An End Of The Year (Ish) Blog Post With Only One More Beer To Go...
Each Christmas season, I’ll have one game that I’ll focus on, dropping everything else to the point of obsession. Previous titles include AC: Odyssey and Death Stranding, but this year has been different. I expected to play Callisto Protocol for longer, but only a couple of days later, it was over, and there was no desire to playthrough again.
Instead of new titles, I’ve gone back to PowerWash Simulator and even GTA V. No, that’s not because I’m hyped about GTA VI: the 2013 game is now free on PlayStation Plus. It’s a decent game, so why not? Besides those, I’ve been playing many older games I’ve meant to play on Steam: Night Call, Fran Bow, Omori, and many more.
My GOTY for 2023 was Dredge, though it’s not been on my playlist, nor has A Highland Song or This Bed We Made. That’s no reflection on those games; it’s just that there are far too many games to play, so many sales, and all these seductive subscriptions that include the likes of Like A Dragon: Ishin, Hi-Fi Rush, Teardown, and free games from Epic Games Store such as Fallout 3 and The Outer Worlds.
There’s not enough time.
That’s one of the reasons why I enjoy reviewing games. There’s an expectation to finish a review in due course; people want to know whether a game is worth buying, the developers are keen for some feedback, and the publishers want to know whether that big bag of gold they sent you was worth the effort. They paid you, so you have to give a good review. You’re so naive.
Before you decide to set up your own gaming blog or work for a smaller outlet, note that you need to enjoy writing and not have a cushty job getting paid a fortune for playing games. That doesn’t happen in journalism (from my experience), let alone small sites like this. We (I) do it for the love of it. Consider streaming – that’s far more lucrative.
No, the point of this site has always been a platform to promote games – be it news, reviews, or the odd feature. I tend not to follow the trends as you can keep up-to-date on the big sites such as IGN, Destructoid and social media. Still, I hope that some of the things I write are informative, persuasive (in a legit way!), and entertaining and that you’ll frequent the site in the coming year.
Having put a hold on review games for a week or two has allowed me to catch up with my backlog (we all have them – hell, I’ve just started Return to Monkey Island which I bought on release…). My writing motivation has decreased due to chilling over the holidays and being with my girls. Codes are already filtering through for 2024, so I anticipate some normality soon.
I hope that you stick with me in 2024. If you have any constructive feedback, i.e. you’d like me to focus more on particular genres, write less/more, add more images, be a bit more serious/playful, more nudes… I’d be happy to hear from you, as once the games start piling up, I’ll be in the zone.
In the meantime, ta for reading this old-school blog post about what’s going through my head (a large pack of beer via the mouth hole). I just felt compelled to write something before I have another stab at Omori.
