Guns of Infinity

This is the series I didn't know I needed. I never was a big 'military' guy outside of a book I read as a kid called "Arms and Armor" that had pictures of English, well, arms and armor throughout history; I used to use it to look up what weapons in D&D manuals and David Eddings books looked like (like Lochaber Axes).

But I always thought things like rank and chain of command were interesting. One of my closer coworkers is a marine veteran and talks about things in the military a lot, and my ex-wife's grandfather was a lieutenant colonel when he died, which I found out is what most officers retire at.

This game really helped explain everything a lot. Now I know that doesn't sound like a resounding endorsement, but one thing I like about really peak media is how it teaches you something about the world or makes you think that it's teaching you about something (a non-real example would be like Mistborn's system; a more realistic example would be Moby Dick, which I enjoy quite a bit). This game made me feel like I really was an officer, climbing up the ranks.

It is a continuation of the last game in the series. You engage in a series of serious battles, and can gain temporary authority even up to lieutenant colonel. There are two main branches, and competent women make a significant appearance (unfortunately, my character, while interested in the spy woman, failed to make a good impression on her, to the point that she hated me).

I was dismayed to import my character from the first game only to be essentially told "Your character will fail. Make a new one." I appreciated the warning though. And it's not wrong; I had made an uncharismatic, boneheaded soldier who mastered individual warfare.

Once again I died at the end; once again I didn't mind due to the save and the realistic circumstances (many battles are lost due to random chance or poor decisions).

I'm looking forward to the next game. I heard the fourth game is on ice, and read the authors's Jan 2025 post about it, which puts a lot of things into more clear context. I definitely wish him the best!

The art for this series has been fun so far as well.