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Emmett Watkins Jr
@ejsponge61.com
3.2K followers 2.3K following 6.7K posts
Writer @vgutv.bsky.social, Player's Club Podcast Host, ⅓ of Welcome To The Thing (w/ @tlfoster.bsky.social & @jarrettjawn.bsky.social), Kinda Funny Prom Prince, 100% Negus He/Him [email protected] emmettw.me
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ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 9d
For the 4th year, and 2nd on Bluesky, it's time once again for...

🎃THE TRICK OR TREAT GAME CODE GIVEAWAY!🎃

All October, I (and @vgutv.bsky.social!) will be giving away Steam game codes in the replies to this skeet. Some will be tricks, some will be treats!

Watch the video below to see how to win!
19 13 36
Reposted by Emmett Watkins Jr
granddad.bsky.social
nobody @granddad.bsky.social · 17h
11 690 1.5K
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 43m
My curent gaming directive for the rest of the year is playing 2025 games exclusively so that my top 10 list doesn't include any game that I either didn't beat or that I only included in the 10th slot because I beat it but actually I don't enjoy the game.

With that in mind...i got work to do.
An Infinite Backlog list of every 2025 game I've played, ranked. Here's the the ranking: 1) Ninja Gaiden Black 2) and Roger 3) Jump the Track 4) Metal Garden 5) South of Midnight 6) Star Overdrive 7) A Game About Digging A Hole 8) Nubby's Number Factory 9) Suit for Hire 10) Zombots Invasion 11) FBC Firebreak 12) Captain Blood
1 2
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1h
PATCH QUEST K8YR4-?????-TT9IE If you have a very powerful PC and can run a game with all of its visual and performance enhancements on, then you have ????? out your settings.
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1h
Metal Garden (2025)
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1h
My ★★★★½ review of Metal Garden on @infinitebacklog.net infinitebacklog.net/users/ejspon...
Metal Garden cover art Metal Garden Review An Ode to Minimalism Ejsponge61 Written by Ejsponge61 on 9 October 2025 Beaten on PC in 1 hour 3 min read This game is a testament to what you can do with not a whole lot. This game is 90 minutes long, and there's no mechanical motivation to replay it. There are only 3 enemy types, 4 if you include a single boss enemy that you fight in the game's only boss fight. The game is dead silent for almost it's entire runtime, and the color pallet is limited to about 5 colors, and they are all the greyest ones they could find. But I love this game despite, or maybe because, of all of that. With so few creative ingredients, it still manages to be a meal for one reason, it makes you work for it. There is written dialog, but it is space and most often given in the form of left behind notes and overheard conversations. It paints an intersting story of differnt civilizations budding heads and captives seeking freedom, but it never tells you the fine details of it's narrative, leaving you mind to fill in the blanks. This, along with the minimal, yet incredibly evocative imagery of its environments, makes the world feel real, it's characters feel plausible, and every part of it feel just so goddamn cool. And about that imagery, it's really neat. There is a visible cheapness to some of the assets, with some looking like they come from entirely different games or having animations that don't transition smoothly between each other. But the oddity of this works to enhance the strangeness of the world. The entire game takes place in a megastructure, so you are treated to many beautiful vistas of broken down concrete structures and foggy cliffs. It's gorgeous, not in the AAA Sony walking simulator way, but in a way more modest and engrossing. On top of having fantastic art & an engrossing, though sparse, narrative, the game is also damn fun to play. It has gunplay & movement very similar to Halo, with floaty jumps and precision crosshairs, but the game is a bit more punishing when you take damage. You have health packs you collect and use whenever, but when your health bar depletes, which it does easily, you don't immediately die. Instead, you earn an injury that interrupts your gameplay in some minor way. Head injuries might cause your hip fire crosshair to disappear, torso injuries might cut down your maximum health, shoulder injuries might make your aim down sights a bit unstable, leg injuries might make you stubble when sprinting, and so on. Health packs do not remove these ailments, but finding a health station in the world can fix these, much like stimpack in modern Fallout games. There's