What Video Game Did I Play Yesterday?
August 29th, 2026
I fiddled with some games for a few minutes each, but my big gaming event yesterday was playing several hours of Vampire Survivors on Game Pass, becoming extremely relaxed, and sleeping for a solid 8 hours for the first time in a couple weeks. I went back to the start of the game to play this on my XBox, but that was kind of satisfying.
August 28th, 2026
Yesterday wasn't a big games day for me. I tried an arcade game called Demon World on my Evercade during one of my work breaks and thought it was solidly ok. It was a run and gun platformer where some of the jumping felt weird and clumsy. You can get good height, though. The checkpointing was frustrating in a way that made me want to defeat it, so I might play this more.
Before bed, I tried to improve my mood by playing Pokemon Blue a little. I was going to try to play this quickly, but it turns out I feel strongly that it is somehow illegal to fight Brock before everyone in my party is level 10.
August 27th, 2026
I feel like my brain is stuffed full of cotton balls today, and for no apparent reason, I'm so frustrated I want to scream into a pillow. It doesn't seem like the most normal I've ever been, but I got takeout, did some crafts, and am attempting to rally.
I played a lot of shmups yesterday, which was fun. I wanted to get the new port of DoDonPachi Resurrection and try the multiplayer, but I'm only letting myself make one arcade game purchase for every 100 credits I play in arcade games. I was quite far from that when I sat down for the evening, so I, reasonably, burned through 62 credits in Guwange. I only needed 45, so it was overkill, but I got into it once I came upon this plan.
I don't quite know how I feel about Guwange. The bosses are fun to fight, even if I suck at fighting them, but I don't love the stages. Rather than having free movement, you're stuck on a road that's sometimes quite narrow, so I always feel backed into a corner in those sometimes never-ending feeling segments. That's probably the point, but I can't see myself working hard enough at memorizing everything to get really good at this.
After that, I did pick up DoDonPachi Resurrection: Reignite, and the 10 player battle royale seemed really fun so far! The game overall has 10 dollar PS1 game vibes, and does not have a lot going on compared to the other CAVE shooters I've picked up. I do enjoy the multiplayer, though, as general bafflement and explosions make losing feel more exciting. It also has a gacha with in-game currency, which I am a sucker for. This isn't great, but I'll probably play it quite a lot.
August 26th, 2026
I got myself perked up enough to play a round of Vampire Survivors last night, since I'm excited about the new DLC on Friday. I fell asleep just before getting the unlock I was chasing, though! It was a good outcome, but very frustrating all the same.
August 25th, 2026
I'm still feeling a little off, but got myself to play a few rounds of Deathsmiles last night. This game is so fun, and playing did cheer me up a bit! I was seeing how far I could get at rank 2, the medium level for each stage, on one credit. I only made stage 3 one out of five tries, but I know what I need to get right on the second stage boss to start doing that more often. It's very doable stuff!
August 24th, 2026
Last night I was really exhausted for no reason, so I played three rounds of Dodonpachi SaiDouOuJou to put myself to sleep. I actually didn't do so badly with two of the three pilots, so I'm a bit satisfied with my progress. That aside, I'm hoping to get this week off to a cheerier start! I still plan to play lots of arcade stuff, but I'm also hoping to be better about taking screenshots and doing decent posts here.
August 23rd, 2026
This is not really the chill weekend I was hoping for. My modem/router broke last night, so I went to bed early because I was mad, like a sensible person, then spent today running around to get a new one and set it up before doing some family stuff. I had so many goals this weekend and have failed at all of them! It's very frustrating. My internet is faster now, though, and I also am not going to burn to death from a modem/router catching fire, so this is a net positive.
Yesterday afternoon, I did some achievement hunting with Midway Arcade Origins. I spent the most time with Toobin', as it was giving me the most trouble. It was also really fun, so I'm looking forward to getting back to it. The controls do take some getting used to, but I know I'll be able to get the hang of them and beat that first level.
My least favorite I went with was Spy Hunter 2. This one had a really easy "play for 15 minutes" achievement, but if it had been more in depth, I'm not sure I would have chased it. The screen is so weird and small, and it's just not much fun. I doubt I'll spend more time with this.
I got the achievement in Bubbles, a game about soap becoming large and killing cockroaches, pretty quickly. I didn't get a screenshot of this saved, I guess, which is disappointing! It's a very odd and interesting game, kind of like a higher concept take on the same ideas Feeding Frenzy approaches. I really liked this, and probably will play more in the future.
My last game in this session was Root Beer Tapper. I played the 2600 version of this a lot when I was really little, and the arcade version was just as fun. I'm not good at it, but it's cheery and fun.
August 22nd, 2026
I had a bad Friday crash yesterday, so I didn't play much. I did get out Taito Legends 2, though, which is maybe one of my favorite PS2 discs. It has so many cool and strange arcade games on it, but last night, I set it up to play Cleopatra Fortune. It's a very solid puzzle game about using different block types to box each other in. The music is really nice, too! I only played two rounds last night, but even though I expected to be super rusty, I had one of my best games! It was satisfying.
August 21st, 2026
Yesterday, I was playing arcade games again. It's so cool that arcade games are so accessible now, and it's fun to sit back and appreciate how easy it is to gather a whole arcade's worth of games in my apartment, and pretty cheaply, too! During my breaks from work, I was playing shmups. I played a few credits in Rabio Lepus, which is very cute and very difficult. I was able to get to stage two on a single credit, though, which felt good!
However, it did not feel as good as getting to stage 2 in Dodonpachi SaiDouOuJou on a single credit during my later break. It was novice mode, yes, but progress is progress! Plus, it helped me destress a bit.
Before bed, I tried a very Metal Slug-esque run and gun called Demon Front, too. It was really fun, but IGS Arcade Collection doesn't allow for screenshots! It's a shame, as the game is bright, cartoony, and charming, and I liked the shield and charge shot mechanics, too. I had an excellent time with this!
August 20th, 2026
Card-drawing app issues aside, I finished the journaling game I was playing, The Ghost Inside yesterday. It was slow paced and introspective, which I was in the mood for, but I don't feel like I stuck the story's ending. My character didn't end up being as well developed as I wanted, so the set parts of the game's ending felt a little dissatisfying. That doesn't feel like the game's fault to me, though, so I might replay it at some point.
