Decided to boot up the game for the first time today after getting it 50% off on Amazon around Christmas. Personally, I find the charm of the game and the approachability of the battles to be a huge plus, on top of expanding the usually extremely dry Mario formula with the rabbids is pretty fun as this is my first foray into a Mario + Rabbids game.

Finally beat After Alterna & "surveyed" the whole map so that I could activate the "Sheldon Drone" and get a free item every day. Very cool single-player with a fun, challenging easter-egg type fun ending.

I can finally consider the game mastered.

The game I can never quite get away from due to it being on my phone: Hearthstone. I love the digital card game as like many who play, I used to be an avid World of Warcraft player myself before abandoning the game so I could have more time for well, other games and real life. The game is still very fun and utilizes the advantages of being a digital card game well, but of course is not perfect.

The game has an upcoming expansion focused around the Death Knight class, the newest class to be added since Demon Hunter. The new expansion has plenty of flavor and has me pretty excited.

While I was anticipating this game like no other on release, I did not put the time in I would have liked and was also going through personal struggles that led me to ultimately never finish the game.

Fast forward to November '22 and I am going through the Playstation+ Extra catalog, and there is Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition along with the sequel on sale for Black Friday. I have begun my journey as Alloy and have already taken down some of the machines. What has really stunned me, beyond the amazing PS5 patch, is the really gripping story, defined characters with their own motivations that compliments the great gameplay to make this a game I'm really glad I picked back up to experience.

I have not been keeping up with backloggd as much as I should be, but thought I would share an update on my current personal favorite multi-player shooter, located on Nintendo Switch of all places, Splatoon 3. I missed out on the heyday of Splatoon 1 & 2, coming into the games well after the Splatfests and festivities were over. I love the community, the fun matches that are over in just minutes while feeling great and is even getting a great content patch, new modes and more come December. Absolutely love the game and can't seem to stop playing it.

Played through more of the story, was absolutely shocked when Kratos had to make the choice to kill Baldur in front of Freya, against her wishes. I obviously find Freya to be batshit insane, that letting her crazy son strangle her to death would in any way be a good idea, but hey it's a game.
I'm loving the side quests and extra missions that the game has to offer. With Baldur dead, head has his other eye and we're headed for the land of the giants!

Decided to play more God of War on the PS5 today after work, was not disappointed. Before meeting back up with the witch of the woods I decided to hop on the boat with Atreus and complete some of the optional quests around the lake and really enjoyed the extra stuff you can find and do. It really feels like a natural extension of the main story.

Also Kratos and his son getting progressively more badass while also closer as father & son is super cool to see develop.

Decided to head out on the boat after chopping off our friends head who was stuck in the tree and being tortured. First, I took Atreus to the area the dwarf wanted us to investigate, only of course to be sent further down a rabbit hole of quests around the lake of Midgard that culminated in me freeing a dragon from it's bonds and slaying a giant.

The world really is massive, the character customization fun and unexpected in a GoW game and the story just makes you want to keep playing.

[SPOILERS] Have been playing through God of War on my PS5 the past couple days. I am in total awe of it so far. Some things that are really standing out so far, as I just reached the top of the mountain in Midgard only to find out we need to head to an entirely different mountain - then chopped the dude's head off who let us know that at his request. Don't worry, we're going to try to bring his head back to life!

The combat is incredibly fun and challenging, and I really like the RPG aspects implemented that lets you customize Kratos to your liking.

Put a lot more time into God of War because I've been so impressed by the quality of the game. When it first released for PS4, I was so disappointed that it ran at 30fps after enjoying Gow3 Remastered in 60fps. Finally, the PS5 patch arrived and we can enjoy the game in all it's glory.

I am personally fortunate enough to be playing the game on PS5 on a 4K HDR TV and the game is simply stunning. The combat is perfect, with you having a badass Leviathan Axe with the option (and often need based on enemy type) to go bare handed combat as well.

I don't know how, but I don't think a game has combined this much "badassery" with so much feels. The game's story is hard yet soft, always playing out but not in your face. Especially if you take the time to explore.

Can't recommend enough.

Decided to play God of War when the GF was playing something on the computer and I have FFVII Remake on hold. I can't say that I'm too sad about it though, because somehow the team behind GoW have managed to combine the badass, the feels and tight fast paced gameplay all in one.

To be completely fair I must state that I am playing the game on the PS5 upgrade patch, I find it very difficult to play games below 60fps so I really am appreciating the upgrade patch. May do Horizon Zero Dawn after this.

Decided to play more Final Fantasy VII with the girlfriend watching, who is really enjoying the story so far. We just made it to Aerith's hometown, after (naturally) slaying some monsters and helping out some local kids, I saved for the day.

I have to say the game's graphics are stunning. I know it's an overused phrase, but it definitely evokes a "next-gen" feeling. I am playing on the "performance" mode (60fps) so I'm even missing out on some of the more advanced graphical features like ray tracing but hey, I'm not playing at 30fps period.

Really happy I decided to pick this up out of the backlog and really put time into it because the game is absolutely full of beautiful locales, bustling towns and it's a pretty damn good game as well.

Decided to put some more time into Final Fantasy VII, made it to where we meet up with Aerith and got my ass kicked in the fight after that.

After Hearthstone, I decided to put some time into Valorant after taking a sizeable break. Can't lie, definitely had a lot of fun playing the game with the GF and ended up playing with surprisingly decent people.
It would seem the smurf detection systems have become much more effective and I haven't run into anybody incredibly toxic in a bit. Overall, I can see myself playing this as my main shooter should the decent lobbies continue.

The expansion dropped today for "Murder at Castle Nathria" and while my initial pulls were pretty sub-par, after getting some levels in on the rewards track and crafting Kel'Thuzad (I mean, he has his cat Mr. Bigglesworth on him) I have been playing skeleton/ping Mage and Imp Warlock.

Both have been incredibly fun new archetypes and I have to say I am really enjoying the state of the meta right now. Really good time to be playing Hearthstone.

Taking a hiatus from the competitive multiplayer games I normally play, I've been playing my way through Metroid Dread and loving all of it. I really like the way the environments change and the narrative that never seems to obtrusive. Really having a blast with this game.

Decided to put more time into the game tonight. Had a blast, the game does a phenomenal job of (more than any Metroid game in recent memory) steadily providing you powerful upgrades, without you feeling like you're a walking god.

No matter what powers you obtain, you're still Samus Aran walking around a desolate, infested alien planet which she is desperately trying to escape.

8:45pm: Played some more this evening, acquired the storm missiles after beating that flying scarab-like boss. Really liked how cryptic it was to get to it.

Played Wild Rift today during some downtime. Decided to put some time into Katarina (for those not aware, a rather high skill character for the game) and see if I could learn how to play the Assassin "playstyle" and roamed, ganked with my jungle and ended up MVP.

It really can't be stated enough how amazing this game is, especially when viewed through a mobile gaming perspective where quality is scarce.

Played through the game some more today after work, trying a new routine where I start off with something less competitive and this has been in my backlog far too long. I managed to progress more through the area "Ghavoran" and am loving the new abilities, the sudden attacks from Chozo warriors and generally the sense of "dread" the game instills.