Category Archives: Cyberpunk

Wube Software's much-loved construction and management sim Factorio will be leaving Steam early access a little sooner that expected; its version 1.0 release is now scheduled to arrive on 14th August in a bid to avoid the mad clamour of Cyberpunk 2077's launch window.

Factorio, which originally entered Steam early access back in 2016, casts players as sort of impromptu space industrialists, tasking them with building increasingly elaborate contraptions in a ceaseless grasp for ever-more efficient automation.

The gist is that players, having crash-landed on a distant, untouched planet, must manufacture their eventual means of escape. Initially, natural resources can be used to fashion basic machines which, in turn, open up new construction possibilities, enabling players to creep up the game's dizzying tech tree. Eventually, when the planet has become a smog-shrouded industrial hell-hole, the indigenous creatures are banished, and conveyor belts stretch as far as the eye can see, they might finally be ready to launch back into space.

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Factorio's compellingly single-minded gameplay loops have been immensely well-received - it has manage to maintain its Overwhelmingly Popular rating on Steam after more than 61,000 player reviews - and Wube announced its long-awaited plans to move the game out of early access last November, revealing that version 1.0 would arrive on 25th September 2020.

However, in a new blog post, Wube has said it's now shifting that release forward by around five weeks, to 14th August, to avoid clashing with CD Projekt's hugely anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 - which, following a delay earlier this year, is now due to launch on 17th September.

Explaining its decision in more detail, the developer wrote, "We think any release close to such a monumental game is going to feel some negative effects, such as everybody playing and covering Cyberpunk and taking attention away from other games."

In that light, Wube says it felt its options were either to release early or "quite a while after it", and ultimately settled on the former approach for several reasons - namely good development progress, a previously announced descoping of certain features (it stressed no features have been cancelled or postponed due to the Cyberpunk release date), and, simply, that "the general feeling in the office is that the game is pretty much done".

As such, those who've been eagerly awaiting Factorio's version 1.0 release will now have the pleasure of its company from 14th August this year.

Excerpt from:

Factorio is leaving Steam early access sooner than expected to avoid Cyberpunk 2077 - Eurogamer.net

In the lead-up to Cyberpunk 2077, I've been revisiting The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt during a quiet period in-between PlayStation 4 releases. I already played the game upon its 2015 launch, but five years later, my appreciation for CD Projekt Red's mammoth RPG has only strengthened thanks to some truly incredible quest design and writing. It's still a phenomenal game, and since I never played the Blood & Wine DLC, I'm looking forward to experiencing something completely new once my initial Death March playthrough is over and done with. However, I still feel like I'm missing out on something.

It's because I take advantage of fast travel far too much of the time. Exploring Velen, Novigrad, and Skellige is a real pleasure due to how varied each and every location is, but the convenience that fast travel brings with it is so tempting that I simply cannot ignore the ability. I want to finish off the next side quest. I want to engage in the next conversation. I want to start the next game of Gwent. Because of that, however, I think I'm falling into the trap of skipping the journey in aid of reaching the destination. Yes, I am taking Roach out for a ride here and there when I decide to venture out into the wilderness, but it's only ever for a short trek. If I need to quickly get to Novigrad while I'm interacting with folk in Oxenfurt, I'm always going to opt for fast travel over simply riding there.

As such, I feel like I'm missing out on the chance encounters, the smaller side quests which pop up on the road, and the hidden treasure kept under lock and key in bandit camps. Now, let's address the question you may want to ask me. Why don't you just not fast travel and start wandering about the map as you see fit? Well, I'm roughly halfway through The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's main questline, I'm planning on unlocking the Platinum Trophy, and I still have the Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine expansions to complete. I want to get all of this done before The Last of Us: Part II releases next month, so taking a few days off to explore just doesn't seem realistic to me.

That's why I'm changing my approach when Cyberpunk 2077 finally comes along in September. I want to take in absolutely everything Night City has to offer, from its greatest side quests to the questionable characters you meet in its darkest back alleys. I'm going to try and play the entire game without fast travelling once.

