Thanks to COVID, I’ve been living a very stripped-down, monotonous life for nearly a year now. I rarely leave the house for non-essential excursions, day-to-day novelty is sparse, and my sense of community is dwindling. In response, my subconscious is yearning for a new place to call home — but not in the real world.…
Now that I’ve finished most of Cyberpunk 2077’s main story content, I’ve been spending my time in Night City a little differently: namely, by roaming its streets as a sort of deranged, cybernetically-enhanced kleptomaniacal Batman. I check my in-game map for the next set of side mission coordinates. Arrive on the scene and murder some…
At first, I found Cyberpunk 2077 massively disappointing. It emphasizes player choice but offers little. Its open-world is pretty but mostly populated with filler content. And it frequently sidelines role-playing efforts so it can tell its own story. But fifty hours later, and having surrendered my expectations, I’m enjoying the game for what it is:…
Reading is a pastime I’ve come to enjoy more as I’ve grown older. And with my renewed appreciation of the medium came a goal to read more in 2020. For me, digital mediums like film and video games are often more stimulating than books (my blog archive is proof of that). But my entire working…
After seven years, CD Projekt Red’s highly-anticipated action RPG Cyberpunk 2077 is here, and it’s a cybermess. And I’m not just talking about the apparent lack of polish or abundance of bugs. Cyberpunk 2077 is foundationally flawed: a bizarre Frankenstein monster cobbled together from elements of other, better, games. Many of its gameplay systems are…
Digging through the James Bond catalogue has been one of my go-to film pleasures over the years. To my knowledge, few other film series can match the continued output and relevance of Bond. There are a whopping 25 films in this franchise (including the soon-to-be-released No Time to Die), and 27 if you count the non-Eon…
This post’s title might lead you to believe that I think cancelling my video game pre-order is newsworthy. I assure you, it’s not, and I’m not here to proclaim my victory over consumerism or anything to that effect. But the Shadowlands delay got me thinking: It’s probably for the best if I don’t submit to…
Occasionally, I’m reluctant to try new things, which causes me to miss out on some good stuff. The most recent example of this seems to be The Outer Worlds (2019), a sci-fi FPS RPG developed by Obsidian Entertainment. When Obsidian initially released The Outer Worlds, many players and reviewers painted the game as a spiritual…
My nostalgic thirst for all things World of Warcraft has hit hard this year. It’s a pattern that’s repeated nearly every autumn since 2010, wherein the colder weather and dreary days send me spiraling in search of fond memories. And Blizzard’s decade-and-a-half-old MMORPG must be something special because my mind seems to pull me towards…
This is ancient history by internet standards, but Blizzard has delayed the latest World of Warcraft expansion, Shadowlands. Originally, Shadowlands was scheduled to launch on October 27th, 2020. But, citing quality concerns, the studio made the decision to delay the game. I’m assuming all is not well with Shadowlands, because Blizzard hasn’t even set a new release date. As of…
