Genestealer Cult Photos 1

Cult of the Four Armed Emperor

Magus and Iconward Acolyte done.

Sanctus completed

Purestrain Genestealers. I messed up on them a bit but they work. 

Upcoming Games Of 2019 | Confirmed Release Dates | PS4, Xbox One, PC

Upcoming Games  Of 2019 | Confirmed Release Dates | PS4, Xbox One, PC

As 2018 comes to an end, it's time to start looking forward to all the phenomenal new games of 2019. Maybe you're still making your way through the best games of 2018, yet it's never too soon to look forward to the future and figure out what you need to start saving up for. We've compiled the absolute greatest new games of 2019 that we're anticipating like Anthem, Cyberpunk 2077, Days Gone, DMC 5, Resident Evil 2 Remake, and Kingdom Hearts III make up just few what's coming down the road. BTW It's all ordered by release date for easy browsing.

More dates are certain to be confirmed as the year goes on, so make sure to check back often as we update this article with new additions. So, stay in touch with the "Pro-Bros Arena"




1. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown

Release Date: 18 January 2019
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Developers: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment, Project Aces, Bandai Namco Studios

Bandai Namco's cult most loved series of flight sims is gearing up for a major comeback, taking the dogfighting action back to the alternate world of Strangereal for Ace Combat's present gen debut. The fast-paced aerial skirmishes look incredible whether you're steering from the first-person cockpit or a third-person view, and the campaign guarantees to contextualize the battlefield in the skies with a healthy dose of political interest and Top Gun-esque acting.  The person who owns a PlayStation VR headset gets the special reward of PS VR-exclusive missions that make you feel like you're really flying your very own fighter jet.



2. Resident Evil 2 Remake.

Release Date: January 25, 2019
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Survival Horror
Developer: Capcom

Fans requested it, and Capcom has reacted in kind. The Resident Evil 2 remake takes you back to a survival horror classic. Reacquainting us with Leon Scott Kennedy and Claire Redfield as they battle for their lives in the infection tainted Raccoon City. And once the dust settled on E3 2018, it was clear that Resident Evil 2 Remake was one of the stars of the show. It's stunning to see how the Resident Evil 7 engine has improved the visual revamp of this 1998 classic: the very point by point zombies are covered in blood, slime, and rotting flesh, and the premonition environment look frighteningly lifelike. The third-person, over-the-shoulder camera should bring the gameplay more in line with modern expectations, making for some truly claustrophobic scares, and the reimagined cutscenes strive to be legitimately spine-chilling as they retell the original story. Put simply, this remake won't be for the faint of heart. 



3. Kingdom Hearts 3

Release Date: January 29, 2019
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Action RPG
Developer: Square Enix

The Disney based game is at last set for a firm release date in January, and with it, a huge amount of new franchise are making their series debut in Kingdom Hearts 3. Confirmed to show up are characters and locals from Tangled, Big Hero 6, Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Frozen. And plenty more that we've seen before, for example, Hercules and Pirates of the Caribbean. But the question is whether the gameplay of the PlayStation 2 period still holds up so many years later?



4. Crackdown 3

Release date: February 2019
Platforms: Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Developers: Sumo Digital, Reagent Games, Cloudgine, Ruffian Games

4 years after its debut at E3 2014, we still have no clue what's in store from Crackdown 3. We got a new trailer at Microsoft's conference this year, and it gave off an impression of being comprised of in-game footage, yet we're still just as clueless as you are for the most part. Terry Crews presently gives off an impression of being a prominent aspect of the game. And keeping in mind that we love Crews, his VO work in the latest trailer can be depicted as over the top at best.

If you're willing to see how it look like then here's the latest short gameplay of Crackdown 3 by IGN.







5. Trials Rising

Initial release date: 12 February 2019
Genre: Racing
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows
Developers: Ubisoft, RedLynx, Ubisoft Ukraine

The physics-based motorcycle stunt series is back with Trials Rising. The Trials community will be able to make and offer tracks with different players over the globe in this rendition. And you'll likewise have the option to customize your racer and bike with a large number of various items including helmets, jackets and trousers. There are a plenty of landmarks over the globe that will have tracks dependent on them. A lot of modes are incorporated, some new and some old. Declared so far are Tandem Mode, 4-Player offline co-op, Contracts, Asynchronous Challenges, and of course Online Multiplayer. The game looks like a blast to play solo or with friends. 



