Yesterday afternoon I got home after three days and two nights in hospital with a diagnosis of epistaxis, commonly known as a nosebleed. It may seem strange, and perhaps a little embarrassing, to go to hospital for a nosebleed, but if you read on I hope you will understand. I should also add that some of the details are a little gruesome, so please stop reading if you think it might upset you.
It all started after a gaming session with my friends after work. We had finished for the day, and I was enjoying a cup of tea with my mother before bed when, out of the blue, my nose started bleeding from my left nostril. I have never had a nosebleed before, so after a short while I looked up what I should do to stop it and found some information on the NHS website. I sat up, leant forward and pinched my nose for a good 15–20 minutes, but it didn’t stop. I assumed it would stop eventually, so I went to my room to watch something while I waited and tried to follow the NHS instructions two or three more times
At around 4 am the nosebleed was still ongoing, and I started to get worried. Between the tissues and the towel I had been using, there was a lot of blood, so I called 111. For those who do not live in the UK, 111 is a first-line, non-emergency telephone number used to get advice and access appropriate healthcare. After answering all of the questions, they advised me to take myself to the A&E department (Accident and Emergency) at my local hospital. I arrived at around 4:30 am and, after triage, saw an ENT (ear, nose and throat) doctor. She said she would cauterise the bleed and then packed my nose with gauze which would dissolve in a few days. As you can imagine, it was an uncomfortable procedure, but I was happy to be seen relatively quickly and left A&E at around 7:00 am.
I hadn’t slept all night, so I decided to get a little sleep before deciding what to do about work that day. I woke up about an hour later feeling sick and was sick in the bath before I could reach the toilet. I was shocked to see that it was all blood, and a lot of it. While I was being sick, the gauze from my nose fell out and my nose began to bleed again. It was only then that I realised the bleeding had never actually stopped. Instead of coming out of my nose, the blood had been running down my throat into my stomach, which had made me sick.
My mother woke up and was even more shocked than I was, so she called an ambulance, which arrived quite quickly. The paramedics advised that it would be better for me to go back to hospital. By this time I was completely spent and exhausted. I don’t know whether it was because of the lack of sleep, the blood loss, or being sick, but I found it hard even to walk, so they took me in the ambulance.
The next 12 hours or so in hospital I can only describe as a torturous hell. Different ENT doctors, on three separate occasions, attempted the same treatment as before. I kept being sick and, eventually, the gauze would fall out. To make things worse, none of the doctors or nurses were able to fit a cannula and they found it very difficult to take blood. No fewer than four medical professionals each took turns trying to insert a cannula, until eventually a doctor using ultrasound equipment made an attempt and also failed. It was at this moment that I confess I had a mini breakdown. It was all just too much.
At roughly 10 pm, after around 24 hours of continuous bleeding, either from my nose or into my stomach, a doctor inserted a Rapid Rhino into my left nostril, which could be inflated with air to stop the bleeding. They had been reluctant to do this earlier because it would mean admitting me to hospital for at least 24 hours. Looking back, I wish they had decided to do it after the second attempt to cauterise the bleed rather than after the fourth, because it worked immediately. The procedure of inserting the Rapid Rhino into my nostril and inflating it was possibly the most painful thing I have ever had to endure. I remember crying out for mercy, and the doctor paused for a moment to let me catch my breath. It truly was excruciating. However, the blood flow did stop and no longer ran down my throat. After clearing my system of any remaining clotted blood, I stopped being sick. My nose stung and the device pushed slightly up towards my left eye, which caused quite a bad headache, but the stinging eased a little as my nose acclimatised. I was also prescribed morphine, which I could take orally.
For the next two hours I lay on a very uncomfortable stretcher with no chair, no water, no tissues, and a sick bowl that was almost full of blood. During this time the A&E department became extremely busy and was filled with hundreds of people, noise, bright lights, and virtually no attention to my basic needs. I want to make it clear that I do not blame any of the doctors, nurses, or support staff for this, nor the NHS in general. I have seen some limited improvement over recent years, but it is not enough so I support even more resources being invested in the NHS.
At around midnight, two porters came to move me to Postbridge Ward. When I got there, the lights were out and it was quiet. I had a bed with sheets and a pillow, a jug of water, a table, and a chair, and I could use a remote to request a nurse if necessary. It felt heavenly to have my situation improved so much. Don’t get me wrong, the bed wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it was a hundred times better than a stretcher and I had access to everything I needed for basic comfort. There were I think 5 other men on the ward who were, for the most part, quietly recovering like me. It was a blissful transition.