Before bed, I played Pokemon Shield for a little bit, getting through the fourth gym. For some reason, I was really shocked to find it was a fighting type gym, but now that I am more awake, I am not certain why I felt that way. At any rate, I was a bit overlevelled and flew through the fight.
August 19th, 2026
Yesterday, my eyes were burning like crazy, so I spent time with a solo journaling game called The Ghost Inside. I got this on itch.io and in my head, it is an introspective, very Backrooms-y game. I'll write more about the game experience tomorrow, though, as I found myself shockingly frustrated trying to find a good "deck of cards" app to use during work breaks! The one I'd thought might be best could only save how many cards I'd drawn, not which ones, when I put my phone to sleep. It was a big hassle for a storytelling game driven by card draws. I'm just throwing a real deck of cards in my purse next time I want to do something like this.
I played a round or two of Pocket Quest before bed, too, hoping the wild match-3 action would put me to sleep. It didn't, but it was relaxing.
August 18th, 2026
Today, I am sleepy and find my browser game related dawdling yesterday most regrettable. I played some neat stuff, though, and don't want to ignore it! I really loved Cleansed, an incremental game styled as an ASCII dungeon crawler. This was on Galaxy.click, and I started it just because it seemed short. It's very stylish, though, and had more gameplay than I expected. This is maybe one of the coolest incrementals I've played!
I also played My Jellyfish Aquarium on itch.io, which was another incremental. It was short, simple, and had such lovely pastels! This was a very pleasant time.
Over on itch.io, I also played Iowa: The RPG. It's a very accurate depiction of Midwestern life.
Before bed, I thought I'd play a bit of Crystal Defenders on PS3, too. I used to have this on an iPod Touch, so I was looking forward to playing it again! Last night, though, it was not hitting for me. That is fine, and I will play it again. It just took ages longer than I remembered to get through enough waves to face my inevitable defeat.
August 17th, 2026
Most of yesterday was travelling, which was a little tiring. I just played a round of Vampire Survivors and got to sleep afterwards.
August 16th, 2026
I still didn't play any games yesterday, but am back home now and will be able to resume normal activities! I did go to the Pokemon Fossil Museum exhibit at the Field Museum this weekend, though, and it was a nice trip! The Pokemon exhibit itself was just okay. I didn't feel like traffic or crowd control was very well implemented, and for an exhibit that a lot of kids were going to be at, it felt super low on interactivity! I'm a snot who studied in a history grad program tilted towards museum work, so I'm not sure any of this would bother anyone else. It felt a lot like a fancy photo op leading up to an exclusive gift shop, though. As such, I did get a lot of photos, and'll share a few below. The rest of the museum was fantastic, too! It was the last of the giant Chicago museums I'd yet to visit, so I'm glad I went!
Please enjoy these few Pokemon photos! Things should be back to normal here tomorrow.
August 15th, 2026
Yesterday was a bit busy, so I just did dailies in a bunch of mobile games! It was a nice day that doesn't translate well to blogging about video games.
August 14th, 2026
Last night, I played about an hour and a half of Pokemon Shield to amuse a toddler. It was nice! They did demand I "do walking" whenever I spent any time in a menu, which added pressure to an otherwise breezy game.
August 13th, 2026
I have a lot of driving today, and all roads I must take are stormy. Alas! It'll be ok, though!
I tried to trudge forward in Sephirothic Stories again, but am in a dungeon with a time limit and was a little too sleepy to deal with it.
I played a half-asleep round of Money Puzzle Exchanger, too. I didn't do well, but it felt necessary before trying to sleep.
August 12th, 2026
I'm going to be a few days without screenshots or photos again, but I'm still in arcade mode! Last night, I played Magical Drop III rather decently, and Money Puzzle Exchanger and Neo Drift-Out rather poorly. Neo Drift-Out was neat, though! It had a way better sense of speed than I'd expect from a Neo Geo game, and I felt like I was improving a bit with each loss. I'll come back to it!
August 11th, 2026
I'm so sleepy tonight, so this will be a quick post! I played Mario Kart: Super Circuit with my work friend on Switch Online last night. I'd never played this Mario Kart, either, and really liked the variety in the track design! The presents and ribbons one was especially cute. The controls felt very slippery at first, but it was easy to get used to them.
I played a few rounds of Money Puzzle Exchanger before making some valiant attempts to sleep. They didn't go great, but it was more successful than sleeping ended up being.
August 10th, 2026
I'm giving my old Switch a second life as a portable arcade, which has been easy with the sorts of games I buy. Last night, though, faced with beautiful games from throughout history, I dove into Super Breakout. I'm more used to the 2600 and Game Boy versions of this, so the arcade version's paddle felt really tiny! As basic as this is, though, it's super fun. I'm awful at it, but I want to do better.
I also got back into Money Puzzle Exchanger, which currently feels like a frantic, prehistoric merge game to me. I only ever play solo mode in this, but like it quite a lot! It's high concept and maybe a bit much, but very addictive.
August 9th, 2026
I made minimal progress on model kits last night, and as far as games go, only played a run of Double Dragon II. I was playing this on a Game Boy shaped Evercade, which killed my hands, but I like the progression in this game. It's good stage planning to have a rural section between the city and the boss's castle, and the developers also understood that you don't mess with farm equipment. I don't love how much the bosses repeat, though.
August 8th, 2026
Last night, as I mentioned, I built a plamo of a very summery and cheerful Haro, that was in a set with some other Gunpla. It was small and easy, but cute, and it gave me an okay sense of accomplishment. It is pictured here with a Gundam Base Haro I built last weekend. I need to at least temporarily fight the instinct to get more of these little guys.
More relevantly, I'm in an arcade game mood lately, so I was messing with Capcom Arcade Stadium last night. I hadn't played Final Fight before, so I did a run through of that. My skill level was pretty dire, but I had a great time. It would be really mind boggling to go outside and see some guy with a sword fighting off a bunch of identically dressed girls doing jump kicks at him, but I guess that could happen any time.
I also did a really awful runthrough of Progear, but I'm trying to be nice to myself because I was sleepy. I had to use a Continue in level 1, though! It felt inexcusable. Still, I'll do better next time!
August 7th, 2026
I went to bed right after posting last night, and played a few puzzles in Puzzle Challenge: Crosswords and More for the PSP. This doesn't control particularly well, and it's weird that they just stretched out the PS2 version of this. An app like this would be full of ads, though, so I'm okay with that. It was nice to do a couple cryptograms and word searches without getting innudated with somewhat distressing mobile game ads! I think this will return for many more posts.
