Foreword

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₪ Genre: Adventure, Action, RPG
☑ Release date: May 2015
♬ Soundtrack: Touch of Kether and Fixer's Hope (Previews)

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Looking back on my experience after finishing Dex just an hour or so ago I can't shake this feeling that I approached the game with different expectations compared to what I got in the end. Very much to my surprise this is an even rarer case where this turned out to be a good thing for the game in question. So let's get down to it, my pretties – how does Dex fare in the nitty-gritty department?

One thing you quickly realize is how well it nails the cyberpunk sensibilities. I'm not talking merely about the aesthetic either, but it is part of the package with its gloomy and despairing locales contrasted with neon advertisements and jacked up people who think nothing about augmenting themselves with implants. Story? Well, it's cyberpunk. So much is endemic to the genre itself that little needs to be said – corporations are up to no good and you have to fight them. Dex doesn't exactly throw any curve balls in that department and largely plays everything straight... which is perfectly fine considering that's what you're here for in the first place. Our protagonist finds herself on the receiving end after she becomes a target of a corporation called the Complex and is saved by a famous hacker in the nick of time. This sets her down a path of the seedy underbelly of Harbor Prime and beyond as she attempts to piece together what exactly is happening.

In a sense this is where some of the game's problems come about – Dex is just a really forgettable protagonist. Not necessarily bad as much as conflicted because story and major characters you interact with throughout the game portray her as some badass almost in the vein of Major from Ghost in the Shell, but really in few cutscenes and voiced dialog lines she has Dex comes off almost as a hipster valley girl trying too hard to be snarky. It's a minor gripe of mine, but it took me out of the game whenever she spoke. Another issue, although justified by the situation she find herself in, is the way she keeps getting dragged into things and going with the flow WHILE at the same time point doing all the grunt work. This results in obvious division between story and gameplay parts, and had at times lead me to honestly forget the main story was even there as I was fooling around in Harbor Prime. Which brings me to...

All the other stuff.

The way game is structured it wouldn't be a lie to call it a metroidvania of sorts, but only in a sense there are segments of the map(s) locked to you until/if you acquire certain abilities that will allow you to re-visit and explore said sections. These take form in shape of skills and cybernetic implants. Contrary to what you might expect when you look at the game and see something that plays like a 2D beat 'em up or a very basic shooting affair when you throw firearms into the mix, skills like lockpicking and charisma get more than decent mileage for just two skill levels versus the regular six levels your main skills that pertain to combat and weapons. Add things like shops, variety of gear and as well as miscellaneous items and you suddenly have a title fleshed out with a number of moving parts. What also impressed me is the fact how modular the game is whatever your play style might be, and this is coming from someone who combined melee and stealth. Getting an implant that let me see enemy's field of vision and advanced armor which made bullets a joke essentially prepared me for anything end game could throw at me.

What? Girl needs a hobby.

How the game generally looks. Perfectly nailed moody ambiance.

Was it really impossible to enlarge the dialog window just a tiny bit? I shouldn't have to scroll through this.

While they might have you tracing back and forth I found most of the side missions very enjoyable and involved on story level more than I initially expected. I think the dullest one in the entire game is collecting old memorabilia for a certain weapon shop owner, but even in that case you get a tiny bit of history as well as decent reward so you don't feel like the game is wasting your time. One thing to note, so you don't end up looking like a fool the way I did, is to remember game actually has fast travel and you don't have to traverse all the districts of Harbor Prime on foot. NPCs you come across are generally your safe cyberpunk archetypes and they play it as such while clinging to enough new personality to be likable when contrasted with the protagonist herself.

Feeding into what I said above about skills and game's open approach it actually took me a while to get into as I thought I was initially doing something wrong. Turns out exploring new locations the moment they become available aka what every sensible person does, might not be the best thing seeing as Dex does not hold your hand. If your character build will let you get there, you can get there. Hell, there are almost always additional routes/information that actually feel integrated into the world and air ducts aren't just there so you can have a stealth route, for example. I can't count the number of times I've come across alternative solutions to problems and, equally as important, info that isn't spelled out as vital but is something you can use. Like how in one mission you come across information a certain character owes money to a bank and with your hacking skills you can do away with it. This is not required for the mission involving said singer, but she'll be grateful and give you a little something regardless. I like these small things and Dex has a lot of them spread out all over the place.