6. Anthem

Release Date: February 22, 2019
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Action Role-Playing
Developer: BioWare

Arguably a standout amongst the most exciting games slated for 2019 is BioWare's hopeful come back to form in Anthem. The game surprised when it appeared at E3 in 2017, and after a year, it's still high on people's wishlist. The title joins third-person shooting and action RPG elements within a shared open world. 

You play as a Freelancer taking part in third-person, Mass Effect-style shootouts, armored up in your Javelin exosuit to explore and eliminate within some gigantic alien biomes. Up to four players can adventure together within their customizable Javelin suits. The game is intended for a group, but single-player will be supported too.

Related post: Anthem detailed preview




7. Metro Exodus

Release Date: February 15, 2019
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Developer: 4A Games

Metro Exodus is the third game in this criminally overlooked post-apocalyptic FPS series, transporting you to the irradiated ruins of modern civilization, now abounding with mutated creatures, which some way or another still manage to look beautiful. The game begins off from Last Light's "Redemption" ending and continues with the story of Artyom as he attempts to escape the Metro in Moscow. The title will see Artyom and his wife Anna attempt to travel far east to start a new life. However, that journey will be more unsafe than Artyom or Anna know. 

Exodus will feature both sandbox environment and linear levels to progress the plot. The story will happen through the span of a year, with the game's dynamic climate and day-night cycle constantly showing signs of change regions dependent on the season.




8. Devil May Cry 5

Release Date: March 8, 2019
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Action-Adventure
Developer: Capcom

Many conjectured that it would be Sony's E3 conference in which the much-rumored Devil May Cry 5 would make its appearance. But, no, quite an opposite in fact. Microsoft's E3 conference got the reveal of a game. And, fans of the series couldn't be more excited. 

Both Dante and Nero will return as playable characters in DMC 5. A third playable character is also introduced. It feels really satisfying when your game's hero is surfing rockets like a surfboard directly into an evil demon's face? 

For detailed Preview: Devil May Cry 5 | Release date, Gameplay preview, Trailer, News, & more..




9. Tom Clancy's The Division 2

Release Date: March 15, 2019
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Action RPG
Developer: Massive Entertainment

The sequel of The Division moves from the streets of New York City into the country's capital. A civil war is breaking out within Washington D.C., and it's up to The Division to help squash it. Massive is bringing 8 player Raids into The Division 2. Also, the developers have guaranteed that three episodes of post-launch DLC, including new story content and game modes, will be made accessible to all players for free.




10. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Release Date: 22 March 2019
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Adventure-Adventure
Developer: FromSoftware

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice comes to us from the same team that created Bloodborne for PlayStation 4. The game looks comparable in gameplay to Bloodborne and the developers' other outstanding work, the Dark Souls series. However, the game won't feature RPG elements nor multiplayer modes like the others do.

The setting is sixteenth century Sengoku Japan. You play as a shinobi named Sekiro as the character attempts to take revenge on a samurai who recently assaulted Sekiro and kidnapped his lord. The samurai has disjoined one of Sekiro's arms, consequently prompting an in-game mechanic in which Sekiro can install different gadgets and accessories upon his prosthetic and upgrade them all through his adventure. 

The most alluring feature spotted so far? A grappling hook, which could drastically change how we traverse the expertly made zones and arenas. Cool! Isn't it?




11. Mortal Kombat 11

Release Date: 23 April 2019
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Developers: NetherRealm Studios

Mortal Kombat has been one of the most popular fighters game in the world for decades. NetherRealm Studios announced Mortal Kombat 11 to the world in an official revealed trailer at The Game Awards 2018. Mortal Kombat 11 will release on 23 April 2019 for multiple platforms including PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch. The trailer for Mortal Kombat 11 was typically bloodier. With heads being removed from bodies and blood flowing freely. Also, the trailer seems to feature just how detailed the brutality zoom-ins will be in the new game. Preorders for both console and PC start on December 7, 2018, Although there's no word on when the game's beta access period will start.




12. Days Gone

Release Date: April 26, 2019
Platform: PlayStation 4
Genre: Survival-Horror, Action-Adventure
Developer: SIE Bend

The more we see of Sony Bend's Days Gone the more the upcoming title seems to impress. Gone are the days of thinking the project is "simply one more zombie game". Rather, it's demonstrated to give a convincing lived in world in which you constantly stumble upon environmental hazards. And because of 'not just any zombie game' it has been the most anticipated game for a long time, lastly, it will release on 26 April 2019.

For a detailed preview: Days Gone | PS4 Release date, Gameplay, news & more...

