The Left Hand of Darkness – Playing Shifgrethor

The Left Hand of Darkness is a science fiction novel written by Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in 1969 (this review is based on the 2010 edition). But it is not a cyborg-war-in-the-matrix kind of science fiction. Technology only plays a minor role. 

 

The most prominent aspect of this novel certainly is the gender topic: Human ethnologist Genly Ai is sent to the planet Winter to study the aliens there, who are basically hermaphroditic humans with a mating cycle called kemmer, which allows them to become male or female and mate heterosexually. The rest of the time, the Gethenians, as they are called, remain asexual. Also, their planet is mostly covered in snow and ice and there are no other mammals and technology is comparatively underdeveloped, they don’t have any spaceships unlike their visitor Ai.

The novel starts right in medias res, and first, you will find it difficult to find your way in this strange setting You are witnessing a royal procedure in the kingdom of Karhide. Later, you will learn that you read from two perspectives: Some chapters are narrated by Ai, the human whom the Gethenians regard as a “pervert” for being a male-only and thus in constant kemmer. Our “pervert”, however, doesn’t consider reproducing. Aprt from his scientific studies, his goal is to convince his Gethenian contacts to join the intergalactic trade union. Other passages are narrated by Estraven, the only Gethenian to offer Ai a helping hand (and thus putting himself in danger).

 

The Left Hand of Darkness (2010, Ace Science Fiction).

Unfortunately for Ai, most of the Gethenians are terribly ignorant and refuse to believe that he has come from a different planet. They just regard him as a weirdo, and even their leaders don’t recognize the opportunity to profit from an alliance with his people. In order to avoid further tensions, he withholds the fact that there is another spaceship in the orbit with more of his kind on board.

 

This promptly backfires as both Karhide, the oppressive kingdom and Orgoreyn, the equally oppressive socialist state, send him away, seeing only a loner whose sheer existence means potential trouble:

’Fear you?’ said the king, turning his shadow-scarred face, grinning, speaking loud and high. ‘But I do fear you, Envoy. I fear those who sent you. I fear liars, and I fear tricksters, and worst I fear the bitter truth. And so I rule my country well. Because only fear rules men. Nothing else lasts long enough. You are what you say you are, yet you’re a joke, a hoax. […] Now take your traps and tricks and go, there’s no more needs saying.’ (42).

On a long, long journey that is strenuous both for the narrators and the reader, Ai and Estraven form a deep friendship as both outcasts are exposed to extreme weather conditions – freezing tears included. The reader learns a lot of folklore and backstories in between their narration. 

The Left Hand of Darkness is a novel mostly worth reading for its musings on the nature of man and alien. When Ai reflects on the nature of the Gethenians, he likens them to mammals in their inability to make war. Karhide and Orgoreyn are in a Cold War – literally, as the icy weather is more threatening than their puny disputes. Later on, however, an armed conflict between Karhide and Orgoreyn seems inevitable – all signs point to disaster as the malintent Tibe, cousin of the king of Karhide wants to invade a disputed piece of land. He starts utilizing the radio for his nationalist propaganda speeches, reminiscent of the use of the Volksempfänger in Nazi Germany. 

The style is, fittingly, quite blunt and straightforward, and both Ai’s and Estraven’s reports are somewhat similar as they are both outcasts. They, especially Estraven, use a lot of strange sounding names, evoking a feeling of otherness on this weird planet in the reader,  the most prominent probably being shifgrethor. Shifgrethor is something that can be “played”, and it basically is a form of courteous conversation but at the same time a way of challenging the conversationalist’s pride, a kind of rhetorical competition.

 

The Left Hand of Darkness is an interesting novel, with a lot of thought-provoking ideas, although it certainly has some tediously stretched moments, especially the final journey at the end of the book, but otherwise, it has aged fairly well. Le Guin’s style of writing is very plain and direct, which prevents the story from shifting into a fantastic fairy tale in spite of the absence of futuristic technology in a world (still) dominated by the forces of nature.

Total War: Warhammer – I will not stand idle!

Total War: Warhammer is the first game of the Total War series I’ve ever played and the first one with a non-historical setting in general. I can honestly say: It was a wholly new, mind-blowing experience. You see, I have played strategy games before. Among those are Age of Empires 1-3, Starcraft 1 and 2 and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War – games I loved and cherished. But the sheer depth AND spectacle (usually it's one or the other) will keep my fascinated for a long time to come.

