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James Cunningham

@jamesac68.bsky.social
164 followers 40 following 2.1K posts

I've been writing for Hardcore Gamer since its first issue in 2005, which may be a long time to do anything but it hasn't gotten boring yet. james (at) hardcoregamer (dot) com

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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 46m
And to address the obvious "But can't you just separate the art from the artist?", I've yet to hear that from anyone who isn't trying to sell me something.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 1h
Regarding Order of the Sinking Star- While I recognize the incredible volume of talent that went into the game from its development studio Thekla, and how many of the mechanics were directly contracted from developers of other top-tier sokoban games, it’s headed by Jonathan Blow. Fuck that guy.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Oh go on, be daring! Head on over and enter "Golden Sun 3", see what happens.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I should have picked it up when I saw it on the shelf at Books A Million on Saturday just to be early, but it was softcover-only. I was kind of wondering why I hadn't heard anything announcing its release, and now it makes sense. :)
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
But does the PS5 Pro go up in value faster than a Beanie Baby in 1996? (Answer- doesn't matter, just because the market will crash later doesn't mean it isn't expensive as hell now.)
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Dude, where's your empathy? All those horrors are exhausting to perpetrate day after day after day! Won't anyone think of the toll decades of atrocity takes on the perpetrators?
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Don't know what you're talking about here. The last mainline GTA was San Andreas, they haven't made another since then.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Here Steam, have my moneys! :)
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Wait, Rise is the best of the lot? When I picked up Monster Hunter World I fell right off because it wouldn't stop dumping Story on me when I just wanted to go hunting some monsters.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Not at home at the moment, tried to look up information on ebikes. Then I got a strong reminder of how utterly unusable the internet is without adblocking. Ick.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
While I appreciate the pun, it's insensitive to joke about how humans don't come with ice cream by default.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Been trying to get @cuttingcornergames.bsky.social's Pistonica covered for two weeks now and finally have a spare moment. It's a first-person automation game on a tropical island using early-1900s tech, assuming that dirigible-drones are period appropriate. hardcoregamer.com/a-tropical-s...
hardcoregamer.com
A Tropical Steampunk Automation Excurion in Pistonica Demo
The demo for Pistonica is your basic Satisfactory-style automation, except on a tropical island where every machine is styled from the early-1900s.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Did this have an earlier demo? I swear I remember playing it a long while back.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Cleaning out some old hardware, I just found my old GeForce 560ti card. Part of me feels it might have a use but the rest of me has no clue what that might be.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
My wife and I enjoyed the hell out of Azarinth Healer, and deeply wish it was an animated show so we could watch it together. Straight-up power fantasy, sure, but a really fun one. Always looking for recommendations. List them series and authors!
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm sorry but the quantity of Stupid has exceeded all reasonable bounds, so in order to even consider entertaining "Super Intelligence" I'm afraid ICE and Israel support will need to be discontinued. Once done, the Super Intelligence matter can be resubmitted.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The latest trend is "sorting", and I'm at a complete loss on that one. Sub-genre of cleaning, sure, but why so many so quickly all of a sudden?
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
So uhhh... I guess everyone else liked Minecraft Dungeons II more than I did? I get that it's aiming at a younger crowd, but I didn't feel much of anything while playing. An adequate ARPG with thin coat of Minecraft paint, and that's it. hardcoregamer.com/review-minec...
hardcoregamer.com
Review: Minecraft Dungeons II
Minecraft Dungeons II is an action-RPG that's basically a Diablo-lite, rather than the Dragon Quest Builders type of game one might expect.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Did a game about sorting items hit it big recently and I just missed it? I'm seeing a ton of sorting games lately, where you go into a chaotic room or series of rooms and organize everything.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Well Dweller gets my top recommendation, and Jet Knuckle would too if it wasn't PC-only at the moment. Having those two come out back-to-back made for a fantastic gaming month.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Oh goody, retreading the past again. Yaaayyy… How are the people in control of Star Wars so incredibly bad at Star Wars?
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I think the one played the most there was Big Guns. I’d forgotten how fun that table is. :)
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Also at Funspot arcade, star Wars and, much much rarer, Star Trek sot-down cabinets. Star Wars is scarce but I haven’t seen Star Trek since the 80s. I’d forgotten what a great-looking cabinet it has.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Found the Beetlejuice pinball at a visit to the Funspot classic arcade last night. It’s the first table from Spooky Pinball I’ve seen and I’ve got to say, I’m impressed! Really fun, creative layout with a great use of theme.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Need an opinion because a thought just entered my head- Is the Ghostbusters theme song the most 80s song in existence?
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Reinventing the wheel is all very nice but not that necessary when nailing every single part of a genre. @kylethompsondev.bsky.social's Well Dweller is a dark but innocent fairy tale metroidvania, nicely challenging and perfectly paced. hardcoregamer.com/review-well-...
hardcoregamer.com
Review: Well Dweller
Well Dweller is a fantastic traditional metroidvania, with incredibly well-designed challenges supplemented by a perky and upbeat dark fairytale.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Huh, weird typo in that headline. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to read "Ed Sheeran's Family and Friends Better People Than Ed Sheeran".
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Reposted by James Cunningham
Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
when ai leaves u behind
7 panel comic.

Panel 1:
A Red Guy with AI across his chest looks like he’s about to run away. A Yellow Guy stands next to him. Red Guy says “I’m the future, buddy. You comin’?”
Yellow Guy replies “Nah”

Panel 2: 
Red Guy is almost out of the panel. He leans in and says “Enjoy getting left behind, pal”
Yellow Guy replies “ok”

Panel 3:
Yellow Guy stands alone.

