August 15, 2019

Returning to Games

I have tried to be better about buying in to early access games, but truth is that these days LOTS of games go into early access before being released in order to gain funding – the problem is I’ll explore their beta for a little while, get angry at the issues I find (even though they’re clearly in early access and it shouldn’t matter if the game is bug-filled) and then I set the game aside. Then I forget about it.

Then a major patch or DLC will come along and I’ll suddenly remember that I own that game and I haven’t played in a while.

ARK is a game like that. I bought in very early, played 20 hours of it, and then set it aside for whatever reason. Now there have been some DLC, the game doesn’t take 20 years to load (this was a major issue for me at the start) and a few friends are playing so I found myself logging in. I forgot how to do any crafting but the basics are still the same. Smash things, collect things, level up, build a shelter and try to survive a dino ridden island. I’ve died a handful of times because I simply forgot what it was I was doing or because I had to randomly go afk in an unsafe area and take care of whatever it was my child wanted at the time (crackers! toast with peanut butter! water with ice cube! To name a few of his favourites) but overall it’s coming back to me.

I’m still partially interested in PixARK (a pixel version) but it would have to hit a pretty hefty sale before I consider picking it up. Overall, it’s nice to return to games I haven’t played in a while. Especially if they are games that have no true ending. What about everyone else, do you return to play your older games or once you’re finished with them are you through for good? Let me know in comments, and as always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!