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It’s a beautiful day out, at least on paper. It’s just under 70, sunny and breezy on what should be a perfect June day in Chicago. But a thick haze has covered the city and suburbs, and driven Chicagoans off beaches, inside from rooftop bars, and into their homes. Its source? The wildfires in Canada’s most destructive wildfire season on record, are still burning strong, and now the toxic effects have descended upon the Midwest. Residents of Chicago, nearby suburbs, collar counties, and in some cases as far away as the Wisconsin border, started reporting “chemical and burning smells” on small town Facebook groups and apps yesterday. Today’s outlook on the same issue was easy to see, with a pea-soup thick haze hanging over the city skyline, making everything dystopic and almost dreamlike. Unfortunately, it’s a nightmare, as the air quality is not only the worst air quality we’ve ever seen, according to world renowned Chicago meteorologist Tom Skilling (via WGN weather producer Bill Synder), who’s served Chicago with some of the most reliable, in depth and interesting weather reports in the world, but the worst air quality in the world, today. It’s a dark superlative to be hanging over our heads, and the air poses serious threats to anyone with respiratory conditions and chronic medical conditions, but also, and importantly, to everyone, with mayors of small towns, as well as newly elected Brandon Johnson calling for residents to abandon plans for outdoor activities, avoid strenuous outdoor activities, and really, just stay inside. Though the threat is different it feels familiar after pandemic lockdowns, although some of the mitigation efforts are similar - masks and air filtration. "For additional precautions, all Chicagoans may also consider wearing masks, limiting their outdoor exposure, moving activities indoors, running air purifiers, and closing windows," Johnson said in a statement. "As these unsafe conditions continue, the City will continue to provide updates and take swift action to ensure that vulnerable individuals have the resources they need to protect themselves and their families." Officials advise that masks should be KN95, N95 quality, or better. Surgical and other DIY masks will not help filter the particulates from wildfires. People who have air purifiers or can afford to purchase them are encouraged to use them. People also may want to consider building a Corsi–Rosenthal Box, a DIY filtration system made from HVAC filters and box fans, developed by Richard Corsi, an environmental engineer and the incoming Dean of Engineering at the University of California, Davis. These are warnings and advice we should pay heed to. Though we’ve faced bad air quality days in the past here in Chicago, especially in the muggy warmth of summer, as Skilling so simply put it, it’s the worst he’s ever seen in his 45 years, and as the various weather app warnings are proclaiming on phones all around the area, the air is categorically unhealthy and should be avoided without proper filtrations. Dr. Ravi Kalhan, deputy division chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Northwestern Medicine, told NBC5 that the air quality in the area is the equivalent of smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day. As climate change worsens, wildfires like those still raging in Canada are likely to continue to cause widespread effects. Those same fires turned the skies in New York City orange earlier this month, and pollutants in the air reached ratings of between 300 and 400 in some cases. New Yorkers could see the same problem again this week, along with Philadelphia, Louisville, the Quad Cities, and several other locations in the Northeast and Midwest. People on the West Coast - long plagued by similar wildfires - have been offering up advice to those in the other parts of America who are more recently affected. It can be easy to ignore warnings like this, but we urge you to not only think of your own health and safety in this situation, but the actions we can take as individuals, towns and nations to help fight further environmental damage.