I will have some updates on my model building quest tomorrow. I am saying that now so I don't wuss out of posting the Haropla I just built.
August 6th, 2026
I'm really tired tonight. I have the vague feeling that I'd like to take a crack at building my stack of Gunpla and other mechs, but I've approached that tonight by laying flat on my back and thinking about building those model kits. I don't really want to customize them much, because I have a hand shake that makes painting and panel lining miserable. Intellectually, I know that's okay, especially since the kits look so nice even with small tweaks only! I give myself a headache thinking about how lazy I am and what a waste that is, though, then end up not building them. Still, it's fine to just take pleasure in building, so I'm going to do my best to get rid of those bad thoughts and enjoy myself.
Anyway, last night I played a bit of Monster Survivors, an ultra budget wave based Survivors-like on Switch that I honestly kind of like. I just wanted to get myself to sleep without messing up my Vampire Survivors save file, but I'd forgotten that this can build up a decent chaos level. The mobile game rubbish glued onto this game can be annoying, but it's fine.
August 5th, 2026
I have no internet tonight, but one of my coworkers gave me some really lovely zucchini bread with pecans and pistachios today. Internet outages suck, but baked goods are such a positive that this has remained a good day.
I am disappointed that I can't share any of the screenshots from the bizarre Chinese Famicom version of Pokemon Red I was playing, though! It was like playing a game in a foggy dream, where you know the details are off. I fought a Lass with two level 6 Nidokings in the Viridian Forest. It's fantastic!
I also tried some of the new color features in the Switch Online Virtual Boy app, too! They were nice, but I got really into Jack Bros, a maze game/shooter hybrid. I'd type more about this tonight, but I'm very sure I'll play it again soon.
August 4th, 2026
I was still not really vibing with games yesterday, but I started the extremely strange and cute Petz Catz 2. This is a Japanese adventure game for PS2 that Ubisoft localized as a Petz game, despite not being a virtual pet at all. It's very proto-cozy game-ish so far, but I think my cat and their cat friend are about to unleash some first-village-in-a-JRPG destruction on their cute little cat town. It's very interesting!
I also played Mario Kart 64 with one of my work friends, doing pretty spectacularly badly! My friend very kindly suggested that I might have been doing badly due to the Switch Online lag, but I honestly do think I'm just not so good at Mario Kart 64. That is 100% fine.
August 3rd, 2026
My heart was not in gaming yesterday, so I played a lot of stuff for five minutes each. I played a stage in Hyper Echelon and got frustrated by having to level up my ship and having a super big hitbox.
I played a couple of extremely bad rounds of Nubby's Number Factory, too, feeling like I was dying every stage after I got a neat upgrade.
I also tried Cyber West: Hidden Object, which was very strange, offputting, and interesting. I just fell asleep instead of quitting this one out of frustration or boredom.
Memories Off Pure went all right, too. A few screens of progress a day is still progress!
August 2nd, 2026
Yesterday, I kept up my quest to play through the games on my Legion Go to shuffle in some new ones. I finished up Out of Sight, which ended up taking over two hours! For a free hidden object game, I felt like that was pretty impressive, and a lot of the objects were genuinely tricky to find. It was nice.
100 Asian Cats was also free, but way less impressive. The cats weren't really hidden, and I felt like the art wasn't great, either. Even for a hidden cats game, I didn't like this so well.
I kept trying Nubby's Number Factory, too, which isn't really clicking with me. The aesthetic is really fun, and I love a mindless roguelike, but I don't feel like I have a path to succeed yet. It's satisfying enough that I'll keep trying, though.
I also kept plugging away at Memories Off Pure, and am still in the first scene. I got to make a choice, though, and picked the "bad" one because it was funny. I suspect this is going to kick me back to the start of the game when it all plays out.
August 1st, 2026
I crashed hard after work last night, so I spent a lot of time playing hidden object games on Steam. 100 Aztec Cats was totally middling for a hidden cats game, as only a couple of cats were actually hidden. It's not off my desktop, though, which is great.
I also played some of the rather nice Out of Sight, which is more of a spin-the-diorama style of hidden object thing. It's very chill and charming, but for some reason, it absolutely kills my Legion Go's battery. The back of the machine got so hot, but it's such a sedate game that I have no idea why! Anyway, I think I'm close to the end.
Once I had mouse controls on a controller figured out through Steam, I tried Nubby's Number Factory, too, which is a number hitting roguelike, I guess. That sounds negative, but I did have a good time playing it! I'd just seen it compared to pachinko, and think that's only kind of superficially true. That is totally fine!
I did not give up on Memories Off Pure, but since I didn't get the image on screen to change, I did not take a screenshot.
July 31st, 2026
I'm finishing off July with another repeat day, and I didn't even accomplish anything in Vampire Survivors! I didn't get a screenshot, either, but if you have been here before, you know what a Vampire Survivors screenshot looks like. It's busy.
I did get a character to pop up on screen in Memories Off Pure, though! I can understand enough to have a pleasant time here, even though I'm still looking stuff up. Language learning is not a big strength of mine, but mind-numbing persistence is scooting me forward.
July 30th, 2026
Today's games are just a repeat of yesterday's. I got to the main character getting out of bed in Memories Off Pure, which felt like a small accomplishment. I'm gonna see if I can get an actual character on screen tonight!
I also got a few unlocks cleared in Vampire Survivors, which I feel good about! It was fun, too.
July 29th, 2026
I'm really set on improving my Japanese reading right now, so I started Memories Off Pure, a Neo Geo Pocket Color visual novel last night. So far in it, a character has woken up, so I'm moving at a pretty excellent speed. Save states and I will get through this together!
I'm also very determined to finish all the unlocks in Vampire Survivors before the next DLC comes out. However, I cleared one unlock in the Emerald Diorama DLC and was given 8 more to finish, so this may be a more uphill battle than I expected.
July 28th, 2026
Things got back to normal for me yesterday, other than an internet loss that cost me today's screenshots. That is ok, though!
I played a few more stages of Splatoon Raiders, which is still a good time. I need to switch up and level up some alternate weapon loadouts, though! The game encourages experimentation by having different treasures in some areas depend on which weapons you hop in with, but I need to do a bit of levelling up first.