Fine fine, have some negatives. There really aren't many when I think back on it. One that persists is how the game doesn't really explain some things to you or how most systems are very basic, but all of these work just fine as individual pieces of the grand puzzle. Another problem I have with the game is the way it ends seeing as there are multiple endings based on your decisions yet one is clearly the “good ending” and gets the attention. In other words, Dex is a game that could be insanely expanded on in the sequel because they have the groundwork right. As long as they keep the stellar soundtrack and artwork, mind you.

I expected a simple 2D sidescrolling game and instead got more-or-less an RPG masquerading as former mainly because of technical and financial [Kickstarter origin] reasons. You won't have to ask me twice whether I want to play more cyberpunk games though, especially not when they're as quality as Dex turned out to be. My one regret is putting it off this long.

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₪ Genre: Action, RPG
☑ Release date: April 2013
♬ Soundtrack: Power Struggle and Shadowlair

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It feels comfortable to take a dip back into the ever-increasing pool of mid-budget RPGs that have been making a steady return since, well, pretty much last generation of consoles the entire part of the market was on a steady path to extinction. I can safely say I'm glad we got games like Mars: War Logs out of that course correction even if I'm not sure whether it's palatable enough for audience at large. Even genre fans. For reference's sake I would put Mars in more-or-less the same category as Game of Thrones: The Roleplaying Game and Of Orcs And Men which I reviewed earlier and liked both while finding them incredibly overlooked and underrated.

So let's end the preamble and get down to it, shall we?

While the game has a codex that details major historical events and general chronology that lead to current state of things all you really need to know is the following – we're on Mars about a century or so after a great upheaval following a period when Mars was essentially abandoned due to reasons and left to fend off for itself. Water is obviously scarce and terraforming is taking its sweet time so it became the top commodity. Organizations looking for water and managing it in general would eventually become Water Guilds. Story takes place in this wartime period where two of the largest Guilds – Abundance and Aurora – are duking it out in a straight up war with each other. There's more to it with with mysterious Technomancers who harness old technologies to essentially turn themselves into mages of the setting with powers like electricity, kinetics, etc who have their own angle, but I'll leave that for you to find out.

Important thing is we open up in Abundance's POW camp where game pulls a nice bait and switch when it reveals who the main character is and I can't remember when was the last time a game surprised me like that. This one is maybe on me because I knew nothing about the game prior to starting it up other than it's genre, though. It was a good feeling to realize I was not, in fact, the whiny kid. Nope, we take control of Roy who is seemingly just another POW that ended up in the camp following some earlier raid and he has the great escape in mind.

First act deals with getting out of prison and I think is largely a good representative of the rest of the game... albeit for both its positives and negatives rolled into one. We're talking tight quarters here and missions that take you back and forth across the same few levels as you do your stuff. Good news is game genuinely dispenses with annoying “kill X of Y” type of missions and even when you're [rarely] collecting stuff for others it's never a one-off deal, has story associated with it and leads to more later down the road where you might not see it at first. Also speaking of missions I have to say this might be the best part of the game next to its setting for me. They're varied and flesh out said setting, but they have this weird habit that will make you like them or hate them depending on which side of the street you're on – they present you with choices where you seemingly have to make a decision which isn't necessarily clear. For example, later on you have to sort out a case of a serial killer in Shadowlair and while evidence points out to a single guy, evidence you've collected yourself, at the end of the day it's you who has to make the call on whether to ice the guy or not. Are you in the right or are you killing the wrong person? That's up to the outcome and if you don't save scum your way there's quite a few of surprise like that where you may be taken aback.

