The Prosaic Life in Games

The routine task. The boring chore. The mundane errand. Each day we’re faced with tackling these things, sometimes on their own and sometimes in groups. They are never something that would be categorized as “fun,” but they need to be done regardless. Grocery shopping. Picking up prescriptions. Standing in line to pay bills. True that…

Persona 5 Royal: Let’s Do This!

When I played my first Persona game, Persona 3 Portable, it was an eye-opening experience. Part turn-based, world-saving combat, part life simulator, it was unlike anything I’d ever played before. At the time I completed it, this “newcomer” to the series, Persona 5 Royal was about a year from release. It’s original version from 2016,…

Oops…I Skyrim’d again

I really don’t know it is with me and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. I know that for some players out there, Skyrim has become a lifestyle, a mode of being, a gaming paramour, of sorts. For me, however, Skyrim has become analogous to…well, I want to say “climbing Mount Everest.” That’s overdramatic, but that’s…

Rethinking Replays

One of my oldest gaming habits is turning to old favorites whenever I fail to find footing with something new. Super Metroid and Super Mario 64 were two such staples. For years I kept copies of them alive on one Nintendo system or another, and I’d fire either of them up any time a new…