This week I was as sick as an unfortunate landowner on his first pirate quest for a sweet, sweet loot.
What happens with being sick is that even though I spent the vast majority of my time almost dead in the world, I also had a few free hours to play some video games. This, of course, was delayed by the fact that I couldn’t look at a screen for more than 5 minutes before desperately needing to fly large chunks.
So shocking horror, folks! I’ve played some video games! Better yet, I’ve played some pretty new releases on Nintendo Switch! Honestly, I was still a bit in a flu-laden state of delirium that may or may not have influenced my experience.
In the words of my colleagues, everything is contained. While it wasn’t good enough to write full paragraphs about my feelings about games while playing them, I can definitely recreate my thoughts from when I played as well as my more cohesive thoughts now that I have a clearer mind.
Here we go!
ElecHead
Sick ruby
Haha, I’m a little boy. I’m a moved guy. Energy boy. I am also my worst enemy. Sometimes, when I jump on things, he dies. Ai!
I’m having fun but it’s also very hard. I’m just a boy, why am I dying? Now I’m shaking my head like it’s nothing. If I did it in real life, I think people would mind.
So Ruby
ElecHead Rocks. It’s made by solo developer Nama Takahashi, and you play as a little robber-boy named Elec. It’s a somewhat straightforward puzzle platform game that isn’t so hard that you’re making a hole in the wall, but it’s challenging enough to make you feel really, really good when you figure it out.
One little thing I really liked is that you can go into the settings and change the color scheme of the game. As a rose lover, this was a must for me. You can also unlock more color schemes in the game, which is great!
It’s definitely a lot harder when you have the flu brain.
Lost ruins
Sick ruby
Girls! So many girls. Great monster girls and lots of goblins. This game was made for me. I’m a girl, I’m a goblin. I am the intersection of a girl and a goblin.
There are a lot of great weapons and you fuck everyone’s shit. Some of the fantastic monster girls are my friends! I love my cool monster friends.
The game is very nice and fun. Also a little silly. I love throwing ham.
So Ruby
Lost Ruins is a pretty great addition to Metroidvania’s large game library right now. It’s not perfect (some of the melee controls were a bit awkward), but it’s a short, sweet title.
Where Lost Ruins really shines is its image. The portraits of the characters are well drawn and really stand out. The pixel art, especially of the heads, is magnificent. I played the “Accessible” difficulty, as I probably wouldn’t have been able to play anything else in my state, and yet it posed a reasonable challenge for me.
I stick with what I said about the launch ham. This weapon is OP.
Portal Companion Collection
Sick ruby
Haha! Wee hee! Wow! Oooh, yes! Woah woah woah, oh! Woo!
Oooh, uh oh! Oh, oh, oh! Wow! Yay! Hahaha! Go!
So Ruby
Oh man, I love the Portal: Collection of classmates. I have no doubt that these games are perfect for a handheld console. I’m a little biased here because I’ve always loved Portal games, but Valve has really removed those ports from the park.
The ports of these two games on Nintendo Switch work so well and until now were my favorite way to play them. If you want to play Portal and Portal 2 again, or want to play them for the first time, I highly recommend trying them on the Switch.
You need the ability to play them on a laptop in bed and mix it up with the controls you would get in the console version of the games. It moves, governs, and it was a blessing to hear Stephen Merchant’s voice coming out of my Switch.
Corpse factory
Sick ruby
I can’t read!
So Ruby
I can’t give a full recommendation, as I haven’t finished Corpse Factory yet, but I felt the need to include it here, as I actually tried to play it when I first got sick.
For a visual novel, Corpse Factory is really cool! I had to play it more when I was less sick because I played this game before any of the other games (when I was sicker). While there is great voice acting in this game, I had my Switch on silently on the first play.
Playing it when I could read, I really enjoyed the haunting energy that emanates from this game. It is not based on jumpcares, but opts for an endless construction of tension and suspense.
The player doesn’t have many options, so it’s definitely more for visual novel fans who don’t mind not having complete control of the plot.
I’m much better now, so having a chance to play these games while I was sick and also opened my eyes better about how your mood can influence the media you consume.
That said, being in bed can sometimes be a blessing when you want to catch up with some new games. These games definitely overwhelmed me as I made the effort to improve, and they were definitely a saving grace when I didn’t have the brain capacity to do coherent thinking.
Do you have any games that overwhelmed you while you were really bad? Use your sick day games in the comments.