Before welcoming our first into the world, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to continue my hobbies. I knew Warhammer would have to end; it’s way too expensive, takes up too much space, and I was starting to lose interest anyway. Board games would probably have to be stored and taken out on occasion. However, I didn’t like the idea of putting away video games.

I thought that as soon as the baby came, I would lose all my free time for playing games, and all that would be left would be a dad doing dad things. Y’know, measuring things, fixing the sink, landscaping, you know, dad things.

In the months preceding the birth of our first, I played a lot of games. I was trying to get ahead of the chaos cause I thought my video time would disappear into space dust and float around the cosmos, only to occasionally grace me with a nostalgic meteor shower that reminds me of a bygone era.

I was pleasantly surprised that having a baby didn’t actually erase gaming from the equation. It definitely changed my gaming habits, but those changes were surprisingly more beneficial in both directions. I now have a healthier relationship with gaming, AND my gaming hobby is healthier than ever.

I am no expert, just someone with a little experience and a knack for writing my thoughts. I’m going to answer the important questions:

• How should you game as a new parent?

• What kind of perspective should I have regarding gaming as a parent?

• What games should I play as a parent to a newborn?

All of this can be applied to those first couple of months with a cute new baby, and into toddlerhood.

How to Game as a New Parent

It’s surprisingly easy to get gaming moments in here and there while taking care of a newborn. However, what you play and where you play are vitally important.

Where You Play

Newborns don’t do much. It’s the basic cycle of sleep, poop, and cry. They also don’t move much. You can kind of just put them on the couch and let them snooze. Or, and this is what I did, I would put our newborn on my lap with her head resting on my knees and her feet facing me. While I played, if she started to fuss, I could move my knees back and forth to rock her back to sleep. I played a lot of Armored Core VI this way.

The device you play on is just as important as the location in which you’re playing. During those early weeks, it was easy enough to play on the TV with her sleeping on or around me, but as she got older, it got more difficult to do that, cue the handhelds.

Handheld devices are the heavy artillery in a parent gamer’s arsenal. Not letting you put her down? 3DS. Stuck in the car while she sleeps? 3DS. Taking the baby for a walk so mom can have at least 10 seconds without the baby requiring every ounce of her energy? Why not pop out Pokémon Emerald and grind out some levels?

Sure, you won’t be able to experience the big new releases, but at least you’ll be able to game.

Nintendo 3DS

If you can find one in your attic, parents’ house, or for a good price, a Nintendo 3DS can take you on an entire journey of gaming discoveries. I believe the New Nintendo 3DS is the gold standard of newborn-era gaming.

PROS:

• Clamshell design makes it easy to close up and throw in a diaper bag

• With the right guides, you’ll have access to entire libraries of brilliant games

• GBA games are displayed on the top screen, making it really easy to play on a table

CONS:

• The cost has increased like crazy

• The display isn’t the best, and many GBA games could look better on a different display

Nintendo Switch

I spent many a contact nap playing Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I don’t recommend you seek this out as your push present, as there are many other devices that match parental-gaming better, but if you have one, it will work!

PROS:

• Get new games

• Great indie library

CONS:

• It’s harder to take with you

• The ergonomics are nonexistent

Anbernic 35xxsp

I don’t have personal experience with this device, but based on the form factor alone, this device is perfect for parenting. This is an Android device, so it will require a bit of effort to set up, but once it’s set up it should be straightforward.

PROs:

• Clamshell design projects the screen so it’s easy to throw around in bags

• A smaller size makes it possible to pocket

• Can play a ton of games

• Very affordable

CONs:

• Will take a bit of effort to get set up (do this before baby comes)

What to Play

As a new parent, if you try to play whatever new game people are playing at all times, you’ll quickly learn that many games don’t meet you where you’re at. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but most games aren’t for you.

As a parent, you don’t know how much time you have for gaming. I’ve gotten into the habit of sneaking in play time before work, but even that can range from 10 minutes to an hour and a half.

That being said, I have a criteria for games that likely meet the play time “needs” for parents:

• Save at any time: this can include being able to pause emulation by putting the device to sleep

• Low dexterity requirements: If the game is something that requires you to really lock in and execute complex controls, then that game might not be the best option for contact naps with a baby.

• Cozy: won’t make you mad

• Minimum time requirements: how much time does the game require for you to feel like you accomplished something

Game Recommendations for New Parents

Using the criteria described above, I’m going to recommend some games you should check out during what might be the most hectic (and hopefully cozy) time of your life.

Most of these games I have played as a new parent, but others have been selected from a survey I sent out about good newborn games.

Pokémon

Pokémon hits all the markers for being a good parent game. You can save at any time; it’s turn-based, so you don’t need to worry about dexterity, it’s cozy (especially if you’re my age), and it’s easy to play for a short time.

If you’re interested, there is a whole world of Pokémon games to discover:

• Pokémon Lazarus: a fan-made game built on the Emerald engine, but with the art style of Crystal.

• Pokémon Unbound: another fan-made game

• Tons of quality of life improvements from countless hacks

Another reason Pokémon is a great parent game is that the mission is straightforward. You’ll rarely find yourself getting lost.

Armored Core VI: Fires of the Rubicon

Any chance I get to talk about this game, I will talk about it.

Now, this might require a bit more of a pitch. It doesn’t perfectly fit the criteria, but where it fits, it fits well. Instead of being able to save anywhere, the levels are incredibly short. Successful boss attempts can take anywhere from 45 seconds to 6 minutes.

This game does require high dexterity and can make you mad, but there’s nothing like popping your newborn on your lap and hopping in for a quick mission or two.

Balatro

As a new parent, your brain will be mush. Playing something that matches that freak is important to help your brain get the rest it needs.

This game was among the most voted for games. Many of my late nights were soundtracked by the hypnotic tunes of buying jokers and playing poker hands. It’s important to note that even my wife (not a gamer) put a significant amount of time into this game.

This game is also available on every platform. You can play it on your phone, Android device, or console. Pick it up, try it out, and accidentally play it for 3 hours straight.

Animal Crossing

This game comes recommended from the survey I sent out. I don’t have any experience playing this game as a parent, but before becoming a parent, it was so important to me.

Having a newborn is an incredibly chaotic time. Animal Crossing can give you a little corner of control. It may not be real, but being able to design a little island, however you want, can be a little oasis.

Go for whichever game in the series you want.

Dragon Quest

Dragon Quest games are often described as a collection of little storybooks. It’s a perfect game for before bed, and it can slot into being a parent. These are turn-based games, so it’s easy to put down when you need to. It’s also incredibly comforting to play.

As a caveat, some of the older entries can be hard to track. I recently played through V and found a couple of moments where I got lost. Dragon Quest XI does have story recaps, and it’s much easier to track where you’re supposed to be going next.

Fire Emblem

Tactic games are an easy pitch for new parents: You can take your turn, put the game down easily, and you don’t need to track where you’re supposed to go next.

Fire Emblem games are easy to comprehend. Swords beat axe, axe beats lance, lance beats sword. Bows beat flyers. That’s about it.

I’d recommend the GBA ones as they’re easy to emulate on Android devices and 3DS. Awakening is also a great option if you have a 3DS.

Honorable Mentions

• Into the Breach

• Slay the Spire

• Literally any Picross Game

• Megabonk

• Stardew Valley: This actually got a couple of votes, but this is my list.

• Vampire Survivors: Quintessential turn-brain-off game

• Dorfromantik

• Dredge

• Powerwash Simulator

• Fantasy Life

• Final Fantasy Tactics

Playing Video Games as a Parent

Man, I miss our van :(

Being a parent has changed my perspective on my time. Needless to say, my free time isn’t actually my free time. I no longer have the luxury of spending an entire weekend delving into a hundred-hour JRPG. I, and now you, have a lot of responsibilities.

Something I’m constantly learning is the importance of making sure I’m gaming responsibly. If I have the opportunity to hang out with my kid or get stuff done around the house, I should. (Again, I’m constantly fighting this battle and do find myself neglecting responsibility for a quick run in Marathon.)

You probably won’t be able to spend hours gaming as a parent, and that might not be the responsible thing for you to do. Of course, if you plan and align things in such a way that you’re able to play games for a big chunk of time, more power to you, but thinking of that as a sometimes food is important.

I try to find time to play outside of time that’s dedicated to family or housework. That means waking up early, playing on my lunch break, and playing when my wife goes to bed early.

I saw someone say that being a parent is the hardest thing you’ll ever love, and I completely agree. It’s hard work, and it’s a long journey with ups and downs. Recently, our daughter’s sleep schedule shifted from sleeping from 7:30 pm-8:00 am to 8:45 pm-6:30 am… It’s been rough, but it will change…. please?

That being said, you should enjoy being a parent first. If things are way too hectic, don’t game, take a break, and get some sleep. Gaming will be there when you get back.

AI man. or man AI?

Every now and then, I pop into LinkedIn to see what new ways people are kissing the boots of their AI overlords, and just to do some pulse checks for work reasons.

Every time I pop into that platform, I’m smothered in AI-generated videos with some kind of subtitle like:

• Whether you like it or not, AI is here to stay, and if you aren’t adopting it, you might as well live in a hole. I spent the weekend researching the best model for video generation and am so excited to share the results here.

… but then the video is either untrackable or just horribly looking.

There’s also been a recent flood of content being posted about how much easier it is to just let AI edit videos, photos, and create entire marketing experiences. In most of these, the person talking is just yapping about how if you don’t use AI as a creative, you’re behind and should probably go live in a hole.

Here’s the issue.

Every job has dignity (obvious exceptions include scam artists and jobs that make money off people in unethical ways). Whether you’re bagging food, coordinating a team of wilderness hotshots, maintaining a lighthouse, washing cars, selling candy, or sitting in the C-suite, there is importance to that job. Not just financial, but spiritual importance.

I believe that people were made to work. We’re supposed to be doing something that benefits other people. It’s how we were made, and it’s important.

Doing THE JOB of editing photos and videos has dignity. It’s important!

There’s a process there that should not go away because that process is THE JOB.

I think what I’m trying to say is that the final product of a project is important. It’s what people will be paying for, interacting with, and hopefully enjoying. However, the process of how that thing was created is even more important because people’s work is important and has dignity.

Learning

The creative process isn’t the only thing at risk. I’m not saying that looking something up is like a horrible thing to do, but actually taking the time to understand something is so much more fulfilling and meaningful than regurgitating information.

Learning is a process. It takes time. Over the weekend, I threw down some cardboard and threw some mulch over top of that. It’s a process that my wife taught me to smother weeds. I looked a little bit up about how to do it “correctly”, but I won’t know if I did it correctly until I either start to see weeds peaking out the sides or in a year when I brush off the mulch, remove the cardboard, and find a thriving community of weeds. Or it will go correctly, and now I’ll know for a fact how to smother weeds.

Learning is experimental. It takes time, and it should.

Why Even Care?

AI is here to stay, right? Why would it matter how a product is made as long as it does what it’s supposed to do?

Here’s my answer to that:

I care more about people than products.

Maybe it’s because I’m an INFJ (advocate), or because my anthropological beliefs make me bristle at the idea of human work being disrespected for scalability or speed.

Whatever the reason, it will always be true that human labor is important, should be respected, and should be rewarded.

That’s all for today, I guess.

When I heard that Bungie was making a live-service extraction shooter, I rolled my eyes and dismissed it as slop. Who needs another live service game? I also just didn’t think it was for me. I’m interested in multiplayer games, especially not live service games.