Rolling it back to gameplay a bit I think that's really Mars' sore spot in many ways. At its core we're dealing with a simple action RPG where you have a regular attack, block breaker, dodge and block. Simple, right? Yes. There's no joke at the end of the tunnel here because that really is all to combat. Now, don't misunderstand because there are a lot of moving parts here seeing as you have a shortcut wheel you can use. That brings a lot more stuff to the table – indispensable “throw dust to their eyes and confuse enemies” move that you get from the get-go and I frankly overlooked at first, gun you unlock and is your ranged attack for a good long while with limited ammo you need to manage, stuff like traps and bombs you can use to really turn the tide if used correctly and, which is no spoiler seeing as it's in the menu visible, Technomancy abilities. That's quite a nice selection and seeing that it's further modified/unlocked by using skill points you can actually customize Roy, who is otherwise a fixed character, to a surprise degree. There is even stealth in the game and while it certainly falters in later parts it is also usable far more than I expected it to be with only a few skills focusing on it so even if you mess up and “focus” on stealth you're still not horribly out of luck. This is by no means like Of Orcs And Men where you NEEDED stealth to even the odds, though.

You get some dashes of color here and there, but only here and there.

In a lesser developer's hands Mary would've been that annoying zany character played for laughs.

Unintentional camouflage on Roy's part. It's all just so brown.

Issue with things above and game in general is that you can clearly tell production values weren't up to snuff and it was Spiders trying to do way more than perhaps they should have. Result is a troubled game with faulty camera and questionable targeting in combat where sometimes you'll end up swinging and praying you're hitting the right people fast enough so no one can sneak up on you off-camera. Some skills like “block attacks from every direction” are vital when it comes to staying alive, in my opinion. This general practice also extends to levels which I already touched upon briefly in a sense that they're mostly corridors and when they're not you're dreading one thing alone – re-spawning enemies. Well, that's not entirely genuine on my part seeing as I barely noticed the practice, but when I was forced to retread the same ground it became painfully evident. It's not helped by the fact enemies drop crafting materials and Serum aka currency you have nothing to really spend on seeing as this is also one of those RPGs where you don't want to buy anything ever because you'll find it or be given the good stuff. Mars lets you customize gear, by which I mean suits of armor and weapons, to a satisfying degree but it's also not really theory-crafting material seeing as you'll always have the materials handy and upgrades are rather straightforward. One thing I personally was annoyed with at first but grew on me when I realized there's loot aplenty was the fact you have to EARN your right to loot by spending points on it.

This same general problem extends to story and characters because you can once again see developers spreading themselves way too thin and going for a Bioware formula with what must've been a fraction of the budget. There are companions, but they're frankly more just meat shield distractions in combat to soak some enemy blows and outside of combat they sadly don't get many interactions. Innocence and Mary were by far the most developed ones seeing as you interact with them in early to mid parts, but latter companions you get are utterly forgettable. You can only have one with you at any time and maximum of three can be had in end-game. Some are better at combat than others, but I think there were maybe a handful of fights where they didn't end up unconscious. Greatest offense game makes as far as I'm concerned is the way it robs you of your well earned ending. No matter which route you take, and there are two, they lead to the same finale but interestingly enough not the same ending. Sadly, neither is exactly satisfying since there's no real boss at the end and you get your conclusion in the epilogue narration which clearly shows a morally gray world in case it wasn't already obvious.

Now I've set myself up for a fall. Would I recommend Mars: War Logs? Hesitantly because I really liked it despite all its faults and there are many. Two persistent itches are general level of jank in the game that permeates every aspect of it and odd, oppressive feeling of an incomplete project that had to make some hard cuts along the way. Dubious VA doesn't help and visuals are what they are, but I'd say RPG fans with higher than usual tolerance should give it a go in order to experience an ambitious game that somehow against all odds still manages to work despite needlessly imitating other games with much more money to go around

One thing I know is I sure as hell want to play more of Spiders' games now to see them grow.