It's going to be a tough challenge, I know that for a fact. However, I want the excitement of heading in the opposite direction of the main quest to come flooding back. It's something I experienced in both Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, and I hope to have those feelings return in just a few months time. I want a quest log inundated with optional missions. I hope to meet the weirdest personalities imaginable off the beaten path. I aim to discover secrets naturally. I'll try and beat Cyberpunk 2077 by exploring its map organically rather than fast travelling about the place. I won't find it easy, but I'll be sure to update you on my own, personal quest when the time is right.

Is fast travel a feature you use a lot of the time in RPGs? Or is something you only use as a last resort? Place your vote in our poll and expand on those thoughts in the comments below.

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Soapbox: Cyberpunk 2077 and the Question of Fast Travel - Push Square

Over the last few years, the gaming industry has been rocked by reports of the brutal crunch culture around programming. Thankfully, CD Projekt Red, creators of the Witcher series, stepped up to the plate today to make things right by announcing that all the coders who died in the making of Cyberpunk 2077 will be immortalized as in-game NPCs, where they will be able to continue serving the company forever as faithful employees.

Finally, a gaming company that cares.

We know the toll working on a title as massive as Cyberpunk can take, which is why we wanted to make sure we included a deserving reward for any of our employees who made the ultimate sacrifice, said director Adam Badowski in a statement to OGN, describing the dozens of NPCs throughout the game world modeled on the likenesses, personalities, and desk decorations of deceased employees who worked 100-hour weeks to ensure the game shipped on time. Its a really touching tribute to see the faces of those who lost their lives making Cyberpunk 2077 and know that theyll be strapped to their virtual desk forever, making new open-world titles for their favorite developer.

Wherever you go in the game, youll see these programmers, buying Syncomp off a dealer to help them stay up late to iron out some choppy framerate issues or even just muttering to themselves about stabilizing the play experience as they succumb to a panic attack in one of our immaculately rendered neon alleys, he added.

Its genuinely touching to navigate through the immersive world of Night City and see these lost souls represented in the gorgeous REDengine, forever chipping away at their unfinished modeling, coding, and debugging. Whats even better is that each and every one of them has a faithfully recreated cubicle filled with gag calendars and discarded cans of Monster energy drink where they can make anxiety-ridden calls home to tell their spouses that they need to stay late to power through their 19th straight hour of playtesting.

Lets all hope more developers follow in the footsteps of CD Projekts heartfelt monument to their workers. Whether its having a fake business named for them in the next Grand Theft Auto, or becoming the basis for a level boss in the next title by FromSoftware, those that give their lives for our beloved pastime deserve to be honored for their service.

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Inspiring: CD Projekt Red To Immortalize Programmers Who Died Making Cyberpunk 2077 As NPCs So They Can Serv - The Onion

Cyberpunk 2077 from developer CD Projekt Red might not be releasing until September, but at least we all have this excellent teaser for a Cyberpunk 2077 fan film called Phoenix Program to tide us over until both the full game and full fan film release. The latter does not appear to have a definitive date attached, however, as filming has paused due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. Even so, the teaser trailer has left us excited to see the rest.

Phoenix Program is written and directed by Vi-Dan Tran, who is perhaps best known for his stunts work on shows and movies like Into the Badlands, 6 Underground, and more. While there are a number of different actors in the short teaser trailer, the fan film notably stars Ben Bergmann as Johnny Silverhand and Stylouz Cosplay as the male version of V, Cyberpunk 2077's protagonist. Bergmann is perhaps better known as Maul Cosplay, a professional cosplayer that we have featured a number of times for his take on Geralt and others.

While the teaser trailer doesn't exactly give away the full arc of the fan film, it would appear that Johnny Silverhand has a score to settle of some sort, and the action and production generally looks top-notch, especially for a fan film. It would appear that Bergmann makes for a fine action hero himself, just like the characters he so often cosplays.

Cyberpunk 2077 is scheduled to release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on September 17th. A "Night City Wire" event for the video game is set for June 11th. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming video game right here.

