Game of the Month January, none

See, I’m in a bit of a pickle. First off, I’m late, very late. This Game of the Month January should have been written over a week ago. That in itself is bad enough, and I totally blame my real life work for not being able to write.

But what is worse: I have no game of the Month January! For three years one game featured every month. Not always newly released games, sometimes old favourites. 36 games to show you, and now for the first time I came up empty.

The reason is simple: I have only played games that have been Game of the Month before! My days were filled with Xenoblade Chronicles (Game of the Month December 2017), Breath of the Wild (Game of the Month May 2017) and Animal Crossing Pocket Camp (Game of the Month November 2017) And I have no other games to show you!

It’s not that I have gamed any less, it’s just that these three are holding my attention. Especially Breath of the Wild is making me revisit the game over and over again, taking my time to get to know every detail in the game. And still I feel as if I have barely scratched the surface!

So no new Game of the Month January for me. What games did you enjoy in January, and did you shell out for new ones?

A good thing there are three with the same honorary title from the past years. What a coincidence that they were all Vita games!

2015: An Innocent Life, a futuristic Harvest Moon on the Vita

(My game of the month: January 2015)

A farming sim with unexpected elements. No dating (which I didn’t miss a bit) and robots and computers to do your work. I even had a rail system in place now on my land to take produce to the shipping pod automatically. There’s a wealth of crops and fruit on the trees in the wild, according to the season. There’s a lot of area to explore, and there’s a main quest towards which you are working. It’s a Harvest Moon alright, but with a difference! You can find a review here. 

2016: Persona 4 Golden on the Vita

(Game of the Month January 2016)

A student who’s just moved from the big city to the rural town of Inaba, only to find that it isn’t exactly quiet living. Murders leave their mark at your school, and together with fellow students Chie, Yosuke, and Yukio he investigates.  After getting a visit in his dream from a creepy old guy in a blue room, asking him if he might be THE one, he discovers a world inside the TV where the killings seem to be taking place. Entering the TV world he finds a very strange character, called Teddy, who seems to be an empty bear. Pretty soon he realises he has to get to the bottom of things before even more lives are claimed, including his own. You can find a review for the game here. 

2017: Root Letter on the Vita

(Game of the Month January 2017)

You are cast in the role of Takayuki, a young man that is set to leave for another city to pursue a career. While tidying his room, Takayuki re-discovers letters from his old pen pal, Aya. For some reason one is unopened, and chillingly reads, “I killed someone. I must atone for my sins.”

Where most people might let it go and go on to their new life, Takayuki takes a detour to visit Aya’s home town of Matsue. Arriving at the address he discovers that Aya’s house burnt down 15 years prior. And too make matters worse, everyone claims that Aya Fumino died 25 years ago. The mystery is born. The combination of visual novel and mystery reminded me of Hotel Dusk, which is a good thing. The connection to real life Matsue and all the Japanese culture I could soak up through the game made it even more fun for me. You can find a review for the game here.