I also went back to playing Hypnosis Mic: Alternative Rap Battle: 1st Period on the Switch, which is a port of a Japanese mobile rhythm game. I want to be able to read the text easily, as that's a big part of this, but for last night, I was just playing the rhythm game side of things.
July 27th, 2026
I finished up my Chicago trip yesterday with a morning craft supply, stationery, and snack run at Daiso, then I drove back and spent most of the day at home. I still didn't really play a lot of games, though. Before bed, I did end up playing a few more stages of Splatoon Raiders. I'm still really enjoying this! I'm not very good at it, but levelling up and trying again makes it feel like I'm able to make big progress.
July 26th, 2026
Yesterday was the second day of my weekend trip, so I was busy again. I rode around the suburbs with my sister, getting kebabs, browsing a K-pop shop, and, thrillingly, stopping at a Meijer for Pokemon cards. It was nice! Once I was on my own, though, I ventured out to the Fashion Outlets of Chicago to go to the Gundam Base USA! It was a super nice store, so I picked up a few exclusive kits, and also had to have staff fix a gachapon machine full of mini Witch From Mercury Gunpla because one of my pulls taped itself to the inside of the machine. It's not cheap to go to a Gunpla store in general, so I don't think this'll be a regular big city weekend stop for me, but I'm glad I went! It was fun.
Games-wise, though, I just played a few games of Solitaire FunPak for the Game Gear before bed. It wasn't very smooth, at least not compared to more modern solitaire games, but it was fine. The take on Pyramids in this is brutal, though!
July 25th, 2026
I was on the road most of yesterday to go to a concert, seeing Metric and Broken Social Scene tour together. It was really great, and put me in a lovely mood! I saw Metric maybe about 20 years ago now, when they were touring for Live It Out, and was so happy to see them totally on point, sounding great, and in a better place myself! However, I was going 13 hours straight of travel, the show, and getting back, so my only gaming yesterday was three horrendous rounds of Columns. This is sometimes just how it goes.
July 24th, 2026
I'm getting ready for a busy couple of days here, so this will be another quick post! I picked up Splatoon Raiders, though, since my lack of competitiveness is what got in the way of the earlier games for me. So far, it's really fun, and the composite cables my character wears in her hair (?) are really cute! I plan on putting some more time into it over the next few days, so I will have more to say about this as I go.
July 23rd, 2026
I still wasn't super well organized or sorted last night, so I ended up just playing a few rounds of Q-Up before going to sleep. A light game to help with sleeping is wonderful to have.
July 22nd, 2026
Last night I got caught up visiting family, cleaning, and sorting an order of Pokemon cards, so I just played three rounds of Luck Be A Landlord last night. I fell asleep during the third round, so I felt that this was immensely successful.
July 21st, 2026
I messed up at productivity tonight, so here's a quick post on yesterday! First, I played N64 Mario Golf with a friend!
Then, I tried Miraness Fitness, a Mickey Mouse Fitness Boxing game.
Last, I played some Virtua Fighter R.E.V.O. World Stage! Kicking is fun!
July 20th, 2026
I was still set on finishing games yesterday, so I kept chipping away at the stuff downloaded onto my Legion Go. I'd had a visual novel called South Scrimshaw Part 1 on there almost since I bought it and finally tackled it yesterday. It ended up maybe being my favorite visual novel. It's a fictional nature documentary about interplanetary marine biology, and it's very lovely! It's only an hour or so long, but I really got locked into it. I'm excited for the eventual next part!
I also finished Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic, which is a very easy PG-13 anime girls version of Qix. It was fine, because I like Qix, but I wish modern Qix games were better.
I kept playing Luck Be A Landlord, too, but made absolutely no progress. It was still fun!
July 19th, 2026
I am having a particular kind of anxiety that has me driven to finish games, so I finished off the Warhammer Survivors demo yesterday. It was a really nice time, and as extensive as 5.8 hours seemed for a demo, the Steam page said there was going to be a second demo, too! I will gladly play that, too, but I still feel accomplished having this demo done.
I also did a second play through of Quest Arrest on Evercade, since it was bothering me that I hadn't seen the bad cop bits of the game. I shot every criminal instead of arresting them, which made me feel way worse than I expected, but did unlock some new story bits. In a couple spots, though, my behavior was so atrocious that however the game read morality rolled over to saying I was behaving well, including at the very end. It was still satisfying to feel like I saw more of the game, though.
More mysteriously, I also tried the Game Boy Color version of Cubix: Robots For Everyone: Race 'N Robots. I saw a video about how bad the PS1 version was and was like "oh, I bet the Game Boy version is even worse." It was cute, and the second track had some really neat chiptune, but the handling was so bad I took video of myself playing and sent it to a friend to more effectively complain about it.
Finally, I played some runs in Luck Be A Landlord, but didn't get a screenshot because it was super late. It was fun, though! I forgot how much I love this game.
July 18th, 2026
I crashed almost instantly after posting last night, so I fell asleep chipping away at the demo of Warhammer Survivors. I got really close to the end of it, so I was left with high hopes for the future.
July 17th, 2026
I am sorry I was so dramatic here yesterday. This was not really the space to have an ongoing panic, but everything worked out in the end! I am ready to have a rest-heavy weekend.
I was playing stuff to try to chill yesterday! I spent the most time in Cardboard Towns, a roguelites, deck-based city builder that satisfied both my fondness for incremental improvement in rougelites and my desire to build a cute little town and then see it catch fire. This game might become a tool in my anti-anxiety arsenal.
Much later, I played some Crazy Strike Bowling because it seemed mindless. I unlocked a new set of lanes and then the game crashed, though, so I, being sophisticated and mature, got mad and quit. Luckily, when I checked, the new area was still there post-crash, but I was not in a mood to put up with that rubbish.
I got close to the end of the demo of Warhammer Survivors, too, with only a few weapon levelling and evolution missions left. 46 missions feels like a lot for a demo, but it is a lot of fun!
July 16th, 2026
I'm doing the most fun sort of posting anyone can, which is posting while waiting for a telehealth appointment! I've been so run down and upset lately, and felt that I did not want to mess around with the cold symptoms I've been having the last few days. As such, my gaming last night was extremely low key. I played Zodiacats on Switch for a few minutes, intending to finish it but instead doing two puzzles and remembering I think the game is boring.
