I wouldn’t call myself an aggressive puzzle game player, but I certainly enjoy them. I adored Portal (like many), had a great time with The Talos Principle, and even the mobile game series The Room has done wonders for making me feel like I’m smarter than I probably actually am. That is why I got really interested when people were saying, towards the end of 2018, that Return of the Obra Dinn was one of the greatest puzzle games they had ever played.
Whoa there. One of the greatest ever? That’s some pretty high praise. It’s important to be skeptical…
[It’s been over a year since I’ve written this piece, but people may still accidentally happen upon it. Many perceptions about COVID evolved over time from when I first wrote this piece, but I stand by the words I wrote at the time I wrote them based on the information we had access to. None of the content below has been adjusted in any way since the initial publishing. Makes for an interesting time capsule of sorts. Thank you for looking!]
My Substituting History
I haven’t been substitute teaching for terribly long. My first gig was September 11th, 2018, so…
For a hefty chunk of my gaming life, I’ve found myself always wanting to pick up games that I could get immense mileage on. Hundreds of hours, if I really wanted. My first genuine experience with a “forever-lasting” game was probably The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on the Xbox 360. I think I was 14 at the time. Nothing but time on my hands when I got home from school. Hundreds of hours spent on different character builds trying to get the most out of the game. Even though my access to new titles was considerably better during the Xbox…
Metro 2033 Redux: Aggressively-Apocalyptic Atmosphere
The Metro franchise managed to stay out of my vision for quite some time. I’d heard good things on forums and they seemed to be rated well on Steam, but I just never pushed to give them a shot. Enter Metro Exodus last year, as well as some video content about it from YouTube channels I follow, and suddenly the games’ concepts ring a little stronger than it did in the past. …
I had heard for a while now that Wolfenstein: The New Order was a solid shooter. I didn’t get much else beyond that, but hey, it’s good enough for me. The game’s 2014 launch date is recent enough that it will look good when playing but far enough back that it’s easy to get on sale. Bought it for PC on a Steam sale a while ago along with Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. At the time though, I wasn’t sure if The Old Blood was an expansion or just its own game or something. …
Hey there everyone! I have an outstanding proposition for you! What if I told you that you could play a board game… about making dresses? For a fancy ball? Any takers?
While I’m sure some of you unironically raised your hands, I’m ashamed to admit that my first digestion of the premise of Rococo was not a receptive one. Seriously? We have all these absolutely mesmerizing board games utilizing high fantasy or wonky sci-fi and we’re going in deep on… making dresses? To get ready for a grand ball? …