lots of friction in the combat due to the conflicting aspects of it's design. The accurate hip fire & floaty jumps makes you think it's a run and gunner, but high damage & harsh punishments from damage will make you run for cover. But the more you play, the more you realize that you can dodge most attacks if you just strafe well. This, along with some pretty playfully brutal enemy encounters, make combat feel like a bit of a desperate scramble until you gain the confidence to dance through the chaos more elegantly. There's more I could praise here. I could gush about the vibes reminding me of two of my favorite games of all time: Nier Automata and Shadow of the Colossus. I could gush about how rewarding it was to find the handful of non-essential secrets hidden within it's world. I could gush about how delightfully goofy it's enemies would ragdoll upon death. But I don't need to go on any further to say that this game rules. It respects your time, but will take up so much more than those 90s minutes, because it will linger in your mind after you complete it. Only good art does that, and this is some great art. The good beautiful, yet dreary world satisfying gunplay cool minimal narrative short as hell The bad Some cheap animations/character models Metal Garden information Metal Garden (2025) Platform: Windows PC Developer: Tinerasoft More game info 9/ 10 Amazing 8.0 9.0 8.0 9.0 9.0
1
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1h
My ★★★★½ review of Metal Garden on @infinitebacklog.net infinitebacklog.net/users/ejspon...
Metal Garden cover art Metal Garden Review An Ode to Minimalism Ejsponge61 Written by Ejsponge61 on 9 October 2025 Beaten on PC in 1 hour 3 min read This game is a testament to what you can do with not a whole lot. This game is 90 minutes long, and there's no mechanical motivation to replay it. There are only 3 enemy types, 4 if you include a single boss enemy that you fight in the game's only boss fight. The game is dead silent for almost it's entire runtime, and the color pallet is limited to about 5 colors, and they are all the greyest ones they could find. But I love this game despite, or maybe because, of all of that. With so few creative ingredients, it still manages to be a meal for one reason, it makes you work for it. There is written dialog, but it is space and most often given in the form of left behind notes and overheard conversations. It paints an intersting story of differnt civilizations budding heads and captives seeking freedom, but it never tells you the fine details of it's narrative, leaving you mind to fill in the blanks. This, along with the minimal, yet incredibly evocative imagery of its environments, makes the world feel real, it's characters feel plausible, and every part of it feel just so goddamn cool. And about that imagery, it's really neat. There is a visible cheapness to some of the assets, with some looking like they come from entirely different games or having animations that don't transition smoothly between each other. But the oddity of this works to enhance the strangeness of the world. The entire game takes place in a megastructure, so you are treated to many beautiful vistas of broken down concrete structures and foggy cliffs. It's gorgeous, not in the AAA Sony walking simulator way, but in a way more modest and engrossing. On top of having fantastic art & an engrossing, though sparse, narrative, the game is also damn fun to play. It has gunplay & movement very similar to Halo, with floaty jumps and precision crosshairs, but the game is a bit more punishing when you take damage. You have health packs you collect and use whenever, but when your health bar depletes, which it does easily, you don't immediately die. Instead, you earn an injury that interrupts your gameplay in some minor way. Head injuries might cause your hip fire crosshair to disappear, torso injuries might cut down your maximum health, shoulder injuries might make your aim down sights a bit unstable, leg injuries might make you stubble when sprinting, and so on. Health packs do not remove these ailments, but finding a health station in the world can fix these, much like stimpack in modern Fallout games. There's lots of friction in the combat due to the conflicting aspects of it's design. The accurate hip fire & floaty jumps makes you think it's a run and gunner, but high damage & harsh punishments from damage will make you run for cover. But the more you play, the more you realize that you can dodge most attacks if you just strafe well. This, along with some pretty playfully brutal enemy encounters, make combat feel like a bit of a desperate