Michael R. Baker's Blog, page 2

Games of 2020: The Honorable Mentions

Early Access saw a difficult road, but now we’re about to get into the really cool stuff – the Honorable Mentions. These are all games that, while didn’t quite get into my Top 10 this year, are all great in their own way and well worth the look. Unlike 2019 in which some of my picks were games that had some serious flaws (cough, Outer Worlds and Greedfall, cough), these are all pretty solid. I will be talking about them in greater depth of course, so watch this space!

I only have so much room, so I will be limiting the number of Honorable Mentions this year to six games maximum. With the sheer number of games I’ve looked at this year, this has to be done.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Let’s kick things off with a game genre I don’t usually play. If there’s any game that benefited from this year’s devastating pandemic, it is Animal Crossing. It was so well timed that I wonder if Nintendo secretly created it…anyhow…Animal Crossing has taken the world by storm. Even I got to play quite a lot of it. If you told me in January I would have put in over 50 hours in this game, I would have laughed at you. Well, who’s laughing now? I know, it’s rookie numbers for a game like this, with people having hundreds if not thousands of hours in,

Animal Crossing is a really strange game, but it’s one where I understand the vast hype behind it. It’s been in the making for years, and the launch was massive on a scale unlike I’ve rarely seen. This game’s fanbase is colossal, and I can see why in a way. The game is 100% chill, even if the design of it revolves around owing a money to a greedy as shit raccoon. The game revolves around debt, but in a way in which there is no pressure or time constraints. If only that was true in reality, huh?

You create your house, invite villagers to join your growing community, unlocking new shops and stuff as things go on. Eventually, you’ll unlock terraforming, which is where the game really took off for me. My island still looks like a giant fucking potato, but at least I can pretty it up. There are fossils to collect in the new museum (one of my favourite parts of the game, and travelling in the museum is quite gorgeous at times), and real time events all year. There’s even a turnip market, which has become a vast industry in the scene for making a ton of money. Buy turnips cheap, and hope to god your turnip prices are good to sell them off before they become rotten and useless. Or fly to someone elses island to sell them for good profit! I’ve seen people sell this for insane money in communities, and don’t get me started on rare villagers. People are weird.

While I considered ranking Animal Crossing higher, I have a few issues with this game, which is why it’s not on my Top 10. For one, some of its systems feel slow for no reason apart from “quirky factors.” Allow me to craft multiple items, please! The constant repetitive dialogue, while charming at first, grinds on me too, and this really ramped up to gear fuck during the Easter event, with that damn bunny…I stopped the Easter event out of sheer frustration with how god-damn awful the dialogue was. One island per console is also a bit of a dick move, though I get they wanted to stop scumming/’cheating’. It’s a single-player game mostly, and the multiplayer options while fun and charming are deeply flawed, not helped by Nintendo’s piss poor online functionality in comparison with other publishers. Sigh…

I shouldn’t have to sit there twiddling my thumbs unable to move while the game goes through a slow as molasses cutscene for my friend to show up on my island, and this repeats every single time. The villagers, while adorable and quirky, their dialogue too gets repetitive after a while, and their personalities are a little thin. They are cute though, and I felt myself wanting to please them. Damn it, game! Not being able to skip any dialogue either is frustrating.

It seems in comparison to previous AC games, especially New Leaf, New Horizons is a bit barren on this regard, and I still can’t understand why Nintendo refuses to add any QOL patches to the game. I get that the game is meant to be slow paced, but that is no excuse for some of the game’s issues. At the same time, I see people complaining they run out of content while sitting on over 500 hours…which is just silly. Sure, it’s barren of features and it could do with more things to do, but that kind of complaint with that much playtime feels strange.

All it needs is a few improvements like that. Despite all my issues with New Horizons, I would never have played 50 hours if I didn’t like it. It’s addictive, and it’s interesting how such a mundane game at times grabbed me, making me want to play more. During the first few months I played it every day, and while I don’t play it much these days, I’ll always return to it. It takes a lot to do that. It just needs these things fixed, or at the very least improved for me to really love it, but they seem resistant to it. Eh.

It feels a little like Pokemon Sword and Shield, and boy I know that’s a controversial comment to make. I enjoy the game, but New Horizons could be so much better….*collapses under horde of AC fans*.

Still, it’s my first Animal Crossing game and I liked it. I’ll keep playing it too. That’s why it’s on my list.

Final Score: 8/10

Wasteland 3

This game was difficult to place. In some regards, the game is of a quality where I feel it belonged in my Top 10. On the other hand, parts were so frustrating that it nearly ended up in my ‘Dropped the Ball’ shit list. At the end of the day however, I decided to place Wasteland 3 in this spot.

Boy, did inXile Entertainment have high hopes for this. £55?!! That is an insane price tag, and it got a lot of criticism for it. Any studio, even AAA needs to justify having that price, and for a small studio like these guys, who have a lot to prove after a few struggling launches in Wasteland 2 and the really rough Bards Tale IV, £55 was a lot to ask for. There was a silver lining this time, with Wasteland 3 being part of Microsoft’s good-value Xbox Game Pass, so for a few quid you could pick it up and play easily. That’s what I did.

Fortunately, Wasteland 3 is by far the best game inXile have put out in a long time, and the quality in some regards shines. A vast Fallout-esque setting where you get the freedom to do anything you want, coupled with strong writing and really good voice acting, Wasteland 3 is quite the impressive experience. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had a solid RPG, and Wasteland 3 ticks quite a few boxes. With your team of Rangers destroyed during an ambush by the psychotic Dorseys, you’re recruited by the Patriarch of Colarado, in which you need to try and bring his three children to heel. Set in a post apocalyptic Arizona, the game world is really quite impressive, and the game is not only chunky, but completely open. There’s a lot of side quests, but you don’t need to do them. If you want, you can complete the main game in around 25-30 hours, but it can easily stretch to 50+ if you wanted. There needs to be more games like that.

Combat is done in turn-based mode, and it’s quite meaty with a lot of customization and options for your squad, in which you get many ways to flesh out. The writing in the game is surprisingly good, with full voice acting to boot. The factions are quite wacky and there is some issues with ‘one dimension syndrome’, but they were memorable enough for me to enjoy.

