One of my (and I would gather many of your) coping mechanisms with *waves arms at everything around us* is gaming. For me, it’s a distraction that allows me to focus on something tangible, with relatively controlled outcomes. I can trace my actions to consequences, and my enjoyment is therefore mostly in my hands. Probably why factory automation games are so much fun, as you need to build up tons of small actions to get world-changing results…

I wouldn’t go so far to say I’m in a gaming drought, I still have a backlog to hit through (Lorelei is waiting for me). I’m popping through them methodically, and giving them each a chance to hook me. State of mind is a big deal, so not everything will work at any given time. I’ve still not been able to move beyond chapter 2 in Baldur’s Gate 3, and that feels like a slight on my gamer cred.

Of the upcoming games, the following have my interest:

• Avowed. I have played every Obsidian game, rough edges at all. They know my soft spot I guess.
• Monster Hunter Wilds. I’ve played a LOT of this series. For sure going to repeat here.
• Ghost of Yotei. Ghost of Tsushima has an exceptional place in my psyche due to real world events, this one feels required as a result.
• Outer Worlds 2. I’ve played this game to completion about 4 times. Another Obsidian game. The anti-capitalist bend here is like brain candy.
• Fable. This one I’m curious as I played the xbox versions before. Curious as to how this will play out.
• AC: Shadows. I have played nearly all the mainline games since the first one, and did enjoy the simplicity of Mirage. Given this one game is likely to make/break Ubisoft, feels like getting tickets to a backstage show.

That isn’t a terribly long list, but you’ll notice that none of them are games that are 10hrs or less in content. Further, these are the ones with tons of marketing behind them, and generally seen as AAA. Truthfully, I tend to keep an eye elsewhere for the indy gems that pop up with barely a squeak or a couple week’s notice. They tend to fill in all the gaps.

And right at this very instance, there’s a gap. Avowed is 2 weeks out. And Obsidian being Obsidian, there’s likely some kitchen sink / stabilization patches that will be needed too. MH: Wilds is end of month, and that one is likely to suck up time just as Factorio: Space Age did in the fall. Capcom has figured out the magic of patch cadence with this series, my expectation is content releases on a regular basis.

There’s some smaller studio stuff coming out too. Citizen Sleeper 2 is likely a go-to. I’m sure there are a dozen metroidvanias along the path. Maybe a few more open world survivals. Heck, deck builders are due too. I’m sure the majority will keep in the rogue-lite/-like structure as those allow content to be reused, therefore bringing down dev costs.

I got a hankering for something to distract me. Let’s see what ends up clicking.