My Favorite Super Soft Plushies

I have always loved Stuffed Animals. I probably had more than anyone should have had, especially with various allergies, but I always found them comforting. Now, while plushies are still around, there’s a lot more different types of fabric used and one in particular that we will bring up numerous times in this post: Polyester. Polyester is a synthetic fabric which is not only incredibly soft, but due to it being synthetic, it also is less likely to draw in bugs such as Carpet Beetles and tends to not attract as much Dust which, for me at least, is really helpful.

This post isn’t in any particular order nor is it any kind of ranking, but will mainly just be to talk about what I think of them and their availability.

I based my criteria generally on plushies that had a very similar type of feel fabric-wise and the same squishy type of stuffing. Honorable mentions are based off ones that still felt very similar even if the fabric wasn’t quite the same. Ones that generally didn’t make the cut, while close, were generally very firm and didn’t have that same squishy feeling when hugging as the ones listed do in the long run.

Squishmallows

These will likely be the most well-known on this list and considering they’ve been called the “new Beanie Babies”, it’s not really a surprise. I got my first Squishmallow back in 2018. It was small and very soft and off to the side with another one in Target. It didn’t even have a name.

If I had one regret, it’s that I didn’t keep up with them thinking they were just a random one-off as maybe then my wish list wouldn’t be so long. I do still have a nice collection regardless:

While the popularity and crazy inflation/scalping is reminiscent of the Beanie Baby craze, I would say the biggest difference is that while Beanie Babies had a lot of various shapes, Squishmallows are generally the same shape– a Marshmallow-esque/Potato-y body with various appendages. There are the Hugmees as well though which are more loaf shaped with longer arms and legs. However, most Squishmallows can come in two or more of various different sizes: 5 inches, 7 inches, 8 inches, 11 inches, 12 inches, 13 inches, 16 inches, 20 inches, and 24 inches. There’s also Clips that are 3 and a half inches and recently, the new Squishville additions that are about 2 inches.

In addition, some Squishmallows have seasonal variants where they may have something embroidered on them for the season. While I personally am only hoping to get one of each of my favorites regardless of size or seasonal ones, there can also be color variants which I will admit can be a bit tempting if I like them both such as Ilene where I have both versions of her– they share different fringe colors and a slightly different shade of pink for the body:

My personal favorite size are actually the 5 inch ones. They’re the squishiest to me and I feel most of the bigger sizes are a lot firmer. Some are still quite soft, but with the prices, I still tend to prefer the tinier ones. That said, some of the inflation has some of the smaller sizes somehow costing more than the bigger ones.

There are also the Squishville ones that recently released that I wish I liked more as their size is really cute, ignoring that their tush tag is nearly the same size, but when it comes to actually squishing them, they feel incredibly lacking. They still have that soft fabric, but it feels more like just pressing on a really fluffy plush button rather than something really soft and huggable/squishy. Like it just feels a lot firmer than I’d expect.

Unfortunately, the biggest issue with Squishmallows is that they just… are a huge pain to get. While some people enjoy the hunt, it’s not something I find much fun (and honestly, the stores around here aren’t great with their selections) or have many opportunities to do in the first place. The online shop is relatively deserted, the prices are so all over the place that I couldn’t even tell you what the MSRP is and until July, there wasn’t any kind of official Collector’s Guide or Checklist to even tell you what ones there are. The Collectors Guide doesn’t even have them all.

Of course, even if I did do the hunt, there’s the issue of some being not just store exclusive, but region exclusive. One of the ones I’d love to have was exclusive to a Store in Australia which is pretty disheartening. Very few Squishmallows have been limited to a specific number, but with how hard they are to find, the official website not really being dependable, no real idea what’s new and releasing when through any official sources, and no rhyme or rhythm to what ends up inflating, it just becomes frustrating.

I hope one day I can maybe get a lot of the ones I really adore, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say my hopes were incredibly low.

Thousand Skies

Thousand Skies was the very first place I had seen these types of Plushies and how I fell in love with them to such a degree. I adore dogs, especially Corgis as my very first dog was one, so as soon as I saw these posted, I had to have one, pre-ordered it, and was completely floored with how soft it was. I’ve gotten all five regular sized ones and I can’t wait until the next one.

I hope I can get one of the big ones too some day, but I have no idea which I would pick.

Moosh-Moosh

Moosh-Moosh are honestly very similar to Squishmallows and I’m surprised they seem to be relatively under the radar. They tend to be more loaf-esque (though, there are also cube-shaped and a few other special ones) and like a cross between Squishmallows and the Thousand Skies Plushies with certain appendages having different textures.

Their website stays fairly up to date (though, you can only really get the medium or big sizes), you can be alerted when certain ones restock, and I actually have pretty much all my regular favorites:

They’re SO soft with a kind of silky velvet soft texture and I love just fluffing them because they’re super squishy. While not on the site, they also have these Squishy Stress-Ball-esque ones called “Skwishies” and as someone who’s generally not a fan of slow-rising squishies, the soft fabric outer paired with the gel-like squishy is actually super pleasing. Unfortunately, it’s something that hasn’t been for sale regularly on the website and was just a bonus inclusion for limited time.

On the downsides, there’s not much news nor can they really be found online off their website so anything not there is pretty hard to find. Even the new reversible plush that were mentioned not long ago on Social Media about appearing in stores soon. Even if they say “In Store Only”, it’d be nice to see some of these other things in their shop along with finding out about some of the stuff that I haven’t seen for a while or have only been mentioned on social media.

Like Mooshmallowz look very cute, but as they aren’t on the online store, I don’t have one. I’d love Doe, who was my very first Moosh-Moosh, my favorite, and also the one I have a Skwishy of. I’d also love one and a Skwishy as well of Handi Andi as I think the round shape fits better than the loaf one for them.

Besides those, I’m continuing to wait for Sweet Tooth to restock for my very first cubed one. Hopefully one day!

Edit: I’ve also learned about these ones too and I’d love to get these three as well T~T

Cats vs Pickles

Cats vs Pickles is probably one of the ones I follow the most with their small handheld size and soft laid-in designs. Unlike the others on the list, in addition to some fluff, they also have quite a bit of small beans in them. I feel like the fluff in the regular sized ones have lessened a bit in some of the Series 2, but it could just be the ones I got– they are still very squishy and soft though and the beans give a nice kneading texture even if I do miss the fluffier ones from the original wave. I have yet to get a Jumbo (though, I am leaning towards Twinkle Starlight’s…) or Hugger-sized so I’m not sure how those stack up in comparison, but hopefully I can get some one day. A Chonky size (between the regular and Jumbo sizes) was also announced at Sweet Suite @ Home, but I don’t believe it has a release yet (likely by the end of the year though).

As you can maybe guess from the names, Cats vs Pickles involve either Bean-shaped Cats or Pickles with various appendages. While Cats usually have Cat ears and a tail and Pickles usually have nothing beyond maybe a little tuft of hair, occasionally, depending on the Cat or Pickle, this could change depending on a theme such as mermaid tails for Mercats and Merpickles or even a Cat missing an ear or a Pickle pretending to be a Cat…

While the shapes may not change much, the real eye-catcher is their design. Each Cat/Pickle’s design is actually fully screen-printed which makes it very smooth to touch. The only embroidery used is for their eyes, mouth/nose (if any) and their tiny arms and legs (if any) but since it’s such a small percentage of the actual plush, it still leaves most of it just feeling soft and smooth in your hand. The Pickles especially are great for this as the only embroidery they have are for their eyes so they’re even smoother.

I had started with a relatively small collection, but it quickly doubled:

And I already have a big list of ones I am looking forward to. There’s even a checklist people can download right on their website, though it could absolutely use an update.