At around 10 am, ENT doctors came to see me to get an update and examine the Rapid Rhino device. They advised me that it should stay in place for another 24 hours from that point, and that an ENT doctor would come to see me the following morning to release the pressure from the device. If the bleeding had remained stopped, they would remove it completely and discharge me. If the bleeding had not stopped after releasing the pressure, however, they would inflate it again and leave it in place for another 24 hours. Even though by the next morning the Rapid Rhino would have been inflated in my nose for about 36 hours, I didn’t care. I felt like I could cope in my new surroundings, especially as I was no longer being sick, and I wanted to give the device every chance to succeed. So I didn’t argue the point.
The next 24 hours were largely uneventful. I tried to use the time to rest and use the basic comforts afforded to me. I still had little blood clots which I would occasionally spit out, which is as gross as it sounds, and I generally felt dirty, weak, fragile and I admit a little scared that the bleeding would resume when the Rapid Rhino was deflated. Around 7am an ENT doctor came to see me to release the pressure from the rapid rhino and said that a doctor would come to see me in a few hours time. The pressure release stung a little but it was short lived and if anything made it more comfortable. More importantly the bleeding did not resume. I was and to a degree still am paranoid because there is some discharge coming out which would mix with coagulated blood and give the impression that it is bleeding, but as I thought about it and examined the discharge I could see it wasn’t fresh blood.
Finally, a few hours later, a different ENT doctor came to see me and removed the Rapid Rhino. It didn’t hurt and was a huge relief. After around two more hours of observations, the doctor signed the discharge paperwork and, after being prescribed a nasal spray and ointment, I was able to go home. Both of my arms and hands are badly bruised, my nose is sore with some swelling, and I am utterly exhausted from the experience. I later found out that it was caused by the warfarin blood-thinning medication that I take after suffering a pulmonary embolism in June 2022. I have regular appointments to check my INR (international normalised ratio), which for some time has been too high and, combined with slightly elevated blood pressure, likely contributed to this happening.
For a while now, I have been playing World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore with the aim of reaching level 60. I must admit, I can almost hear my friends collectively sighing inwardly after reading the title of this blog post, because I have been trying to put my days of playing World of Warcraft behind me. Yet I have had this itch to play the Hardcore version of WoW Classic, just to see if I could do it; to see if I could reach level 60 without dying, and without trading or using the auction house, as a self-found adventurer. And yesterday, after more than 10 days playtime, some heart-stopping moments, and a great deal of patience and planning, I finally achieved my goal and reached level 60.
I first tried WoW Classic Hardcore around this time in 2023, when I wrote my WoW: February Update – Hardcore Challenge post, and later my WoW: March Update when I reached level 42. Since then, Blizzard Entertainment has released dedicated Hardcore WoW servers, and I have been wondering ever since whether I could do it.
For those who do not know what Hardcore is, it is a game mode in which, if your character dies, instead of resurrecting and carrying on, your character dies permanently and you must start again. It is not for everyone because it can be deeply upsetting to lose your progress, but I find it a fun, high-octane challenge which, combined with the self-found adventurer approach, leads to a genuine sense of achievement. I managed to capture the moment I reached level 60 with a screenshot and made a short video.
Now that I have reached the maximum level, the next logical step would be to move into the endgame by completing dungeons, raids, and certain quests to obtain the best items. But I have to admit, I am not that interested. For me, this was always about the journey: levelling from 1 to 60 without dying. Anything from here on is a bonus, and I would not even mind if my character died. I have achieved what I set out to do and do not really see the point in carrying on.
I have to say that during this journey my experience of the classic WoW hardcore community has been a positive one. Everyone I have had contact with has seemed friendly, and I even had a few people message me to congratulate me after reaching level 60, which was a lovely touch. It is almost as if the community is in it together and genuinely wants everyone to succeed. I have no doubt there are bad apples in the community, but generally speaking, it is surprisingly good.
Yesterday, my friends Jamie, Shadey, Apple and I completed a playthrough of Sons of the Forest, a sequel to The Forest, which I wrote about a little over a year ago. Developed by Endnight Games, Sons of the Forest was released in February 2024, and I have to say I found it, in many ways, significantly better than the first game.
The ethos of Sons of the Forest is the same as its predecessor: a first-person survival horror game supporting up to four players, in which we play as stranded characters on an island filled with cannibals, monsters and many secrets to uncover. The island is much bigger this time around, and there are some fun vehicles to help players get around. The crafting system is largely the same, but with many more items and options, as you might expect. While I did not do a lot of building myself, I believe my friends appreciated the improvements to the building system once they had got used to it and built us a very cool base.