I also tried a game I had stashed called A Cat In Dungeons, which is a small puzzle game about getting a cat out of progressively complicated rooms. I almost finished it, but fell asleep at level 44 of 50. I needed the sleep, so that was fine.
July 15th, 2026
My heart was not in it last night, so I played the demo of Warhammer Survivors for about 20 minutes and went to sleep.
July 14th, 2026
I sat down to start tonight's post and heard an explosion outside, which I am really baffled by. I'm assuming someone just set off a firework too close to my building, but it was still pretty startling! I'm off my game now.
As far as games go, I am feeling weirdly overwhelmed by them right now, but that will be okay. I did an arcade run in Soul Calibur II because it seemed fun, and it was fun.
I tackled the load of games I've got on my Legion Go with a story mode run in Battle Fantasia, too. I had this on XBox 360 back when it was new, and it didn't click with me then. When I saw it on Steam, though, I decided to give it another chance and am so glad I did! It's a very charming RPG flavored fighter, but I think back when it came out I didn't like that it was slower than Blazblue. Now, though, I'm looking forward to playing it a bit more!
I also played some more of the Warhammer Survivors demo, finishing up the 40K side of things. I don't know anything about Warhammer, so the significance of the split between worlds is lost on me, but I still have half of the demo to play! It will be fun.
July 13th, 2026
This is a fake post written on the 15th because I accidentally deleted this at some point. It took me forever and going through backups to realize what I did, but here is my stunning Mario Paint art. I absolutely do not remember what else I played this day's yesterday and would rather go to bed than try to remember.
July 12th, 2026
Yesterday I just played Pokemon Blue for a while, which I hadn't done for a while. I might keep this run going, but I haven't decided yet! It certainly won't be a fast playthrough, but that would be fine. I'll see what I decide to do, though.
July 11th, 2026
It was so hard to get myself to post today, but I played quite a lot of stuff yesterday! I was taking a small break from turn based games.
Lately, I've been fixated on PSP, so I ended up playing an hour or so of Zendoku: Sudoku Battle Action. This is a game where you play sudoku while Warioware style minigames are thrown in your way, which is surprisingly intense. I made it almost through an "arcade ladder," since it's set up like a fighting game, and unlocked a few characters on the way. The final boss was very stressful, so I ended up quitting to take care of dinner. I'm going to defeat them eventually, though!
I wanted to get a second course unlocked in N64 Mario Golf, too, so I did that. I unlocked Luigi while I was at it, too, which was nice! It looks like it'll take quite a lot longer to get the third course, but it will be worth it.
Very late at night, I tried Spongebob Squarepants: The Patrick Star Game on GamePass, too. I'd heard it was like Goat Simulator, but to me, it felt a lot more toylike. I don't know if I'll keep going in this or not, but it was really nice! You could go to a theme park and try all the rides, go draw pictures, and all sorts of little activities. It was pleasant, and I think if games could have done this much when I was a little kid, I would have gone crazy for it. As an adult, however, I do not want to do missions to help Plankton because I have a sophisticated and reasonable moral code. This usually doesn't affect my real life, but it's a big problem as far as this game goes.
July 10th, 2026
I didn't want to play games that much yesterday, but I saw the second ending in An NPC's Odyssey, finally granting me closure in my journey with this game. It's a simple, totally ok little RPG, with some typos, a save bug, and a very good joke about pallet swaps, but it bothered me that I wasn't truly finished with it! I am now satisfied enough to delete this game from my Switch.
July 9th, 2026
Yesterday, I was feeling really down and a little sick, too, so I ended up curling up with my Switch and bouncing between games. I tried Arietta of Spirits, which I got for a couple dollars in a sale a while back. It's a really nice 2D action RPG so far! I will go back to this.
I want to get the second ending I never saw in An NPC's Odyssey, so I tested to see if the save files were broken overall, or just broken at the ending choice. The save system mostly works, so I will move forward with this.
From there, I played Pokemon Sword before going to sleep. I hit some story stuff and didn't want to do the next route after that, so it was a short lived session.
July 8th, 2026
I was not successful last night. I got home from work and played a Backrooms-themed browser game on itch.io, intuitively titled The Backrooms for a couple hours. If you're curious and would also like to zone out to this, you can play it here! It's a very simple, endlessly looping game with some neat pixel art tricks up its sleeve, and I played it way longer than I meant to, realized what I'd done, and ended up running to a convenience store to buy dinner.
That kind of threw me off for the rest of the night, so I didn't have time to play Pokemon Sword. I'm wanting to clean up some of the RPGs I have going, though, so I picked up Sephirothic Stories and ran through a couple of sidequests to remember where I am here. From the times given on How Long to Beat, I think I'm about halfway through this, if not more, so it should pop up here again soon. It's a powerfully okay game.
July 7th, 2026
I feel so panic-y tonight, which is very unpleasant! I can still pull this post off, though! I played the N64 version of Mario Golf online last night and had a great time. I always host for Switch online, so I need to unlock some more courses.
I got set on adding ten Pokemon to my Pokedex while I levelled up in Pokemon Sword last night, too, and managed that by wandering around the Wild Zone. I feel like this is kind of a messy part of the game, but it's an interesting spot to level grind.
July 6th, 2026
I'm kicking off this week really unexcited to be awake, but I took Thursday and Friday off work. I only have to make it through three days before I can veg out, and one is already over!
I took out the third gym in Pokemon Sword yesterday, which was a nice time! The mission beforehand being to catch and fight Pokemon felt a little anticlimactic because that's just what you do in this game, but it was fun to make a big turtle spit at several animals that were on fire and cool with it.
I went back to Forbidden Solitaire, too, which is such a goofy little horror game and also a very solid version of Tripeaks. It's fun to be picking cards for a nice, casual round of solitaire and be like "ew, no, not a maggot card!" It's a really interesting genre and gameplay combo, and kind of reminds me of jamming random genres together in Game Dev Story.
July 5th, 2026
I'm really hooked on Pokemon Sword, so I played it while my siblings and I were sitting around indoors yesterday. We were all playing games, so it wasn't as antisocial as it sounds, and it is a breezy enough game to chat through. Not paying much attention whatsoever did make the switch puzzle in the second gym harder than it needed to be, but I got through it and extensively wandered to face the game's next challenge! Usually, going through caves in these games is kind of boring and dull, but the mines in this have enough sparkles and color tossed in that they're not so bad.
