While I’ve been primarily playing ESO and LOTRO this month — no complaints here! — there are several titles that keep flitting in and out of my attention as candidates for play either in the near or far future. As I like to do every so often, I’m going to list them as a way to mentally sort through the possibilities and explain why they have been grabbing my imagination if not my immediate playtime.
SWTOR
I strongly feel that 2024 is going to be a make-or-break year for SWTOR. It’ll be the first full year under Broadsword’s ownership, and we’re only now starting to see the direction of the development. Every patch that arrives pings my nostalgia, but I’m hesitant to get that involved until seeing what direction this MMO is heading. It’s still pretty up there for me, though.
New World
Amazon continues to pour resources into what always sounds like a pretty solid MMO — perhaps the best of the current generation. I do check in from time to time to see if the lag and loading issues are resolved for me, because otherwise I really did have a great time playing this and wouldn’t mind seeing more.
Palia
Mostly this is on my radar because Singularity Six keeps pumping out patches and shoring up this product. Good housing and some interesting gameplay loops. I have a hunch that if I went whole-hog into this, it might latch onto me fierce. Maybe it’s time to put that to the test.
Fallout 76
I am on again/off again with this one, and I always do look forward to a good “on again” period. It’s not quite here yet, but I am sure to revisit the wasteland in 2024.
World of Warcraft
At the moment, I am probably not looking at Cataclysm Classic (“but never say never!” my brain pipes up). Retail and The War Within are more likely. I’m still subbed, so I probably need to play or get off the pot for a while.
Rimworld
I did not expect for Rimworld to be bowling me over with two tremendous announcements this month. First, there’s a huge quality-of-life update on the horizon with a ton of really cool new features like bookshelves and crawling wounded, and I am here for it. Even better was the reveal of its next expansion, Anomaly, which is based around Lovecraftian horrors and supernatural threats. I never got the previous expansions, as they didn’t sound that interesting, but this one I will have to snap up.
Stardew Valley
The 1.6 update reminded me how much I’ve always kind of wished I had gotten more into Stardew Valley back in the day… and maybe it’s not too late even now. Wondering if this might make for a good blog series or not.
The Sims 4
I mean, I still have it, and I theoretically am perfect for Sims 4. But I hardly play these days. The barrier to starting a new family and house is daunting in a way — so many choices and hours of work before you can move in — but I have unlocked a ton of stuff and could have fun if, once again, I committed more to it than the occasional dabble.
Diablo III
I don’t own this right now, but I’m thinking about picking up a cheap copy at some point in the future for some low-stress ARPG fun. I never did beat it, and it’s way more fun than Diablo IV turned out to be.
Bio Break 