Unfortunately, the biggest issue with this game for me was the bugs. I’ve rarely played a buggier game, and this is coming from the guy who plays a ton of early access titles, Kingdom Come Deliverance at launch and fucking Skyrim. Man…the bugs were rough to get through, and if you wanted to play co-op at launch? Good luck with the breaking quests and crashes. The combat is quite slow, with some encounters taking nearly 30-40 mins. Imagine my anger at the end of these difficult segments when the game freezes…sigh. Patches have fixed a lot of the problems, but the trick here guys is to ensure you have a good launch, not a bad one. People get frustrated with all these games releasing in such a buggy state, having to wait a while for things to get fixed, and with a big RPG like this when such a broken quest can doom tens of hours of progress? It’s a real problem.

Things like that, as well as little stuff like subpar music, muddy visuals and a frustrating UI is what keeps Wasteland 3 off my Top 10. I did wonder whether to include it, because I’ve had buggier games in my list before, but it was just a bit much. Still, keep an eye on it. I’m recommending it because I’ve enjoyed my playthrough of it a lot so far.

Final score: 8/10

Spellforce 3: Fallen God

Remember what I said about not including games I had a part in my Top 10? Yep.

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This is the one. Unlike Soul Harvest, in which my involvement was behind the scenes testing, dialogue fixing and a couple of in-game books and documents, I had a lot more involvement with Spellforce 3 Fallen God. Hundreds of descriptions for in-game items and weapons, worldbuilding inspections, books and letters were written by me this time, as well as some role in the narrative and character designs. It’s a lot harder to remain neutral about Fallen God, but I will try. First off, a big kudos to my fellow people at Grimlore Games for this release, because they’ve come up with an even stronger game than Soul Harvest.

Trolls are very rarely covered in video games, and they haven’t been seen much in Spellforce since the olden days which is why we went with the Trolls. Taking the reins of the Moonkin tribe, a clan of trolls fading due to after-effects of a devastating plague, enslaved by resurgent orcs and hunted by elven tusk hunters, they are on the brink of destruction when a mysterious stranger offers a chance of survival – reviving a fallen god.

This doesn’t take anything away from how I personally find the game though. I go into everything separated on how I view the game, and it’s how I treated this game as well. What I will say is it would have been in my Top 10 otherwise. No questions asked. It’s better than previous Spellforce iterations.

It’s also very reasonably priced at £19.99/$25, with a discount to anyone who owns Spellforce 3. For a game with a main quest that’s around 20 hours, with total gameplay totaling at least 30 (I cracked 25 hours each in two different playthroughs while testing), I was very impressed with its value. As someone who hates spending money on anything, that’s testament. We intended on a shorter game than Soul Harvest this year, but ended up with something around the same length. Weird how life happens, doesn’t it?

The characters nailed it for me in a way which previous Spellforce games didn’t. The trolls were all fleshed out and well written, and a huge achievement to the fellow writing team (I didn’t do anything with the troll dialogue, so this isn’t biased!) The crafting system is also clever, and the troll faction itself is fun to play.

My only real gripe with Fallen God as a gamer is I wish there was more enemy diversity, with bugs and spider mobs occurring a little too much for my liking. There’s also a few bugs and glitches, but I imagine they will get fixed.

It really was an honor to work on Fallen God, and I think fans of the RPG genre will really like this one. As of writing this, it’s sitting on 96% positive reviews on Steam, so we’ve done something right!

Final Score: 8.5/10

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

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I’ve never been one for multiplayer games, let alone stuff like this. A few games, usually by small studios, have really taken the gaming world by storm this year, such as Among Us, Phasmophobia and this one, Fall Guys. I played the open beta of this game before launch and I had a lot of fun with it. Think Takeshi’s Castle for its madness.

In a Battle Royale style party game, you and up to fifty nine others must fight in a swathe of obstacle courses to become the winner. The physics engine is what makes this game tick because you bounce and fall around like a guy with an inner ear infection. I get to make that joke because I had an infection last year. It was fun. Not.

It’s been a lot of fun, and it’s nice just to log in for half an hour or so and see how we go. I’ve never won a Fall Guys event, but other people I know have. *Glares at a certain someone with his 30 odd wins* It’s entertaining to go into the different party games. Some are team-based which are frustrating depending on who you get, while many are single-versus races to the depth. There’s a nice amount of variety, though I would love to see more races and courses.

Hacking was a huge issue for this game in the early days, and it took nearly three months for an anti-cheat. This turned a lot of people off it, and I would like to see some kind of discount for the game in the future. 20$ isn’t bad, but you’re going up against the 5$ Among Us and 15$ Phasmophobia as competition, who have both overtaken Fall Guys. It needs more work and more courses, but I’ve enjoyed Fall Guys a lot, and it deserves a mention.

Final Score: 7.5/10

Factorio

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Honestly, I’m insulted I have to put this game here. Because of my rules, only one game in the “Pre-2020 Early Access hitting 1.0” category can make my Top 10 this year, and that game is not Factorio. I wish it could be. You’ll find out what that game is in the coming weeks. I didn’t want to clutter up my list too much, you know my reasons why.

This is nothing on the game, because Factorio is one of the best games I have ever played. Deeply addictive factory management where you can play for thousands of hours, there’s a good reason people refer to this game as: the video game crack. I can certainly see that. Factorio is an absolute delight to play, and I can’t even begin to even review it…

Which is the only reason it is not in my Top 10. I have less than 20 hours playtime in Factorio so far, which for me, is nowhere near enough to even come close to scratching the surface. I’ve played, and I’ve loved it. It’s in an incredibly stable state, with very few bugs. The gameplay is rewarding and enticing. The learning curve is steep, but the beginning is very kind to you. You can customize almost everything you want. It has dedicated mod support. The tutorial campaign is well made, rewritten from the ground up, and I’ve been having a blast learning and failing. The only thing about this game that could be improved is the music, which gets the job done, but that’s about it. I can’t criticize anything else.

In another world and another year, Factorio would have been my Game of the Year, but it’s just not happening. I haven’t played it enough yet. Buy it, please. Try it. An amazing game that’s still being worked on years on, with great developers and incredible value for money? You can’t go wrong. I’ll give this game the review it deserves in the future, that’s a promise.