Even when the announcement cinematic dropped, I thought it looked too… weird. I’m really, REALLY not interested in playing a game where the progress is dependent on me being better at something than other players. That competition just isn’t for me.

But then the game came out, and I couldn’t stop hearing about it.

It’s very rare for me to be interested in a game like this. Arc Raider almost got me, but I skipped out. However, there was something about Marathon that drew me in.

A Quick Caveat

A huge mark on Marathon’s development was the fact that Bungie directly plagiarized art. Or at least, someone who worked on Marathon stole art, was fired, and then the artist noticed.

For those who don’t know, here’s the quick rundown.

During an alpha test for the game, the artist 4nt1r34l found that some of her artwork was being used directly in the game. She doesn’t work for Bungie, and the piece in question was created in 2017. Obviously, that’s not great.

Bungie, the creators of Marathon, internally found that the artwork was stolen by a former employee who used the piece in a texture pack. There were also a lot of similarities between the design language of Marathon and the work of this artist.

Bungie Responds to Marathon Plagiarism Claims, Blames Former Artist for Unauthorized Art Use

Bungie has issued a statement addressing plagiarism claims involving its upcoming game Marathon, confirming that a former artist included unauthorized artwork in the alpha build.

thegamepost.com/bungie-responds-marathon-plagiarism-claims-blames-former-artist-for-unauthorized-art-use

Bungie has issued a statement addressing plagiarism claims involving its upcoming game Marathon, confirming that a former artist included unauthorized artwork in the alpha build.

thegamepost.com/bungie-responds-marathon-plagiarism-claims-blames-former-artist-for-unauthorized-art-use

Bungie reached out to the artist directly, and after what I can only assume were long talks and legal document drafting, they came to an agreement with 4nt1r34l.

Marathon Art Controversy Resolved As Artist Reaches Agreement With Bungie And Sony

Artist Antireal says the Marathon art dispute has been resolved with Bungie and Sony, closing months of controversy around stolen in-game assets.

thegamepost.com/marathon-art-controversy-resolved-artist-agreement-bungie-sony

Marathon Art Controversy Resolved As Artist Reaches Agreement With Bungie And Sony

Artist Antireal says the Marathon art dispute has been resolved with Bungie and Sony, closing months of controversy around stolen in-game assets.

thegamepost.com/marathon-art-controversy-resolved-artist-agreement-bungie-sony

The tweet made by 4nt1r34l states:

“The Marathon art issue has been resolved with Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment to my satisfaction.”

While I wish this issue had never happened, it genuinely feels like a mistake from a former employer who pulled directly from a mood board instead of creating something new.

That being said, I’m hopeful that the artist actually got good compensation, or something. She said She’s happy, I think we’re good.

The Undeniable Style of Marathon

With my history and personal interest in graphic design, and more importantly, type, the entire look of this game was a major interest for me.

Even just this morning, I was looking through the font sheet for this game and was just amazed by how good it looks.

Marathon | GameFontLibrary

www.gamefontlibrary.com/games/marathon

The overall aesthetic is incredibly synthetic. Bright, unnatural colors painted on overly large machinery with logos, barcodes, and identification numbers all over. It’s the first time I’ve seen a game of this scale use this design language. It’s truly cyberpunk, and it reminds me of Porter Robinson’s Virtual Self project, or a Gundam model with tons of decals.

I’ve been affectionately calling the look lablemaxxing.

I can understand if some people have a difficult time parsing what’s happening on screen, or just not meshing with how it looks, but the display of expertise in design and art direction here is second to none.

Tension

Marathon is brutal.

While on runs, I’m sitting at the edge of my seat, looking around for other players. and while not playing, I’m thinking about if I’ll be able to extract next time.

For those who don’t know, Marathon is an online shooter where anything can kill you. There are other players and enemy NPCs. However, players don’t have to kill each other. They can choose to work together or ignore each other.

However, however, Marathon is very kill on site.

If you run into another player, it quickly turns into a game of cat and mouse. dodging around cover and using whatever you have to get out alive. Some players may be ok with just getting out alive, but others will track you down.

Player interactions make the game feel tense. You’re constantly listening for player steps and are on the lookout for any signs that someone is right behind you. No, seriously, turn around.

The other thing that makes Marathon tense is the extraction of it all.

If you die in a game, you lose whatever gear you brought with you and whatever you found in that match. Extracting is the only way you can bring what you found with you. I don’t care that much about the loot I find. Usually the only reason I want to extract is cause… I just want to see if I can make it.

Something to Do

I hesitate to jump into extraction shooters for a single reason:

I don’t really care about the loot loop.

I’m just not that interested in hopping into a big map just to find a cool gun for me to eventually lose it.

Marathon does something different.

Within the world of Marathon, there are 6 “factions” (most of them are mega corporations) that hire runners to get information and materials from the destroyed colony on Tau Ceti.

These missions make up the core of the gameplay loop. Get a mission, drop into a match, and do whatever you’re asked to do… no questions.

The big thing to note is that most (maybe all) don’t require you to extract. You just need to get to a certain location, download some data, kill x players/UESC bots, find a certain item, and bring it to a certain location.

I like this because I don’t have to be good at the PVP to make progress in the game. I also love that each faction rewards a specific kind of play style. Pick and choose your favorite faction, and get rewarded for your style of play.

Let’s Talk About Lore

I’m not about to lore drop on you, so don’t worry.

There is extensive lore in the world of Marathon. Much of the lore explains why the world is the way it is, even up to why everything has so many labels on it. It also explains events that happened before the events of the game. I learned the UESC (basically evil space federation that things they control everything) only employs like 0.12% of the population, and one time deamed that a moon of Mars wasn’t actually a moon, so they launched it into a star?

There is such a rich lore to explore, and it’s just a part of what makes me love this game.

Take it From Me

On paper, I shouldn’t like this game. I do not like multiplayer-only experiences, and instead choose single-player games exclusively. Marathon changed that, at least this one time.

So take it from me, someone who shouldn’t enjoy this game—it rocks.

I am not a graphics freak. I don’t need my games to have the highest level of fidelity. In fact, I much prefer a game with bad graphics and a good art direction than a game with hi-fidelity graphics and decent art direction.

That’s because I understand the merit of working in a constraint and trying to produce something that looks good first.

Art and Games are Intrinsic

Video games are a culmination of many art forms.

• Visual

• Music

• Audio

• Game design

• Story telling

• I’m pretty sure there’s more, but I’m going to stop it there

The visuals of a game are intrinsically inseparable from the game itself. Even if the game looks as barebones as possible—a spreadsheet or free Unity assets—that’s still an artistic decision. One that informs players what your game is about and how to treat it.

Just this morning, I woke up and checked Board Game Geek, and saw there was a Concordia special edition coming out, and it’s currently getting review bombed even though it’s not out yet. That’s due to the suspicion that the art was AI-generated.

Within the slew of 1’s denouncing the use of GenAI, there is the occasional 10 claiming that reviewers shouldn’t be reviewing the game, not the art…

I just want to make this clear;

The art present in board games and video games is the game. They cannot be separated, and if the art doesn’t jive with you, you likely won’t like the game that much.

Art Direction in Alan Wake II

gets off soapbox

Alan Wake II takes a very realistic approach to its art direction, but they’re very intentional about what that realism looks like.

It’s always right at golden hour, dusk, or early morning. Most areas start with the sun casting a golden hue, and as you get deeper into the area, it gets darker and darker.

The trees are dense, and in some areas, it’s difficult to understand where the path is. It’s easy to get lost in the forest. The dense shrubbery isn’t just there for the sake of graphical fidelity. It’s there because the characters are dealing with a self-losing threat that could divorce them from the reality they know.

They’re getting lost as they go deeper and deeper into the case.

Mixed Media

Alan Wake II is a mixed-media experience. There’s a lot of writing to find, radio shows to listen to, and movies to watch.

Remedy is known for using full-motion video in its games. That means cutscenes are occasionally videos.

These moments are very effective, and that’s partially due to the fidelity of the game.

When we see characters being played by their real-world-actors, it works. They actually look like their 3d model. We don’t have to guess who is who. Alan looks like Alan.

Maturity

Alan Wake II is one of the handful of games that actually feel mature.

Being rated M doesn’t mean a game is made for an adult audience. It simply means there’s enough content in it that parents should probably check it out before their kid plays it (parents, please check it out for the love of God).

There’s something about the graphical fidelity in Alan Wake II that makes me feel like the game is mature. Beyond the rating, Alan Wake II is a very mature video game. The art direction makes me feel like it fits in with other stories from across media. Movies, books, and television. It fits in with the canon of FBI agents getting suced into a sinister plot that’s much darker than they originally thought.

I’m not saying that games that aren’t graphically intense are not mature (see mouthwashing), but in the case of Alan Wake II, it helps the game feel more mature and grounded.

Graphic Fidelity and Horror

Alan Wake II is a very grounded-looking game.

Darkness is dark, and the fog and rain have a weight to them. Darkness can be suffocating when it needs to be. Objects in the world are easily identified:

• That’s a coat rack

• That’s a picture of a family

• That’s a camera

• That’s a person coming at me with a baseball bat

But then there are moments when they mess with that. Certain enemies are unidentifiable. Is that a person in a lake? Is that 12 arms?

The grounded reality gives space for horror visuals that feel alien.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I really like Alan Wake II.

Usually, when I like a game, I play it all the way through and then write a big ‘ol review for it. However, as I’m playing through Alan Wake II, there are so many little interesting things that I want to talk about.

So, here is part 3 of my Alan Wake II series, and this time I’m talking about the unpredictable enemies and how they create tension and horror.

Shade or Foe?

In the Alan portion of Alan Wake II, you progress through a dark, twisted version of New York. Pamphlets and newspapers litter the streets, abandoned cars are collecting dust, and movie posters for the new Alex Casey movie are plastered on almost every surface.

Neon signs reflect in the wet streets, and throughout the world are shades shuffling through the darkness.

“Wake,” They say as you squeeze your way through the littered path. Most of them just stare at you as you pass, but some will start to approach. Some will slowly walk toward you, others will jump in your direction, and if they get too close, they will beat you senseless.

Don’t worry though, if you point your flashlight at one of these shades, they’ll start to fade away and eventually disappear, at least some of them will. Others ignore the light and continue their pursuit of putting their axe into your skill. These enemies will need a healthy dose of focused light and a couple of rounds of your six-shooter to deal with.

These enemies are unpredictable. Some of them don’t bother you, others want you dead, some will disappear in the light, while others will materialize into a monster requiring lead to be put down.

A quick montage of how the enemies work in Alan Wake II

Unpredictable Enemies and Horror

Unpredictability is scary.

Consider the common archetype of the chaotic, unhinged, childish, and unpredictable villain. The twins from Gladiator 2, Joffery from Game of Thrones, and the Joker from The Dark Knight.

You never know what these villains are going to do. Are they going to be talked down from doing something heinous? Will they kill without warning? Or maybe they’ll just leave.

That chaos is scary. It causes tension and makes us feel uneasy.

That tension caused by the unpredictable is on display in Alan Wake II.

How Alan Wake UsedsUnpredictability

Game developers need to consider the pacing of their games, and this is especially true of horror games that include action. Alan Wake II has the ability to be an action game. In fact, it sometimes is.

Throughout the game, players with the Nightspring DLC can find playable episodes of the in-universe show, Night Springs. I haven’t played the final episode, but the first two give players hundreds of bullets, and they throw tons of enemies at you.

