Tervell

An authoritarian axis is rapidly coalescing around China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_evil

The phrase "axis of evil" was first used by U.S. president George W. Bush and originally referred to Iran, Ba'athist Iraq, and North Korea. It was used in Bush's State of the Union address on January 29, 2002

someone in the news mega came up with Years of Lead Paint, https://hexbear.net/comment/6240466, which is just

Praetorian Guard Security Services

sure, I'll hire a security service named after the guys who famously kept assassinating the emperors they were supposed to guard

Also I just found a different Praetorian Guard (apparently several genius entrepreneurs had the same idea), and these motherfuckers even have a scorpion as their emblem! You know, the famously trustworthy scorpion (although maybe that particular fable's not as famous in South Africa, I dunno, but still)

There are random volcano eruptions, during which some buildings get destroyed - I'm not sure how exactly the game determines which ones (it's not simulated very fancily, you can't see lava spilling out and engulfing stuff or anything like that, some stuff just gets randomly messed up), but I assume proximity plays a role and so these would be destroyed. No space-launching though, just a pile of rubble

Gunpoint's a neat stealth/puzzle game about hacking stuff and jumping through windows (very little actual holding people at gunpoint though). Being of that genre, playtime could vary a lot, especially if you try to be perfectionist, but it should be doable in a day. Great jazzy soundtrack too.

Jazzpunk is a weird comedy game, essentially FPS exploration levels with various comedic gags peppered throughout. Again, playtime can vary depending on how thorough you are about checking every single corner for something, but it probably wouldn't take more than say 3-4 hours. Obviously your enjoyment will depend on your sense of humor, but I found it pretty hilarious

Linear FPS campaigns are a good candidate in general, older games could be decently long but there was a period where 5-6 hours (and sometimes shorter) became a pretty common length.

:kazuhira-miller: Boss, we've established our base of operations on the island of Socotra, off the coast of Yemen. Its location in the Indian ocean is ideal, allowing us to support operations in both Afghanistan and Africa

heading for the "American STALKER/Metro" timeline