2021 in Review

Another Pandemical Year

COVID-19 continued as a life-altering issue this year, in no small part thanks to a politicized anti-vaccine movement that will keep the disease in our lives for many years to come. Watching how many of the people in my work environment have continued to do everything wrong with regard to the pandemic led me down the path of rethinking if I want to continue in this line of work at all. Combined with many other issues that have cropped up over the last couple of years, the answer is that it is time for a career change.

To facilitate this, 2022 is the year that I will return to school and work towards a computer engineering degree. Since my original decision to not pursue computer science when I first started university, I have resisted the urge to go into this field. Computers and technology are a fun hobby for me, and the concern has always been that turning a hobby into work might remove the joy I experience with it. At the same time, it is a field where the knowledge comes easy for me. I can pick up new concepts within it without much difficulty, and I have a desire to learn more than I currently know. With that, moving from the software side of things into the realm of hardware design will be enough of a change that it will both challenge me and show me a new side to things that I have less experience with.

This will be a long journey. After the last year spent feeling idle, my hope is this change will help push me not only into a new career, but into other global possibilities.

Favorite Albums

• Bodies, by AFI
• Dune, by Hans Zimmer
• Erlösung: The Victory of Light, by BlutEngel
• Final Fantasy XIV: Death Unto Dawn, by Masayoshi Soken
• In Nomine Sanguinis, by Theatres des Vampires
• Judas, by Lord of the Lost
• Love Made Me Do It, by Kat Von D
• Subnautica: Below Zero, by Ben Prunty

Favorite Games

There are only a handful of developers that make games that consistently click with me, and Arkane Studios is one of those developers. Deathloop is their latest outing with a new twist on their traditional immersive sim style. Unlike their previous games, the gameplay has no deep RPG systems in it, instead relying on being an FPS with the other qualities of an immersive sim mixed in. Maintaining their core gameplay and level design competence while stepping up their abilities on world-building has led to Arkane once again producing one of my favorite games of the year.

Since I have never owned an Xbox, the initial hype for the Halo series passed me by. Halo Infinite continued to not be on my radar until the release of its free multiplayer. On a whim, I downloaded it and after but a few matches, the hype for the series all made sense. The multiplayer was a lot of fun, and I put many hours into it. The game will not be one that I stick with long term, mostly due to the fact that my gaming schedule does not have a lot of room for a competitive shooter, but I enjoyed my time with it and consider it one of the highlights of the year.

The last Metroid game that I played was Super Metroid on the SNES. It was a great game, but at the same time, not one that gave me a desire to explore other similar titles. Metroid Dread looked interesting, but I was not expecting how engrossed I would get from the game. Every element of the game is well done, and the gameplay is a wonderful progression over the Metroid games of old. The ambient musical style in the game reminded me of other works like Nine Inch Nail's Ghosts albums, furthering my love for the game.

The first Subnautica was not only one of my top 2018 games, but has become one of my top all-time games. Any follow-up to it has a high bar to reach. Subnautica: Below Zero does not quite reach the heights of its predecesor, but it does get close. The game changes focus from being a giant sandbox into a smaller focused sandbox with a heavier emphasis on story. This game has the distinction where I got to experience the game in two forms. When the game launched into early access on Steam, the story was vastly diferent from when the game reached its final version. Being able to experience the game differently twice added to my enjoyment of it. The improved base building elements were the cherry-on-top of the whole experience.

2022 in Review

Going Back To School

The last time I was in a classroom was the fall of 2011. Over a decade ago. So when I walked into the classroom for my engineering programming course, I did not know what to expect.

College has changed in many ways in that interim time. Back then, I still turned in much of my work physically, having to go down to the campus print lab to print out all of the reports and research that was due. Nowadays, all of the work is done digitally and turned in that way. My programming class only required you to show up for tests, as lectures were recorded with zoom for either live watching or catching up later on. And perhaps most importantly to me at the time, I was a decade older than the professor and close to two decades older than any of the other students.

At first, I experienced a bit of culture shock. But once that wore quickly off, I remembered what I loved about going to school and interacting with peers in my field. The last decade of working in the government has made me jaded, which is part of the reason why I decided to go back to school to change careers.

