STG's

 A few days ago, Prime Gaming gave away Battlefield 1. I have played several of the predecessors, so I thought I'd try it. So far I really like it. It has an actual campaign mode, which has been pretty good. There are even stealth sections, which surprised me. And I love the destructible environment, specially when using tanks. Graphics are great (2018 computer with a 1070), and load times are nice. I definitely wouldn't recommend buying this at full price, but seems pretty nice on a sale (it was about US$5 on Steam here when I checked). I will update if I try multiplayer, but that likely will only happen if there is a bot mode. Update: I finished the campaign mode. Took me about 7 hours, which would have been fine at the discount price, and great as part of Prime Gaming. I am a little sad that there isn't a bot MP mode - I liked those in the earlier BFs. There is also a well know bug in which the binoculars don't work. It is definitely not game breaking, but annoying.

 Dorfromantik is a simple, relaxing PC game, that looks on the surface like a city builder - but it is actually much more like a puzzle game where there are conditions to get points placing world tiles - almost exactly like Islanders  . In effect, these are very similar games. Both have pleasant, relaxing graphics and music, with slightly different rules.  And both are good fun, for their prices (Dorfromantik was under US$4 for me).

 Erebus, by Ralph Kern, is a SF novel, part of the Sleeping Gods series. Technically, it is not a sequel - mostly the story is unrelated, except for happening in the same universe, and sharing some characters (although minimally). This one is a detective story, where the main character who investigates war crimes (as well as another group) looks into the destruction of Io, which was already described in Endeavour. There is a lot of different tech, and the book feels quite different in many ways (and personally, I read this one much faster, as the suspense was greater). It was interesting to know that the author is actually in law enforcement, too. Overall, very good, but looks like the end of the trilogy was still not published, which I really didn't like...

 I just finished Endeavor (Sleeping Gods, part 1), by Ralph Kern. It is an hard SF novel. As classical for hard SF, it starts with a ramscoop and drones traveling from Earth to Tau Ceti, and goes exploring, finds plenty of life. Nice.  Then they discover how to quantum teleport (the destructive kind) and send a gateway, which allows people to go and explore. The quantum teleport is light-speed only, so they effectively jump forward in time.  Coming back, they discover that gateways are being sent to many other world. Eventually, the crew goes back to another mission - and discovers intelligent life. Then another mission. Now humankind has created Von Neumann gateways (and changed in many ways). And they go to a distant star where they see clear evidence of higher civilizations, and cool super structures. Then they meet aliens. There is a nice flight into the alien territory, and a cute segment with the Roanoke colony (which appears in so many fiction pieces). It then ends...

 When Gravity fails, by George Alec Finger, is a cyberpunk novel from 1986. It is part of a trilogy, and I read one of the books (not sure when) - that was how it worked for me back in 90s, I'd just get whatever mass market paperbacks were available in the bookstore. As always, it is funny to read old SF. This one isn't bad, but it sure feels outdated - for example, no internet access in implants, which in any new book is the first thing that is added. The only thing you can have on your implants are personality changes and practical functions (such as no hunger/not being afraid/being able to speak a language/etc). Of course, these come in little "cartridges", and have to be plugged in to work. Very 80s. The story itself is interesting, and being in a islamic area, doesn't feel as done to death as most. The characters are interesting, although the author's apparent obsession with sex changes is a bit annoying. Overall, nice. I got the trilogy pretty cheap, and...

 Azkend 2 is a match-3 game made by 10 Tons (authors of a few games I played, including Tesla vs Lovecraft, which I played a lot of this year). I do enjoy the variety of modes - changing colors of the board, clearing a number, puzzle mode (clear the whole board) and do matches around objects (including insects climbing the board). It also has quite a few powers/objects you collect over the levels that you can use - some cause items to explode, others add wildcards,etc. Graphics are pretty good and music/sound are ok. Overall, I really liked it, just felt a bit short for me.

 Star Trek Picard: The Last Hope is a SF story that is a prequel to the series. I watched the series as it was released, bought the book somewhere in the middle, and then forgot about it. Now I found it and read it, and it doesn't have many surprises, overall - just what happened in the series, but in more detail. Nonetheless, I found it quite pleasant, and the only problem is that now I wanted to view the first season of Picard again...

 Steampunk Tower 2 is an unusual tower defense game. As you can see in the screenshot below, they stand in a mobile big tower. You can choose and upgrade them before the missions, though, and you will have to rotate them to reload, or between different enemy types. There is also several planning screens, where you upgrade your base and where you choose your attacks in a map. Graphics are ok - with great illustrations for the characters. There are a lot of complicated concepts, really could be simpler. It has a auto-grind option, which is called autobattle (after you have a battle on a map location). That is an interesting idea. For the price on sale (about US$1 here), I can't complain, it has already been great value.