What do you think of what we've seen of CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 so far? What about the Phoenix Program fan film? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Fan Film Teaser Trailer Offers a Live-Action Version of the Game - ComicBook.com

Disjunction is an upcoming cyberpunk role-player that plunges you into a retro-futurist New York Citys underworld to solve a far-reaching mystery. With hardcore stealth-action mechanics, a reactive story where your choices have real consequences, and challenging stealth-action gameplay that lets you play the way that suits your style, its kind of like Cyberpunk 2077 mixed with a dash of Hotline Miami and Deus Ex. Speaking of which, dev Ape Tribe Games has got some exciting news to share new artwork created by Mankind Divideds executive art director.

Ape Tribe and publisher Sold Out have just revealed Disjunctions brand-new artwork and logo, which have been designed in collaboration with Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divideds art director, Jonathan Jacques-Bellette, and videogame illustrator Isago ISA Fukuda.

According to a press release, Jacques-Bellette has created and supplied artistic direction for Disjunctions new key art and logo, while Fukadas brought the ideas to life and as you can see below, the Deus Ex-reminiscent undertones make a great fit with the cyberpunk RPG games themes.

Take a look at the new artwork and logo below:

Disjunction explores similar themes to Deus Ex, so I was thrilled to provide some new artistic direction for the games key art and logo, Jacques-Bellette says. Working with JJB has been an honour, Fukada adds. Ive always admired his work, so to collaborate with him on Disjunction has been very exciting. I hope players enjoy the art that we have created together.

The opportunity to collaborate with Jonathan really has been a dream come true, Ape Tribe co-founder Erwan LeCun says. Not only has Deus Ex been a huge inspiration for us during development, but we are all diehard fans of the series, so to have both him and Isago provide their artistic talent to Disjunction has been fantastic.

Disjunction is due to release sometime in 2020, and you can already dive into a playable demo on Steam if youre keen to give it a go and learn more.

Originally posted here:

Disjunction is a cyberpunk RPG, with artwork from Deus Ex: Mankind Divided art director - PCGamesN

Mobile games that thrive off of the hype of other games are nothing new. When PUBG and later PUBG Mobile launched we saw Rules of Survival, Knives Out, Garena Free Fire, Fortcraft, and many more pop up quickly to try and ride the wave of popularity.

Heck, even an established brand like Call of Duty couldn't resist getting in on the battle royale hype train with Call of Duty Mobile. So it's not a surprise to see Code T, or Theseus, or Code: Theseus (the title of the game appears to be tentative, so we'll just go with Theseus from now on), the new cyberpunk Netease game look fairly familiar to something we've seen before.

This feels a bit like dj vu, as it was only this week that Ubisoft sued Apple and Google over the Rainbow Six: Siege "clone," Area F2, which was taken down fairly swiftly. It's clear that some publishers are not going to take clones of their games lying down, and Theseus certainly seems like a prime candidate for the next big lawsuit

No, this is not a Cyberpunk 2077 clone. That was an easy question to answer. In Theseus you'll play as a bounty hunter that'll be hunting down all manner of criminals while under the watchful eye of a corrupt, capitalist government. Admittedly that all sounds similar to Cyberpunk 2077, but that's only because cyberpunk fiction all generally takes this road.

We haven't seen much of Theseus yet, aside from a pre-rendered trailer, but thus far it's hard to argue that it's not similar to the E3 2018 trailer for Cyberpunk 2077. The aesthetic is obviously similar, no doubt about it, but what you might not immediately notice is the atmospheric music, and some of the shots which seem to directly mirror, or at least are "inspired by" shots from the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer.

Just for clarity, here's the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer.

And here's the trailer for Netease's Theseus

I think we can all agree that one inspired the other, right? And in case you didn't catch some of those obvious "homages," here's a couple which has been spotted on twitter:

No, we're not boycotting Theseus, and I'm not inclined to believe that CD Projekt RED should sue Netease, either. As I said when discussing the Ubisoft and Area F2 situation, neither company owns the concept of cyberpunk, and while the Theseus trailer is starkly similar to the trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, you could probably draw similar conclusions from any other cyberpunk media.

