What Are You Playing?

I recently took a look at my Steam library and realized that well over half of my game time is spent playing Marvel Rivals. I recently clocked in at just over 1000 hours, and I don't really love that.

There's so much else out there, and I'm not experiencing it or supporting it by devoting so much of my time to a game and a community that doesn't love me back. I decided recently to start changing that.

I've slowly been working at pulling other games into my rotation. I picked up Hollow Knight again after watching Babe start up Silksong. My first playthrough was on the Switch, but I dropped it, and as is typical of my Metroidvania experiences, I totally forgot the map and key objectives.

So I started over on the Steam Deck hooked up to the TV, and it's been surprisingly relaxing to play that after work. But what I love most is that it's such an incredibly different experience this time. I'm much better at it now than I ever was, and because I've learned to take my time and faithfully mark up my map, I'm not backtracking or dying nearly as much. The quality of life updates like a genuine pause state have also made a huge difference.

I've also been playing way more demos than before. It feels like they fell out of fashion for a while and only recently made a big comeback. I think that's great, especially when you can pick up where you left off. I may not be able to pick up as many titles as I might like, but I do enjoy being able to make more informed choices on my wishlist.

Then there's the retro-ish side of things. I really like playing games offline with the Playdate (Whiteout) and the Nintendo 3DS (The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds). It's nice to be able to indulge in games in a more casual, relaxing way, virtually anywhere. I recently had to fly for work, and being able to play the 3DS for almost 8 hours without a charge reminded me how ideal of a form factor it was for travel.

Variety is the spice of life. I'm excited to actually get around to completing titles again. Rivals can wait. I'm taking a chill pill a bit more often.