The episodes are so fun, but they aren’t scary. And that’s partly because you have more than enough resources to deal with the enemies coming at you, but also because you no longer have to worry if an enemy will charge you. Unpredictability doesn’t matter anymore.

Alan Wake II can be an action game, but the developers chose to keep the enemies unpredictable and keep the resources scarce.

When I think about video game pacing, I think of 3 important factors:

• Exploring: Discovering new locations, looting boxes, and finding something new. Can also include solving puzzles.

• Fighting: Shooting, punching, or sneaking your way through enemies. (This can be replaced with different verbs)

• Storytelling: Talking with NPCs about the events of the game and watching cutscenes.

Horror games need to address the issue of pacing and balance action well, or else the game won’t be scary.

Outlast was one of the first notable games that removed all fighting from horror games. Instead of giving players tools to deal with enemies, players can only run. This is one side of the spectrum. On the other side are games like Dead Space 2, and the later Resident Evil games. Over time, as players shoot their way through necromorphs or zombies, they become desensitized, and the game swings from horror to action.

Alan Wake II refuses to fall into either of these categories (as far as I know) by keeping the action questionable. Will I need to use my gun? Or are these shades just a figment?

Alan Wake II maintains the tension by hiding whether or not an enemy is going to attack. This lets them pace the game in such a way that having lots of enemies on screen doesn’t always mean fighting will take place.

Enemies don’t automatically mean it’s time to fight.

I live in a rural community with lots of dirt roads, manufactured homes, and empty fields dotted with litter. When we moved here, I was a little bit worried, but I’ve grown to like it here. Not only is it actually kind of nice, but it’s also the only place we could afford.

Moving out to a location like this has its downsides:

• It takes a while to get to the grocery store

• My commute increased by 35 minutes

• You can only get satellite internet

That last one is important.

For every major metropolitan sprawl getting upgraded to Google Fiber, there are dozens of little communities that have to rely on personal septic, propane tanks, and satellite internet.

Internet speeds are getting more and more important. Working from home is much easier when you don’t need to worry about a business call taking up all the bandwidth. But one area I never expected to worry about the internet was single-player gaming.

Game streaming is the future, but I really don’t want it to be for hundreds of reasons.

I’m not going to say that gaming was better when you had to get off the couch, dust off the cartridge, and plug in your controllers. I like convenience enough to admit, I don’t want to go back to that, but I also like convenience enough to admit - I want my games to be playable regardless of internet speeds.

My thoughts on game streaming aside, cloud computing has been slowly creeping into my nightmares like an ill omen.

If you don’t know, there’s a big shortage of computing components. Basically, the stuff people use to make computers are harder to find because AI data centers are buying up most, if not all, of the stock. It’s why the Steam Machine got delayed, and it’s why most people can’t afford to build an up-to-date computer anymore.

With the high demand, prices have gone crazy, and my worry here, and many other people’s worry, is that computers will soon be something that only businesses can own.

So, where does that leave the people without thousands of dollars in excess?

They’re customers.

People are starting to worry that in the not-so-distant future, no average American will actually own a computer. They will rent machines that will use cloud computing to run.

If you don’t know, the way this works is that you can use the internet to get access to a server of computers that have higher graphics cards, the ram, and high processing power.

This is already a thing for game streaming, and a lot of people love it.

But where does that leave the people tottering at the poverty line, living in a rural community that only has access to satellite internet? Those who can’t afford any subscription, let alone one just to use a computer? Are video games an art form only for the affluent?

This year, I set a soft resolution to read more. I’ve written about my reading habits before, and I can honestly say that not much has changed. I did finish 3 books in 2025, but I wasn’t reading much.

This distinction is important.

You see, I don’t want to read more books; I just want to read more.

Reading for Reading Sake

Something major happened to my brain after my daughter was born. It got dried up, smoothed out, and overall smashed in the blender of sleepless nights, long days, and the strain of having to make so many decisions.

I actually got stupider.

I don’t remember things as well. It’s hard to activate my critical thinking. Even the other day, Zelphia asked me a pretty simple question about what we should do about some plans that needed to be sorted out, and it felt like I was physically pulling the thoughts out of my brain, and each thought weighed 50 pounds.

This has had side effects at work.

However, I found 1 activity that massages my brain, slaps my thighs, and prepares me for my day ahead.

Reading.

I work a lot with words. It’s my primary job: figuring out where words should go on a page, writing long-form content for complex topics, writing emails, writing protocol that other people can actually understand (still working on that one), and using chat messages to make sure our clients are getting what they paid for, and oftentimes more (not affectionate).

Reading makes me better at my job. So I want to do it more.

Setting Reading Goals

I use this app called StoryGraph to track my reading habits. It’s really cool to go back and see what books I’ve read when, and what my thoughts were while reading the book. It’s a great service, and if you read, you should check it out!

Every year, they have an event to set a goal for reading X amount of books. I’ve been setting a yearly goal every year since 2023.

• 2023: 10 books (I read 7)

• 2024: 6 books (I read 0)

• 2025: 5 books (I read 3)

I clearly don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to setting reading goals. Something isn’t working for me, and reading, and I think it has to do with perspective.

Missing The Point

When setting a goal to read X amount of books in a year, I miss the point of why. Why is it that I want to read 10 books this year? Is it because I read 9 last year? Is it because there are 10 books on my shelf I’m just dying to read?

The real reason I wanted to read 10 books in 2023 was because. A useless reason to do anything, really.

I think many reading goals miss the point entirely.

I remember when I set the 10-book reading goal in 2023, I chose what book to read next, partially because I was interested in the book, but also because of the length.

That year, I finished A Clash of Kings (a book I started in 2017, then put down), read through A Storm of Swords (that’s like 900 pages), but I also chose to read Of Mice and Men solely due to the length. I thought finishing it would help me get momentum to keep pursuing that goal.

It didn’t. The next book I read was Fahrenheit 451, and for some reason, that book was a total slog. It’s not long, but for me, it wasn’t clicking. I dragged my way through it anyway and then fell out of love with reading.

Making Reading Something You Love

Looking back at my years of tracked data, the years that I was most fond of reading are the years when reading was built into my life. There were no goals, just a list of books I wanted to read.

2021 was one of those years. I read 15 books that year. It was a mix of classics like Catcher in the Rye and Pride and Prejudice, as well as Christian living books like Gentle and Lowly and Rejoice and Tremble.

I didn’t have a goal for 2021; I was just really interested in reading!

The Plan for 2026

I don’t want to set a goal for how many books I want to read this year. I just want to build the habit of reading more often.

Before this year started, I began the journey of reading Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. It’s a strange book and one that I’m interested in, but not particularly enjoying.

So I started reading Redwall. My childhood copy, to be exact.

And while it may not be as “interesting” or “challenging” or “grown up” as House of Leaves, it’s a book that I’m actually enjoying, and therefore reading more.

I’m all for reading books, watching movies, and engaging with things that are thematically challenging. It’s a good exercise for the brain to figure out what’s working, what’s not, and in some instances, why this writer is completely missing the point.

BUT, when you’re a smooth-brained parent to a 2-year-old toddler with another on the way, you have to take what you can.

Here’s to reading less books in 2026!

This is the second part of my Alan Wake II posts. The first explores the way the game uses silence to make players (or at least me) scared.

There’s a moment in the 4th Return chapter: No Chance that stood out as a perfect explanation of how the game uses scarcity to create tension.

Scarcity is in Every Horror Game (probably)

For people who don’t play a lot of video games, think of scarcity like this: you have an unknown number of enemies blocking your way to safety, and only 4 bullets. You need to get through the dark maze, but your flashlight is dying, and there are no batteries to be found. You’re unsure how deep the water is, and you only have 1 minute's worth of air.

It’s that feeling you get when you feel particularly underpowered due to your lack of resources or tools. It’s a bit like real life, but instead of lacking insurance or income, you do have what you need to avoid, kill, or seriously maim the 23-eyed monster pushing its way through the cramped hallway you currently find yourself standing in.

This tactic isn’t new to the horror genre. Resident Evil (1996) had a limited number of saves the player could use throughout the game, pretty cuthroat for today’s standards. Other tactics include severely limiting the amount of ammo or health kits players can find.

This makes every shot, healing, and sprint intentional. If I use the health kit now, I’ll be at full health, but I might be able to make it to the infirmary and get patched up for free.

Finite and scarce items make games feel tense, and Alan Wake II pulls this off perfectly.

That Moment

Return Chapter 4 opens with Alan waking up in what used to be a safe place.

Blood covers the floor, the furniture is toppled, and the deer trophy has intestines hanging on its antlers. Something horrible happened here, and you don’t have any way to defend yourself, but you need to find your way forward.

Upon searching the area, you can find a shotgun, 2 shells, and a flashlight with 3 charges.

You can hear the distant sounds of a trusted person, but darkness blocks the way. In this game, you need to use your flashlight to burn the darkness away. There are some areas with barriers you need to use a charge to burn, and all the enemies need to be hit with a flashlight charge before you can shoot them.

The darkness gate that’s blocking you requires 2 flashlight charges to burn away—one charge left.

As soon as the darkness is burned, an enemy cultist comes barreling out, treetrunk overhead. Use a flashlight charge them—flashlight is dead now. Two shotgun rounds later, and the cultist is still at large.

You now have no ammo, no flashlight charges, and a hulking cultist murderer blocking you from the way forward.

This is not a natural moment that only happened to me. The way you get the flashlight and the shotgun, and the way they give you the perfect amount of items to make this moment happen, is indicative that the developers wanted this to happen.

You can kill the cultist with the 2 shotgun rounds, but you have to land 2 headshots. Something that’s tough when you don’t expect a hulking monster to come running at you.

Alan Wake II Is a Masterclass in Scarcity

Many horror games start with a scarce amount of resources, but over time overpowers the player with a buffet of options. The game gets easier to traverse. Therefore, the game gets less scary.

I’m roughly halfway through Alan Wake II, and the scarcity is not letting up. I constantly have to choose between trying to get back to light to heal and using my healing items.

There is a chance that the game will drop the scarcity thing and give me hundreds of items, but I don’t see that happening. That being said, there are DLC “episodes” found throughout the world that lead to alternate universe scenarios that are 1) hilarious and 2) full of resources. I played through one of the other day, and I had like 250 handgun rounds by the end. But that’s not the game-game. Does that make sense?

Alan Wake II does not let up on its commitment to scarcity and using it to pressure players and make them feel alone and helpless.

Expect more on Alan Wake II.

I enjoy scary things enough.

• Books

• Movies

• Games

• Seasons

But I do have a limit.

Anything overtly grotesque immediately enters the chopping block. I’m not comfortable with people being tortured, excessive gore, and certain kinds of violence (I know it when I see it).

However, sit me down with a spooky tale about a crumbling reality, unexplainable architecture, or a horrific manifestation of the human condition, and I’m there for it.

I rarely get truly scared by something. It takes a lot to keep me up at night. When I’m truly scared by something, I feel it infecting my mind. A scene from a movie becomes something I see in the corner of the room at night. The pain described in a book creeps into my physical sensations.

I just want to talk about Alan Wake.

My Personal History With Alan

My next-door neighbor and childhood friend lent me his copy of Alan Wake in 2010. It was the first “scary game” I ever played. I remember putting the disc into my Xbox360 and feeling unsure about the whole experience of playing a game as scary as Alan Wake.

