Happy Halloween everyone! While this month has been light on video games for me and the last couple of weeks have been too hectic for much at all, I did manage to make huge progress on the Instagram project that I talked about last month. It was fantastic to have some time to deep dive in to creating, and there is a lot more on that below.
LudoNarraCon 2026 has been and gone but I am still working my way through, this month ended up being more about tabletop gaming for me as I had a wonderful weekend at Tyneside Games Expo.
Let’s take a look at Octobers shenanegans!
Video Games
Games played
Crow Country [finished]: The momentum did indeed carry through the remainder of Crow Country and I can happily confirm that the game held up throughout the entire duration. I already mentioned how much I was enjoying the atmosphere, setting and gameplay in the last post, but during the final parts of the playthrough, the story really came into its own too. I underestimated it, expecting the plot to be throwaway B-horror in service of spooks, but instead the mystery came together in a way that I didn’t expect, with everything wrapping up in a satisfying way.
Valheim [ongoing]: We beat the next boss, which unlocked exactly what we needed to get started on the Village of Plenty. The Bakery was born right as we had our first Lox riding experience. From there, it came together with a Green Grocer and a BBQ area. We then decided it was finally time to build a house which turned out pretty nice, creatively named Manor, and my treehouse idea got adapted into a wonderful Oak Grove. Next, we set out to slay another boss, and upon our success discovered a new biome for the first time in a WHILE. I fell into a hole and got stuck, we discovered new things, but haven’t yet had a chance to look closely at what we have unlocked. It is starting to feel like the building options and unlocks are winding down rather than ramping up, so only time will tell whether the momentum holds up, as Enshrouded looks more and more enticing.
Demos played
This month I played 8 demos, of which I wrote 1 impressions post.
- The Marvelous Raincaster of Yell Holler
- Hillthorn – View Demo Spotlight here..
- Apple Crumble
- A Line Held Tight – Full impressions incoming..
- Beastfolk Barber – Demo Spotlight incoming..
- Virtue and a Sledgehammer
- Penguin Colony
- Sloppy Forgeries
Follow my Instagram account or Bluesky thread to see which I recommend in my Demo Highlights!
Content corner
- October on the blog..
- October on the socials…
- Project Instagram Glow-up really got going! Here are the post types I have created so far (each time I create a new format I will share it in these posts. Buckle in, there are a few this time!) –
Patch Notes – I will be building more slides over time but I managed to get a template for the basics together so that I can share on Instagram what I share here in a more visual manor.
Game Log – A post for every game that I finish, drop, watch a full playthrough of, or consider done/experienced in any other way. The initial post is a batch but then I will just post one per game, as and when.
Tabletop Log – It turns out I have been playing more board games than anything else this year so I think that deserves its own log!
Other Media Log – Movies, TV shoes, books, anything else that fits the bill really.
Game Photography – Whether announcing a new gallery on the blog or just a collection of images that I fancy sharing, I love how this one came together.
Game Journal – I have wanted to game journal for so long but the idea of pen and paper never really gelled with me, since I take so many screenshots. I have finally found a format that I love. It allows me to share progress updates, first impressions, silliness, observations, quotes, in game projects, funny moments and fleeting thoughts. And this one is all done in Instagram itself so that I can do them on the fly. The format even works for irl events, which I will share later!
Game Festivals/Showcases – I wasn’t quite sure how to approach these posts, as quite often I have already covered some of the games showcased but still have lots of others to check out. This format allows me to share the content that I already have available, and therefore recommendations of what to check out during said festival as it begins. Then, I can post new recommendations as their own posts as I get chance to play them. The ‘complete’ coverage would be on the blog, as this is sometimes still ongoing months after the festival ends. I was very happy to create a design to include YouTube coverage too.
This template is one I also intend to adapt for my Noob Picks posts during The Game Awards showcase season in a yet to be determined way.
Demo Spotlight – I put off doing this one for so long as I couldn’t visualise what I wanted. But one day, it just happened and I am so very happy with how it turned out. Demo Spotlight posts are for the demos that I don’t have the words for a full impressions post, but I still want to showcase. Maybe they polarised me in some way, were enjoyable but not exciting, feel like they need more work, or just weren’t my genre. The posts will show off the game, what it is, comments and observations about it, other games like it, and whether I was playing it during a showcase.
I am so thrilled to have been able to get so many of these ideas out of my head and into existance and while there are still a bunch of ideas/formats/templates that I have yet to make, I look forward to putting these to use now that I have the foundations. I love tracking my consumption as a form of mindfulness, documenting my thoughts as a snapshot of now, sharing these things in a way that feels very me, and filling my soul by expressing myself about the things I enjoy. I hope you enjoy them too!
I also tried finishing the first Backlog Log video that I teased a while ago and I am just not happy with it. I am not sure whether to spend any more time trying to fix it or just let it go.
Podcasting..
