Save Point: June 2022

June was my first full month back on WordPress in around a year.

What a ride it’s been so far. There have been highs, such as getting back into the swing of blogging with a round-up of the latest Steam Next Fest and my first time at the UK Games Expo. But there have also been lows, with pressure from both my day-job and apprenticeship increasing and impacting my mindset.

When things get stressful, it’s important to remember to take it one day at a time and keep telling yourself that you can only do so much. And when you find yourself needing a break from the world, video games are there to provide a brief mental holiday. I’ve also enjoyed a few board games and jigsaw puzzles this month, along with a treasure hunt around London where we ditched Sherlock and sided with Moriarty.

I’ve never been interested in keeping a gaming journal before, but spending so many hours focused on data for my apprenticeship work has made me wonder what an analysis of my hobby and habits would look like. To find out, I started keeping track of what I’ve been playing and for how long from the beginning of June. There’s something therapeutic about gradually collating that information in a spreadsheet and then watching graphs evolve from it over the course of several weeks.

You can find them below if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve been up to recently. This is something I’d like to keep doing for now to create an overall picture of how I spend my gaming time, so I’m hoping to publish similar posts at the end of upcoming months. June’s data reveals someone who hasn’t focused on a single title, and who maybe spends more time on things outside of video games than they realised.

Progress report

Game of the month

My favourite title has been Inscryption despite only just starting it. I don’t usually go for card games but was drawn in by its creepy atmosphere and setting during WASD in April, and the Steam summer sale seemed like a great time to pick it up. I also like to mention Old Skies here too. I had the opportunity to play the demo at the beginning of June and, although the visuals weren’t what I was expecting, it’s definitely a Wadjet Eye project at its heart. There’s no release date yet but hopefully we won’t have to wait too long.

Event of the month

A spontaneous trip to Birmingham at the beginning of the month saw us attending the UK Games Expo for the first time. The best thing about the event was that it was so welcoming to newcomers and it opened our eyes even further to different gaming experiences. While video games will probably always be our go-to form of entertainment, we now feel open to playing board games more regularly. We came home with plenty of new games to try and there may be some posts about our experiences with them soon.

Photo of the month

The first post of the month was a round-up from the MCM Comic Con in London. Pete and I don’t really fit into the event’s target audience as we don’t have much of an interest in film or anime, but we still had an enjoyable enough day visiting the stands and seeing everyone’s cosplay. My award for best costumes goes to the family who very kindly let me take the photograph opposite. I’m a huge Stranger Things fan anyway, but it was impossible not to smile at that cute little Demogorgan face.

Plans for next month

I’ll be continuing to play Inscryption to get to the bottom of its weird story, and I’m aiming to finish Tales of the Neon Sea too. I need to clear the decks before the middle of the month because there are a couple of new games coming that I’d like to pick up. As Dusk Falls is due for release on 19 July 2022 and I’m looking forward to seeing how its unique art-style is used to tell a gritty crime drama. This is closely followed by IMMORTALITY, the next intriguing full-motion video (FMV) title by Sam Barlow.

There are sadly no gaming events on the calendar in July but Pete and I have other things planned to make up for it. We’ve been itching to do another real-world escape room after our last in March and there’s one with a gold-mining theme further out in Essex which has caught our eye. We’ve also got a couple of days off work, the perfect time to try out some of the board games we picked up at the UK Games Expo, and maybe one of these days we’ll get around to streaming again too.

Now over to you guys: what have you been up to lately, and what have you got planned for the coming month? I hope you had a great June, and wish you an even better July.