While I did chores in the morning, I bounced in and out of an XBox incremental game called Legend of Fireball. I really didn't like it much, since the aim controls for the fireballs were really touchy and unfun, but I got all of the achievements out of spite and shut it off. It's a fun idea, but I just wasn't having a nice time with it.
July 4th, 2026
Today is July 4th and I am currently declining to make a salad because I don't wanna do it. I am using this blog to procrastinate! Unfortunately, I just played more of Pokemon Sword last night, so there's not too much to say. I fought the first gym and got two lovely Meowths, both of which were great, and I'll probably try to fight the second gym today. It's very exciting stuff!
July 3rd, 2026
I played another hour or so of Pokemon Sword last night and am really loving this so far. It is still a very linear, laid back feeling game, but the Pokemon battling as a sport theming gives such a good sense of how Pokemon affect this world's pop culture. I've played a lot of Pokemon over the years, but this is maybe the first game where I've felt like the world building so quickly showed how everyday people relate to Pokemon. This might just be due to sports culture making for an easy sort of shorthand, but it's cool! I'm excited to play more of this.
July 2nd, 2026
Last night I tried my copy of Pokemon Sword because I'd heard it was bad, but instead, I found the first 90 minutes or so to be very charming! I was surprised how linear it is, but liked it enough to start that I think I'll play through the story.
July 1st, 2026
It is the first day of July, and it's a little less intensely hot than yesterday. Last night, I finished off The Cat of Monte Cristo, which I only had a few minutes left in. It was a very small, goofy RPG, and it made me glad that people have the tools to make the games that spring from their hearts.
I gave Revelations: The Demon Slayer a try, too, which got off to a good start. I can't get any monsters to join my party yet, but I imagine I'll figure out how to steer the conversations in time. It's a nice thing to find while I'm in RPG mode!
June 30th, 2026
It's been really hot, so I've been struggling to stay awake, even at work or during craft time. I was zoned out last night, but did play a game of NES Open Tournament Golf online, really badly. My friend won with +95, and I was at a smooth +126. Golf games seem to have gotten easier since this.
I went to bed really soon after that and pressed forward in The Cat of Monte Cristo, feeling like I was getting close to the end. It did not help me get to sleep, but I don't think anything would have.
June 29th, 2026
I finished Metro Quester last night! It was an interesting experience, as I simultaneously felt freed of a curse and extremely fond of the game overall. I did really enjoy this, and am planning to play the sequel soon. Yesterday, though, I got way too into it, feeling like I couldn't do anything else until I finished it off. I think I need quite a break before I get into the next one!
With Metro Quester done, I played a little bit of Pokemon Violet, just to run around in 3D for a few minutes. I spent most of my Pokemon playtime totally lost, and that is fine.
June 28th, 2026
I was totally wiped out yesterday, so I don't have any screenshots here. I tried Hydilide for the NES in the morning just because I could, and it was fine! Even with a few guides open, I managed to get a bit lost, but I respect that save scumming is baked into this very early RPG.
Other than that, I played some more rounds of Namco Legendary Mountains, and really badly at that.
I played some Namco Legendary Mountains in the afternoon, but it was totally unremarkable. I do have a screenshot from this, but I don't want the game to start getting a big ego so I'm not using it.
Right before bed, I tried to force myself to sleep with a couple of rounds of Vampire Survivors. It worked, so that was nice, but I didn't get any unlocks.
June 27th, 2026
I'm starting today's post with the game I haven't been playing non-stop, just to mix things up a bit. I was messing with one of my little fake game boys and found Disney Princess: Royal Adventure, which seems to be kind of a non-violent RPG aimed at little kids. I like the concept, and the sprite work is soft and nostalgic. Kids-game-wise, though, I feel like there's a mismatch between the amount of reading it expects the player to do and the color/shape based minigames it tosses around in lieu of battles. I haven't taught for a while, but I feel like a kid who would be ok with the reading might be bored by the minigames. As an adult who is weirdly fascinated by old licensed games for girls, my biggest problem is that the player character, Lily, walks so slowly! I'll probably keep going with this just because it can't be long enough to be too much bother, but the walk speed was driving me crazy last night.
Other than that, I played some more rounds of Namco Legendary Mountains, and really badly at that.
I also kept on with Metro Quester, finding myself a little stuck at a couple of bosses. It was really late, so I'm guessing that's a bigger issue than the actual game difficulty.
June 26th, 2026
Yesterday was kind of just a repeat of the day before's gaming. I played a lot of Namco Legendary Mountains, loving the Namco game specific stages. Stuff unlocks like crazy in this, too, which is very effective in keeping me playing round after round. I was able to merge up to the biggest item once yesterday, but I feel like there's a lot more I can unlock here!
It turns out I lied yesterday about taking a break on Metro Quester. I am not as close to the end as I thought I was, so there's still exploration to be done. I am pleased by this.
June 25th, 2026
Last night, I picked up Namco Legendary Mountains, a 3D Suika-type-game, because it looked cute and very fun. I, in fact, did feel that it was cute and very fun, so please look forward to the specter of voxels haunting this blog for a bit.
I also grinded away at Metro Quester, which I might start pacing myself on for a bit. Item collection isn't the most exciting thing in the world here, and it would be fun to find a tiny weekend RPG to focus on.
June 24rd, 2026
I played Metro Quester pretty briefly last night, and was pleasantly shocked to see the last bit of the game in sight! I don't have much to say this post, since I was mostly just squirreling away materials yesterday, but I am feeling good about this run.
June 23rd, 2026
I'm kicking off this week mega sleepy, so I just kept on with Metro Quester last night. I finally found a party member with good stats to level up a bit, but I need to get better weapons to fight a boss I'm stuck at. I'm still pretty tired, despite a good night's sleep, but I'll probably work on that tonight.
June 22nd, 2026
Yesterday sucked, but I quit doing everything early and played Metro Quester for a while. I made it over to the second half of the game already, and think I'm doing better with damage per turn than I have been in past runs. Of course I'm overthinking this, but it's still enjoyable. The vibes of this game are just perfect.
I wanted to play Pokemon Trading Card Game, too, so I did. It's not much of a story.
June 21st, 2026
Yesterday I finished off the second map in Dragon Ruins, which was enjoyable! My party the second round wasn't as tough as the one I picked the first time, but the map layout was a lot more fun. It balanced out, and I added the sequel to some wishlists so I could grab it when it went on sale. RPG time has been fun lately!