scramble until you gain the confidence to dance through the chaos more elegantly. There's more I could praise here. I could gush about the vibes reminding me of two of my favorite games of all time: Nier Automata and Shadow of the Colossus. I could gush about how rewarding it was to find the handful of non-essential secrets hidden within it's world. I could gush about how delightfully goofy it's enemies would ragdoll upon death. But I don't need to go on any further to say that this game rules. It respects your time, but will take up so much more than those 90s minutes, because it will linger in your mind after you complete it. Only good art does that, and this is some great art. The good beautiful, yet dreary world satisfying gunplay cool minimal narrative short as hell The bad Some cheap animations/character models Metal Garden information Metal Garden (2025) Platform: Windows PC Developer: Tinerasoft More game info 9/ 10 Amazing 8.0 9.0 8.0 9.0 9.0
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 3h
Forgive Me Father (2021)
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 3h
My ★★★½ review of Forgive Me Father on @infinitebacklog.net infinitebacklog.net/users/ejspon...
Forgive Me Father Review Incredible presentation, basic shooting Ejsponge61 Written by Ejsponge61 on 9 October 2025 Beaten on PC in 8 hours 3 min read This game is a funny one. I went back to it after a year or two away because I wanted to participate in Infinite Backlog's Cthulhu themed challenge that's going on this month. I remember enjoying the game when I first picked it up and enjoyed it well enough, but I mainly beat it to check it off the list. I'm mostly glad I did, but I'm sure that the sequel is better, which I also own. I say that because this game's biggest flaw is just how basic it is as a shooter. This game feels inspired by the original Doom games to almost a fault, because there are very little additions to the shooting gameplay outside of just pulling the trigger on massive hordes. No hit markers, no aiming down sights or scopes, no alternate fire modes to swap to on the fly, no reloads to time properly in the heat of battle, no combo effects to encourage using certain weapons back to back, or any other modern idea brought by any shooter of the last few years. Now, there is a leveling system that lets you upgrade your weapons and abilities down different branches, and many of those branches can change your weapons into completely different tools, and it's fun to have the weapon economy shift like this throughout a playthrough. However, those are long term changes that are effectively permanent once made, besides the few skill tree resets you earn every act. The lack of variation in the shooting nagged me, especially in my hours returning to the game after the long break. But the final act reminded me why the game appealed to me to begin with. It's artstyle is gorgeous and hand drawn, so every item and character model has a charm to them that comes with hand drawn art. Environments are in 3D, and often a bit basic if not for the fact they are populated by drawings, but those drawings looks just a bit jank and imperfect in a way that game the game a lot of personality. But I had forgotten that, above all else, this game is a horror game. It's designed to give your spooky thrills more than satisfying combat, and the final act really leans into that fact. Those final levels have some really impressive setpieces that play with darkness in a way that sincerely creeped me out. And the level design, despite some bland 3D visuals, did wrap around onto itself and hide secrets in way that made them fun to engage with. I think my expectations in the game as a boomer shooter made me expect stronger gunplay than it ever intended to deliver, but in the end, I did come around and appreciate what it was actually doing. The game does have some similarities with other modern boomer shooters I've played. For instance, it does seem to drag on a bit in the back half, like Turbo Overkill, and it does have some cool set piece bosses, like Dusk. But I don't think this blew me away quite as much as those games did. Still, I'm glad I played it, as it further clarified what I do envoy in games like these, and it has me more curious to finally boot up the sequel. I recommend it to anyone looking for a spooky good time with some really unique art design, but be prepared to be motivated by the mood and vibe of the game rather than purely the combat, but the mood and vibe are definitely solid. The good artstyle level design weapon/ability trees nice use of shadow/light The bad 3D enviroments look basic 1-2 hours too long in the backhalf some bosses are visually cool, but basic to beat Forgive Me Father information Forgive Me Father (2021) Platform: Windows PC Developer: Byte Barrel Publisher: Fulqrum Publishing More game info 7/ 10 Good 8.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 8.0