But as fun as it is being back in college, this time around is not the same as before. I am now working full time, with a mortgage to pay. I can not be a full-time student without running out of time in the day. Taking one class, participating in extracurricular activities, and working already takes up much of my day as is. And I am starting 2023 off by taking two classes for the quarter.

I already feel myself being more tired than I would normally be. The goal for 2023 is to manage all of this, while still having at least a little time for myself. It is going to be difficult, so here's hoping I am up for the task.

Favorite Albums

• Ambient Network IV, by Miktek
• Call to Arms and Angels, by Archive
• Strata, by Remina
• Terrene, by Lauge & Aes Dana
• Transmissions from a Hidden World, by Ben Prunty
• World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, by Blizzard Entertainment
• Year of the Snake, by Softcult
• Zeit, by Rammstein

Favorite Games

The past few years, I have dived deep into the FromSoftware games. Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 clicked with me, but neither were games that would be in contention for my favorite game ever. Elden Ring surpassed anything I could have hoped it would be. It takes all the best of the previous Soulsborne games and combines it with a brilliant open world that rewards deep exploration. At nearly 300 hours of playtime and now 11 months after release, I can easily say that Elden Ring is my new favorite game of all time.

The last time I played World of Warcraft was in 2016 with the launch of the Legion expansion. I enjoyed my time then, but fell off relatively quick. At the time, my main thought was that I missed the Azeroth of old, as the game had been streamlined to the point of not requiring thought. Dragonflight corrects a lot of the issues I had with the game. Meaningful talent trees have returned, progression can be accomplished doing whatever activity you want, and daily quests are a thing of the past. I have had a lot of fun playing the game again, thanks to the changes Dragonflight has made. Here's hoping 2023 sees Blizzard continue to keep the high quality of the game going.

The Stanley Parable has always been my favorite walking simulator, and the Ultra Deluxe version makes it even better. The new content plus technical upgrades has improved the game and made it fun to explore the world all over again.

God of War has been a series I have avoided heavily throughout my life. The over-the-top action combined with gratuitous sexism made for a very unappealing set of games. The 2018 game took care of a lot of my issues with the previous entries, and added a deep story on top of it. The game does a lot of things very well, from fun combat to great filmic direction. It overstays its welcome some towards the end, but overall it is was a great experience, and a good way to start out 2022.

2023 in Review

Back to Azeroth

In 2022, I began to play World of Warcraft again. At first, it was just playing World of Warcraft Classic, experiencing anew the game I had enjoyed when I was in college. After playing Classic for a significant amount of time, the retail version of the game began to interest me again. It had been 6 years since I last played it for more than a few minutes, but the changes made in that time since piqued my interest. In particular, the new allied race of the Void Elves looked like the type of elf I'd always wanted to play in a fantasy setting like this. As I read their lore, saw that their leader was Alleria Windrunner, I knew I had to at least give it a shot.

As I write this, it has now been 20 months since I reopened my World of Warcraft account. I have not regretted this decision in the slightest. Since 1999, I have always had an MMORPG that was central to my gaming life, but with Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker's disappointing ending, I had been missing that in my life. I jumped around to many different MMOs during the first 6 months of 2022, but nothing stuck past a week of playing. I even went back to old classics like EverQuest and EVE Online, but it never worked out. It wasn't until I created a Blood Elf Paladin on The Burning Crusade Classic that something clicked. I felt like I was at home again. For about 4 months, this was what I played nearly every day, and loved it.

After jumping back into retail, the story has remained the same. World of Warcraft, despite being nearly 20 years old, feels fresh and new again. Blizzard, for all of its troubles elsewhere, has done a lot to revitalize the game with the Dragonflight expansion. In the back of my mind, I know the game can always change directions again and push me out, as it did back during Cataclysm. But for now, I am enjoying the prospect of this being the next game I play for years, maybe even a decade long.

Favorite Albums

• 1977, by Sirenia
• A Dark Euphony, by Blackbriar
• Baldur's Gate 3, by Borislav Slavov
• Bring Out Your Dead, by Elysion
• Electric Sun, by VNV Nation
• Mr. Robot Volume 8, by Mac Quayle
• Starfield, by Inon Zur
• Stars & Embers, by Ison

Favorite Games

For a game that I have been playing for 3 years in Early Access, even I was caught by surprised with how important Baldur's Gate 3 turned out to be for me. The theme of the last few years has been rediscovering my love of roleplaying and expanding on not only my characters Aethmal and Seralin, but the whole family. Baldur's Gate 3 is the perfect singleplayer game for this, as it is the first CRPG that allows multiple player-made characters to interact with each other, having discussions and making comments to each other as the game is played. This combined with everything else that the game does well turned it into such a grand experience that I had to play it all the way through back-to-back. Very few games make me want to do that, let alone games that can easily last up to 100 hours on a single campaign.