13. Team Sonic Racing

Release Date: 21 May 2019
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows
Developer: Sumo Digital

Sonic and his numerous buddies are back for their third kart-racing competition - and before you ask, Sonic races in a car as a handicap because there'd be no challenge if he was running on his foot. Sumo Digital, the same developer behind the splendid Sonic All-Stars Racing games, is back for Team Sonic Racing, which focuses exclusively on the Sonic universe and places drivers in groups as they compete for a combined score instead of pole position. It's certainly a takeoff from the more conventional arcade racing of the past games, and the Sonic focus, unfortunately, avoids all that superbly obscure Sega fan service. But, the dynamic visuals and finely tuned fundamentals are still there, with all the boosting, item-blasting, and mid-air tricking you could seek after.



14. Rage 2

Release Date: May 14, 2019
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Developer: Avalanche Studios, id Software

The infamous Walmart leak of 2018 spoiled the reveal of Rage 2 for the majority. Many people questioned the legitimacy of the retailer's listing, but when a franchise as obscure as Rage was confirmed just as the leak predicted, we realized it had to be legit. The game looks to be a fabulously frantic mashup of Doom and Mad Max. Which well makes sense considering id developed Doom and Avalanche developed Mad Max.

Players wander the game's apocalyptic open world after a giant asteroid devastates the majority of mankind, the survivors need to fight for themselves against armies of horrendous bandits and mutants with deadly tendencies. And also, Rage 2 brings back the deadly boomerang known as the wingstick, and amps up the firefights with a lot of dashing and an adrenaline-pumping, neon-soaked berserker mode.



15. Shenmue 3

Release Date: 27 August 2019
Platform: PC, PlayStation 4
Genre: Action-Adventure
Developers: YS Net, Neilo

The Shenmue series was never a huge commercial success, but thanks to some extent to Kickstarter and a large number of fans' hard-earned dollars, the project is completely in progress. In Shenmue 3, you'll play the job of a martial artist named Ryo Hazuki as he attempts to reveal who is responsible for his dad's murder. The game guarantees to have gameplay reminiscent of the past titles, enabling players to go up against enemies in hand-to-hand combat, upgrade combat abilities, and explore a living world loaded with towns, shops, and an active populous.


So these are the upcoming games of 2019 with confirmed release dates, We'll keep updating this list as soon as any other release date is confirmed, so stay in touch with the "Pro-Bros Arena"

Without Map Or Compass

In the original Legend of Zelda the Map and Compass are indispensable for surviving dungeons and reaching the boss. The map shows you the layout of the dungeon and the compass positions you in it.

In the pilgrimage of the Christian life, I think the map would be the teachings of Our Blessed Lord and saviour, preserved in the Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church that He founded- this constitutes the way to Eternal Life.

The compass I think would be the interior life, the daily life of prayer composed of mental prayer, examination of conscience and perhaps above all, the sacrament of confession. Through these powerful means we can discern where we are headed, how we stand with regards to that map, whether we are near the end of the dungeon, close to completing it, or perhaps down a dead end.

How tragic for the worldlings and for the followers of false religions, they have neither map nor compass- where will they end up? They can send Link a thousand times round the dungeon but without map or compass they have little chance of coming out alive.

Praise be Our God and Saviour Jesus Christ for providing us with the Map and Compass in His One True Church.

Podcast Episode 30 - Finishing Up Demystifying AD&D Combat

In this episode, I wrap up my attempt to demystify AD&D combat with a correction, some odds-ends and Weapons vs. AC!

Anchor Episode link: https://anchor.fm/the-dungeon-masters-handb/episodes/Podcast-Episode-30---Finishing-Up-Simplifying-ADD-Combat-eb80m2

What do you think?! 

Leave me a voice message and let me know what you think or ask questions if you have them! (312) 625-8281‬ (US/Canada) You can also leave a message on Anchor: anchor.fm/the-dungeon-masters-handbook/message 

Find episode posts and other D&D content on my blog: chgowiz-games.blogspot.com 

Credits

Intro music: Dragonaut by Bradley The Buyer (bit.ly/2ASpAlF)
Outro music: Dream by Wild Shores (bit.ly/2jbJehK)
Stinger music by TJ Drennon - Check out his Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/TJD/
Stinger music by Nightingale - https://www.looperman.com/users/profile/207475
All music used with permission.

Buds, Blooms, And Thorns Review Of Wooly Whammoth By Smirk & Dagger Games

Buds, Blooms, and Thorns Review of Wooly Whammoth by Smirk & Dagger Games
DisclaimerSupport me on Patreon!

