Books

I’ve been making my way through Caliban’s War, the second book in The Expanse. It’s still early on, but I’m really liking it! The scope feels bigger than the first book which is only fitting.

Games

Metro 2033 has grown on me a lot more since last week. It feels like the game really opened up and I’m understanding the mechanics a lot more now. This is definitely one of those games I wish I’d discovered sooner! I did end up grabbing the rest of the series while it was on sale, so I’ve got a bit of a backlog now that should keep me occupied for a while.

The big game news this week was Half-Life 2’s 20th anniversary, which you’ve already gotten an earful about if you’ve been paying attention to my posts on Mastodon. I’ve especially been looking forward to it since Half-Life 2 is one of the key games that really made me realize how much I enjoy PC gaming, second probably only to Portal. It served as my introduction to a lot of concepts that to me make a great game, like immersive storytelling and convincing physically simulated worlds.

They did a lot to celebrate this anniversary, even more than I expected! There’s a really awesome documentary that’s been released going over the entire story of the game’s development. The update they made for the game was huge too, with developer commentary, faithful visual improvements, bug fixes, and the bundling of Episode One and Episode Two. If it’s been a while since you’ve played Half-Life 2, or if you’ve never had the pleasure, now’s definitely the time to boot it up — especially since the game is currently 100% off until November 18.

Music

Linkin Park’s new album came out the same day as the Half-Life 2 anniversary update, so I got a double dose of nostalgia that day. I’ve already listened to it a couple times which wasn’t really difficult given the short runtime. I’ve got pretty positive thoughts about it, though I do wish it was longer. Two Faced currently is my favorite track, but that could definitely change as I keep listening.

Programming

I did some more programming this week, though admittedly not as much as I would have liked. Lately I’ve been toying around on a simple project to practice Rust with. I really like the ownership system and the borrow checker. I feel like it makes me a better programmer in general increasing my awareness of potential ownership issues, and it’s a fun change of pace from the bash and python I’m usually working with during the day.

— JP