If you’re a gamer then I’d strongly recommend you get a playlist of bangers from your favourite games. They tend to be high energy, low on distracting lyrics, and if you’ve played the game any amount then they’ve might have gotten associated with a “locked in” brain state so you feel like whatever task you’re achieving is analogous to gaming.

My playlist has tracks from Streets of Rage 2, Golden Sun, Pokémon, Smash Bros and Super Hexagon amongst others.

Hoplite maybe? It’s on mobile but is a lot of fun.

I found the dark world very tedious, from what I remember. One aesthetic throughout the whole game that was very dreary to look at. Has been many years since I played it though.

I’ve not finished it yet due to limited gaming time but it’s clearly not that long. It feels like it should have some replayability but I don’t think it’s very unreasonably priced. Probably not ideal if you’re looking to squeeze every hour of entertainment out of your dollar though.

Terra Nil is mentioned in the article but I must give it a recommendation, it’s very chill and restoring a wasteland or ruined city to a thriving ecosystem is a great counterpoint to building a bustling city.

Right, so I didn’t actually mind the original ENT theme at all during my rewatch earlier this year. Far worse was the outro credits which were deeply jarring every single time.

The revamped theme is appalling though, it’s doubling down on everything that put people off about the original and it’s far, far worse.

I love how Viking-rune-looking it is. Everything old is new again.

Was this game named by a Bojack Horseman character?

Embrace mobile gaming. Especially the classic Nintendo handhelds. I can rock my baby to sleep and play Pokémon Ruby on my GBA at the same time. Embrace RPGs and other games where reaction times don’t matter. If I’m sat in a chair with a sleeping child I can even play a game where reaction speed matters, like Tetris.

Get a flash cart so you don’t have to switch games or carry a library of carts with you. Keep it in your car for play if you’re out a lot. Oh, and get a decent modern screen mod so you can see the screen outside.

I think most companies are actively against public suggestions. If they do something like what you suggest, they may be liable for paying you for that idea. But if they’re already working on something like your suggestion, and then you suggest it, then they either have to pay you for an idea they already had, or risk you taking them to court and having to spend time and lawyer money on proving they owe you nothing.

The only justification I’ve ever been able to think of is Pokémon. The idea is supposed to be that every Pokémon is unique but there’s actually only a limited set of variables to define each individual ‘mon. I can trade you a Zubat I just caught and it can be identical to one that I first caught in Fire Red twenty years ago and have traded through every game since.

If each Pokémon was truly unique and on the blockchain, it could be meaningful in ways they currently aren’t. There could be only one Coalossal that Wolfe Glick won the Player’s Cup with. He could trade it away for charity and someone would pay for it. I could trade Pokémon away and track them as they’re traded around the world.

It’d be cool. But it would not meaningfully make the game more fun. And it’s Nintendo so they’re never going to do blockchain. And that is the best pitch I can give you.

Whenever the RedLetterMedia guys talk Trek it’s a good time. It’s not their bread and butter though.

Portal and Portal 2 must be on this list. If you’ve never played then, you must. It is that simple.

Competitive Pokémon is something I’d definitely recommend. It’s similar to speed chess in that there’s a game timer but you have like 30 seconds per move to lock in. VGC is an incredibly deep and constantly evolving meta game. The NAIC tournament finished yesterday and is on YouTube if you want to see it being played at a top level with great commentary.

You can practice singles and doubles for free on pokemonshowdown.com. IRL contests held by The Pokémon Company are always doubles, played on Switch and will be played with Scarlet and Violet for the foreseeable future.