the penguins are gathering in a circle

November 21, 2023 8:59 AM

Vaporwave goodbye to the waking world in dreamcore95.exe, a chill, short idle game with impeccable vibes and, if that's not enough inducement, also a defragging widget.
posted by cortex (13 comments total)

I have had a rough day and I needed this. It was like an intensely soothing version of Cookie Clicker.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 10:45 AM on November 21, 2023

I clicked and clicked and never once unlocked more than that one little Aphex Twin loop. It's like edging for your ears.
posted by Nelson at 10:55 AM on November 21, 2023

Anyone figure out how to unlock the next step yet? Is it a matter of escaping within a time limit?

(There's a lot of optimization around generating music that I did not pay attention to the first time around).
posted by thecaddy at 11:16 AM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

(Never mind, just looked at the dev's reddit thread and the message at the end doesn't actually mean anything.)
posted by thecaddy at 11:20 AM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

well there goes my thanksgiving
posted by ourobouros at 11:29 AM on November 21, 2023

I CAN SEE INSIDE YOUR EYES
posted by pracowity at 12:10 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

THE FUTURE.....IS IN THE PAST!

ONWARDS AOSHIMA!
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:38 PM on November 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

YOU HAVE USED DESICCATING ICE!!!!!!!
posted by Nelson at 2:07 PM on November 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

the cursor is crushing your Thoughts!
crush crush
posted by not_on_display at 7:38 PM on November 21, 2023

*
posted by candice at 9:13 PM on November 21, 2023

I escaped! In 1h45m. WHAAAAT. And listened to that same loop a zillion times while slowly maxing things out and unlocking them and doing everyday chores around the house. Dunno why this scratched my attention itch. Maybe it was in the slow learning curve about the game's economics. Maybe it was that magical vaporwave dust that gives all that old UX design some new sparkle. (I couldn't even fit one vaporave mp3 on my hard drive back then mumble mumbl

Well, that was fun and gave the Win95 feels, but I am sure glad that game's over.
posted by not_on_display at 9:22 PM on November 21, 2023

I think maybe "Cookie Clicker, but soothing" should be more of a thing.
posted by Harald74 at 4:36 AM on November 22, 2023

just reporting, this one didn't really do for it for me. i felt like the static-y clicks in the Aphex Twin loop were jarring, not soothing. i think my favorite will always be that one where you started out merely increasing velocity and ended up becoming a necromantic overgod who's very act of breathing in and out spawned infinite universes of death and life, forever killing and resurrecting a factorial infinities (or whatever)
posted by glonous keming at 12:05 PM on November 22, 2023