Jobcentre have not helped me in the fucking slightest. Due to fuckiness with payroll being run in error by the administration company, we got nothing for the month of June, and then with my statutory payments coming through, we have received nothing for July as well.

    Again, it makes sense, payments taper off with earnings. What pisses me off here though is that I got no fucking support from the Jobcentre at all outside of two short JSA meetings, which, yes, I was able to demonstrate I was capable of searching for work on my own, I had a fully capable CV that listed all my accomplishments, and I was aware of every website you could search for a job on.

    I felt let down all the same, because I had already felt like my world had collapsed inwards with my redundancy, and the near-complete apathy I received from the system pained me even further.

    To bring… some semblance of balance to this rant, I know the people who work in the Jobcentre are quite literally doing their jobs. It is not their fault they are trying to navigate an unfair system as well, and whilst I railed against them not caring about circumstances, they have a limited number of time per case – they do not have the bandwidth to learn each one in detail.

    Which just exposes the problems in the system more. The people who are there to help others navigate through it do not have the time to know each claimant, to understand their circumstances, and to give them the right guidance they need based on who they are.

    And with my contracting role due to pay me for the next assessment period, we are still unlikely to receive anything from UC, but we are still expected to play the games and jump through the hoops.

    So, yeah, I am in a bit of a rough mood this morning due to government bullshit, and considering I have to call up HMRC to try to get my self-employment status sorted, my mood is probably not going to improve.

    God after that rant I need to talk about something cute and calming or else I am going to burst a damn blood vessel.

    I know the perfect thing!

    Cinnabunny is a cozy farming & baking game released in February 2025, so a fairly recent addition to my library all things considered. It is very easy to compare it to Stardew Valley in terms of game mechanics:

    • You grow crops
    • You use those crops to make things
    • You can sell those things or gift them to other villagers
    • You can explore caves and forests to find other collectibles

    Except the difference is that every character is a bunny in this game.

    As someone who loves bunnies as animals in general and has put in an unreasonable amount of time into playing Stardew across multiple saves, this seemed like the perfect game for me. Whilst I did have some troubles initially getting used to how the camera works in this game, I have found myself thoroughly enjoying it.

    Out of the mechanics I have explored so far, this definitely does feel like a simplified version of Stardew Valley in some areas. For example, the mining mechanic is way less in-depth than in Stardew, with you only really having two types of mineral to mine – that being regular salt and pink salt. This makes sense in the context of the game, as why would a bakery bunny need anything beyond that, but it would have been nice to get some extra depth beyond that.

    The true depth of the game comes in the baking mechanics, and by extension, the gifting mechanics. At the start of the game you are only able to make flatbread, and unlike Stardew where new machines/tools are unlocked by levelling up your skills, Cinnabunny instead prioritises learning about the other NPCs likes and dislikes to give them “loved gifts”.

    Loved gifts will unlock new recipes, bakery equipment, and upgrades to existing equipment with each unique one gifted. Learning what each bunny likes is also a more involved process than in Stardew, as you will be required to give gifts and then read the bunny’s dialogue to understand what flavours, shapes, or baked goods they love. This can then be recorded in your journal to reference at any time in your pursuit of true bunny friendship.

    Whilst I wish for more depth in some of the mechanics in this game, it is actually a refreshing change of pace to have something more relaxed compared to Stardew… which sounds weird, let me explain.

    As someone who did a Perfection save on Stardew 1.5, I know a lot about the game, perhaps too much. This leads me to know the optimal plays in most new saves, and feeling in a rush to do things properly so I can unlock even more new things to get my farm up to spec.

    But with Cinnabunny, there is a certain peace that comes from not knowing anything at all combined with the simpler mechanics. All I need to do is focus on baking things and exploring, it helps me zen a lot more than Stardew does.

    Cinnabunny is one of my games installed for my upcoming ten hour coach trip to Glasgow at the end of the week, and I very much look forward to playing it to pass the time.

    Thank you for reading this bizarre mix of anti-government ranting and chill game easy reading. I hope the Monday blues are not too harsh for you and you can get through whatever work you need to do easily.

    For more information on Cinnabunny, visit its Steam page here: Cinnabunny on Steam

  • Redundancy Review: Day 34, “Setting Back Up”

    Redundancy Review: Day 34, “Setting Back Up”

    (for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

    Good morning angels and demons, welcome to Day 34 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    This edition comes live from my desk once more, as I slowly wake myself up with coffee, ice water, and waiting for my onboarding meeting to arrive cause I can not really do much without getting set up with everything. 

    Admittedly I did not sleep well at all last night, initially going to sleep way later than I had planned because of some commotion going on outside my flat last night and having a desire to people watch whatever was going on, but even after I had settled down I ended up waking up midway through the night for seemingly no reason at all.

    The residual heat and humidity is not doing me any favours either, as I woke up completely drenched in sweat and feeling generally gross, requiring a quick douse in the shower to feel a bit fresher.

    Time will tell how things in this new role turns out for me, I feel a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty about how things will go. My main plan is to go forward for the next two months or so to take me to the convention in September, enjoy myself for a weekend among fellow nerds, and then evaluate where I want to take my life & career.

    For now, I stay in my role as a QA techie – one that I am extremely good at mind, but one I still want to try to transition away from.

    The review topic for today is going to be about one of my favourite bits of gaming kit in my possession: the Steam Deck.

    An OLED Steam Deck

    Initially released in February 2022 with a follow up OLED model in November 2023 a couple days after I received my base model, the Steam Deck is the culmination of Valve’s prior experimentation with both Steam Controllers and Steam Machines. I actually do have a soft spot for the Steam Controller, having bought one on the cheap when they were discontinued and appreciating the haptic feedback it came with.