Playing Sons of the Forest is probably pretty scary, but with my friends I actually couldn’t help but laugh at some of the more deranged aspects of the game and how we embraced them. We would become cannibals ourselves and cook ‘Greg‘ from the arms, legs and head of the natives, wear ‘Creepy Armour‘ made from the flesh of monsters, and create objects around our base such as a lamp made from deer hide and someone’s leg, or a clock using someone’s hand and arm, which, ironically, is wearing a watch. I’m sure I don’t need to point out the crucifix on top of our house. I can’t speak for Apple, but I can safely say that Jamie, Shadey and I aren’t religious at all, we just found it funny.
Of all the deranged objects, I have to say the chair below is my favourite, and yes, that is a lightbulb stuck in someone’s dismembered head and is powered by a nearby solar panel.
One added bonus of this playthrough for me was playing with Apple, who Jamie and Shadey introduced me to. Being as introverted and shy as I am, it can be hard for me to make friends, but I have to say that Apple seems really nice and, at times, funny. I don’t know him well, but he seems quite busy and has many hobbies and interests outside of gaming, which is cool, but I hope to play with him some more in the future. Here is a picture of Jamie, Shadey and Apple wearing their ‘Ancient Armour‘ towards the end of our play through.
No spoilers, but there are several endings to Sons of the Forest, and there are some big reveals that I decided not to include in this post, as I don’t want to ruin it for anyone. Suffice to say, there will be another Forest game to look forward to, which will hopefully conclude the mysteries we have uncovered in both games so far.
Finally, after around 240 hours of playtime, I have completed the main storyline of Dune: Awakening. With a sense of relief, I can finally add it to my list of completed games and move on to something else.
After my previous Dune: Awakening post back in August, I got distracted by Diablo II: Resurrected, as well as increasing pressures at work. For some reason, I rapidly lost interest in Dune: Awakening once I reached the endgame. By that point, I had constructed a large spice refinery, crafted a full set of endgame armour and weapons, and realised there wasn’t much left to do beyond finishing the storyline.
I am sure the Funcom developers have big plans for Dune: Awakening, but at the moment there isn’t much incentive to carry on playing once you reach the endgame. Up until that point, however, it really is an excellent game.
In my Part 2 post, I said I might include a walkthrough of my humble, box-like base, so I’ve made a short recording and posted it on YouTube. It’s really basic, but it has been my home, and I’ve enjoyed expanding it to suit my needs.
Now that I have completed the main story and will stop playing, I will be cancelling my xREALM private server. I should emphasise that this is only because I no longer need it; I’ve found xREALM to be excellent and would definitely recommend them, and use them again should the need arise.
Before I do, however, I will put some in-game items into storage, just in case I decide to play again. Having said that I believe that my character and all in-game items will be deleted once my private server is cancelled. But if I do return, it will most likely be with friends, and in that case I think it would make more sense to start over anyway.
During my playthrough of Keep Digging, a friend casually mentioned that it reminded him of Diablo II because of how much clicking was involved. I can’t fully explain why, but that comment instantly gave me the itch to fire up Diablo II Resurrected again, and I’ve been casually playing it ever since. The last time I played Diablo II Resurrected was a little over four years ago, which I wrote about on my blog. Returning to this timeless classic simply felt right.
I found it surprisingly easy to pick up where I left off. The first thing I did was complete a playthrough of the game on Nightmare difficulty using my Hardcore Amazon, raising her level from 57 to 71 and earning her the title Conqueror. To be honest, I’m surprised I had the confidence to attempt it, considering that dying would have meant losing the character and all the progress I’d made with her. Perhaps after four years away I’d simply forgotten how much effort I’d put into the character in the first place, so it didn’t feel like it would have been a huge loss.
My attention then turned to my Softcore Amazon, which I used to complete a playthrough on Hell difficulty, earning her the title Matriarch. This also unlocked the ability to farm the Secret Cow Level, also on Hell difficulty, which I found great fun. During this time I found a few cool items, including a Vex rune, and managed to raise her level from 80 to 88.
While playing my Softcore Amazon, I found farming a little slow and felt a hankering to play a Sorceress, who benefits from the Teleport spell and is generally faster, as well as better at stacking the all-important Magic Find stat. Starting from scratch, I created a Softcore Sorceress, completed the game on all three difficulties, and farmed a lot of items, including the full Tal Rasha set and several valuable runes, most notably an Ohm rune, the highest rune I have ever found.
