I’m playing a Necromancer in Diablo 4: Season 5, and I usually play with the blood aspects, but this round I decided to focus on bone. So far I’m liking the season campaign. It feels like a prelude to the DLC coming out in a couple months.

I have only two achievements left for Ghostwire: Tokyo, both dealing with the extra content The Spider’s Thread. I thought I’d just be able to run through it, but it’s been a grind. But since a lot of my focus has been on the new Diablo season this week, that’s ok. I don’t think I have the mental bandwidth for a new game right now.

Had a virtual get together last night with some friends and played Worms W.M.D.. Tremendously fun, and I even won one round.

Maybe they got his lines before he passed? Iirc Remedy was working on the Max Payne remakes way back in at least 2022. Even if not, McCaffrey’s relation with Remedy goes back so far that I’m sure they’ll do him justice.

When I was younger I fell off a homemade merry go round some neighbors had built. Got hit in the back of the head by one of the horses as I tried to get up. Ended up with staples and a lovely scar.

It’s an Unreal Engine 4 remaster! I haven’t played the original so I can’t really compare, but I have read that they added some additional dialogue lines as well.

I managed to complete one round in Monstrum . I nearly quit a couple times, because wow this game can be frustrating. But I made it through in the end, once I got a better idea of where certain items would be and how the monsters vibe. I’m kind of glad I stuck with it for a couple days; it made escaping that much more satisfying.

The Spectrum Retreat seemed intriguing, so I gave it a go. It was not quite what I was expecting, and I’m not sure I really liked it. The set up was a little odd, in my opinion, where you would have a bit of story and then a block of Portal-like puzzles, sans the humor. The puzzles weren’t really all that difficult, but they seemed disjointed from the story, which in itself was vague and left me with a lot of questions. I guess I shouldn’t have expected much for a game built around puzzles, but still.

Also played through The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Redux. I gotta say, the story is not at all what I expected, in a good way, although I’m not sure I’m a fan of the ending. Walking between areas was a little tedious, but the scenery was absolutely beautiful, and the sprint speed was a lot better that most walking sims I’ve played. It kind of reminds me of What Remains of Edith Finch or Dear Esther, both of which I also enjoyed. I think I might play this again sometime just to take screenshots.

I’m not sure what game I’ll be playing next, but Diablo 4’s Season 5 is coming up next week, so I’ll probably dip back into GamePass to see what’s on there.

Controlled temperature seats in the car. My first car didn’t have anything like that, so I never really thought about needing it. But then I got my second car which had heated seats, and when winter came, oh man, I finally understood the appeal. And then summer came and I had to borrow my parents’ car for a week, and it also has cooling seats… They are fantastic.

On that same note, Bluetooth in the car. Going by aux isn’t bad, but it is less cords I have to fumble around with when I first get in. That being said, I still carry a couple backup CDs just in case, lol.

For sure, I can see how it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. There are a couple insensitive moments, and sometimes the game mechanics involving the Darkness itself are a bit of a pain, but I think the overall story and some of the settings (especially the whiplash you get about halfway through) are really compelling.

Finished The Darkness, and still didn’t find all the collectibles. But I did get a bunch of other achievements, so it wasn’t a loss as far as that goes. I am a little sad that this game has multiplayer achievements though, because since this game is so old (and really didn’t need multiplayer to begin with), there’s no one available online. Multiplayer achievements in a primarily single player game are the bane of my existence.

I’ve also already played through The Darkness 2. It’s crazy how the vibe is so different than the first one. The first game had a really gritty feel, meanwhile this one has a polished and “clean” feel to it, probably due to having different developers and art styles. I love them both, they are special in their own ways. While I do miss the “open” world and side quests of the first Darkness, I do love this game. It’s so fun, and so is the extra content Vendettas. It’s like extra story without taking away from the story, if that makes sense? Like you don’t need Vendettas, but the extra bits are still fun to have.

Now I’m attempting Monstrum for the first time. I was a little wary at first because it seemed to start out boring since I was just walking around, but once I ran into the monsters it got a lot more interesting. I’m not sure I’ll actually get all the way through it, but it’s a fun little ride while I decide on what my next game is going to be.

100% this guy would have turned it around to make an issue about me recorded his meetings lol

I kinda think this particular guy would get flustered and extremely frustrated whenever something would go wrong or there was a tight deadline, so he would take it out on everyone around him (dude would regularly threaten to have people fired for small mistakes that could easily be fixed). And since we were in an IT department with aging equipment/tech, there was always something broken or an effort to upgrade going on. It also didn’t help that he thought and firmly believed that he knew better than everyone else. After I got transferred, my manager had to take over his team because the rest of the PMs were either full up on bandwidth or just straight up didn’t want to work with the guy.

At my last job as a project manager, I had a director that I worked with that I absolutely despised. On a regular basis we would have this (abridged) interaction:

Director: I don’t understand what this report is trying to say. Take out abc and include xyz. Me: Ok. includes changes in meeting notes next meeting Director: What is this? Why does the report look like this? I don’t even understand why you would make it look like this. Change xyz and include abc. Me: But… Director: No buts, this is my team’s project. Me: …Ok. includes changes in meeting notes next meeting Director: What is going on with this? I don’t understand what’s going on. Why does this report change every time I see it? Me: … Bruh.

This happened so many times that eventually I had to start including my manager in meetings with him, because this dude was insufferable and did not want to accept it when his ideas and changes were shit. He’d always deny he requested changes (even though I documented them in the meeting notes), and everything was everyone’s fault except his. Luckily another director that I got along with really well requested me to work on their projects and I got transferred.

Teamed up with a couple friends this week and finally finished out Diablo 4: Season 4 by taking on Tormented Duriel. I love Diablo, but it is such a relief to be able to focus on something else for a little bit.