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 3h
My ★★★½ review of Forgive Me Father on @infinitebacklog.net infinitebacklog.net/users/ejspon...
Forgive Me Father Review Incredible presentation, basic shooting Ejsponge61 Written by Ejsponge61 on 9 October 2025 Beaten on PC in 8 hours 3 min read This game is a funny one. I went back to it after a year or two away because I wanted to participate in Infinite Backlog's Cthulhu themed challenge that's going on this month. I remember enjoying the game when I first picked it up and enjoyed it well enough, but I mainly beat it to check it off the list. I'm mostly glad I did, but I'm sure that the sequel is better, which I also own. I say that because this game's biggest flaw is just how basic it is as a shooter. This game feels inspired by the original Doom games to almost a fault, because there are very little additions to the shooting gameplay outside of just pulling the trigger on massive hordes. No hit markers, no aiming down sights or scopes, no alternate fire modes to swap to on the fly, no reloads to time properly in the heat of battle, no combo effects to encourage using certain weapons back to back, or any other modern idea brought by any shooter of the last few years. Now, there is a leveling system that lets you upgrade your weapons and abilities down different branches, and many of those branches can change your weapons into completely different tools, and it's fun to have the weapon economy shift like this throughout a playthrough. However, those are long term changes that are effectively permanent once made, besides the few skill tree resets you earn every act. The lack of variation in the shooting nagged me, especially in my hours returning to the game after the long break. But the final act reminded me why the game appealed to me to begin with. It's artstyle is gorgeous and hand drawn, so every item and character model has a charm to them that comes with hand drawn art. Environments are in 3D, and often a bit basic if not for the fact they are populated by drawings, but those drawings looks just a bit jank and imperfect in a way that game the game a lot of personality. But I had forgotten that, above all else, this game is a horror game. It's designed to give your spooky thrills more than satisfying combat, and the final act really leans into that fact. Those final levels have some really impressive setpieces that play with darkness in a way that sincerely creeped me out. And the level design, despite some bland 3D visuals, did wrap around onto itself and hide secrets in way that made them fun to engage with. I think my expectations in the game as a boomer shooter made me expect stronger gunplay than it ever intended to deliver, but in the end, I did come around and appreciate what it was actually doing. The game does have some similarities with other modern boomer shooters I've played. For instance, it does seem to drag on a bit in the back half, like Turbo Overkill, and it does have some cool set piece bosses, like Dusk. But I don't think this blew me away quite as much as those games did. Still, I'm glad I played it, as it further clarified what I do envoy in games like these, and it has me more curious to finally boot up the sequel. I recommend it to anyone looking for a spooky good time with some really unique art design, but be prepared to be motivated by the mood and vibe of the game rather than purely the combat, but the mood and vibe are definitely solid. The good artstyle level design weapon/ability trees nice use of shadow/light The bad 3D enviroments look basic 1-2 hours too long in the backhalf some bosses are visually cool, but basic to beat Forgive Me Father information Forgive Me Father (2021) Platform: Windows PC Developer: Byte Barrel Publisher: Fulqrum Publishing More game info 7/ 10 Good 8.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 8.0
1
Reposted by Emmett Watkins Jr
liberationnow.bsky.social
Fantasy Football Draft Dodger @liberationnow.bsky.social · 11h
Fun fact: Obama remains the only Nobel winner to order a drone strike on another Nobel winner
jasondogwood.bsky.social
Jason Dogwood 💙 🏳️‍🌈 🌱 @jasondogwood.bsky.social · 14h
Happy anniversary to the day Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Somewhere, Trump is rage-Googling “how to win Nobel without doing peace.”