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₪ Genre: Action, RPG
☑ Release date: February 2015
♬ Soundtrack: Deal of the Millennia and Dead Skin

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At last, Hand of Fate has been dealt. I... couldn't resist. In any case there is some truth to that considering how long it took me to finish the game versus what I expected, but I'll get around to that in due time. For now let's see how this rather outlandish action/card game hybrid works out in action.

Thing is I've already told you the basic structure of the game and its main hook – dual nature of an action RPG married to a card game. I wouldn't call it CCG because that constitute a whole different set of parameters Hand of Fate [thankfully] doesn't indulge in, but allow me to break it down a bit further mechanically in how it works. You only assume direct control over your character in situations that call for combat scenarios, most of what you'll be doing, or in rarer cases when you have to maneuver through a trap-filled level. Other than those most of Hand of Fate's gameplay is relegated to a game board where you move from tile to tile ever weary of your dwindling food supplies lest you go hungry. Major attraction lies in how these two segments interacts with one another in a symbiotic relationship. There are dozens of cards with different effects ranging from quest chains that will take a while to complete as you gradually unlock new stages, straight up combat skirmishes like ambushes or alike, etc but most cards have a SITUATION to deal with. Keep in mind you also get to make decisions and they're not all positive but there's usually the best one for most cards that will either unlock a token aka rewards you get when you finish a round or have a decision to make. For example, one of the few entirely beneficial cards is The Maiden that simply asks you what do you want be it food, gold, more life, etc. These are rare and few in-between seeing as most cards can have a negative outcome or outright refuse to play out for you unless you've met some prerequisite.

What I'm trying to say is cards are varied and remain a mystery until you come across them in game proper so they can reveal themselves. Keeping in mind this also extends to things that have more tangible impact on your character like gear or curses/blessings you can easily see how the game maintains this air of mystique until you unlock most of the cards and know exactly what to choose for best outcomes. Sadly, there's also another factor at play here – dreaded RNG. Good majority of cards contains a choice between four cards, which can have varied number of successes and failures, and you have to choose the correct one after they're shuffled. Speed with which they're shuffled varies and can be affected with certain equipment or level of difficulty which depends on your character, but goddamn if it didn't feel like the world was out to get me at times. This is simply the name of the game with RNG systems, though.

You'll note I've skipped my usual blabbering about story which is something I do first in reviews, but it's valid in this case considering there effectively is no story to Hand of Fate. There is the Dealer and you're there to play his game, that's it. That's not to say the entire thing isn't incredibly moody the way he narrates based on how the game is developing, what your character's status is, whether enemies are returning after you've defeated them, etc. Very much like in Bastion having an interactive narrator adds a ton to the game, but I especially found it intriguing how he gets more antagonistic towards you as you progress and gets bitter when you defeat his cards or when “these things are too good for you”. Considering the Dealer is the only real character in the game and so much hinges on his delivery I'd say it's a job well done.

Dealer sure knows how to set up a proper roadblock.

What this fails to convey is all the upcoming curses waiting for me.

Endless mode is just heating up, but hey. Gotta start small.

While being powered by Unity engine doesn't spell doom and gloom, despite what we hear from people who know about it even less than I do, game does have some minor performance problems as it tries to hide the loading screens by seamlessly transitioning from the board into combat for couple of seconds accompanied by jitters. It never went away for me and I just had to accept it. Speaking of combat I was disappointed to see a very, very basic Arkham-style one present and you don't get much variety outside of two abilities that depend on your weapon/artifact. Enemy roster fares a bit better and benefits from having four factions with couple of units each in addition to bosses you'll be facing to fill in your cabinet of cards along the way. I do wish combat could've been expanded a bit more in some way because even had I played the game in 2015 when it was released old BamHam combat had already worn out its welcome.

Presentation itself is more than acceptable as far as I'm concerned. Once again it's the Dealer himself who steals the spotlight with his emoting and gesticulation, but what game lacks in sheer polygon count it most definitely makes up for in art style and employing an intelligent color scheme to color code things for the player. It could have of course benefited from more common enemies, but once you're up against a larger number based on what the cards throw at you combined with level hazards you appreciate what's there. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the outstanding soundtrack which sadly gets relegated to the background more often than not considering you're either focusing on what the Dealer is saying or you're rushing past it all. Shame because some of the songs are criminally good and you just hear short clips.

