This is the Summer of Harry Potter for me. I never read the books when they were new (I felt like I was a bit old for them at the time), and now I'm going back to see what I've missed. I'm reading each book consecutively, with the movies inserted as I finish each book. Definitely reading each of the canonical seven books, maybe adding on other Potterverse novels or media when I'm done. I'm excited about the Summer of Harry Potter because that world has been a big blank spot for me, and these novels mean a lot to people I know.
Well, that's it for my summer reading. Seven plus novels, that's about all I can handle if I even finish them before the end of the season. But it doesn't really fill out this post, so let's shift gears.
Summer Video Gaming List 2017
This one is something I've kept an eye on for a while, but was recently encouraged to play sooner rather than later by a recommendation from our very own The G. I've played an awful lot of enormous CRPGs, and I don't think I've finished a single one, but Tyranny interests me for its developer, Obsidian, and its premise. It's a game world where the bad guys won. It's reportedly shorter than most CRPGs, which appeals to me because many of those other CRPGs I've never finished are because I lost interest before reaching the conclusion.
I liked Tom Clancy's The Division, and Wildlands is kind of like The Division combined with Just Cause. It makes for a sort of uneven tone, because it's about the serious topic of taking down a drug cartel, but so far the cutscenes have been very Hollywood action movie. My initial assessment of the structure makes the game look enormous, so here's hoping it has enough variety in action to keep me playing.
As a long time Idle Thumbs fan, I simply cannot pass up a game that's a product of that group of people. I loved Gone Home and Firewatch, and I don't care what Tacoma ends up being. I'm going to play it. And I'm in luck because Tacoma combines a few things that I like a lot; strong narrative, environmental storytelling, and space!
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POSTED BY: brian, sci-fi/fantasy/video game dork and contributor since 2014
