danielpholt

Yeah I'm not sure if maybe there's another book in the US that sounds similar to Seven deaths, so they threw in the added half to try and make the name less likely to confuse?

Been on something of a reading blitz since the turn of the year. I've read: Leadership: In Turbulant Times - Doris Kearns Goodwin The book tells the stories of four presidents, Lincoln, TDR, FDR and LBJ from their first political awakenings to their greatest moments. For a book about 4 dead guys, I found it pretty interesting, and I learned some new stuff. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Harcastle - Stuart Turton Recommended to me by a friend, and Christopher Plante of Polygon/Vox/Besties fame. It's a novel about a man who relives the same day over and over again until he can figure out what's going on inside this super turn of the centuryesque manor house. It reads like a video game. Highly recommended. The Stranger Times - C.K. McDonnell I'm a big fan of Douglas Addams, and whilst this isn't that....it's trying to be. For the most part it's pretty funny. There's some fun characters to be around and the plot is ..........fine I guess. If you've got nothing else to read and you don't mind throwing a few hours on a book you'll likely forget about after the fact, then this might be worth your time. Erubus: The Story of a Ship - Michael Palin Erubus was one of the two ships lost during arguably the greatest maritime mystery of all time; the Franklin Expedition. The book tells the tale of the ship from the moment of its construction to the moment it was rediscovered a few years ago, laying at the bottom of the arctic ocean. Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class - Owen Jones I don't *always* agree with Owen on everything, but his critique of the way our country looks on the working class is as relevant today as it was when this book was published during the opening years of the David Cameron years. This book made me angry, as it should anybody who considers themselves on the lower end of the british class spectrum. The Shrinking Man - Robert Matheson I consider I Am Legend to be my favourite book, so I went into The Shrinking Man with some pretty lofty expectations, and whilst it didn't quite hit the highs I'd built up in my mind, It's still a pretty good read. Lots of interesting ideas and some light social commentary thrown in for good measure. It gets a bit bogged down in the middle, but towards the final third it really picks up again I could barely put it down for the final 200 pages.

I think the game expects you to run into a brick wall from time to time. I found a pretty good set of runes (I forget what they're called at this point) and built my runs around those. Once I knew I could stack the things I was good with, everything opened up. I love Hades, but I I think that love is something of an anomaly; normally this game would push me so hard away that I wouldn't even bother looking at it. For whatever reason, be it the time (COVID), the place (largely in bed, on my Switch) or the structure (quick, parent-friendly runs) the game just captured me completely.

Each to their own I guess. Did you mix up your builds and try different modifiers? The core loop is pretty similar all the way through, but working on your loadout and mixing up the different sliders adds some interesting twists to keep it fresh.

I wonder if it was a time and place thing. I had very little interest in Prey until I finally gave it a look, and then for the week I was playing it, it's all I thought about. Neon White The first few hours are great. However, I feel like I've hit a pretty nasty difficulty spike where the game goes from being 'learn the route and execute' to more of a 'you need to be pinpoint in your accuracy and timing if you hope to get through this', and playing on Joycons...that's tough at the best of times. Going to keep going. I may end up jumping off of this however, which is a shame because those opening few hours are magnificent.

I bounced off of Mooncrash so hard. Prey had me from moment one but Mooncrash was like pulling teeth. Hope you stick with it. Also your Hades take is personally offensive to me.

Neon White It's sort of a card based action platformer thing, actually getting some Boomerang X vibes off it. I'm not very far in, but what I've played so far has felt really good. There appears to be an overworld area where you can talk to your fellow....Neon people, build relationships and possibly upgrade your gear, but I'm not far enough into that to truly understand what it is. For those interested, it's from the guy that made Donut County, although it feels like a more more mature game that than, at least so far (or maybe my mind has been broken through being on the internet for 20 years). If that sounds up your street then it's available on Switch and PC for £20.