For those who know anything about the 2010 video game Alan Wake, it’s not scary. It’s more of an action game with a spooky vibe and a couple of jump scares, but at the time, I remember thinking I was playing something I wasn’t supposed to be playing.

Yes, the game is rated T, but maybe the ESRB messed up, and I’m actually playing a scary game made for smart adults.

Despite the horror facade, I played through the entirety of Alan Wake in my parents’ finished basement during a hot and muggy monsoon season, and I loved it.

I was particularly amazed by how the game talked about books. It felt new, it felt mature.

Alan Wake was the first game I played that felt mature and interested in talking about more than video games. That read probably doesn’t hold up today, but at the time i was amazed.

But it wasn’t scary.

Alan Wake II: Something Scary This Way Comes

I’ve been loving my time with Alan Wake II, and I’ll likely write more about it in the coming months, but I wanted to mention one tiny little detail that genuinely unnerved me and made me play through a 20-minute section over 45 minutes.

I sat down to play Alan Wake II after putting my daughter to bed and finishing the dishes. My wife was out, and I had some time for myself.

I was at a moment of the game that I consider to be an in-between moment. The way the game is structured, there are these bigger story beats, and in between those there are new areas to explore if you want. I thought, why not? I’m clearly invested in this, so I might as well see what I can.

I was currently standing on the beach of a lake (it’s not a lake, it’s an ocean) while a gorgeous sunset was turning the sky a peachy red. I started walking into the dark, freshly-rained Washington forest toward the newly unlocked section. As I do, the lighting gets darker and darker until I have no other choice but turn on the flashlight.

I was in the dark. And I began to explore.

As I explored the area, I noticed something. I could hear the main character breathing, and my heart beating. Things begame eery. The forest became suffocating, and now I was scared.

But what had changed? Earlier in the game, I had faced dark forests, darting enemies, and tense moments of danger. Why was this part so scary?

It was quiet.

The rain stopped.

I had realized that earlier in the game, it was raining. There was always some sound happening that made it easy for me to feel comfortable. My daughter sleeps with rain sounds; I used to sleep with rain sounds. Rain sounds are relaxing.

I was introduced to the nightmare of Alan Wake II with the sound of cozy rain sounds, but the developers made the choice to get rid of them, and now, I was scared in the noiseless, dark forest with unknown nightmares watching me.

Once I noticed I was actually scared, I started walking much slower, taking my time to look around trees, and trying hard not to waste any ammo or flashlight batteries. It was tense. Because it stopped raining.

How Games Use Sound

This is just one way I love how Alan Wake II uses sound, and it’s a pinnacle example of how video games can use sound to create atmosphere, tension, and experiences that affect players.

It’s so small, but it feels so intentional, and I love that.

Christmas is a very important time of year for me. It’s when my family and I get to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We do this by getting gifts for one another. And while it can all seem very consumerist, there is much love and intention behind each one.

Many of the gifts that are passed out have some instructions with them:

• Use this for a stay-at-home date night

• I made this so you can hide candy in your bed

• I got you earplugs and a book so you can read in near silence while your boys are going wild in the other room

In recent years, we’ve streamlined Christmas a bit by doing a Secret Santa (excluding the grandparents who go crazy with giving gifts). Instead of stressing about what to get everyone in the family, everyone has 1 sibling or in-law and 1 nibling to get a gift for. It takes away much of the financial stress and helps people get something really special for their randomly selected family member.

As a boardgame lover, I frequently get gifted board games from my wishlist. I have to admit, I often feel a twinge of regret when I get a game I ask for. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to have the game and am thankful someone got it for me, but the reality of the physical object often sets in.

Board games are physical things that take up space, and we don’t have a lot of extra space.

I got two games this year for Christmas, and one of them is the perfect size.

I Love The Size of Sail

I was shocked when I opened the present from my brother-in-law. This game had been on my wishlist for a while, and the size of it was a surprise for me. I expected it to be the size of Parks or a similar 10×10-inch game.

I was shocked to see that Sail is a 4 3/4” x 4 3/4” x 2” box.

Even last night I was reorganizing our boardgame chests (yeah, we use old wooden chests to store our games, it’s not ideal, but it works), and it was so easy to find this little friend a little spot.

We’ve now played the game 1 time, and I can say that the size of the game works perfectly. Easy to take out, easy to learn, and it doesn’t take up much space on the table!

I’m in love with the size of this thing, and its size alone is enough to make me reach for it when we have some spare time to play a game.

Control has been on my backlog longer than any other game.

So when I bought Alan Wake II on sale last Christmas, I knew it was finally time to play Control. So I scheduled to play in October 2025…

A Quick Background of Control

Control is a 2019 video game made by Remedy Entertainment, the studio known for Alan Wake and Max Payne. Alan Wake was the first “horror” game I ever played. I remember being amazed by the writing. Looking back, it doesn’t hold up very well, but I have a soft spot for it!

That’s why when I got Control from PS+, I knew I had to play it.

And I tried.

Like three times.

Aesthetic First

Control has a STRONG sense of style, and besides being interested in the Alan Wake connection, the style alone could be enough to get people interested. The dark shadows, bright red lighting, brutalist architecture, and distorted office create an atmosphere that feels like it demands to be explored.

The game uses full motion video (FMV) very effectively. There are many scenes where videos will play over the environment, or videos will play on projectors or TVs. These moments showcase the creativity of the studio and just how confident they are in their art direction.

The game opens with Jesse Faden (who you play as) entering the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC). There’s no one there, and the only explanation you get for your arrival is that someone (or thing), whom Jesse can talk to in her mind, guided her here.

The only thing you can interact with for the first couple of minutes is reading documents. They give vague lore explanations about the bureau and what they do.

After a quick run-in with a janitor, you find the FBC’s director’s office, and you hear a gunshot.

You find the director dead with his gun next to him, and when you pick it up, some otherworldly stuff happens. And Jesse Faden is now the director.

Gameplay Second?

This pistol is central to the gameplay of Control. Unknown to me at the time, Control is an action-adventure game.

You’ll spend most of your time shooting glowing red guys, and at first, that’s it. Explore a location, go to the marker on the map, kill anything that tries to kill you.

For the first couple of hours, the gameplay was not clicking with me. I thought it was boring, mundane, and It was lacking... something.

I can’t stress enough that for the first few hours, I was worried that the game was plain bad. I kept trying to duck under cover and play strategically, but the game was not working. It felt like trying to build something with a half-empty toolbox.

And then I got the dash.

Getting Into The Flow

A good mystery reveals itself slowly. Clues and hints are provided over time, and right before the truth is revealed, everything clicks into place for the audience.

Control is all about mystery. The FBC, the thing guiding Jesse, the janitor, the director, the board, there is so much happening that isn’t explained, but it is shown, and the player gets to put the pieces together for themselves.

The mystery that I found the most interesting in Control was the game itself. How the game was played.

After getting the dash ability, the game began to open up. I started to understand how I was supposed to be playing it, and why people enjoy it so much.

I wasn’t supposed to be running from cover to cover; I was supposed to be sprinting to get a new angle and dashing to avoid getting hit.

It started to feel like a dancer instead of a shooter.

As you get more and more movement abilities, the game continues to open as more and more strategies and ability combos are given to the player.

Toward the end of the game, you can:

• Throw enemies that are low on health into enemies to burst their shields, quickly levitate to dodge an incoming attack, then slam down on the enemy to finish them off.

And it rocks.

A Strange Difficulty

Control is a strangely difficult game, and I don’t always feel for good reason.

There are different flavors of difficulty. There’s the kind that requires dexterity and quick reaction time. There’s the kind that requires foresight and deep thinking skills.

Control is often difficult due to crowd control. Dealing with a handful of enemies and various types is fun, but when there are 10s of enemies on screen, it quickly becomes overwhelming.

The game turns from a dance to a frantic panic. I don’t like these moments of the game, and they often feel unfair.

Welcome, Director

As the new director of the FBC, you’re tasked with dealing with a new threat, The Hiss. A strange paranatural resonance that kills people or turns them into monsters. There’s a whole wiki page worth of information about what the Hiss is, but even that doesn’t fully understand what it is and what it’s motivations are.

But I don’t think that actually matters.

Control is a game that explores the differences between chaos and control as well as the difference between power and control.

Rather than trying to overcome The Hiss through controlling external forces, Jesse learns how to control her strength and her title of director to achieve her goals.

At the beginning of the game, she’s just looking for her brother, but at the end, she’s fully accepted her role as director and has a sense of control over her situation.

There’s Work to Be Done

After the credits roll, the game opens back up with Jesse dressed in formal clothes standing in the director’s office, and a message appears:

While it makes sense for the story that Jesse would need to clean up the remaining mess the hiss left behind (and it gives a good excuse for players to be able to go back and complete side missions), it really took the wind out of my sails.

I don’t think the ending of Control is bad. In fact, I think it’s effective. I didn’t understand what happened, but I felt what happened. However, my issue with the end is that… it doesn’t.

I’m going into my 2nd calendar year of writing about games, and planning out my year.

Last year’s queue included 10 games I wanted to play through, front to back. Out of those 10 games, I started and finished 7 games and started 1. That means I only missed 2 games.

Something I noticed is I didn’t schedule enough around limitations. 6 of the games I chose are TV games that are each over 20 hours long. That means if I wanted to play them, I’d have to kick my family out of the living room.

This year, I’ve chosen 19 games… I know, ambitious. However, I did play 27 games in 2025; it’s just that I got distracted by… other games.

The Console Games

These are the games that will require a bit more for me to sit on the couch to play them.

Alan Wake II

I’ve actually already started this game, and I’m really enjoying it. After playing Control and watching someone play Alan Wake 1, I got really excited and invested in what Remedy is doing with their games!

I find this game to be way scarier than I expected. The silence is enough to make me move really slowly through certain areas.

Death Stranding

I am very excited to finally get to this game. It was tough to watch everyone get excited about Death Stranding 2 and not be able to partake in the enjoyment. I’m a huge Kojima fan, so this feels right to me.

Jusant

I wanted to include shorter games to fit in between longer, bigger, more intensive games. This is a 6-hour game about climbing. It’ll be a nice change of pace after going through Death Stranding, and it might be interesting to see how the movement-intensive controls compare to one another.

Metaphor: Refantazio

This was a huge dream to try and get to this in 2025. I think I can only handle 1 over 90-hour game a year, and Persona 3 was enough for me.

My favorite thing about playing games like this is that I can easily stream them to my Retroid Pocket 5 and play them in different settings. I even played Persona 3 in the office during my lunch break.

Roller Drome

Another shorter game for a quick breath between large games. This one has been on my list for a while. It’s a cool mix between a third-person shooter and a sports game. Sadly, the studio that made it doesn’t exist due to layoffs. However, I’m excited to check it out!

The Witcher 3 Hearts of Stone

I finished The Witcher 3 during the Christmas holiday of 2020. I had come down with COVID and spent my days playing this and watching just a ton of movies. I had the DLCs at that time, but I got a little fatigued by the game. It’s been on the back of my mind to get back to this for a long time, but I think this will pair well with fall/winter vibes this year.

Control Resonant

I don’t know when this will come out, but I plan on being there day 1!

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

I love playing games that aren’t that good. I find them so much more interesting than games that are solid 10/10s. When this game came out, the discussions I heard about it were all over the place, and that’s exciting to me.

Animal Well

During December 2024, I really enjoyed playing Tunic in the early morning. Animal Well seems like the perfect early morning puzzle game for me. I love how the art pairs well with early morning vibes.