However, just because everything has been so much fun, an Android update has left most of my apps unable to open on wifi. My XBox sends screenshots to a tablet that can't use data, so I have no screenshot of my latest victory. Oh, well!
I pushed forward with my latest playthrough of Metro Quester, but my luck's been pretty terrible as far as getting new party members with okay stats goes. I think I can plausibly take out the final boss with my starter party, if I can find and upgrade the right equipment. I don't want to start a fourth run, so I'll figure this out regardless!
June 20th, 2026
The guidebook for Metro Quester, a game which has tormented me, got posted for sale on the developer's itch.io page. It's not translated, but I can push through Japanese enough for that not to be a big issue. Plus, now that I have the potential party members' stats in hand, I have the false confidence to make a third run at the game! I got started on that last night, but didn't get very far.
Unfortunately, Metro Quester does not make me sleepy at all, so I played a stage in Vampire Survivors to get myself to sleep. I knocked out a few unlock achievements, which was nice, and slept decently.
June 19th, 2026
I had craft night last night, but still wanted to keep going with RPGs last night. I ended up playing half on hour of Cat of Monte Cristo, a very strange RPG Maker game I got on Steam. I got past catboy Edmund Dantes's escape from prison last night, and then got together a party to go fight a kraken. Even though I know this is a short game, I ended up stopping before a boss and grinding a little. The random encounters were taking a little longer than I was comfortable with, knowing a giant monster was ahead, so it seemed good to boost my party a bit. I'll go fight the kraken next time I play this.
June 18th, 2026
Last night, I finished off Kabuto Park, then stretched my game time by getting all of the achievements. This game made me so happy to play! It's low stakes, pleasant, and all the characters seem to be having a good time. Plus, I was surprised how in depth the battles got with just a little over 40 bugs and some shiny variants to play with. It was short, but that's okay. Sometimes it's nice to have a focused experience instead of a sprawling adventure, and I'm glad I took the time to play this.
Before bed, I also turned on Wordtris, which I hadn't played in ages! This is a falling blocks puzzle game where letters fall and you have to make words. My family had it on SNES, and I liked it because when you get a wild card, a voice goes, "huh?" My dad would then imitate that little voice clip and as a grade schooler, that was the height of comedy. It also lets you spell "ass," and donkey or not, that felt really scandalous to little kid me.
It's hard to spell much with random letters dropping, and the game's dictionary is frustratingly limited, but I still enjoy it. I will probably come back to this from time to time.
June 17th, 2026
I got woken up by tornado sirens today, so I'm kind of crashing. Last night, though, I tried Kabuto Park on Game Pass and found it extremly sweet and charming! It feels like a small game, but has so much cheer and cuteness that I was really taken by it. The bug collection and battles are really fun, too! I'm very enthused by this game.
I chipped away at the second map of Dragon Ruins, too, only stopped by my own exhaustion. I'd like to clear this game soon, but sleep is probably more important.
June 16th, 2026
Today was a weird day, but I managed to rally and get things back in order after a bad morning. Last night, I did end up playing Sea of Thieves with one of my work friends. I felt so in over my head, but it was very enjoyable. It seems like doing the hunting and fishing character path might be fun here, so I'm considering playing some of that during the week.
I have remained dedicated to making a little bit of RPG progress every day, which I didn't actually achieve. I wandered around the school in Pokemon Violet, which I hadn't really done yet. It was charming.
June 15th, 2026
I finished off Fortuna Magus yesterday, which was a very adequate little RPG. The extremely high encounter rate was the worst part of it by far, but the story was ok, the battle system was ok, and it was a nice way to pass the weekend. Focusing on a small game like this stopped me from worrying too much about the week ahead, so I felt refreshed and ready to go this morning. It was a good feeling!
I also played the tutorial in Sea of Thieves so I could play it online tonight. It was so vibrant and bright that I didn't mind being totally turned around by the first person perspective too much. Being able to go underwater was so lovely, too! It left me looking forward to playing a bit more.
June 14th, 2026
Yesterday was a dreary, slow day, so I put a Kemco RPG, Fortuna Magus, on my tablet and tried to finish it in one day. I did not manage that, but it's a completely okay little RPG. The encounter rate is completely out of hand, I think because the game wants me to pay to get rid of random battles. I don't actually mind that, though. Dispatching monster after monster kind of enhanced the sleepy, chill vibe I was after. I'm hoping to finish this off today.
June 13th, 2026
Yesterday was a bit too busy to do much gaming, but what I did play was interesting. I booted up Snow White and the Seven Dwarves for Game Boy Color before bed, thinking it would rip my thumbs apart and destroy me like SNES Disney games did. It was, instead, a very easy mix of 2D item collecting platforming and minigames for little kids, with some hideously blobby digitized screenshots from the movie. I did like the character sprites, though, and ended up running through the game in its entirety to put myself to sleep. I was not the target audience for this, but it got me past feeling jittery and put me right to sleep.
I played just enough of Dragon Ruins to level up each of my party members once, too. Small progress in an RPG is still progress!
June 12th, 2026
Last night I pushed forward in my quest to actually finish an RPG by going back about 6 months to keep going in Faery: Legends of Avalon. I don't know what to make of this at all. I don't hate it, but it feels like I'm flying around and doing fetch quest after fetch quest. It's kind of charming, though.
I also did one of my remaining "Defeat 100,000 enemies in one run" unlocks in Vampire Survivors. It was ok! I still have some of these in the DLC achievement lists, and that's completely fine.
June 11th, 2026
I tried another Survivors-like on Game Pass last night, Beatdown City Survivors. This one was pretty good, too! The gimmick here is destroying the environment to turn the arena into a death trap, which lets you electrify flooded sidewalks and explode cars, all while rushing to bust up a fire hydrant and wash off some toxic waste. It's a fun setup, and even though I can see its potential, so far, I am only using it to kill myself. After putting so many hours into this genre, though, it's nice to have a learning curve again! I'm looking forward to putting lots of hours into this and Deep Rock Galactic Survivor.
I wandered around Pokemon Violet, too, testing the game's willingness to let me jump into a river on Miradon. I succeeded briefly, and long enough to do at least one battle, but for the most part, the game did not respect my dreams.
