Welcome to the first Monthly Summary of 2024 here at gamergal.exe! I’m honestly amazed at how much stuff I’ve managed to cram into the past few weeks, whether it be games, manga, dramas or music! I haven’t invested a great amount of time in games this month, but I am really looking forward to a handful of February releases so I’m sure I’ll have much more gaming topics to report on then. I’m also hoping to start some more backlogged games too with a focus on some bigger titles. First though, let’s take a look at what happened during January!
Completions:
A Date with Death & DLC
Witchtastic
Higurashi When They Cry Hou+
I completed 3 smaller titles this month, the first being free chat sim game, A Date with Death. If you’ve ever wanted to date the Grim Reaper, then now’s you chance… I guess. I really enjoyed my time in game and getting all the different endings (including the DLC one), but I don’t think I loved the game as much as others have. It’s good, but it’s still no Blooming Panic! Next on the list was Witchtastic, a co-op potion crafting game for up to 4 players. This was so much fun to play with friends and insanely addictive, which meant we got through it so fast… it’s great fun though and all the mechanics are cleverly thought out – definitely check this out if you want a challenging party game. Last on the list is the final chapter in the Higurashi series, Higurashi When They Cry Hou+. I knew this instalment was separate from the series, but I didn’t expect it to be quite as random as it actually was which makes it hard to recommend. As much as I adore this series, I’m swaying more towards “don’t bother” on this particular occasion.
Games Played:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Norn9: Var Commons
Palworld
Make Way
Right at the start of the year, I decided I was going to tackle one of the larger games in my backlog, Skyrim. I played for a couple of hours and reached the first town, but I didn’t get any further because I decided to go to Oblivion instead (I’m a bit of a sucker for playing things in release order). I’m about 10 hours into this at the moment, however, I am a little bit bored with it already. Aside from that, I started on my otome backlog with Norn9: Var Commons and finished my first route (no comment yet…), played a couple of levels on the incredibly fun and hectic racing game, Make Way, and then finished off the month with a Palworld obsession. Need I say more?
Purchases:
Palword
The only game I bought this month was Palworld, and what a game to buy! I can’t believe how popular it’s become, and it honestly deserves it as it’s so much fun despite all the negative attention it’s received. I’ve not been able to play it as much as I would’ve liked since the servers are struggling with capacity at the moment, but aside from that, I haven’t found any other issues, which is pretty impressive for an early access game!
Blog:
I wrote two blog posts this month starting with my yearly tradition of my Completions List. Here, I listed all 35 games I played during 2023 and gave them all a star rating and highlighted some of my gaming stats. The second post was an up to date list of all the Otome Announcements expected to be released this year, which I will be added to tomorrow after Aksys’ stream! I’ve been working on my Games of the Year list and a Mafumafu appreciation post too which aren’t quite ready yet, but these should hopefully be ready very soon!
Other:
This is going to be one hell of a category this month… Despite having a great start to the year on the gaming front, I ended up doing everything but gaming mid-month which means this section is going to be pretty full. Firstly, I read a whole bunch of pretty average manga with the highlights being “I Can’t Refuse S” and “Anyhow, the Rabbit is Infatuated with the Puppy”, and I’m also over halfway through my Japanese copy of “Sasaki and Miyano” which is quite exciting. I had hoped to read more, but the dramas have taken over again. I started binging dramas a few weeks ago, catching up on some Japanese titles (“Tokyo in April is…”, “Brother Trap”, “My Personal Weatherman” and “Virgin Love”) before hopping over to the Korean section (“Semantic Error” (rewatch), “Light on Me”, “Growing Season” and “Oh! My Assistant”) before finally ending up in Thailand. Not sure how that happened to be honest. However, I have found my new favourite series in Thai drama “Cutie Pie” which I am absolutely tormented with right now and I still can’t stop thinking about it over a week later. I haven’t even been able to watch anything else since, apart from the 2nd season of course! I’ve also found a spin off series, so I guess that’s next on the list. The Smite World Championships took place earlier in the month which I was really looking forward to, however, the announcement of Smite 2 left a seriously bitter taste in my mouth and I couldn’t even watch my fave team since they played last (around 3am my time) and lost… I haven’t touched Smite since, so I suppose something good did come from it. I’ve played more guitar this month too and had a go at putting together some songs for those covers I’ve been so desperate to do. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m finally becoming a little more confident and I’m hoping I’ll be properly ready to record soon after a bit more dedicated practice. Music wise, I haven’t actually bought any new albums, but I did purchase an e-ticket for After the Rain’s live which I’m still on cloud nine about (despite seeing them numerous times already). The utaite fandom has had a rough start to the year with a fair few scandals and various things going on which I’ve been following really closely over the past week – and it’s not looking good, so seeing this live made everything seem okay for a little while at least.
Music:
The first song of the month, and of 2024 for that matter, is ノニナ (Nonina) by my favourite vocalist, メガテラ・ゼロ (Mega Terra Zero). I fell in love with song instantly and it’s become my absolute favourite of his solo original songs so far – I can’t stop listening to it! His voice is honestly incredible no matter what he does and he shows it off beautifully here, pouring so much emotion into it. It’s perfect.
Next up is new banger from back number with 冬と春 (Winter and Spring). I’ve always been really fond on back number’s singles and they’re a band I always find myself coming back to. This song is no different in that regard, and I think I’ll be playing this a lot for a very long time. I really should buy some more of their albums…
Last up is a cover of King Gnu’s SPECIALZ by xea × ふぉるて (forte). These two usually post solo covers and I’ve been following their works for a while despite them being some of the newer artists I listen to on a regular basis. They’ve also started doing duets together on occasion, and I’m still very much obsessed with this song, so I was thrilled to hear their cover!
That’s all for January! It’s been a pretty hectic month, even if it’s not really been productive, but I’ve had a lot of fun and found some new favourite things along the way! I’m hoping to cut out the dramas next month and focus more on music projects, although I’m not placing any bets on it… I guess we’ll find out soon!
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