Ongoing Score: 9.5/10

Parkasaurus

Another game that launched in 1.0 this year, and this game is a real charmer. There are very few dinosaur management games available on the market, and Jurassic World Evolution was one of the bigger ones. However, that game was a massive disappointment for me. It was by far the most regretful purchase I made in 2018, because Jurassic World was such a half-baked launch, rushed out by Frontier in time for the Fallen Kingdom movie. I’ll quote from a previous review I did about that game here:

“The map sizes are also tiny, making it feel very like the universally panned Simcity 2013. You just can’t do much with what you make. Sure there are five islands to do with some different challenges, but to what extent can you make different parks? There isn’t much you can do. The variety just isn’t there and the main problem is how the game limits you to what you can do to make your park look good. This isn’t helped by a terrible Peep AI. Drive a jeep at them and they just jump aside in this stupid glitch movement that’s worse then Rollercoaster Tycoon World.

You want to see shitty people AI? Look at that abomination of a video game, then cry as you realize Jurassic World Evolution has things worse. At least the peeps in RCTW do something, even when they move like sausage rolls tap-dancing across ice. There is no interaction with the guest. Zip. Nothing. I get the game is geared for the dinosaurs more then the park, but when games from 10-15 years ago do things better then this one, you can tell you ’re doing something wrong. Sure there’s dinosaurs and lots of them, but not much point when you’re constrained to such a small map.

I get it was rushed out by Universial Studios pressuring Frontier in time for the new movie, I get that. But come on, the game was barebones on launch, missing features that were advertised in pre-launch trailers! It felt like a slap to the face, particularly when the game was 50-60$ in the first place. Sure it ’s been improved significantly since launch, but I’m quite surprised the game has sold so well when it has had so many problems. The extra dinosaur skin DLC doesn’t really help its fundamental flaws, and the complete lack of modding (not really Frontiers fault on this one) does not help it’s case. When my favourite part of the game is driving the little jeep or Gyroball around the tiny park, you’ve done something wrong.”

Yeah….Jurassic World Evolution annoyed me on a level that few games have. In fact, I don’t think I was as disappointed in a game launch since Total War Rome II. To be fair, Jurassic World Evolution has improved things a great deal, and I will give it a chance in the future.

Parkasaurus contains all the charm and love that I feel Evolution lacked. It’s a complete, well made dinosaur zoo builder with some real quality to it. The dinosaurs are cute, with real personalities just like the peep AI, which is far better than most tycoon games I’ve played. There’s a surprising amount of depth in this park builder, and setting up your park while simple has a nice, gentle learning curve. Made by just two people, it’s really the perfect example of giving you some challenge, but never forgets to have fun. That’s something a lot of management games lack. Planet Zoo does things in a bit more depth, a rather well made game from Frontier in what I believe is a welcome return to form for them, but Parkasaurus is a very close second.

If you want to look after little dinosaurs in a highly competent game, Parkasaurus is my first pick. There’s more content coming, and the developers are great at communication. I’m also aware this was more a dig at JWE than a review of Parkasaurus. I will be willing to give Evolution a better chance in the future, especially with its new features and updates. However, I’m happy to say that this game is very enjoyable with a lot of content. The fossil mechanic to find new dinosaurs is solid, the game doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s truly wholesome. The music isn’t bad either.

Final Score: 8.5/10

Closing Thoughts:

There were quite a few games that would have gotten a mention here. Teardown and Ruinarch were my two standout Early Access titles to add as an Honorable Mention, which while neither make my Top 10 this year, are both solid games with a ton of potential. It was a really close run thing, particularly Teardown. There were just a couple of games in the early access list I felt did things a little better overall.

Sorry, Sands of Salzaar. You’re almost there, just need a bit more polish. It’s been a strong year by you, though!

Join me next time as I start the Top 10 countdown proper!

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Published on December 02, 2020 00:05

Book Review: Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietazu

So, everyone knows how much I love Enderal, one of the best RPGS and stories in recent times. And it has a novel out too! It’s been ages since I have written a book review: the last one was Girl of the Stars by Mark Lawrence. I’m back again with a really special book.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The first version I read was the web novel released on Patreon by its author, writer of Enderal and game writer Nicholas Lietazu last year. It was also one of my favorite books of 2019. I was even happier to read the retail version, which is even stronger, if possible. You can tell right away how much love, work, blood and sweat has gone into it, from the formatting, to the amazing cover (one of the best covers I’ve seen on any book period) to the wonderful typography. Dreams of the Dying is a beauty to hold in my hands, and a beauty to read. Makes me want the hardcover more than ever.

Enderal had some of the best characters in any video game ever, and Dreams of the Dying takes the best of them all and shows him on his journeys before the events of Enderal. Jespar is brought to life in the paper world, and it just proves Nicolas knows how to write a damn good book just as well as he can making us love his world and characters in the computer screen too. He’s taken and evolved the canon from Enderal into his own way, making up for years of insight and experience, which is a good thing!
DOTD (I’ll do this abbreviation from now on) has stunning worldbuilding, to the point I could read the pages and know exactly where I was. That takes fucking skill and talent to do, and it’s so vivid I could virtually feel the heat and mugginess from the Kile’ archipelago setting, from the rocks and beaches to the massive ziggurat. If you like worldbuilding and lore, this might just be the best for that in a long time. Everything is built and crafted so well, and it gets top marks in that regard from me.

The story is strong, and while this is a slow burner, the journey gathers pace until it’s a maelstrom. Desperate for money and torn apart from his own brain bunnies, Jespar is recruited for a dangerous journey to cure one of the rulers of Kile, as the seeds of a deadly rebellion grow amongst the realm. It’s powerful and pungent, with scenes out of some horror film in stages. It’s a potent psychological journey from beginning to end, and the losses in this book are a punch to the gut. This is quite a long book, but I give it a lot of credit in that I didn’t struggle with the length at all. It felt shorter than it is, which in this case, is a blessing. I didn’t want the book to end, but it was designed well enough that it didn’t overstay its welcome, something some books lack. It ramps up in tension until the explosive middle, and the brutal riot that follows really stays with you. This is a story about desperation, how a devastating money-fuelled world drives the common man to back monsters. It’s really powerful, especially when we think about how things are in the current world. It makes you think a lot.

