Book 5 of 2024: Kingdom Come

Kingdom Come

Author: Mark Waid (writer) Alex Ross (art)

Genre: Graphic Novel, Superhero

Pages: 232

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 8.2/10

Kingdom Come is an Elseworlds story, which I guess means it's not part of the DC canon, or the main continuity or whatever.

Set in the near future where the Justice League has all retired, a new breed of superhero has emerged. These new superheroes are the progeny of the old guard, but lack any of the restraint or respect of their forebears. They spontaneously do battle in the streets just for funsies, but have little regard for the lives of the common folk that is forced to exist among them.

Kingdome Come is a kind of dark story, where Superman and Wonder Woman come into conflict with Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor while trying to restore the respectability of superheroes. These two factions flirt dangerously with fascism and terrorism in an attempt to restore order to the world. Superman, Batman, et al. all sport the classic signs of aging, driving home that this is a new world and their old-fashioned approach might not be appropriate anymore.

The story is told through the eyes of everyman minister Norman McKay, as The Spectre recruits him to help judge the coming Armageddon. Norman is the audience insert, and The Spectre helpfully provides all the necessary exposition and backstory you would need, which came in handy since I'm not a big DC comics guy.

Alex Ross' painted gouache (had to look that one up) art is probably my favorite part of the book. Every face, from the background characters to the main actors is so wonderfully illustrated; characters' emotions leap from the page. This is going to sound weird, but comics tend to be a bit wordy - this is unnecessary with Ross' art.

I'm not into the superhero genre so much anymore, but I think Kingdom Come would be considered required reading for those who are. Of course, if you are one of those fans, chances are you've read this already, so... uh, carry on?

Book 4 of 2024: Transmetropolitan: Book 2

Transmetropolitan: Book Two

Author: Warren Ellis (writer) Darick Robertson (art)

Genre: Cyberpunk, Transhuman, Graphic Novel, Science Fiction

Pages: Beats me

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 9/10

Transmetropolitan: Book Two collects issues #13-24 of the acclaimed dystopian cyberpunk saga.

As Spider's star continues to rise, we come to find what it is he hates most about being Spider Jerusalem: fame. As his column grows more and more popular, he finds himself in the same cycle he was only able to break by leaving the city and going into self exile.

Spider wants so badly to leave, but he can't work unless he's in the city, and it just happens to be an election year. Once again, Mr. Jerusalem seems to be the only member of the media keen to get the truth about each candidate, but even he might not be able to handle what he uncovers.

Check it out, it's great.

Book 3 of 2024: Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat

Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat

Author: Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker

Genre: Social Psychology/Social Media

Pages: 290-ish

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 8.4/10

The long and the short of this book is that yoga influencers are all batshit. If someone tells you they are a yoga influencer, run the other direction.

The three authors are themselves recovering from immersion in the woo-woo New Age world. Consipirituality aims its's crosshairs on several current wellness influencers as well as influencers of years past that paved the way for the current disinformation fuckstravaganza we currently live in. It examines the natural wellness to Fox News pipeline and runs the gamut between hilarious and just downright sad.

I'd recommend this to those that have an existing familiarity with the QAnon set and right-wing conspiracies in general or anyone that has always side-eyed the overzealous wellness crowd. 

Game 6 of 2024: Sea of Stars

Sea of Stars

Developer: Sabotage Studio
Publisher: Sabotage Studio
Platform: PC
Genre: JRPG

Difficulty: Moderate
Hours: 28

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 8.5/10

Many, many years ago, a young me sat down and played Final Fantasy VI (then called III here in the US) and my little adolescent mind was blown. I was legitimately invested in the adventures of Terra and company, and I was bewitched by FFVI's compelling steampunk/fantasy setting. Your traditional generic medieval-esque settings didn't cut it anymore; FFVI opened my mind to a whole new era of RPGs. I still consider it the best of the genre.

As I sit here after finishing Sea of Stars, my opinion hasn't changed. FFVI is still the best of the genre. 

BUT.

