What I Got Up To This Month (February '24)

I don't know how it happened but two whole months of 2024 have already passed. My life is still pretty stagnant but I started seeing a therapist again. I've got a lot of personal baggage I need to work through so actually taking a step towards doing that has felt good.

I wrote a few posts for the blog this month so I thought I'd start this by compiling them here in case any of you missed 'em. I started the month with Resident Evil Outbreak which was an alright game that almost certainly would've been better with other people. After that I played Silent Hill 4 which may have been my least favorite Silent Hill (for the moment) but it was still an interesting game that I think is worth playing. I followed that up with Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2, which is effectively just more Outbreak. It's got a lot of the same draws, and drawbacks, as that original game. 

 I doubt I'm the first person you're hearing this from but Helldivers 2 came out and it's pretty great. I had heard good things about the original but never played it because co-op games traditionally haven't been my thing, but I'm glad I gave the second one a chance. Essentially, it has enough tools and variety to keep things interesting and it's well-put-together enough that failures and deaths (almost) never feel unfair. Or if they do feel unfair, they're usually at least pretty funny.

I started playing it last year and I finally finished replaying Dragon Age: Origins. I originally played this back in 2015 and enjoyed it then, but in the years since I played 2 and Inquisition and have been desperately wanting a sequel. Enough time has passed that I felt it'd be worthwhile to revisit the series ahead of the fourth game's re-reveal this summer. I've since started Dragon Age 2 but I imagine it'll be a while before I finish that.

I've also been watching a number of new shows (some actually new and some that are just new to me) . The third season of The Bad Batch started and I'm eagerly anticipating the rest of that. I began, and got caught up on, Delicious in Dungeon (or Dungeon Meshi, whatever you want to call it) and that show has been a delight. I've been slowly working my way through Invincible and I've been enjoying it. I also started watching the anime Nichijou and holy moly that series is charming.

Lastly on the TV front, the second season of Taskmaster New Zealand got uploaded to the official YouTube channel and I highly highly recommend that to anyone looking for some low-stakes comedy. This is the first official release for it in the US so unless you're someone who was willing to engage in some less-than-sanctioned activities to access it there would've been no way to watch it before now. The other seasons are good (and OG Taskmaster is still also good) but this second season of NZ might be the best the show gets, if you ask me.

I read the first two issues of the new Ultimate Spider-Man and I am really digging it. If you aren't aware, Marvel is essentially making a new alternate comics-line with new continuity and Spider-Man, like always, is one of the flagship titles. This new comic follows an adult Peter, along with his wife Mary-Jane and their two kids, and deals with its older protagonist stepping into the shoes of Spider-Man for the first time. It's a new take on Spider-Man and I desperately want to see where it goes. I do wish they came up with a name that wasn't just "Ultimate" again though, because I'd love to see some sort of continuation or followup to some of the existing Ultimate characters and this papering-over of the existing line means that's almost certainly an impossibility at this point.