June 10th, 2026
Last night I wanted to try some new games, so I downloaded a bunch of games off of Game Pass and then proceeded to only try one of them. It was pretty fantastic, though! Barndoors, who not only does some of the best stream-of-conciousness blogging I've read, but also has a radio station and a page where you can watch Gunpla hypnotically spin, recommended Deep Rock Galactic Survivor in a post comment. So did one of my co-workers, but I can't remember which of them it was and, as such, don't have so much to say on that front.
Survivors games are one of the very few things that help me sleep, good or not, so I am always glad to try a new one. Deep Rock Galactic Survivor stands on its own really well so far. You play as a miner, so while you are surviving all the little guys who want to kill you, you also have some degree of control over your surroundings. I'm not sure how I'll do it yet, but I'm sure I can use this to route so many who wish me harm straight to their doom. I'm looking forward to it!
I also tried Defenders of Oasis, which seems like it'll be a pretty basic JRPG. It's a Game Gear game, so that's fair enough! Having this in a fantasy Middle Eastern setting rather than a fantasy European setting makes a lot of difference, though! It's nice for a game to have a vibe that's not so common.
June 9th, 2026
I bought an R36S as a cheap emulation device I could throw in my purse without worrying about it. However, I love it and I will worry about it if I throw it in my purse. I did order a carrying case for it, but I'm also set on seeing how many gameplay hours I can get out of it before it dies. Hopefully it holds out until the carrying case shows up.
Anyway, I'm right on top of things, so on a whim, I clicked to play the GBC version of Portal Runner. This is now the only Army Men game I've ever played, and I love how I could make the toy girl ride a lion and kick a wizard to death. It's clumsy to play, but dumb in a way I was really enjoying.
As far as normal games go, I continued my Pokemon Violet journey, taking on my first Team Star base. I almost died to the leader's Pokemon powered Mad Max truck, but it was so cool I wouldn't have been mad. It's fun when video games are silly.
June 8th, 2026
I hit a general burnout point yesterday, not for any apparent reason, but it won't really affect anything here. It does mean that I forgot to get a screenshot while I played Vampire Survivors, but it is not like I was going to have anything unique to show off there.
I put some time into the alternate maze of Dragon Ruins, too. I went with different classes for my party this time, and so far, I feel like they're a little weaker than my first squad was. That's no problem, and it just means I'll need to go a little over level 20 to face the titular dragon. I like this "Remix" map a bit better than the original map to balance things out, just because I think the twisting hallways and sharp turns are neat.
June 7th, 2026
I was lazy yesterday, and as such, did a pretty good amount of gaming. I'm really excited for the new DLC pack for Vampire Survivors, so I was grinding away at the pre-existing achievements. I finally finished the original base game set, and played some of the bonus levels while chatting away totally incoherently at one of my friends. The new pool level granted me the ability to throw a big fish, and 2 am was not the correct time to try and express my joy at such an event.
I finished one playthrough on Dragon Ruins, too, but am not quite done with it yet! I liked my first run, which took about 3 hours, enough that I'm switching up my party and playing through again on the remix map. It's a pretty simple dungeon crawl, but quick and enjoyable, too.
My last game for the day was Pokemon Violet, where I mostly just wandered around catching new Pokemon. It was laid back and enjoyable stuff.
June 6th, 2026
Last night I crashed really badly, so instead of working on my RPGs, I just played a round of Vampire Survivors. An update had just gone through, which was exciting, but I was too worn out to mess with the new stage or characters. Instead, I just picked up my last achievement in the Among Us DLC. I still have to finish the adventure mode from this, but I felt somewhat accomplished getting all the achievements.
June 5th, 2026
I'm really glad Neocities didn't go down permanently today. I have site backups, but setting up elsewhere sounded like a hassle, and I would have missed all the sites I follow, too! Plus, I'd probably be late with my post tonight, which would drive me crazy for days.
Anyway, I wanted to buzz through a small RPG and started a first person dungeon crawl called Dragon Ruins last night. It's stylish and easy to play, even if I'm following everything on the map rather than trying to solve the maze on the larger play screen. I'm excited to see if I can hunt down the dragon tonight!
I went back and fought the "first" gym leader in Pokemon Violet, too, which was too easy at this point. It was still nice, though, and I might go pester Team Star next.
June 4th, 2026
Yesterday, I did my first gym battle in Pokemon Violet. The game feels like it has such a big scope that I was really surprised to be overlevelled for it, especially since I was doing this gym a bit out of order! The town was so cute, though, with a lovely hedge maze and cheery flowers everywhere. The difficulty was off, but I was so charmed by it all.
My solitaire journey kept going, too, but it was a bit halfhearted. I worked on the daily event until I got sick of it, then just played a few rounds of Pyramids. I'd never played Pyramids before, but it's a decent card game. Free Cell is the only one I haven't liked so well so far.
June 3rd, 2026
I'm having a mid-week crash, but luckily didn't do much yesterday. I was overthinking my Pokemon Violet party composition last night, but didn't actually make any progress.
I kept on my quest to get all the achievements in Microsoft Solitaire Collection, too! It was super pleasant.
June 2nd, 2026
Yesterday was a no RPG night, as I played N64 shooters with after work. Goldeneye was the main one, and didn't give me any motion sickness! I'd had to ditch co-op in Halo with the same friend a while back due to my guts rebelling against me, and I still feel crummy about it. If Goldeneye worked, and Turok 2 wasn't bad, either, there has to be more I can play out there. Perfect Dark took me out in less than one round, though.
I got it in my head that I'm going to get every achievement in Microsoft Solitaire Collection, too. This seems a bit daunting, but it's solitaire, so it'll be fun and relaxed.
June 1st, 2026
Today is the start of June, and I have two goals for this month related to this site. First, I want to at least get my month pages and navigation back in order, as I have been a lazy mess and made this site messy, too. Second, I want to finish an RPG. I think I can do both, along with some craft, work, and pen and paper game goals I've got, too, but from the start of the month, everything feels so daunting!
Yesterday was a bit busy, so I just did some basic levelling up in my current RPGs. I spoke too soon about the weapon and armor prices being reasonable in the first Final Fantasy, as I have quite a grind ahead to get all the magic I'd like to buy in the elf town. It's not totally unwelcome, though. This is pleasant to play.
I'm fighting the temptation to build an all flying type team in Pokemon Violet. I love how many cool little birds are in this game, and even though I'd get destroyed in electric battles, it would be so fun! I might do five birds and giant bugs, with one rock type for balance. It's great to have a gimmick in Pokemon games.
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