In conclusion, then. Would I recommend Hand of Fate? For sure I would, just keep in mind a game of this type brings with it a random factor that might annoy you. I know it's highly frustrating to breeze through combat encounters, until the finale when game sadly stumbles and puts you through a predictable boss gauntlet, only to be gypped by chance cards and lose your health when food runs out with no shop in sight. Not to mention there also happened to be sudden rise in difficulty in the last two-three games as you get burdened by harsh conditions that keep pilling on.

This is definitely the kind of game I might keep around on my hard drive for a bit longer if only to try out the Endless mode and other characters.

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₪ Genre: Science Fiction, Action
☑ Release date: May 2017
⇲ Running time: 136 minutes

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It should be stated I liked the original Guardians of the Galaxy so it's only natural I would watch the sequel, aptly titled Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 because subtitles are for suckers, apparently. Sadly I missed it when it was available in the cinema so I waited for a home release. Let's just say it was well worth the wait.

In case you haven't done so already I would recommend you give the first movie a watch before this one. Not because you really need it for some deep story reasons, but rather because the sequel doesn't waste any time on recaps or re-establishing the characters all over again, couple of throwaway lines notwithstanding here-and-there. We're treated to a flashback sequence albeit one that doesn't directly involve any of the main characters, but delves into the relationship of Peter Quill's aka Star Lord's earthling mother and human-looking alien father she has the hots for. Important plot point that gets brought back good three quarters into the movie is established here. Jump forward to, well, the present I guess and we see the eponymous Guardians of the Galaxy doing the job – saving the goddamn galaxy. This time they're fighting off an invading monster that wants to feed on some batteries. Entire following sequence is set to franchise's signature use of popular songs, '80s period appropriate with justification considering Quill's origin, but in my opinion is one of the low points of the movie because I think the director overindulged and scene could've been shortened by a good minute or so with nothing lost except some baby Groot dancing. This is merely the opening act and because of Rocket's pointless greed Guardians find themselves in golden skinned Sovereign race who end up bent on killing them...

One surprising thing is the way movie is not content to just have that as the main story and in fact it takes a backseat to various legitimate and meaningful character developments, primarily the way story wraps around Star Lord and his old man with all that entails. I wish it could keep the early moment of their dynamic going on longer before it devolves into a rather predictable twist, but I would say it's all the other smaller arcs that kinda end up stealing the show. Like how two former sisters of Thanos come to terms with one another, Rocket and Drax with their specific existential crisis, and probably the show stopper as we get to see more of Yondu who fully realizes his threat of hogging all the attention made manifest in the first movie.

In a sense Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is more of a movie about its characters, soundtrack and exploration of a fantastical and really well realized setting than it is about the story. That doesn't mean it's bad, but that central thread is really not what what ended up gripping me throughout the work.

I have to say this makes for a good distraction while you're showing the opening credits.

I'm not sure what I could really say about the visuals and audio that you can't infer from the trailer or screenshots, but goddamn is the movie gorgeous. Some more organic effects like certain monsters come off as somewhat video game-y, but considering most of the movie is about technology the team made really good use of CGI. Needless to say that's pretty much expected in this day and age when working with budgets these movies have, but I still think it's worth a mention because it all lends itself to a cohesive whole. Not to mention I still have trouble believing they managed to somehow create an animated raccoon and a tree man without me doubting their authenticity. Maybe that says more about me, who knows?

Are there negatives? Some, sparsely spread out and present. For my taste I think they went a bit overboard with musical choices and their usage, but in a sense that's also the calling sign of the franchise so I suppose it's expected. I just think said usage was less poignant and more just done for the sake of “this is what we're known for!” effect. Certain characters also did not get the same amount of attention yet that could also be excused by the fact they're relatively one-note by design. I do wish the Sovereign guys had more to do other than chasing our heroes. That spreading out too thinly is a persistent problem throughout the movie although in the end this is a clear case where sum of all parts is much better then if you look at parts individually.