Sea of Stars is pretty freaking great. Top 10 JRPGs maybe? I can't really say, it's a genre I don't often play anymore, at least not since high school. I still fire up the occasional JRPG when the mood for nostalgia strikes.

Sea of Stars isn't exactly re-inventing the wheel, but it pays homage to the greats while freshening things up a bit. The story is your fairly rote RPG faire; extraordinary heroes must learn to harness their innate powers in order to save the world. Of course, heroes can't do it alone, so they meet a variety of colorful characters along the way.

Enemies have amusing names, and reskins are almost non-existent.

The story and writing might actually be the weakest part of Sea of Stars. I wouldn't say it's bad, just sort of amateurish I guess. However, it has a sort of earnestness and innocence to it I found quite charming, so this didn't bother me that much. Maybe an eye roll here or there.

When it comes to environments to explore, Sea of Starts shines particularly bright. From haunted swamps to meat castles to space stations, the world is lovingly detailed in gorgeous, colorful pixel art. And you don't just walk around either; you'll climb walls and ledges, traverse tightropes, and solve several puzzles while exploring. Seriously, exploring in this game is one of the best parts.

Stunning vistas abound in Sea of Stars.

Of course, a classic RPG wouldn't be a classic RPG without combat. Sea of Stars is turn based, of course, and I found myself mostly enjoying myself. Combat involves a bit more that just wait for your characters turn to attack, as you can swap characters in and out of battle, chain your attacks to break enemy locks, and use powerful combo attacks. Combat is fast and fun, and you aren't bogged down with a shit ton of random encounters. 

Sea of Stars has some pretty neat boss monsters.

The difficulty, however, is a little wonky, especially in the early to mid game. On several occasions I would find myself limping back to a campfire after a rote encounter, only to steamroll a boss a few minutes later. Something strange happens around the halfway point, though. The game just... gets easier? Gaining levels results in small but vital increases in stats, so I guess at some point my defense stats just outpaced the amount of damage enemies did. Early game encounters had me carefully planning my attacks and using my special abilities, while I could just sit back and relax in the late game.

I can't remember what this town was called. Brick?

There's a lot to love here and I hope the developer keeps at it. Sea of Stars is a nice length for this type of game, clocking it at around 30 hours (plenty more if you want the true ending). While it does occasionally feel like the story has a lot of unnecessary padding to make it longer, the game still remains fun with several activities to keep you occupied.

Hey, it's the thing from the title!

Book 2 of 2024: Transmetropolitan: Book One

Transmetropolitan: Book One

Author: Warren Ellis (Writer), Darick Robertson (Artist)

Genre: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk

Pages: No clue

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 9/10

I know I'm about 25 years late to the party, but I finally got around to reading the first volume (issues 1-12) of Warren Ellis's classic transhumanist graphic novel, and you know what? It's pretty great and has aged surprisingly well.

Transmetropolitan follows Spider Jerusalem, a retired gonzo journalist in the mold of Hunter S. Thompson. Jerusalem is living in a mountain compound in self-imposed exile, having grown contemptuous of city life and all it represents. Mr. Jerusalem is something of an acquired taste, given his propensity for guns, drugs, and an almost zealous hatred of authority.

Jerusalem is called back from retirement by threat of lawsuit; see, he still owes his publisher two books and they are looking to collect. Having burned through the advance, he needs to move back to the city he hates to fulfill his obligation. He obviously needs money, so he takes a job as a journalist working for an old acquaintance. Book One follows the stories Jerusalem writes for the city paper, introducing the reader to the the City and it's diverse inhabitants while getting Jerusalem mixed up in political corruptness at the highest level.

For all his faults, Jerusalem is very, very good at what he does. He is always in the middle of the action, be it speeches by corrupt politicians or police brutality in the slums. He is the most contentious person alive, acrimonious impossible to get along with, hates dogs with a passion (wtf), but is never, ever boring and has a true gift for journalism and getting to the truth, no matter the danger to his well-being.