Court drama can make for some good TV, and Star Trek court drama can make for some really interesting (though a little on the nose) looks at societal issues through a specific lens or perspective. In the case of Strange New Worlds' fantastic courtroom centered episode this week, Ad Astra Per Aspera, it was a look at the Federation and its draconian laws around augments. It’s true that Earth had some bad experiences with augmented individuals during the Eugenics Wars of the 90’s. It’s curious, however, that the Federation as a whole and Starfleet still hold onto this stigma even though the Federation has to consist of dozens–if not hundreds–of worlds at this point. While this point isn’t brought up in the episode, Ad Astra Per Aspera does a good job taking a hard look at the “progressive” Federation’s dark side. For any episodic show that doesn’t rely on an overarching story, it’s hard to make the stakes feel real. Strange New Worlds doesn’t struggle with that, though. Ad Astra Per Aspera (which translates to “to the stars, through difficulty” does a great job making you feel like Captain Pike’s Number one–Una Chin Riley (Rebecca Romijn)--has a serious chance of getting locked up for lying about her augmentation status. Anson Mount as Captain Pike must suffer for his crew, and that’s no different in Ad Astra Per Aspera, as he visits an Illyrian world which is uninhabitable by humans, but completely comfortable for the Illyrians and their genetic modifications. Pike suffers embarrassment and even the threat of choking to death on an inhospitable atmosphere to get the help of Neera–a high powered Illyrian lawyer and old friend of Una Chin riley–in the help of his first officer’s defense. While she reluctantly agreed, it appears at first as though Neera, played by Yetide Badaki, is pushing her own agenda, and not looking out for Una Chin Riley–who gave up a sweet plea deal that would have allowed her to retain her freedom in exchange for losing her Starfleet career. Instead, she chooses to fight for her right to be an augment in Starfleet, and Starfleet tries to make an example of her by upping her potential sentence to 20 years in a penal colony. This new sentence is orchestrated by a prominently eyebrowed Vulcan by the name of ___. There is a particularly hilarious exchange that involved Spock’s meeting with this character, and Doctor M’Benga and pilot Ortega's discussing the intricacies of Vulcan body language. Strange New Worlds does an excellent job balancing tension with genuine levity. As an Illyrian, Una Chin Riley’s parents augmented her in what her species considers a traditional way. However, Riley and her parents were forced to hide her augmented status from the Federation, for fear of being imprisoned. Riley’s lawyer expertly uses this story and Riley’s other accounts of prejudice leveled against her to give Riley an exception, and she’s reinstated as a Starfleet officer–though, as a special case. My original thoughts about this episode was that Deep Space Nine did it better with “Doctor Bashir, I Presume.” However, Ad Astra Per Aspera hits on many points that the DS9 episode didn’t, and makes a compelling argument against the Federation’s status as a utopia. It’s a hard look at a society that harms even when it has the best intentions, and it’s done in a brilliant courtroom turnaround that I should have seen coming, but was delighted to have missed. Strange New Worlds continues to be the Trek that a lot of fans wanted–and I can’t think of any Star Trek fan that can hate it. And “Ad Astra Per Aspera “ is a great return to good old fashioned Star Trek philosophizing and soap boxing that I craved. And that isn’t even getting into the fantastic dress uniforms that were a great balance between new Trek and homage to the Original Series. This is the episode that has really driven home that great live action Trek is back.

The past few years have been ones of bounty for Trekkies like us. After DS9 and Enterprise's denouement, we hadn't had much to look forward to beyond the JJverse reboot, which was itself an extremely divisive return. Luckily for the fandom at large, we were just about to enter into a new, prosperous era of Trek on TV. Ushered in on the wings of Star Trek: Discovery, we found new places to boldly go and new crew to love and explore with. In fact, these past few years have seen the most new Trek on TV of any era of the beloved sci-fi series. It seemed there was something for everyone, from the shiny newness and badass mirrorverse adventures of the USS Discovery to the perfect balance of laughs, lore and heartfelt Trek that is Lower Decks and the high-gloss, mid-mod spectacle that is Strange New Worlds, we had it made. There was even a brand-new animated series geared at the little ones, Star Trek: Prodigy, that would help bring the next generation up to love Trek, too. Star Trek: Prodigy was the little show on the lineup that could. Backed up by the massive talent and charisma of Kate Mulgrew's Janeway herself, this loveable bunch managed a none too small feat -- get the interest of younger