There are people who make New Years’ resolutions every year, and people who don’t. Typically, I don’t make resolutions. I’m not interested in overhauling my life once a year and keeping to arbitrary rules I made up to punish myself for enjoying my life. I don’t ever resolve to exercise a certain number of times a week, I just do what I can with the energy I have. I don’t resolve to eat better, I just try to order in less and cook more. I don’t resolve to spend less money, I maintain a budget and examine where my money is going.
That said, I’m not opposed to resolutions when there’s an area of my life that desperately needs change, and this year, that’s gaming. I realised over the holiday that I rarely find joy in video games anymore, partly because it’s now my job to do so, but partly because I’ve turned it into a grind instead of something I do because I want to. I want to be normal about games again, and so I’m making resolutions.
I Will Stop Buying Triple-A Games For The Sake Of It
I spent so much money on video games last year, and a lot of money went towards triple-A games that I played for the sake of content, not because they sounded particularly interesting. I don’t even like most modern triple-A games, which makes this considerable dent in my budget quite hard to rationalise to myself. Sure, I write about games for work, but there’s a point when every moment I spend on these games feels like a drag. It’s turning me into a real hater.
Instead, I will buy more indies, because indies are great, and I generally do actually enjoy them because they’re more innovative and play with genre conventions. I already play quite a lot of indies, but I could buy, like, three for the price of one Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I could also play them all in a fraction of the time Dragon Age: The Veilguard would take me. I’d probably enjoy them more, too.
I Will Not Keep Playing Games I’m Not Enjoying
Okay, I’ll be honest: I drop off games pretty fast. I’ve ditched plenty of great games to play whatever’s newer and fresher, never to return to them because there’s always something newer and fresher. But then there’s times when I feel obligated to finish a game because everybody else seems to love it, and I’ve convinced myself that I just need to give every game enough time to hook me so I can change my mind.
Most times, that moment never comes. I keep playing, I keep hating the experience, and I come away from it feeling like I’ve wasted my time. This year, I’m trusting my gut and ditching games I’m not loving, even if they’re critically acclaimed.
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I Will Finish Games I Do Enjoy
The other side of the same coin is that, as I’ve already said, I ditch games pretty fast. I might be loving a game, but still put it down to play something else and then never get back to it. Commitment issues? A lack of discipline? Maybe. There are so many games I wanted to get back to that I just never touched again, and probably never will. That sucks, so this year, I’m going to make a conscious effort to actually finish what I start.
I Will Not Decide My Game Of The Year In January
Last year, I wrote in the first month of the year that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was my Game of the Year. It was, but I shouldn’t have done that. I also told a friend (jokingly, I swear) that Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii would be my 2025 Game of the Year, even though it hasn’t come out yet. This year, I am leaving my mind and heart open to games that weren’t developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios. Everybody else deserves a chance.
I Will Play More Genres I Usually Don’t
Last year was a year of discovery for me. While I usually gravitate towards story-driven action-adventure games, I found a new love for city-builders in games like Manor Lords and Frostpunk 2, RTS hybrids like Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, and XCOM-style strategy like Tactical Breach Wizards. Without external pressure to check out these bangers, I would’ve let them slip by me entirely. This year, I’m playing games that are typically out of my wheelhouse just to see if I vibe with them. Hell, I might even play my first Civ game. New year, new me.
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