The Prefect (Aurora Rising)

And back to the Revelation Space again...

The Prefect is not a continuation to the Inhibitor Sequence, however, instead taking its reader back in time -- assuming they've been going through the series in publication order -- to Yellowstone in its golden age, before the Melding Plague. The novel's name was later changed to Aurora Rising but that didn't make it to the translated print I read.

Othercide

I bought Othercide, developed by Lightbulb Crew, purely for its aesthetics -- a decision I came to regret. I think at the time I wishlisted the game, I still fancied the noir visuals: the grayscale with one or two colors. But now I no longer find it as attractive.

Blue Remembered Earth

For a change, I read an Alastair Reynolds novel not set in the Revelation Space universe: Blue Remembered Earth is the first of his Poseidon's Children books. The setting has humanity still confined to the Solar System but I don't see why it couldn't be in the same universe, just earlier in time. The title started to sound ominous to me as it seemed Earth was just fine in the book. I was expecting something apocalyptic to happen.

Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand

Atlas Fallen was released in August last year to a lukewarm reception. Exactly one year later, it got a big update that came with the subtitle Reign of Sand. And a month later from that, the game arrived on Game Pass, giving me a chance to play this cool-looking yet not that well received title from Deck13.

Stop hiding in the lockers of Alien: Isolation

I've been going to write another post about Alien: Isolation for a while. Considering the game just had its 10th anniversary and a sequel was announced by the original game director Alistair Hope at Creative Assembly, now is the perfect time. The year I first played the game, I didn't place Isolation even in the top tier on my annual round-up post but the game has since then become one of my all time favorites with numerous playthroughs. The frustration a first run often comes with is gone on revisits: nothing will pull you away from the marvelous immersion of this scifi horror experience.

Absolution Gap

Absolution Gap is a direct sequel to Redemption Ark in Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space. It has some amazingly imaginative elements and the story seemed to get truly wild after it got going. But it didn't last until the end: central characters were written off in lame ways and the narrative fizzled out. Multiverse stuff gets worse in Gap: always too convenient a tool to explain stuff -- anything can happen.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn released in July without making much of a splash. In my opinion, Flintlock is at least an improvement from A44's previous game, Ashen, already for the fact that it has a lot more variation in combat actions. There are some questionable design decisions and I suppose overall it's not that special of a game. However, I would say it's enjoyable enough on Game Pass if you're hungering for a straightforward soulslike action roleplaying game.