Handheld Games

Some of these games are originally console games, but thanks to technology, I’m able to play them on the go with the Retroid Pocket 5. These are games that I can play anywhere.

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

Turn-based games are great for lunch breaks, and I’m a big fan of tactics games. I’ve already played some of this here and there, and it looks incredible. Not just the gameplay, but the sprite work.

I’m thinking this will be a big lunchbreak game for me.

EarthBound

There are quite a few games on this list that are in the how have you not played this category. EarthBound is one of those.

This game is a huge inspiration point for many games. I’m excited to get to this and see what the hub-ub is all about.

ICO

Between the turn-based combat and RPGs, I wanted games that are a bit more… actiony? real time? ICO is a very important game for a lot of people, and I’m excited to get to this (I’m saying this a lot, huh?).

Final Fantasy

Yeah, the first one. I don’t plan on trudging through this if it’s too esoteric or difficult. I just want to see what the first game is like!

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

I played this a lot as a kid, and I never finished it. Again, another game that a lot of people would be surprised that I haven’t played through. This will be nice to play around late July and early August. The perfect spooky season transition game.

Pokemon Lazarus

A fully original Pokémon game built on Pokémon Emerald, but in the style of Gen 2? yes please!

I grew up loving Pokémon, but didn’t enjoy the games to completion until last year. I’m ready to dip back into that world and take my time with it.

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX

I decided that I want to play every Zelda game. Taking one 3D game and 1 2D game ayear. Links Awakening is next on the 2D list, so here we go!

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger is considered one of the best games, period. I’ve been enjoying going through old JRPGs. The plan is to play this in the fall, as that’s the cadence I’ve been getting into with old JRPGs. Stoked to finally get to this.

Final Fantasy IX

This is getting pretty long, and I don’t really have anything to say about this other than, yeah, I want to play this lol. I’ll likely be getting to this in the winter.

The World Ends With You

This game has such a unique style and seems to be well-liked by the people who play it. I’ll be playing it on a 3ds and am excited to see how the tough controls work.

Why Plan?

It doesn’t matter if I get to play all of these games. The only reason I do this is to get myself excited and keep my attention on what I’ve been wanting to do. If not, I just play whatever I want and never actually see anything through.

If you’re interested in seeing if I get through this list, subscribe, and see what happens!

Last year, I was able to give a game of the year shout-out to a single game. The only game from that year that I played - Balatro! However, this year I didn’t play a single game that came out this year.

So I’m doing a round-up of everything I played in 2026, and I’m going to give out the Espresso Tonic Game of the (other) Year Award!

This is going to be pretty long, so let’s get into it!

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (GC)

I love everything about this game. The strange graphics, the voice acting, the music (obviously), the fact that they use scenes from the movie during cutscenes, and the beautiful, strange choice to reward players with interviews from the cast of the movie about making the game.

I just could not vibe with the combat after a certain point. It got so difficult and not in a good way. I was constantly getting stun locked on the Helm’s Deep level and could not get past that level.

This was, sadly, the only game I intentionally stopped trying to finish.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

I would have never guessed I would have played this game in 2025, but I’m so glad I did.

A very close friend of mine, Chris, wanted to play this with my friend group. I played Modern Warfare with him in 2020, and that was a good time, but I wasn’t sure if it would be a good fit for me, especially with a baby.

The biggest reason I tried hard to make sure I could play this game with my friends was cause Chris was very sick, and all of the friends in this group are long-distance.

Chris passed away in November of this year, and I cherish the time I spent dying over and over again while my brain melted, and we talked together.

Skate.

I guess this technically came out in 2025, but I primarily played the Beta build, so I don’t fully count it, I guess.

I signed up to join the Skate. playtest ages ago, so when I got an email that said I was invited in July, I immediately started playing, and I enjoyed it for a little bit, and then it slowly dawned on me what EA was really trying to do with this game.

It’s a microtransaction nightmare.

On top of this, the writing and vibe are so strange. A giant mega corporation moves to town and outlaws skating, but the skaters kicked them out and now the city is in LOVE with skaters. They’re pushing an initiative to bring more skaters to the city and there’s even a separate mega corp that developed a new drug that makes skaters immune to being hurt… not kidding.

The controls are tight, but the progression loop just doesn’t work for me.

Super Mario Land (GB)

This was the first game I played with my Retroid Pocket 5. I got it for the purpose of playing Gamecube games and somehow found myself playing this instead. It’s a good time, but if I didn’t have savestates, I would have never been able to beat this.

Drill Dozer (GBA)

A game by the studio that makes Pokémon that isn’t Pokémon.

It’s kind of wild how good GameFreak is at making games that aren’t Pokémon games. I thought this was really charming and actually interesting.

Star Fox 64

This game is more like Top Gun than I could have imagined. I never finished a run, but I had a really good time with it. It’s surprising how much the game feels like a roguelike. Hoping into a run and trying to carve out a path.

This game didn’t work really well for the Retroid Pocket 5 due to the dual analog sticks. Instead of having c-buttons, I had to use the analog stick, and it was very challenging.

Advance Wars

This game kind of ate me up. I thought it would be a good option for a lunch game, but when I learned that some levels can take hours to finish…

Advance Wars is a tactics game that is probably as complex as they can get. Rather than taking a straightforward approach to strengths and weaknesses like Fire Emblem, it feels like a spiderweb of different weaknesses and strengths. There are a ton of units in this bad boy.

The thing that made me really like this game is the boardgame aesthetic. While I didn’t enjoy the length of the rounds, they were quite engaging.

Universal Paperclips

This is a critically acclaimed game where you play as an AI that is tasked with making paperclips. It follows the scenario to a rather interesting conclusion.

I liked this game and kind of helped me frame AI scare and the strategies it could take to you know, cause damage.

Control

I did not think this game was an action-adventure game with quick and slick controls. However, once the game fully showed its hand, I really loved it.

I do have some issues with how it handles the post-game and the lack of narrative closure, but I get it.

I’m currently working on a full review of this.

Silent Hill

I did not expect to play this game, maybe ever. It’s gross, it’s scary, btut it’s strangely very funny.

Most games from this era (1999), were often obtuse and hard to follow. However, I found this really straightforward and fun. It took a while to get used to the outdated controls, but once I did, the game really stood out to me.

Mario Golf: Advance Tour

This was my spring.

While I was still working in the office, I was taking my lunches outside and playing Mario Golf: Advance Tour. This game is the distillation of the golf game genre, and even though it says Mario on the tin, it doesn’t feature Mario… or really any Mario characters. Instead, it just features regular ol’ people.

It’s also a hub-world RPG.

Mario Golf: Advance Tour has an entire little world to explore with challenges and little secrets to find, and every time you finish a challenge or competition, you get experience points to put into various stats.

I can’t stress enough that if you haven’t played this before

Yoshi’s Island: Mario Advance 3

While traveling to my friend’s memorial service, I wanted something cozy to play. There’s something about old Mario games that feels right for playing during stressful and emotional times.

I didn’t expect to play this more than just on our trip, but while sitting in labor and delivery to check on the health of our 9th percentile-sized baby, I felt like I wanted something cozy again.

While this game is cozy and is a welcome stress reliever for difficult times, it’s pretty tough! I really like this game.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age

I first heard about Golden Sun from Into The Aether: A Low-Key Video Game Podcast. They did an extra long episode about the Game Boy Advance library, and while these games didn’t make the top ten, the conversation around them made me interested in trying them out.

I played the first Golden Sun toward the tail end of my wife’s first pregnancy. I now have a strong connection to the series.

Golden Sun: The Dark Age is considered the better of the two games, but it' didn’t hit for me the same way the first game did. That being said, this game is more concerned with exploration and discovery than the first game.

I really love this game.

Ribbit King

We’re getting to the really good stuff.

Ribbit King might be THE game I think most about when I consider the past year. It’s weird, it isn’t like anything else, and it hasn’t been replicated.

If you want to know my full thoughts, here it is.

A Ribbit King Review

espressotonic.beehiiv.com/p/a-ribbit-king-review

Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland

This is one of the many GBA games that took me over and forced me to play through in a short period of time.

The only Kirby game I had played before this was Kirby Airride, which is nothing like any of the Kirby games.

The thing that really stands out to me is how smooth the game is. It’s incredibly fun to run around as Kirby. I don’t have much else to say about this; it’s just really darn good.

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

I really enjoyed what they did with the story here. It's very personal and really cute. I could have done without the old game esoteric stuff. Definitely had to look some stuff up, but it was such an enjoyable world to be in!

I also took a huge break from this game right before the final boss and grinded here and there for a long time. I first attempted the final boss on October 8th. I think that the break dampened my enjoyment in the end.

My biggest complaint is the fact that the screen that has the most important information is on the bottom screen of the DS. It made it hard to play while eating lunch (lol).

Katamari Damacy

I wrote a lot about a game that doesn’t seem to have anything but fun gameplay and wild visuals.

Katamari Damacy

Or, the destruction of fatherly pressure

espressotonic.beehiiv.com/p/katamari-damacy

Super Mario Galaxy

I didn’t expect this to be on the list.

I have been chipping away at this since 2020. It’s what I played when I wasn’t feeling well and just wanted to lay down. During my hernia issues, I would wake up before my wife and play Mario with my daughter on the couch. I played it so much during this time that I ended up finishing the game.

It’s a very pleasant time, even if the camera would make me a little nauseous from time to time.

Persona 3 Royal

I really hate the classic RPG saying, "It gets good after hour 40.” When I hear that, I run as far as I can from whatever it is they're talking about. There's no way I'd spend 40 hours on something that's supposed to get better.

I want to say this isn't true for Persona 3 Reload. I want to say this game is a banger front to back, but it's hard for me to say otherwise. However, it actually works here.

This game is about the mundanity of life. It's boring. We figure out ways to spend our days and try to find excitement in the day-to-day. The style of this game makes it feel less boring than real life, but once you hit a certain point in the game, it really starts to slow down.

All that being said, P3R takes some WILD turns that I did not expect, and by the end of it, I couldn't help but care deeply for the characters. The final hours of this game are incredible, and the final kickers are effective because of the 90 hours I spent in this world with these characters.

REZ

This game is more.

REZ

A transcending video gameA espressotonic.beehiiv.com/p/reztranscending video game

espressotonic.beehiiv.com/p/rez

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Sometimes a game doesn’t let you do what you want. Even if it would make sense within the world and rules of the game.

Tears of the Kingdom lets you do what you want. Even if it doesn’t make sense.

I love a good sandbox experience, but with a child, it’s almost impossible to find the time to play games this big. Maybe it’s because I could play this on the go, but I found this game to be a perfect game for me.

Many of my notes on this game are just me getting sidetracked by random things to look at.

The finale of this game is incredible, and that’s all I’ll say about that.

Metroid Fusion

Yet another amazing GBA game.

Things I Missed: Metroid

I was a Nintendo kid, but I missed the Metroid series completely until... well, just a couple weeks ago.

espressotonic.beehiiv.com/p/things-i-missed-metroid-0ee9

Bowser’s Fury

This is a shorter experience than most Mario games. However, that’s perfect when you need to entertain a toddler while suffering from a hernia.

This might be a cop out, but this game is so good I don’t have much to talk about.

Hollow Knight

Challenge in games is a hot topic that comes up every few years or so. This year it was a HUGE discussion point because the sequel to Hollow Knight came out.

