Before getting to the review, a note when reading the Malazan series: progression is not linear. Unlike George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, or other famous writers' fantasy series, Malazan is asynchronous. Each of the ten books must be taken individually, and not as a direct continuation of plot book to book. Certainly there are commonalities—characters, sub-plots, places, etc., but one does not feed the next. Deadhouse Gates thus does not pick up specifically where Gardens left off.
In Titan Quest, players take on the role of an ordinary Greek man. They literally begin the game with a club, and slowly work (aka kill) their way across a vast map, collecting better weapons, armor, talismans, etc. along the way. Killing enemies earns experience and skill points, which in turn can be used to turn the ordinary Greek man into a superhuman. And there are dozens of ways this can be done, from warrior tank to nature wizard, clever rogue to summoning master. Players progress through four regions, each of which culminates in a big boss fight that tests the player's skills to that point.
Player Piano is the story of Paul Proteus. An intelligent engineer, Paul is a key leader at Ilium Works, a production facility for electronics and robotics that automate many forms of work. Also a good employee, Paul ruffles no feathers and keeps his nose clean. At least at the beginning of the book. As things develop, Paul has increasing contact with the reeks & wrecks—the skilled men and women who have been displaced from the labor force by machines and are now at loose ends. He finds himself increasingly sympathetic to their plight, something his ambitious wife Anita hopes he will forget in pursuit of a more lucrative position at the company's Pittsburgh location.
Someone to Watch over Me drops the reader, on page one, into the speeding car that is the life of Adrien. And doesn't often take its foot off the gas. Experiencing a medical emergency, Adrien wants the technology in his head, out. The technology lets another person see and experience everything he does. What at first was easy money (people paying money to live vicariously through him) has become a burden, and what's more, it's causing shortness of breath, high blood pressure, and several other things. He needs help. Hailing a taxi on the streets of Zagreb, he begs the driver, a musician named Sabina, for blackmarket pharmaceuticals. And further down the rabbit hole of his own creation Adrien goes.
Right up front, The Pathless is not Journey 2, nor does it ever intend to be. They are different games. But it's possible to see why comparisons are made. In The Pathless, players start as a robed figure only whose eyes are showing. They traverse an open world—in more ways 'open' than one—trying to locate lightstones that can be used to banish the evil brought about by a three-eyed god-man. Once three pillars are lit by the stones, an area is cleared, paving the way to a boss fight. Rinse and repeat—plus a big boss battle with the three-eyed god-man, and you... win? Play to find out. Based on this, The Pathless bears more in common with Shadow of the Colossus than Journey, but hey, I'm just a cellar-dwelling reviewer.
Putting it lightly, the video game medium is not famed for its maturity. Of course every medium has its share of juvenile content, but video games may be the worst offender. Hand-eye coordination and onscreen interactions are what make the medium tick with aarrative almost always taking a back seat. Super Mario Bros features an Italian plumber trying to save a princess who has been kidnapped by a dinosaur protected by turtle ducks... Not quite Pulitzer material. But there are a few games out there that treat the person playing like they have an adult brain who has given thought to the layers of existence. Disco Elysium (2019) is absolutely one of them.
I'll cut to the chase. If you enjoyed Gogmagog, Ludluda will not disappoint. Same quick-pace, same offbeat imagination, same curmudgeonly Cady Meade tackling her yellow-eyed dragon. The book does spend more time on land—or at least different versions of something semi-solid underfoot. There are two excursions (more in a moment) into unexpected territory. And there is an exciting climax. But beyond this, the artistic vision and storytelling are consistent—nice, that.
Aikko's Choice features the same five characters as Blades of the Shogun, all with the same character abilities. But the game is about one-third the length: six total missions, two of which are short. What could be called a “side mission”, the story of Aiko's Choice takes place in the middle of Blades of the Shogun. A certain Lady Chiyo surprises the gang at their hideout, kidnapping Yuki and Togama in the process. Hayato, Mugen, and Aiko give chase, tracking down their friends and make sure Chiyo does not escape to tell Kage-yama of their cabal.