In the end it's pretty clear I really liked the movie and definitely recommend it if you're in the mood for some fast-paced and causally light-hearted space action in the vein of old pulps. It says something when both of these movies managed to make me feel something not a single other Marvel superhero movie accomplished by this point.

Not to mention putting importance on a proper ending that gives both the viewers and characters some space to breathe and think about what just happened.

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₪ Genre: Fantasy, Mystery
☑ Publication date: August 1987
⇲ Pages: 256

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Sweet Silver Blues is another book I put off for no real reason and I've done it for almost ten years at this point. Why? No idea, but it might have something to do with the fact it's only the first book in what is a series known as Garrett Files or Garrett, PI. Had I known it would turn out like this I would've read it all the way back.

Before delving into the novel itself I should make it clear my favorite video game adventure is most likely Discworld Noir and baring the license rights and some of that game's signature black humor Sweet Silver Blues is precisely that in literary form. What do I mean by that? Well, we follow one Garrett who works as a private detective for hire in city of TunFaire and, as fate would have it, he accepts a certain job for the patriarch of the local Tate family of gnomes. As befitting all mysteries this one has a lot more going on, drawing from Garrett's old marine days serving his country of Karenta and an old flame to exploring more sordid elements of TunFaire's criminal underbelly as he's forced by circumstance to enlist aid for his endeavor, but that's something you should explore for yourself if you pick up Sweet Silver Blues.

Seeing is this one is a detective mystery I can go even less into detail than I usually would, but I'd still like to point out I really did appreciate the fact it IS a mystery novel first and foremost instead of being an exercise for Cook to show off his fantasy setting. Don't misunderstand because a lot happens and plot even takes couple of leaps I didn't exactly follow as they rely more on Garrett's own intuition without making the reader privy to how he came to such conclusions yet all the necessary information about the characters, places and events are doled out in appropriate chunks so you don't have to read through paragraphs of purple prose. Those familiar with Cook's writing from his best known series The Black Company may be intimate with his writing style which seems to leave people polarized – some love his utilitarian and no-nonsense style while subtly building events in the background and some dislike how direct and simplistic it may seem. That's really up to you and he's back to his old tricks in this one. I especially enjoyed seemingly throwaway comments regarding the war between Karentia and Venageta which may develop into some major in the future.

Let's give characters some love. Truth be told I'm surprised I can remember so many of them considering the story has basically two characters who are firmly in the spotlight; Garrett himself and his comrade on the more shady side of things – half-dark elf brigand extraordinaire, Morley Dotes. His vegetarianism is cause of many laughs and antics, but opposed to more cynical and simultaneously [secretly] idealistic disposition of his friend Morley is more on the dangerous side with equally as analytical and keen mind. One simply bent more on crime and no qualms about killing if need be. These two characters feel like not so much two sides of the same coin, but rather the same side of two different coins. We also have other characters joining the troupe as story progresses ranging from various half-breeds such as insanely strong groll triplets, mix of troll and giant with poor tolerance for alcohol, centaur popping in and out, ratkind who really love their sweets and can be persuaded to do anything for them and other darker elements I won't spoil. There's a varied offering at hand and author goes into quite the effort to characterize them via racial or personal quirks.

And to keep things short for a change I think that's about it.

Not everything is perfect, especially our highly archetypal protagonist when compared to other detective stories with a dash of noir thrown into the mix seeing as he's a cynic with a heart of gold, but I'll re-iterate I enjoy Sweet Silver Blues a lot. Towards the end of the novel there were couple of bits I wasn't clear on, but that could be based on how much we know about Garrett's knowledge of the world or current events. It's a really short book so if you're even remotely interested in fantasy that deals with more than just a group of heroes bashing in evil doers give this one a read.