Vitals:
Title: Wooly Whammoth
Designed by: Nicholas Cravotta, Rebecca Bleau
Publisher: Smirk & Dagger Games
MSRP: $40
2-4p | 20-30 min | 8+

Introduction:

If you were a member of a prehistoric tribe, you'd need to eat.  And what better to eat than big, yummy, mammoths?  They're big though, so hunting them is difficult... Unless you can drive them off a cliff and let gravity do the work for you!  The problem is, mammoths are often unpredictable and dangerous.  Sometimes they'll charge, sometimes they'll even take you off the cliff with them!

In Wooly Whammoth all players are controlling their own tribe, trying to drive a mammoth off a cliff in order to feed their tribe.  Simultaneously, everyone will play a card that says what will happen that round, either movement cards or charge cards.  The catch is that everyone's cards are combined to decide what happens!  So if too many people play movement cards you may end up running off the cliff with the mammoth!  Or if someone plays a Charge card you may end up getting trampled!  Whoever manages to collect enough food at the end of the game, without losing their entire tribe, is the winner!

Blooms:
Blooms are the game's highlights and features.  Elements that are exceptional.

• Excellent components!  The artwork is fun and whimsical, the double layered, sliding tracks for each player are nice and thick, and all the tokens and cards are top notch quality.

Buds:
Buds are interesting parts of the game I would like to explore more. 

• This needs to be played with the right group of people.  If everyone plays conservatively it'll be a boring game, but when people take chances it can cause some crazy fun.
• Light, quick play and a whimsical theme make for a good filler.

Thorns:
Thorns are a game's shortcomings and any issues I feel are noteworthy.

• Gameplay is very light and casual.  It feels like a mismatch with the $40 price tag.
• If you don't play with people that like a little chaos the game will be pretty boring.  In my first game I played with a group that was very calculating (they mostly play euro strategy games).  Because of this everyone calculated what the best moves would be and everyone ended up in pretty much the same place for much of the game.  You really need either a completely random element, or someone who loves instigating chaos to make the game exciting.
• This is a game that really focuses on take-that mechanics.  There is bluffing and a bit of deduction, but it all revolves around trying to get your opponents to either fall off the cliff or get trampled.  If you aren't into a game built around this goal, as most of my game group isn't, then this game isn't for you.

Final Thoughts:

This is a game that I thought would be more fun than it was.  Part of that is because it's not the right game for my gaming group though.  Wooly Whammoth is really all about trying to see if you can get your opponents to destroy themselves.  A lot of Smirk & Dagger games have strong take-that elements to them and Wooly Whammoth is no exception. 

There are some interesting bluffing opportunities and mechanic interactions in the game though.  You do have to think about, and then second guess, what you think your opponents are going to play in order to keep yourself both on the cliff and avoid being trampled.  Each tribe has a unique ability that can help them in the game, and there are some cards that let you do things other than move that add some interesting options.  However, after all was said and done, I didn't feel like much really happened in the game.  There were no overly exciting moments, no sense of danger or thrill of the hunt.  I'd love to see more "last minute" save types of occasions in the game to bring forward the sense of hunting a dangerous prey.  I think part of the issue is that cards are resolved sequentially rather than simultaneously.  So you are able to move and drive a mammoth off the cliff before a Charge card takes effect.  If you've already driven your mammoth off the cliff it can't charge.  Because of this, we felt that the Charge cards were less effective than we'd have liked.  They were potentially mean, but in actuality, didn't seem mean enough.  Simultaneously charging and moving would probably result in more casualties in the game, so tribes may have to be bigger, but I think it would also add more excitement.

Wooly Whammoth reminded me a lot of Get Bit, but much less elegant.  The experience in Get Bit is very similar - players are trying to avoid getting eaten by a shark by playing numerical cards that determine their sequence in line, but it's also simpler.  I think Get Bit works much better for the experience the games are trying to instill, plus Get Bit is a fraction of the cost.

Anyway, I gave Wooly Whammoth a Thorn rating because it really wasn't right for my group, and I think it fell short of the experience it tried to present.  If you like simple bluffing and take-that games you may get more mileage from the game.  Thematically it's wonderful and would make a great family game, but mechanically I felt it left a bit to be desired.

Buds, Blooms, and Thorns Rating:

Thorn!  I can't quite recommend this game,
although you may enjoy it if you like games
like this.  I feel this game has some flaws and
there are areas that it could improve in the
experience it provides.

