The Player’s Manual

The 40-hour work week was designed by people who didn't have a Steam library or a crippling addiction to lore. ☕️🎮 We’re breaking down the Hybrid Gaming Lifestyle: how to stay productive (or at least look like it) with the best 'second-screen' games. From digital exorcism in PowerWash Sim to the 'just one more belt' spiral of Factorio.

The Fable series has gone a long way. From groundbreaking moral choices and morphing physiques to a steampunk letdown. I analyze the scope of the changes, and valuate if the new Fable really will be worth giving a shot.

Some weapons, however, feel particularly rewarding to use. Not just because of their effectiveness, but their highly specialized (and often comical) natures lend them to a crazy and chaotic good time. The weapons I speak of, are the crafted ones…

Players have been given the slightest glimpse of the scarred Vvardenfell, from the southern coast of Solstheim in Skyrim’s expansion: Dragonborn. To be able to visit what was once a lush and beautiful world, to find it in shambles would be very disturbing, to say the least. Furthermore, so much of Morrowind has been left unexplored in The Elder Scrolls series…

Throughout the history of the World of Warcraft franchise, expansions have always brought major changes. From introducing new races and classes, expanding the list of classes each race may choose from, and adding new content, to overhauling major gameplay facets (such as talents, or the PvP system).

Walking into a brand new expansion comes with risks. I’m here to help prepare you for them!

As an avid fan of the Warcraft franchise, I’ve played every expansion of WoW (although only minimally in Cataclysm, and Mists of Pandaria). I’ve watched the game go from a life-consuming, fun filled, adventure of fantastical and social proportions, to becoming a slog, rife with social isolation that would make Carl Jung say “I told you so!”

Have you ever bought a game, a brand new release (for an ever growing price), only to find the game feels… broken? Unfinished? Half-assed? Maybe it is. But wait, there’s more. DLC, patches, microtransactions. Anything to have the large mechanical fingers of corporate gaming wrapped tightly on the utters of consumers. What are we really paying for?