The characters are the book’s strongest point for me, as it doesn’t matter how good your world design is, if you can’t write good characters fit to fill a noodle, there’s no point. The cast is diverse, well crafted and incredibly well written. My favourite character has to be Oonai, our broken bedridden ruler of Kile. We discover his character as the story goes on, and while he is an absolute monster, Nicolas did an incredible job in fleshing him out. I can’t help but love his character, even when I want to introduce him repeatedly to a baseball bat with a nail through it. Lysia, Kawu and Jespar all share the limelight, and their struggles kept me entwined with the book all the way through.

This book covers mental health in the way it should be: honest. We need more transparency about mental health, as it’s a growing pandemic in its own right, and DOTD pulls all the punches on this regard. It’s powerful, intelligent and emotional. Jespar struggles with all the demons and it plays out in a brutal realism of depression. It’s so effective that it made me uncomfortable at times seeing his spiral, even though I understood why. Still, this is quite the potent book that covers difficult topics, so thought I’d mention the warning. As much as I love Jespar, the way he treats Lysia and Kawu at times in the book got grating. Not in a bad way and certainly not a slight on the writer, but it did make me uncomfortable at times. I would also say the big twist (which I will not mention) I do wish came to a conclusion in a more organic way. It’s done well enough, but I would have liked to see a bit more natural path to coming to it.

My final point is more me being a minor nitpicker than actual criticism, coming from somebody who adores writing lore. I love this series magic system, but while it does a good job in avoiding the “Character Vomit” syndrome of describing it in detail, I did find it overwhelming at times. It’s done in a natural and organic way, and I relate that explaining lore in any way is difficult without sounding like a textbook. It avoids many of the pitfalls, but it’s still there in some ways.

That’s how much I struggle to find any real criticism of Dreams of the Dying. Hopefully that whets your appetite, because this is the only book in 2020 I preordered. If that doesn’t excite you, I don’t know what will. It’s one of my favourite books of 2020, and while it’s not perfect, Nicolas can be damn proud of himself. He’s done an amazing job, and I’m a lifelong fan. Just not in a weird way. coughs When I stay up way past my bedtime because I want to keep turning the pages, it should tell you how much I enjoyed this novel.

I cannot wait for book two. And if the author is reading this, take the time and enjoy a good rest. You’ve earned it. Let’s face it, we both know you’ll be reading this book review. I know you well enough!

Final score: 9.0/10

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Published on November 30, 2020 00:00

Games of 2020: Best of Early Access

This might be a long read. Best to grab some snacks and coffee before reading this!

Welcome to the first of my annual video game Who’s Who for 2020! To read up on it, check out my intro here:

Early Access has seen a slew of really cool stuff this year. I know there’s a lot of stigma attached to games that release in an early state and ask for money in return for playing it early, but I enjoy exploring them. Indie and AA studios are where the innovation exists, so I’m happen to explore and have a deep look inside them. 2020 has seen some excellent games like this, and I’m happy to take the time to show off some of my favorites.

Remember, only three max will make my Top 10 overall this year, and it was difficult enough picking these, there’s been a lot more than that. I’ve had to count out many cool early access games just because I haven’t had time to play them enough yet. You might see some of those in a future article, however.

Monster Train

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Let’s kick things off with one of the best deckbuilders of 2020, and there’s been quite a few of them. I’m not going to pretend how much I enjoy this game, so I’ll try to keep it as concise as possible.

Deck-building games have been growing in popularity since the launch of Slay the Spire (Which came out of early access in 2020, but you won’t be seeing it this year. Why? Because I haven’t played enough of it).
Monster Train’s systems are easy enough. You have to defend your train from a growing onslaught of enemies, and protect your heart (called the Pyre). If it gets destroyed, you lose. Simple, but makes for an addictive gameplay loop. 8 levels, with increasingly difficult enemies to fight.

There are five different decks in the base, with a major deck and a minor as backup. This makes for some interesting different strategies, and it’s something I’ve really enjoyed playing with. Each deck has a different core plan around it. For example, the Awoken are based around damaging your enemies through them hitting your monsters while using spells for damage, while the Morsels are eaten to buff your stronger monsters. Be careful, because different enemies have different plans of their own. For example, the Morsel deck is powered by sacrificing your army to strengthen your bigger guys. Be a shame if one level had monsters that gained strength for every death?

Just like your opponents, you get boss monsters of your own, and every few levels you’ll get to upgrade them. Transform your champion into something stronger, and you get the chance to strengthen your monsters as well, giving them more HP, more attack damage or give them more abilities. All you need to do is give up gold. There are special challenges too, where you can accept a difficulty modifier for a greater prize. Artifacts also add replayability, with boons that help you out along the way.

Because of this, there is a ton of strategy involved, and it’s really been addictive. I haven’t played 60 hours plus in this game for no reason. Monster Train was not long in Early Access this year, relying on a lightning fast development and launching in 1.0 earlier this year. That’s good, because even at launch, the game was in a beautiful state, with a ton of content and very few technical issues. This game is charming, polished, highly re-playable, and above all, extremely well made. Roguelikes need good gameplay, and Monster Train does so well in these regards.

You may be wondering: If this game came out in 1.0, why is it in the Early Access section? I’m just as baffled as you are. My answer is this: I’ve seen the development from beginning to end, and while it’s out of early access now, it’s far from done, with more content plotted. Because Monster Train launched in 2020 and not an early access title from previous years, it felt right putting it in this section.

There’s even mod support now. It’s a slow start, but I know there will be even more content from modders soon. Monster Train is brilliant, and deserves to be at the top of the pack.

You…You can probably guess already how this will fare. Well, sit back, because there are other games to talk about!

Ruinarch

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One biggest problem I have with video games is actually completing some. It’s something that’s become a running joke with some members of my gaming community. I’m trying, I promise! Well, Ruinarch is a game I can technically add to the list of games completed for this year, and it’s a pretty good one.

Ruinarch is a fascinating little game that launched in 2020 in Early Access. A simulation sandbox game where you create obstacles and cause conflicts in procedurally generated fantasy worlds. I like to refer to it as Reverse Rimworld: while that game focuses on you as a group of survivors trying to escape a planet while an evil, piece of shit enemy director tries to fuck with you as much as possible, in Ruinarch, you are that piece of shit director.
And it’s got quite a lot of things you can do. It has a little bit of the now long-dead god game sim inside it (A travesty because the god gaming genre was amazing), so you can approach wiping out villages in different ways. You can cast powerful spells like fire, lightning and blizzards to rain hell upon them, if you like the direct approach. You have powerful demons you can summon, which helps the “Operation Fuckup Village” plan. Be careful of course, because the villagers don’t like evil gods by principle.