Pictures:

Did you like this review?  Show your support: Support me on Patreon!Also, click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

GJJ Games Reviews are independent, unpaid reviews of games I, George Jaros, have played with my family and friends.  Some of these games I own, some are owned by friends, some are borrowed, and some were provided by a publisher or designer for my honest feedback and evaluation.  I make every attempt to be both honest and constructively critical in my reviews, and they are all my opinions.  There are four types of reviews on GJJ Games: Full Reviews feature critical reviews based on a rubric and games receive a rating from 0 to 100.  Quick Reviews and Kickstarter Previews are either shorter reviews of published games or detailed preview reviews of crowdfunding games that will receive a rating from 0 to 10 based on my impressions of the game.  Buds, Blooms,and Thorns reviews are shorter reviews of either published or upcoming games that highlight three aspects of a game: Buds are parts of a game I look forward to exploring more, Blooms are outstanding features of a game, and Thorns are shortcomings of a game.  Each BBT review game will receive an overall rating of Thorn, Bud, or Bloom.

Missed Classic: Trinity - Gyre And Gimble In The Wabe

Written by Joe Pranevich

Welcome back! It was a bit slower going than I had hoped to get here, but we got here nonetheless. Last time around, we jumped into Trinity and an exploration of a near-future Kensington Gardens followed by total nuclear annihilation. Fortunately, we escaped just in the nick of time into a magic door in the middle of a pond and now we are somewhere else. What are we doing there? What is the point of the game? I have no idea, but that lack of knowledge is exciting… also potentially depressing, but I'm going to favor "exciting" for now. If you are confused, just read the previous post and you'll at least be caught up to where I am because getting this far was quite a ride.

This has been a difficult post to write for several reasons. First and foremost, I struggle to get into the right headspace for this game. The themes are heavy but the puzzles are whimsical; it's discordant and wonderful. But talking about nuclear annihilation, even when couched in a "fun" adventure game, is difficult to do. I have to force myself to play and then I have to force myself to write about it afterwards because this is a place my head does not want to go. I can only imagine how screwed up Mr. Moriarty must have been having been deep in this game for a year or more, at a time when its terrors seemed even more real than they do today. Add to that my own inadequacy in discussing this game, so beautiful and well-written that my ham-fisted prose seems inadequate. I feel like I am penning a Readers Digest edition of Macbeth. All of our contributors have a tendency to fill in the gaps as we describe our games, to describe how they play in our heads as much as on our screens. With Trinity, it is a very different problem of trying to convey a great game through my own experience. I hope I do it justice.

All that said, this is the first game I have played in forever that has given me nightmares. Is that worth a bonus point in our rating system, or not?

Our friend, the sundial.

We emerge from our door in the fabric of spacetime onto a meadow. The first thing we notice is that it's not a lifeless world: the air is filled with dragonflies and the sounds of doves. There's a giant toadstool nearby which just screams Alice in Wonderland and not Super Mario Bros., because I'm a cultured person and the mushroom-world levels (1-3, et al) would not be the first thing to occur to me. Really. From here all we can do is to climb a hill to the north to get a better view on the world and perhaps it is better if I let Moriarty do the talking:

Summit

The hill you climbed lies at the southwest edge of a vast wilderness. Towering forests are broken by long tracks of wasteland, rugged plateaus and marshes shrouded in perpetual mist. A brooding sun fills the distant valleys with a sad, dusty light the color of antique brass.

A giant triangle, thousands of feet high, rises above the eastern treetops. Its vertex casts a long shadow across the wood.

As your eyes sweep the landscape, you notice more of the giant toadstools. There must be hundreds of them. Some sprout in clusters, some grow in solitude among the trees. Their numbers increase dramatically as your gaze moves westward, until the forest is choked with pale domes.

A glare lights up the sky! You look up just in time to see a meteor streak overhead.

As we gather our thoughts and take our bearings, the meteor crashes somewhere far to the east. The sight of a giant triangle in the middle of the world leads me to one conclusion: we are on the sundial from Kensington Gardens or a manifestation of it. Knowing that we are in the southwest helps to orient ourselves, although having a giant gnomon hovering in plain sight is perhaps the best clue. Since I "know" that we are on the sundial, at least until proven wrong and you all laugh at me, I'm going to work my way around the edge clockwise to see what I can see. That's a good strategy, even if part of me wants to march to the center and see what is there right away. I can always change my mind later.

Heading down off the summit, the first place I discover is a bog with a decaying log. Attempting to pick it up results only in it crumbling in my grasp, but it leaves behind a splinter that I can pick up. The splinter is glowing thanks to the "phosphorescence of decay". I didn't think that is a real thing but it turns out to be based on a quote by Charles Baudelaire from a poem that I have never heard of, written in French. I'm not sure if I am uncultured or if that is the kind of crazy abstract wordplay that this game will be throwing at me, but at any rate I have one more point and a glowing stick... and in an adventure game, you can always use a glowing stick.

