It’s the year of puzzle games, a few standouts, and Animal Crossing.
We are officially past the halfway point of 2022 and things are moving steadily along. I’m slowly getting through all of my goals, with a hope of completing them to the best of my ability by the end of the year.
The Playstation Update
I started this year with 303 Platinum trophies. As of the time of writing, I’m at 339. I’ve already picked #350, which I’ll talk about in a bit.
For the most part, I’ve just been playing easy puzzle games and hidden pictures games, mostly because it’s just calming and easy and still fun. I’m not trying to spend every moment gaming (nor can I), so this has been just calm and easy.
Of games of note, there have been a few standouts as well.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was an absolute amazing game, though the post game just wasn’t as interesting to me. I normally like collectathon games, but something just didn’t click with me. The story, however, is so important and well done.
A game that surprised me was Lost Words: Beyond the Page. It was a sale pickup, and I chose it simply because the cover art looked interesting. The story itself was poignant and well done, focusing on a child going through the stages of grief. If you want a short but fun little indie title, give this one a play! (If you’re going for all trophies/achievements, make sure to use a guide for the collectables. There are about ten that will trip you up.)
Unpacking is a game from last year that finally just released on PSN. A story told in a few words, it’s a quick but fun and satisfying game. Absolutely go into this one without any spoilers or having watched any lore. I honestly think this is an amazing little game.
And of course, how can I do a list of games without talking about the largest game on this list, that took almost two months to finally 100% because of its size (and because I was working)? Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga earned its reputation as being the largest Lego game, unseating Lego City Undercover and Lego Dimensions. It’s also damn good, fixing the things that I heavily disliked about the prequel and sequel trilogies, while also doing justice to the stories. The post game content is somewhat repetitive (lots of fetch quests), but I did enjoy it. At some point this year I’d love to replay it on either PS5 (providing that I get it as my birthday/Christmas present, it’s been hinted already) or on Xbox One.
Animal Crossing New Horizons
One of my biggest goals this year was to complete as much of Animal Crossing New Horizons as possible. And honestly? I’m doing pretty well.
I spend about thirty minutes or so total a day playing, usually just doing Nook Miles+ tasks and a few things that need to be done still (collect wood, catch creatures, take a Capp’n trip, and exercise). It’s low stress, something I would usually do on my breaks. I don’t particularly mind doing it.
One thing I’ve focused on is making sure to get each month’s creatures. That means at the beginning of the month, I take note of what new creatures are spawning and what time they spawn and slowly get them all. I’ve been doing great with that, only missing one that stopped appearing in February (I only had like two days to get it), and I’m only looking for one more in July.
I usually play when I have something on in the background (lately, One Chicago, which I finally just finished the midpoint of the series, and soon to be Heartstopper and Marvel’s What If?). If I’m playing while I’m on lunch break at work, I usually turn on Lofi Girl on Youtube and enjoy it. Such a good way to pass the time.
Wait, go back to the Puzzle Games.
Well, there’s a lot of those.
Puzzle games are what I like to refer to as Platinum-bait. Nine times out of ten, I could knock them out in about ten minutes or less. Some of them I do stretch out.
My honest to Merlin favorites are any games released by POWGI, as they are always word puzzles in some way. We’re talking crosswords, fill in the blank, word scrambles… You name it, they’ve probably made a game or three for it. But I find them fun to play through, and I can take my time with them to stretch them out over a week or so.
To the surprise of no one, I’ve also played the currently released Artifex Mundi hidden picture games. Those are… well, formulaic at this point. I do enjoy them for their actual hidden picture mechanic, but not for anything else. The stories have gotten stale and uninspired, and they use the same four voice actors for every game, giving each one a boring aspect.
The other puzzle game I want to mention is also not one with trophies, but it tells a pretty good message. Island Saver is a game revolving around three things: cleaning up the environment, recycling, and banking. Yes, those make some sort of sense. It’s actually a good deal of fun, if slightly frustrating in some places. It was developed by indie studio Stormcloud Games and published by a British banking chain called Natwest. It ended up being a fun little game for two days.
In Summary
I’ll be totally honest, I don’t think I’m going to hit two of my gaming goals, since they were made when I actually had free time. But I’m going to keep on pushing through.
(For those curious, I’ve slowed down getting Platinum Trophies, and my goal was to crack 375 this year. The other was to complete just about everything in ACNH, but I know I’m behind for a lot of things, thanks to island travelling.)
But gaming in 2022 is still a lot of fun and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Until next time!