On the downside, and I know part of this is due to the pandemic, the release schedule is a bit hard to follow. Picking a random part of the checklist, one thing you’ll learn very quickly is it’s not in order. For example, Key West Cat who is #32 was actually a late release of Series 1. Meanwhile, some of the first releases of Series 1 were The Great Catsby (22), Majicat (44), and Angelicat (111). There’s even ones like Bandit (36) and Bubbles (57) who had been announced for the newest late Summer/Early Fall was part of the “Purple Wave” (Series 2) which is slowly arriving in stores. There’s even some on the sheet we hadn’t seen anything of yet and even the opposite where some we’ve seen/heard of have yet to be added to the sheet or may only be on the sheet some people got in the UK.

It can feel somewhat confusing because there’s no real order to it. With so many right off the bat and many people who want to collect them all, one of the questions I’ve seen asked the most is clarification on who’s out and if they are out, how to get them.

Some are exclusive to certain sets such as Pawberry Shortcake to the Sweet Shop Playset or Clownie to the Cornhole Set. And with the Condos that have been teased, it’s something that will continue which I have mixed feelings on.

There have also been Blind Bags which can sometimes have timed exclusives of certain new releases or in the case of the Holiday ones, exclusives in addition to the ones you can get in Bundles… And you’ll notice I said Bundles because unfortunately while you CAN buy Cats vs Pickles on the official shop and some other online store fronts, they’re generally sold in some kind of Pack– either 2 Packs, 4 Packs, and 12 Packs– sometimes even more. While those work well for people who want to collect them all (though, not always, sometimes a Pack may overlap with another one), as someone who is incredibly picky, sometimes it’s a bit disheartening to see one you really want and it’s only bundled with other Cats and/or Pickles.

While some places will let you get them as Singles, it feels a lot rarer and with so many coming out, I wouldn’t even mind paying a bit extra if Cats vs Pickles had a “build your own” bundle. I just want so many already, I can’t justify getting a bunch of others too especially when I get attached so easily.

Thankfully, and maybe this is in part with having a social media community person who constantly has to deal with all our craziness, it’s nice to see some improvements happening with that upcoming “Purple Wave”– even if the points numbers don’t matter. They have given us a checklist of all the Cats and Pickles available in the upcoming Purple Wave and confirmed that none of them will be Blindbag Exclusive which is great. People who like blindbags still have fun and those who don’t can still try and find them along with having a list of everything they can find. Of the 72 shown, there’s 13 of the ones I have been definitely wanting and one I’m debating on and unlike the usual checklist, this one actually features a much more accurate color palettes to what we’ve seen (though, not all of them are perfect). This list will also be included with every opened Blind Bag so maybe I might try one… (and hey, if we get our set-up finally done, it could be fun recording it whether a box of those I wanted or some blind bags). Anyway, I have made a “favorites” checklist for myself so here’s hoping we have some luck when these are finally in stores!

Sadly, the Holiday wave which is considered to be relatively limited will have 6 of the 18 available Cats/Pickles exclusive to Blind Bags– the other 12 can be gotten through Blind Bags and for sale in general. While I am very thankful a friend was willing to split a Holiday Bundle with me for the two I want, I do really want one Holiday Blind Bag one too– Mr. Waddles and with a 1/18 chance of getting the only one I’d be looking for, it’s hard to justify trying a Blind Bag and I mainly need to just… hope someone gets an extra and will sell them.

Considering the Holiday Wave was announced before the Purple Wave though (despite some of those Cats and Pickles having been shown long before the Holiday Wave reveal), hopefully maybe the way the Purple Wave is being done will be the future and the Holiday Wave will be the last to have any Blind Bag exclusives.

I would say the only other thing I want to bring up is occasional changes during production. While it’s not too odd for things to change during production, some are pretty surprising and recently even the tags that come with them have had slight changes to their names or personality changes in the description (For example, Miss Bumblekitty previously having “She is full of cat-titude and loves to send a zinger!” to now having “She is as sweet as honey!” or PBJellie who could have that name or spelled as “PB Jelly” instead). On a more noticeable scale, sometimes colors or designs end up changing later. This can especially feel the case when seeing certain Cats or Pickles as Purples/Pinks are considered fairly hard to properly photograph. For example, this is Bandit– on the left is one of Bandit’s first pictures when known as Raccoon Cat and had been seen during the 2020 Toy Fair video. On the right is the newest photo of Bandit which fits a bit closer to the checklist, but while they seem like a huge difference, it’s apparently a lot minor and lighting may have something to do with it meaning I won’t know for sure which Bandit is closer to in person until I get them (and I will. I will get them).

Regardless, you might be thinking, “well, Bandit is purple in the checklist!” and you are correct– In the original checklist, Bandit does look much more purple, but one issue that often happened with the original checklist is the colors are odd at times– the Pinks printed much more purple and most of the ones on that list with that Purple hue are/were actually more pink than purple such as with Finnley and Twinkle Starlight:

Even Bandit’s main body color still goes that Purple-Pink route and Twinkle Starlight follows suit with a lot of the same color beats, but Finnley is an especially prime example where she doesn’t actually have a single bit of purple on her in person. I still adore Bandit either way, but I can’t help but be partial to the pastel and raspberry colored pinks of the first sightings so I will admit I hope it hasn’t changed too much… Not that I’ll love Bandit any less, but still.

That said, it can happen both ways– Mer-Kitty, for example, has a nice hot pink line for where her Mer-tail starts, but in a lot of the store photos, it looks like a really bold red. As you can maybe tell from my picture above, in person, it is hot pink like it shows on the checklist.

Of course, while maybe a Cat or Pickle doesn’t show up quite as you hoped with their colors, some changes can be really good and like most things in early production, changes happen! Bubbles, for example, now has actual bubbles closer to the checklist aappearance over just the foamy color (I personally adore and would buy both though).

Mummy Kitty’s change even made it more inclusive which I think is an amazing change and it’s really great they took those steps before they even started appearing in stores.

I’m hoping whenever we get a new digital checklist (as while I am excited they are taking the steps to make things easier for collectors with including checklists with blind bags, printers don’t always do a great job keeping the right colors), things could be more accurate or even add some kind of order or symbols for like… What a Cat/Pickle may be from or what Series they’re part of.

Regardless, I’m really excited to see what’s to come.

From Japan

As I don’t have too many straight from Japan and these mainly involve importing, I just wanted to give it its own sections as they share a similar manufacturing regardless of the company. These plushies, usually described as “mochi” plush, have a very soft/light silky feeling and have a fabric that just feels so incredibly light while also being very squishy.

I have Yeast Ken plush which is essentially a line of bread dog merchandise and a very cute Squishy Cat plush from Pocchari Life that I won through Toreba. I love them both so much and I’d definitely like to try and get more from Japan at some point… But in general, Japan has a lot of great soft plushies at least.

There’s also this Musashi Plush that was available during the Fate: Grand Order convention tour that is especially soft and squishy:

As for on the smaller side, there are these adorable Sea Slug plush by San-ei Boeki called Yumemiushi. Like Cats vs Pickles, they also feature little beans, but they do have various different fabrics/textures based off which ones you get. It can be nice if you want to have various different textures to fidget with at least and the main base is still that usual soft fabric (with the exception of some of the more fluffy ones.

Honorable Mentions

Finally, the ones in this section do not tick all of the boxes of the plushies I mentioned above, but I wanted to include for one reason or another.

So firstly, Cutie Beans! Unlike the others in this list, these do not have the same soft fluffy fabric texture as everything else. It’s soft, but relatively generic with various felt appendages and embroidery for the eyes and mouth. The big highlight for them though is that they have one of the best fluffy-beany textures I’ve ever felt. It’s perfectly even and it just feels so great to hold and squish around even if the fabric isn’t as smooth as the other options on here. I only have one, this Axolotl, but I love him:

They are blindbags unfortunately, though they come with their own little carrying case which is nice. Each one is bean-shaped, usually with some appendages. There’s been several different series, including variations, though, it hasn’t felt like I’ve seen any new ones in a while or any since that first time.