    One of the main selling points of Steam Deck is just how compatible it is with a large portion of Steam libraries due to how SteamOS works, using the compatibility layer Proton to ensure Windows-based games are able to run on the Linux-based OS. That said, Steam Deck is also a beautiful machine for emulation of older hardware through the use of EmuDeck.

    For me, the Steam Deck is a boon for my low-energy days when all I want to do is stay in bed but I still want to play games. On days like that even dragging myself to my PC can be difficult so being able to relax with the games I love from the comfort of my bed really made them easier.

    Which brings up the question, “But Rosa!” I hear you cry, “You had a Nintendo Switch long before Steam Deck came out! Did that not achieve the same effect?”

    And in terms of the original Switch, as I have not had a chance to mess around with Switch 2 yet… it might just be I was primarily exposed to some of the poorly optimised games on the system, being Pokemon, but I often felt it hard to play my Switch on those kind of days, whereas Steam Deck not only ran a lot of games better; it also was where most of my investment was, meaning more options for me.

    Additionally on lower spec games such as Balatro, Slay the Spire, or Dorfromantik, I never encounter many issues in terms of battery life with usage only being a concern when playing more intense games such as Monster Hunter World/Rise or EDF6.

    My Deck has helped me out through several different points since I got it around two years ago, and considering I have around twenty hours of travel to Glasgow coming up soon, I know it will continue to serve me well.

    That does it for today, I am going to continue to wait to be onboarded. Thank you for reading the not so redundant Redundancy Review, I hope you can have a relaxing Monday and do not get too overwhelmed by the stress of returning to work.

    For more information on Steam Deck, visit the Steam Store page here: Steam Deck™

  • Redundancy Review: Day 30, “One Month”

    Redundancy Review: Day 30, “One Month”

    (for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning” – Rosalia’s Rambles)

    Good morning killers and survivors, welcome to Day 30 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    One month.

    One month since I got made redundant, and felt like my world had collapsed.

    One month of writing every day to document my journey through unemployment.

    One month of trying to share joy about the things I love.

    It has not been easy, to be completely honest. Whilst a love of writing comes naturally to me, keeping on this route does bring some stress and strain to me, which feels weird to say given… every previous review I have written.

    Possibly due to self-doubt, I currently find myself sitting here wondering if it is worth it to try to push towards writing professionally, especially as I return to the tech sphere on Monday. I still intend to write the Redundancy Review with no name change, but part of me wonders if I should just keep this a hobby, a passion I share with the world with no hesitation or desire for compensation.

    Make it my escape from the world of tech rather than a new career path entirely – I still want to create, I still have plenty of stories to tell, I just do not know how best to… be a writer I guess. For someone who has been writing different pieces for around nine years now (think I got started in 2016 with GeekOut), albeit with very little consistency, you would think the self-doubt would go away.

    Regardless, I am going to try to enjoy my time before I return to work. This period of unemployment has let me explore my different hobbies a lot more and make some improvements around the flat, but I am looking forward to having a regular source of income for a short amount of time.

    Should be having some social time with friends today as well, which should be fun and give me a bit of time out the house.

    Going to skip the call to action today, instead I want to ask for any encouraging words from other writers about getting past self-doubt. Wondering if I am doing good enough just by telling my story.

    Time for the review, and considering I 100%ed another game last night I think that makes it a good time to talk about it – especially considering it comes from possibly my favourite franchise of all time.

    Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is currently the latest entry in the beloved series, releasing in June 2021 for PS5 and later receiving a PC port in July 2023. For those unaware, I really like Ratchet and Clank, having almost every game collected in physical copies and having even written a full retrospective on the trilogy years back. Having skipped out on the PS5 because of being a broke ass bitch, I was excited to give the game a go.

    It did not disappoint.

    First off, this game is absolutely gorgeous. The characters are well lit, the models are extremely expressive & bouncy, and for the most part the framerate stays at a consistent 60fps even at 4K on my rig. Both Rift Apart and previous iterations of the franchise have been called “playable Pixar movies” with it not being difficult to see why, the art style really lends itself to that whimsical feeling.

    The premise of the game is the return of series favourite villain Dr Nefarious stealing a device known as the “Dimensionator” and using it to cause a dimensional cataclysm that sees our titular protagonists thrown into a new world, meeting another Lombax in the form of Rivet.

    After getting a certain way into the story, the perspective shifts between the two Lombaxes across different planets, letting Rivet become more familiar with Clank and Ratchet getting a new robot on the scene named Kit to open up and trust others a bit more.

    Despite there only being nine planets in the game, one of the smallest amounts next to Into the Nexus, there is plenty of variety across all of them. 

    Quite a few planets are revisited as part of the story with new areas being unlocked upon return, either due to actions happening in the story or, in the case of the battle arena, new sets of challenges being unlocked – good for making sure players have a reason to return, bad for me because I love the battle arenas and want to do everything in one go.

    The core of the Ratchet and Clank franchise are the weapons, with Rift Apart being no exception in producing phenomenal weapons with unique traits across all of them. Rosalia Rambles Ratchet tradition dictates I do a rule-of-three rundown on some of my favourite weapons, so that is what I am going to do.

    The Topiary/Toxiary Sprinkler is your typical enemy disabling weapon present in the franchise, giving you a chance to switch to a more powerful weapon to deal unabashed damage, In this instance, it takes the form of a sprinkler that will turn any enemies (even big massive bosses) into decorative topiaries of themselves for a short while. A silly and entertaining take on a standard weapon class.

    One of my favourite entirely new weapons is the Ricochet/Wreckochet, a weapon that fires a seeking projectile that will hit an enemy before bouncing off it, hanging in the air and allowing you to press the trigger to use the projectile to enable a follow-up attack. With fun sound effects and having uses in both crowds & against larger targets, it quickly found a place in my heart.

    Finally, we have the Blackhole Storm/Blackhole Vortex, a rapid firing gatling gun that is unlocked fairly late into the story, but is incredibly worth it once picked up. Taking some time to spin up, it will unleash a torrent of miniature black holes, raining antimatter death upon your enemies… until it overheats, after which point it needs some time to cool down.

    What is unique to note that due to this game being on PS5 originally, it does support DualSense controllers with plenty of unique vibration patterns across different weapons, and the majority of weapons having a system where half and full trigger pulls do different things.

    As shown in my achievements image, it did not take me long to 100% this game, having finished the remaining achievements only an hour or so into my New Game+ save, but I consider that time fully worth it. There were no instances of me being disappointed by any planet, the setpieces were fantastic and the combat has evolved for the modern day with features such as a dodge move and the rift tethering mechanic.

    I would like to end off my review with a tribute to Captain Qwark’s original voice actor, Jim Ward. The captain returns in this game however briefly at the start, being voiced by a new actor, with Jim Ward having retired due to a double whammy of a severe case of COVID-19 and developing Alzheimer’s Disease.

    Mr Ward, thank you for being one of the most recognisable voices of my childhood. I hope you can enjoy retirement.

    That calls it for today, thank you so much for reading the Redundancy Review. With a heatwave on the way in the UK, I am going to focus on trying to stay as cool as possible.

    Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is available on PS5 and Steam.

  • Redundancy Review: Day 24, “Crybaby”

    Redundancy Review: Day 24, “Crybaby”

    (for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: https://rosaliarambles.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/redundancy-review-day-1-a-new-beginning/)

    Good morning snoozers and sleepers, welcome to Day 24 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    Being rejected by Poncle yesterday hurt.

    A lot.

    So much so it threw me off my mojo for basically the entire day once I had got the review out of the way in the morning. I know it is okay to have days like that, especially when I am still dealing with the emotional fallout of the whole catalyst for why I am writing today.

    But it does not stop me feeling the hurt, and I am someone who feels emotions very intensely because of my estrogen treatments. I always got told by doctors in the leadup to starting that my “emotion range would open up” and “you might find it easier to cry”.

    I was not anticipating how much both of those would happen – even three years past the start I still get caught by surprise on how much I can feel and how much I can cry.

    Even before estrogen though, I have always been a bit of a crybaby, being able to cry very easily. Nowadays though it does not take much to set me off, sometimes I have even just looked at a picture of an axolotl and that is enough to make me want to cry a bit.

    That said, I do not consider my emotions or my ease of crying a weakness by any stretch of the imagination. They might be vulnerabilities for me, but I can utilise them as a strength as well, usually within my writing work. In general I hope that is the vibe that comes across with the Redundancy Review thus far, weaponising my vulnerability in the wake of disaster to try make something positive come out of it.

    And as much as I do feel doubt creeping in some days, I will always be here. Rain or shine, happy or sad, awake or asleep – I have my rhythm, and I have a job to do. 

    Promoted this website on my LinkedIn yesterday, as part of a general headline update which included a very professional way of advertising my anti-AI sentiment. On a platform dominated by AI content from GPT-speak copy to obviously incorrect images, promoting myself as a “human-focused creative” definitely makes me stand out a bit more in the opposite direction.

    If you would like a healthy dose of human-focused creativity, I would love to work on your writing projects! Do not settle for the myth of AI-generated copy being “good enough”, whilst it can convey a message it does not convey any emotion, especially when you are trying to market something. Find a human who can get excited about your product and pay them to write about it! (bonus points if I am that human)

    Speaking of getting excited about things, today’s review topic is one that has been considered long overdue by my partner, and a game I followed the development of for a long time before taking the plunge myself.

    Plus, with the big announcement yesterday that Helldivers 2 is coming to Xbox Series platforms in August, now seems like a good time to talk about it – it will be admittedly hard to cover the heights this game has reached over the last year and a half, but I will try my best.

    Helldivers 2 is a third-person shooter online cooperative shooter developed by Arrowhead Games released in 2024. The main objective of the game is to fight back against the three factions vying to destroy Super Earth:

    • The Terminid Swarm (standard sci-fi bugs)
    • The Socialist Automatons (standard sci-fi robots)
    • The Illusive Illuminate (standard sci-fi aliens)

    The main way this fight is driven forward is through the regular deployment of “Major Orders” (MO), community-wide objectives that need to be completed or fulfilled within the time given, sometimes within a couple of days or over the span of a week. Players are free to engage with the MO or they can fight whichever faction they prefer.

    I personally love the Major Order system as an example of live service done right, especially when Arrowhead have let players decide what new content they want by offering it as an incentive for doing the MO a certain way… even if it did result in it taking four MOs to unlock Anti-Tank Mines.

    The gameplay loop is fairly straightforward, dive onto a planet.

    With the coolest loading screen ever.

    After which you are presented with your objective, which can range from collecting geological samples, destroying enemy supply lines, to the most important task of them all: raising the flag of Super Earth to bring democracy to all.

    One of the most potent tools in the Helldiver arsenal are stratagems, powerful pieces of equipment that are activated by inputting the correct arrow code. These include but are not limited to:

    • Orbital barrages
    • Vehicles and mech suits
    • Jet fighters carrying ordnance 
    • Defensive turrets and sentries

    After completing your objective, it is time to go to the extraction point, with it taking some time for the shuttle to reach you – this is where shit will really hit the fan, especially on harder difficulties.

    Enemies will lay siege to your extraction with relentless fury, calling in more reinforcements as time goes on, making you rely on all the stratagems at your disposal to get you out of there alive. These moments are where a lot of Helldivers get their most intense stories, and it is no surprise to see why.

    Upon returning to your ship, you get your experience points and any currency collected which can be used to unlock new stratagems, upgrade your ship to access potent passive buffs, or spend on the “Warbond” system, a set of premium, non-expiring, battlepass-style collections of equipment and customisation options.

