I have always been a DAY ONE GAMER when it comes to my most anticipated games. This doesn’t necessarily mean I’m playing every new release on DAY ONE, but I would try to get my hands on them on release day. I used to preorder plenty of games, especially when there was some sort of physical reward or swag included. I still sport my Splatoon keychain and my Mario Golf luggage tag. Today, the rewards are mostly digital and in-game — things like skins, digital art books, and in-game currency.

I felt the need to play games as they were released, but I now know that it’s fine to wait a bit and play them later on. In fact, it’s usually better to wait in this digital age of gaming. With day one patches and regular game updates it is safer to wait until the bugs have been removed. We’ve seen so many games start off as one thing and completely pivot into something else — the biggest example of this being Fortnite.

*Side Quest:
Back when Borderlands 3 came out, I told myself I didn’t
need to buy it. I enjoyed a bit of Borderlands 1 and 2,
but was always overwhelmed by the endless supply of
weapons — and having to manage them. Days after
Borderlands 3 came out, my parents ended up at
Best Buy so I made them pick it up for me. I couldn’t
hold out. I never made it very far into Borderlands 3,
but it has been sitting in my backlog since then.
Everyone has moved onto Borderlands 4, which
I do plan to play at some point.

Thanks to me creating this site, I am now on some lists to receive day one game codes — some games even come early, so I can share my coverage on release day. Still, there are plenty of games that I am very interested in, but not on any list for. A recent release was Ghost of Yōtei, the long-awaited sequel to Ghost of Tsushima.

The year Ghost of Tsushima came out it was one of my top games. I even picked up the platinum trophy. I played the original on my PlayStation 4 Pro and got back into it on my PlayStation 5 when the Iki Island expansion came out. I loved that game and spending time in that world as Jin Sakai.

Ever since seeing that first teaser for Ghost of Yōtei, I knew I needed this new game in my life. I expected to pick it up and start playing on DAY ONE. Ghost of Yōtei has now been available for a couple of weeks, and I still don’t own it. I’m just not ready to jump into that big open world. I’m not ready to give it my full attention to Atsu.

I have a never-ending list of games to finish, games to start, games to restart, and games that I may never even touch. I also recently came up with a plan for Ghost of Yōtei. While playing Ghost of Tsushima, I really dove deep into Samurai content — shows, movies, comics, even other games. It’s like I had homework assignments while playing Ghost of Tsushima. I was inspired to learn more about this world which I have always been curious about — the Era of the Samurai.

I have actually been saving Shogun on Hulu to watch while playing Ghost of Yōtei. I’m know I will also watch a few more Akira Kurosawa films. I was tempted to finally start reading the Shogun book by James Clavell, but after seeing it in person the other day I may hold out. That book is Bible-sized.

I just know when I do play Ghost of Yōtei some time this year, I will be ready to go FULL SAMURAI!

Two Others

There are two other recently released sequels that I have been looking forward to, but I am not ready for due to a completely different reason. The games in question are Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong. I have friends obsessively playing both games, and it makes me sad that I am just not ready yet — major FOMO.

The reason I am not yet ready is because I have not finished the previous titles — Hades and Hollow Knight. The funny thing is these are two of my favorite indie titles, but I moved onto other games before reaching the end. I played Hollow Knight non-stop when it first came to the Nintendo Switch, but at some point I stopped making progress and started to feel lost in this giant world. That’s when I dropped off.

Still, Hollow Knight was a special game for me. It was one of the early Metroidvanias on Nintendo Switch that put that genre on my radar. I have since played a myriad of Metroidvanias. I also found myself sketching the main hero — the Knight — all the time.

Hades was another beloved game that I just couldn’t beat. I kept dying at the same boss fight (Theseus and the Minotaur) and thought I would never make it out of Hades alive. After moving on, I’d jump in for a quick run from time to time, but still not advance any further than before. It wasn’t until recently, that I finally made it past this boss fight.

Before I purchase either of these sequels I’ve told myself that I must escape from Hades and roll credits Hollow Knight. After the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 I jumped back into both of these games — and I’ve been playing the hell out of them.

I will return with updates when I finally make it to all three of these sequels — Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades II, and Ghost of Yōtei.