need y'all to know that this is a mechanic i hate (as anybody who has seen any LP i've ever made knows) but i'm trying so hard to meet this thing where it is and finding bits of it rewarding even as it feels frustratingly pedantic. a sensation i'm starting to uncover - which i suspect is very normal for the genre - is figuring out pieces of a solution. i'll tinker with a level and go nowhere, then have a breakthrough and solve about half of it, then run into a new problem. it feels like playing a celeste or meat boy level where you slowly learn how to play up to a point and then hit another wall. still, figuring out half a puzzle is better than having no idea at all
void stranger is famous for its strangeness and secrets and i have seen almost none of them yet. as it stands, the oddness mostly comes through in little bursts every 60 levels or so - a huge snake woman - an emaciated man begging to eat my collectibles - hints of a broader story about a petulant princess and "void lords". perhaps the most notable sense that there's more to come is all the items in the levels that i can't interact with - spider-faced idols, statues of men, things i thought were rocks but have since learned are eggs. this stuff is all here and will take on a new resonance when i come back, but for now i'm trying my sokoban best. everybody say well done jack, brave