    That said, Helldivers 2 does not mandate the spending of additional money on top of the price of access. The premium currency of Super Credits is able to be earned entirely in game through missions, so whilst it will be a bit grindy premium content is accessible without spending more money.

    Additionally, upon reaching Level 10, you gain access to weapon customisation. A recently added feature as part of the game’s massive “Heart of Democracy” update that allows players to change how their favourite weapon handles via changing the scope, muzzle, or even the magazine size.

    Whilst this is a very cool feature, there is one major issue currently in-game at time of writing: when going to customise your weapon’s pattern, it is entirely possible for the game to crash to desktop, which leads into one of my main criticisms of Helldivers 2 – it is a technical debt nightmare sometimes.

    For context, the game is built on Autodesk Stingray, an engine that had support discontinued for it in 2018. This means that Helldivers 2 is working on very outdated tech, which can lead to a lot of bugs, crashes, and performance issues depending on your hardware. Quite often bugs that have been quashed in previous updates will reappear at random, sometimes with disastrous consequences.

    It can be a reason not to buy the game, but personally coming from a QA background I recognise how hard it must be to keep a game of this scale working on a regular basis, so whilst I criticise, I can not in good conscious condemn the team knowing full well the patches I have suffered through.

    And with everything the game has accomplished with real, permanent changes to its world as part of the ongoing storyline, I am more than happy to accept some game-breaking bugs along the way.

    I said I wanted to talk about something that excites me, and nearly two whole pages of content before adding in images is definitely that. Thank you for reading today. I hope you can have a relaxing weekend wherever you are. Take it easy, it has been a long week for some and you deserve some time to unplug.

    Helldivers 2 is currently available on PS5 and Steam, with it coming to Xbox Series platforms August 26th.

  • Redundancy Review: Day 22, “Upgrades, people! Upgrades!”

    Redundancy Review: Day 22, “Upgrades, people! Upgrades!”

    (for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: https://rosaliarambles.com/2025/06/11/redundancy-review-day-1-a-new-beginning/)

    Good morning leviathans and wyverns, welcome to Day 22 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    I have my own domain now!

    No longer carrying the “.wordpress” part, I have a simple .com domain that will look a lot more professional on my CV and be a lot easier to say to people who might want to look up my work.

    It is part of a greater upgrade plan I am looking at to take my work to the next level, with the next steps including getting a professional logo for the site and looking at upgrading my phone to make any photography I need to do look even better…

    …and considering I smashed the screen up a while back along with the battery being on its way out, it makes practical sense as well.

    This is being enabled by the fact I have got almost all of the money I am entitled to out of my redundancy, the only thing I am missing now is my lack of notice pay which I hope to resolve today after my Jobcentre meeting.

    Which, yeah, is not something I am looking forward to today. I have a very dim outlook on the unemployment system in the UK, seeing it as a necessary evil for myself currently but having little to no optimism in how they can help me beyond monetary assistance.

    I will be receptive to their input and if they can find me a holdover job that holds some relevance to my areas of interest I will be thankful, but having been through the system once before and having those close to me go through it multiple times my confidence in what they can do for me is low.

    To be frank, there is a little bit of arrogance in my outlook. The Jobcentre is primarily focused on getting those who have been out of work for a while into a job with a secondary focus on helping people acquire basic skills that they might have missed out on due to life circumstances – right now I fall into neither category.

    I have a plan in mind, I know what steps I need to take, and I really do not need a digital skills course that teaches me how to open Microsoft Word when I have been working at the apex of a heavily specialised technological industry for the last three years.

    A little bit of frustration this morning, but getting it out every so often feels good.

    In honour of the Jobcentre meeting though, I am going to do a variation on my call to action today. Whilst I am looking to start getting into paid writing work, it is more of a desire to pivot than where my career specialty actually lies. So what have I done every day since 2021?

    I break things.

    For the last four years, I have been working as a Quality Assurance Engineer/Analyst/Specialist, whatever you want to call me the core foundation of my career has been the ability to find bugs in all sorts of software projects – I am even credited on two EA Sports games (F1 2021 and F1 22).

    Finding bugs is not just a career for me, it is a way of life. Even when playing games on my own time I am able to find bugs as easy as I breathe, my brain switching into QA mode once I do and seeing if I can replicate it.

    I am good at what I do, and I know it. Any software project I get my hands on will be tested thoroughly with a can-do attitude and a tenacity to see it through right to the end.

    With that done, it is time to review something from a game today, but considering it is a very recent addition, I will put a spoiler warning.

    If you have not played Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 2 content, please click away now. If you do click away now, thank you for reading today and I hope you have a great day!

    With that done, I can get into it, and I am excited because I love Monster Hunter.

    I really like Monster Hunter.

    I really like Monster Hunter.

    From being a complete newbie to the franchise back in 2022 to becoming way too obsessed today, Monster Hunter has wormed its way into my heart for its combat system, ecology design, and “fashion hunting”, the term for making layered armour sets out of different monster parts.

    And with Wilds Title Update 2, a fan favourite monster finally returns to the franchise properly.

    Lagiacrus was first introduced in Monster Hunter Tri as the flagship monster, releasing in 2009, with their inclusion in Wilds being their first representation in almost a decade, leading to many experienced fans being excited for their return.

    For me though, I had no prior attachment to Lagiacrus but I was still excited to fight them for the first time, especially with the inclusion of a form of underwater combat as part of their fight mechanics.

    Screenshot taken from the Title Update Trailer – I had taken footage but it seems to have corrupted

    Underwater combat was a headline mechanic back in Monster Hunter Tri, being essential to Lagiacrus’s fight back in that game. Whilst the dev team for Wilds did not fully include a full combat system underwater, they did incorporate it into this new iteration.

    After Lagiacrus retreats to its nest, it will dive underwater, giving hunters the opportunity to follow. During this fight you will need to use slinger ammo and collapsible underwater structures to stagger Lagiacrus to open a window to attack with your weapons, finalising with a cinematic finishing move once enough damage is done.