I would say the biggest issue I had was that the tags are absolutely huge– being both bigger and longer than the Cutie Bean itself, I actually had to cut the tags off which is something I don’t usually do, but it was just impossible for them to not get in the way.

Our other honorable mention is not really a plush at all and honestly, I’m only really including it because I want them to make a plushie out of these materials even though they likely never will: Secret Lab’s Memory Foam Pillow. I recently got a chair from them and honestly, my favorite part was easily the pillow.

It has a soft velvet texture making it a bit heavier-feeling than the actual plushies on this list, but a really nice soft squishy gel inner and it’s just… genuinely really nice to hug ang squeeze and I would absolutely buy a plushie made with this material.

And that sums this up! If you have any suggestions of other super squishy marshmallow/mochi plushies, feel free to suggest them as I’d love to check them out :)

Now to just… try and check off more things on my wish list…

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Talking a bit about 1.1 and we finally visit some more Dreams

The Summer update happened about a month ago now and well, I didn’t post about it because… there’s not much to say. Nearly all the items are locked behind the Nook Seasonal thing… It’s honestly pretty tiring. Not even necessarily the wait so much as how they have the items show up, but it just made it a really disappointing update. They did say part of the reason for the smaller updates is because they are working on something bigger (A lot of people are expecting Brewster), but I am firmly in the “I’d rather no more updates and time go to the next game” camp at this point I think. I’ll still be checking in, but the game has beaten me down and it’s hard to feel much motivation.

Regardless, if you saw my video for when the update actually dropped, you’ll know I did do some things mostly thanks to Leo for letting me visit their island for some of the new Fireworks items! While getting everything once is guaranteed, getting extras of some things was a nightmare. I am happy to say I now have some Milk Tea Boba (my favorite), but it’s a shame they don’t last permanently…

We also had a return of the Cucumber Horse and Eggplant Cow from New Leaf.

I’ll likely have some posts either in September, October, and/or November depending on things… We shall see.

Anyway, despite setting up a form early on for Dream visits (a huge thank you to everyone who sent some in!), it’s been kind of a long ways off due to a combination of lack of time and my general disappointment with New Horizons. Being even more unhappy with my island and not caring as much for a lot of decoration trends has also made me less motivated. Regardless, so many of you have filled out this form with your own or your favorite island’s Dream Address and I’m going to do my best to get through them!

This was streamed live on Twitch, but you can also watch the recording on YouTube as well. Below is a summary of each Dream Address and some of my favorite photos from each :) I hope you enjoy!

DA-0483-0265-1167



Paradise – DA-1083-3221-6191

DA-7307-4315-1221



Leafhaven – DA-9383-2629-1813


PinkMoon – DA-9938-8146-7831

Sunbeam – DA-3440-0491-7427

Sweetberry – DA-8371-2842-5566


I hope I can get through more next time. Today was also the last Fireworks day for the year. Despite not playing much anymore, I still really enjoy the fireworks.

In which I talk a bit about Genshin Impact

If there’s one game I’ve been asked about a lot lately, it’s Genshin Impact. I’ve played it a lot lately, partially due to my husband, but have mentioned there is a reason I didn’t really play it: The game isn’t really my type of game. Having played much more of it, I do still feel that’s applicable, but I would say my feelings on it have changed more to “complicated” and “overwhelming”.

It’s interesting how this is a Free to Play game because there’s definitely a lot to it and it almost feels MMO-esque at times ignoring the lack of multiplayer. Yes, Genshin Impact does have a co-op feature, but it’s also kind of terrible. I promise I will be bringing it up… a lot. I think part of it’s issues is it does have some common Mobile Money grabs and Walls which, I suppose the game is also on Mobile, but can still feel kind of awkward to suddenly run into.

I will say, for the most part, the game actually gives you a lot of stuff for free. The Battle Pass levels up with simple daily tasks (more often than not), some tougher weeklies, and even stuff from just participating in Events. Events often have a lot of rewards as well. It’s just a matter of putting the time in. One thing I do appreciate, as close as it can get, is that it’s not impossible to finish a quest if you’re on the last day– as long as you have the AR Requirements, but honestly, some people get their AR up pretty fast so even that may be more probable than I expect.

I think the biggest aversion with the game is the Gachapon system and, like most people, I’m pretty tired of Gachapon systems. I’d love to just be able to buy the game and play through with my husband and unlock characters as we meet them, but alas… I would say the biggest issue though is it could take a while for you to find a character that “works” for you. I have very specific playstyles and still haven’t even found a character for each element that I can work with. I don’t know if they even exist yet. Trials only show you the full potential, but not necessarily how they can feel at the start. You do earn A LOT of Primogems though just by playing and while there is obviously some RNG involved, it doesn’t feel impossible to get good characters even if you play completely for free– it’s mainly just if you’ll get at least one character that works with your playstyle. I do wish it was possible to get a pick of a character (even if just 4*’s) to help find one that fits your style to start you off.

Several of my issues felt less frustrating when I ended up pulling Jean and Ayaka who I both really enjoy playing as. Traveler is okay, but I can only really make her work as Wind. I’m pretty awful with both Geo and Electro. Unfortunately, gathering stuff to level characters can be a lot, especially as someone who struggles finding her way to Point A to Point B on a daily basis, let alone remembering where I’ve already been. I’ve never really enjoyed gathering, not even just due to my hatred of dailies, but because I just can’t keep track. I’ll be going in circles, still clearly missing things, and then just get frustrated, burnt out, or both. But it’s also not fun for me to have to bother friends because I have the navigation skills of a chicken with a bag over its head.

And that’s where we get to my biggest issue: The Co-Op restrictions. I’d feel so much better playing the game with Co-Op all the time, but… you can’t complete quests with Co-Op, Gathering items are once per person, Chests are just for the Host, you literally can’t do 90% of quests (and some even disable the Co-Op)– heck, you can’t even unlock Co-Op until AR16. And I don’t know why. It’s easily a lot more fun with Co-Op, at least for me, but beyond maybe farming some enemy groups (which if you are doing it for chests, they will have to re-do it in their own World anyway if they haven’t already) and Boss fights specifically, most things are closed off. It makes Co-Op solely an end-game grinding thing because you can’t hunt Oculi together, you can’t take care of Seelie together, the world is “your world” very specifically and beyond if someone feels like taking your gathering stuff because you couldn’t get to them yet (Which is really the #1 reason to not play with strangers), there’s not much for you to share progress in. You can’t even give each other things if maybe you have some enemy drops you’re not really using or just want to share gathering things without constantly flip-flopping worlds and grabbing all over again.

I wish it could count for us both because I feel terrible when I have to be slowly walked through places and am the reason it takes so much longer. This especially becomes a problem in Dragonspine where you can slowly start freezing to death and not even Goulash can help save me from my navigational problems.

Not to mention some characters can just be… super helpful. Venti can spawn a small wind current, Zhongli gives you a giant Pillar, yes they’re gods so I guess they can have overpowered helpful powers, but when they’re only possible to get through limited run banners (even if the game has been pretty good at bringing them back), it’s kind of disheartening as then you just need to hope someone would be willing to help you out. That said, you don’t need them, of course, it just makes some things easier. There’s plenty of other ways to get things (whether they’re the right way or not, who knows), but sometimes it can still save a lot of time.