Or you can go the more subtle approach. Ruinarch has quite a nice system where the villagers have different relationships and personalities, and infecting them with say…darker thoughts is one way to ruin them too. Turn a wife against her husband by making her a vampire, or a son against his father by turning him into a psychopath who only kills other men. There’s a lot to play with, and there’s enough content to keep you interested.

The game is in early access and in a fairly enjoyable state, if a little buggy at times. I completed all six base scenarios (which have some variation on gameplay and need different tactics to complete them) in about 12 hours, but there’s a good amount of replayability with all the options. So far, I recommend it if you want a unique little game to let off steam, and it has a nice roadmap with more content and features to come. It just needs a bit more polish, but it’s nearly there.

Traveller’s Rest

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You notice how in RPGs, you always seem to go to taverns? You drink beer, occasionally get into fights with people, piss off the innkeeper, occasionally solicit tavern girls and pick up quests? What if you were the innkeeper? There’s been a serious shortage of these kinds of games, and often they struggle with their design. Crossroads Inn is one of the few examples I can think of, a game that’s had a rocky development to say the least. It’s still interesting, and I’m looking forward to playing that more, but it’s a genre I wish we had more games of.

That’s why I was so interested in Traveller’s Rest. Released in August of this year, Traveller’s Rest is a charming game that reminds me a little of Stardew Valley in its art style and design. You get your tavern from humble beginnings and you need to build up from scratch, making your tavern as comfortable as possible, sell drink and food (which you make yourself) to your guests and rake in a profit. It’s pretty quaint, and surprisingly well polished for a game from a single developer.

There’s a lot of charm in this game as well, with lots of content. You unlock more and more tools and equipment the higher your reputation goes, such as a farm where you can plant crops, and upstairs rooms where you can host guests. The game has a lot of micromanagement especially early game, and you may find yourself overwhelmed at the beginning. This does get easier when you unlock bar staff, who will take care of most of the legwork allowing you to focus on brewing and crafting. With the amount of customization you get to do with your food and drink, there’s an awful lot of experimentation.

Your customers are fickle, and you’ll need to work hard to impress them. Make sure your tavern is clean, as if your little guy don’t like their experience, they will give you a negative feedback, which reduces your reputation score. It’s best not to expand too quickly, a few tables to begin with to seat guests, and order in more stuff as things progress. You get an extensive XP and Tech tree as upgrades which all contribute to your experience, adding more things you can craft or make, improving your abilities as an innkeeper and all sorts.

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While this game is addictive, charming and a lot of fun so far, I do have some recommendations. The menu/UI systems are a little clunky, and you’ll need to micro them about by clicking through menus constantly to get where you want to be. That could be improved. Furthermore, NPC interaction leaves a little to be desired, with limited options so far. You do get to unlock more features, but I would like to see an overhaul of their dialog system just to add a little more life.

Despite the few flaws so far, this is a well crafted sim, and one of the strongest in its genre. We’re only a few months into its development, and I’m really excited to see how it progresses. One to look out for, for sure!

Medieval Dynasty

Remember Kingdom Come: Deliverance? It was my GOTY in 2018: a beautiful, ambitious and well crafted medieval RPG, with some caveats in performance and an interesting combat system. What if you made it a crafting/survival simulator? Welcome to Medieval Dynasty.

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Made by the same guys who made Farmers Dynasty, I think a lot of people were skeptical this could pull it off. Farmer’s Dynasty isn’t bad by any means, but a hardcore survival/crafting Medieval RPG is hard to do well, and many believed that these guys, while ambitious and capable, couldn’t pull it off.

I was one of those believers, but the game looked fascinating as a premise, so I was happy to try it out. While Medieval Dynasty is among the least played on my list at this current time, I’m amazed by how well they’ve pulled it off. The game is gorgeous to start off, with some of the best lighting and forests I’ve seen in a AAA title, let alone a small indie studio. While it’s ‘survival crafting’, a phrase many gamers now roll their eyes at, this is done rather well. There’s a nice questline to starters, so you’re not blundering about like a gorilla who has finally discovered he can mate for the first time, which gives you a lot of space to get used to the mechanics. You can craft your own village from scratch, and even start your own family.

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Skeptical of another Early Access title in limbo? Don’t be. The developers are very helpful in dealing with problems, communicative, and committed to seeing this game through. I’ve seen more updates in a week than most Early Access titles get in a month. Medieval Dynasty is in one polished state, and while there are a few bugs and glitches, and I wish the game had voice acting, it’s impressive how complete it feels already.

Sands of Salzaar

Released early this year (I’m talking the crack of 2020, 3rd of January. It feels like years!), Sands of Salzaar looked interesting from the beginning, but it had one major flaw: no English localization. This was…a bit of a problem. Fortunately, things improved in September when the devs made big improvements to the game, including complete English translation. This was what I was looking for, and I leapt right onto the game. Salzaar is a fascinating game, with a lot of good things to say about it.

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The best way to describe Sands of Salzaar would be a twisted smoothie between Kenshi, Banner Saga and Battle Brothers. Set in a vast desert landscape, there’s some really call ideas in this. You travel on the large open world map and explore locations, recruit soldiers and upgrade them, carry out missions and side quests and eventually be able to control your own cities. There’s resources and food to collect to feed your growing army, and loads of different items to power up your character heroes. Unlike games like Kenshi, there are dedicated questlines in this game, and the writing is surprisingly good, even if the dialogue at times is a bit odd. That’s probably down to the English translation, which while is easy to understand, isn’t a perfect fit, so some stuff may be a little strange.

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The soundtrack is beautiful, and it’s quite a delight to explore the overworld while listening to the music. Combat takes place in a different map where it’s real-time combat. You control your hero while your army battles alongside you, and you take on all manners of enemies. There are also siege scenarios where you have to take control of the buildings in mind. This could do with a lot more balance, and might be the weakest part of the game, but there are frequent patches and I’m sure it’ll improve in time. The combat, while clunky, is easy to get into and quite refreshing.

