“Whatcha Playin’, Pixels?” #001

A weekly roundup of games enjoyed by the writers of The Pixels

There are many different kinds of gamers out there and even more kinds of games! This is a weekly celebration of the diversity of gaming history and the wealth of content to seek out and consume across, a weekly blog due every Friday. Consider it as a kind of open journal of sorts from the writers here at The Pixels.

Maybe you’ll see a few familiar titles or some you hadn’t heard of before, but be sure to let us know what you’ve been playin’ either here in the comments or on social media!

Since this idea was first proposed by our own @MaxNChachi, she’s up first:

I’ve gotten addicted to playing House Flipper this week. It should be a “pick up and put down” game but I’m struggling to put it down! The dangerous part is that it’s making me think about potential repairs around our house that I KNOW I’m not actually skilled enough to do. The game just makes it look so easy. Of course I know I can’t paint the walls without putting down tarp or moving the furniture and it’s actually a lot of hard messy work, but the temptation is there.

I’ve also dived into Pokémon Brilliant Diamond. I wanted to wait until Mystery Trade goes live, which I know is sometime this quarter, but friends started playing it and I couldn’t keep saying no. Happy to be back on the adventure with my babies Turtwig and Bidoof.

–Maggie M

Thanks to plenty of cold, slushy weather in my area, I’ve had a fair amount of time to spend on getting through some lengthier games. I was able to finish up the fantastic Shin Megami Tensei V and start making headway into Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age; these are both sizable RPGs with plenty of content to go around, making them great choices for curling up while a snowstorm rages – well, sorta-rages, it wasn’t exactly a blizzard. Maybe I just wanted an excuse for gaming!

Like Red, I also set up the myriad translation utilities used to play Dragon Quest X in English. It’s pretty fascinating to see in action once you’ve got it all working. DQX itself is also a pretty interesting adventure that I look forward to spending some time getting immersed in. I’ll have to brush up on my Japanese a little if I’m going to interact with the locals, though.

–Cory G

This week, I have a couple of games on the go. On Tuesday and Thursday, I delved right where I left off in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask after I finished off Skyward Sword last week (Second game beaten in 2022, by the way!). Last I checked, I was about halfway through the game when I took a pause to play Skyward. It was good to be back on schedule and I’m looking forward to finishing my Zelda Marathon real soon.

Aside from that, I’m knee-deep into the Cell Saga on Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot for the Nintendo Switch. DBZ: Kakarot is a unique RPG that tells the entire story of Dragon Ball Z and, as a fan of the series growing up, I’m loving every minute of it. It may have a few fetch quests too many, but the high-intensity action and the easy-to-learn combat system make things interesting! Adventures with the Z Warriors never fail to put me in a good mood right before bed!

I picked up and started playing Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 for the PS4, mainly as a way to play some more family-friendly stuff around Kid Espresso. It’s a cute and highly addictive puzzle game that mashes up Tetris and Puyo Puyo together for a crazy and fun time! There’s an adventure mode where you play as characters and experience a story involving Tetris and Puyo Puyo. I’ve started it and it’s very cute so far. Speaking of characters, Sonic the Hedgehog is a guest playable character in this game and I’m so excited about it

Finally, my Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda system is STILL getting some use, even after all these months of owning it! Right now, I’m traversing through Koholint Island in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, which looks perfect on the small system. My review of the Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda system is out now.

–Ryan C

This week has been somewhat of an off week for me, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t played anything. I’ve played a few hours of Terraria Master Mode with a group of friends this week. Terraria is unlike most games I play but it’s been more fun for the fact that I am playing with a group. Terraria is a 2D adventure game that often gets compared to Minecraft. Terraria has a lot more focus on combat, magic, and upgrades though. Having not played so much of Terraria, Master Mode is very brutal and I would not be playing Master Mode if it weren’t with friends.

–Zerinus

I’m a crazy person… I keep starting new games despite the dozen games that I currently have midway even though I’ve enjoyed them. But lately, I have been getting better at finishing games which I hope is a trend that will continue for me. Phogs is the most recently finished title, a co-op game about two dogs that share a body. It’s a charming 3D puzzle-platformer that is unfortunately riddled with occasional glitches that hinder progress.

Other games that I hope to finish soon include Nioh 2, The Last of Us, Forza Horizon 5, Death’s Door, Shantae and the Seven Sirens, Final Fantasy VIII, and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. Though in Castlevania’s case I may just give up on as I’ve been stuck exploring for hours with no idea where to go. 

–Kalas

I continue to find it difficult to put down Hollow Knight. Not many games make me feel the need, or the desire, to trophy hunt, but it’s so fun that the additional tasks and challenges are more than welcome. I feel this way even as I currently endure the torture known as the Path of Pain. Figuring out and completing the Nightmare King Grimm fight certainly helped push me forward. Hollow Knight has boss fights that give me that sense of accomplishment that beating bosses in Bloodborne gave me. Just about all I have left is the Pantheon–once I finish this blasted path–so it remains to be seen whether or not I am a worthy vessel.

–ABXY Reviews

After taking a much-needed break from Final Fantasy XIV and a less-needed one from Illusion of Gaia, I focused on finishing up Simon’s Quest, which honestly has not been that bad. Sure, it’s prossessed of one of the worst translations I’ve ever seen in a video game, but a guide helps, well, guide through the game. You want bad? I beat Maximum Carnage this week! Woof, what a monster.

Other than that, my life is a sordid tale of loose ends: I’ve got an ongoing save in Starlink: Battle for Atlas (which has actually been really awesome for a game that bombed so hard!) and I’m attempting to set up an English translation for the notoriously region-exclusive MMO, Dragon Quest X. It’s a great time to be alive, though, with 8 game completions under my belt this year. I’m high on creative freedom and looking forward to digging into my backlog like crazy, thanks in no small part to accountability posts just like “Whatcha Playin’. Pixels?” (it’s not really an accountability post, but I’ll take what help I can get).

–Red

Don’t forget to let us know what you’ve been playing this week!