    The introduction mission to Lagiacrus was extremely fun, not only serving to teach these mechanics to players, but also elaborating on one of the other characters in the Forbidden Lands with very thoughtful writing.

    However, that is only one half of Lagiacrus being introduced, as after completing that mission they are now able to spawn in the world regularly, including being able to appear as a “Tempered” variant with stronger attacks and more health.

    Tempered Lagiacrus is fucking terrifying.

    Myself and my partner only fought a three-star version, supposedly on the weaker end of the scale.

    It took us twenty minutes of consistent attacks and effort – longer than some base game tempered monsters, which included my partner fainting twice from the relentless onslaught of attacks.

    Which, y’know, people had been asking for more challenge in the game.

    And to get a non-spoilery thumbnail for the article, have one of my favourite fashion hunter sets from Wilds.

    That does it for today, and that is possibly the most recent topic I have reviewed yet. Thank you for reading all the way if you did, I hope you have a relaxing day whatever you do.

    Monster Hunter Wilds is available on Xbox Series, PS5, and PC.

  • Redundancy Review: Day 16, “Blaze of Glory”

    Redundancy Review: Day 16, “Blaze of Glory”

    (for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: https://rosaliarambles.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/redundancy-review-day-1-a-new-beginning/)

    Good morning robots and androids, welcome to Day 16 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    I am extremely tired this morning, primarily because of guest-starring in a friend’s D&D game last night. He had included a former character of mine as backup for the party and initially wanted me to weigh in on what they had been up to in the proceeding time.

    Discussions took form, eventually leading to me inquiring if he would be okay with me dropping in to reprise my role. I had retired from doing evening D&D games a long time ago, wanting to spend more time with my partner who I was long distance with at the time and just not having the social energy to keep a game going into the late hours of the night.

    Was reprising the character fun? Extremely.

    Blaze is my main character who is not like me in some way, shape, or form. They are an unhinged bucket of bolts whose main motive in helping the party was to take advantage of the situation to incite a war between two factions in this world, and why?

    “It’d be really funny to see!”

    Especially given the events going on in my life right now, playing a character who is completely off the wall insane was a lot of fun, more so when it came to improvising his motives and talking about collateral.

    Am I still not capable of evening D&D games? Oh yes.

    I have started writing this review later than I usually do because of how long it took me to even begin shaking the sleep off to get my laptop out and start writing – even on nights where I have gamed longer than I intended to I do not wake up like this, and it is definitely a social energy problem on my side.

    One I am not… entirely hankering to fix, if just because “unable to socialise long past 9pm” is not really a priority issue for myself right now.

    What is priority is the fact I have now received my unpaid wages for my time at my old company after shit hit the fan, which means today will be spent budgeting on various different topics, including:

    • What to contribute to the bills account to keep myself afloat for a while
    • Investing in some things around the flat to make summer easier and bring the place more to completion
    • Putting money into savings to help pay for VExpo (vtuber convention) later this year
    • Potentially going to a restaurant and having an actual date night out with my partner

    I am still due money as well, in the form of statutory redundancy payments and whatever I can get from my lack of notice pay, but what I have got has gone a decent way to making me whole again – especially as the job search has hit a demoralising point.

    Returning to full time work is somehow existing as a superposition in my mind right now. I am craving the return to routine enforced by someone else, but also enjoying the recovery that comes from not being in that situation anymore. Whilst the lack of a routine is definitely affecting me, there is also a certain amount of peace I am feeling from existing in my own rhythm once more.

    Would I appreciate being back in full time work? Yes, especially as it gives me the resources to pursue the lifestyle I enjoy, but am I also considering what other paths might exist for me? Definitely.

    If you would like to consider helping me explore one of these paths, please get in touch about hiring me for your projects. The life of a freelancer might not be one I have had a taste of yet, but the idea of jumping from client to client, project to project has an odd appeal to me right now. I would love to work for whoever is reading this!

    So, one of the things I did after getting the news of my redundancy was start a game I had in my Steam library for the longest time after getting it in a Humble Choice bundle.

    Yeah… I have been playing it a bit too much lately, but I did finish the story yesterday so I feel I can convey some thoughts at least, at least in a somewhat short form.

    The core gameplay loop of Death Stranding is delivering packages. Playing as Sam Porter Bridges (portrayed by Norman Reedus), you go all throughout a post-apocalyptic America to deliver all sorts of goods to a colourful cast of characters. 

    Several hazards present themselves during these journeys, in the form of supernatural “Beached Things” (BTs), MULE and terrorist encampments looking to take your cargo or life respectively, and the ever-present threat of “Timefall” – rain that induces accelerating aging upon whatever it touches, which includes corroding your cargo’s protective containers.

    You do not have to do your job entirely on the ground though, as the game provides several tools for making your life easier. Various structures can be constructed, ranging from humble ladders that can help you traverse rock and river, to giving you the ability to make a zip-line network later in the game, allowing you to complete deliveries door-to-door without encountering any threats whatsoever.

    Your hands are not the only ones that can build structures though, as the unique selling point of Death Stranding is the integrated online aspect of the game. Whilst it is a singleplayer game and can be played offline; the game becomes significantly more populated when playing online, as the structures that others have built can appear in your world, helping you out when you might need it most.

    Hideo Kojima is both the game director and sole writer of Death Stranding, the latter of which I was extremely excited for going into the game. Metal Gear Solid is one of my favourite video game series for its impactful writing, so I was excited to see what Kojima could cook up when fully in control.

    The core theme of the game is “connection”, going through a broken continent to connect cities, distribution centres, and shelters into the “chiral network”, hoping to make a new America in the form of the United Cities of America (UCA). Every character you meet is extremely well written, with frequent twists and turns in what you learn about them, never leaving you bored in terms of story content.

