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As 2022 drew to a close, I was possessed by the spirit of unrealized desires. I set a new goal for myself: I would watch 50 movies in a single year.

I’ve always been good at delaying gratification, so much so that I often put off culturally and intellectually enriching activities just because I’m worried I’ll enjoy them too much — that I’ll, god forbid, burn through all the good things before I’m even remotely close to death. It’s a foolish instinct that’s rooted in perfectionism, which in turn is rooted in, well, all kinds of harmful nonsense.

Anyway, I achieved my target. In fact, I doubled it. I saw plenty of contemporary movies, and I also delved deep into a wide range of old classics and forgotten gems. I enjoyed my time watching exactly 98% of them — that’s pretty good! And I can now say I’ve properly kickstarted a new habit: I’m goin’ to the movies again, folks.

It sounds so, I dunno, painfully normal to say this, but I’ve gotta be honest: setting goals really works. And goals are really important! It’s surprisingly easy to fall prey to distractions and pointless routine in their absence. But when I declare to myself that I’m really gonna do something, and I go through the requisite motions — write it on a piece of paper and tape it to my wall, or tell enough friends that I’ll feel guilty if I don’t follow through, or whatever — more often than not, I achieve what I set out to do.

Which leads to my current problem.

Fresh off the rejuvenating and enriching results of my film journey, I spent the end of December wondering what worthwhile goals I could set for myself in 2024. I first thought of other media: had I been neglecting books? (A little bit — I only finished 17 books in 2023, barely over half of my goal.) What about music? Yeah, I’m kind of out of the loop these days; I’ll see what I can glean from Stereogum and whatever remains of Bandcamp’s editorial team. But goals for either medium didn’t feel very compelling to me; I’d rather just set an intention and see where that leads me.

Okay, so…what about video games?

Well,

Part 1: I don’t like playing video games very much right now

But we have to talk about them. So:

Here’s a list of pretty much everything I played last year, sorted in alphabetical order. In the interest of brevity and scannability, I’ll be using my own proprietary emoji system to describe these games:

🏆 — A great game
🙂 — Hey, I had fun!
🤠 — Yeehaw! (Cowboy friendly)
🌲 — I often thought that I’d rather be outside instead of playing this
💔 — A letdown
😲 — A big ol’ surprise!
🧠 — This one got me to thinkin’
📝 — In this game you will take Notes
🥲 — Ah, just to feel something once again
🚮 — Do better

And here’s the list:

Alan Wake 2 🏆🙂🌲🧠🥲
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon 🙂🤠
BABBDI 🙂🤠😲
Baldur’s Gate 3 🙂💔
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood 🏆😲
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 🏆
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon 🌲
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance 🤠🌲🚮
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow 🙂
Cocoon 🌲🚮
Counter-Strike 2
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty 🤠🥲🧠 (I spent some time thinking about this game in more detail here)
Diablo IV 🌲💔🚮
Final Fantasy VII Remake: Intermission 🙂
Final Fantasy XVI 🌲💔🚮 (read my review of this very bad game here)
F-Zero 99 🙂😲
God of War: Ragnarök 🙂🥲
Hi-Fi Rush 💔🚮
Humanity 🙂🧠
Jusant 🌲💔
The Legend of...