Like this but after the end of the world.

The Waterfall & Barrow

Following my plan, I head west to find a waterfall splashing into an ice cold pool. It's too cold to swim in, but there is another one of those giant toadstools here except that this one has a door. A door!? I cannot seem to force it open and knocking politely doesn't do the trick so I will need to come back later.

To the north, I discover a cemetery containing a crypt and a barrow. My vocabulary doesn't seem to be up to snuff because in this case the "crypt" seems to be more of an exposed stone coffin (labeled "Wabewalker") rather than the kind that you can walk around in. I cannot get the lid off, but the text hints that I'll find something to lever it open with later. Entering the barrow is a trap as a portcullis slams shut behind me immediately. Fortunately, I am carrying that splinter because there is otherwise no light. There is something in the barrow with me and a disembodied voice tells me that it is a "barrow wight". It's vaguely human-shaped with an eyeball that is dangling out of its socket on a single protruding optic nerve. Is the idea that I am supposed to help it? Or is it just there to kill me if I stick around too long? In any event, he doesn't seem to kill me right away. There were some barrow wights in The Lord of the Rings, but I no longer remember what the hobbits had to do to get past them. I'm actually more concerned with that disembodied voice. Who was that? Is it the same voice from London who told me to enter the door? Is someone watching me in my quest? I suspect I'll get to meet him or her later.

Deeper into the barrow is the ossuary, a bone pit and another one of the toadstools with a door. Searching the bones reveals a key (+1 point), but no other way out. I backtrack to the wight's room and find a small hole in the wall that I missed, just the right size for a key. I put it in and turn to open a hidden passage. I descend into a cavern covered with icicles and from there… right back through a hidden tunnel behind the waterfall. I am fairly certain I checked for hidden tunnels, but now that I found this one I can get back to the ice cave at any time even if I do not have a reason to yet. Time to keep moving.

Blowing bubbles is very relaxing.

Bubble Boy

Working my way north, I pass a giant Venus flytrap at the northern end of a bog. It doesn't attack me or seem mobile so I'll just give it a wide berth for now. At the northwest edge of the map, I make an unexpected discovery: the young boy blowing bubbles from Kensington Gardens is here, except he's 40 feet high. This just reaffirms that I am somehow on the sundial, but how did he get here and why hasn't he been vaporized? I cannot talk to him because he's wearing the same headphones as before and the most we can do is watch him blow bubble after bubble. My first thought is that I need to ride one of the bubbles, but I cannot see how to do it. If I try to climb the kid, he tosses me in a random direction. Once launched, the bubbles are too high to reach. I will have to notate and come back to later.

Working my way east along the edge, I discover "Chasm's Brink" which gives me an unobstructed view off the edge of whatever I am standing on. Thirty feet away is a little island where I can just make out another one of the giant toadstools, but no way to get there. Can I ride a bubble across? There's also a single lone oak tree nearby so maybe I'll have to make a bridge?

There might be a white mailbox, but you'll never know.

Cabin in the Woods

The far northeast of wherever it is that I am has two major areas of note: a cabin and a crater, the result of that meteor strike that I saw when I first arrived. The cabin itself is remarkable both because it is the first "normal" thing that we have seen since we arrived and well, everything else about it. The best way to describe the interior is "very meta". The wall has a map that looks very much like the type of map that we might draw to play (or design) an adventure game, while a large book in the center of the room appears to describe my very own path through the game. Here's an example:

It's hard to divine the purpose of the calligraphy. Every page begins with a descriptive heading ("In which the Wabewalker meets a Keeper of Birds" for instance) followed by a list of imperatives (prayers? formulae?), each preceded by an arrow-shaped glyph.

The writing ends abruptly on the page you found open, under the heading "In which the Wabewalker happens upon a Book of Hours, and begins to study it." The last few incantations read:

> Open Door

> E

> Read Book

The whole place reminds me of the fates from Celtic mythology, or at least the ones that I remember filtered down to me thanks to Lloyd Alexander's books. They weaved together the tapestries of lives. There's even a bubbling cauldron! Weaving is an old profession, but Moriarty obviously felt that "game designer" was the modern equivalent. I'm not sure how literally we are supposed to read the description from the book, but the ZIL interpreted language of Infocom did have most commands start with the "<" symbol. Is that the "arrow-shaped glyph" or am I looking too deeply?. I also wonder who lives in this cottage. Could it be the "Keeper of Birds" from the beginning of the game? Will we see her again? Or is it the voice that we keep hearing at odd moments? All good questions, but no immediate answers.