I realise that my accomplishments are modest compared to many players who have invested a lot of time in playing Diablo II over the years. Crafting or finding perfect items, or creating perfect runeword items, is impressive, but you either need to be incredibly lucky or extremely dedicated. That said, I have noticed some changes that make things a little easier.
There are now Terrorized Zones, where monster levels scale with your character level, meaning they can technically drop better loot. In these zones, it is also possible to find Grand Charms that can sunder a monster’s immunity to a particular damage type. For example, a monster that would normally be immune to cold damage will no longer be immune if you have the right Grand Charm in your inventory, although the monster may still have high resistance to cold, so it might take a while to defeat.
The last change I have noticed is that players can now slay the Cow King in the Secret Cow Level and still be able to open portals to the Secret Cow Level. I found this to be an especially welcome change.
A week or so ago, my friends Jamie, Shadey and I completed a playthrough of Keep Digging. Developed by the indie company Wild Dog, Keep Digging is a light, laid-back game that we used as a sort of stopgap between some of the longer, more involved games we usually play. The premise is simple: you dig with a shovel (which can later be upgraded to a pickaxe) and collect resources. The deeper you go, the more valuable the resources become. These can then be exchanged for in-game money, which is used to buy upgrades that help you dig even deeper.
Among other things, you’ll uncover fossils at different depths. These can be assembled on the surface to build a dinosaur. It’s a little random, but that’s part of the game’s charm. You can also find chimpanzee skins and emotes, which add to the sense of randomness.
At certain stages, there are small open caverns which we explored together. One of them resembled a cathedral, complete with stained-glass windows and a chimpanzee statue. The developers did a great job with the lighting effects, something all of us commented on while exploring the area. To me, it showed that while Keep Digging is a small and simple game, it still contains touches of high-quality detail and pride. It made me want to… well… keep digging deeper to see what was next.
There’s a bit of a sandbox element to Keep Digging. Since our playthrough, I’ve seen other players spend time experimenting and doing interesting things. For me, though, it’s always going to be the kind of game you play with a friend or two to chill for a few hours and see what’s at the end.
I don’t think this is the sort of game people will invest huge amounts of time in, at least, that’s how it felt for me. Having reached the end, unlocked all the achievements, and assembled the dinosaur, I’ve happily added Keep Digging to my list of completed games. At only around 5.5 hours of play, it’s definitely a quick win, but still a satisfying one.
Last week my friends Jamie, Shadey and I completed a playthrough of Sengoku Dynasty, an open-world survival game set in medieval Japan. Developed by Superkami, Sengoku Dynasty does a fantastic job of immersing you in its historical setting, but I have to admit that I found it in need of several bug fixes and a number of quality-of-life improvements. The game was officially released in November 2024, but development is still ongoing. I have every reason to believe that the issues I encountered will eventually be resolved, yet during my playthrough they were, at times, frustrating.
In Sengoku Dynasty, one of the main objectives is to build villages and provide homes and work for refugees while managing resources. I enjoyed the concept of constructing settlements, welcoming refugees, and gathering materials, but I didn’t find the resource management aspect, keeping villagers happy and productive, particularly engaging. For instance, to keep your villagers fed you might set up a fishing hut and assign someone to catch fish. However, they can’t fish without nets, so another villager needs to make nets. Nets require straw, which means another villager must produce straw, and to do that someone else has to gather grass. On top of that, you may need yet another villager to cook the fish. This chain of dependencies is just one example of the many systems you must balance, and for me, it quickly became more of a chore than a source of fun. What’s worse is that there are also ‘special projects’ such as constructing bridges and lighthouses that require a large number of villagers to complete between season changes. This meant constantly readjusting roles and reassigning jobs in an attempt to keep everything balanced.
Jamie was, as usual, highly creative and built two impressive villages, which we named Village-san and Village-shire. I have to say that Jamie’s creations looked far better than any of the example settlements included by the developers. I genuinely believe Jamie would make an excellent world designer for games like this. Although the quality isn’t the best due to the way my computer hardware is set up for work, I did manage to record 2 short walkthrough videos to showcase our villages. I have also included some of my favourite screenshots.