Sands of Salzaar is a true hidden gem. It’s not quite where it needs to be yet, but it’s a chunky game with a great open world, nice quests with surprisingly good writing, and a ton of replayability with its strong Legacy system. Expect me to talk about this game more in the future, because it’s an ambitious game oozing brilliance under the surface.

Teardown

It’s rare that a video game grabs me within the opening ten minutes, but that’s what Teardown has done for me.

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Made by a small, independent studio known as Tuxedo Labs based in Sweden, Teardown does what gaming is set out to do in brilliant style: mad, endless fun. Early Access has seen a slew of really cool stuff this year. I know there’s a lot of stigma attached to games that release in an early state and ask for money in return for playing it early, but I enjoy exploring them. Indie studios are where the innovation exists, so I’m happen to explore and have a deep look inside them. 2020 has seen some excellent games in this regard, and Teardown is one of the best launches from a small studio I’ve seen in recent years.

It’s wonderful to see this. We’ve seen incredible surges in some games (Among Us), while others like Fall Guys and Phasmophobia have also seen a lot of coverage. Teardown is looking like another huge hit with the consumers, and it’s wonderful to see. You can probably guess this will be a rather glowing review, but I’ll try and point out the game’s flaws as well.

So, what is Teardown? Here’s the gist of it, according to the Steam page:

“Prepare the perfect heist in this simulated and fully destructible voxel world. Tear down walls with vehicles or explosives to create shortcuts. Stack objects to reach higher. Use the environment to your advantage in the most creative way you can think of.”

The story is still in development, and because this game is in early access, it may be a while before we see the full thing, but the basis is you’re a struggling demolition company in hard times. Pressured by this, you end up taking increasingly dodgy contracts from some messed up people eager to cause as much chaos as possible, often putting you in the middle. There’s 20 missions at launch in four different locations, featuring stuff like picking up valuables, stealing stuff and plain old destruction. There’s alarms to work around, and a time limit to get through them. This ends up with a lot of work around the map, as you explore tricks and ways to nab your targets in the time limit. This is both stressful and fun, because the game sandbox gives you so many options.

You get to destroy everything with the right tool in a brilliantly designed voxel world. I don’t think I’ve seen a system like this in a while that shows off physics in a way this game does, and it does it in an addictive way. Blow up or destroy things to form bridges, parkour across buildings, smash windows to jump in from odd angles, and so much more. You get ten tools to use, from smashy hammers, to pipe bombs, to blowtorches and guns. You unlock these by completing objectives, which is a nice incentive to keep doing them. Primary and secondary objectives contribute, and the more you do, the more you’ll increase in rank. Jumping ranks means unlocking more weapons.

Fire also spreads. Use explosives inside a place with flammable material, and the fire will take hold, resulting in awesome results. It looks amazing, though it will tank your framerate after a while. There’s also a ton of vehicles to drive, with their own physics and some rather nice driving controls. Diggerland was a nice place in the UK I used to go to as a kid to drive diggers; always an awesome experience. Teardown reminds me of that, only you get to destroy stuff as well.

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The mission design is very simple but it’s always fun. Usually you have alarms that break, and you need to grab everything on the map and flee. With only 60 seconds to pull off these type of missions, this makes for some really tense and exciting moments in which you need to prepare everything beforehand. I know some people dislike this mechanic and they want to be able to destroy things without time constraints, but there’s a sandbox mode for every map for that reason. The gameplay loop is simple, but highly effective in keeping attention. I’d say there’s about 20-30 hours of content in this current version, but it’s the perfect game to let off steam too. With mod support coming and more missions in the future, its going to be one chunky game for it’s very reasonable price tag.

Visuals are rather pretty. Everything can be destroyed in some form, and the game gets rather gorgeous in spite of its simplistic design. These examples should show off some of them:

Performance is weird to discuss, because while I’ve had a few issues with framerate, I completely understand why. Every single piece of this world has its own physics, so in some ways, it’s quite impressive how well it runs. You’ll still need a beefy computer to get this running perfect, and I discourage smashing large objects into buildings too much. It doesn’t matter how powerful your system is, that kind of destruction all at once will be taxing on your computer. Same goes for any large-scale fires, so play around with the options. Speaking of, while there are a decent amount of things to change options wise, I would like to see more.

If there is a flaw I can find, it’s that while the physics is pretty well implemented, you’ll see some odd things were entire houses are held up by only a few pieces of metal/concrete. If they can fix this, it’ll go a long way, as right now it feels a bit like Red Faction: Guerrilla in that regard.

Teardown can be picked up right now on Steam for $20/20 Euros/£18.49, a rather generous price tag given the amount of content, the polish and the potential to come. I’ll say this now, I’ve rarely been as impressed by an opening in a while, and I feel Teardown has that rare grasp few games possess. I expect this to be a big name over the next 6-9 months, and it might just be one of the strongest early access titles of this crazy year.

Urtuk: The Desolation

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Because I don’t want to spend too long talking about games (We’re up to 3.4k words here, and my brain deeply desires coffee and snacks), I will make this the final Early Access title on the list, and it’s a strong one. Single developer games are really ramping up in quality, and this turn based tactics game is really strong. Made by a single guy, David Kaleta, Urtuk is really an interesting game with a ton of polish.

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Set in a grim, low-fantasy open world, you command a small force of brave adventurers as you travel through this desolate, ruined realm, looking for a tunnel to advance through the world state. I have to talk about the combat, because I have rarely played such a strong, dynamic system. Heavily relying on terrain, the turn-based system is fluid, highly adaptable with a ton of depth. Your characters are diverse as well. Support your characters with a wide range of styles too, and upgrade them with mutators; dangerous abilities that reduce your health, but vastly increases your options. Attack from range with your crossbowman, snipe them with your assassin blades, be a high risk, high return berserker with a big axe, support them with your monk. Being able to swap out mutators at will gives you a ton to work with, and I mean it when I say this is one of the best tactic games out there.