Up until its release, I was worried that Diablo IV would be a disappointment. Diablo II remains one of the more influential games for me, but Diablo III is also one of the most disappointing games I have played. Whlie Diablo IV does not reach the heights of II, it holds its own in a way that made me love it. The campaign is a great return to form for the series, particularly with providing a memorable antagonist in Lilith. The post-campaign gameplay is currently a huge step back from II, but has improved over the year. I am hopeful it will turn into a game that I replay regularly, much as I did with Diablo II every year since its original release.

To put it bluntly, The Talos Principle 2 is the best first-person puzzle game I have played. The first game quickly surpassed other entries in the genre, but the sequel manages to take it even further. The puzzle design has been improved upon from the original, although unfortunately made a little easier. The story builds on the philosophical foundation of the original but takes it in a more forward-looking direction. The voice acting and music adds even more on top to make it an experience unlike any other.

While the fighting genre is one I have always enjoyed, Street Fighter VI has the honor of being only the second game to capture my attention for more than a few months. What separates this game from many others is its willingness to make changes both for a modern audience and one that desires a little more accessibility. The modern control scheme Capcom introduced into this has made the gameplay a lot more enjoyable and easier to grasp. It remains controversial, but for players like me, it is the difference between being able to enjoy the game for longer periods of time and dropping it after only a few matches online.

2024 in Review

A Change Is Gonna Come

2024 has been the calm before the storm that next year will be for my life.

Next year, I will become a parent for the first time. It's hard to describe. I feel both ready for it, but also woefully underprepared at the same time. I already treasure the guidance my friends have provided me so far, and I apologize to them in advance as I inevitably have all those first-time parent worries and freak-outs.

As if that would not be challenging enough, I will be starting graduate school next year, working towards a Master's in computer engineering. These last few years as an undergrad have been incredible, and I know the best is yet to come. I have a year to decide what direction to take my embedded systems focus. My first trek through graduate school was fun. But as I studied a social science, it was all about reading a lot of journal articles and writing papers every week. I look forward to what should be a more hands-on course load.

All of this is to say nothing of all the other changes the world will be going through next year...

Favorite Albums

• Deadtime Stories, by Lovelorn Dolls
• Essential Mixtape, by Merely & Malibu
• From Zero, by Linkin Park
• I Am, by Pain
• Spaceport, by Martin Stürtzer
• The Greatest Love, by London Grammar
• Under a Timeless Spell, by Diary of Dreams
• World of Warcraft: The War Within, by Blizzard

Favorite Games

I never thought a Dragon Age game would make my list of top games, let alone my number one game of the year. The previous entries started out good, but wore out their welcome well before I was at the end. But Veilguard was incredible from beginning to end, with almost every aspect of the game enjoyable. The story might have been a little rushed towards the end, but those final missions were a blast. It also proved to be a great testing ground for expanding on how I saw my character of Korwen, as Rook's default personality fits well with how I imagined her.

Diablo IV was one of my top games last year, and its expansion this year holds it in place. Vessel of Hatred is a great addition to the game, adding a new region to the game that includes the area of Kurast and Travincal last seen in Diablo II. There's something about Diablo IV that keeps me coming back every season, and I do not see that stopping anytime soon.

Dragon's Dogma 2 was another game that I did not expect to love as much as I did. Everything about the game appealed to me. From both your main character and your companion throughout the journey (Aethmal and Seralin made an extraordinary team) to the focus on exploration without quick travel, everything in the game clicked with me. I unfortunately did not get to spend as much time with the post-game adventure as I would like, but it is something I plan to go back and experience all over again soon.

What more is there to say about World of Warcraft that I haven't said previously? The game has been a part of my life for 20 years now, and the latest expansion adds more of what I love to the game. Blizzard has had some ups and downs over the years with the game, but right now, it is at peak enjoyment for me. It is hard to imagine the game not being a part of my life for the foreseeable future.

updated: 2026-08-08