Raycevick's Recommendations: March 2017

Homecoming

Radio Drama is something that once dominated North America. Before Technicolor, television, or motion picture, families would gather around all over the country to sit down, listen, and imagine. In today's new age of mobiles and podcasts, as someone who didn't grow up during the Black and White era, I'm thrilled to see the Radio Drama return. Hunt the Truth opened the door for me, and Homecoming sealed it shut once I entered. 

Homecoming is brief, deliberate, and at times, chilling to the bone. Its actors and sound-designers give absolutely everything you need for your mind to fill in every blank, every image and sight. A top-notch television drama playing out in your mind’s eye. With six episodes at around 20-30 minutes each, it's a ride you'll want more of by the end.

SOMA

SOMA's a remarkable example of why I find the best gaming experiences to be surprises. Having been a massive pussy and not getting around to playing the original game, SOMA is something that came along in a Humble Monthly bundle and proceeded to leave me entrenched in its underwater world for hours.

It's far from an objectively superb game, there's many points to mark against it when it comes to enemy encounters and horror. But as a science-fiction tale about humanity's future, it's one of the best I've seen in a video-game to date. It's legitimately great stuff that rivals Black Mirror, Ex Machina, or Ghost in the Shell.

AMPED by Danial H. Wilson

Novels are a very odd thing for me, because I love reading, yet I could count all of the books that I genuinely love on one hand. One thing that really brings my piss to a boil is when a novel spends 120+ pages setting up the story instead of telling it. I can forgive a film that's a slow burner, or a game whose intro doesn't show its full potential, but when it comes to novel, all I've got is apathy.

Daniel H. Wilson's writing in Amped is the opposite. It's far more similar to Comic Books, where there's no time spent justifying the narrative's technology. The opening pages start a roller coaster that never stops. Its succinct prose are some of the easiest and most enjoyable reading I've had.