    That said, I definitely did have some issues with the pacing of the story, and not just because I am a glutton for side content in this game. Specifically from the end of Episode 8 onwards, the game accelerates in such a way that completely shifts the gameplay loop out of sync with what you were doing before.

    Whilst it is still possible to do deliveries, and there are one or two required story deliveries still, the game shifts focus into action-mode, with greater dangers appearing as you head back east to the starting zone. These make it difficult to do “standard orders”, which are the bulk of the game’s side content, as the routes become fraught with danger and the Timefall is near constant.

    Despite the pacing being an issue, I actually have no issues with the actual story content of the last act of the game. Almost all narrative threads have a payoff, even ones set up as far back as the game’s prologue will yield results, and those that do not are still satisfying enough that you are left wanting more in a good way. Even with the rapid pace of episodes in the endgame, there were still plenty of moments that left me shouting “WHAT?!” at my TV.

    My playtime to go through the game landed me at just over 69 hours (nice). This included doing lots of side content between episodes but every minute of playtime was worth it for me – I recommend playing Death Stranding without hesitation. For people who enjoy great stories, and for those who just want a game to enter zen mode with, there is something for everyone.

    I am not done talking about the game either, as there are several things I still want to write about it, but hopefully this short review gives enough information on the game to make you consider purchasing it.

    Thank you for reading today, writing these Redundancy Reviews honestly keeps me going in a way that is extremely beneficial to my psyche, and with the small audience I am cultivating right now, I am very happy with the direction of my website.

    Death Stranding Director’s Cut is available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series, and Steam, with the Steam store page here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1850570/DEATH_STRANDING_DIRECTORS_CUT/ 

  • Redundancy Review: Day 10, “Running Up That Hill”

    (for context on what this series is, please see my Day 1 post here: https://rosaliarambles.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/redundancy-review-day-1-a-new-beginning/) 

    Good morning climbers and divers, welcome to Day 10 of Rosalia Rambles Redundancy Review.

    Might be a shorter one today as I have just come back from shopping at Asda to get supplies before a massive heatwave today and tomorrow. Plenty of drinks, snacks, and ice cream to get through a rough time – did involve walking up a very steep hill in quite humid weather all the same.

    Despite the heat though, I have been managing to keep busy domestically. It was a tough struggle but yesterday I managed to finally give the master bedroom a deep clean, picking up the floordrobe that had developed and giving the carpet a well deserved vacuuming. Being able to see the floor again and not have to walk around on eggshells is such a relieving feeling.

    I reconnected with an old friend yesterday as well. In the past we had helped each other get the multiplayer achievements on Borderlands 2 and he messaged me a few days back asking if I wanted help getting the ones on the original game as well (not the “Enhanced Edition” – quotation marks used quite literally there). He is in a similar situation to myself in terms of jobs so it was nice to shoot the shit for a bit about life.

    The job search continues, albeit very slowly right now. Got an official rejection from Jagex for the producer role I had applied for, which whilst it sucks to be rejected, I do appreciate them sending a proper rejection email. It says something that actually receiving one is a rare courtesy these days.

    Still waiting to hear back from Poncle, which is definitely the main cause of my waiting room syndrome right now. I think getting an answer one way or another from them would help me move on to applying at a great speed. 

    If you want to help me out in the interim, I am available for writing work as always. Doing these redundancy reviews have really helped me out in staying in the routine and always thinking how to improve my own work, being able to tell my story no matter what also helps. I have always liked to think of myself as a storyteller above all else and maintaining a public journal of sorts helps me feel like I am making myself a better one.

    So, initially I was going to cop out today and review one of my favourite Magic: the Gathering cards for today, but me emphasising the quotation marks on the Borderlands “Enhanced Edition” makes me want to cover that, especially with playing the original yesterday.

    Borderlands is a first-person looter shooter initially released in 2009, with the Enhanced Edition coming out in…

    …well that does not link up. Wikipedia is telling me the Enhanced Edition released in 2019 whilst the Steam Store page is saying 2023… 

    Oh well, moving on.

    For my thoughts on Borderlands across both versions, I can summarise it simply as “very successful tech demo”. Borderlands was the first game to bring the looter shooter genre into the public spotlight, previous attempts had been made but this game made it mainstream. That said, outside of the loot system I do not think the original has much going for it in today’s market.

    Especially when compared against the vastly superior Borderlands 2 released in 2012, which I personally think is where the franchise peaked and has been struggling to live up to it ever since, but that is a different story.

    The driving mechanics are passable, but feels more like a way to get from point A to point B quicker than anything else – especially prevalent in the third DLC which puts a heavy emphasis on needing to drive everywhere. 

    Whilst there are some funny moments with characters in the base game a lot of the humour is told in flavour text rather than character dialogue. This is rectified in the DLC, where the comedy and writing style of the sequel starts to take shape with each passing addition.

    In terms of thoughts on the Enhanced Edition… I do not want to be kind to it. The graphical improvements and expansion of graphical options is a very needed addition, as the original game does not have VSync or a Field-Of-View slider – noticeable omissions especially when playing that version at 4K

    But outside of that I have encountered a lot of issues in my playtime, including numerous crashes and issues with the minimap being retroactively added into the game. Its inclusion does help with navigating the world better compared to the pure compass system of the original, but in multiplayer I have seen several issues with waypoints not working for me as the joining player.

    Borderlands 1 Title Screen
    Borderlands 1 in Fyrestone
    Borderlands Enhanced Title Screen
    Borderlands Enhanced Outside Fyrestone

    When looking at texture quality as well, I think the visuals of the original look better. Both games have the cel-shaded look but the original has sharper lines, a more defined style, one that especially shines considering the era of brown modern military shooters it came out in. The lighting in the enhanced edition is better on a technical standpoint, but I feel it loses some of the edge the original had.

    I will end on a positive note, and highlight one thing that always brings a smile to my face whenever I have revisited the original: Mordecai.

