Happy holidays everyone! I hope everyone has been able to enjoy these last few days of the years with loved ones. I myself was at least able to spend the holiday with a very close friend of mine, as my family is all pretty scattered. He and I played some games together like Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, and just had a nice relaxing time. It was a good distraction from the year this has really turned into.
I wanted to make at least one last post of the year, even though I have yet to beat another game. I am, however, in the middle of a few that I’d like to talk about briefly. I’ve mainly been playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla recently and I have been enjoying it.
I have about 75 hours in it and I feel like I’m nearing the end of the main story. As with most open world games however, there is still plenty to do. I have been getting distracted with exploration which is very easy to do, especially in this title. They did a great job making every location look unique and there’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t show up on your map that you can find and explore. Naturally, it has been consuming a lot of my time.
The story has been great too though, keeping things a bit more linear than in previous titles. Side quests are shorter and more contained so they don’t pull you away too much from the main story. It’s honestly been a solid addition to the fAside from Assassin’s Creed, I’ve been doing my usual Animal Crossing and the occasional shiny hunting in Pokémon Shield. I have acquired a few more since my year-end post, so that has been exciting. For some reason, I haven’t lost my spark with that and I don’t think I will. It’s become my favorite thing to do within Pokémon Shield. I tried competitive battles for a while and enjoyed that too, but shiny hunting is just something I keep coming back to. I finally created a list of all of them in Excel to better record them all, and I feel much more organized now.
Animal Crossing has been an absolute blessing this year, especially now through the holidays. Not to complain too much, but this has easily been the hardest month of the year for me, so it’s been nice to still have some of these escapes to go back to. Decorating my island for Christmas brought such a joy to my life. Here are a few wonderful photos of the occasion.
Of course December 24th was Toy Day on my island, so I got to mingle with Jingle and help deliver presents to all of the residents. It was a wonderful experience and further increased my love for this game. It has been so great to celebrate all of the holidays with all of my villagers.
Outside of that, not too much has been going on. I am just trying to process this month the best I can and move forward into a more positive 2021. I can’t wait to see what games I tackle next year, and of course keep adding to my Animal Crossing and Pokémon play time.
Other than gaming though, I’ve been reading more and as I mentioned in my last post, recently took up meditation. It has helped with my anxiety tremendously and couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m happy to form a routine out of that and continue building upon my mental health.
I have also been looking into going back to school next year. This year has been crazy with the pandemic and just trying to stay safe but my time away from my retail job has really made me realize how unhappy that has been making me. I have been doing that since I graduated high school so I think I am ready for a change. I’d really love to explore psychology and help more people that struggle with what I struggle with. I think it would be extremely rewarding and help me make the best of my own ailments.
Only time will tell though, and right now I’m just trying to make it to tomorrow feeling just a little bit better than the previous day. It has been nice to look forward a little and make some plans, even if I’m starting small with them.
I hope you all have had a wonderful year, even amidst all of the craziness. Hopefully 2021 can begin to write the wrongs of 2020 and we can get back to some kind of “normal”. Until then just try to stay positive and don’t forget to play a game or two. It helps!