And I think that’s the big thing– some stuff can be super annoying, but I don’t think any of it is necessarily impossible. At the same time, I’m already feeling that burnt outness of just needing to gather up so many things to get my characters up when I have no idea where I am going. Part of me really wants to finish everything before 2.1 hits at the end of the month, but that’s about a week and a half away and likely impossible for someone like me.

It doesn’t help that some things are so… convoluted. It’s not just “hey this weapon has more power”– it’s, these weapons have different skills and in addition to new weapons, you also need to level up and ascend them. Also every character has 5 different pieces of gear each which can also be upgraded and have a random stat at one point and different stats and skills attached and then there’s the character’s individual skills that can be leveled plus a Constellation system that only levels up on Repeats of the Character (or other means for the Traveler) and I just…It’s so much. It’s so so so so much. Not even going into RNG with some of the Artifacts, it honestly feels almost suffocating trying to keep track of everything to make sure your characters aren’t complete garbage. It doesn’t help that the best things require a higher World Level, but that also raises the level of all the enemies and if you’re struggling along, chances are your characters may not even be up to that level yet. Even right now, I’m stuck because my quest got me to AR40 (making all enemies generally start at level 69 when most of my party is level 60) while doing a Side quest and now my party is too low level to deal with it. Sure, I can lower the World level by 1 and honestly, I probably will, but at the same time I’m just frustrated by how much I just feel like I really suck.

While there are “tiers” where you can level up your World and your AR will be paused until you do them (though, your experience will be saved apparently), every 5 levels for about 2-3 increases will automatically boost your World level up. You can lower it by one, but then your loot also gets lessened– at the same time, clearly the best thing to do is gather like crazy and get way higher than them before you let your World upgrade. That said, AR goes up by doing nearly anything and if you already unlocked the AR Leveling hold, then you have no more control over when it’ll upgrade again until the next one appears.

Part of me is so frustrated and wants to give up, but I like playing with my husband and friends.

And then Genshin teases things like this:

And how they’ll be adding a fishing feature I know I’ll suck at but says you can collect certain fish in this cute Waterfall Pond thing for your Serenitea Pot (Housing system where why couldn’t I pick my House style separately from my scenery, game…):

Not to mention I’d really like to try and save up for Kokomi T~T

And just… I want to see the story play out. I am attached to some of the characters. But I’m also just… really bad at the game. It’s not my type of game. It’s not a game I’m good at. It’s not the type of game I can put in all the work to get better at without burning out entirely.

But part of me wants to keep going. And that feels frustrating too. I’d like to say maybe it’ll feel less overwhelming if I manage to just get to where all I need to do is gather, but I don’t think that’s true.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Dream Suites & Other things

This entry has been in progress pretty much since early June and I had hoped to post it when we got the next update announcement, but well… We haven’t. I posted my sentiments on it over on Twitter about a week ago and honestly, my sentiments still feel the same. I will say the biggest surprises for me with this is it felt around or shortly after E3 would’ve been the perfect time to say something or after July 10th as it was the last new item from the last update… but still nothing. There’s still a chance of something at the end of July like when we got our last big update, but I really would’ve expected them to not go that route as I feel like that was the first big drop of people playing due to the lack of updates…

Regardless, I’ve still been trying to poke in and play despite all the craziness. There’s still a lot of Dream Addresses I want to visit, but I always find ones Officially done for something kind of exciting. Thus, despite not having much familiarity with either property, I couldn’t help but visit the official Fruits Basket Island and the official Heaven’s Design Team island of the Galápagos Island.

Fruits Basket Island – Dream Address: DA-8458-4531-4562


I even ended up taking one of the patterns with me…

Heaven’s Design Team Island/Galapagos Island – Dream Address: DA-2943-4856-4983


I also couldn’t resist checking out the special Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise Dream that was made along with the event they are currently holding for Animal Crossing this Summer.

Sea Paradise Island – Dream Address: DA-0334-6879-4206




And well I really love dolphins, so…

As for non-Dream related things, we’ve had quite a few birthdays pop up for my Villagers. It was Peanut’s first birthday on the island and now I’ve celebrated every one of my villager’s birthdays at least once:

Peanut and Maple were my final two villagers to get so I found it cute that they ended up celebrating together. It was the same for Maple’s birthday just a week later as well:

We had Cookie’s (where on the opposite side of the spectrum, she was with Merengue and they were the first two Dream Villagers I got) and Marina’s birthdays as well.

Unfortunately, what I’ve been struggling with a bit is managing to keep up with all my villagers. I don’t have many reasons to play long so I rarely end up seeing them all. I’m not particularly a talkative person even in real life (I’m much more a listener), but I always feel a bit bad. At least I still feel wanted.

Diana especially gets me while also calling me out.

Meanwhile, as a 4th of July celebration and an early celebration of Meg’s upcoming birthday at the time, we also had a small party over in Aurora:

Finally, the 18th came around for my own birthday. Flurry hosted it this time.

Also Cookie really should have not held off that last part for its own speech bubble.

The birthday itself was pretty much the same which I expected, but kind of wondered if there would be any special dialogue for being the second time I celebrated my birthday on the island. There was not.


The big differences for me this year was getting a gift from Peanut as we had hit Best Friend status now:

And getting to see more of the Villager messages from K.K.’s Birthday Concert:


I do wish we could get enough cupcakes to give everyone, but I at least made sure to catch everyone who wasn’t there and then Cookie got the last as I saw her first.



As a side note, I do wish villagers couldn’t take up a space if it notes there is no way around them to a path ;~;

At this point, I have nothing left to do though until there’s a new update. I hope we’ll hear something soon even if it’s just that updates are over.

Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis thoughts!

New Genesis has been out for about a month now so I just wanted to talk about my thoughts with it a bit. I will say I have no issue with the “lack of content” because, well, obviously. Especially the slower schedule as we’re getting updated at the same time as Japan instead of a 1 year rush of tons of content Japan had gotten over several years (and we… still didn’t get everything so).

I would say the only things I have issues with in that sense are the things that did exist at the very start when the original PSO2 launched in Japan that are not here for one reason or another like trading. Not having trading sucks and I really liked giving things to friends. Having to deal with the market on top of higher taxes and certain forced prices (which maybe supposedly have changed?), I’m now using up more space just holding onto things and a “Trade” option is still there… Just greyed out.

Another odd thing us that despite being told there would be no Rooms to decorate this time around, we’re mentioned to be getting one right in the Story and even head to a building to “rest” in aa room we never get to see. It just made the removal of them stand out all the more.

One of my biggest issue though is not seeing changes to the Star Gem system. Not being able to sell/trade items just… really stinks. I’ve gotten some items like 5 times which are ones I know friends have really wanted and have just had the worst luck with the few things I wanted. Similarly, despite the big hype on hand motions/fingers that move, the first hand motions we get are stuck to a SG Scratch… Can’t trade, can’t sell, and they’re all “featured” items and thus, rarer to pull. And SG aren’t cheap. Sure, you can earn them in the game too (After all, it’s a “Freemium” currency), but at the moment, there’s no real ways to consistently get them in NGS. There is a limit to the amount you can get in boxes (as those boxes only show up once) and while you can do some stuff in regular PSO2, most people aren’t bothering to go back and forth. This is especially an issue when Material Storage feels like a necessity in NGS with how much there is to gather while you’re out and about and yet, you can only purchase it for 30 Days at a time with Star Gems. I wish it was a permanent purchase or even part of Premium, but right now it just feels even more frustrating than it did in the original PSO2.

Going past my customization dreams, I find the gameplay a lot of fun still and love running and gliding around the world. Anytime I o back to regular PSO2, it always feels really sluggish in comparison as the movement just doesn’t feel as quick and fluid.