Also he makes the president shit himself with a bowel disruptor gun. No notes.

Game 5 of 2024: Home Safety Hotline

 Home Safety Hotline

Developer: Night Signal Entertainment
Publisher: Night Signal Entertainment
Platform: PC
Genre: Interactive Fiction/Horror

Difficulty: Easy
Hours: 2.5

Finished: Yes
Final Rating: 7.8/10

I love interactive fiction, but I am not crazy about horror. With a few exceptions, I don't really care for horror games, movies, books, whatever. Well, I am happy to report that I like Home Safety Hotline.

Another 90's computer simulator.

Really love that CRT filter they've got going on.

Much like Hypnospace Outlaw, Home Safety Hotline takes place in the 90's. It gives you a pretty authentic looking Windows 95 desktop and interface. Each day you log in and take calls from people who have strange occurrences that are outside the purview of the normal authorities. It's up to you to pull from your database of hazards, critters, and supernatural horrors and determine ails your caller. And hey, sometimes you get it wrong and they call you back to chew you out.

I've got one of these at my house.

While it doesn't have any jump scares (thank God), Home Safety Hotline packs in the creepiness. You get glimpses of office like through calls with your supervisor, Carol, and mysterious emails from an unhinged former colleague. The calls range from kinda funny to unsettling to downright horrifying. I really have to give Home Safety Hotline a lot of credit for not relying on a bunch of violence and gore for thrills; they give you just enough and let your imagination do the rest.

It's fairly short at maybe two or three hours and sure, it kind of drags here and there, but Home Safety Hotline is well worth an afternoon. 

Game 4 of 2023: Streets of Rogue

Streets of Rogue

Developer: Matt Dabrowski
Publisher: tinyBuild
Platform: PC
Genre: Action Roguelite

Difficulty: Moderate or Hard, really depends on your playstyle and class
Hours: 20 and counting

Finished: Yes, sort of
Final Rating: 9.7/10

hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooly shit is this fun

Damn, my GOTY in early February?!?!?! For some context, I don't always love the roguelike/roguelite genre. There are some exceptions, like Rogue Legacy, Tales of Maj'Eyal, Dwarf Fortress, and ADoM, but it's not usually a genre I usually enjoy. Well, I am pleased to announce that a roguelite is not only one of my favorite games I've played in the past year, but it's probably in my top 10 of all time.

Pure Joy

In Streets of Rogue, you are recruited to overthrow the mayor of a corrupt city arranged in floors for some reason. You start in the slums, and make your way up to the swanky uptown and finally the Mayor's Village. You have a variety of different classes to start with, like the Slum Dweller, Thief, and Hacker, and you can unlock a whole bunch more by completing objectives along the way. They all have unique playstyles, abilities and challenges, and it really allows you to play the game your way. For example, the Hacker might be a 90 pound weakling, but he can use his laptop to hack (and sometimes detonate) all kinds of stuff you find throughout each level. The Jock really packs a wallop when hitting enemies, but he refuses to use computers because that shit's for nerds.

See?

You can sneak around if you want, bribe cops if you want, make friends with cannibals, or just be a wanton killing machine. You can even make your own custom class if you feel like it. The objectives are usually pretty basic (neutralize this guy, rescue that guy, destroy that thing over there) and don't vary much per level, but there is multiple ways to accomplish each mission.

Honestly, the game this reminds me most of is Morrowind. Obviously the gameplay is completely different, but I got the same feeling. Like Morrowind, I felt like I was let loose in a world, free to complete my mission in whatever way I could, rules be damned.

...what's the hell's going on here?

Given it's diversity of characters, playstyles, and mutators (sort of like game modifiers), Streets of Rogue offers a ton of replayability. You can probably finish a run in an hour or two, providing you aren't killed along the way.

A simple pickpocket attempt on the Shopkeeper ended up with a shitload of dead cops.

 

Let's wrap this shit up real quick. Streets of Rogue is awesome and Streets of Rogue 2 is a day one purchase when it comes out later this year.