It’s hard to believe it’s been four months since my last blog post, but to be fair, I have had a very busy fall. And a very busy January up until now, now that things are finally calming down for a while.
So, here are a few bullet points on what’s happened since last time:
I’ve been credited for three games! The first one is the beloved indie horror game Phasmophobia, which two colleagues and I translated a while ago. I haven’t played it myself, but I’ve heard it’s good and that people really like it, so it was fun to get to work on something somewhat well-known. The second one is a board game/advent calendar – EXIT: The Missing Hollywood Star. Unfortunately, I don’t think this one is available for purchase any longer, especially not since it was produced for Christmas 2024. Still, it was fun to translate, albeit a bit tricky. Since I spoiled everything for myself by translating it, I got my parents one, and it was great fun to see them solve the riddles when I visited. The third one is Monument Valley 3. I’ve never played the first two, but I’ve heard they’re among the most beloved mobile games out there. I’ve played the third one a bit, and overall, I’m satisfied with my translation. I look forward to playing the rest of it, and playing the first two games at some other point. I also translated a video game that I had lots of fun working on, but unfortunately, I can’t tell you more about that, at least not right now.
I’ve begun catching up on the games I missed out on during 2024: A few years back, I had issues with constantly starting new games and not finishing ones I had already started, so I began structuring my gaming a bit to avoid it. However, in doing so, I found myself missing out on new games I wanted to play, so I decided to try and go for a happy middle ground. I’m going to try and do the same during 2025, but from the start of the year this time. This has been really fun so far. One highlight was Astro Bot, a really cute and fun (and occasionally surprisingly difficult) platformer that’s a love letter to PlayStation, but also gaming history in general. I’ve had lots of fun with it! Another standout is Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, a tricky but brilliant puzzle games. It’s easy to get stuck, but once you figure something out, you feel really smart. I just hope it holds up the whole way through. I also really look forward to playing through Metaphor: ReFantazio. It looks absolutely fantastic, and it’s from the team that made Persona 5, possibly my favorite RPG, and one of my all-time favorite games.
I’m trying to stop doomscrolling: The current state of the world is… not great, and while I do think it’s important to keep up with current events, everything should be done in moderation. Unfortunately, I’ve had a tendency to click on hot takes and ragebait on social media, and then get mad and depressed about it when I realize how awful people can be toward each other, and how it feels like social media is doing the opposite of what it should be for: Bringing people together. I’ve more or less quit X, formerly known as Twitter. Not because of Elon Musk, but he certainly didn’t help. I just got no joy out of it. I started using Threads instead, but history’s begun repeating itself there, and I check it much less often. I’m trying to get better at avoiding political threads on Reddit, and the only social media I use somewhat more extensively is Instagram, simply because most of the stuff in my feed there is actually fun and not enraging or horribly depressing. Facebook is actually decent, though I barely use it, but sometimes it recommends me awful bigoted ocntent. Anyway, I’m trying to cut down on stuff that makes me mad, while also trying to keep an eye on what’s going on in the world.
I want to get back into some of my non-gaming hobbies: Gaming is my main hobby, and probably always will be, but I do like a bit of variety. Unfortunately, I’ve been very busy for the last few months, so whatever free time I’ve had has gone to video games and hanging out with friends. All good and fun, but I do have some other stuff I want to do too, so I should try devoting some time to that now that things are calming down a bit.
I think those are the most important things.
Man, I’m exhausted right now. I look forward to getting some sleep.