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₪ Genre: Fantasy
☑ Publication date: September 2014
⇲ Pages: 64

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In a sense reading The Ruby Throne was treading familiar grounds for me seeing as it's actually an adaptation of the existing story and a rather faithful one at that with some artistic freedom here and there. One thing of note is Moorcock's opening commentary where he actually welcomes the changes citing he would've most likely written the origin story by employing some of them. So let's get down to it.

If you don't know who Elric of Melnibone is, well, I'm not really going to give you an extensive primer but let's just say he's a beloved character penned by Michael Moorcock that somehow never achieved prominence in wider fantasy circles. Unjustly so, I would point out considering he's not only an interesting character but also meant to be an anti-thesis to fantasy heroes popular in the '60s or so when it was all about buff dudes clubbing things to death and saving damsels. Elric, on the other hand, is a weak blooded albino emperor of an island nation that ruled for ten thousand years before falling into decadence and obscurity from the world. When I say “weak blooded” I'm referring to his physical prowess considering he's an incredibly powerful sorcerer as well as summoner deriving his power not only from natural talents but also from pacts with Lords of Chaos that emperors of Melnibone have held pacts with since basically forever. Just to put things into perspective Elric is 428th emperor so that's quite a line of succession and takeovers.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because The Ruby Throne is our protagonist's origin story presented in graphical novel format... in proper chronological order this time, unlike with novels where it took a while for author to actually explain Elric's story and advance him from “mysterious wanderer with a curse”. We see that people of Melnibone are decadent as all hell and see themselves superior to other nations, Younger Kingdoms as they call them, while Elric himself is having doubts about their very nature and mindset. He's not exactly what an ideal emperor of such people should be and his cousin Yyrkoon is far from impressed which sets him on a path to do something about it which kicks off events of the story proper. Sadly, The Ruby Throne is merely the first part of the origin and you'll have to check out Stormbringer to see where the moniker comes from and how Elric ends up becoming an adventurer that opens him up to even more stories.

Seeing as this is a graphical novel it's only fair I say something about the artwork, right? If you glance at some of the pages it becomes obvious this entire production and package are absolutely breathtaking. I'm talking cover art worthy here and it persists. Particular thing of note is the outstanding lining and shading derived therefrom. There is nary a flat surface in sight and shortcuts were definitely not taken. After all, we are talking about proficient artists the likes of Poli and Recht here. I also liked how writing and art worked in tandem to not really sugarcoat the Melnibonese culture in any way and you see it all – gore, nudity and acts that would put Elric in dubious camp, but they're just part of what he has to do keep his health up. Writing in particular, while obviously simplified for the sake of the medium and flow, does a solid job at hitting the notes from the books. I can't say for certain considering novel was translated from french but I'm almost willing to bet some lines taken directly from the novels. Don't quote me on that, though. If I had one negative in this department it would be wishing they were more liberal with layouts and flow. Neither is bad in the first place, but paneling doesn't have to be as strict, doubly so because they demonstrated they're willing and able to free it up a bit here and there.

When you wonder whether spurring a Melnibonean emperor into action was such a good idea.

Every nation has its past times, I guess.

This looks worse than it really is. Small time chump.

Would I recommend The Ruby Throne? If my gushing over it hasn't been clear enough the answer is yes. Sure, it ends on a cliffhanger, but Stormbringer is already out and available so you can jump on it immediately after finishing this one. There's little I can really add that I haven't already rambled on about – art is extraordinary, there's no preaching you'd expect from some comics these days and it stays true to Elric while embellishing here and there where necessary. In a sense, it treats the source material with respect and care it deserves and that's a major plus for me.

Even if you're in it solely for the visuals this is one graphic novel I can recommend full-heartedly on those grounds alone. I already know what should be in some future update provided I manage to locate the hardcover at some point.

If possible I would urge you to get the books and read them, though. Comics such as this one are great because they'll put your mind in the right direction as far as visuals go, but they're still otherwise cliff notes wheres books have a lot more information and story to go around. The Ruby Throne is a great window into Elric's world that should be explored more.