game where no matter what you're always on or near a highway some indefinite place in the great lakes region sometime between 10 PM and 2 AM

highwaycrawl where your time in the car is mechanically your rest periods between delves at gas stations, rest areas, convenience stores, fast food places etc

everything is on the surface fine but every human interaction is a subliminal battle

honestly i don't like this part. i don't want it to be about hostility towards "normies" or whatever the player projects onto strangers. i want it to be about the dissociative state fostered by the endless repetition of forms in the pattern language of the highway system.

highway of leaves

dark souls but the bonfire is your car

bloodborne but the blood vials are energy shots

geomorphic boschian hellscapes spattered with banal features like gas pumps, information kiosks, checkout counters, ice machines, drive-through windows etc

assembling liminal stops from a deck of regular pentagons so that they can't tile without gaps

@tholindeth it's a subliminal battle between you and the NPC on one side versus some systemic, structural or supernatural *thing* on the other

@tholindeth it's a state of mind that reminds me of the human interaction in 'milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk'

@taq i don't know what that is

@tholindeth a visual novel about trying to buy milk during a psychosis episode, and having a breakdown

@taq yeah that tracks. sounds like good art but also like a thing i don't actually want to handle too closely.

@tholindeth It is exactly that, yeah. it can hurt to play

on that note, i think more RPGs should have this format where you can't optimize any permanent build for "your party" but instead you're teaming up with randos (or going solo) every other encounter and part of the challenge is learning what they can and cannot do

@apophis calling it a RPG is a stretch,but I think you’ve reinvented elden ring nightreign

@mold for some reason i was imagining a turn-based JRPG... probably because that's the best format for highlighting character stats and stuff

@mold somehow couldn't decide whether to type "final fantasy style JRPG" or just plain "JRPG" and ended up with the most fail compromise possible

@apophis that actually might be exactly right, the other people forming anchors in the psychic landscape, allies in your defense against a depersonalized inhumanity

@apophis I mean I’m not even that sure if ER:N fits, I’ve never played it. Not a fan of the asset self-flip aspect (Duchess is so cute though) and anyway if I ever want to disappoint two people who never wanted me there I can just go visit my parents.

@apophis @mold kinda related, but i want a turn-based/final-fantasy/eathbound-like/pokemon-like rpg that doesn’t have any stat upgrades on the player’s part. like i want a game that’s just pure, turn-based strategy