What I’m reading

• Finished book two of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series and on to book three. Loving it, truly epic fantasy and you can feel the roots in a long RPG campaign. There’s a depth of lore and mystery to the world that can be difficult to penetrate but very rewarding when things fall into place.

What I’m playing

Two games are splitting my time right now:

• Blue Prince deserves the hype, it’s so so good. I don’t know how the developer managed to make a puzzle-oriented drafting game this tight - there must have been so many iterations of this that were straight up unfair and unfun. I’m at the point in the game where I see the pathway to an ending (probably rolling credits? I think?), I hope that it doesn’t drag on. This is a tough juncture in games where much of the joy comes from disovery - once you see the road how much effort do you put in to get there?
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Continuing to dip my toes into turn-based RPGs, this feels great so far. The combat is complex from the get-go (no mindless simple grinding!) and I like the reacting timing. Connected to and invested in the characters already as well, excited to see more of this world.

What Rory is doing

• He had his first birthday today. Not too interested in smashing his cake, but a big fan of all of the new toys. Very much into the “bang things on the table and throw them” phase.