Hi all! September has been an unusual month and possibly the shake up that I needed to stop doom scrolling and being stuck in my head, and start taking action towards all of the wonderful ideas ideas that I have, games I want to play and set things in motion.
I am currently cat sitting which has been a nice change of pace, and I am on my second attempt of ADHD medication, as the first try did NOT go well. Thankfully this one is going much better and I have managed to get absorbed into my projects, including finishing one that I started years ago – more on that below.
Video Games
Games played
Valheim [ongoing]: While our food hall dreams have not yet been realised, we did get the 1.0 release of Valheim this month and we have only had chance to play once since then, so we are still figuring out what is new. With regards to our progress, we did an exploration trek to locate our next boss – who is now ready to rumble whenever we are, we built some lovely kennels for our wolf pack, and we did our first sealed tower which was something a little different.
Baldurs Gate 3 [ongoing]: I only had one session of BG3 this month as I have been working on other things. I hate to say it but I once again seem to have dropped off during a Shadowheart quest. This time from a TPK, which wouldn’t be so bad if combat wasn’t sometimes an hours long experience. I will get back to it eventually but I am definitely feeling the fatigue and feel ready for it to be done. I am not confident that I will actually get this one finished this year, but we will see.
Proverbs [started/finished]: When I saw Proverbs on sale for a couple of quid I knew I had to give it a go. I felt in the market for something relatively mindless and I like words. The proverbs themselves turned out to be less than interesting for me. What absolutely hooked me though, was the gameplay and progress. I was never a minesweeper fan, but when it is contained within strange shapes, all of which look doable and are constantly accessible, I couldn’t seem to stop. Proverbs ended up being the perfect game to bury my head to while finishing up listening to Campaign 2 of Critical Role (more on that later).
Balatro [finished]: Balatro is a much bigger game than just one win. It is a poker roguelike with infinite runs, multiple decks to alter your stats, and many many jokers and other cards to unlock to modify your deck. But I have decided one win is enough for me to consider Balatro finished, at least as far as the Backlog Resolutions 2026 challenge is concerned. It will still be there if I want to play more but there are so many more games, I would rather move on now that I have got the jist. It was fun enough but didn’t get its hooks in the way it did for some. I could see it as a fun travel game for long journeys to make the time melt away. Little did I know that only two more runs since I last played and I would be able to mark off that sweet sweet tick ☑️.
Shadow of the Colossus [finished]: This one is a big one for me. When I originally tried Shadow of the Colossus I felt so horrific in what I was doing – killing these mysterious marvels that I knew nothing about, made up of the environment around them and minding their own business in their desolate lands – that I stopped playing. The thing is, the game planted a seed or morbid curiosity, and the stunning audio-visual experience drew me back in despite the knot in my stomach, but this time with a plan. Rather than take any pleasure out of the massacre of these beasts, I would document each of them through photo mode. This was 6 years ago. Over the years I have dipped back in, a couple at a time, until finally, this month I have finished the game. And despite the way that I was playing, the emotions didn’t let up for the entire duration. This game is truly a masterpiece on vibes and I admire it so much for that, even if I hate what it made me do. I see why the legacy of this one lives on, despite the janky controls. It is bold, it does exactly what it sets out to do and it stands the test of time in it’s own unique way.
Crow Country [started]: I am playing Crow Country on explorer mode and so far, it is everything I wanted it to be. I love the setting, the sense of progression, the freedom, and the fact that I am allowed to be in a spooky setting without having any of the anxiety of resource management or loosing progress thanks to explorer mode. Everytime I find something that I was looking for, I find something else before I manage to use it, leaving me with a big trail of leads that I am excited to follow. I am a fan of the idea of the dark cozy genre and this is exactly what I want from that. A serious story, a gnarly mystery, a spooky atmosphere, but without making me feel tense, sweaty or dreading what might be in the next room. Also.. it is surprisingly funny, I have laughed out loud at least once so far. I am looking forward to seeing whether the momentum continues through the rest of the game, and then watching a survival playthrough to see the differences!
Demos played
This month I played no demos at all.. what?! That was not intentional, and should be remedied in October with LudoNarraCon 2026 right around the corner.
Content corner
- September on the blog..
- September on the socials..
- Valheim posts – I have been sharing photos of our Valheim builds. These are now up to date so any further posts will be alongside our playthrough!
- Instagram glow-up – I have decided I am going to try to make my Instagram a much nicer place to be, with Insta specific posts for my blog posts, game completion posts, journaling etc. It is taking some time to actually design how it looks but by the next Patch Notes post, the page should be looking a little different!
FOMO corner
I really really really need to play Dressmaker. This is the game I have wanted since I was a little girl.
New to the Backlog
Purchases
- Steam
- Proverbs
Game Services
- Ps Plus
- Dungeons of Hinterburg [extra]
Backlog Progress
This month: Balatro and Shadow of the Colossus complete! I removed Scarlet Hollow [it is not fully releasing this year and I thought it was] and Elden Ring: Nightrein [a game to play with friends, doesn’t really have an end in that sense, really not sure why I put it on there].
Total: 7 of 29 complete ✅
Noob life
Other media | playing | watching | listening
Tabletop
Obsession [first game since learning]: We had another go at Obsession but with four players this time and while I still did horribly (what can I say, I don’t get involved in this reputation business, why would I need that when I have a lovely investment cooking by the day), it was good fun and flowed nicely for a joyful afternoon of minor scandal.