Ultimately, the proof will be in the pudding. Ubisoft's legal team got through to Google and Apple after proving that Area F2 wasn't just similar to Rainbow Six: Siege, but modelled its entire gameplay and aesthetic on it. If Theseus can separate itself enough from Cyberpunk 2077 when they both launch, there won't be a problem.

But again, it is highly suspect that Netease would so blatantly attempt to ride Cyberpunk 2077's hype train like this, but it also makes sense from a marketing perspective. Whether or not that's immoral, unethical, or illegal, is another question entirely.

Whatever happens, I'm looking forward to playing both Theseus and Cyberpunk 2077, and hopefully that'll be sooner rather than later, because I need something to keep me busy during quarantine season

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Is Code: T Theseus a rip-off of Cyberpunk 2077? - Pocket Gamer

Something to look forward to: Summer Game Fest has four events lined up for the Month of June. CDPR will update fans on Cyberpunk 2077's progress. EA will have a stream devoted to what it has in the works. Day of the Devs will present what they had planned for the GDC. And Steam is holding it's week-long Game Festival.

CD Projekt Red has scheduled a Cyberpunk 2077 reveal event in June as part of the four-month-long online expo Summer Game Fest. The presentation is a developer's update CDPR is calling Night City Wire.

The studio has not hinted at what it has to show, but it's highly likely we will get a new trailer or maybe some live gameplay. The game which is set to launch in September is certainly far enough along to be playable, so the later is a distinct possibility. Whatever they have, fans on Twitter are pretty excited.

Night City Wire is scheduled for June 11, right in the middle of the Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition, which goes from June 9 through June 14. Like its spring event held in March, the Steam Game Festival will showcase titles that will be releasing within the next year. It will feature timed demos to try out new games, Q&As with developers, and the chance to add unveiled games to your wishlist.

Coinciding with CD Projekt Red's presentation is EA Play Live. The event is slated for 4pm PST on June 11. CDPR has not set a time for its show, but since they are both a part of Summer Game Fest, organizer Geoff Keighley is sure to make certain there are no scheduling conflicts.

In keeping with the theme of surprises, EA did not reveal much about what it had in store.

"EA Play Live 2020 is about connecting players around the world and bringing them closer to the game franchises they love," its announcement page reads. "During this year's digital event, we'll showcase our games through a live broadcast, community content, and more."

And finally, Summer Game Fest has a Developer Showcase scheduled for June 22. The broadcast starts at 8am PST and will give us a look at upcoming AAA projects as well as indie offerings. The event will feature the team from Day of the Devs, which will show off a curated selection of indie and triple-A titles they were planning to present at GDC 2020 before it was changed to an online event. The Developer Showcase will also have musical performances, extended gameplay demos, and some surprise reveals.

A partial list of studios that will be presenting content includes Akupara Games, Annapurna Interactive, The Behemoth, Finji, Kowloon Nights, Longhand Electric, MWM Interactive, Panic, Sabotage Studio, Skybound Games, Team17, thatgamecompany, Tribute Games and ustwo games. Day of the Devs is still accepting submissions for the event so that that list will grow.

So far, that is all that has been posted for June. However, there could be some developers joining Summer Game Fest at the last minute to hype what they have coming up. You can keep an eye on Keighley's official website for an up-to-the-minute calendar.

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Cyberpunk 2077 update and more are coming to Summer Game Fest in June - TechSpot

Nekki and Banzai Games have today announced their latest title, a cyberpunk fighting game called Spine. It aims to deliver stylish 3-on-3 character-based team battles, and it's currently in development for PC, consoles, and mobile.

Set in the near future, the game revolves around an advanced piece of tech by the name of Spine. It's a combat AI that connects to the spinal cord of the human body and can control every muscle, kinda like the concept behind Leigh Whannell's Upgrade.

