iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026

@kylethompsondev.bsky.social's games always manage to scratch my metroidvania itch, but I think #WellDweller might be the first one to visually stop me in my tracks with visual spectacle and composition, wow. These creepy cute vibes and Grimm storybook themes are WORKING!

Striking screenshot from the game Well Dweller, depicting the lit matchstick carrying protagonist Glimmer reflected in an inky black lake.
Massive dead, pale fingers are emerging from the water.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 28/09/2026

The timeline certainly seems to be picking up what yer laying down...

Screencrop of a bluesky timeline with the post directly above the one this is replying to served as Pokémon Red/Blue nostalgia bait, "Pokémon Red and Blue Version were released 28 years ago on this day in North America (1998)"

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 27/09/2026

This is wonderful, and via the magic of metroidvania symmetry immediately made me think of Hornet and The Bell Beast~ (art by mikidaillust via instagram)

Hollow Knight Silksong fan art, depicting Hornet looking at her map while resting against The Bell Beast's reclining flank.
The scene is set among the sea of bells near Bellhome, and the piece is signed by the artist: https://www.instagram.com/mikidaillust/

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 22/09/2026

"Four Giants Control 80% Of Meat Processing."

The Guardian Deity trophy from Super Smash Bros. Melee, depicting the four long-legged, green bearded giants from The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 10/09/2026

...and what is it that Hyrule needs to be defended FROM? *Locates An Image Of The Part Where Demise Casts The Curse* It's very impressive that a fictional cosmology so young can inspire exactly the same kind of theological debate that eventually results in old/new testaments!

Screencrop from Zelda Skyward Sword depicting a freshly defeated Demise pointing at the camera and saying, "Those like you... Those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of The hero... They are eternally bound to this curse."

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 10/09/2026

I'm sure someone's shown you this already, but it's likely to presage the role he'll eventually play in Twilight Princess...

The ghostly form of the Hero's Spirit from Zelda: Twilight Princess; he's wearing ruined armor with an owl-themed breastplate!

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 09/09/2026

The Xenoblade games could contain the deepest, most interesting sci-fi plots in decades for all I know, but from out here all I can see is "Team up with new hero SHIMMER, whose breasts have been extruded into a revealing sleeve and IMPRISONED by a series of crisscrossing high tech restraints!"

Two "stacked" screengrabs from the recent Nintendo Direct, depicting Xenoblade Chronicles 3 character Shimmer.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 08/09/2026

Some sort of art direction "overreaction" thing is recurring, highlighted most in the differences between Link and NPCs like in Twilight Princess, after the world initially rejected Wind Waker's look. It's subtle, but really sort of doing my head in right now, I'm spiraling a little bit...

Screengrab from the trailer for the 2026 Ocarina of Time remake, depicting Epona, Link, and Malon.

Screengrab from Zelda Twilight Princess, depicting Link talking to Colin

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/08/2026

Nope. No. Absolutely not! I don't like how all that internal geometry gives the impression that Rockman's helmet is actually his skull. I'm sure they'll have "traditional" scenes with his android hair out refuting it, but this makes it look like there's CONSIDERABLY less space in there for it.

Screengrab from the GamesCom trailer for Megaman: Dual Override, depicting Megaman's helmet/head popping open to reveal a series of heat-sink-like internal flanges.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 21/08/2026

Pretty sure the MMO is currently in a "partially iceboxed" state, which could mean just about anything OTHER than "actively ramping up development." Remember Project F? No one else does either! Sure would be cool to play a top-down co-op action-adventure-RPG with League champs...

Screenshot from the League of Legends 10th anniversary showcase video, depicting an early in-development action-adventure-RPG of some sort with Blitzcrank and Lux fighting mobs.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 21/08/2026

Dug around and found video of when I discovered you CAN bake misogyny into level design if you try hard enough, (and the Metroid: Other M team SUCCEEDED; the mens side of the restrooms doesn't even exist on the minimap geometry!)

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 20/08/2026

Wait, so at some point the titular axe got edited out of the poster for So I Married An Axe Murderer, and that stuck all the way through to streaming platforms despite it ruining the entire premise of the image? Was some executive like, "that fake hand's too fake, remove it!?"

Movie cover key art for Mike Myers' So I Married An Axe Murderer, featuring the leads holding hands while Myers holds a bouquet behind his back... for some reason, Nancy Travis other hand brandishing an axe has been edited out, breaking the conceptual symmetry of the cover.