Arkham Horror: The Card Game [new]: This one wasn’t even really on the cards (this pun was 100% accidental) but one day it just happened. It was my first game of this type. I chose it because I thought it would be quick and easy. Lol. It turns out, living card games have a lot of reading to understand how to play and a lot to remember! I did enjoy playing through the first scenario, it got a bit sketchy but we survived to the end, and had some laughs fitting our cards into the narrative along the way. I am curious how the pace will change with a better understanding of the game.
Hostage Negotiator [new]: Hostage Negotiator was my first solo board game experience. It was tricky. I believe it is tough by design, but it mostly relies on dice rolls. Fortunately for me, I was rolling like a god and managed to win my session, with only one hostage suffering an unfortunate fate. This was an interesting experience for me. The entire scenareo went in what is likely the most entertaining way that it possibly could. It was going well until everything suddenly got wrecked by a bad card. A last ditch play succeeded against all odds and saved the day. There was a slight thrill to the success, but those feelings – and as an extension the enjoyment – were heavily muted by the fact that no one was there to witness the victory, see the wild turn of events, or laugh with me at the end of it all. It got me reflecting a lot on why I would prefer to play a video game when I am solo, and even recognise that some of these feelings are what lead me to content creation in the first place. Sharing is just more fun.
DnD [ongoing]: Against even more odds, our party survived the encounter that I thought surely would kill us! We are having a slight unplanned hiatus due to schedules, but we lived to fight another day, even if it did take the entire session to do so. I am looking forward to regrouping and seeing what is next, as my gut is telling me that this isn’t quite over.
Mothership [new]: We did a Mothership one shot and it was fun! I wasn’t sure how well survival horror would work on me in a TTRPG format, as someone who cannot play horror games, does not watch horror movies, but absolutely loves a good in-person scare event. I am glad to report, it didn’t take long for me to feel the fear. All I really knew about Mothership going in is that it is carnage and we would likely die. There is a theme here.. against even more of all of the odds, we managed to survive. I was once again rolling like a god for the first half, right up until it mattered. All it took was one failed panic roll (triggered by my irl panic babbling) and the dominos started falling. My guy Jeremy and his cat Ripley live to see another day with only a clean through gunshot to the appendix and a sprained ankle. Or we at least lived long enough to be killed on our ship out of there. It would probably have been preferable for the rest of the universe if we hadn’t escaped considering the circumstances, but what is an engineer to do.
Movies
Spider-Man: Brand New Day [cinema]: You know.. I had low expectations, for my own reasons, and still felt dissapointed. I don’t know if I have just grown out of my Marvel phase completely or succumbed to that superhero fatigue that used to drive me crazy when folk would bring it up. But unfortunately, the movie just didn’t do anything for me. I didn’t find the banter charming or funny, I didn’t feel any emotions, and where I used to enjoy crossovers, I found myself rolling my eyes for every cameo or broader reference. I found myself yelling internally at stupid plans, and predicting much of what was going to happen. I think I will give Doomsday a shot and then depending how that goes, tap out of the Marvel eco system.
Books
The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams [paperback/ongoing]: I only have 40 pages left of this one and intend to finish it this week. It is a relief to be learning the actual wording and purpose behind some of the concepts of graphic design that I have picked up in passing without knowing it. It is also nice to be able to start identifying why certain designs aren’t working for me the way that I would like. I am still finding design as challenging as ever, but at least I feel like the book is allowing me to learn more as I go than I was before.
Podcasts
Critical Role C2 [finished]: Well this is a big one. I believe I started watching Critical Role campaign 2 near the start of the year. I had never watch a DnD show before and decided to start here. 140 3-6 hour long episodes later, multiple years of the casts lives and world events gone by, and I finally reached the end. I transferred to audio format quite early and this allowed the campaign to keep me company through countless hours of work and travel. It was very fun getting to see how the professionals manage to embody their characters, improvise, and coincidently, their characters seemed to level up at around the same pace as my Baldur’s Gate 3 characters so it was a fun way to learn about new spells. I did loose interest quite a few times and was ready for the end, but I am now interested to see the same people playing different characters and how that looks.
Other hobbies | achievements
Snowdon: I climbed a mountain y’all! It was as stunning as I hoped (except the queue at the top to touch a stone and take a photo with that classic grey view of nothingness). Every corner revealed a new gloriously rugged scene of various levels of rocks, lakes, sun and clouds, and I couldn’t help but feel like I had stepped into The Forbidden Lands themselves, expecting a Colossus to burst out at any moment.
What’s Next?
I have got to admit, despite still not having finished Baldur’s Gate 3, I am ready for some pallet cleansing. Crow Country has given me a taste, so between playing some shorter games and covering as many LudoNarraCon 2026 titles as I can, I think I will enjoy some variety this month.
LudoNarraCon 2026 and my Instagram revamp are my two projects for October that I am really wanting to hone in on. And the timing has it that LudoNarraCon can be the perfect platform for me to test out some new content ideas!
Part of me wants to set expectations but I don’t really know how this looks. I am going to gradually create post formats that I am happy with for all different types of content that I make, starting with my Patch Notes post. Then, as I create more, I may bulk post to catch things up. For example, I want to post on Instagram whenever I complete a game. Once I have a format for that that I like, I may post all of the games I have played this year, just to keep things feeling up to date. From then on it will just be as and when. This goes for any posts that may have a back catalogue.
I also have a podcast recording booked in and I can’t wait to share more!
