As someone that writes about and reviews games, I cannot express what a joy it is to go into the holiday season every year. This time of year, all of the major releases are available, the review grind completely stops for a few weeks, and I am free to play whatever games I want, just for fun. Things are wrapping up now (I go back to the day job tomorrow), but I thought I would post a few videos to show how I've spent my winter break.
This year, I decided to dig back into some of the hundreds of games in my backlog and check out some stuff that I was curious about. I played each of these games more than what is represented in these videos (and put tens of hours into Assassin's Creed Origins), but I did make recordings of each of them. Hey, it's a slow news period, so I've got to do something to feel productive.
theHunter: Call of the Wild
Sure, it might just seem like I'm wandering around in the woods, shooting animals and then failing completely to track them down once they're injured. And yeah...that's kind of exactly what it is. But still. theHunter: Call of the Wild is one of the best looking depictions of the woods that I've ever seen. This is a gorgeous game, and I really enjoyed the couple of afternoons I spent poking around various national forests.
Faeria
Faeria is a great deck building CCG game that has been floating around for a while. I finally get around to checking it out, and it turns out that it is a smooth, super fun game, just as polished as industry leaders like Hearthstone. I run through the tutorial in this video, then take on the first battle in the second video. I've since progress quite a ways into the single player campaign, before deciding to completely shift over to the Switch for this one. It's just too fun to lay in bed and play it, and CCG games feel so at home on Nintendo's handheld.
HADES
Seems there is a reason that everyone heaps all that praise on HADES. I can't remember a time I've had so much fun with a game. Unbelievably good time. I played all the way through the first boss in this video, before dying unceremoniously by stepping into the damn lava. I've since played a few hours more, but haven't progressed much further. I've mostly been grinding to open up more lasting bonuses to make my character stronger.
Pathfinder Kingmaker
I've probably spent the most time on Pathfinder Kingmaker, which sucked me in unexpectedly with its superb storytelling and awesome characters. Though I'm not fully engaging in the turn-based combat (electing to let the AI do most of the heavy lifting), I am having a blast just exploring and experiencing the world and story. I obviously need to figure out how to kill Will-o-wisps though, and remember to save more. Had a bit of an issue there at the end of my run in this video.
It is so much fun to just play games for the joy of playing. I love writing about games, but on occasion it's great to simply engage with games as a gamer.