generations who didn't know much about Trek, and give longtime fans, especially those who loved Voyager and her crew, brand new tales worthy of any live-action Trek. So it's an equally massive shame that Paramount+ announced Prodigy's cancellation today, even with an almost fully completed Season 2 previously promised to air later this year. Prodigy's characters were vibrant, well-rounded, age appropriate and still had the mass appeal of a mainline Trek show. And while originally geared at children, Prodigy featured some of the darkest, most existential horrors to plague a crew, alongside some substantially scary and evil villains. This cast was a gang that could've come straight out of the island of misfit toys, and were thrown into a situation no kids should have to handle. Star Trek: Prodigy rightly taught kids about chosen family, belonging, and being true to who you are while also taking deep dives into Voyager lore and creating very real, very extensive threats for Starfleet as a whole. To put it mildly: it was better than it had any right to be, and we absolutely loved it. The cancellation is shocking, and a gut-punch for Trek fans, not just because of how unexpected it was, given the new season's trailers and news of renewal for later this year, but because Paramount+ also revealed that Season 1 would be pulled from its streaming service, and Season 2, which was almost through production, would not be aired. It feels like insult to injury for a show we were just as invested in as Picard Season 3, that felt almost as epic at times. According to the Hollywood Reporter, there is a final hope for fans of the show: Star Trek: Prodigy will finish its production and producers CBS Studios plan on shopping both seasons to a new buyer. Reactions to the news came quickly, with fans and the show's creators expressing a natural amount of shock, disappointment, and heartbreak: Julie Benson, a writer on Prodigy, said she was 'absolutely gutted' and hoped that "this beautiful show finds its way across the universe to another platform" Meanwhile, actress Bonnie Gordon, who voiced the USS Protostar's computer, shared her heartbreak with fans and other crew from the show, mentioning how much love everyone poured into the series. Aaron Waltke, the show's executive producer, took to Twitter to combat misleading headlines and remind fans that they will be completing production on the series on time and are actively looking for a new home. And even though we Trekkies can recognize that we're still in a pretty stellar era for Trek, fans are understandably outraged and saddened by the news. Here's just a few fan reactions to the news today: What are your thoughts on the cancellation and Paramount+' s decision to remove Season 1 from the streaming platform? Let us know in the comments. Here's hoping someone will help #SaveProdigy.

It feels like Kevin Feige has been building towards this series since way back in Phase 3 with Captain Marvel–or earlier, if there were clues that eagle-eyed Marvel fans uncovered in the earlier films. Secret Invasion is a fertile soil for a type of story that Marvel hasn’t told before. I mean, we’ve had human terrorists before, but alien terrorists? Secret Invasion is potentially a story where you don’t know who to trust. Characters–even long standing ones–could be revealed to be Skrull (Marvel’s shape changing aliens). The Skrull are faster, stronger, and longer lived than humans, making them a potentially scary foe–if they all didn’t look like they were wearing rubber masks in their original state. While the first episode is spent establishing all of the players, and positioning all of the pieces, it also serves as a bit of “previously on” but more of a “what are they doing now?” That is to say, if you haven’t watched a significant amount of the MCU catalog, you’ll probably be confused. Secret Invasion is a show about Nick Fury and his unfinished business with the Skrull. Gravik, a bad Skrull, has created what is essentially a Skrull terrorist network with the goal of eliminating every human on earth. When Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury hears of this plot, he merely utters “shit.” MCU dialogue is always effortlessly delivered by Sam Jackson. He carries the show, but he also exudes an aura of “I'm done with this shit” - fitting, as he’s playing a Nick Fury who is also done with this shit. However, Secret Invasion plays a little too seriously. The first episode was a rather gloomy affair, with muted colors that reinforce just how serious this all is. And there are some implications for the characters as well, as we see Talos – played by Ben Mendelsohn, who is mostly using his human face – wrestling with the implications of essentially betraying his own race. Compound that with the fact that his daughter (played by Emilia Clarke) is working for Gravik and the Skrull bad guys, and perhaps we’ll see a Talos who betrays Fury to help his daughter. But so far, it doesn’t look like Secret Invasion is setting its stakes that high. You can tell Marvel didn’t want to lean too hard into the