That said, there are some downsides to everything being so seamless: The lack of places to stop and rest and most frustratingly, the fact that Rare Drop and Experience Rate ups get used while offline or even just in town versus how it would only be used up when actually in a map besides the Alliance Boost which you can always re-get. PSO2 Day’s boost for NGS is also incredibly low and while I can guess why due to NGS’ newness, it’s made the day feel a lot less special.

In a similar sense, we have our first event right now, but it just being on the open world with no special areas means there’s no place to focus so when you need those last few things (As we continue to try and find one more Rappy), it feels a lot more overwhelming trying to get everything done. We don’t even have a schedule for the UQs so it’s just… hoping you catch one for the limited time quests.

Despite these concerns mechanic-wise, I will say Central City looks really pretty with the decorations and I’m excited to see how it’ll be decorated for future events too.

Regardless, I will say I have been having trouble getting a good handle on Force in NGS. I think the biggest thing that throws me off this time around is charging up techniques is relatively worthless. It doesn’t do more damage– if anything, it just has a secondary effect or a different attack habit almost like an entirely different attack over necessarily a stronger one. So much feels like a lead up to a powerful blast over doing a lot at once and I don’t really enjoy slow build up. The other issue is as someone who finds clicking a lot rather painful after a while, the constant of having to do that with my mouse now that charging attacks is relatively useless (It’s much faster to just do neutral attacks than charge up an attack for no pay-off) so I’m just spamming left click, right click, or the left side button depending on what I’m trying to do and it’s exhausting. In general, some fights just feel so long and it’s kind of tiring.

Not to mention Gigantix which has unfortunately caused some rudeness to spring up due to the fact that if you’re under level 20, you barely do any damage to the boss. And it kind of worries me in the future of how specific things like “rotations” and “skill trees” and how much people could try to min-max because of how little leeway there is. I’m hoping it can eventually be more flexible as nobody should be told to leave an area due to not being a high enough level. There’s so many reasons someone could be there and a lot of areas are pretty huge. While they are making adjustments so anyone under level 20 will not cause any issues in an upcoming patch, it still puts aa lot of focus on getting to max as possible and even as someone who is max level, it just makes me feel better for those who aren’t yet and may feel excluded.

Battle Power especially has me concerned for that min-max thing with people struggling to even reach the first requirements for the story which is still very early in the beginning (and we’ll just ignore that someone has already possibly not made it or gotten possessed or something T__T) and more than anything, it’s made me miss Casual mode. I like Story a lot, but honestly, I’m not here to go super hard difficulty, especially by myself. I consider myself more a support player who also does damage and not really a DPS class so being thrown into the story with no casual mode for those who maybe just want to enjoy that story is disheartening.

Finally, I have been enjoying the nicer graphics for the most part, but the old hair just looks… so awkward with newer stuff and I really hope an NGS hairstyle I like will eventually be out. As it is, my character feels slightly off outside the salon and I can’t figure out why. I have tried so hard to make her look as nice as my original did, but something always feels off. I’m hoping maybe I’ll feel better about it once I get a new hairstyle.

I do want them to find a way for the Global version to get the campaigns Japan does. I don’t think there’s any good reason not to and I feel like trying to make a global game and keep it up with the original server and yet excluding various items is just… a really bad plan all around. I guess I just have a lot of concerns more than anything.

Still having fun though and still enjoying playing each day. I’m looking forward to the next part of the story.

E3 Day 4 thoughts!

It is officially the last day of E3! It’s been a very eventful week so honestly, as fun as it’s been, I’m also looking forward to when things calm down too.

Nintendo Direct & Treehouse Live

While Nintendo tends to get the loudest fans, I’ve always found the best way for me to go into it is to expect nothing and be pleasantly surprised instead.

Despite that, while I have no specific hopes, there are some things I will be very surprised if they’re not mentioned:

  • Breath of the Wild 2 – After the teaser two years ago, a lot of people have been waiting for more information. With Hyrule Warriors 2 having been released and setting things up (possibly hinting to what BotW2’s story may become), it feels like the perfect time for us to finally see something more.
  • The next update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons – The last update was relatively sparse and with the only thing on the horizon being a couple more seasonal
  • New Smash Brothers Fighter – After all, the second fighter pass is still in progress so it feels like the perfect time…

I would also think we could see a bit more of Splatoon 3 and/or something Pokemon related, but I guess we’ll see. For now, that’s about the only predictions I have…

If I had to pick hopes, obviously, it’d be certain things with Animal Crossing– Quality of life stuff, Amiibo Cards for the 8 new villagers, not having “hidden” catalog items, changing how Seasonal items show up, BIGGER ROOMS, being able to increase our island-size, etc., but honestly, I just haven’t really liked how updates worked and despite them doing it this way to increase playtime, it actually had the opposite effect on me.

Regardless, let’s get on with the show and my actual thoughts as it goes! I’ll skip any games we’ve seen before though unless I really have something new to say.

So, as expected, new Smash Fighter announcement and right at the start too. There’s no character I really want in Smash and with the removal of trophies, it killed a lot of my hype for it, but the trailers can still be interesting to watch at least. There are better Tekken characters though.

Kirby continues to be the best. I’m really glad Kirby was okay T~T

Didn’t expect a new Worms game! It looks fun though at least.

Super Monkey Ball is one of those games I absolutely adore, but am incredibly bad at (I need a no timer mode). I really love Marble Madness games, but it’s always impressive to watch people who are really good at them too.

PEACH’S BIRTHDAY CAKE LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL! And excited to hear it’s the best of Boards in addition to the games! And you can play online?? I feel like this is the Mario Party everyone has wanted. Definitely getting Mario Party Superstars.

(Also please make and sell the plates/tea cup/other kitchen stuff at Nintendo NYC or Super Nintendo Land please)

I am intrigued that it looked like they were riding a Unicorn at one point?? I have a lot of fond memories of the Cruis’n series from Arcades so I am somewhat interested in Cruis’n Blast.

I still can’t decide how I feel about Mario Golf Super Rush. I almost want it just to play my Mii again in a story mode. But I am not particularly great at golf games and I feel like I’d eventually just get stuck…

Japan’s Nintendo Direct showed a game called “Worth Life” that looked cute, but I’m not sure if we’ll see it over here.

Wario Ware is always pretty fun so excited for a new Wario Ware game too.

Tempted to just get Danganronpa S so I can pretend everyone is fine and nobody died. Too many good characters you get attached to T~T

Excited to see the DLC for the second Hyrule Warriors game, but I will still be very surprised if we don’t see SOMETHING for BotW 2.

And in the end, we really finally got something!! I’m glad it’s still been being worked on. The trailer has given me so many questions already. I am curious if we will see the initial four heroes too or if this still takes place in the original BotW continuity.

I am surprised there wasn’t an AC thing though, but I feel like we should get some news by the end of the month or maybe sometime next month.

Regardless, it’s time for the Nintendo Treehouse! Sometimes a few other reveals sneak in, but even if not, it’s still fun to watch the game play.

For the most part, what was shown during the Treehouse just further cemented most of my initial thoughts from the reveals, but seeing more of the story mode for Mario Golf Super Rush taunts me so.

Regardless, I’ll probably keep an eye on their Youtube for things that didn’t make it into the main broadcast. I’m still surprised how much longer it went.

Bandai Namco

I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about the shorter Dark Picture Anthology series to the longer games, but I’m curious how it’ll all come together.

I’m surprised that was it though…

Yooreka Studios

The Immortal Mayor looked interesting and I loved the art style. Might have to give the demo a try when it’s up tomorrow.

Gamespot / Play For All Showcase

I really liked the character deisgns in Tandem: a tale of shadows. Going to try the demo later and see how I like actually playing it, but I’m intrigued by the story either way.

The trailer music for Brewmaster was really nice.

The Duck in What the Duck is really cute, but I’m not sure it’s my kind of game. It looks fun and silly though.