I think the game wants the player to really 'learn' how the combat system works, and if you can find the time to do that then it could be satisfying, unfortunately the game doesn't need the player to do that and so most people won't bother. Why spend the time to learn how the system works when you could just slash the sword button until you win.

Spent a bit of time this morning working my way through some of the smaller reveals over the last week. Here are some of my favouries.

Lego Builders Journey A neat puzzle game that loses its steam once you get over the initial thrill of playing with LEGO on a screen. It has its moments, but I got to the end and I'm glad I won't be going back to it. Trek To Yomi Ultimately the combat never felt all that good to me, and for a game where 95% of your time is spent doing said combat, it falls a little flat. That's not to say I don't think there's depth there, but I found it more frustrating than anything. It looks nice I guess.

I also bought this.

Should keep me busy for the next few weeks....

Apparently the guy got through two layers of 'good guy with gun' (school security and local police) before had actually got into the school itself. If that doesn't dispel the myth that giving guns to well meaning civilians is a bad idea I don't know what will. The kid knew the training, he knew the procedure and he knew how to evade capture for enough time to commit this fucking awful act. Mind blowing that we're still having this conversation. It was over after Sandy Hook.

The Stanley Parable - Ultra Deluxe Edition It's been a while since I played the OG game, but I feel like I have a decent enough memory that I can dive into the new content straight away. So I did just that, and it's great. Few games make me laugh, but after about an hour of playtime the new content has had me genuinely laughing out loud. I was a bit worried that the 'gaming space' had moved on since 2013, but the jokes are still funny, and so far the comedy hasn't felt stilted or forced.

Elden Ring My first experience with a Fromsoftware game, and I don't think it'll be my last. I've got a few issues with how the game presents it's world to the player (a journal with all my accomplishments/beaten enemies & dungeons would have been nice), and a few of the late-game bosses felt kinda bad to play against as a melee character, that aside however, I adore this game. Spare time is at an absolute premium for me right now, but I've still found a way to give the game over 100 hours in 5 weeks; it's totally taken over my free time in a way no game ever has; when I'm not playing it, I'm thinking about it. I know many consider Elden Ring to be significantly easier than other Soulsbourne games, given the fact that you can out-level bosses to assist along the way, but I'm super excited to dive into Sekaro when I get a chance, for now though, I'm probably going to dip in and out of the post-game stuff, toy with the idea of beginning a second journey (although I probably won't do that for a while). A truly incredible experience from front to back.

I'm loving Elden Ring but I'm acutely aware I've put 80 hours into it in the last 2 weeks; thinking I need a palate cleanser. I've played this before (PC) and it;s kinda perfect.

Pre-order. Despite being pretty engaged in modern politics, I don't actually have much knowledge on what came before. And this book was heavily referenced in another book I read last year (Ed Millibands - GO BIG).

It's been a few weeks since I finished Tunic and I'm finding it hard to disagree with Ethan here. Whilst I never had to fall back to no-fail mode I did end up using the guide towards the end to beat some of the more...abstract puzzles. And once I'd done that trick once, I found myself going back to it time and time again until I'd finished the game. That being said, I don't think that's a reason not to give it a look. It's a charming little game that deserves the attention it's been getting.

Super clean looking watch in bronze, which I actually think looks really classy. Now if only it wasn't nearly a months wage for me I've got it on now. Few initial observations, the dials are easy to see, there's not too much noticeable ticking (which I've found with my Timex Weekender is a problem) and there's this slight concave effect that gives it a lovely touch. I don't love the strap, but I guess I can always replace that down the line.

I've just been turning the console off and hoping quick-resume does the job

Got into watches in the last few years. However I'm also poor, so I don't get to splurge as often as I'd like on them. Timex Midtown Chronograph

It's probably not fair to judge the game on this, but I really don't love the art-style. It's nice enough, well presented and cohesive, but I kind of just don't enjoy looking at it for long sessions. I'll keep it on the Switch, and maybe when (if) I get some free time I can throw myself into it, rather than playing 25-30 minutes every few nights.