    Mordecai is the “Hunter” class of the game, with skill trees focusing on his pet Bloodwing, the usage of pistols, and my preferred tree of choice: Sniping. Whilst the trees are much smaller compared to later entries; Mordecai’s sniping tree is beautifully simple in its execution, boosting damage, ammo capacity, and ending off on a capstone of bypassing shields once fully levelled up.

    Trespass is a hilariously broken skill in this game, especially considering the endgame Eridian Guardian enemies are all shields and no health. What is supposed to be a tough enemy to break through their defenses while they bombard you with attacks becomes trivial fodder that dies to a single headshot, only rarely needing a follow up shot to finish the job.

    Playing as Mordy was so fun that my initial playthrough of Borderlands 2 was done using Zer0 and trying to do a similar thing, but he could just not reach the expectations I had – though this was not a bad thing, as I then switched to Salvador who is stupid amounts of fun to play as.

    But rambling about the sequel needs to be another day, especially as I uh…

    …liked that game a lot more.

    That does it for today, what I initially thought was going to be a shorter review turned into an over three page rant. Thank you for reading if you made it this far, please stay cool wherever you are and remember to hydrate regularly throughout the day.

    To purchase both Borderlands and Borderlands Enhanced, visit the Steam Store here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/729040/Borderlands_Game_of_the_Year_Enhanced/ 

  • Redundancy Review: Day 1, “A New Beginning”

    As of yesterday, 10th June 2025, I am redundant.

    Well, that is a question I have been asking myself for a fair few days after getting the initial news that the company I worked at was in trouble. Even if I saw it coming to some degree it was still a shocking thing to process, but weirdly enough now that I know the outcome I am… relaxed in a way?

    Obviously there is a tonne of stress still to come, from finding a new job to managing finances during this time, though the former is partially why I am writing this.

    One of the things I knew I needed after the axe dropped was a sense of routine, something to keep me getting up in the morning and not just rotting in bed as I would be so inclined to instead.

    That gave birth to this idea: “The Redundancy Review”…

    …I really do like alliteration with R words huh. Anyway, back on track.

    This blog of mine has been dormant for a while, partially because I was busy advancing my primary career of working in production and directing all of my writing energy towards proposals, scripts, and all other sorts of professional copy. Now it is time for me to make a comeback!

    I still have aspirations of being able to work as a copywriter in any industry, so I will be using this blog to build up a new portfolio of work alongside my job search. 

    The Redundancy Review will be a daily article series, written each morning as I eat breakfast and drink a delicious mocha, with the following structure:

    • A brief emotional check-in, talking about how I feel in regards to my situation and any stumbles I have encounter
    • Job search update, any fun roles I have applied for or any opportunities I think are cool
    • Finally, the real “review” part of the article, where I talk about something I enjoy at varying lengths

    I will also be including a call to action in each article, emphasising that I am available for all sorts of work. If you like what you are reading and want to inform me of an opportunity or offer me paid writing work, I would absolutely love to hear from you.

    With the introduction to the series out of the way, let me inaugurate it with the first Redundant Review of something I have been loving to play recently…

    Oh yeah, we are starting strong with this one.

    Beat Saber is a Virtual Reality (VR) rhythm game developed by Beat Games and released in 2019 for Playstation VR and PCVR platforms, and standalone mode for Meta Quest platforms.

    The main objective of the game is to smash blocks with various directional arrows (or dots for hitting them in any direction) in time with a song whilst walls and bombs fly by you, needing to keep your head and sabers away from them respectively.

    I got into it recently as a way of exercising within my home in a way that is more mentally stimulating to me – and it is certainly a workout. 

    Your centre of gravity gets time in by needing to lean your body side-to-side to avoid any walls, whilst your knees get their activity by needing to duck under the same obstacle. Specifically in my case as well, once I really get into a song I can feel my hips swaying and my feet bouncing, dancing along with my lower body whilst my upper body is twisting and turning to hit the blocks.

    My reaction time has also definitely improved from when I started out. Initially I would struggle to keep a good combo going on some “Normal” difficulty songs, even failing a handful of the custom levels I had installed – but now I am able to competently clear a good majority of “Hard” songs and even pushing myself towards “Expert” for some.

    As mentioned above, Beat Saber supports custom levels. These maps are designed by community members and uploaded on various sites, with my site of choice being BeatSaver – Home. My choice primarily includes original songs by Hololive talents and the RWBY OST, with a few mainstream songs in there as well.

    That said, custom levels are not needed to enjoy Beat Saber. Built into the base game is a wide array of original songs, including an entry by legendary power metal band Dragonforce, “Power of the Saber Blade”, one of my personal favourites to play due to its high-intensity note patterns and upbeat energy of the song.

    And even beyond what is already available, as of time of writing, there are 245 DLC songs across a massive range of artists and genres, including:

    • A full Linkin Park pack
    • A full Imagine Dragons pack
    • A full Lady Gaga pack
    • Various iconic internet culture songs, such as Sandstorm by Darude, and Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd

    There is something for everyone in Beat Saber, and with how easy it is to add custom levels on PC I can guarantee if my review has made you interested, something will be out there for you.

    Well, that’s Day 1 of the Redundancy Review in the bag. I hope you have enjoyed reading this today, and whatever you get up to today, I hope you have a good day. You definitely deserve it.

    You can purchase Beat Saber from the following locations:

    Steam: Beat Saber on Steam

    Playstation: Beat Saber – PS VR & PS VR2 Games | PlayStation (UK)

    Meta Quest: Beat Saber on Meta Quest | Quest VR games | Meta Store

  • Generic Year End Ramble Title

    This is for the record…

    …partially because I don’t really post my work to Twitter anymore for a variety of different reasons, including but not limited to:

    • Melon Husk turning it into a hellsite
    • Wanting other voices to shine on Twitter given the current climate
    • And I don’t honestly post enough currently to make a deal of posting new stories there

    So, what’s this for? Well, a year end ramble has become a tradition, and unlike stories which take a fair amount of energy, this is just me vomiting what is on my mind into the WordPress reader as a summary of my year, which has been… full.