Secret Invasion’s larger implications right at the beginning with the introduction of Ross (Martin Short) who turned out to be a Skrull agent. It wasn’t clear whether this Ross was a Skrull all along, or a different Ross altogether. It turns out this is a completely fake and separate Ross. Which is even more confusing when they show Gravik’s extremists and how they take a person’s mind as well as their appearance. There is a fair amount of humor in this episode. During a witty exchange between Fury and Talos, where Talos reveals that he’s “not even 40 in human years.” Despite being a century and a quarter old he continues, “I haven’t even gone on my mid-life crisis shopping spree yet.” Talos goes on to ask Fury “what did you get?” Fury wryly states: “The Avengers.” However, Gravik does not seem like an intimidating foe, even when he is set up to be one. There is one clunky and unintentionally funny scene towards the end of the episode where Gravik repeatedly shapeshifts while staring down Fury. It’s a little unsettling until he shifts into his human form, and I couldn’t help thinking about how much of a dork this dude is. Secret Invasion ends on a rather gloomy note, with Mariah Hill bleeding to death, and a Nick Fury who has seemingly lost a step. However, it was an episode that somehow felt both over packed with information and also very slow–more like a formality than a proper episode. And despite Colbie Smulders’ assertion that she could play Mariah Hill with more depth than she has before, the MCU needs to learn that death isn’t character progression. We'll see what transpires as we continue into this series. Stay tuned! Secret Invasion streams Wednesdays on Disney+

Do you remember the era of the doctor/hospital show? Some would say it’s not over yet, but there’s always been interest in the medical field and the daily comings and goings at a hospital. From ER to House and Scrubs, we’ve been there for it all. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege, as we see it, but the reality is that the healthcare system is broken, on a fundamental level, and many people go without healthcare simply because they can’t afford it. Meanwhile, healthcare work is grueling, and often thankless. Though we may have recognized that healthcare workers were heroes during the pandemic, working long hours in unimaginable conditions and taking life or death risks to help everyone, that’s even now (and even then) not always the case. Burnout, turnover, and even mental health issues and suicide plague the profession. If this doesn’t sound like the start of a video game review to you, we'd understand. If you were to get a first look at Fall of Porcupine, with its beautiful art, soft indie rock soundtrack and adorable anthropomorphic animals, you probably wouldn’t immediately think it’s an emotional, intense deep dive into the realities of working in healthcare that includes anonymous interviews from those currently in the field. But, it’s both. And for as realistic and disheartening as it can be, playing Fall of Porcupine manages to somehow also have one foot solidly in cozy game territory. In Fall of Porcupine, you’ll play as Finley, a pigeon and junior doctor who’s on their way to their first day at St. Ursula’s, where they’ll be assisting the staff in Internal Medicine. Finley’s from the big city and not used to life in a small town, and all the drama that brings, but is excited to see what else is out there. Though I still marvel that you can call a game with the premise of Fall of Porcupine cozy, I can certainly say after beating it that it definitely has that vibe. It’s a sort of slice of life adventure that creates that soothing sense of routine that I loved in another game, Lake, that almost convinced me to abandon my 9-5 and become a local mail carrier. Much of the gameplay in Fall of Porcupine is simple, and repetitive. Finley goes about his same routine every day, leaving from his small apartment in the downtown area to make his way to the hospital, either walking or taking the bus, and goes about his rounds in his ward. On your commute, you'll often be doing a lot of walking through a beautiful but sometimes confusing landscape, and will meet a variety of townfolk who you may or may not strike up friendships with along the way, from a barkeeping turtle and his mom to a homeless walrus and adventuresome shop-owner alpaca. One of Fall of Porcupine’s greatest strengths lies in its character building. While a few ancillary characters border on cliche, most are well rounded enough that you can’t exactly anticipate what they’ll say or do, making the world and the characters themselves feel more realistic. They all have their own ambitions and motivations, and regard Finley from different perspectives. Once at the hospital, you’ll take on the same sort of routine. Say hello to the incredibly endearing hippo at the front desk, and head up to the ward to make your rounds. To start, you’ll be checking in with the ward’s senior doctor, a surly cheetah named Krokowski who starts off as the person to avoid. She doesn’t take