I’m no stranger to difficult games. I’ve played through Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. I’ve also played some older games that are considered difficult for more esoteric/janky reasons.

Hollow Knight may be the second most difficult game I’ve ever played, and it ate up my thoughts and time. Everything from the environments to the brutal bosses screams at the player, “You should not be here!” However, if you take the time to learn how the game works, you’ll likely discover something interesting or a new upgrade.

Something this game does well is discovery. I had multiple moments where I thought I could not go anywhere new, but then I’d stumble upon something new and incredible.

This is easily the best game I’ve played this year, and is easily in my top 10 of all time.

Now I just need to beat The Radiance.

The Espresso Tonic Game of the (Other) Year Award

clapping

Yes, thank you, thank you! A lot of great games this year, but only 1 can receive this prestigious award.

Congratulations to Hollow Knight for getting the Espresso Tonic Game of the (other) Year!

My life has changed drastically since Lottie was born, and my gaming time has been all over the place. Surprisingly, I’ve been able to get quite a bit of video game time, but it’s hard to find the time to play board games.

In 2023, Zelphia and I played board games 47 times. It’s a bleak comparison to the 17 times we’ve played this year. These are plays, not unique games.

I say this just to emphasize I don’t have a lot of time to play board games.

But I still love them. Over the last year, I don’t think I’ve played a game I straight-up don’t like. There are games I would prefer not to play, but if all my friends get together to play Monopoly, I’ll be there (not for Monopoly, but for my friends).

When I don’t have time to actually enjoy something, I listen, watch, or talk with other people. When I was excited about getting Oath, I watched people play Oath. When Arcs came out, I talked with people in a Discord server.

People That Love Boardgames & Me

I am a board game person. I’m down to try almost any game. Obviously, I have preferences in what kind of game I play. If it was up to me, I’d be playing the longer, more complex, and more esoteric games. However, party games like Flip7 are also really fun!

I have a small board game time budget, but if I’m free, I’m down.

This is very different from most people online who play board games. Some people have the free time to play games every week. I’m talking about playing a game at least 30 times before feeling comfortable talking about what makes it interesting.

These people have a large board gaming time budget, and I love that for them! But man, they can be real scrooges.

“Why Are You Playing That?”

I am in three Discord servers about board games. I’ve been able to have some great conversations with people and brush elbows with content creators that I really look up to.

The vibes in those servers are, for the most part, very positive. People wanting to share their experience, celebrate the industry, and talk about games beyond surface level.

But every now and then, there will be that one stinker.

Here’s an example:

My wife and I really like the game Azul. We think it’s a great 2-player experience and often play it while enjoying a drink or while working. It’s not complicated, and I think I’ve cracked the code on how to win, but I still love sitting down with my wife to play it.

I mentioned this during a discussion about good 2-player games, and the conversation quickly turned to how much people don’t like Azul, and how I should be playing a different game instead.

While I’m not a stranger to people slamming other people’s enjoyment, these kinds of interactions really rub me the wrong way. It’s not because they don’t like what I like, but because they say I should be playing something else.

I love getting recommendations from people online. I have a big list of board games and video games I want to try that were recommended by other people, but the vibe in these conversations leaves such a sour taste in my mouth, I’d much rather not engage with what they’re recommending.

I’m Ok With Not The Best

There are two directions you can go if you have minimal time to play games:

• Only play the best

• Play whatever works for you

I try to get the bang for my buck with my gaming time, especially when it comes to video games, but I’m just as interested in playing something that’s OK as I am a perfect 10/10.

For example, I’ve been really enjoying playing Hollow Knight over the last few months, but when I think about the games I played this year, Ribbit King is maybe the most stand-out game I played, and that game is FAR from perfect.

The same thing can be applied to board games or really any piece of media.

Why watch Gilmore Girls when you could watch Pluribus? Why watch How I Met Your Mother when you could watch Seinfeld?

BECAUSE.

Why Are People Like This?

I think the issue of people not understanding that people can enjoy mediocre games and media comes from their gluttonous diet. (no offense)

People who have a lot of time to play board games and video games, watch movies and TV shows, are going to have more opinions about what makes something good or bad. That means stricter critiques and the ability to compare works to similar works.

A lot of the people I’ve had these negative interactions with play a LOT of board games or video games. That’s great for them, but when it hinders your ability to enjoy something, that’s just fine; is it really worth it?

Conclusion

My original title for this was Does A High-Calorie Media Diet Make You a Better Critic or a Worse Enjoyer?

The central idea was questioning whether or not ingesting a lot of media is important for enjoying media on a deeper-than-surface level… level.

I don’t think it is.

A couple of days ago, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Disney+ will soon have AI-generated short-form content from users.

Imagine that.

Being able to make anything (that makes it through Disney’s filtering, which I assume will be strict) using the characters and assets owned by Disney! Mickey Mouse hanging out with Jabba the Hutt, Spider-Man swinging in to stop Captain Barbosa, unlimited content!!

The thing that’s weird to me is that this content will be made by users. Think Sora, but for Disney.

I flat out object to the use of Gen-AI for a lot of reasons. Obviously, when Gen-ai is used for creative endeavors, that’s something that a team of human beings could have done (and gotten paid for), and I could get into the huge issues of removing creative work, but the topic I keep ruminating on is, what’s the point?

What’s the Point of Gen-AI Products?

I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time now. The idea struck me when an ad for Microsoft Copilot played before a YouTube video.

The ad shows a woman getting ready for a run and asking Copilot to make a dreamy podcast about living on Mars. The podcast plays as she leaves for her run and transports her to the red planet.

Another, more recent example of this kind of ad is from Amazon. FazeRug, a “pro gamer”, is “locking in” for an online match. He asks Alexa to remind him of his winning streak and talks to it like they’re friends. It’s hard to write just how cringey this ad is. Seriously, just watch it for yourself.

The issue with talking with Alexa and asking it to keep track of my “wins”, generating content on Disney+, and generating a podcast is that it misses the entire point of gaming, watching TV, and listening to podcasts.

People don’t listen to podcasts to get information from Wikipedia pages and speculative fiction articles. They listen to podcasts because they like the personalities and conversations they house.

People don’t watch TV so they can see what was generated by their neighbor. I would argue that most adults watch TV to see what happens in a show or to experience a story. Children, however, probably watch TV because their parents just need a single minute to themselves or because they’re bored. (Currently, my daughter is watching Peter Pan because she’s sick)

The only use case I can see AI-gen content on Disney+ is for children, which is a huge shame. Children deserve better.

The video game one is so strange to me. It’s so obvious that people don’t buy smart home products so they can talk to it when they play video games. The guy is even playing an online game and mentions the person he’s playing against… why isn’t he talking to his friend?

The point of podcasts, TV, and games isn’t podcasts, TV, and games. It’s more than that. It’s a human connection, art, and thoughtful storytelling.

Start With Why

Some new tech being the future isn’t a good enough reason to dump billions of dollars into it.

I read about Apple’s approach to AI and how limited it was. Just a couple of months ago, Apple was getting laughed at for being so “far behind” on AI. However, now that it’s taken a much more subdued approach to it, they’re seeing much more success. At least they don’t need to answer questions about how their billions of dollars invested in the tech will pay off.

Why is it that Apple needs to have an answer for AI? Why does Disney need to consider the new technology? And why is it that Microsoft expects people to make podcasts using Copilot?

Gen-AI is being sold as a toy, but in reality, it’s making living more expensive, wastes water, spreads misinformation (no matter how big or small), and sows distrust.

Don’t Trust The People Invested In AI

If you’ve asked me about AI in person, you’ve heard this before.

The people saying AI is the next best thing are the people who are the most financially responsible for its success.

Companies have used billions of dollars to invest in the future of AI, and if it doesn’t succeed, that’s a huge problem for them. So they will do whatever they can to make sure it succeeds.

About 5 weeks ago, I laid on a table, fell asleep, and woke up with three tiny incisions just under my belly button. Oh, and a layer of mesh that stops my intestines from bursting out of my abdominal sac.

I was happy to get the surgery over with, but now began the process of recovery.

My most dreaded part of the surgery.

I got laparoscopic surgery, so it wasn’t very invasive. However, because I got the surgery done on both inguinal sites, I was going to have a more prolonged recovery time.

There are a lot of reasons why a prolonged recovery is bad for me, my lifestyle, and my family. However, doctors’ orders are doctors’ orders. I had to follow the no lifting or sitting orders or else I could risk having to go under again and making my recovery even longer.

So, what to do while recovering from a hernia surgery and while on heavy pain meds? Also, how do you prepare for surgery recovery?

Gaming

The streaming function of the PS5 came in handy during the first few days of recovery - the most I-can’t-do-anything-and-it-hurts-to-move days.

Persona 3: Reload

Persona 3: Reload Finished Save Files

I was able to continue my playthrough of Persona 3 Reload from the comfort of my bed by streaming my PlayStation 5 to my Retroid Pocket 5. What a wild future we live in.

I spent a very long time playing this game and ended up finishing it. I loved my time with this game and found myself really attached to the characters and touched by the ending.

Dragon Quest V

Yet another handheld game.

My interest in this game was starting to wane. I had just reached a slower point of the game, more interested in exploration, and I thought the game was starting to lose focus. However, when I started to get bored of lying in bed, this became a salve.

Little did I know, the game was about to grow into something great.

I love this game because it feels like reading a bedtime story. Short snippets of adventure that lead into a bigger narrative.

Control

I’ll be writing about this later so uuuuh, wait for that.

Silent Hill 1

This was a surprise to me.

I wanted to play Metal Gear Solid 1, but I wanted to have some save states on my memory card for spoiler reasons. I booted up Silent Hill 1 and was transported and trapped.

This game is gross, but the old PS1 graphics make the whole experience palatable. Yes there are skinned dead bodies hanging from the walls, but with modern eyes they kind of look like rotten ground beef. Sure, still gross, but not as scary as it may have been on a CRT in 1999.

As for gameplay, it’s the classic go-here-find-this-to-solve-this-puzzle-to-open-that-door type of gameplay. The combat is janky, but I was able to make it work and I loved almost the whole thing. It’s also a short game so I was able to play it here and there and get through the nightmare.

As for the ending? Wild.

Books

Reading while taking heavy pain meds is really hard. If you thought your attention span and brain were rotting from social media overload, imagine pumping your brain with percocets. It’s not a great mix, but I was able to get some reading done.

If you’re getting ready for a surgery, I wouldn’t recommend planning to get a lot of reading done.

House of Leaves

This book is wild.

It feels like a book version of a found footage film, but if the people who found the footage inserted clips of their own lives as they descended into madness.

I can’t recommend it at this point, but a lot of other people do, and I’ve certainly found some really interesting moments, thoughts, and choices.

How to Plan for Surgery Recovery

Going into this surgery, I didn’t know what to expect. My surgeon told me I should be clear to work after a couple of days, but the nurses urged me to stay in bed for a week or two and get up to walk often.

Now that I’ve gone through it though, I feel more equiped to give advice on surgery recovery.

Do as You’re Told

If your doctor, surgeon, or nurses tell you to do something, do it.

I had slightly different directions from my surgeon and nurses, so I decided to trust whichever instructions were stricter. My surgeon told me I can work after a couple days, but my nurses told me to stay in bed for 1-2 weeks. Therefore, I stayed in bed for 1-2 weeks, but worked from my laptop while in bed after a week of rest.

