Listen to your heart. No.

With how the past few Paradox releases have been, it’s hard to get excited about anything they’re promoting these days.

But do you practice trumpet every day?

I’m so torn on this comment, because Christmas Wrapping is great, but so is Wonderful Christmastime.

I think this is a problem with any sequel to a game that features multiple biomes as locations. Metroid Prime had a lot of distinct locations: a volcano, an icy ruins, abandoned villages and temples, a crashed ship/underwater section, etc. So if when making a sequel, you have to consider if reusing these types of areas will make it feel too much like the original.

I do agree that the environment of Metroid Prime 2 is kind of bland, but there are at least some distinct parts I can remember, like the swampier area, or the dessert. I prefer that to every game being a march through the same cookie cutter areas every time.

My brother always likes to say “Remember, it’s All Wheel Drive, not All Wheel Stop” when reminding people about driving in the snow.

Now have at you!

My copy of Tsuro is so beat up at this point because it’s been my go to starter game for people who don’t play a lot of board games. I love that there is really only one mechanic to understand, giving new players a chance to only have to consider a few things in their turn.

I second Board Game Stats. It’s got a bunch of great customizing options too. You can do things like set the scoring method to things like players vs. game, or if you are playing a game in small teams, you can add multiple players onto a team to collectively track their score.

I’m also a sucker for data and stats, so it’s always fun to be able to look at previous plays, game statistics, player win rates, and other things. It is always a little bit of a bummer that it’s my score keeping record and my win rate is only about 30%.

PlateUp! is a somewhat recent release that I love playing with groups on my steam deck. It’s a multiplayer restaurant sim (think Overcooked) mixed with a roguelite. It doesn’t have as fun unfair chaos as Overcooked and it feels great to play when you have a nice rhythm going.

I really like having music/audio thumbnails in dynamic island while I’m using my phone. It’s nice to be able to tap onto the thumbnail and jump straight to the app playing audio.

I’m really hoping for some more cool things to come to the dynamic island, but it all depends on if Apple continues it for the next model of iPhone.

Gato Roboto is great. It’s a fun little Metroid style game which attempts some unique things and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Collecting the color pallets is also a fun concept.

I was the same way. I found myself much more capable of pulling myself away when I had to actively choose to load the next set of posts.

Why they changed it I can’t say.

I think Tetris is probably the closest we’ve ever gotten to a “perfect video game”. It has such a tremendous staying power and an interesting learning curve. Playing original GB or NES Tetris is still a blast, but playing newer versions like Tetris Effect and Tetris 99 also have this amazing amount of charm. There are very few games where I think this kind of consistency has existed throughout the franchise’s lifespan.

For a while my friends and I were really into Smash Up which tried hard to simulate the TCG feeling without everyone needing their own deck and boosters.

Basic premise of the game is your deck is comprised of two different factions, and you play minions to attempt to capture the locations in play. But then all of the cards have specific rules to add twists to things. It’s been a few years since I’ve actually played it. The one thing I do remember is that you’ll need to be ready to make judgements on how the rules work a lot.

And since it’s been out for like a decade or more now, it has a bunch of expansions. And it’s designed for up to 4 players, so it’s nice to have expansions so the number of faction combinations increases exponentially and it doesn’t feel like everyone is always playing the same strategy over and over.

I like seeing fond memories and Superman 64 in the same sentence. It feels like an oxymoron, but I totally get it. Even the worst games become great memories with great people.

I really love Terraforming Mars, but between the huge deck of project cards, the tons of little resource cubes, and the tiles on the board, it’s a lot of pieces to manage. I have a physical copy of the game and enjoy playing it, but it’s nice to have a digital version which keeps things clean and tidy when you want to play it quickly.

And To-Do supports apple watch now! Great for checking off a list while shopping without having to constantly unlock your phone.

I have so many good memories of this game, friends shouting at me “DO YOU HAVE THE PRINCE?” even if the prince was already revealed.