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

This month has largely been more of the same, all things considered. I was starting to get a bit worried about the fact it had been a few months since one of my closest friends last talked with me, but I got back in touch with him this month and that was nice. I've fallen out of contact with a lot of people over the years and I was afraid that had happened again, but I'm relieved to find out that this isn't another lost cause of mine. 

I started playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons again and that game is still delightful. I've been having fun designing houses again and I'm still impressed by how much personality you're able to instill in such small spaces. I've also been playing a bit of Minecraft again, oddly enough, and that's been fun. Haven't been doing too much, but a friend opened up a server and I've been enjoying playing that with some other people.

 I'm not entirely sure why but I've been listening to a ton of St. Vincent and Chappell Roan for a while now. I'd heard some St. Vincent songs in the past and I thought they were fine, but for whatever reason I fell in love with her latest album "All Born Screaming" and I've relistened to it tons of times. Similarly, I fell in love with Chappell Roan immediately after I heard "Pink Pony Club" a year back (or however long ago it was) but I've started listening to her stuff again and I've had it playing nonstop lately. Maybe it's because I saw her do a Tiny Desk concert recently, I don't know, but, anyway, both of these artists are pretty darn good. I should listen to more music.

 I made quite a bit of progress on my horror journey this month. I played Resident Evil: Revelations, a game I largely enjoyed, Silent Hill: Downpour, a game I desperately want to like despite it's obvious shortcomings, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, a game that is honestly just kinda generic, started Silent Hill: Book of Memories, a game that probably shouldn't exist, and also started Resident Evil 6. Revelations is essentially a smaller scale take on the RE4/5 formula and despite some dumb plot points it was a good time. Downpour has a ton of issues but it also has a better grasp of what makes a good Silent Hill game than a lot of the other post-Team Silent games. Operation Raccoon City is... pretty unremarkable, all things considered, but it's not nearly as bad as its reputation led me to believe. Book of Memories is pretty rough, unfortunately, but I'll have more to say on that in the near future. Lastly, Resident Evil 6 seems pretty fun, so far, but I'm still early on so maybe my tenor will change at some point.