Preparing for War

 

First, you start out innocently enough on a turn-based campaing map. There are buildiungs to build, heroes to recruit (they can obstruct enemy movement or assassinate characters), and armies to move, represented by the general's avatar. Then there is the diplomacy screen, where you can find trading partners, declare war, or bribe your way into peace and eventually join forces to overcome a common foe. Another feature that you should definitely use is the tech tree, where you can improve your civilization both economically and in battle.

Speaking of battles: They are enoromous, involving hundreds of brave soldiers and fierce creatures, and quest battles even come with a cinematic intro. The scale is truly epic, and using different kinds of terrain adds a lot of depth that other strategy games are missing. The cornucopia of tactics includes, but is not limited to: Ambushing enemy infantry from a forest, nosediving dragons into artillery crews, or harassing zombies with mounted gunmen on an open field. All this is fairly easy to learn, but hard to master, and ensures long-lasting fun.

 

Greenskins on Boars. Source.

The Factions: The Good, the Evil, and the In-Between

 

Total War: Warhammer comes with 5 factions: The Empire, the Dwarves, Greenskins, Vampire Counts and Chaos Warriors. The Empire, most similar to the armies playable in historical Total War games, not only command your usual sword'n'board types of infantry, but spice it up a little with wizards, Demigryph Knights and a Steam Tank, which is absolutely lethal at any given distance. They are lead by a bloke called Karl Franz, who has about the same character complexity as Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator. 

The Dwarves are stout little soldiers who don’t use cavalry or sorcery but have some fatal artillery and Gyrocopters armed with bombs. They are easy to start out with, but hard to master. Their eternal rivals, the Greenskins, feature brutish Orcs and Goblins riding giant spiders; also, they have to fight almost constantly, otherwise they start killing each other. The Vampire Counts use necromancers to summon zombies and the like but also throw in some feral night creatures: Bats, Dire Wolves and mutated vampires (Vargheists). As you can imagine, they are not hugely popular with the other factions, and have a hard time approaching others diplomatically. 

Finally, there are the satanic Chaos Warriors, who bring the apocalypse upon the land (the End Times) and are the hardest to play, because they are nomadic and are, hardly surprisingly, even less popular than the Undead. Also, you have to buy a "day-one" DLC to unlock their campaign, which had fans run amok in the forums, as the forces of Chaos are a crucial part of Warhammer and shouldn't have come with an extra price tag attached. Speaking of DLCs: The Bretonnians, a human race that focuses on medieval cavalry, have been announced to be featured in a free DLC in the near future and are already playable in multiplayer.

Steam Tanks are Love. Steam Tanks are Life. Source.

As you can tell by now, both in and off the battlefield each race acts differently, which makes the campaign very interesting, even if you find yourself on the same (admittedly huge) campaign map each time you play. However, once your soldiers and monsters – be they pegasus knights, or giants – are on the battlefield, they all look pretty, pretty small. It is only later that, as you feel more confident, you will find time to sit back or zoom in and watch beautifully animated toy soldiers bash each others’ heads in, a very enjoyable spectacle. 

 

Public Disorder

Although fighting is – as the title suggests – one of the most important things in Total War: Warhammer, there are many other concerns that may not be neglected, and less important fights can be auto-resolved by the computer. An issue I stumbled upon a few times is “public order”, particularly important with the Empire faction. If your citizens are not happy, they will start marching on your cities, lead by traitors. But because of how distracted I was with all the other stuff to worry about – diplomacy (10+ human factions alone), income, army size, army movements (limited per round), buildings, technology, hero skills – I initially didn't understand how to gain favour with the common folk.

 

I knew that it was a clever thing to deploy one’s general in a troubled city – enforcing law and order – but that wasn’t enough. When I reduced taxes (much as in real life, Warhammer citizens love that), things got out of hand because now I was facing bankruptcy. So I went online and found out: You can build a tavern and people will chill (also, churches help in reducing vampiric or chaotic corruption). Thus, micromanagement becomes important. If you cram your city with military facilities, there won't be enough space for economy and recreation (that is, until the city grows another level, which takes a loooong time). For beginners it is thus advisable to start out with a tavern and a harbour if possible (which generates money) before fully committing to building an army. 

A battle between Vampire Counts and the Empire - Things are about to get messy. Source.