The original movie poster key art for Mike Myers' So I Married An Axe Murderer, with both fake hands and behind the back props intact.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 20/08/2026

Oh my god, @nthcircle.bsky.social it's ALREADY a legal drama alternating between investigation and court scenes, there's no reason to flash your credentials like this, unless... ...some sort of "test reference," so you can see in real time which streamers share your background, perhaps?

Screenshot from the visual novel Of The Devil, depicting the character Serra delivering the line, "This is a rolling ladder, a kind of stepladder-not a ladder." in clear and blatant reference to a series of inane running jokes from the Ace Attorney games.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 12/08/2026

The timeline's inherent algorithmic sense of humor remains unparalleled...

Partial screenshot of a bluesky timeline:
[Comments from Patrick Klepek and SpacePrez]:
"To maximize time" is a brutal way to look at how you should play video games but I 100% understand it"
"I get it, but yeah so much of our modern approach to play is being driven by FOMO and that's inherently unhealthy."

[...The next post on the feed below the above conversation from H-DEE]:
"I wish I could play multiple video games at the same time"

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 06/08/2026

Very vibes, much soulslike; really enjoying the demo for #Mouseward! In unrelated news, it's possible that finally playing Deltarune has rotted out some new section of my poor brain...

Screenshot of Mouseward video game gameplay, depicting a pretty nighttime rooftop scene with the protagonist in armor wielding a badger war hammer.

Mouseward equipment screen displaying lots of icons and stat text... but the main character's name in the upper-left is, ridiculously, "Dess Dreemurr"

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 30/07/2026

Devastated to see the ClutterBlock layout and light-on-dark paint swoosh of GenAI flyer design making its way into the YouTube thumbnail space, gawd...

YouTube thumbnail for the Wisconsin Democratic Gubernatorial Debate with Kyle Wallace and Kristin Brey, featuring the telltale cluttered layout and light-on-dark paint swoosh of the current Generative AI flyer meta

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 26/07/2026

Are you lying, Sandy Duncan, or is your nose just happy to see me?

Colorized promotional card for the 1976 TV movie Pinocchio, depicting the lead actress sporting a very... upturned take on the lengthening nose prosthetic as they grin manically at this version of Geppetto.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 15/07/2026

The powers that be in control of just about everything online appear to have collectively decided that we are ALL children! (This is a Riot account that has been active since 2009, so I guess the assumption is that I might have made it when I was 1 year old and thus might be a minor for a bit?)

A pop up UI dialog reading:
"RESTRICTED SOCIAL FEATURES
You are restricted from using some social features due to parental controls. Please talk to your parent or guardian if you have any questions.
RESTRICTED FEATURES:
* Voice Chat
* Text Chat (Global)
* Text Chat (Friends)
* Friend Requests"

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 08/07/2026

This caught my eye yesterday; glad to have an explanation for the bafflingly busy layout. Apparently what reads as "professional" or "impressive" to people without graphic design taste comes down to "more is more."

Photo of a GenAI flyer for Auntie Munchieez Kitchen wrapped around a streetlight pole.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 02/07/2026

Cast yourself as a villain.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 22/06/2026

The message immediately made me think of Kinger, but I suppose the series finale has given me a case of Digital Circus Brain...

Screencrop from The Amazing Digital Circus Ep 3: The Mystery Of Mildenhall Manor, depicting Kinger using a shotgun in a very dadly fashion when an adventure gets a bit too spooky for Pomni.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 20/06/2026

If you encounter matter clipping issues on the job, cordon off any embedded objects and ask a supervisor if your worker's handbook has a #5amFrequency section. (Depending on your brith sign, you may require a set of special ██████████ glasses to perceive it.)

Photo of cardboard boxes sitting on the floor of a store aisle. One of the boxes is cut off at an angle that implies it's sunken into the ground.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 19/06/2026

Bro, we've GOTTA keep the console wars alive, PLEASE it's the only form of engagement that still works on Gamers that isn't overtly sexist, racist, or nationalist! BEGGING you to click; otherwise we're gonna have to make videos about how women and brown people and foreigners are ruining gaming!!