I’ve actually played Townscaper and it’s really cute. Excited to see it get out of Early Access!

And with that, E3 is officially over! Despite all the complaints, I honestly had a really good time and still got some fun new announcements I’m excited for. Not to mention how much the Wholesome Games Showcase expanded my wish list…

Looking forward to next year :)

E3 Day 3 Thoughts!

We’re more than halfway through now and today has… a lot of conferences. I have no idea what to expect, but hopefully it’ll be fun!

Indie Games Showcase

I was so excited to see games in general, but Landslide looked really cute. Definitely need to try the demo later. (Edit: After playing the demo, I can say that I am absolutely awful at the game T__T)

Moo Lander had a really pretty art style and lovely music, but it’s not a type of game I’m any good at.

Neko Ghost Jump continues to look really cute.

The music for ExtraGalactica’s trailer was great.

Freedom Games

Coromon stood out, but partially due to how much it looked like Pokemon. The art was still nice though.

Happy to see more about Cat Cafe Manager. It still looks really interesting.

And it looks like we’re continuing with that theme with a new trailer for ‘To the Rescue!’ which still looks very cute.

The trailer music for One Lonely Outpost was really catchy, though, I’m not sure if it’s exactly my type of game. Parts of it absolutely are, but it goes too much into the resource management and plant splicing which I really don’t enjoy.

Dreamscaper looked really interesting, but I’ve never really been into the Rogue-lite genre, unfortunately.

Limited Run Games

Zombies Ate My Neighbors was one of my most played SNES games and about the only zombie game I can deal with/that doesn’t trigger my zombie phobia. I still have it and my SNES so I don’t necessarily need a fancy physical edition, but it was still neat to see.

Every SkateBIRD Trailer makes me happy.

Another really catchy song with The Takeover trailer.

One Step from Eden is not my type of game at all, but I really like the character designs.

Going Under is also not my type of game, but I do adore this dog:

Capcom

Really tempted to try the demo for Monster Hunter Stories 2 since I’ve been debating about the game, but still worried it may be a bit weird since I didn’t play the first one…

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles… Part of me genuinely does want to play it and I love the Ace Attorney series, but I never finished the last one and it feels almost a bit late to finally get these, even though I’m happy they did. Not to mention the irony of them keeping their names the same despite how much was changed in the original Phoenix Wright trilogy. I’m also kind of surprised by some of the voices… Still very tempted to play anyway in the end though.

And that was really all I had to say for today. Day 3 was… definitely a bit of a wash. 99% of what we saw, I knew about, several of the showcases were just discussions, and it was definitely kind of underwhelming. I think the big highlights of the day were Cat Cafe Manager and To the Rescue! for me (Also SkateBIRD, but having known about that one since 2019, I’m not really counting it).

I feel it’s important to note that I get a lot of projects couldn’t be worked on partially due to the pandemic, but you don’t necessarily have to do a presentation either so…

Regardless, tomorrow has Nintendo so if nothing else, that should hopefully be fun.

E3 Day 2 Thoughts!

It is officially Day 2 of E3 and once again we’ll be having several different presentations. As a reminder, I mainly just talk about stuff that stood out to me! But I won’t comment on everything if it didn’t catch my interest.

Xbox & Bethesda

Contraband was probably the first thing to even catch my interest, but the trailer gave no real information about what it’s even about… So I guess I’ll just keep an eye out for more information.

I really enjoyed what I did play of Sea of Thieves during the early beta and free trials and every time I do see it, it reminds me of how I’d like to play it again. I’m surprised to see a Pirates of the Caribbean crossover, but I do think it looks neat. It’s a game I think is more fun when you have friends to play it with though.

12 Minutes is a game I’ve known about for a while and am just… SO intrigued by it. It just seems so interesting and from a mystery standpoint, I have so many questions.

Psychonauts 2 also looked pretty fun.

I love the look of the animals in Party Animals soooo much. I just wish it was… a different type of game ^^; The controls were also kind of weird from what I played in the demo. They’re so cute though and I’d love to see them make plushies of the characters. The Pink Corgi and Unicorns were my favorites.

Slime Rancher 2!! I did not expect to see a sequel for the game. I think if it has the additions they added to the original at the start (Such as “Casual” mode which gets rid of the Tarr– too bad it wasn’t possible to change your save to a different mode) and add other things to make it a bit more of a casual experience, I’d probably enjoy it a lot more than the first?

Part of why I stopped playing the original was that a game that seemed like it should be relaxing actually got incredibly stressful for me and after losing tons of my original slimes due to a Tarr outbreak (I wanted to have one of each Largo together of a specific type an learned the hard way of what happened when they ate another plort), a lot of my enthusiasm was curbed and it became further an issue between Slimes that could escape if not fed often enough (and it’s not like you could put up infinite feeders– even the Auto feed only does so much, especially when you need to find your way back to restock them… I needed much more automation), the map only be added later (though, who knows how much it’d help me and my lack of directional sense), the limited time decorations that got patched in and out, the randomly spawning golden ginger root or whatever… It was just so much RNG at that point along with feeling overwhelming, hard to keep up with, and just feeling more and more defeated that I got completely burnt out. I’d like to hope a lot of these could be adjusted in a sequel, but I guess we’ll see.

Grounded is not my type of game at all, but I will admit the addition of sitting and pets tempts me.

In general, I’m kind of tired of Racing games, but Forza Horizon 5 looks so pretty? I want to just make a custom car and drive around randomly, maybe with friends, and that’s it. Forget racing (unless we feel like it), let me just drive under a waterfall, thank you.

If the Campaign mode isn’t solely just racing and may actually be a bit about exploring and quests like they made it sound, I may finally pick up a Forza Horizon game. Which we’ve been planning to for ages, but something always comes up. I think in general, the customization from Modnation Racers just ruined other Racing games for me and I just don’t really enjoy the competitive aspect. Like year, you have cool fancy new courses, but what’s the point if I’m stuck just racing through them and can’t just take my time to explore them?

I just want a Car “racing” game where I can combine my Modnation Racer character and car with the Prancer cart from Mario Kart and then go exploring in a bunch of fun pretty maps. That’s it. Joyriding the game. With weird obstacle courses to do in your car. The weird bowling thing does look fun.

If there’s one thing that stood out for me with RedFall, it was that I’m so happy it wasn’t zombies. It could be fun to play co-op at least.

Anyway, I’m mainly surprised they didn’t have something with NGS considering it just released less than a week ago.

Square Enix

The Guardians of the Galaxy game honestly looks pretty fun? >> I kind of wish it had a co-op option, even if only up to two people, but it still looks neat. The start screen of them all hanging out is so cute. I also really enjoy the soundtrack.

Part of me is intrigued by the new Life is Strange if only for the mystery aspect, but I’ve found their games just… not very satisfying with how they end and some of the characters really frustrate me, unfortunately.

Finally, still very excited for the next TWEWY game.

While there wasn’t much to see, I still found it enjoyable.

Future Games Show

Grow: Song of the Evertree looks really pretty, but I am so bad at management games… I may still keep an eye on it though.

Still excited for Lake! Even more so for mentioning ‘The Great Mouse Detective’ which is one of my favorite films.

“Detective Thriller” is one of the fastest ways to get my attention. Just something else for me to keep an eye out.

And with that, Day 2 is over! While not as much stood out to me as Day 1, I did enjoy the beginning of the day regardless and it ended okay… The middle was… less fun though.

E3 Day 1 and Pre-E3 thoughts!

Despite E3 really only being 3-4 days, it’s almost felt like a month long with all kinds of news in the gaming world. Even before E3’s official date, we had some announcements and new footage with things like the Summer Games Fest and IGN Expo.

I always find the best way to go into E3 is to just not really have any specific hopes for anything and enjoy the general excitement in the air. Regardless, this year I’m going to mainly only focus on new things! Anything I already am familiar with while be at the end of each section respectively

Before getting to the actual starting during E3, we’ll start with some of the stuff from the week before.

Summer Games Fest and Day of the Devs

The very first thing was Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. I don’t have much familiarity with the Borderlands series, only having played some of 2, but it looekd interesting enough that depending on how it all works, I might want to try it.

I also thought Two Point Campus seemed somewhat interesting.

For Overwatch 2, I really just… have not liked most of the new designs for characters. Mercy’s especially still bums me out, but I’m hoping the PvE content would still be nice. The PvP plusthe way events started being handled (Weekly rewards and more achievement-based items) just really burnt me out. Also Lootboxes in general aren’t much fun for me, but they’re a infinitely worse when you can’t trade items with friends. You can buy some of the items, sure, but they are so expensive and so the trade-off doesn’t feel great.

Planet of Lana looks really interesting, but it’s definitely something I need to see more of first.

Next up was the Day of the Devs part in the Showcase. There’s been so many good Indie games so it’s always nice to see more. I was already aware (and excited for) some shown, but I was interested in some others as well!

Vokabulantis looked really neat. I’ve been a bit burnt out on Platformers lately, but I’ll definitely keep an eye out for now.

Road 96 also caught my eye. I always find it interesting to have heavily story-driven games where it can vary so much just based on the Choices you make. I’m excited to see what Road I end up on as I play.

The Wandering Village looks really pretty, but I’m not always great at balancing things. It’s definitely another game I want to keep an eye out for though.

Unbeatable has some amazing music and I love the aesthetic, but I’m just so bad at rhythm games, I know I’d eventually struggle with it a lot. I really need to buy the soundtrack at least. Maybe I’ll finally try the demo later despite my lack of skill.

Behind the Frame looks really interesting, but I definitely want to see more.

Stuff I already knew about, but am still excited for

  • Monster Hunter Stories 2 – It intrigues me for the same reason the first did, but I still haven’t managed to play the first so… I think the customization and some of the characters in Monster Hunter are cute, but I just don’t enjoy the actual Monster Hunting.
  • Toem – It’s still looking really great and I can’t wait to play it.
  • Soup Pot – I really enjoy cooking and baking and cooking games are just really fun. Knowing they will be recipes you can fully recreate too, it could be fun to try and make them in real life as well.

IGN Expo

Presentation-wise, I loved seeing all the Legos stuff and Clay sculpting? But wow did I not understand a single thing that was going on. Information-wise, it was really lacking on what exactly the game was. Wild West Dynasty looks pretty, but I have no idea if I’d play it. Though, I guess if you played previous Dynasty games, maybe you’d have a better idea than I did.

Olli Olli World has a neat style. I don’t know specifically why, but I always find Skateboarding games kind of interesting. I’d definitely want to see more of it.

Stuff I already knew about, but am still excited for

  • Sherlock Holmes: Chapter 1 – Part of me wants to wait for future chapters to not just play a bit, but I am very excited for it regardless. It looks really good and I love Detective games.
  • Skatebird – Excited to play it this year! Still sad I missed the Kickstarter– I had planned to back, but due to a last minute issue, didn’t get a chance to.
  • Unpacking – I can’t wait for this. Even though we didn’t really see much new, every thing I DO see of it just makes me more excited for the release and I had so much fun with the demo.

    As the game is coming out for other consoles and they confirmed there would be more announcements over the next few days, I’m sure we’ll be seeing it again and so, I won’t be mentioning it every single time, but please know I am VERY excited for it regardless.
  • Tunic – Tunic still looks so cute, but it’s also something I think I’d just be really bad at. I kind of want to see if I can collect everything though…

Guerrilla Collective

FireGirl looks interesting, but I feel like I’d be really bad at it.

BPM still has such catchy music, but I’m just not good at those types of games. Not being able to pet the Bird makes me sad. The Bird is so cute…

Slime Heroes looked super cute. It could be fun to play with my husband.

Demon Turf also looked pretty interesting.

Arcade Paradise seems like it could be fun, but I’m worried there will be some dark twist or something that’ll make it a lot less fun for me.

I really enjoyed Venice 2089’s demo so definitely interested in the full game.

Omno is really pretty. I love puzzle games, but big open worlds and I don’t always work well together.

Wholesome Games

Some of these may be out of order as there were so many that it was hard to even keep up so I also cross-referenced the website

I’ve always enjoyed every single Direct they’ve done so it’s no surprise that this is one of the shows I was most excited for. I know I’ve seen a lot of the games that will be shown (and am excited for many of them) so I’ll still likely mention it regardless.

Bird Problems looks so weird, but also interesting in a way so I’m kind of curious to try it regardless.

I actually backed Snacko and every new footage looks great :D

I loved playing the demo for Alekon (even if I sucked at the rhythm portions…) and knowing it’s out now is exciting. Definitely hope to get it really soon.

A Little to the Left looks like fun for similar reasons I’m excited for Unboxing. Organizing things can just be kind of relaxing, especially without any timers or pressure about it.

I have been enjoying Ooblets all through Early Access so unsurprisingly, I am very excited for the new update. I’ll have a video up later today playing through it so be sure to check it out! (Edit: The video is now up)

Behind the Frame caught my eye on Day of the Devs already, but seeing even more from it as just cemented my interest. I’ll look forward to its release :)

I’m excited seeing a Pink Bird in this footage for Skatebird.

Pekoe looks like a lot of fun! And I really love tea.

I’m still really excited for Lake. I had gotten into the Beta for it and I can’t wait to see the full release.

Yokai Inn looks really interesting. I love the art style.

I had played the prologue of Mythic Ocean and it was a lot of fun, though, my recording of it just… died entirely. I’d like to hope it would be easier to do everything in the full game.

Button City is another game I’ve been following for quite a while now and I really adored the demo. Very excited for it :)

Letters is another game I backed on Kickstarter! I’m looking forward to seeing it finished :)

Hot Pot for One has a bittersweet feeling, but I really want to play it regardless.

I’ve been looking forward to Tracks of Thought despite sucking terribly at card games and I’m downloading the demo right now and am so excited to play it. (Edit: It has been played and I did enjoy it)

Beasts of Maravilla Island is another where I just absolutely adored the demo and knowing it’s out today… I have no idea how I’m going to find time to play so many good games already.

I still can’t get a read on “We Are OFK” to say if I’d want to play or not, but I still really like the music.

The Gecko Gods looks interesting, but I definitely need to see more of it first.

Paralives still looks really neat and I feel like the way you do things makes it feel a bit less overwhelming than the Sims. I’m looking forward to seeing more of it.

A Walk with Yiayia made me a bit emotional, but I’d like to see more of it.

Dordogne is so pretty and it still looks like a lot of fun. I also expect it to break my heart a bit though.

Sally looks interesting. I really like the music.

Rainbow Billy looks really interesting, but I’m not sure how great I’ll be at the fishing to keep them all fed… A demo will be out on the 16th though so I’ll definitely have to try it.

Unpacking just gets me excited for it every time I see it.

I’ve been excited for Teacup since I played the demo. I also love her outfit so much.

Still very excited for Moonglow Bay as well.

Every new thing I see of Pupperazzi just gets me more excited for it.

I remember playing the demo for Luna’s Fishing Garden a while back and really enjoyed it. Excited to see the full game.

Witchery Academy also just keeps looking better. I’m so excited for it.

Amber Isle is looking really great too. I can’t wait for it.

I love the look of Woodo so much. Another game I am really looking forward to.

LEGO BUILDER’S JOURNEY!! I’m really wanted this game, but it was Apple Exclusive and I don’t own any Apple devices. So excited to see it finally releasing on other things!

