Temporarily Sidetracked

I had fully intended to be continuing trucking through my "Phantom Liberty" playthrough of CyberPunk 2077 (which, I have actually finished the core of the content but wanted to experience the "new" ending that is tied to "Phantom Liberty) but have unfortunately had to put it on hiatus due to some technical issues.  While enjoying my adventures I had noticed that my PC seemed to be a bit on the hot side--I chalked it up to the fact that it is summer and is in fact well, hot.  Generally I run a fan in my gaming room/office to help keep things cool (because anyone who is gaming in the summer months knows that the combination of hot weather + a nice, toasty warm PC can make a sweaty, uncomfortable experience) and it tends to drown out a lot of external noise.  Then, on a cooler morning, I decided that I didn't need the fan and started CyberPunk up only to discover a somewhat alarming, grindy noise coming from my PC.  After some case deconstruction I isolated the source of the bad noise--one of the fans on my GPU is apparently coming to the end of its life cycle.  My PC is getting a bit long in the tooth at 5 years old, so it's inevitable that something will wear out.  The good news is that my GPU is still working--I've been limiting myself to titles that aren't graphically demanding in the hope of repairing my ailing 2070.  I've decided to attempt to replace the fans (you can easily find new fans online) in the hope of not having to invest in a new, expensive GPU.  (*This is not something I would recommend to anyone who still has a GPU that is under warranty--send it back for your warrantied repairs.  Yes, it's a PITA and takes time, but it's undoubtedly better to have professionals do it. My card at 5 years old is well out of warranty range and I figured it would be worth trying a $30 repair before having to spend several hundred dollars for a new card.)  Basically wish me and my poor, ol' 2070 luck with our repairs.

While I wait for my replacement fans to arrive (all the way from China), I've been occupying myself with the newest installment of the SteamWorld series--SteamWorld Heist II.  I've been very excited about the release of Heist II because the first game was my favorite in the multi-genre spanning series.  Thus far my Heist II adventures have been challenging, but enjoyable.  (Added bonus that it's not graphically demanding and my GPU fans don't need to spin up at all) I'm looking forward to writing up a full review once I've finished up a playthrough.  If you haven't heard of the SteamWorld games, look them up on Steam.  I would highly recommend playing the first Heist game before checking out the second (although, it's not something that you need to have played first to have an idea about the second game.  It's very accessible to new players)