aabicus

I write articles! I also make games, release videos, voice act and lots of other cool things.

Deadlock’s Infernus

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This article is dedicated to Spades. I was queueing up for a random Infernus match, still not really knowing the character but ready to do my best. I liked his kit enough and I needed a third character with 15 wins to unlock ranked, which was gonna be a hell of a grind but I had to start somewhere. Spades was an incredibly laid-back dude on my team who offered to queue up together for more games afterward. He watched me play, doctored up a custom build for my playstyle, and then queued into matches with me for over nine… [Continue Reading]

Deadlock’s Druid

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As Deadlock establishes its place in the gaming conscience, more and more of its characters are developing recognizable reputations among various online communities. Ivy has a Know Your Meme page, Silver is making waves in the furry fandom, and Abrams enjoys the star power of being the box-art face of the game. But there’s a good chance most of you haven’t heard of Deadlock’s Druid, probably because he doesn’t technically exist, unless you count unused lines and dummied-out code. Here’s the closest thing he has to an ‘appearance’ in the canon: Mina and Victor have a couple unused voicelines referring to… [Continue Reading]

Deadlock’s McGinnis

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I’ve covered an agile healer and a middling-speed DPS, now let’s complete the roster with a slow tank! Between these three characters, I think there’s something for everyone who is interested in trying Deadlock but struggling to choose a starter class. The final hero in our triumvirate will appeal to players who want a massive healthpool, an easy way to heal and deal damage, and limited mobility so being bad at Deadlock’s movement systems doesn’t kneecap one’s gameplay quite as much as on other heroes. Meet McGinnis! I played McGinnis in my first-ever Deadlock match for all the reasons mentioned… [Continue Reading]

First Major Controversy Hits Competitive Deadlock

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Every esport has matches that have gone down in infamy, that will be talked about for decades after the fact. Some of the most iconic involve a team busting out an unconventional strat that leaves everyone debating whether it should even be legal. CS:GO/CS2 has the infamous “Olofbooster” match, League of Legends has Azubu Frost reaching the World 2 Finals by screen-peeking, Overwatch had the “Brigitte in Spawn” gambit from the 2018 Playoffs. And now Deadlock, despite not having even left alpha yet, has had its own, courtesy of a bizarre interaction between a specific item and a recently-adjusted map element. But before we… [Continue Reading]

Deadlock’s Seven

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The first time you boot up Deadlock, you’re going to be prompted to play a tutorial to learn the bare minimum of how things work in the Cursed Apple. And this game is absolutely complicated enough that everyone, myself included, will highly recommend you indulge that offer. You will find yourself playing a cackling electricity-ridden scarecrow with a satellite dish for a head, and the first thing I remember thinking was, “aabicus, under no circumstances are you allowed to main the tutorial guy. Any other character, sure, but there’s nothing lamer than playing the easy class clearly designed for noobs.” I… [Continue Reading]

[FFXIV] The One Potion Useful From Level 1-100

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Final Fantasy XIV progression, like most MMORPGs, is driven by gear, consumables, and socket enhancements. And all these inventory items are repeatedly and categorically replaced by new ones as players level up, to the point that most of them are all but obsolete every ten levels or so. Consumables are probably hit the worst of all, often outstripped by newer better options every major patch, and there are few reasons to keep ‘last season’s best’ around given how much cheaper, better, and more prevalent the new flavor of the week always is. Except one. There’s a single potion, included in… [Continue Reading]

In Which Medic Writes Stories

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Retvik (known as Medic on this blog) needs no introduction, as she’s far and away the most prolific writer and editor the site has ever seen. She’s written 2,924 articles, more than double everybody else combined, and she also edits, illustrates, and graphically designs most of the rest of what’s on the Daily SPUF. Truly, she’s more dedicated to the craft of writing than anyone I know. But gaming journalism is only one of her ongoing creative projects, she also writes a massive sprawling universe of countless characters, worlds, and narratives called the Phoviverse, and I’ve been reading it since roughly 2015.… [Continue Reading]

Deadlock’s Ivy

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When I was invited to join the Deadlock closed playtest in August 2024, I installed it and logged into the main menu with pretty much no idea what I was getting into. After starting up the sandbox to poke around, I was faced with a massive list of random heroes I knew nothing about, and chose the winged gargoyle because I figured flight would be useful for exploring the map. A year and a half later, Ivy is still my favorite hero in the game. She really has a little bit of everything, and I’m mostly just writing this to gush about… [Continue Reading]

Player Housing: WoW vs. FFXIV

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World of Warcraft has recently made waves in the gaming sphere by finally adding housing! Arguably one of the most requested features since the game first released in 2004, it’s crazy to see it finally come to light 22 years later. And even more exciting, it is (by all accounts) quite good! I’ve heard nothing but glowing reviews from those who got to sample the closed beta or PTR version, though I myself have kept my sub suspended for my own productivity. But Blizzard, perhaps anticipating the recalcitrance of fair-weather gamers such as myself, has cleverly offered a free weekend… [Continue Reading]

How to Hit More Shots in Call of Cthulhu

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One of the reasons combat builds aren’t recommended in Call of Cthulhu is that the odds are pretty much always stacked against you, even in the areas you’ve specced yourself out to excel. A starting character cannot have more than 75% in any given stat, meaning even if you max yourself out in something (which, let’s be real, is a gigantic stake of skillpoints to expend on a single skill), you’re still gonna fail a quarter of the time! And nowhere is this more visible then when your “WWI veteran sniper” constantly misses more shots than a member of The A-Team.… [Continue Reading]