Perhaps more importantly: am I the "Wabewalker"? Does that mean that I saw my own crypt? Is it is a title? Is it time travel? Is this area that I am exploring right now the "wabe"?

To contribute to the meta nature of the area, I shouldn't forget to mention that the room also contains a magpie in a birdcage. A Colossal Cave reference perhaps? Opening the cage causes the bird to fly away so I restore and keep him around. He spouts random nonsense and occasionally repeats commands that I typed. In the rear of the cottage is an herb garden and trash pit, plus another one of the toadstools. I search the pit to find a clove of garlic which I pocket.

Continuing my exploration, the nearby crater contains a still superheated meteorite chunk (about the size of a grapefruit) half-buried in the ground. It's too hot to pick up and there are no obvious ways to dig it out. When I stand nearby, my gnomon is attracted to it. I can attack it to the rock and it sticks, but when I do I'm just told that my umbrella is attracted to it as well. My guess is that it is magnetic, although not so strongly magnetic that I can use that to pull it out of the ground with the umbrella.

Ticket please... Next!

Come Sail Away?

Between the cottage and the crater is one more location, a tree containing a beehive filled with particularly aggressive bees. In pure Winnie the Pooh fashion, I try to steal the honey but that only causes one bee to follow me around continuously. I expect that he'll eventually catch up to me and sting me, but I immediately know what to do: take it to the Venus flytrap. That works! The bee is dead, the plant fed, and now I can take some honey. Since I don't have any containers, it just sticks to my hand. I cannot even drop it! What do I need the honey for? I may have to restore and do this later if the honey on my hand interferes with any of the other puzzles.

The far southeast corner of the "wabe" is bisected by a wide river that I am unable to cross. If we wait around on the banks very long at all, we will catch a glimpse of an oarsman rowing towards us. When he arrives at the bank, ghostly figures will appear and board the boat. He'll take a coin from each of them. Once everyone is aboard, the oarsman leaves. A few minutes later, he'll return and do it all again. If I try to board the boat, he kicks me out immediately-- but not because I don't have payment, but rather because (the game tells me) that he doesn't like my "London vacation shorts". The obvious implication is that I'll need to dress the part to board his boat. Will the wight lend me a change of clothing? My guess is that the 20p coin I have been carrying around since London will suffice as payment.

"Well, that is your name, isn't it? Calvin Klein? It's written all over your underwear."

Klein Bottle

In the far south, we find a garden surrounded by high hedges. At the center of the garden is a statue of a "klein bottle" (see illustration above) and an inscription attributing it to Felix Klein. If you are not familiar, a klein bottle is a mathematical construct in topology where a single line appears to travel across both the interior and the exterior of the shape. It warps back in on itself. It's difficult to explain, but the shape just looks like a bottle with a handle. It doesn't take more than a moment more exploring the garden to realize that the whole thing is a Klein bottle and we find ourselves on the ceiling. There is a silver axe up there; I grab it and head back down.

I come down to discover that the world has gone screwy: west and east have been swapped! My entire map appears to be backwards and even the inscription on the statue reads "NIELK XILEF". One more circuit through the arboretum and everything turns back to normal again. Is this just a simple thing to screw up our map or is there a puzzle hidden here somewhere? I don't know yet.

Where gnomon has gone before.

The Center!

Heading west from the garden, I find myself back where I began. From here I had a brilliant strategy to explore a bit further in, but actually the wabe isn't all that big and I pretty much explored the whole thing just by going around the edge. That only leaves the triangle-shaped obelisk in the center. Thankfully, the triangle was designed for visitors because there is a convenient stairwell up and onto a very chilly mesa. The temperature is below freezing and I'm not clear whether we can stay here very long. The good news is that there is a great view: not only can we see the shape of the world, we can also see the long shadow cast by the triangle. It is currently pointing straight north.

More importantly, the top of the sundial is… another sundial. If I zoom in, could I see another sundial on that one? Probably not because this sundial is much like the one in Kensington Gardens except that it doesn't have its gnomon. I naturally try to attach the one that I have been carrying, but it doesn't fit: the thread doesn't match up. That's very strange. Is there a second one to find somewhere? Multiple sundials?

