The past several months have been strange as far as my gaming habits are concerned. I’ve always been a bit of a completionist. I rarely stop reading a book I’ve started. I usually try to play through at least the main story quests of my games. But something has shifted in my willingness to push through and finish every game I buy. I noticed it with the Phantom Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk. That is sitting in my library about halfway done. It isn’t a bad story addition. Even after a long break from the game, I picked up the combat again pretty quickly. There are some good QoL additions in the DLC as well. So why haven’t I finished it? I picked up the game Aska, that lasted only as many hours as I could stand the slog of what I’m allowed to carry at a time, which wasn’t many. I bought Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 based on all of the hype around it. That was a big mistake. I genuinely loathe the combat mechanics in that game to the point where no amount of story would make me play it. But beyond the combat, the story is brutal and I’m just not in the headspace to deal with brutal.

That’s an AH HA! moment right there. Corpo dystopia feels a bit too real in our current reality and political BS is shoved in our faces day in and day out. Our own dystopia is one very big reason why I’m likely to shy away from games like Cyberpunk right now. It might also explain why The Outer Worlds sits unfinished too. The overarching theme of people being exploited by corporations sits inside that game. That same avoidance of certain dystopian themes has shaped what I read and watch lately as well. Our world is pretty dark, and I don’t want darkness in my escapism.

Dune Awakening’s ennui is a combination of losing patience with the upgrade slog along with hearing “kitten” over and over again and the lack of agency within the story line. I’m at a “what’s the point?” stage in playing that game. ASKA is a Viking themed survival crafting game with some great music, so you’d think it would be right up my alley with how many hours I’ve put into Valheim. I’m sure the game gets better once you’ve pushed past the initial pick up sticks and make a shack on the beach phase. But I’m not willing to tolerate the utterly ridiculous “what you can carry” mechanics that the game starts out with to find out. I may take a look at whether there are mods for the game that make the inventory more palatable before I try to pick it up again.

What I have stuck with lately is more fantasy based games and the ever-present MMOs, the comfort foods of gaming. I played through to the end of Baldur’s Gate 3 and enjoyed that game a lot. There is a quick, funny and unusual game that I picked up called Dispatch that was a joy to play. It didn’t last long, but it was a breath of fresh air in my Steam library. I’ve even done a little bit of Operations content in Star Wars: The Old Republic and dusted off my Smuggler to catch up on all of the story they’ve released so far.

I’ve done a lot more in World of Warcraft’s latest expansion than the previous two or three before it. I’ve focused mainly on one character this time around and that has helped with avoiding burnout. The designers also seem to have hit a sweet spot with making the gear-gated content in the game accessible this time around. I’m caught up to the latest story bits, I’ve done the dungeons, maxxed the delves, done the raids, and tried all of the systems they’ve put in at least once. And I have raiding achievements for all of the current raid content so far, which is a first for me.

Their housing system has been interesting, but ultimately the crafted gear costs have made that system lose a bit of luster. They are supposed to fix those costs and the accessibility of crafted housing decorations in the next big patch, so maybe I’ll finish my empty rooms when they do.

They’ve put a lot of things into the game for people to try out, although not all of them are wins. The things I’ve tried but have no real desire to pursue are the Prey system, Void assaults, the Diving bit, Decor hide and seek, and the Ritual sites. My gear is in good shape this time around, so I’m not motivated by the weekly quest rewards. I don’t think I’ve ever played long enough before to get the gear score achievements. I’m not trying to be an alt-aholic either. I’m at the point with WoW where I’m done logging in regularly. That happens with every new expansion cycle, but this one has been playable for a lot longer.

For some reason, zombie apocalypse games aren’t in the list of too dark or too dystopian right now, if my play time in 7 Days to Die is any indicator. I have been doing that one with a group of friends, which always helps with motivation. Plus, there are design challenges involved with it. Can you build a stronghold that will withstand the regular zombie hordes? Oops, that one had flaws. Learn what failed and got you killed and modify it for the next assault. The collapse of civilization due to zombies is far-fetched enough to not feel real or immediate.

Valheim is one of those games that also goes through cycles for me. The grind gets kind of old and my base is built, so I move on. I’ve been playing a very heavily modded version of the game lately on a friend’s server and it has been fun. There are new monsters, seasonal cycles where the oceans and rivers freeze over. I’ve had to learn to navigate without the map. A mod has added ore mines so I’m not stuck in the soggy swamp like usual. The changes have made the game feel fresh and I’ve piled on several hours to my already impressive hours played in the game.

Overall, new games have not fared very well while old, familiar games have kept me entertained. Maybe it is true that stress pushes me to resist “new” or “change” and instead I revert to what feels familiar. This doesn’t stop me from picking up games to add to my library, but who knows when I’ll make time to play them (if ever!).