kindly to new doctors, especially those, like you, who spend a lot of time getting to know patients and other staff members, and doesn’t have the time to correct your mistakes. To avoid spoilers I won’t say too much, but she ends up being one of my favorites by the end. There’s also Karl, a ram and extremely hardheaded but experienced nurse on the ward, and Mia, a peer and colleague who’s a sweet and motivated cow going through it all with you. To perform your job, you’ll need to complete some social tasks with patients, like asking them about their symptoms and lifestyle. You can choose how long you interact with patients, learning more about them and their lives and making them more comfortable with you and their predicament, or take a more no-nonsense approach to impress the boss and simply treat what ails them, but either extreme can cause problems. Talk too little and you may miss something critical - talk too much, and you may end up causing problems elsewhere on the ward. I like that there wasn’t a built in bias and that you needed to do both in good balance, though I tended to opt towards more talkative in my playthrough. Fall of Porcupine also uses some mini-games so you can diagnose, prescribe meds, and give shots to patients, among other things. Each of these games are unique enough, with a common thread: intentional difficulty. When prescribing meds, for example, you’ll find that it’s tough to near impossible to balance what patients need more of and less of, while there’s diagnosis games that involve quicktime events with insane combinations of buttons that are awkward and have to be held, or rock band-esque games that take precision but increase in difficulty based on the case. I like the literal translation of control difficulty to illustrate the seemingly simple tasks doctors face every day and the actual amount of difficulty each step in the process takes, but at times it gets to be a little heavy handed. You’re graded on how well you treat each patient, and report back to Krokowski at the end of each shift to see how you’re measuring up. Each encounter with the patients familiarizes you with them and the town a little more, and before long, you’ll find yourself becoming more attached to the perfect vision of Porcupine - a small town where everyone knows each other and works together to better the community. Developers Critical Rabbit do a great job of slowly building up your affections for the town and everyone in it only to break it all apart shortly thereafter. Because it turns out, as in real life, people aren’t always kind, and place blame where it doesn’t belong. And, as in real life, it also turns out that not everyone is looking out for the best interests of patients or doctors. Sometimes decisions made in offices can cause pain and even death in the hospital floors above, and Fall of Porcupine doesn’t shy away from these realities. Just like with the mini-games representing treatment, you can only do the best you can with what you have. Sometimes you will be extra tired, or understaffed. Other times you’ll have to help in situations where you don’t have a lot of knowledge, or you yourself aren’t feeling well. One thing Fall of Porcupine does masterfully is illustrate these hardships through gameplay and the narrative, in a way that makes you understand these struggles more intimately than you would have otherwise. At times, the message is heavyhanded, both as the story unfolds and as it resolves, but overall, Fall of Porcupine is a unique combination of a cozy indie game with adorable animal characters to fall in love with and a true-to-life reflection of the struggles healthcare workers face in the industry, and I couldn’t put it down. Fall of Porcupine is available now on PC via Steam and for Xbox Series S|X and Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 as well as Nintendo Switch.

A submersible run by Oceangate has gone missing near the wreck of the Titanic. A search is currently underway, but as of this writing, there is no word whether there were tourists–or even a crew–on board the submersible when it disappeared. It’s easy to imagine the worst: that the five person capacity submarine-type vehicle has sunk with people on board. Oceangate’s website they say they run crewed submersibles for tourism as well as research and commercial projects, promising “Scientific Exploration and Adventure.” They also promise a “Titanic Survey Expedition” with their “next mission” set for 2023. However, the “learn more” button is a dead link–or there are currently too many people trying to access that part of the website. UPDATE: We've since learned that some of the people rumored to be on board have been identified, including British adventurer Hamish Harding, and a press briefing promising more information has been scheduled. Naturally, the missing sub has captivated the internet's interest, and we've been following along on social media since. Here's some of what's being said: There is currently a search and rescue operation underway. Let’s hope that there is no injury or loss to life.

