| Hi everyone, it's Jason. Today we're talking about video games that feel like books, but first... This week's top gaming news: Here is the least surprising confession that a professional writer could possibly make: I love books. Every night before bed, I read until I fall asleep. But recently, the crinkly paperbacks have been replaced by a less prestigious but equally gripping form of entertainment: the Nintendo Switch. I haven't sacrificed my reading time to hack apart monsters or jump on Goombas. (And there'd be nothing wrong with that!) But there's a different type of story-telling, called interactive fiction, that's best enjoyed in the form of a video game. For example, for the past week I've been enchanted by Steve Jackson's Sorcery, a series of choose-your-own-adventure games based on an old book series of the same name. You're placed in the shoes of an anonymous adventurer sent to find some artifact with a silly name and then told to wander across a sprawling fantasy world full of medieval villages, menacing goblins, and all sorts of magic.  Steve Jackson's Sorcery has just as much reading as a book. Source: Inkle Ltd. The game provides paragraphs and paragraphs of text, and you're asked to make decisions as you read them. Do you want to go through the scary forest or around it? Rest outside of the village or pay for an inn? Give gold to a beggar or hoard it all for yourself? Your decisions have lasting and unforeseen consequences, all told through crackling prose. Saving an ogre princess could lead to helpful rewards down the line, while betraying an irritating pixie could lead to trouble. At one point I accidentally used the wrong key in a locked door, twisted it too hard, and broke it in half, potentially screwing myself in the future, when I actually do need that key. Sorcery isn't quite a book, in large part because there are no characters with any sort of depth. You, the player, are the protagonist, and the story is about the obstacles you overcome and the lessons you learn along the way. As a result, Sorcery doesn't scratch the same itch as an epic fantasy novel or a great murder mystery, but it's delightful in its own right. Inkle Ltd., the developer of Sorcery, is brilliant at making these kinds of games. If medieval fantasy isn't your thing, check out the delightful 80 Days, a take on Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days in which you have to map your own course across the globe. I also highly recommend Overboard, a reverse murder mystery in which you're the murderer and you have to figure out how to get away with it.  80 Days is based on the Jules Verne novel Source: Inkle Ltd. Another game I played recently that feels like interactive fiction is Citizen Sleeper, a dystopian sci-fi story by Fellow Traveller Games in which you play as a human consciousness that has been uploaded into a robot body. Waking up on a giant spaceship in a universe ruled by corporations, you have to figure out how to make money and survive through a series of onerous tasks. It's got deep, gripping lore that wouldn't be out of place in a novel. What's particularly great about these games is that anyone can play them. You don't have to be an expert gamer or understand how to use a controller to enjoy the likes of Sorcery and Citizen Sleeper. Even my mother enjoyed 80 Days. And hey, Mom, if you're reading this, check out Sorcery. I think you'll like it! If you're less in the mood for reading and more for punching monsters in the face, check out 2018's God of War, a game I started replaying because of all the hype about the upcoming sequel. While its predecessors were solid but silly action games, this series reboot is truly a masterpiece, telling a story about fatherhood and toxic masculinity while at the same time letting you rip apart monsters' skulls with your bare hands. The action and puzzles are great, but the game's dialogue is the real highlight. Listening to the talking head Mimir share stories from Norse mythology never gets old.  God of War Source: Sony Ubisoft's Skull and Bones, which has been through years of development hell since its announcement in 2017, will finally be out on Nov. 8. Here's some new footage. Rockstar Games said it will no longer be putting out major content for Red Dead Online, the multiplayer version of the hit western Red Dead Redemption 2, as it puts more resources into the next Grand Theft Auto game. A new Lego Mario set features Bowser in all his glory, and truly looks spectacular. The catch? It's a whopping $270. E3 is under new ownership. When the annual video game show returns next year, it will be run by ReedPop, the company behind conventions like PAX. | 
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