A fantastic reworking of a beloved classic. It captures the feeling of the old setting without the unnecessary clunky systems that could bog down the old game. Love it.

As it stands, this is my favorite game world. SLA combines a number of familiar themes, but into an identity that doesn't quite resemble anything else. The mood is both morose and absurd and the culture the universe generates is uniquely distinctive and reinforced by a healthy breadth and depth of lore. I enjoy all the characters, species, products and pop culture of SLA and find them fleshed out and unintentionally cool. Nightfall Games seem to have some talented artistic hands on deck and all the aforementioned things are deftly conveyed through adequate illustration. My biggest gripe, however, is that the World of Progress seems to be a bit scattershot in its architecture. The aesthetic gambit ranges from retro cyberpunk, (now) outdated modern and contemporary into a blend that feels neither cohesive or distinctive. A niche issue for sure, but this actually bugs me the most. It interferes with my immersion and feels like the single underdeveloped aspect of an otherwise well built world filled with distinction and detail. All in all, I think I would describe the world of SLA as Saturday morning cartoon meets ultraviolent capitalism. Yay.

Anyway, this is a good book and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good time with an edge. It's pretty broad and introductory, but certainly creates a desire to explore more of the World of Progress in future additions.

Bottom Line: This is the way I remember my favorite RPGs used to be. A new, interesting setting to learn, packed with details and teasers of more to come (which have paid off several times over). A concrete plan of who the PC's are in this world- they have a job that both gets them into dangerous and dramatic situations, and creates a structure for the GM to build stories around, if that structure is needed.

The mechanics are solid- unique enough that they give that initial fun of digging into a new system if you enjoy that, but simple enough that you aren't constantly thumbing through pages trying to find obscure rules.

What the write up of this game on DriveThru doesn't tell you is that this setting is BIG. There is a lot to do here: if you want police procedural politics, it's here. If you want gooey monster hunts, that's here. If you want surreal/eldritch horror from beyond the stars, that's here. As a GM I've run sessions that take place in fast food restaurants, under-city drainage systems, and out in a pollution-ruined wilderness. And not only is it all doable, it's all very much supported and natural within the setting.

When was the last time you dug into a new book that presented a full, new setting? Not just 'our world with a twist', or a fantasy game with a new 'tone' that leaves you to fill in all the details yourself, but an actual setting that makes you want to know more, dig in, and wonder about its details? That's what this is. If you have any interest at all in sci-fi or action/horror games, there's no reason not to pick this up.