June 12th marked the passing of Brooklyn's own John Romita Sr., one of the most prolific comic book artists ever. His designs ranged from the classic Mary Jane Watson to crafting a menacing Kingpin. Despite having some early work at DC between 1959 and 1966, he was mostly known for his decades spent at Marvel Comics. John joined Marvel after the departure of Jack Kirby. Some of the more notable John Romita designs included Black Widows’ classic black leather spy suit, Punishers’ giant skull on his chest, the Bullseye design and the original yellow and black Wolverine costume. A titan of his craft whose' influence has permeated even today's modern comics. John Romita Sr was 93 years old. His son, John Romita Jr. is still a comic book artist for both Marvel and DC.

Based on true events. Who will survive and what will be left of them? That’s the question I got to answer this weekend when I had a chance to hang out with Gun Interactive and a few notable guests. We gathered in Austin, Texas heat to play Sumo Digital’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, have a few cocktails, and rub elbows with Jason fuckin’ Vorhees himself, Kane Hodder–among other cast members, new and old. I got a chance to play a few rounds of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , an asymmetrical horror game where “The Victims” are tasked to sneak around and survive while avoiding “The Family” full of unique murderous psychos hellbent on killing you, each with their own abilities and quirks. I had the chance to play on two different maps, each based on a location from the original 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. Each map was full of hiding places for The Victims and traps for The Family to set–and of course, there was Grandpa. When grandpa is fed blood, his ability to let the other Family members “see” The Victims increases in frequency. Each member of The Family has their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. For example, Leatherface (with motion capture by the legendary Kane Hodder, who we had the privilege to chat with at the party) has the ability to break objects, and hits the hardest out of any of the family members. However, he tends to be slow. Whereas Sissy is faster and can get through areas only the victims can access. Family attributes are measured in three categories: savagery, harvesting, and endurance. Savagery is essentially how much damage each family member does. Harvesting is how much blood you take from victims when you attack them, and endurance is a measure of stamina recharge rate and total stamina. The higher your endurance, the longer you can run or the more swings you can take on the hapless Victims. Unlike other asymmetrical horror games, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre gives the opportunity for The Family to work together to execute each of The Victims before they can escape. This does seem to give a slight advantage to The Family for those inexperienced Victims–but with patience, stealth and cunning, I saw plenty of Victims make their way to freedom. Surprisingly, playing as The Victims never felt too one-sided. As a Victim there is a constant sense of dread. In other asymmetrical horror games, if you had an idea where the bad guy was, you might have an easy time avoiding them. However, in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre there is always the threat of an unseen Family member finding you. And since The Family hunts in threes, you can’t be sure you’re safe just because one of The Victims is being executed in one of the game’s grisly death animations. I never felt safe playing as a Victim. The Victims aren’t completely helpless, though. They each have their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. For instance Sonny’s Heightened Sense ability will let him know if anything is nearby based on the sound they make. Or you can save yourself or even other Victims with Leland’s Life Saver ability which allows him to rush and stun a Family member–even if they’re about to execute a fellow Victim. While other asymmetrical horror games might incapacitate you–rendering you unable to play unless another player helps you–The Texas Chainsaw Massacre keeps you in the action until you escape–or you’re brutally murdered, with your blood being fed to Grandpa. Despite the sweltering Texas heat, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre pre-release party was an absolute blast–and we had a great time playing the game. Of course it was a thrill meeting some of the cast of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as well as the motion capture performers and voiceover actors of the game. I think Gun Interactive might be onto something with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and while I’m not saying it’s guaranteed, it’s definitely time for a new asymmetrical horror title, and I can’t wait until its full release in August. Photos: Marielle Bokor