    A lot of what I normally write about has changed and shifted around due to developments in my personal life, and whilst a lot of the trauma themes can remain (and let’s face it, trans allegory will always find its way into my writing regardless of what I do), I don’t want to make them the focus of my work anymore.

    Outside of that, I’ve just been fully experiencing transitioning whilst keeping up a healthy social life where possible, which has made writing difficult to discipline myself into when a lot of the time I want to enjoy myself with people creating stories that way rather than writing what’s in my head.

    Not to say I don’t have a lot of the usual WIPs and ideas kicking about on my G-Drive, but a lot of what I want to write are somewhat sweeping epic stories that rival some of my higher word counts which take more effort to finish, about four times as much effort to editing cause goddamnit I hate editing my own work sometimes, and when I go for long periods I end up just blanking out on where to go next.

    The WIPs at least have “Rosa Notes” now, which is my way of telling Future Rosa where the story is prompted next… yeah that probably explains a lot about my chaotic creative process that for the longest time I did not actually plan or write notes, I mainly let the spirit of writing possess me and go from there.

    A friend of mine did say that my writing style would lend itself to some completely original work, rather than being based off my current D&D characters, so that might be an area for exploration next year – or perhaps even revisiting my style of non-fiction writing for different topics.

    Or I could still struggle to write regularly and have a similar vibe to the end of next year’s ramble.

    Oh well, we raise a toast to my writing career nonetheless! To the fact you haven’t needed to support me yet because my current tech career is stable!

  • 5e Feats for Versatility

    Feats are one of my personal favourite mechanics in Dungeons and Dragons. Whilst the humble Ability Score Improvement is the most practical way to enhance a character, they can often feel boring in comparison to the diverse character building opportunities that feats bring. This is especially true when considering how versatile a feat can be when applied to different character concepts, with some of my favourite versatile feats being described below.

    Skill Expert/Practiced Expert

    Recently added in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Skill Expert can be an option for those who wish to improve their proficiencies without wanting to commit to the three skills/tools offered by the Skilled feat.

    Skill Expert allows a one point increase in any stat, which gives players greater choice over which modifier they may want to upgrade with this feat. They can also gain proficiency in one skill of their choice, which does not have to be specific to the ability score they increased, giving more flexibility over a feat like Resilient.

    Finally, the feat allows players to gain expertise (double proficiency bonus) in one skill with which they are already proficient and not already receiving the benefit of expertise, which can be a massive boon in many ways. Those wishing to grapple more in combat can gain a huge advantage by gaining expertise in their Athletics checks, the front of the marching order will always know what is going on with expertise in Perception, or that one player who finds themselves needing to lie the most can protect their sorry behind with expertise in Deception.

    A note about the Unearted Arcana feat “Practiced Expert”. It is essentially the same as Skill Expert but instead of being restricted to just skills, you can also choose tools to gain proficiency/expertise in. This does offer more flexibility, but can be quite campaign/character specific depending on what kind of artisans tools characters may be used. And as always with UA, ask your DM first if it is okay to use it.

    Resilient

    Mentioned previously, Resilient is a very straightforward feat. You pick an ability score to increase by one, and you subsequently gain proficiency in that score’s saving throw.

    The limitation of the proficiency being tied to the ability score increase does reduce some of the potential versatility in this feat, gaining proficiency in a saving throw is not to be underestimated. 

    Casters can have the safety net of improved Constitution saving throws when it comes to rolls made to maintain concentration, frontline characters can strengthen their mental defenses by becoming proficient in Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma saving throws.

    And of course, the Wizard who is somehow spending a worrying amount of time needing to roll Dexterity saving throws in regard to avoiding their own Fireballs can reduce the amount of damage they take (but not reduce the amount of exasperated sighs from around the table).

    Magic Initiate

    One of my personal favourite feats and the entire reason I got inspired to write this article. Magic Initiate offers a multitude of ways to upgrade any character due to the lack of prerequisite required, no need to already be a caster or to have a minimum casting stat of the class you wish to steal from.

    The 1st-level spell is pretty good though the restriction of only being able to cast it once per long rest does reduce some of the potential in this feat. However that does not mean that thought should not go into which spell is chosen:

    • Shield of Faith can be a great opening move to a combat or an emergency buff, with the concentration aspect being negligible due to the increased difficulty in getting hit
    • Magic Missile is good damage in a pinch, either to get a guaranteed kill or to disrupt an enemy’s concentration 
    • Faerie Fire provides a great deal of utility in combat, making any creatures easier to hit with other attacks and giving Rogues more flexibility in how their Sneak Attack is used

    Cantrips however are where this feat excels in my opinion. Choosing from the Wizard spell list can give Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters a wider range of cantrips to work from in either offensive or utility contexts, the Ranger can choose from Druid or Cleric cantrip lists without needing to sacrifice their fighting style slot to Druidic Warrior, and most importantly, the Paladin can choose from Sorcerer spell lists to gain access to ranged attacks which are not repeatedly throwing weapons in the hope of hitting something.

    Or if you are really feeling adventurous, choose this feat on a Paladin and pick from the Bard spell list. Why? Because using Vicious Mockery and shouting “DEUS VULT” at someone so hard their brain hurts is a wonderful sight.

    Conclusion

    Feats are awesome, and all of the listed feats above can bring additional interest and development to any D&D character. As always ask your DM if feats are allowed in your game and do not worry if feats do not feel right for you, as mentioned Ability Score Improvements are usually more practical for character progression, but next time you want to do a +1/+1 increase to two stats, go through a list of feats and see if you are willing to sacrifice that second increase for something potentially awesome.