A Few Video Games I’ve Played Recently, or How I’ve Spent My Pandemic
For whatever reason, there is a generally held misconception that gamers are all male. Ever contrary, I’m part of the 48% of American women who love to play. After a long day at work, nothing beats booting up my PS5 and sneaking up on a fort to take out all the hostile soldiers with your bow and arrow. Now that my son is getting old enough to watch me play (8 years old) I’ve never been more appreciative of those games that allow me to turn off or dial down the blood spattering. It’s bad enough that he’s doodling hwacha on his pages at school, I don’t need a call from the principal.
Currently Playing: Minecraft Though he’s been playing Pokémon on my Switch for years (it’s the only way we keep him pliant during long car trips), I recently introduced my son to Minecraft. While getting him set up and learning the mechanics I got hooked myself on the silly, cubey world (even if I’ve yet to make it in the Nether long enough to get blaze rods).
Previous Games:
Horizon: Zero Dawn/Horizon: Forbidden West - Love this franchise, though frustrated the developers chose to make all of Aloy’s platonic male allies in love with her for the sequel. Lame choice.
Hades - Love this indie game. Did NOT expect the soundtrack to be that epic.
Returnal - Love the premise of this game in theory, but found it infuriating in reality. I refuse to admit publicly how many hours it took me to finally get through the first stage successfully, (though it was awfully satisfying to finally get that grappling hook).
Ghost of Tsushima - Pretty much a perfect game. Do I wish you could play with a female lead? Sure, but in this case that wouldn’t have made sense. The developers do make up for it with plenty of complex female characters throughout the story line. (Really hate those Mongols.)
Kena: Bridge of Sprits - Fun game I originally bought for my son, but ended up taking over when he struggled with the game mechanics.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla - Here’s something I never thought I’d say - wow I love Orlog. Between that and flyting against a squirrel, this installment of the franchise introduced a lot of fun elements. I never thought I’d get super excited about raiding a monastery.
Cat Quest I & II - Bought to play with my son who is obsessed with cats. Silly and fun.
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey - First playable female protagonist in the franchise. Hats off to Ubisoft who have done a fantastic job diversifying their developer team and their resulting products. After studying Classics in college, I could not get enough of this game. I do hate every time the present day storyline would interfere though. (I wish you could toggle that off.)