The Wordsmith's Anvil

  Image courtesy of Harper Collins This year I had told myself I was going to read 13 books over the course of the 12 months. I'm happy to say that I did reach that 13, even though some of them might not have been books that I would really care to read again. I read a wide range of genres from philosophy to fantasy, from science-fiction to historical non-fiction. I like to be able to delve into virtually anything. Some of these may not appeal to you at all, and if that's the case you can certainly jump to those that sound the most intriguing. There's no quiz at the end. I'm going to start in chronological order from what I read in the beginning of the year and complete the series with The Song of Achilles , which I just finished last week. 1st book - Critical Role: Vox Machina - Kith & Kin  by Marieke Nijkamp     This year starts off with the rabbit hole I was already traveling down in the form of Dungeons & Dragons types. Vox Machina is already a fantas...

Image courtesy of Airship Syndicate I wasn't originally going to post another game review so soon, but this one had been on my radar for a long time and I have a special place in my heart for the company. Wayfinder is created and helmed by Airship Syndicate, an independent video game studio punching well above its weight class in every release they do. Airship is led by Joe Madureira, Joe Mad, who got his start in comics and eventually directed AAA titles like Darksiders and Darksiders II for Vigil Games. Mad took his expertise and love for gaming with him when he founded Airship in 2014. Wayfinder is Airship's latest title, combining steampunk and fantasy to create a looter-shooter RPG that can stand on its own amongst similar games with much larger budgets. The Good Wayfinder separates itself from other games in the same vein with a couple of ideas brought to the table. First off, Joe Mad's artwork can be seen throughout the entire thing. Exaggerated features on character...

Image courtesy of BioWare & EA's Custom Art Creator      Every so often a game comes along that challenges the perceived notions people have regarding whether or not it could be considered art. Is it a good story? Or is it just a good game? The question doesn't sound too crazy nowadays because we live in an age of the revamped God of War or The Last of Us where there are no questions on whether or not they're good stories. One has been adapted to HBO and showed incredible success in doing so and the other is in development at Amazon Prime. That being said, when the original Mass Effect came out in 2007 there wasn't really any question in people's minds over whether or not it was a great story or just a great game. It was inconceivable that games could be both for a long time, but I would venture to say that as Mass Effect 's sequels rolled out it quickly became apparent this was more than just a game.     Comic-Cons will also show the lasting impact and g...