Like I said before, the terrain gives you plenty of things to do. Shove your opponents into spikes to damage them, into oil pits to slow them down, or down spiked ravines to kill them instantly. Of course, your enemies can do the same to you as well, so be careful. You can also extract abilities from your enemies, who come from a wide range of classes like Scavengers, Beasts, Vampires and Werewolves, and use resources to steal them for yourself. This gives even more replayability. Upgrade your characters to gain more stats, and you gain money and life essence. If your characters are injured, heal them with medicine, which is limited. You can buy more, but this is a gritty world and it doesn’t come cheap. The world grows around you as well, with parties hunting down your mutated characters and they grow stronger alongside you.

Urtuk really is a passion project with some excellent build quality. There’s even a Conquest mode in beta set aside from the main campaign, with unlockable options and more planned. It’s also fairly cheap and runs on almost anything, with a great soundtrack.

Finale

Whew. That was quite the read. These are some of the strongest Early Access titles out there on the market, and they are all great in their own right. Which ones will make it into my Top 10? You’ll have to wait and see.

Join me next time, because I’ll be dropping Honorable Mentions!

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Published on November 27, 2020 01:00

Authors in Isolation: Alan J. Hesse

Returning with my Authors in Isolation with a new interview! December is going to bring my annual GOTY blog series, but we’ve got a few weeks until then. Today I bring you an interview with Conservation biologist, educator and comic author Alan Hesse.

First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you write?

I am an author – illustrator of educational comic books / graphic novels about environmental subjects. My main work in progress is to finish the fourth book in a series called The Adventures of Captain Polo. This is a series of comic books about climate change and the global environmental crisis in general. While being educational, based on research and full of accurate non-fiction, the books are above all humorous comic strip fiction stories packed with both existing and fictional characters, as well as lots of action and adventure. All of the books in the series are careful to strike a positive note despite the gravity of the non-fiction subjects they address.

How do you develop your plots and characters?

My challenge is to weave my non-fiction content, based on research, into an entertaining plot with colourful yet also informative characters. To do this I first lay out the non-fiction elements of my book, and then build a story around it, providing ample space not only for including the non-fiction content but also the fiction elements. I tend to use a geographical framework, to make sure my plot stays dynamic and represents lots of varied scenarios. I create specific characters to represent particular types of people or realities, e.g. a Masai herdsman in Kenya talks about his people’s challenge with drought and tourism, whereas a fictional character like the Yeti in Tibet talks about the fact that there is less snow. My main character, Captain Polo, serves as an interpreter to draw out such conversations. Such characters serve the purpose to bring out the non-fiction content, but I also create other characters who have no such role; they serve purely to add to the fictional elements of the story, such as humour, tension, adventure etc.

Tell the world about your current project!

The current book I am working on is called Pole to Pole, the fourth book in my Captain Polo climate change comic book series. It tells the story of how my main character, an anthropomorphic polar bear called Captain Polo, find himself back out on the high seas in his sailing boat, and how he falls into one adventure after another. Polo sails from the Arctic and visits Russia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland and Senegal before finding himself in a situation aboard an oil tycoon’s (a villain) multi-million dollar super yacht in the mid-Atlantic. The book ends there on an open ending leading to Book 5, which will be the continuation of the story all the way to the Antarctic, incorporating the Brazilian Amazon and maybe another couple of places. All along the way Polo uncovers more facts about climate change, its effects on different human societies, ecosystems and wildlife.

Who would you say is the main character of your latest novel? And tell me a little bit about them!

My main character is a polar bear called Captain Polo. He walks bipedally, and he’s a gifted sailor who has a small sailing boat. Polo also knows how to speak to humans, and how to use cash, which is very handy to help get him around. At the start of the first book Polo is just a hungry polar bear whose ice floe melts and ditches him into the sea. By some miracle he manages to get hold of a small boat and in the process finds himself wearing a captain’s cap ( there is a whole comic sequence showing how this happens in the book). As the story unfolds and Polo talks to more and more people and animals all over the world he learns more about climate change and related issues that affect people, cities, ecosystems and wildlife in many parts of the world. As a talking, walking polar bear he naturally attracts attention, and in this way gradually becomes famous. As his fame grows so does his understanding and knowledge of global environmental issues and climate change and he becomes a climate activist and messenger for climate action. I guess Captain Polo could be described as a cross between Paddington Bear and Tintin.

Have you been to any conventions? If so, tell me a little about them!

Not author conventions.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

My professional background is not in literature or even art at all; I am a conservation biologist. However, in August 2018 I took the decision to quit my job and dedicate myself full time to creating my comic books. I will always work in conservation one way or another, but at that time I was becoming unhappy and frustrated with my job. I realized that if I wanted to finish my first climate comic, the 88-page paperback that has now become the Captain Polo series, I had to give it my full attention. For that reason as well as other personal reasons I quit my job and I’ve dedicated my full time to my writing and drawing career ever since. I basically leaped out into the void, and I’m still falling! Although I am still at the beginning of that particular path, I have learned an incredible amount in these past 2 years – notably about self-publishing, ebook formatting, social media and book marketing. I know I have to persist, not give up, however hard that is sometimes.

If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you choose?

I guess that would have to be on a sailing boat going around the world! My book would depict adventures in the places I visited, as well as on the open ocean.

What advice would you give new writers?

Given that an author nowadays also has to also be an entrepreneur to promote and market their books, the one golden rule is to keep on creating new books and learn how to promote and market them at the same time. In time, with enough books to your name, it will be easier to reach success, because each book cross promotes the others, and platforms like Amazon value volume, so the more books you write the better. I would emphasize that it’s a myth to think that if you get a publishing deal you can just sit back and reap the rewards: usually what happens is that the author will have to do a lot, if not all, of their own marketing.

What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding?

I would say there are two things. One is my life-long dedication to the preservation of Nature, my dream to see a human society that by and large lives sustainably, does not take more from the planet than the planet can give. This has defined not only my identity and the way I try to live, but also my professional career choices (I am a conservation biologist).

The other thing about myself that is strongly present in my books is my status as a world citizen. I have lived in many different countries on different continents. This multi-cultural heritage also defines who I am, and it shows up in my books. In my comic book series, Captain Polo the climate change bear undergoes an epic voyage around the world, and along the way he meets many characters, both human and not human, from all kinds of places and cultural backgrounds. Polo’s voyage is illustrated by maps to show where he gets to, and (thanks sometimes to Google translate!) I use real words, expressions and calligraphy in my image backgrounds, even for non-Latin languages: for example the Chinese words appearing on background signs in my images when Polo is in China are actual characters and words in Mandarin, and when he later in the story passes through Cairo the Arabic verbal expressions in the dialogues and written words on market stalls are actual Egyptian Arabic. Similarly I love to bring in the visual elements of different locations I have personally explored or lived in, it’s all in the details. Most readers don’t notice these details, but I put them in for myself!

