Well, January is already over and the year is alreadh a twelfth of the way there, incredible, simply mindboggling.
Podcasts
I think I didn’t listen to as many podcasts as other months, but it’s actually just fine, I listened to about 56 hours of podcasts in January.
- Into The Aether - Continued to listen to the weekly episodes as well as the Patreon extras like Any% and Shore Leave. Just a fantastic podcast as always.
- The Rest is History - I’ve been listening to the series The Nazis at War as well as the episodes on Greek Myths which have been a joy to listen to.
- Wolf 359 - Loving the progression of this so far, just a fantastic sci-fi drama, I had completely forgotten lots of it, I love it.
- Trash Taste - Just some random episodes here and there.
- Revolutions - I am still on season 3 about the French Revolution, it’s super long but very, very interesting.
Anime
- Doctor Stone - Started part 2 of Season 4, but only one episode, to be honest, not much else I can say.
Gaming
Gaming was pretty strong this month! I played a lot of videogames.
Completed
- Monument Valley - This is a fantastic little game that I enjoyed playing through, a puzzle game that deals with perspective in fun and varied scenarios. There’s a bit of a story going on, but everything is very minimal and up to interpretation. I remember really disliking this game just because it was very similar to Echochrome for the PSP, using perspective and illusions to create a path where there is none. But this adds a few new and interesting mechanics not present there, which I really enjoyed. Wonderful little game all around.
Started
- Outer Wilds - What an incredible journey this game has been so far. I started it on a whim because my friend JP has been recommending it for ages, I finally gave it a try and now I’m instantly hooked. This is seriously incredible stuff. A game where you explore a small solar system, uncovering mysteries and secrets. It has been an absolutely joy so far.
- Risk of Rain Returns - I got this game to attempt to introduce my friends into another multiplayer roguelike that could be very fun to tackle together. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to play it as much, and other options such as Vampire Survivors are all the rage right now for us.
- Terranigma - I wanted to play another retro action RPG and decided to give this one a go. It still plays and feels amazing! But I didn’t play that much of it. I am charging up my retro handheld as I write this, I plan to continue playing more in February.
Ongoing
- Hollow Knight: Silksong - I managed to make a lot of progress on this game, found a lot of bosses and routes and things to complete. It has been amazing to continue exploring the world of Pharloom even more, and the fact that there is so much more to explore in an upcoming act I’m yet to unlock fills me with a lot of excitement. Despite some very rough challenges and sections, being able to overcome all of that has made me feel great.
- CrossCode - On a single sitting, I managed to progress to the next dungeon of the game, doing a lot of sidequests and tasks before actually getting to it. The story has also started to unfold and turn out to be much deeper than expected. I’ve really enjoyed the characters here and all the quirky details that being “a game about playing a game” entails, like NPCs saying silly things and the like. It’s fun!
- Vampire Survivors - Fantastic roguelike with a multiplayer mode that was simply awesome to play and experience together, I have to say I didn’t expect it to take off as hard as it has, but it quickly became a new favorite in my friend group!
- Slice & Dice - This continues to be fantastic to play and get good at, I had an awesome Blursed run where I broke my record with 100+ consecutive wins. However, now I’m trying to beat Hard mode, which I have never been able to do. I should really try to improve my gameplay on that, I keep making silly mistakes.
- Final Fantasy VI - I only played a day or two of this, it was pretty fun but nothing much came out of it, I barely touched my RG35XX SP this month, I have to say.
Manga
- DanDaDan - Returned to this wonderful series and have had lots of fun, after the latest arc something happened that switched the dynamics between the characters quite a lot, and I’m looking forward to see how they get back on track from there.
- Blue Lock - Just enjoying the U-20 World Cup, to be honest. The fact that some very strong teams are showing up so early fills me with excitement.
- Kingdom - The new arc against Riboku, the ultimate enemy of the Qin kingdom, has been absolutely thrilling, I’m just happily reading whatever the author throws at me, I know I’m in good hands, the action and the strategy never fail to impress me.
- Spy x Family - Still having lots of fun exploring side characters, and the small arc with Anya and friends was wholesome and actually lead to some interesting consequences.
- Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou - Hadn’t read this one in a while—as I say, I never want it to end—but I really felt like I should give a few chapters a go, and they were just precious.
- Usogui - Read a couple chapters of this to finish up the arc and start something else, interesting stuff.
Movies
- Back to the Future - What a blast from the 80s.
- The Terminator - What a blast from the 80s.
- The Running Man - What a blast from the 80s.
- Megamind - What a blast from the 2010s.
- The Negotiator - Oh look it’s Samuel L. Jackson!
- The Amateur - Oh look it’s the guy from Mr. Robot!
- Death Wish - Oh look it’s the guy from Die Hard!
Books
- Persepolis Rising (The Expanse #7) - Only read up to chapter 2, I was supposed to finish it this month but it just didn’t happen, other things took over my life and I now have to catch up in February, hopefully I get it done, it seems super interesting!
- Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) - Finished this one once and for all, it was a short book but again, I was terrible at reading text this time around, ugh.
Finishing thoughts
I have to say I am not very happy this time around, I’ve spent quite a bit more time on my phone than I’d like to admit, but the worst part is that Activity Watch has started to be a bit flaky for me and doesn’t provide reliable data anymore. I think this is due to the work profile I am using to separate some apps from the rest of the system, AW doesn’t detect them, and sometimes that can be messy.
In any case, I have lots to work on for February, I hopefully balance things out better, read more and also finish more games!
This is day 8 of #100DaysToOffload