Clickbait YouTube thumbnail depicting a vaguely GenAI looking Sony merch wearing fanboy screaming, captioned; "PLAYSTATION FANS ARE LOSING THEIR MINDS"
His word balloon cries, "IT ISNT(sic) FAIR" and the video is titled "THE REVEAL OF GEARS E-DAY EXCLUSIVITY EXPOSES THE GAMING COMMUNITY"

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 04/06/2026

When encountering the platonic ideal of a melee weapon, I err on the side of picking it up and equipping it. Note that this approach dovetails with my life experience, and if you're less personally steeped in urban survival horror tropes, there may be memetic risks... #5amFrequency

Photo of a classic metal pipe with an angle bracket at the end less suspiciously propped up against a bike rack on an urban sidewalk.

The same video-game-like pipe shot from a first-person perspective, now in the wan Caucasian grip of a person wearing black.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 03/06/2026

Love how they worked little symbols of the champions partners into this Pride piece; Graves has card earrings and a ring from Twisted Fate, Diana has a Leona shield fascinator, Neeko has a little Nidalee charm, and K'Sante has Tope's bow back there.

League of Legends Pride 2026 key art depicting canonically queer champions Graves, Diana, K'sante, Rell, and Neeko decked out in lots of rainbow details in a big huggy pose.
Also Pengu is there, probably because they're a nonbinary Ace penguin thing?

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 20/05/2026

The Real Capital G XBOX Gamers relish nothing more than the abstract idea that people they've never met who can't afford a second console are sad because they can't play Halo. Rally your kinsmen, we're keeping the console wars alive at any cost! feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/ide...

Screencrop of the top XBOX Player Voice post:

"EXCLUSIVES
XBOX was built off of great game exclusives, you cannot sell any consoles without a reason to buy the console compared to your competition or even sending your tentpole games over to your competitor. BRING THEM BACK PLEASE !!!"

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 11/05/2026

Well, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this seems like a massive change in scope from the original 3 #DeepSleep adventures...

Late title card for the video game Deep Sleep: Labyrinth of the Forsaken, depicting a pixel art coastal city skyline being presided over by a blonde woman on a balcony with a mug of coffee.

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 07/05/2026

Don't go in expecting a deceptively deep rabbit hole like #Fez, #Tunic, or #AnimalWell, but this is the beauty of the Pico8's many technical limitations; designing within a scope that holistically implies a tight focus and high playtime-juice-to-squeeze-ratio.

The "FULLY MOSSED!" victory screen from Pico8 platformer Moss Moss.
"You really mossed it all, thank you for playing ♥"
Displaying all 32 Leaves, 15 Critters, and a time of 33:36
"Game by Noel Cody"

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 06/05/2026

This childhood friend of Vayne's seems... Just a BIT future champion coded? If he's a throwaway background character, why wouldn't he simply be practicing with arrows like Shauna? Why else would his, (double checks) THROWING STAKES(?) have such an oddly distinct design?! #LeagueOfLegends

Screencropped panels from the League of Legends motion comic What We Fear, depicting a young Shauna Vayne practicing the crossbow alongside a blonde boy that's suspiciously champion coded?

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 03/05/2026

Ha ha ha, why on earth is this note from Principal Merlin written in Trump's voice?! Wow... I'll admit, the em-dashes make me wonder if GenAI wasn't asked to massage some original writing to match his posting/oration style as a joke.

"Listen to me, because this is very important. What that fairy did—that nasty, stupid fairy—is a TOTAL DISASTER. It has turned my beautiful library into a complete mess, a disaster like nobody has ever seen before.

So here is the decision for you, the Librarian. You're in a very tough spot, a very bad situation, but I've got the only solution. You are not leaving this library. You are staying right here. Until every single volume—every magnificent book—in back in its proper place, those doors are staying shut. Sealed!

You've got your wits, and you've got your arms. Use them! Work hard! If you don't get it done, you're looking at extreme overtime until late at night—maybe even midnight, or later! It's going to be a long night, a very tough night, because we need law and order in this library.

But, if you finish—and I mean finish perfectly, 100%—I'm going to give you a reward. We're talking PIZZA. The best pizza you've ever had. Huge slices, the best toppings, beautiful cheese. It'll be fantastic.

Now, get to work. Get those books back on the shelves.

Principal Merlin
University of Celesthall"

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xeneth.design @xeneth.design · 03/05/2026

Excited to shelve some tomes in #Librarian! ...will admit that I'm somewhat thrown by the heavy-handed "AR" emphasis in the logo; it's definitely NOT an Augmented Reality game. Probably just an incidental emphasis without any special meaning?