Play
Zelda Breath of the Wild - the credits are literally rolling as I type. I fucking loved this game. I could talk for a long time about why but simply the world is beautiful and a joy to explore.
Not sure what I'll play next. I've really enjoyed losing myself in a long game so I might just do that again. I'm going to hold off on Tears of the Kingdom for a bit. Persona 4 has possibly been in my pile of shame for longer than Zelda. I'm kinda tempted to try Ocarina and Majora's Mask on the 3DS though. It's been years since I played Ocarina and I've never finished Majora's.
Maybe I'll just go finish Donkey Kong Bananza
Want
Hyrule Warriors
Metaphor
Clair Obscura
Any of those, preferably for less than £40.
Play
Hot on the heels of finishing off Outer Worlds 2, I've immediately gone back to The Outer Worlds, which seems much larger than its reputation had led me to believe. There are at least two planets on the system map I've not even unlocked yet, and I've not been a slouch about missions. It's not quite as good as the sequel, mechanically—there are so many quality-of-life improvements in the UI alone—but the world and the characters are top-notch.
There's a game preview (read: early access build) of Whiskerwoods on the PC GamePass which had seemed right up my Timberborn-loving street, but it's a little clunkier and more opaque in its systems and I'm struggling a bit to juggle all its demands.
Want
Really curious to see a price point for the Gabecube to either tip me over into an impulse purchase or laugh heartily and write off the idea of ever getting one.
Play
Atelier Yumia - I totally forgot Metroid is out in like 4 days so, erm, well done. This is a game I think I can sink time into in ways that aren't story related though so it's fine. This seems like a cool, unique Atelier game but it's not what I ould point a newcomer to the series to (that would still be Ryza) because it'd overwhelm the shit out them, the map size feels like it came right out of Elden Ring.
Sakura Wars 2 - Should beat this in the next day or two and then agonise at when/if the third and fourth game get fan translated, made a bit worse by everyone saying the third game is the best by far. The fifth is already translated over here so I could jump to that and then the soft reboot for the PS3 game. But as for as the second game goes, one of the best games I've played in 2025.
Sektori went to bed at 5am and stayed up till 8:30 to play this, oops. Laser focused on the campaign mode which has you fighting waves in a randomly shifting arena until a boss. I like the other modes but if I went into them I'd have to readjust my mindset. Also, this game looks pretty nutty visuals wise, deserves a special mention imo.
Want
Metroid Prime 4 - Staggeringly bad trailers aside, I can't deny I'm looking forward to this. The talking guy who points out if you haven't saved and missed a pickup sounds potentially disastrous depending on how much he's in it but bike sections potentially look like the worst part if you ask me, I dunno', I wish I was buying this without stuff like that in the back of my mind but I suppose I should at least play the damn game first. Give me Echoes Remaster and I can at least have that.
Bin
🤐 🤐🤐🤐🤐
I tried the demo of Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity. I like how it's got so much stuff from the main game, but I'm not sure it really grabbed me.
After that I loaded up Ocarina of Time 3DS and I'm having fun with that. It's been a long time since I last played it so I think I'll see it through. I can't imagine it takes too long to beat.
Echoes of Wisdom is that rarest, most wonderful of things: a brand-new Zelda world to explore.
I couldn't work out why that was engaging me SO much until I looked at the release timelines, and worked out the last time I had a chance to explore a new Zelda world.
Tears of the Kingdom re-uses a map we spent hundreds of hours in, so we can discount that. And following on from that, Breath of the Wild is wonderful (favourite game ever?) but it doesn't feel like a Zelda game. There's a very specific brand of Zelda ambience and cosy exploration feels that BotW is missing. Link Between Worlds uses the SNES map, we all know that one back to front. Skyward Sword didn't have an overworld.
And so we're back to Twilight Princess. Which came out almost 20 years ago. 20 years since I landed in a brand-new, Zelda-feeling Hyrule and wondered what was around the next corner.
So Echoes of Wisdom might not be the best Zelda game. It's probably not the best Switch 2 game I'll buy this week. But it's recaptured a feeling I thought I'd lost forever. It's a warm Christmas-day hug of a game.
Well now I'm going to have to play that too!
