Blog: Games of May 2021

May was a pretty good month over all. I definitely had some ups and downs, but I feel like I'm settling into my new job and finding that balance between all the things I want to do in my life. I still want to do far, *far* more things than I have time for, but I think I'm doing ok and more or less, I'm playing games that are really satisfying.

My top five games (by play time) for May were:

1. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - I'm still not sure whether or not I ever finished this game. The "third act" definitely has all our armies finally pointed in the same direction. The game does feel a little disorganized still and there are still a lot of things they took and did better in following games. One the plus side our hero being asked "Do you mind if I call you 'Dark Bag of Organs'?" is a real Fire Emblem high point.
   
   
   
   


2. Battle Brothers - This continues to be a really great strategy game. The more I play the more I wish there was a bit more variety of things to do at the strategic level, but the actual main game play loop of taking contracts and fighting bad guys is really rewarding. It's also the first game where I feel like the speed of the game really works with the idea of things falling apart "fun". If you fail there's no real penalty to starting again and finding something else new and interesting. I think it's along the lines of the Super Meat Boy approach to 2D platforming, but in turn based strategy.
   
   
   
   


3. New Pokémon Snap - I think I'm playing the game wrong. I seems to have stalled in a way people talking on Twitter don't seem to have experienced. Still it's very rewarding and a nice short game play loop.
   
   
   
   


4. Super Mario Odyssey - All of the other games I played this month are a bit slow in their play style and it's been nice to having something to fire up and feel kinesthetically free and skilled in. Having also finished Bowser's Fury not that long ago, I think Odyssey still feels like the best "Mario" experience of moving and exploration.
   
   
   
   


5. Kirby's Dream Course - I was a little mad that I couldn't figure out what to do, but I'm learning. For a game I didn't play (or maybe rented once) this really triggers my SNES nostalgia and it's been fun to play. That being said, I'm completely ready for Mario Golf: Super Rush.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for May:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month:

Blog: Games of March 2021

March was a bit of a weird month. I think I played the fewest games in a month this month than every before (at least in a long while). This was a combination of getting into Battle Brothers (maybe a little too deeply) and trying to be a little more mindful about my time.

My top five games (by play time) for March were:

1. Battle Brothers - I'm really enjoying how much I've been able to learn. I've done around 20 runs at this point and I usually find a dumb way to die (spiders - ugh), but I'm enjoying that each time I go back in I'm a little better and I'm able to get a little farther. I've been following the game's reddit, so I feel like there's a bit of a limit to the possibilities for high level play, but I'm enjoying my low level wandering around.
   
   
   I do think the game is a little bit limited by it's random world generation. My most recent play through ended up trailing off a bit because the world seemed to be missing some of the things I needed and where it had them they were in awkward places to get to. Still this has been a ton of fun and since it's pretty easy to boot up, it's been my go to a lot of the time.
   


2. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance - Playing Path of Radiance has been really enjoyable. It may be the nostalgia, but among Fire Emblem games it feels like it has a good balance or like it illustrates things I'm going to enjoy about other games later on. The story is pretty good and the game play is pretty good and overall, even if it's a bit slow, it's felt like a good place to put my time.
   
   


3. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury - I've been playing Bowser's Fury more than 3D World. The open world where you can jump into interesting platforming challenges is a lot of fun. I've just finished up Bowser's Fury and I feel like the 100 Cat Shines was a nice challenge without sticking around for too long. 3D world is also a total joy to play and amoung all of the Mario games Nintendo rereleased this year, it's the best to go back to.
   
   


4. Mario 35 - Well, they've wrapped it up. I found I did play Mario 35 more than I might have because there was the looming deadline of them turning the game off. It's been a lot of fun and it made me play the original Super Mario Bros. way more than I would have. I'm sad it's done, but I'm glad it was here.
   
   
   I will say, I hope we see it again for a season next year and I also hope that Nintendo has thought of a follow up in the form of Zelda 35, or possibly something even more unique and interesting. I had hoped they'd announce something by now, but they haven't.
   
   


5. Valais IV - An unusual aspect of this month is that the games I very briefly try out actually showed up in the games of the month list. So Valais IV came out for the Nintendo Online service (I think) and I tried it out. It wasn't really my thing. I'd like to get into some of those SNES style combat platformers (Castlevania stuff), but Valais really didn't really grab me.
   
   
6. Kirby's Dream Course - Another quick test. I don't get this game. I've watched a couple Let's Plays and I think it looks fun. On the other hand, I just have no intuition for what the game want's me to do. Still I might
   
   
7. Animal Crossing: New Horizon - Oooof. I feel bad, but I just couldn't pick this game up this month. The couple of minutes I played were to go to one my the villager's birthday. I felt badly about missing a digital creation's birthday, but generally feel like the game doesn't really reward an emotional investment.
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time chart for March:

And here's a chart of how much I've played over the month: