Addressing the Epic Pile of Shame

Since I'm a teacher and not working in the summer I try to strategically plan out my gaming.  Usually I like to do long replays of my favorite series--i.e. playing through the entire Mass Effect or The Witcher series.  It's always kind of nice and nostalgic to return to some of my favorite characters and moments.  This summer though, I decided that I need to do something different about a growing problem.  Which problem you say?  Why, my growing backlog of Epic Games giveaways that I snag and then rarely (if ever, if we're being totally honest) play.  You've got one too!  Don't deny it.

You can pet the "dog" in Midnight Suns!  (*dog = hellhound)

How's it going so far?  Great, actually.  The last giveaway I snatched up was Marvel's Midnight Suns and even though I'm not a huge Marvel fan, I'm having a delightful time.  I wasn't sure what to expect--reviews on Steam seem to sit between "overwhelmingly positive" and "very positive" and so far, I would agree.  The gameplay is a sort of mashup between turn-based strategy and an RPG built around making friends (complete with giving gifts!).  I'm not quite done with it and will write up a full review, but if you too were one of those who grabbed it, it's definitely worth giving it a play.

There are several other notable titles in my Epic backlog that I hope to give a try.  Most notably on that list: a Hitman game that I played the tutorial for and then ended up playing something else, Frostpunk, Alien Isolation (a game that I'm not sure I have the stomach for), and a historical strategy game Europa Universalis IV.  I'm going to do it!  (*hopefully....)

On a non-Epic note, the Steam Summer Sale is officially in full swing.  I haven't seen any FABULOUS deals but am eyeing a few titles on my wishlist that are discounted.  I still haven't played the supposedly good "Phantom Liberty" expansion for CyberPunk 2077 and am thinking about the poker-based deckbuilder Balatro.  I'd love to snatch up Slime Rancher 2 but I try to avoid early access titles.

Wish me luck as I scale my pile of shame!