One of the great things about the winter season are the big sales that almost all of the major platforms put on during the New Year’s period. If you were able to resist things when they first released, then you’ll more than likely be able to get them for a song here at the beginning/end of the year. This can have a bit of a drawback to it though, something I think I’m going to start calling “winter wandering.” Actually, this tends to happen with or without a bunch of new games to work through, so maybe its has to do more with winter itself than anything else.

Perhaps it’s the monkey wrenches that Christmas and New Year’s tend to through into normal routine. I don’t know about you all, but things really get thrown out of whack what with the parties, events, extra visits and time off. It’s all good and fun, but it does kind of make for a scattered mindset for a while. Usually, I find myself either drifting from one old favorite to the next or trying once again to get through an old game that I’ve just never managed to finish. For example, my project for last couple of years has been to finish Morrowind (…and it’s still a work in progress). This year though, It’s trying (in vain) to play through all of the stuff I got on sale.

First was In Stars and Time: a neat time-looping RPG reminiscent of stuff like Undertale. I was able to give it a few hours, but the combination of a very simplistic combat system, (overly) cutesy main characters and its tendency to beat you over the head with its message caused me to lose interest pretty quickly. It’s probably a decent game, just not one I’ve got the patience for right now.

After that it was Super Mario RPG and Powerwash Simulator. Both are simple to play and don’t require a lot of time commitment, so I’ve been making regular loops back to both. In particular, PowerWash has been really easy to come back to. It’s just so…nice to finish off all the stuff that needs doing and kick back with it. I fear that it’s a bit too easy to play though, as it’s kind of been keeping me from other games like Soul Hackers 2 and Ender Lilies.

Regarding those two, I feel like they both have potential to be pretty fun, but so far neither has had enough going on to really pull me in. Soul Hackers 2 seems to have the kind of story that gets really crazy interesting later, but for now it’s taking a minute to get going. It also doesn’t help that the combat system is both less complicated than Persona 5’s and less flashy than Tokyo Mirage Sessions’, making it kind of boring to deal with here in the game’s opening chapters.

Ender Lilies is also suffering a bit in the early game. The lore is there along with a genuinely interesting world, but I feel as though the art style (kind of pop-up bookish) and the very simple combat controls hold it back. Coming from games like Metroid Dread and Hollow Knight, Ender Lilies just doesn’t have same combat chops (not in the beginning at least). Usually it wouldn’t matter so much, but here in the dead of winter, the will to power through just hasn’t rematerialized yet.

I also picked up The Chant on sale, but I’m trying not to start that one up until getting through most these. It absolutely looks interesting though and am looking forward to playing it. It’s just a matter of finishing these AND not getting wrapped back up into older games (looking at you, Donkey Kong Country!) and Morrowind again. We’ll see how it goes though. Winter has a way of slowing things down even after normalcy re-establishes itself, you know?

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What about you? What have you been playing since New Year’s? Have you been able to stick to one game or have you found yourself wandering too?

Image is the Donkey Kong Country box art