This allows fighters to perform beyond the levels of human capability, bolstering their reaction times, precision, and dexterity. It's said to be the main weapon in a world now split between two opposing factions, each with its own roster of characters.

These guys come with unique special abilities, fighting styles, and firearms, hopefully meaning the roster is varied and interesting. Once you've selected your fighter, you'll head into battle and duke it out against three worthy opponents.

Don't expect to see this one anytime soon, however, as it's still in the pre-production phase, with full development set to begin this summer. Still, the teaser offers a tantalising look at the game's cyberpunk world and character designs, which will likely be enough to draw the attention of fighting game enthusiasts or fans of Nekki's Shadow Fight series.

Speaking of Shadow Fight, the latest game in the series Shadow Fight Arena is still on track for a 2020 release. It'll come to PC and mobile first, with PlayStation and Xbox versions to follow at a later date.

Pocket Gamer alum Harry Slater reviewed Shadow Fight 3 back in 2017, calling it "a slick and violent brawler that pulls a few punches but is still well worth a look", before awarding it an impressive Silver Rating.

You'll find it available for download now over on the App Store and Google Play. And we'll be sure to let you know as soon as more info on Spine surfaces.

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Spine is a cross-platform cyberpunk fighting game from the makers of Shadow Fight - Pocket Gamer

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A new clip has recently been released by Microsoft. Well, this clip reveals the look of Cyberpunk 2077 themed Xbox One X console. To know more about it, continue reading.

First of all let us introduce you all to this modern era game. Developed by CD Projekt, Cyberpunk 2077 is an upcoming role playing video game. The gameplay takes place in dystopian Night City. This is an open world with six different regions. Players need to play the role of V , a customisable mercenary acquiring skills in hacking as well as machinery, collection of ranged weapons, and also options for melee combat.

However, earlier Cyberpunk 2077 was to release in April this year. But later, it was found that the developers are still working on the game. It was announced that it will take some time to work on it. So, it will be delaying. Later on, we received a fresh release date i.e. September 17, 2020.

Now Microsoft has released a clip on social media revealing the looks of upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 themed Xbox One X console. The console is launching soon in July. It includes decals that glow in the dark, blue LED light on the front side of the console, and laser etchings. Moreover, Microsoft has planned a custom Xbox One controller for this console.

The fans are now more than excited to get the Cyberpunk 2077 themed Xbox One X console. It seems that the console will also provide you with a games copy. However, the game will be releasing in September i.e. three months after its launch. Microsoft havent yet informed us about the exact launch date of the gaming console. We expect that Microsoft will soon announce the exact date of its release. Fans cant wait to see more of Cyberpunk 2077 themed Xbox One X console. More will be revealing in the coming days. Till then, stay with us.

Alos Read: Cyberpunk 2077 wallpaper hides an easter egg(Opens in a new browser tab)

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Cyberpunk 2077 themed Xbox Box One X shown in New Clip - Gamer Rewind

The Nebula Awards could be described as the Academy Awards of SFF literature; they are voted on by the professional peers of the award nomineesmembers of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. There are six nominees in the best novel category this year. Every day this week, I will be reviewing each of them and figuring their odds of taking home the prize. Welcome to Blogging the Nebulas 2020.

Id like to begin with a bit of a mea culpa; I started writing this review series back in early March, at a point when it seemed unimaginable Id have trouble finding time to write a few thousand words about six fantastic sci-fi and fantasy novels before the deadline of the Nebula Awards ceremony on May 30. But then I got a new full-time writing and editing job, which became a work-from-home job when the pandemic shut down New York City, includingperhaps most significantly w/r/t my productivityits elementary schools. Regardless, Im back, and I still havea couple of weeks to go until we have a new Nebula winner to celebrate, and Id certainly be remiss not to discuss the rest of this shockingly good ballot. Beginning with

