Game of the Month May

June is already well under way, so it’s about time to write about my game of the Month May 2017!

It will come as no surprise that my highlight of the month when it comes to gaming was stumbling upon a Switch, when they had been out of stock since week 1 of their release. As you know I’m a handheld gamer, and that’s what I do: I use it as a handheld device, and it works great.

I even took my Switch to work this week, using it during my commute in the train. Nobody stared, it wasn’t damaged, actually plugging my earphones in and playing away worked perfectly. That way I could get some good gaming time in, playing my game of the Month May!

Game of the Month: Zelda, Breath of the Wild

I had my doubt before, about The Legend of  Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Not if it would be a brilliant game, I was pretty sure it would be. But if it would be the game for me, as Link and I don’t have a lot of history. I was worried the game would be too hard for me, and to be frank, it might still be. But I love the exploring, the collecting, the cooking and solving the puzzles of the shrines.

So no surprise: that makes Breath of the Wild my game of the Month May! 

Taking the exam in Atelier Firis

That was not all that I played this month. On the Vita, I was still very invested in Atelier Firis. I made a review for the game which you can find here. And I still stand by my judgement that this is the best Atelier game to date. I’ve done the exam and for those of you who still have that ahead of them let me tell you, it’s harder then I thought.

You get twenty questions about alchemy, monsters and gathered items. Do you know the color that’s not both a puni and a neutraliser? Or which kind of stone you use making a lightning bomb? And no time to browse the internet for the answer, as you have a very short time to answer. On the bright side, that makes the game even better.

Now my Firis doesn’t have to go back to live underground in Ertona, she can roam the free world. Nice! 

Ecolibrium on the Vita

Another game I played on my Vita was Ecolibrium. One of my readers recommended it to me as a free downloadable game (Thanks, Ronja!) It’s an older game, but still a good one if you like managing your own ecosphere. There are more games that have you play god over a world, this one approaches it very scientifically.

In the game, the player controls a virtual ecosystem in which to grow and care for flora and fauna by manipulating four variables. You have to strike just the right balance of water, minerals, vegetation, and meat – in order to create a balanced ecosystem.

Of course, it’s not just a matter of plonking some minerals in: you have to select the right tree of mushroom growth etc to add the right ingredients. You gain ‘ecopoints’ which you can in return spend on new items for your game. And to keep you occupied while your ecosystem thrives on, you can tackle a series of multi-stage challenges. It’s free, so it’s worth a shot to see if you might like it.

Looking back in time, these are the May Games that I chose in the past years:

2015: Puzzle and Dragons. There are several versions of the game, PAD Mario and PAD Z (both on the 3DS) and the original Puzzle and Dragons on mobile. Very addictive puzzle gaming indeed!

2016: Fire Emblem: Birthright.  A good storyline, like-able characters and Birthright is a game newcomers to the series can use to ease into the Fire Emblem experience. You don’t have to stick to the battles that make up the story either, you can easily spend hour upon hour doing the challenges, extra battles and castle battles. (find my thoughts on the game here)

What would be your favourite game for the past month? Lot’s of good games coming in the next month, so choosing might be even more difficult to choose!