My experience as a newcomer is: Total War: Warhammer is not a game that you will fully comprehend within 15 minutes. But if you are willing to slowly discover the game’s core mechanics, you will be rewarded with plenty of hours full of fun. The advisor does a good job of teaching you the basics, but nevertheless would it be helpful if the game didn’t spam you with events where you have to make tons of decisions at once.

 

For instance, the game would have been much easier to learn if diplomacy would have started in round 25 instead of around 5. But after you have made a mistake or two (NEVER join a war if you’re not 100% ready), you will be able to enjoy the game’s complexity. In addition to the single player, Total War: Warhammer features coop campaigns as well as custom battles between players and/or against the AI.

 

A Feast for Warhammer Fans

 

Having such an excellent strategy game set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe really is a blessing to me. As someone who has no time to go to tabletop tournaments, I deeply enjoy collecting and painting Games Workshop’s miniatures, but used to prefer Warhammer 40,000, as Relic Entertainment's Dawn of War had offered me a videogame experience along with the miniatures.

 

It is probably partly due to this lack of onscreen representation that Warhammer Fantasy became less popular overall, prompting Games Workshop to do a makeover called Age of Sigmar, which resulted in redefining and in some cases outright cancelling entire model lines. Just imagine the disappointment of Total War-inspired newcomers when they learn that the Bretonnians they know and love from the videogame simply don’t exist as miniatures anymore.

The campaign map. Source.

However, I am unwilling to end this review on a negative note, particularly so since Games Workshop’s missteps are not the game’s fault. Total War: Warhammer’s tactical battles offer tons of fun and authentically represent the tabletop universe. The Total-War layer on top of it perfectly fits the setting, and events that spontaneously pop up add to the experience, regardless of whether Averland declares war on Talabecland, the Winds of Magic change direction or the gods get angry. The game provides a lot of variety and winning battles and progressing in the storyline is very satisfactory, making Total War: Warhammer my top game recommendation for this summer, and probably my personal game of the year.

Neuromancer – Ein Spielplatz für Irre

Wer wissen will, was genau Cyberpunk sein soll, der sollte sich William Gibsons Klassiker Neuromancer von 1984 vornehmen. Gibson soll die Meinung vertreten haben, „Japan ist einfach Cyberpunk“, und so erscheint es nur folgerichtig, dass die Handlung seines wohl bekanntesten Werks in Japan beginnt. Wer sich in die Welt des ehemaligen Cyber-Cowboys Case hineinbegibt, wird aber bald feststellen, dass es zwar hier sehr bunt, aber auch verdammt brutal zugeht. Die Straßen sind so rau wie die Dialoge zwischen den einzelnen Charakteren, und der Leser wird bald das Gefühl haben, permanent den Lauf einer Knarre in den Nacken gedrückt zu bekommen: "Seine vom Oktagon ausgelöste künstliche Tapferkeit bröckelte vollends ab. Er schob die Kobra in den Schaft und flitzte zum Fenster, blind vor Angst, mit kreischenden Nerven." (Seite 49).

Case selbst ist ein Wrack. Seine ehemaligen Auftraggeber, für die er eine Weile lang als Hacker gearbeitet und stolze Summen erbeutet hat, erwischten ihn eines Tages dabei, wie er den eigenen Anteil großzügig aufrundete und bestraften ihn dafür, indem sie sein Nervensystem derart schädigten, dass an eine Fortsetzung seiner Karriere als Hacker nicht mehr zu denken ist. 

Die Trilogie, erschienen bei Heyne. Heute ist Teil 1 dran - Neuromancer.

Nun erbeutet er Kleinstbeträge, ist mit einer Prostituierten verbandelt und hat auch schon drei Menschen auf dem Gewissen – alles nur, um selbst am Leben zu bleiben in einer Welt, die der menschlichen Existenz, insbesondere der fleischlichen, feindlicher nicht sein könnte. Gibson legt dabei eine ganz besondere Liebe fürs Detail an den Tag, egal ob es um den Wirt in Cases Lieblingsspelunke geht, dessen Arm halb fleischlich, halb metallische Kralle ist, oder um eine minutiöse Beschreibung einer Handfeuerwaffe: „Shins Pistole war eine fünfzig Jahre alte vietnamesische Imitation eines südamerikanischen Nachbaus einer Walther PKK Double-action. Sie hatte einen schwergängigen Abzug und war für 22er Gewehrmunition umgerüstet. Case wären Bleiazid-Explosivgeschosse lieber gewesen als die einfachen chinesischen Hohlspitzpatronen, die Shin ihm verkauft hatte. […]“ (Seite 50). 

