Games

i saw that cartoonish gta knockoff Saints Row (The Third, not remastered) on sale for like $2.47 and that it is supported for steam deck/linux, so i got it over xmas break.

the SR setting and plot makes the GTA franchise look like it was crafted by Tolstoy or Chekhov. basically the Jersey Shore meets the mind of a 12 year old in dire need of adult supervision. i cannot discourage playing this game enough, because it's all oversexed and offensive. even for its time in the mid 2000s, and it has not aged well. but it cost me less than a 2 liter of soda.

admittedly, i have kept playing it. i have taken over like 95% of the city despite barely finishing the first act of the story lol.

i like the mechanic of filling in the map so my gang takes over a whole city. that was one of my favorite parts of GTA:SA, when you can just kind of stop doing missions and instead fill in LA to be all green for Grove Street Families. of course, i did that after maxing out how absurdly jacked my guy was at the gym, lmao.

so, now my gang members appear everywhere and i make really strong cash everyday from all these businesses for my upgrades. i also like that i can customize (and recustomize) how i and my gang members look (sort of). i made them all ninjas, so it's like the foot clan because everything "mine" has to be purple in this game. a ludicrous, high saturation purple. most of the other gang appearance choices are too absurd though: exotic dancers, sex workers, BDSM gear. like i can appreciate an SUV pulling up just loaded with completely roided out, well oiled and armed men in leather thongs getting out is intimidating, but that's not the vibe i am going for right now.

if they just sort of made a sandboxy style game that was this organized crime syndicate takeover of a city to fill in a map of territories and neighborhoods, extorting businesses in my territory (kind of like Godfather: Black Hand), but let me customize (and re-customize/refine) the shit out of myself and my gang (name, colors, symbols), i would pay the hell out of that. tagging over markings, lighting up dudes / taking over strongholds, beating up small business tyrants, stealing/modifying cars, and occasionally making an example of cops before losing their partners in the dangerous alleys of my territories.

that kind of thing has a nice "pick up and play for a half hour" kind of feel that works for me. steadily getting incrementally stronger with more resources until you have an entire area dominated.