What inspires you to write?

I believe that I can make positive impact on people, particularly children, through my books. I am inspired by my ability to create meaningful scenarios and worlds populated by fictional, visually amusing characters that deliver impactful non-fictional content about subjects I care deeply about. They say an image is worth 1000 words, and I know that humans make decisions based on their emotions. These are universal truths that inspire me to create books that are bursting with high quality imagery and carefully researched information, combining these elements with the time-proven elements of storytelling to really get into readers’ minds and hearts and make a difference.

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Getting the right balance between making my book useful / informative / educational and also entertaining. The non-fiction vs fiction ratio. I write / draw about very complex subjects such as climate change and all of its effects around the world. It’s tough to make that into a comic book story that is good enough for readers, particularly kids, want to pick it up and read through to the end.

What is your routine when writing, if any? If you don’t follow a routine, why not?

I don’t really follow a daily routine except to try and get a morning pattern – some push ups and a little meditation or listening to a useful podcast. Then I assign specific time chunks to different tasks, to stay focused. The one I like to use is the 50 minute method where I focus on one task for that time with no disruptions.

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write in any of your books, and why?

I have several, and all are sequences of pure fun, with no non-fiction content at all. I love those because I can just let my imagination run free. One example is a scene in my latest book that I working on, where Captain Polo gets mixed up with a Russian nuclear sub patrolling the Siberian coast. This whole sequence has nothing to do with the rest of the book, it’s just in there for fun.

Did you learn anything from writing your latest book? If so, what was it?

Yes, I learned that my model can become repetitive. My model is that Polo travels the world and meets different people or animals, who tell him about their particular environmental or political issues and how it all boils down to global warming and environmental collapse. I have realised that this approach can get monotonous if I’m not careful, and I need to figure out a way to vary it and change things.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? A gardener or an architect?

A plotter and an architect! When I design my book I plan everything out very carefully. It all starts with research on the non-fiction content. Then I switch to my creative brain and imagine a story as a framework to carry that content, as well as characters. I then plot out the dialogues, the action, and visualise it all as a comic strip, usually by making a storyboard. The I start the artwork, and when that’s done I put it all together myself to create the finished book.

I have to do it this way, because I make comic books, and that means combining text with images in the best way possible to optimize both. That is harder than it sounds!

If you had to give up either snacks and drinks during writing sessions, or music, which would you find more difficult to say goodbye to?

Coffee!

Which is your favorite season to write in, and why?

No particular favorite season because I live on the Equator where there are no seasons. However, I would love to write / draw in winter if I could, in a log cabin in the woods with a log fire. I would need good internet though, because I need that for my research.

It’s sometimes difficult to get into understanding the characters we write. How do you go about it?

My main character is a bear so it’s actually quite simple to develop him, though I need to always watch out to make sure he evolves during each story somehow, and that’s not obvious. Otherwise for many other human characters I tend to use stereotype a lot. Because these are cartoon characters in a comic, I can use stereotype quite effectively to develop a character.

What are your future project(s)?

I have to finish this 4th book in my Captain Polo series and then immediately start Book 5, because that is a continuation of the same story. I also want to create more low content books for kids using the same character, e.g. activity books, picture books. I need to fit all of this in with continuing to learn more about marketing, social media, publishing techniques, etc.

What is your favorite book ever written?

It’s practically impossible to choose just one, but off the top of my head I would choose The Physician, by Noah Gordon.

Who are your favorite authors?

Noah Gordon, William Dalyrimple, Frank Herbert, George McDonald Fraser, Bill Bryson.

What makes a good villain?

Depends on the genre. I would say that in any kind of genre except humour, a good villain mustn’t be too black and white. They need to be subtle, they have to also have good sides to them. They must be relatable to the reader and have a personal story to tell, which could have tragic elements. A good example is the Joker in the Batman stories. In humour on the other hand, a good villain can be a total caricature of a baddie – that makes him or her (or it) funny.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Read, play guitar, watch Netflix with my wife, cook, play with my dogs. Travel when I can.

If you couldn’t be an author, what ideal job would you like to do?

Musician.

Coffee or Tea? Or (exult deep breath) what other drink do you prefer, if you like neither?

Both! But coffee is best for creative process. Just a couple of small cups a day.

You can travel to anywhere in the universe. Where would you go, and why?

Saturn, to get a good view of those rings!

Do you have any writing blogs you recommend?

Not really. I do visit blogs and write my own, but they are not about writing per se, rather they are about the non-fiction content I write about. I use them to stay informed and up to date.

Do you have any writer friends you’d like to give a shoutout to?

Michael Ross, author of The Wand Chronicles, a fantasy world that is growing all the time.

Pick any three fiction characters. These are now your roadtrip crew. Where do you go and what do you do?

I pick the genie in Aladdin’s lamp, the Ratatouille rat who cooks, and Pocahontas. We would go around the world in a luxury train like the orient express and stop off to explore everything. The genie would let me do anything I wanted in each location and on the train, the rat would be the onboard chef, and I’d spend my evenings with Pocahontas!

What superpower would you most like?

Be able to fly.

What are two of your favorite covers of all time? (Not your own.)

Tarzan of the Apes, and The Blue Lotus (a Tintin album)

It’s a very difficult time right now for the world. When quarantine and pandemic comes to an end, what is the first thing you would like to do?

Travel to Europe to see my family

Finally, what is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you (i.e., website, personal blog, Facebook page, here on Goodreads, etc.) and link(s)?

Website and blog: https://alanhesse.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.j.hesse/

Amazon authors page: https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B00TP497QA

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Published on November 20, 2020 01:16

Authors in Isolation: Alan J. Heese

Returning with my Authors in Isolation with a new interview! December is going to bring my annual GOTY blog series, but we’ve got a few weeks until then. Today I bring you an interview with Conservation biologist, educator and comic author Alan Heese.