The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition

The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition is largely just a bundling of the base game and its two story DLCs -- for which I bought it -- by the game's publisher, Private Division. The original developer, Obsidian Entertainment, had very little to do with it; the extra work there is, was done by Virtuous Games instead.

Everreach: Project Eden

Everreach: Project Eden definitely wasn't the most glorious start for this year's gaming -- and to be my 100th perfect game on Steam. Wishlisting and buying a title just because I saw a youtuber make a funny video about it, is probably not the wisest course of action, especially considering that Oboeshoesgames tends to play games of wildly varying quality. At least this one was really cheap, but even so, it is absolutely not worth one's time.

On the Steel Breeze

On the Steel Breeze is the second novel in the Poseidon's Children trilogy (series?) by Alastair Reynolds. The Akinya family's still in the protagonist role but the series didn't turn out to be the kind of family saga I was expecting -- hoping, even. I don't know how the Akinyas managed to squander their riches but they did have the time: this novel takes place a couple of centuries later. Only a single human generation has passed, though: aging having been defeated once again.

Games I Finished in 2024

In terms of exciting new game releases, 2024 was quite the poor one. There was a whole bunch of games for me to wishlist but none of them really fit the spot of an undisputed game of the year. The Game Awards gave that title to Astro Bot, a PlayStation-exclusive third person action platformer of all things.

Metro Exodus

4A Games decided to try something different with Metro Exodus. You're no longer trapped in linear metro tunnels, the majority of the game instead taking place on large surface maps. This fact seems to have chased off few fans of the previous games but the open world isn't as lame nor scary as some may think. There are no copy-pasted points of interests; everything is meaningful and following the main objective can still offer quite a linear experience. Taking the time to visit the few optional locations is very much worth it, though, for weapon accessories and suit upgrades.

Erewhon

"Why Is It Called the Butlerian Jihad?" asked a Youtube video recommendation. I didn't know, although I didn't exactly have a recollection of even seeing the term mentioned as such in the Dune books I had read so far either. The video explained where the name (most likely) came from but I thought I might check out the source myself as well.

Metro: Last Light Redux

Metro: Last Light is a direct sequel to Metro 2033 and, unlike its predecessor, it has a completely original story, though Dmitry Glukhovsky did work on it as well. Interestingly enough, the author also used many of Last Light's details in his Metro 2035 novel later: for instance, Miller's daughter Anna.