I'm halfway through reading 'Witch Hat Atelier' right now and it's so good - fantastic world-building, an endlessly creative magic system and great characters. Also the art is actually incredible, some of the best panelling I've ever seen.
I like League, used to play it a lot but nowadays just the odd ARAM/normals with friends. For me it has the exact same appeal that fighting games do - PvP with depth, lots of opportunity for skill expression/progression and satisfying, tight gameplay. I enjoy that feeling more in other games these days though.
I'm halfway through Eighty-Six, and it's been generally fantastic so far. Slightly worried where the story will end up thematically/politically, but it's been surprisingly nuanced with its commentary on fascism/war so far so I've got my fingers crossed.
Also just started reading Choujin X, Ishida Sui's new manga. It's good so far, love his art so much.
EDIT:
Caught up with the Houseki no Kuni manga as well, would highly recommend!
I don't really watch seasonal shows anymore but I'm keeping up with Ousama Ranking and look forward to it every Friday. Halfway through watching Sonny Boy right now too and that one is growing on me a lot.
I played the game a long time ago but if it still works the same, you can play as the evil factions in a limited sense - only PvP, limited to the PvP zone.
I'd say the main two features are the end-game map system and the corruption modifiers. The new end-game is a simple version of PoE's - drop maps, roll them, run them for profit. It adds a little more depth and replay-ability compared to LoD's baal/cow/pits spam, and the corruption modifiers add a new level of customisation/'chase' gear to go for. Other than that, there's plenty of bug fixes, balance patches, new skills/archetypes, tonnes of QoL (like being able to stack runes/pgems), increased inventory size etc. Plenty of stuff that would be annoying to play without now I've got used to it.
Huge D2 fan, the PD2 season winded down for me right as D2R came out but still haven't got round to it yet and idk if I will. My Dad's trying it out today (another huge D2 fan) but playing LOD with a new skin doesn't really appeal to me after PD2, especially with the classic Blizzard release issues (that still aren't resolved, from what I've heard).
I saw His House this week and thought it was pretty good. Very real (and somewhat political) themes, which seems to be what you're after. As novels go, I'm reading through the Southern Reach series and the pervasive sense of atmosphere throughout is particularly well done.
EDIT: As far as music goes too, clipping's 'Visions of Bodies Being Burned' definitely tickles that horror itch (and has some absolute bangers)
·2 years ago
I'm halfway through reading 'Witch Hat Atelier' right now and it's so good - fantastic world-building, an endlessly creative magic system and great characters. Also the art is actually incredible, some of the best panelling I've ever seen.