While Jamie was busy creating the villages, Shadey and I focused on gathering resources, crafting weapons and armour, and working on liberating the regions of Sengoku Dynasty. This involved completing the aforementioned special projects and taking down enemy camps and their leaders. Liberating regions unlocked resources, buildings, and items we needed to progress. Although the progression arc is fairly straightforward, it is always satisfying to work towards unlocking the next tier of items. After roughly 35 hours of play, having liberated all the regions, earned ‘The Great Unifier’ achievement, and built two villages, I feel the conditions have been met to add Sengoku Dynasty to my list of completed games.
I mostly enjoyed playing Sengoku Dynasty. The setting is interesting, and exploring an open world is always fun, but more than anything, it was great to share the experience with my friends. To be honest, I’m convinced that even a game of tic-tac-toe with them would be entertaining. I’m not yet entirely sure what we’ll play next, but Shadey has mentioned wanting something a bit more imaginative and less focused on realism. I have to agree with him on that.
The year 7 review of my blog is long overdue, and I must admit I almost forgot about it entirely. While I’m not disappointed with my gaming over the past year, it hasn’t been as strong as year 6, which marked a real turnaround and major improvement on year 5. This past calendar year, particularly from January onwards, has been a difficult one outside of gaming, and it inevitably had a negative impact. There were stretches where I didn’t feel able to play at all, and when I did return, I struggled to properly get back into it. Despite the setbacks, my passion for gaming hasn’t gone away, and I’m determined to build on it again.
Since my last review, I’ve written 14 blog posts, 9 of which focused on new games. I managed to complete 7 games, some of them with friends. That’s fewer than the 11 I finished the year before, but still an achievement I’m happy with. The standout accomplishment was finally completing Final Fantasy IX, which is a huge relief after first starting it back in 2022. I also worked through the atmospheric Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux, both shorter, linear but very engaging experiences. Completing Front Mission 2: Remake felt satisfying, though if I’m honest it was more about preparing for Front Mission 3: Remake, which I hope will release on PC soon. On the multiplayer side, Jamie, Shadey and I played through Goat Simulator 3, which was every bit as chaotic and random as expected. We also tried The Forest, which was cool, though I have to admit I’ve enjoyed other survival games more. Finally, we wrapped up Dead Island 2, which I thought was excellent and a refreshing change of pace from our usual survival game titles.
This year felt more like a realisation than a lesson. I’ve noticed that when life is difficult outside of gaming, it too easily casts a shadow over my time with games. Going forward, I’d like to keep gaming even during tough periods, using it as a way to switch off and escape, even briefly. In those times, I think it helps to choose smaller, cheerful games that are easy to pick up and put down, leaving the longer and more demanding games for when things are going better.
I’ve also learned how valuable AI tools can be. They’ve been especially useful for checking spelling, punctuation and sentence structure in my blog posts, as well as generating suitable feature images, like the one for this review. I still write the posts and make the final decisions on imagery, but AI has proven itself to be a powerful assistant that makes the process smoother and more creative.
I don’t want to set rigid goals or put unnecessary pressure on myself, but I do want to keep gaming during difficult periods and make better use of AI along the way. I’ve also got a long backlog I’d like to chip away at, with titles such as Sengoku Dynasty, Dune: Awakening, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Streets of Rage 4. At the same time, I’m eagerly awaiting a few upcoming releases, including Front Mission 3: Remake and Terminator: Survivors.
As for the blog itself, I’m still really pleased with how it looks and don’t feel it needs any major development. The only exception is that I am getting spam comments on my most recent blog posts. I will consider what I can do about that in the weeks ahead. My PC, bought in 2019, is beginning to show its age, but for the moment it continues to serve me well. Unless something breaks or struggles to run the games I want to play, I’ll happily stick with it for at least another year.
If you’d like to share any feedback or suggestions about my year 7 review, I’d be delighted to hear from you. You can leave a comment here or get in touch by any other means that suits you.
It has been exactly one month since my first Dune: Awakening blog post, and I haven’t played anything else since. So here’s part two of my adventures on Arrakis. My playtime has leapt from 45 hours to around 190, and I’ve accomplished quite a lot. I graduated from riding a Sandbike to building my very own Scout Ornithopter, which is an absolute joy to fly. It opens up the Hagga Basin, making it much easier to gather and transport resources, and it allows you to travel not only into the endgame deep desert but also to other distant locations on Arrakis.
If you’re considering playing Dune: Awakening, I’d strongly advise not rushing. The Sandbike is fun, but the pride that comes from taking your time to find and refine the necessary resources to build your first Ornithopter cannot be overstated. I was so proud of my accomplishment that I took several screenshots of it. I think this one is my favourite.
