Time for another check-in on the games that are helping me maintain my sanity in these crazy times! I’ve been getting through a good mix of big budget and indie games, which is always great. Let’s see what’s been keeping me busy, shall we?

SPIRITFARER
This one is pitched as a “cozy management game about death.” That sounds morbid, but it’s actually been fairly relaxing. With bright colors and characters who look like fantastical animals, SPIRITFARER puts you in the role of Stella, a young girl who has taken over for Charon in the role of ferrying souls to the afterlife. But before that, you have to help the souls feel fulfilled. Enter the game’s central conceit: you essentially run a giant houseboat where you craft structures like a loom and a furnace so you can craft personalized houses for the souls you collect as you sail about the map. As someone who has never been drawn to ANIMAL CROSSING, there’s enough direction here to keep me entertained as I go on quests to help out my passengers.

FINAL FANTASY 7 REMAKE
I FINALLY finished this one, after dragging it out for a few months longer than intended. It’s a game I enjoyed for the most part, though certain sections of fetch quests dragged the pacing a bit. I’m very grateful I had nowhere to be when I sat down to finish it, as I thought “Surely there’s only an hour or two left, I can knock this out,” only to discover that, no, there was five more hours of boss fighting and cut scenes. The ending of REMAKE is a TRIP, but only truly lands if you’re familiar with the original game. If you aren’t, you’re likely to be jumping down a wiki afterwards; I know I did, I played the original in the last five years.

TELL ME WHY
I haven’t played LIFE IS STRANGE, but this new game from the same developer was on Xbox Game Pass, so I decided to give it a whirl. So far I’ve only completed the first chapter of three, and it’s a pleasant experience, though less action-packed than my usual gaming fare. TELL ME WHY is about two twins (one of whom is a trans male) returning to their family home after a tragedy resulted in the death of their mother ten years ago. There’s a light paranormal element as the twins are telepathic, and can also project memories of events that happened in certain locations. At this point, the twins have realized they don’t know the full truth about what happened the night of their mother’s death, and are trying to understand what happened. This is very much a 3D adventure game, where most of the interaction is clicking on items and hearing the twins discuss its significance. It’s not my favorite game, but I’m intrigued enough to keep going.

ASSASSIN’S CREED ORIGINS
With ASSASSIN’S CREED VALHALLA coming out later this year, I’ve been inspired once more to try and catch-up on the series. Yes, I could technically jump ahead without any problems, and yet, here we are. AC ORIGINS is a game that I know I would like a lot more if I would stop going months between playing it. With the pandemic, I’ve been able to finish most of the AAA games I’ve had on my plate, so I’m making an effort to actually dedicate some time to AC: ORIGINS and see if I can get through the main campaign. This world is GORGEOUS, and I’m enjoying being able to explore it more.
And that’s what I’m playing! Any games got you particularly hooked?
I also found the fetch quests in the FF7 remake to be very annoying. It is, however, a vast improvement over FF15’s sidequests. I also hated in FF7R how long it took to travel from place to place.
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I honestly kept my iPad or a book near me when playing FF7R for loading screens, especially towards the end when you have to chocobo travel everywhere. I actually didn’t mind the sidequests in FF15 because they genuinely felt optional and you could explore and stumble across them, and do them at your own pace, whereas the ones in FF7R were DROP EVERYTHING AND DO THESE NOW,
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Gosh, I feel that. Honestly, I just wish Square Enix would find a balance with their sidequests 😂
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I did a review on the FFVII remake a few weeks back and although I didn’t mention the fetch quests I do have to agree that the pacing flows like a river of bricks. I’ve posted a link below if you are interested.
https://indiplays.game.blog/2020/08/21/final-fantasy-vii-remake-ps4/
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I haven’t had much time to play anything new lately, but glad you’re catching up with AC…can’t wait for Valhalla either! Though in about a week I’m looking forward to some old school Mario with 3D all stars for Switch 😀
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That’s awesome! I’ve never been a big Mario person, but I’m always happy to see older games get a re-release. Enjoy!
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I’m in between games right now, but I just finished watching a LP of Tell Me Why (since I don’t have a PC or XBox). I’d definitely recommend finishing it!
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Definitely planning on it! Went to go play tonight…and then realized the next chapter was a separate install, so ended up having to play something else while it downloaded. Soon though!
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I’ve just started playing Paradise Killer, and so far it’s certainly made an impression – kind of a hybrid visual novel/exploration game, a murder mystery set in a hyper-colourful cosmic horror/vaporwave/???? world.
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Oh that sounds interesting, I hadn’t heard of it! I’ll have to check it out!
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I used to be an avid gamer when I was a teenager but I haven’t played in a while. I’d love to get back into it 🙂
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There’s so many small games these days, it’s easy to find things to dabble in, even if you don’t have a console. 🙂
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I had to stop with AC franchise after Brotherhood or something. It really just felt like they were milking the franchise like it’s nobody’s business but the recent games, and the upcoming one, has me interested to give the franchise a second chance hahah Glad to see that you enjoyed FFVII-R despite a couple of issues! I too didn’t think it was perfect but it has plenty of fun moments, beautiful cinematic sequences, and the ending was a huge twist for this “remake”. I’m still sad that they didn’t call it “FFVII-Remako” tho!!! 😛
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HAHAHAHA Remako would have been great, how did they miss that?
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I just got ORIGINS and I really need to try it out! I feel in love with Odyssey and my excitement for VALHALLA is overwhelming!
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I’m enjoying Origins now that I’m giving it a shot, plus it’s GORGEOUS.
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You are definitely making me want to play it myself!
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