Tatsächlich ist Gibsons Vision, die sich zuweilen in solch ausufernden Beschreibungen zu verrennen Gefahr läuft, in diversen Bereichen des menschlichen Lebens erstaunlich hellseherisch. Nicht nur einem selbstfahrenden Mercedes begegnet der Leser, sondern auch dem Organhandel im bereits erwähnten Japan und geklonten Menschen im Weltraum, diverse Dinge, die heute Tatsache sind, möglich oder in naher Zukunft machbar erscheinen.  

Case führt sein Abenteuer weit um den Globus und tief in die Vergangenheit seiner Mitstreiter. Doch er begibt sich keinesfalls freiwillig auf seine Reise; dahinter steckt Armitage, ein stumpfsinniger Militär, der einmal Corto hieß, aber auch er wird (nun zum zweiten Mal in seinem Leben) zum Spielball größerer Mächte. Case bekommt seine Hacker-Fähigkeiten zurück, aber ein Gift, das sich langsam in seinen Körper entlädt und dessen Beseitigung nur sein Auftraggeber beherrscht, bindet ihn an Armitage, für den er – an der Seite der verführerischen Kopfgeldjägerin Molly – eine waghalsige Mission ausführt.

Während Case sich durch Datencluster hackt, ist Molly für das Grobe zuständig und nimmt den Kampf mit Sicherheitsdiensten und anderen Hindernissen auf. Der Roman verhandelt dabei nicht nur Entwürfe einer dystopischen Zukunft und Themen wie Verrat und Liebe, sondern auch Leben, Tod und Bewusstsein in Zeiten eines gnadenlosen, globalisierten Raubtierkapitalismus. Exzentrische und psychotische Charaktere (hier sind vor allem Julie und Riviera zu nennen) sorgen für jede Menge Spannung und scheinen durchaus nicht fehl am Platze, denn diese Zukunftsvision ist ein Spielplatz für Irre.

Der Roman ist mit seiner Fülle an Details und seinen zuweilen verwirrenden Wechseln zwischen virtueller und physischer Realität („Er steckte aus“ […] „Er steckte ein.“) durchaus kein Sonntagsspaziergang für Gelegenheitsleser, doch macht er solche Mängel durch Spannung und Tiefgang wett. Dabei ist die deutsche Version (Heyne 2002, vierte Auflage) noch erstaunlich lesbar geblieben, doch es begegnen einem immer wieder kleinere ("Bacon", Seite 81) und größere („Negermädchen“, Seite 109) Übersetzungspatzer. 

Der erste Teil von Gibsons Zukunftsvision ist surreal, finster und gesellschaftskritisch, und die Lektüre wert.

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade – Skulls for the Skull Throne!

Although this blog’s focus is less on current releases but rather on timeless milestones, I could not help but rejoice as I heard the news: Dawn of War 3 is coming – and large armies and base-building are back! I tried its predecessor, Dawn of War 2, but the focus on small squads of heroes just isn't my cup of tea. Instead, I present to you my favourite Add-On of the series. The real-time stragegy game series Dawn of War is based on Games Workshop’s giant science fiction tabletop-franchise Warhammer 40,000, a grimdark future where there can only be war between aliens, religious fanatics and demons.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War – The Dark Crusade, released in 2006, is the second Add-On of the first Dawn of War from 2004. It adds two new factions (Necrons and Tau), a new unit to each existing race, and a wholly new campaign, which will be the focus of this article (Notice that for multiplayer matches playing as one of the “old” races, you need the predecessors; for the campaign and everything else, having Dark Crusade installed will suffice).

 Intro.

A unique feature about the Dawn of War games is that instead of collecting natural resources, the player has to conquer requisition points and maintain a good energy supply by building power plants. But what really makes this game stand out among nearly every other real time strategy game ever is that you can play a total of 7 (!) different races, each with its own carefully crafted campaign and viewpoint on the overall setting – the conquest of planet Kronus. 