I never played the original Layers of Fear, though I did play its sequel—and I wasn’t a big fan. However, the first game was lauded for its use of psychological themes and accompanying imagery, so I was eager to finally get a chance to play it, built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5. Unfortunately, while Layers of Fear is a gorgeous game, its shiny new graphics can’t hide the fact that it really hasn’t aged well. Layers of Fear is a first person horror game that follows the story of three people, referred to as the Painter, the Actor, and the Writer. This latest installment in the series can be a bit confusing, so here’s an explanation:: This latest Layers of Fear release is actually Layers of Fear (2016) and its sequel Layers of Fear 2 rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, with both of their stories tied together by an overarching narrative and the introduction of a new character. It’s an interesting way to tie the two games together. However, the gameplay that was so effective when Layers of Fear (2016) released has been well-tread now by developer Bloober Team and others. Most of the gameplay in Layers of Fear involves walking while looking at items and suffering the occasional jump scare. There are some puzzles to solve, but these are sparse. When people derisively describe walking simulators, I don’t know how the Layers of Fear series isn’t mentioned more often. It doesn’t feel like a game so much as a haunted house. While it's effectively spooky, it never comes close to invoking true terror. Instead, it’s just trippy imagery and walking. Rinse and repeat for hours. While the developers were no doubt going for an unsettling depiction of characters descending into madness, there isn’t enough to ground the player to what’s real. And because of that, there aren’t any narrative stakes.Even failure (when it’s possible to fail) is just a temporary setback. If the majority of the game plays out like a nightmare, after a couple of hours it starts to lose its effectiveness. Despite the dominantly boring gameplay, there are actually some moments that got my heart racing. This is when Layers of Fear truly shines. However, these truly scary moments are too far between with long stretches of often nauseating psychological torture that ended up being torture on me. Even the story in Layers of Fear is lost in all of the howling and madness. Any pretense of subtlety flies out the window within the first few minutes of gameplay, and you’re forced to suffer through ham fisted portrayals of tragedy and angst. For instance, in The Artist segment of the game there is a moment where the character is remembering feeling alienated because of their status as an artist, so the next room has a fish flopping on a saucer with the words “out of water” written on the wall. Layers of Fear isn’t particularly effective in its gameplay or storytelling, but it sure is pretty to look at. Bloober Team has used every bell and whistle available to them in Unreal 5 to make these games look better than they ever have before. With Ray Tracing and HDR support, Layers of Fear is one of the best looking games I’ve played this year. However, that’s really just putting lipstick on a pig. I know there are people that absolutely love Layers of Fear (2016) and I wish I was one of them. I feel like I missed the boat, and was subjected to so many imitations that I can’t appreciate Layers of Fear (2016) for how groundbreaking it was. Sadly, that means my patience for Layers of Fear wore thin, and I could only play it in short bursts. Even then, I felt like I was twisting in the same never-ending corridors hoping to find an exit. Luckily, it really only takes pressing the Esc key and quitting to desktop to get out of that nightmare. Layers of Fear is available now on Steam and the Epic Games Store as well as for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X A Steam key was provided to us for this review

