A quicker post today to capture my current state of mind – what am I enjoying most right now?

Board games – My wife got me a copy of Wonderland’s War (from Druid City Games) for my birthday, so we’ve had a few rounds of that. It’s pretty good! I feel like we’ll need a few more games to better understand the levers we can pull and the consequences of our decisions, as we’ve both been pretty conservative in taking risks so far. Going to try a game of pushing the envelope as hard as I can to see if it blows up in my face!

Next on the list is probably Moonrakers from IV Studio. My Kickstarter Titan edition has finally arrived, I’ve sleeved and sorted all of the components and brushed up on the roles, ready to get it to the table next time we have a free afternoon. There’s also a copy of The Feast of Hemlock Vale campaign (and investigator) expansions for Arkham Horror (from Fantasy Flight Games) somewhere in the mail, which we’re looking forward to. Last year, we played more Arkham Horror than any other game, so new content launching is an exciting event for us.

In case it’s of interest, my BoardGameGeek profile is here, which has a relatively up-to-date collection of the games we own. Let me know if there’s anything you’re interested in hearing about!

Video games – After playing a lot of Cyberpunk 2077 in December (and taking all of January off for a honeymoon in Japan), the current games in rotation are Returnal, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood. And Wingspan and Punishing: Gray Raven, of course.

Returnal (Housemarque) is a game I played a lot of when it was first released as a Playstation exclusive a few years ago, digging it enough to get the platinum trophy.

A few years on, it’s now been released on Steam, it was on sale, and I was in the mood for that same sort of flow-state third-person bullet-hell madness. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s a tremendous game if it clicks with you. While I was very rusty, I suspect my previous experiences helped me out a lot; I had completed the full story end (not the bonus ending, mind you), in about 10 hours with eight deaths. For context, I’m pretty sure it was closer to 40 hours and 30-odd deaths on PS5. Not sure if I’ll keep playing it quite as much now, but I will keep it installed to check out the rouge-like mode whenever the urge strikes.

I find it impossible to spend time in Japan without feeling compelled to play a Yakuza game when I get home, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios) is the one that’s gripped me this time. (Previous trips have resulted in playthroughs of Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2).

While I very much enjoy the brawling style of the Kazama Kiryu-led games, I’ve heard nothing but glowing reviews of the more Dragon Quest-inspired Ichiban outings. I’m still early on, having just revealed his epic hair for the first time, but looking forward to gnawing on it over the next few months.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood (Deconstructeam) was a real surprise for me this week. I was feeling a bit ill last Saturday and had low energy, so I went looking for a more chill game to check out. The Sisterhood was a perfect experience, easy to play, with lots of character and narrative, and no twitch reactions needed. In a way, it reminded me of Spiritfarer from last year, not so much in the topic area or gameplay, but more in how introspective it made me feel throughout the playthrough. It was a game I immediately recommended to my wife, and I’m excited to discuss the differences in our playthroughs when she’s had a chance to check it out.

Wingspan (Monster Couch) is a great digital version of an amazing board game, but one that we can play over a coffee every morning and not have to spend the time setting up or packing it away. Our morning routine is to get a coffee, launch a game of Wingspan and practice my kanji (via Wanikani). It’s a great, gentle way to get the brain fired up for work.

Punishing: Gray Raven (Kuro Games) is a mobile gacha game (with all the pros and cons that go along with that), but I’m a couple of years into it and still enjoying my time. At its best, I enjoy it as much as the Devil May Cry games it takes inspiration from. At its worst, I log in, spend 5 minutes doing my dailies, and then log out. A long-awaited character in Lucia: Crimson Weave is due this week and the community is ready. For other people who play, I’m typically floating between Hero and Legend in WZ and consistently top 5% in PPC on the Global – SEA servers.

YouTube – All eyes are following the PGL RMRs for the Copenhagen Major in Counter-Strike 2, currently have Donk (sorry, Team Spirit) and Ence on in the background. Other current favourites are MinnMax’s House Hunter Rise mini-series (from New Show Plus a few years ago) and the No Rolls Barred team doing what they do so well. Will probably jump into their new series of Blood on the Clocktower sooner rather than later.

Music – Currently mostly Reborn Superstar! by Hanabie and Post Human: Survival Horror by Bring Me the Horizon. Along with the standards of Tom Cardy and Ninja Sex Party.

Everything else – I’m on a long-term read-through of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, currently on Lords and Ladies (which was a great distraction on the nine-hour flights to and from Narita airport). I also picked up a copy of How Big Things Get Done (Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner) after talking about it in some Design Thinking training last week.

We don’t watch much TV or movies, but we did see Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron in Osaka (which being in Japanese was more like Kimitachi wa dô ikiru ka). Not speaking enough Japanese to follow the dialogue didn’t detract from an amazing visual feast that inspired a lot of emotions (and not only confusion, thankfully). Not sure if we want to watch it in English now (or with English dubs), as we kinda like the story we made up to fit our viewing experience, one which is almost certainly entirely wrong!

Ok, turns out this wasn’t much quicker than the last post. Good to know!