I’m basically just working, playing, and occasionally doing home improvements along with the regular daily/weekly chores. The big work project isn’t at a point yet where I can really talk about it much (not a matter of secrecy, more a matter of being in a state of flux) and chores are boring, so let’s talk about games.

Satisfactory‘s 1.0 is set to release on the 10th of September. Hooray! Only, this means that my “little break” from the game is actually going to last two more entire months (minus the handful of hours left in the Tuesday night co-op save that the kids & I have going on). Speaking of the co-op…

Warframe might be our next “family gaming time” thing. Now, I can’t really do looter-shooter games as well as I used to (or as often, or for as long) but there’s still some fun to be had, and as long as I can take a fairly simple & straightforward role in the team, maybe we’ll get into a good groove with that. We’ll find out once we get to that point. We’ve built a “clan dojo” which is currently cranking out gear research. Progress!

Final Fantasy XIV is the MMO that I’m paying for but not playing as much as I probably should given that I’m paying for it. The new expansion is out and the game engine’s been updated. Things are even prettier now, and that’s for a game which was already quite pretty! I just need to keep slogging away at the main story questline so I can get back to doing what I actually want, which is… gathering and crafting. Sigh.

Unicorn Overlord has been a case of starting, stopping, restarting, stopping, and trying to get back into it. The game just isn’t gelling for me. I understand what it’s doing, I admire the work and the craft, but I’m not having fun. It feels too much like work. Which sucks because I splashed out for the special edition box and everything. Whoops. So in terms of games on the Switch I’m back yet again to…

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the game that got us through the first few years of the pandemic and it hasn’t lost much of its luster, really. I’m working my way, slowly, through a Maddening difficulty run… which turns out to be almost exactly as hard as Engage’s “normal” difficulty, in most respects. Go figure. (The combat gameplay is the only thing I really liked about Engage. It’s prettier than 3H’s and better constructed overall as well. Too bad everything else about the game is annoying.) With all that said… I’ve been there done that with 3H, so I don’t often get the urge to pick up the Switch controller. And it’s not like I have anything else on that console I’m into right now.

Honkai Star Rail is the mobile game that I usually play on the PC because it’s prettier that way, though it taxes my computer more than nearly any other game I play. I’ve no idea what that’s about. Yes, it’s a ‘gacha’ game, and no, I don’t pour lots of money into it. (Mostly just the cheap monthly per-day rewards top-up and the periodic “battle pass” type system.) HSR’s take on the classic JRPG “four teammates in turn-based combat against waves of enemies” style is right in my sweet spot. Love it to pieces.

Titan Quest is the predecessor of Grim Dawn and lacks the later game’s sudden steep difficulty spike so for now, TQ’s taking the spot of the “Diablo-like” game in my roster. Sometimes that’s the kind of play you’re looking for, so there we are.

…and while that’s not everything I’m playing, those are the highlights. Other than 1.0 of Satisfactory I’m not sure there’s even anything new (for certain values of “new”) coming down the pipeline that I’m even all that interested in. My Steam wishlist, such as it is by this point, is mostly filled with stuff I know I wouldn’t actually play even if I bought any of it. Ah well.