It's Over :(

With the beginning of the new school year my gaming time has been very minimal (*insert sad trombone noise here).  The start of the new school year is always a bit nutso so I've caught a few hours here and there and haven't really been playing anything new.  Once school starts and I just want to come home and relax I tend to seek out some soothingly familiar content or games that tend towards the "relaxing" side of the spectrum.  Lately I've noticed a new genre of game creep into the "wholesome/relaxing" game space--Steam tags them as "organizational" and they involve sorting a massive pile of random objects into a correct location.  There has absolutely been a glut of these games and I am feeling a bit curious because they definitely would seem to fall within my strange love of cleaning games.  I worry though that their simplicity means wading into a pool of AI generated slop and I don't want to venture into that.  The upside of these games is that they're generally on the cheap side.

My first tier 5 animal--a cute, golden calf!

My "new" gaming time has been spent in Fields of Mistria.  I haven't quite accomplished everything (and probably won't) but I've made to the bottom level of the mines (and revealed the shocking secret--no spoilers--about what is going on in Mistria).  My ultimate goal is to max out the town level (not quite there--I think I have maybe 2 more levels to go) and to befriend all the folks (or most of them...since some new townsfolk get introduced at various parts of the game...and they're market day only peeps).  My character hasn't managed to land a romantic interest yet (I've been focused mostly on the dang mines and have neglected my relationship building).  I'm leaning toward Hayden, a fellow famer and animal lover.  He seems like a perfect match for another farmer, he's cute, and he has a fun relationship with his prize-winning chicken Henrietta.

I'm a bit torn about Fields of Mistria because I still feel like many aspects of it are just a little too close to exactly Stardew Valley.  Why make something new when you can just copy what you already know works, amirite?  I think this specific genre of games needs something fresh and I'm not sure Mistria's really doing it.  That doesn't mean I'm not having fun--there are definitely some aspects that I am enjoying.

If you're a teacher who has recently returned to the grind--I hope all is going well and you're starting to feel a bit more settled.  It's the last gasps of summer around my neck of the woods, so I'm hoping to enjoy some outdoors time before fall sets in.  It is a bit nice to just cozy up with a nice game and relax though.