Get Your Outlets in Order

If you’re into handheld gaming, you’ll want to get your outlets in order. I didn’t do this, and it ended up leading me toward doomscrolling rather than engaging in a game.

Get a surge protector and set up a charging bank for all of your intended devices ahead of time.

Drink A Ton of Apple Juice, Like For Real, Drink a Lot of It

When you’re on heavy pain meds, your bowels don’t work very well. On top of this, you likely have staples in you that make it impossible to bear down.

Apple juice is a great way to keep things moving at least slightly better. You’ll stay hydrated, and the properties of Apple juice will help things move along.

Take It Slow, But Keep Moving

One thing that was hard for me during the recovery process was a fear of moving.

I knew I needed to get up and start walking, but even after about a week, I was scared to get out of the house and go for a walk. Even though the hospital staff told me to start going to walks, I didn’t want to out of fear. I do think this prolonged my recovery just a bit.

Listen to your body and start getting out there. Even if it means walking to the street and back.

Ask For a Meal Train

This was HUGE for us.

Thanks to our church, my wife and I were able to get a meal train going for 2 weeks. The lovely people who made meals for us really went the extra mile. Every meal lasted at least 2 dinners with enough leftovers for lunches.

If you are a member of a local church, ask if they have a meal train ministry. If you aren’t a member of a church, maybe go to church?

Lean on Family or Support System

Not everyone has a great family, and that sucks. However, hopefully everyone has a support system.

Before going into surgery, ask your family or support system for help. For us, this looked like having family come over to hang out with the baby while my wife cleaned, or my family coming over to clean. This was also helpful for my mental well-being. It’s nice to have visitors.

I like structure.

If you’ve been following along since the beginning, you’ll know I love keeping track of my media intake and planning ahead. I like knowing what I’m going to play!

A big part of this is keeping my pool of currently playing games to as-small-as-possible. I keep it to two. I do the same things for books. I’ve got one handheld game and one console game going at a time. I do this for several reasons and you can read about that here.

What it comes down to is seeing things through. I’m way too prone to just do whatever I want in the moment, and if I don’t have some constriction on what I play, read, or honestly do, then I won’t actually finish anything I want to.

But then I played Hollow Knight.

A Smattering of Games

I’m currently experiencing two hernias. It’s been a really challenging time. It hurts, I have to lie down a lot, and I can’t pick up our daughter.

Before getting this hernia, I was in the rythm of waking up, reading a little bit, then playing video games until our daughter woke up. Then together, we’d make breakfast, coffee and wake up my wife.

I can’t do that right now. Getting out of bed is a major pain. So right now, I get up when Lottie gets up and lie on the couch, showing Lottie some video games.

I’ve shown her Skate., Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario but with a cat, Mario Kart, and Katamari Damacy. However, when Silksong came out on September 4th, I had the temptation to show Lottie the bugs and dip my toes back into Hollow Knight.

I had played Hollow Knight for about 3 hours during November of 2020, and it was not the right game for that time. (This could be a whole post. I had just made it to the first Hornet fight and dropped it, pretty intentionally.

A Stand Out

I showed Lottie Hollow Knight, and she liked it enough. I tried the Hornet fight a couple of times, then ran around the world exploring.

It really wasn’t clicking with me.

Until I had a rough day.

Lottie and Zelphia had left the house to go visit my in-laws, and I stayed behind to lie down and get the Hernia under control. I laid on the couch to play some Persona 3 Reload, but Hollow Knight was already open. Without thinking, I just started trying to beat Hornet. I ended up streaming to fight for a friend, and if you watch the VOD you can watch the game click for me.

Turn-Based Fatigue

In my current gaming era, turn-based games are golden. I don’t have the time to play action games because I never know when a baby is going to run into the room and demand she play with the controler. And let’s be honest, if I’m in a room with my daughter, I’d much rather be spending my time with her.

I’ve played many turn-based games since Lottie was born:

• Golden Sun 1+2

• Pokemon Emerald

• Persona 5 Royal

• Mario Golf: Advance Tour

• Ribbit King

• Advance Wars

It seems like I always have at least 1 turn-based game going at a time, but right now I’m jamming to Persona 3: Reload and Dragon Quest V. Two very good games, but man, focusing on these two games alone for a couple of months is tough.

That’s why when I showed Hollow Knight to Lottie, It felt like a warm hug. Wow, a character I could explore a world with! So novel!

Does This Matter?

No, it absolutely does not matter that I am now playing Persona 3: Reload, Dragon Quest V, and Hollow Knight, and it really doesn’t matter that I’m not playing the games I want to be playing for spooky season - Control and Alan Wake II.

It’s fun and helpful for me to plan ahead and schedule what games I’m going to be playing when, but things happen. Hollow Knight has been a great time, and honestly, it’s been helpful for getting my mind off the constant pain I’m in, and I think that’s great.

The Future

You may have noticed that the video I posted above is from an Espresso Tonic YouTube channel.

Yes, I now have a YouTube channel and I plan to post long-form videos on it! I plan on adapting my writing here into videos. Hopefully, this can be a fun learning endeavor at least!

You might be thinking, Josh, how the heck do you have time to do this?

I don’t.

In fact, I originally meant to post my first video on the 8th of September, but due to the two hernias I’m experiencing, that did not happen. The first script is finished, I just need to get my surgery, get a hair cut, and shoot the darn thing.

Here’s a teaser of the first video I plan on posting:

Just last week (Aug 27th), I packed my daughter into the car, turned up the radio, and began the commute to her Nini and Papi’s house.

Yes, I still listen to the radio from time to time, not because I want to listen to that music, but because I don’t want to make the choice of what to listen to.

In between the new hits and old jams, the ads for car dealerships, plumbers, and car repairs fell on my numb ears. I’m so used to ads that I’m to the point I don’t even notice what most of them are selling. However, one ad stood out to me—

The Pumpkin Spice Latte is back.

I am not a holiday timing police officer, but something about the PSL coming out in late August felt strange. It is still so hot out and while the monsoon season does give Arizona the occasional gloomy day, it still feels like we’re in the middle of a hot horrible summer. That’s because we are.

Later that day, I stopped by a local grocery store to pick some things up, and right outside the front door was a sign for the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

This made me think about all the times I’ve walked into a store during the summer only to find fall decor, or walk in during fall only to find winter decor, etc. etc. Why is that? It seems more and more stores are always one (or even two) seasons ahead.

Josh: Crotchety Old Man? Or Seasonal Enjoyer? I want to get this out of the way first. While writing this portion of this post, my wife asked me if I wanted anything from Starbucks (she just got a gift card and wanted to ball out while grocery shopping). Obviously, I asked for a PSL. I hope this colors the rest of this post with a bit of levity. I don’t want to just complain the whole way down this page, but instead, have a discussion about enjoying seasons to their fullest.

Look at this dude

A Day or A Season?

Halloween and Christmas are my two favorite holidays. Not because I love trick or treating, or spending Christmas morning with my family opening presents and reflecting on the birth of Christ (although I so love those things), but because they are two holidays that have the ability to completely change the vibes and atmosphere of the season.

Halloween is now Spooky Season, and Christmas is like 4 weeks of hot cocoa and cozy movies, all culminating in the dawn of a new year!

I grew up in Prescott, Arizona, which if you know anything about that city, just know, AirBnbs, Californians with too much cash on hand, and blood-thirsty realtors have gutted the real estate market, and we love the Christmas season.

Every December, Prescott turns into a Hallmark movie. The town’s square and courthouse get decorated with Christmas lights, and most of the surrounding stores follow suit. There are huge events like the Lighting of the Courthouse and Acker night, when musicians from the area are hosted by local businesses to play and raise money.

Christmas is a big deal in Prescott.

That’s why when I think of Christmas and Halloween, I don’t think of the day itself, II think of the season surrounding it.

It’s Over Before it Started

One of the contributing factors to the seasonality of these holidays is the department store. Going to Walmart and seeing the Halloween decorations and costumes reaffirms that yes, it is in fact spooky season now.

Now, and I’m really going to sound like a boomer here, it’s so different.

I can at least understand starting the Pumpkin Spice Latte in late August, but I’ve seen some department stores putting out Christmas decorations already. Even in early July, Zelphia and I went thrifting at a Goodwill, which had Halloween decorations in a prominent display up front.

I don’t have an issue with department stores getting ahead, but I can’t say it doesn’t bum me out when I’m knee deep in Spooky Season and see Christmas decor where the Halloween section used to be.

It’s the replacement that makes me sad.

It makes me feel like the season is already over. Like we’ve all collectively gotten over the excitement of the season before even celebrating the holiday.

A text from my mom sent on August 29th

Why Are Stores Always A Season Ahead?

I’m no expert in how grocery stores operate. I missed my big opportunity to work at one in high school and worked at a candy shop instead (Prescott really is a Hallmark movie, huh?).

I did some research to try and get to the bottom of this, and the reason is surprisingly obvious.

Supply Chain Issues

The supply chain is borked right now, and it has been for a while.

It now takes a long time for something to be ordered and received by a department store. On top of this, there’s no knowing when the entire supply chain will get completely stopped by a world event. You never know when a military conflict or bad parking job will clog up the entire system.

Because of this, stores order and ship goods well in advance of the season. We’re talking like a year in advance.

When the goods finally get to the states months later, stores don’t want to pay the high price of warehousing the goods until the season starts, so they put them on the shelves as soon as they can.

Why risk missing the season due to supply chain issues? Imagine if a store got its Halloween goods like 2 weeks before Halloween due to supply issues. They wouldn’t be able to sell all the goods, and most of them would have to be on a heavy discount.

Marketing, Baby

It’s not just the duct-taped-together supply chain that causes stores to be a season ahead. It’s also a marketing strategy.

I don’t think it’s controversial to say that people are always looking for the next thing.

For example:

GTA6 and Hollowknight Silksong might be the two most anticipated games of all time ever, period. If you look at the comments about how long people have been waiting for these games, they rarely say they’ve been waiting since the game was announced. They typically say they’ve been waiting since the last game came out.

For those who aren’t tuned into video games, imagine going to see the second Avatar movie and saying, “I’ve been waiting for this since 2009”— No you weren’t.

All this to say, people are always looking forward to the next thing. I think seasons are huge in this. During the hot summer, people can’t wait for the fall, It’s a totally normal thing.

Stores tap into this, but by giving people the opportunity to enjoy the upcoming season before it even starts.

Living in The Now When Everyone’s in The Future

The biggest issue I have with starting the next season too soon is the seemingly inability to live in the now.

As a newer dad, I started to notice just how difficult it is to live in the moment. This is something I’ve dealt with here and there, but having a baby has made this extreme and also persistant. I think it’s the lack of sleep.

I want to be able to enjoy the holiday seasons in full. I want to submerge myself in the seasons. When decorations are trends for holidays start early, I start to experience a sort of seasonal dissonance.

But here’s the thing.

This year, I’m taking control of the holiday season!

Decorate

I want to transform our house for each holiday. That means putting out candles that match the season. I’m talking pillow covers, blankets, trinkets, AND music.

The vibe will be palpable.

Consume

It’s sad to say that many holidays in America revolve around consuming. Food, drink, media, etc. Many people confuse this with consumption-core, buying things, throwing them out when you’re done, spending thousands on Amazon, etc. etc.

That’s not exactly what I mean.

I mean, making some apple cider and watching Gilmore Girls, or Twilight Zone.

Gather

I’ve been starting to get excited for Spooky Season. I’m planning what shows we’re going to watch and peeping the calendar to see if we could sneak in a Betrayal at House on the Hill night with some friends.