#TrumpTantrum
4 150 320
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 12h
tfw you pay something off but the website updates on a 24 hour delay
3
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 12h
I'll attach this guide, I didn't follow it step by step, but it's where I first heard of MakeMKV, following it might help ya figure out where the subtitles might have gone too www.youtube.com/watch?v=LguN...
How to Rip 4K & Blu-Ray Movies | The Official Guide
YouTube video by Audio Arkitekts
www.youtube.com
1
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 13h
SOULSTICE 93D2V-JNW??-XJ2YM Can Ciara circumvent Caleb's callus comedy? ??=C(number of Cs in that sentence)
Reposted by Emmett Watkins Jr
emmakidwell.bsky.social
Emma Kidwell | Looking for work ✨ @emmakidwell.bsky.social · Sep 4
Hi! I was laid off from Firaxis this morning. I wrote leaders and civs for Civilization VII (NDA for now) and Deadpool and Storm for Marvel's Midnight Suns. I also wrote the award-nominated Hindsight.

I'm available for full time, remote work starting ASAP. DMs are open:

emmkid.info
Portfolio
emmkid.info
110 980 2.1K
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
Iron Danger A8V??-835KX-DV39P An abbreviation of the name of one of my favorite Chance the Rapper songs, it features 2 Chains and Lil Wayne.
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
Missed @tamoorh.com & @lucyjames.games so much, used to watch every Spot On back then, glad to have yall back!
gamespot.com
GameSpot @gamespot.com · 1d
Somehow, Spot On returned.
1 25
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
That kind of of story, with actual teeth for facisim that Infinite lacked, would be exactly the thing to get me excited after the disappointment of Infinite's themes. This (potential) context really makes me even more nervous about that game.
9
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
I mean, Nazis copied thier playbook from the confederacy and when they lost we accepted a lot of them to help bolster our scientific superiority. Sympathize with the devil long enough, especially when they already idolize you, and you become indistinguishable from that devil.
justinbaragona.bsky.social
Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 1d
Incredible.

Jack Posobiec references the earliest version of antifa -- the anti-fascists in the Weimar Republic who were opposed to the Nazi Party -- as the bad guys.
3
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
There's a random encounter you can stumble across. They're burning a cross in the woods and you can just pull up and massacre them, it gives ya good karma too!

There's also a side mission where you can burn all the belongings of a former slave catcher and take him out too if ya want.
1 2
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
I'd blow up at you for missing a classic, but there are so many games even more widely acclaimed than that that have gathered dust in my own backlog, so fair lol. You'll really dig that story once you do get around to it tho!
1 3
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
Shit there might be more I'm not even familiar with, hit me with some replies, indies too!
3
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
Made this because everyone is sad you can't kill clan members in a AAA game but I'm like, yes you can! And in 3 different flavors! It's great!
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
Best game to murder the KKK in?

1️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/LKtPIl/1" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Red Dead Redemption 2
2️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/LKtPIl/2" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wolfienstien II: The New Collosus
3️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/LKtPIl/3" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mafia III

📊 Show results
3 30 88
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
Best game to murder the KKK in?

1️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/LKtPIl/1" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Red Dead Redemption 2
2️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/LKtPIl/2" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wolfienstien II: The New Collosus
3️⃣ <a href="https://poll.blue/p/LKtPIl/3" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mafia III

📊 Show results
10 5 30
Reposted by Emmett Watkins Jr
youmeyou.bsky.social
Yussef @youmeyou.bsky.social · 1d
Continuing to wonder if Mafia 3 is going to be the closest we'll ever get to a AAA game from an unapologetically black perspective.
stephentotilo.bsky.social
Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 1d
SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...
Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year
Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File
www.gamefile.news
1 6 31
Reposted by Emmett Watkins Jr
vgutv.bsky.social
VGU.tv @vgutv.bsky.social · 2d
Liminal Department l VGU Test Drive
Liminal Department l VGU Test Drive
The October spooky season is back in full swing, so that means some games to fit that mood! We begin with Josh playing the demo for Liminal Department, where...
www.youtube.com
1 1
ejsponge61.com
Emmett Watkins Jr @ejsponge61.com · 1d
I would hope that a version of Ubisoft that felt safe enough to release the game in the first place would have followed the lead of Mafia 3 rather than thier own games and brought in writers to make a story we don't laugh out of the room. But yea, you got good reason to be sceptical
1
Reposted by Emmett Watkins Jr
cheryllynneaton.bsky.social
Cheryl Lynn Eaton @cheryllynneaton.bsky.social · 1d
Life would have been better never knowing what I'd lost because of these racists. Because this might kill me.
stephentotilo.bsky.social
Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 1d
SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...
Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year
Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File
www.gamefile.news
17 160 710