Pixelate Complete Collection

By: Xavier P. Hunter

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

Length: 31 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

You'll never become the main villain if you're not willing to die a bunch as the hero.

Arnold O'Connor is a gamer who just lost his office job to AI. Short on cash, he can appreciate the irony of taking a job at an indie gaming company looking to train their monster AI. But Anachronism Interactive isn't looking for players to copy from, they're interested in gamer brains to scan.

After being run through a series of psychological tests while hooked up to a brain scanner, Arnold finally gets a chance to check out the game these scientists have been making. Already questioning his sense of reality after all the mind games and brain twisters, Arnold finds himself immersed in a world that's both utterly real and disconcertingly incomplete.

As each iteration of the company's flagship game releases, Arnold is drawn farther and farther into the alternate reality. And as the game world becomes more real, the real world begins to fade away entirely.

His only hope of escape lies in ultimate victory.

Pixelate is a LitRPG fantasy series that follows the adventures of Arnold O'Connor as his digital self, delving into the secrets of a world that feels as real as his own body. The Pixelate series will appeal to fans of classic tabletop RPGs, World of Warcraft, and Lord of the Rings Online. It touches on themes of self and reality, style vs. stats, and how to kill dragons through the superior application of math.

©2024 Xavier P. Hunter (P)2024 Xavier P. Hunter

The best bugs in the game-testing genre

A guy signs up to test a new RPG game.

Unlike 99.5% of the other books with that plot, this one doesn't diverge from that. Throughout the story, the likeable MC is finding and filing a variety of bugs. This taps into programming humor, which often doesn't happen within LitRPG.

In the game, when you die, your character loses all experience gained for the next level. The characters die a lot amidst poorly constructed scenes, strange bugs, and very bloodthirsty monsters, often popping up out of nowhere to cut the ropes of any bridge the characters try to cross. The levels gained in this series are the hardest won levels of any in the genre.

The goblins have a very unique battle cry before attacking, cutting bridge ropes, popping up in an ambush, or accidentally triggering a bug. Pretty much every time, something amusing happens to frustrate the players.

All in all, very likable main characters, endlessly amusing enemies and lots of programming bugs. The company behind the game isn't the best in the world, they're a typical game company pressed for time, trying to get an unfinished product out. All character interactions are fun and believable, especially as they get more and more frustrated.

Highly recommended.