Cashing in on those Sweet Holiday Deals

I managed to mostly contain my unhealthy impulse to buy all the things during the crush of Holiday themed sales.  (**Some of those "hot deals" aren't really that great anyway) It was stupidly surprising when I got a notification that almost everything on my Steam wishlist was on sale.  I decided to snatch Paradise Killer (by Fellow Traveler--who made Citizen Sleeper that I very much enjoyed) because it was only $7.99 and it has good reviews.  I haven't given it a whirl quite yet, but I plan to spend some quality time detecting in the near future.

What have I been doing with my holiday free time?  I finally finished up a monster playthrough of Assassin's Creed: Origins (base game + both DLC's) and realized that every time I finish an AC game I feel nothing but a huge sense of relief to be done with it.  I think I need a healthier way to play (I always have to do all the location goals and it makes things feel way more repetitive than they should) those games.  They're just too huge to try to do everything!  One of my favorite parts of the games are the afterlife/mythology themed content (which usually gets tacked on as DLC, but Valhalla has some in the base game).  It's always fun to see the creativity and beauty in those areas.

I've spent more time than I care to admit puttering around with Car Mechanic Simulator 2018.  There's something I find highly enjoyable about fixing up fake broken vehicles.  Just find a good podcast (I could definitely recommend a few) and enjoy the experience of making a rust bucket into a shiny, functioning vehicle.

Free is the best price.

There's one part of the holiday deals that isn't so bad--the free games!  If you haven't already (and it's up your alley), grab Star Wars: Squadrons free from the Epic Games store until December 1st.  As a kid, my brother and I consumed a great many of the classic Star Wars games including X-Wing and Tie Fighter, so Squadrons is the perfect opportunity to relive a modern version of those experiences.  I haven't spent a ton of time with it yet, but I did play a couple of missions and plan on playing through the story missions.  I don't know if I'll touch the multiplayer, but even if you just want to play the story, you can't beat free!  The major downside is one of my pet peeves--the Russian nesting doll-like system of launchers that is required.  Yes, you have to install and run it through Origin...and have the Epic store open too.

I hope everyone has had a happy and relaxing start to the holiday season!