

It’s a pleasant and less stressful way to pass time! The game’s collaborative nature gives me an opportunity to connect with my partner while traveling rather than stuffing my nose in a book while he sleeps. My partner and I share a farm in the game, and we’re able to chat about our plans for the upcoming season or designate chores. But Stardew’s simple gameplay lets me drop in and out of fishing or tending to my cows in between the stressful moments in the airport or train station. I’ve never been a big gamer when traveling - it’s hard to focus on a game when I’m constantly worried about losing my tickets or missing my boarding time.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be spending hours on a train, in a car, and in the air trying to visit me and my partner’s families before the holiday season is over.

BTW, it’s a great showcase game for new hardware: it runs amazingly on PS5 and surprisingly well on the latest iPhones. This holiday, I’m going to try to get us to Genshin Impact’s growing Inazuma region so we can visit Japan as well. ( Apparently, many spots are inspired by real-world Chinese locations.) My daughters only get to watch a little bit before bedtime, though, so that’s as far as we’ve gone. The initial European castle / church vibe, with fights against goblins and automatons, soon gives way to an idyllic ancient Chinese landscape, including a gorgeous harbor town filled with agents of intrigue. I’m going to admit I initially sat on this game, turned off by the pay-to-avoid-grinding mechanics and the idea it was a Zelda clone.

Just be sure to avoid those Tonberries.Īlmost every evening, my five- and two-year-old daughters ask me for “Adventure Game” - by which they mean firing up Genshin Impact so they can watch an array of sword and magic-wielding waifus explore a radiant Breath of the Wild-style landscape. The gunplay is a little floaty, and the map could use some more points of interest, but there’s something really fun about perching on top of Seventh Heaven with a sniper rifle. You get the same last player standing thrilled, but with deeper character progression and familiar locations to battle it out in. Think of it like Fortnite without the building, set in Midgar, and with magic spells to wield and monsters to battle. But instead of a single-player adventure like you might expect, it’s a battle royale crossed with an RPG. It’s set a few decades before the events of FF7, exploring the SOLDIER program that’s so integral to the storyline. The First Soldier is the most unexpected of prequels. It turns out the thing that finally pulled me away from Fortnite was a game that’s a lot like it, only set in the world of Final Fantasy VII. Ash ParrishĪndrew - Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier So, in the event you just can’t connect to a game of capture the flag, or if you have no interest in the multiplayer at all, here are the best non- Halo Infinite games we’re playing to make it through the holiday. Halo Infinite’s multiplayer will likely be a highly popular choice, almost guaranteeing servers will be crammed with players the way Los Angeles’ 405 freeway is crammed with travelers every Thanksgiving season. As Thanksgiving approaches, many people will have the opportunity to relax, unwind, and log the kind of gaming hours only possible during an extended holiday weekend.
