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Shadowkeep – Destiny 2’s New Light
-It’s been almost two months since Shadowkeep, Destiny 2’s latest downloadable content (DLC) update, launched. Prior to launch the developers Bungie spent a lot of time soul-searching and analysing the past couple of years, with the intention of delivering something extraordinary to the players. Destiny’s original launch was plagued with issues, and Destiny 2 didn’t really meet fan expectations (for the most part) until around the end of 2018, when things seemed to begin improving in little steps. For Bungie, and for Destiny, Shadowkeep marked not only a new injection of content and updates for veteran players, but also a raft of changes and tweaks to entice new or hesitant players into the fold. So how did it go?
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Capitalism in Space – Exploring Pandora’s Star & Judas Unchained
-One of the most popular themes in science fiction is the social and technological development of humanity. H.G. Wells’ classic The Time Machine gives the reader a glimpse of two divergent future human species: The monstrous Morlocks are technologically sophisticated humans that farm the simplistic, uneducated, beautiful Eloi as food animals. James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse novels show a wonderfully diverse humanity struggling with racism and class disparity. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games explores a radically stratified society where a small number of the wealthy keep vast numbers of fellow humans in poverty as working slaves.
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Terraria: 2D Simplicity Thriving in a 3D world
-Terraria is a 2D side-scrolling sandbox game that released way back in 2011. It is still going strong today, with more updates to come. How can it compete in the modern gaming world of photo-realistic graphics?
Ask a gamer what never changes, and there’s a few answers you might get. ‘War’, ‘FIFA’, ‘EA’, or perhaps ‘Bethesda’s persistence in releasing new versions of Skyrim’. I would add another entry: Terraria’s price on Steam. -
Interview: Carsten Damm from Vagrant Workshop
-Every month, Parallel Worlds will feature an interview with an amazing content creator or personality working in science fiction, fantasy, or horror. This month, we catch up with roleplaying game creator Carsten Damm, erstwhile lead developer of Earthdawn, creator of Equinox, and founder of Vagrant Workshop.
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Review: Space Base
-If there’s a board game which is credited with jump-starting the modern board game phenomenon, it’s The Settlers of Catan (now simply called Catan). This award-winning building game combined elements which were familiar to traditional board games — collecting cards and rolling dice — and combined it with a more free-form approach to making progress and choosing a winning strategy. Players roll two dice and collect resources based on the sum. It’s a solid game and a modern classic. There’s just one problem: it’s far too easy to get to your turn and be unable to do anything.
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Parallel Worlds is evolving! Stockists, release pattern, and Patreon
-Hello everyone We’re halfway through our third month now — ten weeks old! Thank you to all of you who…
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Parallel Worlds Issue 3
-In this issue: Vagrant Workshop, Duchamp Versus Einstein, Earthdawn, budget wargaming, Space Base, Beyond Kidding, Equinox, Homeworld, The Dark Crystal,…
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Let’s Talk About: Ad Astra
-Ad Astra is a sci-fi epic set in the near future. It stars Brad Pitt as Roy McBride, an astronaut who voyages to the farthest reaches of the solar system in search of his father, Clifford (Tommy Lee Jones), who vanished sixteen years earlier and is now thought to be responsible for a series of catastrophic energy surges on Earth. Our editors share their reactions.
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Parallel Worlds Issue 2
-In this issue: Netflix’s Dark, Dragonslayer, original fiction, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Worldcon, Star Wars: Outer Rim, Kickstarter Roundup, global government, Star…
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