 

Kronus is genuinely inhabited by the Necrons, robots reminiscent of those seen in The Terminator-series of movies, but they don't bother hiding their mechanical bodies. The planet is also inhabited by  the Imperial Guard, whose soldiers and tanks are reminiscent of 21^st century military, but with some laserguns, medieval inquisition and technology worshipping priests thrown in. Also, there are the Eldar (space elves) and some Orks (green hooligan aliens with a fetish for scrap metal).

Among the invaders are the Space Marines (genetically modified superhuman monks), the Chaos Space Marines (genetically modified superhuman sectarians) and the Tau (blue aliens with high tech stuff and primitive allies). Each race has standard and special troops, tanks and a super unit that can be unlocked by collecting enough resources and conquering a relic. These super units are demigods, demons or giant tanks – loads of fun! 

Ingame-screenshot of Necrons fighting against Chaos Space Marines. Source.

The voice acting adds a lot to the atmosphere: While some races sound very proud and determined such as the Space Marines and the Eldar, the Chaos Space Marines sound just as insane as they are, Necrons are silent for the most part and Orks prattle as much gibberish as you would expect from space hooligans ("Dakka dakka dakka!"). Fortunately, too, Relic has managed to make each of the forces play differently and added some unique gameplay mechanics to each race: While Necrons don’t need requisition points to make units unlike every other race but solely rely on energy, Orks need an extra resource to control their rowdy minions, and differences in upgrades, abilities etc. offer various tactical options making an actual difference between the races. However, it has been argued that the races are not perfectly balanced in Multiplayer, which players who have fought the Eldar in the campaign probably already know.

The campaign screen. Source.

The campaign setup is not a linear follow-up of missions, but instead presents you with a map where you can choose which of the neighbouring provinces to visit first. Depending on whether you own that province or not, you can choose what to do: Move to or conquer a province or planetary fortress of one of the other factions or just stay where you are and skip a round. If you choose to fight, the game switches into real time strategy gameplay. As you finish your turn on the campaign map, the computer takes over and shows how the other 6 factions move and fight on the map. This means that the player not only gets to conquer, but also defend provinces, which is made easier by the fact that the computer memorizes what you built in each province, so you won’t have to start from scrap again, and you may add to it each time you defend it.

Each province you own earns you control points on the campaign map (independent from those in RTS mode), which can be invested in stationary forces to make defending your provinces even easier. Also, conquering certain provinces not only comes with special goals other than killing the enemy’s base, but unlocks additional benefits, such as the opportunity to move twice (instead of once) during your turn or to buy an honour guard for your general. The leader himself gets weapon and armour upgrades that make him more powerful in battle. These RPG elements definitely enhance the gaming experience, since they reward your efforts appropriately (without making the game too easy).

Each race's leader can be upgraded during the campaign, for example the Necron Lord. Source.

If you leave an area of the campaign map untouched for a long time and leave its destiny to your enemies, there is a chance that your decision will backfire sometime. Playing as Chaos Space Marines I once had to face an Imperial enemy who had gathered an honour guard consisting of 9 units, including a tank. Ultimately, I had to give up several provinces because the AI general would just overrun each colony with his honour guard. Playing on difficulty level “hard”, it really felt like an achievement when I finally destroyed his planetary fortress with my Chaos Space Marines, lead by my general who had turned into a Demon Prince by the time I had reconquered everything. Another great moment was beating the Tau, because those blue faced bastards have, very much like in the tabletop version, a reputation for using big, nasty guns, while Chaos Space Marines prefer melee weapons (in the 41^st century, melee combat is still pretty viable). 

Dark Crusade's successor Soulstorm, is alright, too, but having to travel from planet to planet felt like less fun than just having all the factions squeezed together on one big map. Also, rebuilding your bases when defending is not fun – it forces you to play the same map under the same conditions over and over again. These are the reasons why Soulstorm, although it added another two races – Dark Eldar (evil space elves) and Adeptus Sororitas (female Space Marines) – was not an improvement to the series but just a mediocre addition. 

Dark Crusade, however, is a milestone in the series, as it masterfully captures the grimdark feeling of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. The different factions with their unique gameplay and story and the random interactions of the AI generals in the campaign provide enough replay-value for weeks. Of course, there are some bugs and the Eldar are a bit imbalanced, but the game is fun, nevertheless. Whether you are hyped for DoW 3 or not familiar with the franchise at all: I seriously recommend playing Dark Crusade.