A Memory Called Empire, by occasional Tor.com contributor Arkady Martine (ne historian AnnaLinden Weller) is one of my favorite kinds of science fiction novels: the political thriller. That is to say, it a political thriller pasted into science fiction, or perhaps the other way around; its story functions as an exploration of the politics of a future human society that feels sensibly extracted from that of our present day, plus cool spaceships and a dash of cyberpunk. I like books like this because they usually have a lot to say about the world around us, but can do so with enough cool technological ornamentation that you might not notice if you arent paying attention. Iain M. Banks is the master of this sort of thing; The Player of Games is the best political SF novel Ive ever read. Ann Leckie is no slouch either; in fact, the sequels to Ancillary Justice disappointed a contingent of readers when they revealed the Imperial Radch trilogy to be less about the flash of space battles and more about the small moves of political gambits.

A Memory Called Empire is also a very, very good political sci-fi novel (see: the Nebula nomination, I suppose, but even still). It takes place within a dominant future human empire known as Teixcalaan, which has control of a network of wormhole gates that have given it the means and the methods to absorb the cultures and resources of one human civilization after another (there are no on-the-page aliens to speak of in this space opera, though signs of a mysterious, unconfirmed alien presence encroaching on Teixcalaan space do kick the plot into gear). Our protagonist is Mahit Dzmare, ambassador to the Teixcalaan from the strategically located but otherwise unimportant Lsel Station, a self-sufficient outpost that is doing everything it can to avoid annexation by the empire.

The question of independence is a bit clouded as the novel opens, as Mahit is making her way to the Teixcalaan capital to replace her predecessor, Yskandr Aghavn, who has been incommunicado for 15 years and is also recently dead. With no knowledge of the alliances Yskandr had forged on the stationnor the enemies hed madeMahits position is a tenuous one from the outset, especially considering the fact that the Teixcalaan elite tend to view Lsel as a backwater and Mahit as an uncultured barbarian of sorts.

What the Teixcalaan dont know is the Lsel Station has maintained its independence for so long thanks to a remarkable bit of proprietary technology: the Imago, a small biomechanical device implanted near the brainstem that records the experiences, skills, and personality of its host, preserving them for implantation into another body and mind down the line. (It might help to think of it as a mix between Altered Carbons cortical stacks and the Trill of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.) Unfortunately, Mahits Imago of Yskander dates back to his last visit to Lsel Station, meaning the voice in her head can only offer so much helpand less than that, once the device stops working altogether for mysterious reasons.

The question of the faulty Imago is but one of the mysteries that drives the plot. Another concerns the fate if Yskander himself: Did he die of natural causes, or due to lethal misadventure, or outright murder? Certain there are plenty of suspects, for the Empire is in the midst of a succession crisis, and various key players seem to have viewed Yskader as either a threat or a potential allyor both. Minus the aid of her implanted predecessor, Mahit must rely on the aid of her cultural attach, an ambitious young diplomat named Three Seagrass (Teixcalaan naming conventions are a delight Ill let you discover for yourself). Plots and counterplots pile atop one another as Mahit begins to unravel a conspiracy involving a potential civil war, with Lsel station serving as an unlikely lynchpin keeping things in balance.

I knew within a few chapters that A Memory Called Empire was going to be an impressive first novel, and my opinion of it only improved in the reading: Its a nearly flawless one. Its been a long time since Ive read such a cohesive debut, so assured in terms of narrative voice (slyly amused and expertly controlled), plotting (dense but never confusing), and character (Mahits maturation from naive tourist to savvy operative is entirely believable; the supporting characters are succinctly drawn and memorable, if not downright endearing). Its incredibly rich thematically as well, musing on the push and pull of colonialism, cultural appropriation and gentrification.

I am not quite sure it is my favorite novel of 2019 (if anything, it shares the top spot with another book Ill be discussing in this series), but it is unquestionably the best thing I read all year.

It may seem silly to say this, but I think A Memory Called Empire is one of the top contenders for the Nebula this year for no other reason that it is an appallingly impressive novel; frankly, I find it slightly infuriating that its author managed to write something so accomplished right out of the gate.

