Mass Effect Legendary Edition

Mass Effect to be remastered had been requested by fans for quite some time as I recall, although I think the wish was really more for just a re-release so that playing the game on newer consoles would be easier or even possible -- on PC that was never a problem. EA did eventually jump on the remaster bandwagon and BioWare got to put together Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

Leviathan Falls

Leviathan Falls is an underwhelming finale to the 9-volume Expanse novel series. The difference is stark between how it all started in Leviathan Wakes and how it ends here. Gone is the gripping plot and excitement for things to come. The leviathan ends up paddling in a lukewarm puddle.

Words of Radiance

It took me almost half a year to read Words of Radiance, the second book of The Stormlight Archive. That's not entirely because of the novel; I was simply doing other stuff for entertainment (mostly playing games). However, there is definitely a good two to three hundred page section that I found outright boring. Only when someone else reserved the library book (or books -- a two-volume Gollancz print again), meaning I had to return it finally, I managed to power through it.

Mortal Shell

Of the games of its genre I have played so far, Mortal Shell is the first one trying to have the exact same atmosphere as the genre defining FromSoftware titles (at least for someone who has only watched the latter being played). It has a similar cryptic setting and lore -- often manifesting as detached quotes -- and the visuals have the same washed-out colors. However, it's probably safe to say that mechanically and scope-wise Mortal Shell is far simpler. I don't think Cold Symmetry is a big studio and thus they didn't have the resources to exactly recreate their favorite game.

Games I Finished in 2021

Compared to the last two years, the amount I spent on games spiked up this year though it didn't reach the numbers of the two years before those. It was almost exactly equal to the price of two fresh AAA releases but since I only buy stuff with deep discounts, I got a lot more than two games. The purchases went mostly into growing my, once again considerable backlog because gaming subscription services kept me busy (even now).

Hades

Pyre (2017) is almost like the black sheep of Supergiant Games, I feel. At least I personally lost all interest after seeing how it did combat encounters as some sort of sportsball matches. I think the game was received positively overall but at least my perception is that Pyre was a low point for Supergiant after Bastion (2011) and Transistor (2014). The studio pretty much fell off my radar after that.

The Technomancer

I suppose there's no reason to play The Technomancer if you want to just play the best game (so far) by Spiders; GreedFall is better in about every way. The only thing that The Technomancer has going for it over the latter game is perhaps its scifi setting over fantasy but even that's not that interesting. The coolest part was left for the ending to raise questions that then never get answers.

Mars: War Logs

I was pretty much out of new games to play outside game pass and thought that I should buy The Technomancer, the Spiders game I had skipped. However, before getting to play it, I read that another, even earlier game by the developers was set it in the same universe. The story of Mars: War Logs is not directly related to The Technomancer, but I reckoned I might as well pick it up too since it was cheap and going back to an older game after playing a later entry in a series is rarely pleasant.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

I didn't expect to be back on Ubisoft+ so quickly but another month for 1€ was too great an offer to pass. During the month I played Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which I had previously dismissed because:

1. I hadn't played AC Origins yet,
2. I expected it to barely even run on my PC (the game's performance turned out to be about the same as AC Odyssey's though, meaning just about playable 45 FPS with a mix of medium and high settings), and
3. The game's not fully done yet, still receiving updates and DLC.

One title update during the month even introduced an immensely annoying bug with the constantly appearing player avenge quests, making every interaction with any world object to constantly re-accept the quest (show the text and play the associated sound effect). 

The Ascent

As the actual last game to finish off my game pass summer, I chose to play The Ascent, the freshly released (at the time) debut game of Neon Giant. It is a cyberpunk twin-stick shooter whose strong suit is its presentation although I found its other aspects adequate as well.