But if I do, it'll be there. Melinoë will be there. And if I need them, I know where to find Zag and Than.

And it's going to be fine.

I know I'll play it. I want to. But I'm going to let it sit for a bit, and hope that I don't *need* need to.

Hades II was a day one pick for me. I played it for a bit, enjoyed where things were going, and set it aside.

I *needed* Hades.

The crack in the wall, the glint of real daylight, the breath of cold spring air.

I found an experience that was overwhelmingly cathartic. Zagreus' trials and tribulations got me through a lot. On launch it was a game that I felt was maybe hard for hard's sake, and set it aside. In throwing myself at it over and over again, like Zag, I got my breakthrough.

And then some things happened to me. (No need for discussion.) I found myself with time, and an overwhelming amount of feelings to deal with, lots and lots and lots of feelings, including anger. I just wanted to take it out somewhere, needed to.

And then I remembered Hades.

1) Hades. Fun, but put it down, like other games, 'to be played sometime'. Nothing wrong with it, just didn't quite click at the time. Not the right headspace just then, or deeply distracted, probably? (Looking back to the Steam release date... definitely.)

Put it down for about a year or so.

So that leaves...

(So I was thinking I'd probably put Guild Wars 2 on here, but I eventually decided to leave it unranked, for similar reasons that Street Fighter et al isn't here. It's something else to me. It's complicated. It's not a perfect game, it's not for everyone, but it means a lot to me.)

2) Disco Elysium. God I love this game. Why isn't it 1? For ages I couldn't stop talking about it to anyone who I thought would enjoy it. On glance I just kind of skipped it, picked it up on a whim after reading some folks experiences, and was lost in it. Lenval Brown narrating was absolute joy.

(3 was almost Pentiment. Pentiment was a stunning game in every aspect, a delight to experience that world.)

3) Night in the Woods. One of the very very few games I've replayed, partly for the autumn vibes, but also the whole 'getting on with things when everything has been falling apart' thing. Play after dark, in the fall, when you just need a break.

'At the end of everything, hold on to anything.'

(My heart can hold more.)

(Do I hope so? I feel like some of these kind of own just a little place in my heart.)

So this is really something *just* for me, and so largely it's stuff I played solo, but left an impression on me that stuck, a feeling.

Will something bump a game off my list one day? I hope so! But for today, here we are.

God I want the arcade back.

I'll always love Streets of Rage. I'll always love Street Fighter and Rival Schools and and and

But that's a time and experience as much as it's a great game for me.