While theres certainly no accounting for the individual tastes of Nebula voters, its hard to imagine a whole host of them wont be supremely impressed by the skill with which this thing has come together. As a work of political science fiction, it excels; Martine has crafted a careful consideration of the politics of colonialism and empire, power and exploitation, subjugation and interdependency.

As a feat of worldbuilding, it is playful and imaginative; the peculiar language and politics of the Teixcalaan Empire are massively interesting and enormously fun (try to finish the book without choosing your own Teixcalaan name), and are woven into the narrative so effortlessly that you wont be bored by infodumpsnor will you strictly need to consult the appendix at the back (though I recommend doing so; its quite delightful).

In particular, the clever epigraphs that open each chapter offer truly economical yet intriguing background on the history of this civilization. In the form of customs paperwork, a guidebook, a news transcript, a screenplay and more, they are amusing to read and doubly so to puzzle outparticularly because half of them pull from Teixcalaan sources and half from those of Lsel Station, and their accountings of the way of things dont always agree.

As a political thriller, it is first-rate. The plot starts off as a murder mystery and builds from there, the death of Mahit Dzmares ambassadorial predecessor turning out to be most consequential indeed, and for reasons I definitely did not see coming. There are many factions vying for power on Teixcalaan, and none of their motives are quite the same. But as complex as they are, the politics are never confusing, which is no mean feat in a book with so many characters and, yeah, Ill say it, such challenging naming conventions (so maybe I did use the appendix a few times).

All this, and the characters are memorable too: Mahits is a comfortable mind to spend a few hundred pages inhabiting; shes both incredibly competent and occasionally naive to a fault. The supporting cast is peppered with fascinating foils and allies who youll come to know and hate or love in appropriate measure (and weep for, on occasion; not everyone makes it out alive). I didnt know there were plans for a sequel until Id finished reading it, and I was delighted at the prospect, if only for the chance to see a few of these folks again.

In short, I cant think of much negative to say about this novel. I fairly loved it, and remain deeply impressed at the feats it accomplishes more than a year after reading it for the first time. Amazon twice named it one of the best science fiction book of last year, and Im finding it hard to disagree.

As I mentioned in the first post in this series, debut authors dont have the greatest track record at the Nebulas; typically an author will have a better shot at taking the top prize if theyve got a few more books (or even Best Novel nominations) to tout on their Wikipedia pages. And while she has assembled a respectable list of short story and non-fiction publications over her eight years writing in the genre (which you can peruse on her website), this is Arkady Martines first awards season.

To grope blindly for other points of analysis, I might also suggest that the Nebula winners over the past have decade have indicated a general preference for fantasy novels over science fiction; last years victory by Mary Robinette Kowals fairly realistic SF alt-history The Calculating Stars notwithstanding, the last winner that really slots alongside Martines debut in terms of tone and subject matter is Ann Leckies 2013 novel Ancillary Justice; in the years in-between, voters favored works of fantasy of one sort or another over space opera the likes of The Three-Body Problem, Ancillary Mercy, and Ninefox Gambit. Space opera in general doesnt tend to take home the top prize often (you can count the number of winners in the past quarter-century that prominently feature spaceships on one hand.) And speaking of which, theres another splashy big-ideas sci-fi novel crowding the ballot this year too, threatening to steal some of Martines high concept thunder.

Of course, hemming and hawing about track records and past precedent is only somewhat efficacious. A books only real competition in a given year are the other nominees. Martine happens to be one of four debut novelists vying for the award, meaning there are pretty good odds one of them will take itand if youve read A Memory Called Empire, you know it pretty goddam well deserves to.

Joel Cunningham was the founding editor of theB&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog(RIP), where he explored the galaxy for 5 years, pickingup a Hugo Award (well, tangentially) along the way. Hes now managing editor ofLifehacker, which means hes managing at least one thing nowadays. He lives in an apartment in Brooklyn with his wife and two children and hopes to go outside again someday. He tweets@joelevard.

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Blogging the Nebulas: Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire Marries Cyberpunk, Space Opera, and Political Thriller - tor.com