This past week I had a “week off” from the review schedule beforeMedal of Honor: Warfighterreleases (this Tuesday!). Since I only had a week, I really didn’t want to start a new game from my stack of shame, as I know I’ll never get some decent time to work on it. So I turned to a different stack of shame, the one that resides in my PlayStation Network. What’s been sitting there?
- The Walking Dead (episodes 2 and 3),
- DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, and
- Journey
I started with The Walking Dead so I could somewhat catch up to the rest of the world. I prepared myself to get as freaked out as I did after playing the first episode, but Episode 2 was really more about how insane the surviving humans have become more than the zombies. In other words, I got freaked out on a different level, but at least that level didn’t give me nightmares. I played Episode 3 the next day and bawled like a big baby from about 10-15 minutes into the game until it was over. I was still crying when I went to bed, and I think I cried myself to sleep. If you’ve played that episode, then you know how incredibly sad it is. When you’re a parent, it fucking rips your heart out. I nearly risked waking up my son to give him a hug when I finished playing. I thought Heavy Rain about did me in emotionally, but The Walking Dead makes that story look like a walk in the park (it’s raining while you’re walking in the park, but it’s still a walk in the park). I hadn’t purchased Episode 4 yet, and both finances and stack of shame guilt prevented me from adding it to my list just yet. I’m not sure I could have played it anyway after crying so much post-Episode 3.
Thank God I had DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue to cheer me up. I hadn’t touched the second DeathSpank game in well over a year, so I was both rusty and confused as to what to do next. I was afraid I would have to start over, but after consuming a few Fortune Cookie hints for side quests, I was back in business. I remembered DeathSpank being funny, but I forgot how ridiculously funny it is. It was the perfect antidote to The Walking Dead. This is obviously what I need to do in between episodes of The Walking Dead–play plenty of DeathSpank. Maybe I should even play a side quest or two immediately after finishing an episode of The Walking Dead. Sure, I’ll be up far later than I need to be, but I won’t go to bed feeling as disturbed, right?
Sadly, I didn’t finish DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, so I haven’t gotten around to Journey, something I’m really remiss for not playing thus far. My podcasting cohort, Mr. Grundman, has also been strongly encouraging me to pick up Unfinished Swan, so it looks like my PSN stack of shame will grow a little bit more this year. At least none of these games take a long time to play, so there’s always the possibility I finish them before 2013. Don’t laugh too hard at that last statement.
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