I’ve been playing a lot of retro games lately and there’s something especially haunted about old PlayStation games that high definition graphics can’t recreate. That’s why I’m always thrilled to see horror games in PS1 style, and The Tartarus Key does an incredible job of recreating the visual aesthetics from the fifth console generation–but it’s not a very scary game. The Tartarus Key is a first person puzzle game. While it pays heavy homage to Resident Evil visually and with some elements of the setting, it’s not a survival horror game at all. There are no enemies to fight in The Tartarus Key, just a series of puzzles to solve. That’s not to say that there aren’t any stakes, because the characters you meet will often live or die based on your ability to correctly solve whatever puzzle is threatening them. The Tartarus Key does a great job creating a retro horror atmosphere, but I’d say it’s more relaxing than it is horrifying. As with all puzzle games, your mileage may vary. You might be great at a particular type of puzzle while failing at another. The Tartarus Key has a range of puzzle types, so there are probably at least one or two puzzles here that you might find to be headscratchers, despite your puzzle prowess. However, each puzzle in The Tartarus Key is self contained, meaning you won’t have to carry one item from one room to be used in another. In fact, you can’t take inventory items out of a specific puzzle room, with your inventory changing based on what room you’re in. This actually reduces the potential difficulty for The Tartarus Key a ton as you don’t have to run back and forth between puzzles trying to find a solution. Despite its horror look, even the dialogue and interactions in The Tartarus Key aren’t geared towards horror. In fact, a lot of the dialogue between characters is full of quips and jokes. It’s the main character’s way of dealing with the stressful situation, but a lot of the humor didn’t land for me. The characters aren’t entirely unlikeable, but the stakes were so low that I found myself skipping through conversations so I could get to the next puzzle as quickly as possible. I really enjoyed the time I spent with The Tartarus Key, but I do have a heavy bias towards puzzle games already. Despite its horror themes, The Tartarus Key is an atmospheric, but non-scary puzzle game. The types of puzzles I found through The Tartarus Key were very similar to those I found in community rooms for Escape Simulator–which is a great thing, because I spent a long time going through Escape Simulator community rooms. Unlike Escape Simulator there isn’t a workshop and you can’t play online with friends in The Tartarus Key. However, I did enjoy The Tartarus Key for its absolutely fantastic retro aesthetic and atmosphere. The Tartarus Key is available now for PC via Steam and on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X and Nintendo Switch. A Steam Key was provided to us for this review.

A lot of us who grew up anywhere between the 70s and 90s remember a motley crew of strange cartoon characters associated with, well, basically everything we consumed. Tony the Tiger greets you every morning, the Snuggle bear's fragrance surrounds you, you've avoided the Noid, etc. The list goes on. McDonald's wasn't immune to the cartoon craze either, with its group of strange mascots that were animated favorites of ours as kids. Even if you were terrified of clowns and Ronald McDonald left you unsettled, there were plenty of other friendly ...things...that occupied his neighborhood. Larcenist the Hamburglar was obviously the most stylish, while McCheese was the choice of safety and security. Birdie was the bestest bestie and Grimace was....is....what now? When we decided to check out the newest limited edition meal at McDonald's we didn't expect to get a side of research, but as it turns out it's a little hard to pin down what the purple fellow actually is, or represents. Popular culture and much of what we read points back to a 2014 Twitter conversation where he's supposedly referred to as a taste bud, and despite the fact that he's over 6' tall, fuzzy and purple, that's somehow stuck as the winning answer. BUT, go back to that tweet and you'll find that he's EITHER a taste bud OR...the embodiment of a milkshake. Which means his shake should be pretty good, right? I mean, the limited edition meal isn't so much a revelation at all, because it's a Big Mac or 10 chicken nugget meal that features the shake (so much so that you get an "item" listed in the menu on the app that reminds you to "Enjoy Your Shake!" Word around the internet told us the purple shake with its healthy dose of whipped cream was going to be mixed berry. When we grabbed ours to try out, both of us who'd tried the meal independently thought the shake didn't taste terribly mixed at all - and mostly felt like a blueberry shake. While one of us thought it was a weak blueberry, the other said it reminded them of blueberry yogurt. And even though our opinions differed, we both agreed we'd try it again. True, it's not really groundbreaking, but in the end, team tastebud or team milkshake all come out winners in the end. Happy birthday, Grimace!

Here's a virtual tour from photographer Marielle Bokor of our trip to the Cleve Carney Museum in Glen Ellyn, IL to see the Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop exhibit. Enjoy!