Do What You Want

There’s no way to know when an arbitrary season like Spooky Season starts. If you want to start listening to Christmas music on September 1st, go for it!

What I want is to start the excitement for a holiday soon enough to enjoy it, but late enough so the excitement will last.

I was a Nintendo kid through and through. I grew up sitting on the floor exploring the world of Majora’s Mask on my GameCube, not having any clue what to do. I would literally play through the first 3 days over and over again, getting closer to finally opening the clock tower and starting the game in earnest. When I wasn’t doing that, I was playing Pokémon Fire Red on my Game Boy SP. Probably trying to figure out if tailwhip lowered my Pokémon’s defense permanently.

Whatever I was up to, Nintendo consoles were integral to my childhood. I have many a core memories of swapping cartridges on the playground and talking strategies. I even remember dropping my sibling’s Game Boy in the toilet while playing Donkey Kong Land 2.

That being said, I missed out on a lot of great games as a kid. I didn’t have an older brother to show me the deeper gaming knowledge. Games like Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio, Rez, Golden Sun, and truly countless more passed me by because I simply didn’t know what was considered good at the time.

Now that I’m older, have internet access, and gaming podcasts have entered reality, I (and you) have more access to the games of the past than ever before.

In this series, I visit the things I missed, and today I want to talk about:

How Did I Miss Metroid?

My first touchpoint with Metroid was Super Smash Bros. I assume most people my age first came in contact with the series this way, but when I asked my peers who Samus was, at least one kid knew. Maybe his older brother was into it or something.

For the longest time, I just knew Metroid was a sci-fi game that starred Samus.

The Cool Uncle? Or the Weird Uncle No One Actually Likes?

Metroid feels like the black sheep of Nintendo properties.

Nintendo is known for making bright, fun, and often kid-friendly games. Mario isn’t scary or thematically challenging, and although there are spooky moments here and there in the first two 3D Zelda games, Ocarina of Time, and Majora’s Mask, they were never outright trying to scare people. Even Luigi’s Mansion, Nintendo’s answer to the Resident Evil games, is closer to a spooky romp than a Dead Space.

Metroid, on the other hand, really feels like it was intentionally made to be spooky, and I picked up on that as a kid. I don’t think I would have enjoyed these games back then. I was a baby so the scarier parts would have sent me into a month-long recurring nightmare of seeing creepy bugs on my walls as I tried to fall asleep.

Metroid feels like the black sheep of Nintendo games, not just because it’s the only series that feels more mature and scary, but also in how Nintendo has handled the property over the years.

The series saw a lot of activity in the early 2000s. From 2002-2010, nine Metroid games would be released. One of which is a remake, another one is pinball, and a third is a collected version of the THREE Metroid Prime games that had come out within the previous 7 years. This was a great time to be a Metroid fan, even if some people didn’t like all the releases.

However, between 2010 and 2020, two games came out. And one of them was a co-op game seemingly targeting kids. The other a 3DS game that came out right around the time the Switch came out.

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for video games to take nearly a decade to finish, but Metroid is a huge franchise that all but disappeared in the 2010s.

It seemed like Metroid was just an old game on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sure, there were some fans, but was it actually good?

Dipping My Toes In

It wasn’t until I went to college and met a good friend of mine that I learned more about the series.

This friend’s name is Dustin, and if there’s one thing you should know about him, is that he loves a good challenge. I meant him in 2017, and I’m pretty sure he was playing through Dark Souls III on NG+++++++++++++++. That means he had played through an already very challenging game 16 times as the difficulty increased each time.

So when I learned that Dustin loves Metroid, it was easy to assume that they were challenging games. At the time, I was interested in playing the game, but they weren’t very accessible. However, when Metroid Dread came out in 2021, I finally made the plunge.

And I bounced off so hard.

The game was challenging, and it’s the reason I went out and bought a Switch Pro Controller. I needed that extra fidelity and ergonomics to get through the challenging bosses. After about 8 hours of running away from killer robots and bashing my head into walls, I just lost interest. I didn’t know what the game was asking of me, and I was too distracted to try harder.

Jump forward to 2025, and I now have access to a lot of classic games. I love the Game Boy Advance library, and one title has been staring me down for a while now:

Falling in Love With Metroid Fusion

Before starting this game, I really only knew that a lot of people loved it and that it is in most people’s top 5 GBA games, but what convinced me to play it was its length. I know, kind of lame, but I can’t resist a highly regarded game that’s only around 7 hours. With my busy schedule, this felt like the game for me.

And boy howdy, it is.

First Impressions are Everything

Right off the bat, I notice just how gorgeous the game is. The sprite work looks amazing. Everything is legible, but it’s also immersive, and the game controls incredibly well.

I played on my Retroid Pocket 5 and used a shimerless filter as well as an overlay to bring the Gameboy Advance logo into the bottom of the screen. I played with integer scaling, and it looked gorgeous on the RP5s OLED screen.

Getting a little further into the game, I started to realize just how guided the game is. When I think of Metroid-Vania games, I often assume most of them emphasize exploration. That includes finding a section you can’t reach, finding a powerup later down the line, and then trying to remember where that area you found was.

This isn’t the case for Metroid: Fusion. The game guides the player to where they need to go by starting the player in a hub area and telling them which sector they need to go to. There are sections you can go back to, but for the most part the game tells you where to go.

The Story and The Themes

Metroid Fusion is definitely not a story-heavy game, but it does feel cinematic. At the beginning of the game, you watch Samus get infected by what is called the X parasite. Due to the medical intervention needed to save Samus, her body suit had to be surgically removed from her body, and now she’s lost all of her powers.

After recovering, she’s sent to the space station BSL to investigate an explosion and contact the crew. She’s chosen because she’s now immune to the X parasite, which is also on the station.

Shortly after arriving at the space station, Samus discovers SA-X, a clone of her that the X-parasite made using her DNA. This clone is not nice, in fact, she’s very scary, and she wants to kill Samus and will stalk her around the station for the entire game.

This setup reminded me of Alien. Not the clone part, but being stuck on a space station while a very strong monster is looking for you.

In terms of the themes of the games, I didn’t pick up on much. I was primarily there for the vibes. While I missed it, one of my favorite creatives, Brenden Bigley, over at Wavelengths, has a great review that goes into detail about the game’s central theme:

What does it mean to be all-powerful and lose everything?

Playing With Expectation

Metroid Fusion messes with the expectations of players.

You spend the first moments of the game following orders:

• Go here to get this thing

• Go here to kill this thing

However, there are moments when you get to that location only to find something is wrong. Either the monster isn’t there, or something is blocking your way. This adds to the tension and horror of the game. Although you’re told what to do, you never know what’s coming.

The game also plays with expectations in the inverse. In one section of the game, you’re told that SA-X, the evil clone that’s following you around, is in the same sector as you. They stress that if you see it, you need to RUN.

This makes this segment tense, but SA-X never shows up. The player is expecting a jump scare and instead gets a 15-minute segment that feels like you’re slowly curling back into your chair.

Perspective is also not safe from this destruction of expectations. The entire thing is a sidescrolling game, but there’s one moment when SA-X breaks through a wall and the camera zooms into its face and reveals its cold, dead, empty eyes. It’s a genuine jump scare that works really well.

The way the game plays with expectations makes the game feel really scary. Sure, you’re told what to do for the most part, but you never know what’s waiting around the corner, and you never know who to trust.

Learning to Adapt in the Face of Adversity

I love a good boss fight. They need to navigate the space between making me scream in anger and making me want to keep trying. This means when I lose, it’s not my fault.

The bosses in Metroid Fusion fit this description to a T.

I experienced moments of needing to turn off my Retroid and step away for a breather, and I felt the tension of knowing what I had to do, but not being able to do it. After the first couple of bosses, every new boss felt like an impossible task. An uphill battle with hundreds of projectiles flying at lightspeed right to my face.

When I get stuck on a boss in any game, typically, I just need to watch a video of someone beating it, and that’s enough information for me to finish the game. That was not the case for Metroid Fusion.

On multiple occasions, I found myself using the strategies from a written guide or a video only to find that it was not working for me. Instead, I would eventually find my own way to finish the game. Not something that I expected, but very welcome.

The Final Encounter and My Only Complaint

Metroid-vania games are known for going back to get the things you missed.

Throughout Metroid Fusion, there are obvious areas and secrets that you can’t reach until you get an upgrade. So, when I got the final upgrade, I was stoked to clear the map and get all the buffs before the final fight.

That didn’t happen.

You see, Metroid Fusion has a huge story beat that happens right before the final fight. Such a big moment that the player becomes locked into the end of the game. All the doors in the station are locked except for the doors leading to the final boss.

This is where my only complaint with the game is. Unless you know that interacting with the final navigation room would lock you into the end of the game, there’s no way to sweep the map for more upgrades. Instead, you’re forced to lock in to the final fight with whatever upgrades you have.

For me, that meant only having 9 out of 20 energy tanks.

The final fight with SA-X is tremendously tough, and having less than possible health makes it even more difficult. My biggest issue with this moment isn’t that it was challenging, but that it was more challenging because I didn’t know the game was going to lock me in. It felt really bad.

But man…

… it felt so good to finally beat it.

The experience of trying out different ways to beat SA-X, using a guide to figure out the best way to do it, then figuring out my own way to beat it, was exhilarating. It felt like I had ownership over how I beat this fight, and that rocked.

It’s been a fun “summer break”, but I’m excited to get this space back online!

During my time away from writing, I’ve been spending more time working. I’m talking about going home after work to eat dinner, then getting back to work after the baby goes to bed. It’s been a crazy busy time, but the weekly schedule of grinding on weekdays then chilling on weekends is starting to click with me.

That being said, I’m super busy all the time, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to ease back into writing about things I care about. I hope to post every other week at least. If you want to follow along with me, subscribe!

Introducing Espresso Tonic!

I’m excited to announce that this space is now Espresso Tonic! I wanted to get away from personal branding and build something that’s slightly more professional and formal.

It didn’t take long for me to come up with the name; I think it was the first idea. Espresso Tonics are my favorite summertime drink. It’s easy but can be dressed up, versatile yet evocative of a specific vibe.

I want this space to be synonymous with class and playfulness, and that’s what I want my writing to reflect going forward.

I want to say you’ll start to see changes in what topics I choose to write about, but we’ll see. I may still publish very personal and random thoughts about whatever I feel like.

What Writing Can You Expect From Espresso Tonic?

I have a lot of concepts floating around in my head right now. Most notably:

• Dad gear

• A multipart theology of play (This would be a really big project and I’m not sure I have the time or brainspace for it)

• More video game reviews

One thing I’m unsure will stick around is the media roundups. I’m not a fan of just dumping everything I consumed in a month, but I do think there’s something to actually putting thought into what I engaged with for that month.

Part of me wants to put up hard borders around what Espresso Tonic is for, but I also like using this space to reflect on whatever I want.

Why Does This Look Different?

While I was on break, my previous site and newsletter host literally promoted a Nazi newsletter (not accused Nazis, but people who self identify and post white supremacist garbage. It’s rather upsetting), so that’s why this looks quite a bit different.

The newsletter is now hosted through Beehiiv. I’m still getting used to this site, so there will be some hiccups here and there, but I think over time it will be a much better solution. I can tweak the site at a very granular level, which rocks, but will take a bit more time to dial in.

Subscribe to follow along!