Long, lazy days and smoky barbecues don’t mean we have to give up gaming completely during the summer: we can still find an hour or two for video games in between the burgers and beers. A huge thank you to all of our 481 followers for joining us on our blogging journey – we’ve listed you over on our dedicated page to prove how great you all are.

The amazing posts keep on coming from the WordPress community and there’s always something interesting appearing in our reader. Here are some of the highlights we’ve picked out from over the past month:

Sun, sea, sand… video games! Which five games would you take if you were stranded on a desert island? Some lovely choices here from Murr at geeksleeprinserepeat.

And you thought all games based on movies were terrible! Take a look at this post by Rob over at I Played The Game! to see this isn’t the case.

Love games? Like heavy metal? Then check out this post by Will from Ludophile Lab where both collide in one awesome mash-up. Rock on!

Some excellent advice from Geddy over at nostalgia trigger in this post. Hobbies are to be enjoyed and there’s nothing wrong with broadening your horizons.

How would you survive the zombie apocalypse and what are the best methods? True Video Games is looking for your ideas in this post so get involved!

Last month, Kim was…

Doing:   painting, of the decorating kind
Feeling:   slightly worse for wear
Playing:   quite a few indie games!
Writing:   Leisure luxuries and the biased views of Professors

New tin sign arrived today! Feeling the #BioShock theme. Diving helmet from @BattlesbridgeAC; sign and candles fro… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…

—
Later Levels (@LaterLevels) July 31, 2017

More good news following on from last month’s editorial: after being covered in paint during a week away from work, my other-half and I have managed to finish the kitchen and dining room! There are still some minor jobs to do but it enabled us to host our first dinner-party which left us feeling a little delicate the following day. It also gave me a chance to make this awesome carrot cake by Teri Mae over at Sheikah Plate, and turn our diving helmet into a lamp.

I snapped up some new additions to my library in the Steam summer sale including Mainlining, Orwell and Kathy Rain – the last being a great one for those into adventures and Twin Peaks. Indie titles like this seem to be fitting in well with life at the moment because I can get in an hour so after a day at work and still feel as though I’m making progress. My other-half has been working his way through Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – while I’ve been watching from behind a cushion because I’m too much of a wimp.

Both posts for the first match of #BloggerBlitz are right here! @NekoJonez: arpegi.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/blo… @LightningEllen: lightningellen.com/2017/07/31/blo…

—
Adventure Rules (@adventure_rules) August 01, 2017

In terms of posts, there has been a lot of collaboration going on over the past month and it’s been lovely getting to know some of you awesome bloggers a little better! Imtiaz from Power Bomb Attack has not only joined us for August’s question of the month, but he also kindly mentioned Later Levels in his post about the things that make us happy. A big thank you also to those writers to helped with my video game vacations post: I need a holiday!

In case you haven’t already heard, Ian from Adventure Rules is hosting the Blogger Blitz: an epic challenge which will see eight bloggers battle it out in a series of crazy one-on-one tests with their sponsored video game character. With Guybrush Threepwood at my side, I went up against Luke from Hundstrasse with Claire Redfield in a match called ‘Mail Delivery’ – you’ll be able to find out who wins on Friday…

Coming up this month…

Just doing a super professional interview via (sporadic Facebook messaging) with the awesome @kissingthepixel of @LaterLevels...

—
Chris (OverthinkerY) (@overthinkery1) August 01, 2017

As well as the continuing Blogger Blitz battle, there’s plenty more collaboration going on: I have an idea for a new post and will be reaching out to others shortly. I’ve also been up to something with Chris from OverThinker Y… head over to his site to find out more and be amazed!

Kitacon is coming up next week and my cosplay outfits still aren’t totally completed, so I have a feeling I’m going to end up winging it a little. Still, with too many rounds of Cards Against Humanity accompanied by several beers – not to mention the metal party on Saturday – I’m not entirely sure I’m going to be sober enough to worry…

See you on the other side! – Kim   ❤