As a law firm that primarily works with video game companies, everyone on staff is a gamer in their own right. Here’s what we’ve been playing this fall of 2023:
Minecraft by Mojang Studios
My son has pulled me back into vanilla Minecraft but he is now old enough that we can play on survival which is more fun. I’ve also been playing through some great shorter games like Limbo and Gris through Gamepass on the Steam Deck. My wife and I have also started doing crosswords somewhat collaborative/competitively, which is fun – I wish there was a better UX for that than passing the puzzle / phone back and forth between us.
Hisato No Saku by Binary Solo
I’ve been dabbling with Hisato No Saku, a cool old school-style game that reminds me of playing old PC games on my cousin’s green and black monitor computer back in the late 80s. It’s one of those games that’s simple in design but makes you feel something. I also started playing Cozy Grove and I love it. I like the more fixed narrative and quality of life tweaks compared to other cozy island games and the A E S T H E T I C S are amazing. Last, I’ve been playing League of Legends with friends while also managing to avoid tipping into degeneracy.
Baldur’s Gate 3 by Larian Studios
My philosophy on gaming is that I like to rotate between one story/narrative game to immerse myself in, one cozy and creative outlet to flex that part of my brain, and one competitive game to push myself. My story game lately has been Baldur’s Gate 3; I’m continually impressed by the openness and depth of the narrative of the game and development of the characters. Plus it distills D&D mechanics really well for someone like me, who has never actually played D&D. Palia has been my cozy and creative game recently. It’s really pretty, the core game mechanics are simple and intuitive, and sharing the world with other players make it feel more immersive and “alive” than other cozy games I’ve played. It’s also awakening my inner interior designer. Finally, I’ve recently dipped my toe back into the water of more casually running Mythic Plus dungeons in World of Warcraft alongside some friends.
Teamfight Tactics by Riot Games
As always, I am the Dungeon Master for my D&D group. That along with working on my novels and short stories during my free time, means that when I do play games I want to at least semi zonk out a bit. My two go-to games that give me a good mix of relaxation but also engagement are Teamfight Tactics and Honkai Star Rail. I find Teamfight Tactics to be cathartic and allows me to multitask with other things. Honkai Star Rail has great art, music and characters and has strategic depth in teambuilding but is not as complicated as something like Octopath Traveler.
Pokémon Shield by Game Freak
Pokémon Shield Expansion Pass DLC – I took a long break from playing the game and learned halfway through one of the DLC tracks that I did not, in fact, finish the game and it has been a lot of fun to jump back in as well as explore the new regions and work on developing new Pokémon teams!
Puzzmo by Orta Therox & Zach Gage
I am completely and totally addicted to Really Bad Chess, Flipart, and the very millennial-ish feeling daily Crossword. Being a part of a group keeps bringing me back to this game to see how I rank within the group but also how our group ranks on the leaderboards. It’s a brilliant bit of design – the leaderboard pulls the top scores from everyone’s puzzles for the day to bring together the high score for the group. I love it.
