I don’t know about you, but I often find myself dreading the end of whatever game I’m playing. It’s not so much because I hate to see it end; I actually rather dislike games that drag on for too long. Rather, it’s that I’m really not looking forward to having to find the “next” game. It’s an inevitable process, one that I’m sure we’ve all dealt with countless times in our lives. Yet, it somehow hasn’t gotten any less frustrating, especially when something that should easily pull you in just doesn’t. Such is the nature of the process, I suppose.

Until last week, I was looking forward to the System Shock remake. It’s getting great reviews of course, but unfortunately the console versions have been indefinitely delayed, so who knows when us console peasants are gonna get to play it. So, now I find myself in something of a holding pattern until I can find something else that sounds interesting. That’s the thing though: I’ve got plenty to play already, yet none of it is sticking. I thought I could get into Yakuza 0 since that series is supposed to be pretty good, yet I feel no desire to continue in it and see what happens to Kiryu next.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent has been on my backlog for a while too, so I thought that it would surely be the “next” game. Unfortunately though, I fear I’ve gotten around to it a bit too late. Many horror games have taken the gameplay that Amnesia pioneered and built even better experiences upon that foundation, leaving the original game feeling a bit slow and underwhelming as a result. So, it’s not really catching either (though I’m really hoping that Amnesia: The Bunker will).

For now, I’m just kinda killing my gaming time with Spyro: Reignited Trilogy on PS5 and Mario Story on N64 (that’s Japanese Paper Mario). Spyro’s structure still keeps it feeeling fun in bite-size pieces, and seeing the character differences in Mario Story has actually been pretty interesting so far. I actually had no idea how different a character can feel depending on the translation; it’s both more subtle and more overt than you’d think. I’m not sure if Mario Story is the “next” game, but it’s managed to grab my attention more than anything else thus far.

This whole process is kind of funny though, don’t you think? I mean, we’re the ones who choose the games we play, so it should just be a matter of deciding what to play next and going with it. Yet, there’s more to it for some reason. It’s not enough to want to play a game. It has to also fit whatever nebulous criteria you happen to be looking for at the time, and you often don’t know what it is you want until you’re already playing it. Well, that’s how it’s been going for me for a while now. Maybe it’s different for you. How you all usually decide on your next game? Do you follow a list or do you just try stuff until you fin something that feels right?

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Gaming is a really odd hobby sometimes, isn’t it?

Screenshot by the Duck of Indeed