Left Behind Game Club: Crow Country – I dusted off my microphone once again to join my friends at the Left Behind Game Club to talk about the perfect Halloween game. I have already talked about the game here but it was a lot of fun catching up with the gang and you can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts!
New to the Backlog
Purchases
- Steam
- Pony Island [free]
Game Services
- Ps Plus
- Mafia: The Old Country [extra]
- Hunt: Showdown 1896 [essential]
Backlog Progress
This month: Crow Country is done!
Total: 8 of 29 complete ✅
Noob life
Other media | playing | watching | listening
Tabletop
Kabuto Sumo [new]: A fun dexterity game that I could imagine being carnage with more players. It is a competitive 2p machine and I was NOT good at it 😂
Bella Vista [new]: Bella Vista might be the most aesthetic board game I’ve played so far. Even the box is beautifully designed, both in colours and in organisation.
Make your bids, place your buildings based on the restrictions and objectives, and win the game of real estate. It felt quite chill to play and while I’m happy to have tried it, I don’t really have the itch to play again.
Deep Regrets [new]: Dredge the board game feels like a very accurate description. You have a week to maximise your healing fishing journey and the catches you make will definitely do something to you.. heal though? I’m not sure.
There are enough mechanics to allow for some strategy without feeling overwhelming, but the best part for me was easily the act of flipping the fish cards and seeing what monstrousities are lurking below.
Sagrada [new]: A really really satisfying quick play that itches my brain in all the right places. Rolling the dice, figuring out where to place them and hoping others don’t steal the one you want was endlessly satisfying. Thoroughly enjoyed everything about this one.
Bandido [new]: What a fun little game! So easy to pick up and get going, escalates quickly, deceptively tricky. When the next person places exactly the right card it feels godly. When you can only make things worse you can be forgiven. But when you mess up my next perfect move.. unacceptable.
We had our first three player game and the stars aligned in ways so perfect that I am not sure another gaming moment could ever top it.
Puerto Rico Special Edition [new]: Puerto Rico is an excellent game, with the Special Edition turning it into a spectacle on the table. Expect minis within minis as you grow your town and economy. I think the secret sauce in this one lies in the way that even during other players turns, you are still taking a turn. It makes it fun to keep track of what everyone else is doing and adds another layer of strategy. This, plus the cap on resources, fast escalation and too many good options makes the flow of the game extremely satisfying.
DnD [ongoing]: I was right, it wasn’t over! After clearing the dungeon we made our way back to town to regroup for the threat that is looming.
Daggerheart [new]: We did a Daggerheart one shot, which was not only our first time playing but our first time playing a TTRPG with strangers. It was a polarising experience overall but I am very glad we did it and would definitely join a table again. From the short experience we had, I felt like my personal concerns about how I will handle the Daggerheart structure/flow felt confirmed, but I can see how it is fun in its own way and I will try to lean into the collaborative creative side of it more when we pick up our own campaign. I played an Emberkin Frostborn Warlock named Stella.
Books
A Court of Thorns and Roses [paperback/ongoing]: I am only one chapter in so far, but after my friends highly recommended it I am going to try to add reading back into my life, as it is the first new fiction that I have picked up in a WHILE.
Events
Tyneside Games Expo: Tyneside Games Expo was a weekend board game event in Gateshead and I had a lovely weekend attending. My only point of comparison for these kind of events is Airecon, which hardly feels fair for a small, local event, so I went in with zero expectations to fully enjoy it for what it was.
The event took place in a large sports hall with vendors, bring and buy, play testing, TTRPGs and a game library. We made liberal use of the game library, joined a Daggerheart table, ate some lovely but very sloppy Acropolis food and of course, bought some dice. We hoped to do some playtesting but the times didn’t align. While the event wasn’t huge, I thoroughly enjoyed having the space to explore new games, be completely present and leave the real world behind for a while.
Other hobbies | achievements
BJJ: This month, I refereed our gyms interclub AND became a 1-1 coach. Go me!
What’s Next?
I don’t normally like to share too much about what is next to limit overpromising and underdelivering, but I have a few things on my mind. So on the understanding that life is busy, here are somethings I would love to get to –
- Play some shorter backlog games – Cocoon, Jusant and Indika to name a few.
- Clear out some games I already have installed – if I spend an hour more with each I could probably officially drop some games.
- Finish the LudoNarraCon demos – I have 5 left to play + 3 other timely demos that I would love to make my way through this month.
- I have some potential podcast guest spots going into 2027!
- It is also time to start deciding whether I can manage a ’12 Days of’ Christmas series this year. I love doing them, but before I can even think about it I need to clear up some storage on my PC. Out of all the options, 12 Days of Demos could be a winner if I do manage it.
- As always, as one irl thing clears out, another one arrives, so I do need to spend some time away from games too (even though I feel like I am hardly playing to start with 😭).
Have a great November all ✌🏻
