2-Week Long Staycations Are Meant for Video Games

Spoilers for Horizon Zero Dawn, Everything, Overland, and Night in the Woods inbound!

2017 has been a roller coaster of game releases so far, which Patrick touched on back in February, and I have to admit I haven't been able to keep up very well. The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy XV are still on my to-play list, but I've officially moved on to 2017 games.

Horizon Zero Dawn was the first big game of the year I needed to get my hands on, and boy did I get my hands on it. My girlfriend and I put around 50 hours into the game during our two weeks off. We beat the game, unlocked the ancient armor, finished every cauldron allowing us to override almost every machine, witnessed every cute girl in the game attempt to flirt with Aloy, and so much more.

Horizon's in the lead of my existing 2017 Game of the Year list by quite a bit. It has its flaws, and the ending knocked my excitement about the game down a few notches, but STILL. I've got side quests to finish, pictures to take, outfits to buy, and collectibles to… collect. I think I'll try hundred-percenting the game.

I also put time into David O'Reilly's Everything, an introspective work of 3D art that takes you all over the world and beyond, and lets you be everything from nothing to the sun, and bigger. I was a group of very small guns and a piece of curly poop. It was awesome.

Rolling around town as a piece of curly poop isn't all there is to Everything. The game explores our innermost thoughts by giving playable things thought bubbles. You might walk up to a depressed cockroach or a giant rock thinking about sleep. Audio bubbles can be found throughout the game and each have a bit of dialogue from late British American philosopher Alan Watts. It was a very reflective experience.

I got to play two games by the publishing team behind Night in the Woods, Finji. The first I played was not-yet-released Overland. HZD gave me my fill of post-apocalyptic exploration, but the condensed turn-based survival-strategy in Overland was fast and fun to consume.

Surviving is harder than you think. I had to find fuel and supplies to continue my journey while fighting off randomly generated monsters. Sometimes I had someone with me, sometimes I didn't. I died a lot while playing this, mainly due to my complete inability to leave people behind, but I believe in myself. I'll get back on the road and survive.

The last, but absolutely not least, game I played during my staycation was Night in the Woods. I didn't get too far into it, but I got to meet protagonist Mae, and her very cool and good group of friends. I explored a bunch of the town, poked at part of a dead body, and fixed my fucked-up, porn ad infested computer. The art style, music, and vibe of Night in the Woods tells me it'll likely be another of my favorite games of the year. I'm looking forward to playing more… and looking forward to more Gregg.

Doesn't a staycation sound pretty good right about now?