Like Diablo 3: Season 32, lol. I am now worried about the progress I’m making. Yes, it’s only been a week, but I forgot how… not good I am in working with the Necromancer’s Trag’Oul set. I feel clunky and underpowered, but I don’t have the full set yet, so maybe once I finished chapter 4 I’ll be able to utilize it better.

Had no idea you could watch whole movies in The Darkness. I learned that when I got way too nostalgic and then invested watching To Kill A Mockingbird. Right now I’m pretty close to the end of the game, but I’ve been taking my sweet time combing over areas for collectibles. Even then, I’m still missing some, and they can be pretty well hidden. I’m having a lot of fun, but I am ready to pick up the sequel, if for nothing else but less stiff controls.

I think the main drawback for me was how unlikable I found Booker and Elizabeth to be. It didn’t help that Elizabeth would start talking every time I tried to listen to a voxophone. I remember having to take a break from the game after attempting to listen to one 3 or 4 times, but she wouldn’t stop talking. I really like the gameplay though. I’ll boot up Infinite every once in a while to play Clash in the Clouds.

I wouldn’t say it’s as good as the RE2 remake, but it’s a fun little ride and I enjoy playing it. Like I said, it’s really short, and from what my friends who have played the original say, it cut some areas and isn’t quite as faithful to the original as RE2 is. To me it’s a nice little supplement to RE2, since it also takes place in Raccoon City, as well as giving more to Jill’s story in the RE universe as a whole. I wouldn’t recommend buying it full price, but if there’s a good sale I’d nab it.

Still wading through Diablo 4: Season 4. I have one more objective to get all the rewards for the season, but I gotta choose between beating Uber Lilith, Tormented Duriel, or Tormented Andariel, all of which are a bitch to fight. I have all my glyphs upgraded to the absolute max, and most of my items are in a good place, but I need to go through The Pit some more to upgrade them further, but it’s such a grinding pain that I get bored quickly.

Diablo 3: Season 32 started this week, and I decided to go with a Necromancer after the disaster of a time I had with the Witch Doctor last season. It’s only been a day, but I’m already feeling better about this round.

Finally finished Subnautica! While the last stretch was a little grindy and tedious, the ending was nice, and overall, I’m really glad I stuck to it and made it through. I can see myself revisiting this in the future, if nothing else that to see how building different bases in different locations would affect how quickly I could get things done. Or to just see what amazing base I could build in general. I thought about playing Below Zero, but I haven’t heard as great of things compared to this one, and I’m also not sure if I could stand another 60ish hours of swimming around lol. I did end up getting it on Steam anyway during the Summer Sale, so at the very least it’s on the To Play List.

Had the urge to play Resident Evil 3 REmake again, so I did. I forgot it was so short, especially for a Resident Evil game.

For my next non Diablo game, I think I want to revisit The Darkness series. I’ve only played each game once, but I had a fun time with both, so I might see what achievements there are and do some hunting.

The only times I’ve ever had a drama free workplace was:

1. At the beginning of my career when I was an intern. They didn’t care enough about me to include me in the gossip, and I was only going to be there for a few months anyway.
2. When my last job started letting us work from home, so I was no longer stuck at a desk in a high traffic area where multiple people would stop and chat. Headphones with a mic were a godsend, because when someone would start to approach, I’d just smile and point at the mic. Kept a lot of the gossipers at bay, though not all. WFH eliminated all that, I was so happy I could finally just focus on my work and not get caught up in situations that didn’t even pertain to me.

Still swimming around in Subnautica. It’s been fun trying to figure out my next step. Just mulling over stuff and gathering resources until I’m like “Oh! What did this one log from earlier say? Ok, I gotta check out this place over here.” Though I won’t lie, I did end up going and finding a map online, because I was getting lost so easily, especially while underwater.
I can feel that I’m nearing the end of the storyline, it’s just a matter now of getting there. Without being spoilery, I’ve put off making one particular piece of equipment, and now it looks like I’m going to need it. So, my current state is farming for resources and crafting. I’m hoping I finish this game in the next two or three days, because while this is fun, I’m itching to play something else.

Yeah, I haven’t been a fan of it so far. Some of the visuals and shots are nice, but there hasn’t been one character so far that I’ve liked, and it tends to drone on in a boring way.

Watching anime with a friend. He’s been trying to get me into Evangelion.

I have only four more objectives to finish the season journey in Diablo 4: Season 4. Right now I’m balancing between running through nightmare dungeons to level up my glyphs and taking on Helltides.

I finished the main story line for Mad Max and only have to clean up the rest of the map. But I won’t do that now, will probably just pop in every few days to do stuff.

Still Wakes The Deep came out recently, and I didn’t know much about it other than it takes place on an ocean oil rig near Scotland and is Lovecraftian in nature. I was really looking forward to it, because usually Lovecraftian games center around a detective MC, so this taking place on an oil rig seemed like a refreshing concept, but I ended up extremely disappointed. It started off like Amnesia meets The Thing meets Alien Isolation, but unlike Amnesia, there’s not any puzzles. And unlike Alien Isolation, there’s not any combat or action. Just go here, pull lever, sneak there, have a little chase, flail through awful QTEs (and jesus, there were a lot of them). It made for a very boring ride with bland and shallow story where nothing is explained. The accents were fun though.

I picked up Subnautica again. I’m determined to actually finish it this time. I think my issue in my previous attempts was spending too much time working on building a massive base, so my plan is to just build necessities this round. I think it’s working so far? Right now all I have is a moonpool with some storage, a fabricator, and a med station. I’m not sure how long to “story” is, but I feel like I’m making good progress.