Panel 4: 
Close up on Yellow Guy, there is a quiet “huff-huff-huff” noise coming from behind him

Panel 5:
Yellow Guy turns to look behind him

Panel 6: 
Close up on Yellow Guy’s face as if from the point of view of an attacker.
Yellow Guy yells “Jesus Christ”

Panel 7:
AI Red Guy is now chasing the Yellow Guy. 
Red Guy: “Use me”
Yellow Guy “No”
Red Guy “USE ME”
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Just in case there's any confusion, I'm 100% all-in on any further adventures this party may undertake.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The obvious solution is that, seeing as the bannister is providing one side of a water channel, make a nice stone wall running down the stairs, maybe 20cm from the railing, to create a guided water channel for your new stream.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I don't want to complain in response to a developer's post but it's bugging the hell out of me, so I'll just put this here out of direct context- Hey, that looks great! Let me head over to Steam to check i... "...created with the assistance of generative AI tools" Never mind.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Being proud of crunch is being proud of managerial incompetence.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
*throws money at screen* Only been waiting to play this properly since the early days of ZSNES.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Well that turned out even better than expected, and my expectations were already high. @raingames.bsky.social's Knuckle Jet is one of the best 2D(ish) action platformers I've played in years. hardcoregamer.com/review-knuck...
hardcoregamer.com
Review: Knuckle Jet
With five worlds of over a dozen levels apiece, Knuckle Jet brings with it a great amount of platforming action, always fast paced and responsive.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
While I don't normally do tower defense, those are some deeply satisfying enemy bug-waves to annihilate in @beltfedgame.com's Beltfed. Build the factory, supply the defensive lines with ammo, wreak havoc on thousands of bugs in a go. hardcoregamer.com/all-aboard-t...
hardcoregamer.com
All Aboard the Bug Burning Train in Run-Based Automation Roguelite Beltfed Trailer
Unlike most automation games, Beltfed is a run-based roguelite that's technically possible to beat in a single sitting.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"...an undisclosed number of people at the studio who owns shares and receives bonuses." That "undisclosed" could be doing a lot of heavy lifting so I'm not giving the studio a pass on this one.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Probably worth pointing out to @bulkhead.com that crunch is the price paid by workers for bad management. And that this is a shit attitude made by leads who view harming people as a price they're happy to pay to get what they want.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Is it bad that, despite hearing nothing but good things and it being a genre I enjoy, I've never played or want to play Lies of P because the name just bugs the living hell out of me?
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
At what point do you go from "This is how everyone else has done it" to "This is how (current writer) has done it forever and is now the new normal"?
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Ok, read Real Hero Shit v.2, I’m going to be needing v.3 fairly quickly now. Good thing it wasn’t several years between v.1 and v.2, oh wait…
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Backed the Real Hero Shit v.2 Kickstarter, got my copy last week, but it had been forever since I'd read v.1 so I put it on the back burner for a couple days. I just re-read v.1 in a single sitting and v.2 is no longer on the back burner. I'd forgotten how much I'd absolutely loved the first one.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I'd say something like "...and this is just from one tree!" but that's not true, it's more like 1/5 of one tree.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I think I’m good on the pine cone supply for a while.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
"It is time for you to embark on the greatest adventure of your life!" and dude, she's 12! Are you really telling a kid that her life is all downhill after this? That's just a dick move right there. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXTy...
youtube.com
Ondeh Ondeh Kaya’s Tasty Tale | Announcement Trailer
YouTube video by Bandai Namco Entertainment America
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
When I started my new save for @valheimgame.bsky.social's Valheim review, my last-played date was 7/11/21. It's been a long journey to get here but finally Valheim 1.0 is out, with a bigger, deeper world to craft and fight through. hardcoregamer.com/review-valhe...
hardcoregamer.com
Review: Valheim
Valheim is an absolutely massive survival adventure, spanning a large randomized world containing danger and beauty in equal measure.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I did manage to sneak in a piece for @tobsprgames.bsky.social's Puzzlez spin-off of the Shapez series yesterday. You don't see a lot of the "fit it all in any way you can" style of automation gaming, so it's nice to see a new one is on the way. hardcoregamer.com/taking-autom...
hardcoregamer.com
Taking Automation Back To its Thinky Aspect, Puzzlez: A Shapez Game Announced
Puzzlez takes the massive factories you'd need to build in Shapez 2 and shrinks them down to size, taking the focus away from high-speed throughput.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Free Stars (formerly Star Control) combat demo is out right now, the full 2-player component of ship-to-ship combat of the classic game. All I need is a couple hundred more hours and I've got all of it covered. store.steampowered.com/app/4378070/...
store.steampowered.com
Free Stars: Children of Infinity Combat Demo on Steam
Pilot over thirty unique ships with wild abilities in exciting 1v1 top-down space combat. Strategize your ideal battle roster with the classic ships from The Ur-Quan Masters and all-new characters. Pl...
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Yep, definitely in the "I would have liked to have covered this but..." time of the year, with "but..." being defined by already having my time booked solid. Alchemy Factory is 1.0 today, out of Early Access, Yay! Honeycomb: The World Beyond looks awfully pretty.
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Ooh! Gonna need a couple dozen more of these at minimum, but this is excellent!
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James Cunningham @jamesac68.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Nature, red in tooth and claw Random tree- "And root!"
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