Surrounding the sundial is a brass ring. I discover that if you turn it, the whole world turns. At least, I think it does because the position of the sun changes very quickly. It might be time speeding up, but it's very difficult to tell. I try to see if maybe the sun now sets in the south instead of the west, but I do not have the patience to stand around and find out. Other than repositioning the sun (and therefore the shadow), I do not see immediately how this helps me.

With nothing else to do, I head back down and double check every location and exit until I have a complete map. The whole place is roughly six rooms by four, plus some extra in the cottage and the gardens for a total of thirty-one rooms. It's a good size for exploring but also giving us a finite solution space. From a game design perspective, I approve! But now, we need to solve some puzzles.

Plus one room that I haven't technically found yet...

Puzzle Time!

I'm not going to narrate all of my trial and error and running around like crazy. This section, much like the best Infocom adventures, has a middle phase where we run around and try random things until we find something that works. As we solve puzzles, the search space for the other puzzles gradually decreases until the game is cracked! This is almost exactly the way the early Zork games worked and it is a welcome return to form after so many games complicated the formula with scripted sequences or unnecessary plot. I like that it's just me in a strange land, trying to make sense out of it.

• The first thing that I learn is that I can use the silver axe (from the Klein bottle) to chop down the tree in the northern part of the wabe and push it forward to make a bridge. I guessed that it might be something like that, although the other side just contains yet another toadstool and nothing else.
• Returning to the cottage now reveals that the map on the wall has changed with the addition of new squiggly lines. Of course, the game provides no more details and I end up re-exploring absolutely everything to see if there are any new exits or locations. There are none. I even go through the Klein bottle again and explore the entire world "backwards" to see if anything opens up that way, but it was not to be.
• All the mucking about with the cottage and I've heard more of the magpie's speech now. He seems to be ranting about some sort of concoction that goes "boom". The ingredients are milk, honey, garlic, and a lizard. Since I have the garlic and honey already, I try adding them to the already boiling pot. The garlic goes in (and I gain a point!), but I cannot seem to drop the honey because it is still stuck on my hand. Eventually, I get the "brilliant" idea to just dip my hand in the boiling water. Somehow, that works and I get more points. Now, where will I find a lizard and milk?
• After spending time with the bubble-blowing boy, I work out that I can climb into his soap dish and fly off in a bubble that way… except physics takes over and I don't soar as I had hoped but instead seem to bob just above the ground. I can make it four turns away from the boy, but I do not find anything interesting to do within those four turns yet to justify doing so.
• I don't make any further progress with the sundial, the ferryman, the ice cave, toadstools, or the garden.

My big break came almost by accident. I noticed that when I went up and around through the arboretum, the statue at the bottom's text reversed. I try dropping the umbrella on the ground and going around and it's text reverses too! Even better, I can take the umbrella with me even after I reset the directions of the world again and the text is still reversed! I have no idea how or why that would work, but it does. From there, I decide to reverse the gnomon. Although the sundial never said or implied that the thread was reversed, it is possible that I am in some sort of "mirror universe" (to borrow from both Star Trek and Through the Looking Glass). I use this technique to flip the polarity of the gnomon and take it back up to the sundial. That works!

This opens up a few new actions that remind me of the trolley puzzle at the end of Dungeon and Zork III. A new lever that appears can be used both as a means of stopping time and as a pointer: when you lower it, it points at one of the seven symbols but the sun also stops moving in the sky. From there, we can rotate the world using the ring to point the shadow anywhere we want, or more importantly to point the lever to one of the seven symbols. Time is not completely stopped because the boy still blows bubbles, but the sun has stopped.

I think of the island mesa to the north and point the shadow there. When I arrive, the toadstool door is open! I know how to open the doors! I'll just need to find all of the matching toadstools and pay attention to where the lever is pointing for each. Before I get in to that, I bravely (with a recent saved game) step through the door:

Scaffold

Whoever threw this place together wasn't worried about permanence. Tin walls rise on flimsy studs to a ceiling that sags under its own weight. It reminds you of a prefab tool shed, several stories high.

You're standing beside a monstrous conglomeration of pipes, compressors, and pressure valves that fills most of the building. The only familiar equipment is the open white door set into one of the storage tanks.

A stairway leads downward.

We've left the wabe and I have a feeling that I have been transported back to the location of one of the bomb tests. How exciting!

Time played: 3 hr 50 min
Total time: 5 hr 10 min

Inventory: piece of paper, bag of crumbs, small coin (20p), credit card, umbrella, wristwatch, birdcage with magpie, and silver axe. (Not all being carried at once.)
Score: 34 of 100 (34%)