Shashingo looks so interesting and as someone who’s really wanted to learn Japanese, I’m excited for it. There’s so many good photo games this year.

Please be Happy also looked really cute. I love the art style. I do wonder if it’ll be solely romantic-framed or if you can just have friendship too.

And at this point as if I wasn’t overwhelmed enough already, we got into the quick sizzle reel so to finish this off because wow 90% of the games did catch my interest, quick list!:

  • Venba – Still looks really nice! I feel like there’s been a lot of cooking-based games this year and I’m okay with that.
  • BattleCakes – It looks really cute, but I’m not super big on most Turn-based RPGs. I’ll likely still keep an eye on it though!
  • Bear & Breakfast
  • Book of Travels – Another one I backed on Kickstarter!
  • KeyWe – Still looks really cute, though, I’m not sure how good I’d be at the game.
  • Kotodama Diary – I was so surprised/excited to see this on the list! I spoke about it in my latest Mobile Game Round-up post and have even uploaded some videos. I’m still playing it a few times a day and it’s been a lot of fun, though, some of the RNG kills me.
  • Cat Cafe Manager
  • Kotoriyami – This looks so cute! I hope it’ll still be available in English too. I might try it now anyway.
  • Clawfish – It’s a Crane Game-Fish Collecting game and that’s beautiful.
  • Cloud Jumper
  • Co-Open
  • Dreamland Confectionary
  • Fire Tonight
  • Kokopas Atlas – I need to see more of it first, but it still looks interesting so far!
  • Lone Farm
  • The Magnificient Trufflepigs
  • Passpartout 2 – I played the first one and the second looks like it could be really interesting too.
  • Recolit – Need to see more of, but I am intrigued regardless!
  • RoboCo – It looks interesting, but I know I can get overwhelmed with too much freedom.
  • Seasonspree
  • Witchy Life Story

Ubisoft

It’s just random trailers right now, but Trackmania taunts me every time I see it. I really should try it at some point.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anything for me in the conference itself :( There wasn’t even a music performance this year…

The Luma Plushies from the second Mario-Rabbids game were also cute at least?

Devolver Digital

Phantom Abyss seemed kind of interesting, but I don’t think I’d enjoy playing that type of game in first person.

At least the song at the end was catchy…?

And that was really all my thoughts. I had nothing to really say about any of the latter shows. The Wholesome Games Direct was easily my favorite, but I don’t think that’s surprising to anyone.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 1.10 Update things!

Twitch Collection | Youtube Playlist | ACNH Overview

While I could have posted this when the update released in late April, I wanted to wait until actually going through most of the new things that were added. As most people have felt, the update is a bit underwhelming, but I’m not really surprised and I’m expecting a lot of similar updates this year with just new additions to existing content. That said, with E3 in June, I wouldn’t be surprised if a big update was being saved for something around there, especially as it’s likely when we would get a new update announcement with only a few new seasonals for July left in the 1.10 release.

In all honesty, I don’t mind the update too much– my biggest issue is just in the way Seasonal items work altogether and all the issues that stem from the new time-locking system (even as someone who does not time travel). I think what hits me the most though is I really love the Nuptial Bell, but what it’d be perfect for is something I just can’t do.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not particularly proud of my island in New Horizons. Very little came out how I envisioned and every step of the way, I hit a new problem I just wasn’t able to plan for. I feel it’s important to mention that I do LIKE everything on my island so it’s not a simple “just remove what you don’t like”– it’s just that nothing really came out the way I wanted to and almost everything had to be compromised from my own vision and I feel like it shows.

The biggest victim has easily been the Waterfall Shrine which what I wanted was closer to my campsite in Pocket Camp (though, on a smaller scale) and instead what I got was a tiny stream. And that Bell would’ve been the perfect centerpiece.

Essentially, unless Nintendo added an option to be able to increase our Island size (and if so, I would love a drag and drop thing or something because manually moving everything would suck) or a change to cliffs/waterfalls work (The tier system is WHY I ran into so many issues– it’s one thing when you plan for 1-2 blocks, but when what you wanted to do takes up 4-6, it’s no wonder you suddenly don’t have room), I’ll never be able to do it. And I’ve gone over things over and over like if I moved certain things more to the right, but it’s just not possible. Something else would get messed up or ruined.

I have one idea that could MAYBE work, but it’s risky and that’s where the Auto save issue comes in. I can’t just play around and reset it– I’d have to redo everything if my idea is wrong. And it could be! And even then, while it could give me what I want, it would essentially be backwards and that could still be incredibly stupid. And it’s just frustrating because maybe if these items were in from the start, I could’ve figured out something to begin with over having something I’m already attached to and it’s why I hate the way they’re doing updates for New Horizons. I’m not a “what can I remove” person– I’m a “where could I fit this” person and the answer is, at this point, nowhere and it kills me. I even played around with mock-ups at Photopia, but I would need roughly 7×7 or 8×8 just to place the items, not even accounting for the waterfalls and surrounding water areas. And I don’t have that anywhere. The only possible place it could maybe fit is if I took down the Zen area, but I really like it so that isn’t going to happen.

It just really sucks to not only be unhappy with my island, but also not be able to manage things I hoped to do from the start for one reason or another. I don’t dislike anything enough to change it (And the autosave system also makes it so I don’t really want to experiment either). I also don’t want to ruin my island by terraforming it entirely and destroying its charm. New Horizons has been cited as being the most “creative” entry and yet I’ve never felt more stifled in that department by this series as I do right now.

Moving onto actual update details, I played around with one of the Children’s Day items, though, I think it’s a bit too big for me to actually keep there.

I was also really excited for the May Day Maze’s return. It was one of my favorites from last year and I was thrilled to check out the new maze… I still wish we could do more than one though.

I was surprised that they actually set it up so you could get stuck this time, but I did manage to figure it out and even made sure to get all the bonuses this time around.



I may or may not have teared up between that and these letters:

I also FINALLY managed to help Gulliver 30 times for the Golden Shovel DIY. A friend gave me theirs a while back as they didn’t care about actually having the recipe, so I already had it, but it was still nice to earn it.

The next event was a return of the Museum Stamp Rally. While much of it was the same, the new Art Wing was also included this time.






Moving to the new Wedding items, as already mentioned, I really liked the Bell, but honestly, the Flower Basket is super cute too.

I also ended up switching Merengue’s, Flurry’s, Marina’s Doorplates… Or more accurately, just Merengue’s and giving Flurry and Marina new ones as while I think the Snowflake and Shell Wreaths fit them best respectively, as they are considered “Seasonal”, they unfortunately get removed after a while… I am hoping despite these technically being Wedding items, they may stick around anyway. As for why Marina’s is just the regular heart, I felt she needed more pink to match her interior since her house’s exterior doesn’t match at all.

I did end up doing the Wedding Event itself one more time, though, besides some of Reese’s dialogue, not much had changed.

I also took another trip to Ninten, though, not too much has changed.

Besides that, I spent a lot of time talking to my Villagers more. Apparently more lines had been added, though, it had been hard to talk to them much when the first dialogue you see implies that they are tired of talking to you :/ One thing I was surprised about was another personality quest– I hadn’t seen any in so long, I thought I had answered them all. I actually had my husband pick since honestly, I was tempted to just pick the last one.

I also had a request to deliver a package from Peanut to Mira as it was accidentally delivered to her and it turned out the package was for me.

Anyway, some other Dialogue highlights:


And something I suffer with every day:

Finally, more than new items and updates to events, more than anything I’d rather see new features and Quality of Life stuff. It still makes me really sad how many things from Happy Home Designer didn’t make it over. Villagers not really interacting at all with items in Photopia just feels so lifeless.