I also built an Assault Ornithopter, which has a larger hold but is more of a chore to fly. It comes with a thruster, but overall it’s slower than the Scout Ornithopter. I’ve used it in the deep desert to gather resources, but whenever possible I leave it parked and avoid using it in the Hagga Basin.
Another accomplishment is refining spice sand into spice melange, the most sought-after resource used to build endgame items, fabricators, and refineries. I discovered that the basic spice refinery is actually quite inefficient, producing just one unit of spice melange for every 100 units of spice sand. In contrast, the medium spice refinery produces 10 spice melange for every 750 spice sand, which works out at 75 spice sand per unit of melange. To reach this point, I used the inefficient refinery to produce exactly 135 spice melange from 13,500 spice sand, just enough to construct the medium refinery and move towards greater efficiency. There is also a large refinery, which yields 200 spice melange from 10,000 spice sand (50 sand per melange), but it costs 1,000 spice melange to build, which is a steep investment. And while I’d like to be as efficient as possible, I’ve chosen to spend a little melange on fabricators and equipment, while keeping some in reserve.
My base is still essentially a box, although now it’s a bigger box. In fact, at this stage it looks more like a mushroom. I’ve added a large pentashield so I can take off and land easily without exposing the base to the harsh Arrakis environment, as well as wind turbines and wind traps on the roof to provide power and generate much-needed water. If I write another post, I may include a walkthrough of the base. I’m quite proud of it, even if it looks a little odd.
I’ve also picked up some things about the lore of Dune. There are two warring factions, House Atreides and House Harkonnen, and while players are encouraged to join one of them, I don’t believe it’s strictly essential. I’ve learned that we’re searching for the Fremen, the native people of Arrakis, who may have been eradicated by the Emperor. I understand they play a central role in the original book and films, but Dune: Awakening takes a different path, imagining events as if Paul Atreides, the main character of Dune, was never born.
I still feel as though I’ve only scratched the surface of Dune canon, but I chose to side with House Atreides. To me, both factions seem equally flawed, but the Harkonnen come across as a particularly brutal and unsophisticated lot. While I’ve made some progress, I know I still have a long way to go in completing the story and exploring everything House Atreides has to offer. Until then, I don’t think I can add Dune: Awakening to my list of completed games. That said, I’ll certainly write a part three, and possibly even a part four, especially if my friends decide to join me on Arrakis someday.
In an effort to cheer myself up and reconnect with gaming, I picked up Dune: Awakening. Developed and published by Funcom, Dune: Awakening is a survival multiplayer game inspired by Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction epic, Dune. As a teenager in the ’90s, I watched the 1984 film adaptation, but I never considered myself a fan of the universe and I still haven’t seen Dune: Part One or Part Two. That said, after spending over 45 hours in Dune: Awakening, I can confidently say that I am a fan now.
I enjoy exploring the different biomes, gathering materials, building a base, and crafting items and vehicles to push into the next zone, but these mechanics are fairly standard for the genre. What really sets Dune: Awakening apart is its futuristic, harsh, dystopian atmosphere. The constant threat of sandstorms, patrol ships searching for you at night, hostile enemies on the ground, and of course, the iconic giant sandworms all keep the tension high and the heart racing. The world itself is massive, specifically the Hagga Basin, which is filled with enemy camps, factories, crashed ships, testing sites, and more. At times, the soundtrack is excellent, and it occasionally reminds me of the Blade Runner 2049 score. I’ve never been great at the creative side of base-building in games, so for now, I’ve settled on a simple box for my home.
Instead of playing on one of the public servers, which I believe can host up to 40 players, I decided to rent my own private server through xREALM. It’s the first time I’ve ever rented a private server, and I have to say, I’m impressed with how easy it is to set up and use. I was given a control panel with clear instructions on how to connect and manage the server, and sharing it with friends is simple. I paid £13.99 for a month’s rental, which I think is reasonable considering it lets an introvert like me enjoy the game solo or with a small group. The server stays online 24/7, is frequently updated, runs smoothly, and saves me the hassle of hosting locally. Honestly, I wish more games offered this kind of third-party hosting option. I’ve shared the login with my friends Jamie and Shadey in case they want to jump in, but I doubt they will, they’re both into other games at the moment.
Looking ahead, I plan to spend a lot more time in Dune: Awakening. I’m hoping to complete many of the quests and follow what promises to be an intriguing story. It’s far too early to add this to my list of completed games, but I do hope that one day I’ll be writing another blog post to say I’ve seen it through to the end, and that it was every bit as good as it feels right now.