After saving her life, the witch gave the prince a magic shield. “This will come between you and any that might harm you,” She said, smiling. On the battlefield, it worked even better than she’d promised, seeming to move on its own. But he saw its true value when he came home, and it fell from its rack and onto an assassin. After that, he wore it everywhere, and trust those around him less. He refused to see kith and kin, and violently resisted their attempts to separate him from it. The witch’s proclamation had been a curse, after all.
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Mosi hates the spaceport. He knows that business has been booming ever since it went up. But every hour, a rocket kicks up a sandstorm of grit and dust, and he has to scramble to cover his wares before the cloud reaches his outdoor stall. He’s spent a fortune cleaning and upgrading his gear to deal with the damage. He wishes he could afford to hire an assistant, or better yet, get out off the surface and start again in the clean, sterile environment of a space colony. For now, he wrestles with his tarps, and dreams of the future.
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Mike awoke to sirens. He hurt all over, and his head pounded like a jackhammer. He tried to move, and found he was tied up. He finally opened his eyes and the world was barely visible through a white haze. He’d been rolled in a sheet and tossed in a dumpster. He managed to climb out and tried to get his bearings. His memory was a mess, and he couldn’t piece together what happened. The sirens were getting closer. He had a feeling he didn’t want to be here when they arrived. That was when Mike realized he wasn’t breathing.
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Hades Published and Developed by Supergiant Games Played on Nintendo Switch
The Skinny: A Hope in Hell.
Hades is a game about struggling, failing, and then picking yourself up and trying again. Created by Supergiant Games, the indie game studio that burst onto the scene with Bastion in 2011, You play as Zagreus, the rebellious son of the Greek god Hades as he seeks to escape his father’s domain and reach the surface. The Lord of the Underworld sends his servants and subjects to stop you, and since you’re already in the land of the dead, if you die, you just wash up back at Hades’s house ready to try again. When you arrive back home, you can upgrade your build, redecorate the Underworld to suit your needs, and talk with the residents fo the house for advice and commiseration. All of the NPCs have their own backstories and sidequests, and while you could, in theory, go all the way to the end in a single run, the game is designed with failure in mind. NPCs warm to you in time, revealing secrets and unlocking new missions.But for all the game’s mechanical brilliance, it is truly elevated by its audio and visual design. Jen Zee’s art really shines. Characters are cleverly reimagined from classical ideals in gorgeous portraits. The game’s voice acting is spectacular and apt. From sassy but compassionate Zagreus to the distant but matronly Nyx, to the overbearing Hades himself, every performance is stellar and charming. I particularly love the portrayals as the Olympian gods, who come off as a sort of cross between a Greek chorus and horde of self-obsessed social media influencers. Darren Korb’s metal and country infused soundtrack is just the right mix of rocking and melancholy. The game just fires on all cylinders. Hades is a masterclass in marrying plot with mechanics. You don’t simply level up, but fail, evolve, try again and fail again. It takes the ultra-hardcore genre of Rogue-like and transforms it into something accessible and motivating. Instead of being demoralized after being knocked back to the start, it lets you breathe, chat with the House’s residents, pick a new weapon, and start again, eager for just one more try to escape your fate. Hades is one of my favorite games of the year, and is not to be missed. It is available for the Nintendo Switch, and on PC from the Steam and Epic game stores.
The undead wizard planted flowers by starlight and pulled weeds by moonlight. Under the cover of darkness, he planned and constructed his garden, having procured his supplies through daylight minions. He had loved gardening in life. He didn’t see why he should give up his hobby just because he could no long stand the sun. He planted much of the garden with nightblooming flowers. Chocolate daisies and moonflowers were heavily favored. But he also kept his old favorites, out of nostalgia. One evening, he awoke to discover his whole garden had been trampled. Adventurers were getting on his lawn again.
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There was some debate over whether the human had entered the Spirits’ Forest on accident, but there was no doubt among them that they did not care for his attitude. The spirits had him held fast inside a fallen tree while they debated what was to be done with him. “This is my forest! Don’t you know who I am?” The human shouted. Attempting to point to the little metal hat on his head. “I’m the king!” The spirits spent a long time discussing what that meant. The human was noisy, but after a few hundred years, he calmed down.
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The found the first statue at the edge of the Elves’ territory. It was a figure carved of living wood, ten meters high, extending a hand in friendship. The ranger spoke as they walked. “Elvish artists spend their whole long lives making these. Being chosen as a Treeshaper is a high honor.” More statues lined the paths, from great beasts and noble heroes to geometric patterns that fooled and delighted the eye. They stopped short when they came to the grove of giant toilets. “The arts community went through a, um, protest movement five hundred years ago,” the ranger explained.
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When she entered the dusty old general store, the man behind the counter welcomed her and asked what she was seeking. “I want to buy a mirror,” she said. He placed three hand mirrors on the counter. “These mirrors each show something different: Lost loves, your hearts desire, or the future. But each has a terrible cost.” “Bob, I just need a regular, non-enchanted mirror. Do you have one?” He looked embarrassed. “Ah, not really, no.” She sighed. Now she’d have to drive the hundred miles to the big-box store. Someday she’d get out of this dying New England town.
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The old tunnel yawned wide and dark before us. From somewhere in its depths a sulfurous odor wafted up. This could certainly be the place, but I still had my doubts. “Are you sure about this?” I asked. “For the last time, yes!” My companion turned and seized me by the shoulders. “Consider it. One coin per person for hundreds of years? Thousands? And what does He have to spend them on?” “But how are we going to actually do it?” “Mate, I have a plan. You just have to find the river. Then, we’re going to rob Charon blind.”
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In a world of superheroes, she discovered she had the power to know the future. But despite her efforts, she couldn’t change it, or even tell another soul. Every time she tried, Fate would intervene. She tried to write down what would happen, but the predictions all came out as nonsense. She couldn’t even keep a calendar. Unable to become a prophet, she had to come up with a new plan. She studied crisis management, got her EMT certification, and memorized the fastest routes through the city. If she couldn’t prevent the future, she decided to rise to meet it.
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Hugh J. O'Donnell 