Since starting this blog series, I find that I’m gaming more, which is a plus. As a bonus, we have been getting snow in Minnesota, and I love gaming in winter. There’s something cozy about playing a video game while snow is lightly falling outside. My husband is the same way; he has started his Minecraft Friday night ritual with his friends. Let’s roll into my latest gaming update.

Consoles

I’m still playing through LEGO Harry Potter 5 -7. I’m almost finished with the story, and after that, I will replay all levels to unlock the collectibles. I’m a completionist, meaning I love collecting trophies and achievements, depending on what platform I’m playing on. I wish I weren’t because I want to play Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy; however, I want to play LEGO Harry Potter first.

PC

I tried to play Sims 3 a couple of weeks ago, but I ended up getting bored after thirty minutes. I also tried playing Death and Taxes. Death and Taxes is a game where you play as the Grim Reaper, deciding who lives or who dies. It’s an interesting premise; however, I’m itching to play something else. I’m going to review my Steam wishlist and library and purchase a few other games to have on hand. I like having options in my Steam library.

Board Games

I haven’t played board games at all. I want to host a board game night sometime soon with friends or family.

Roleplaying

I have two exciting roleplaying updates. The first update is that I joined a new Dungeons & Dragons 5e campaign. My character will be a half-elf / half-human Blood Hunter with ties to an otherworldly god. I picked Eldritch Blast as one of my main attack spells. I haven’t named my character yet, as I’m still trying to find the perfect name. Our first session will be before the Christmas holiday.

The second update is how much fun I had at Adventurer’s League. Adventurer’s League is an ongoing campaign where you can play anywhere. Players can take their character to any game store hosting an Adventurer’s League. It’s a great concept because I could play at one store in Minneapolis and level up, then take the same character to a game store in St. Paul with my newly leveled-up character. I had a blast. Zehiri is my level #3 Tiefling Paladin, who looks demonic, yet she’s a complete sweetheart once you meet her. This session was intense because my character and our group almost died! It’s the closest I have ever come to seeing my character die. I’m going to write a separate post summarizing that session.

Miscellaneous

In my last post, I mentioned how I wanted to play Magic: The Gathering Arena for the new set, Crimson Vow. I haven’t played Arena as I ended up uninstalling it from my phone. The app version takes forever to load, and it seems like every time I open the app, there’s a new update. I have been very disconnected from Magic, and I have even debated giving up the game altogether. I hope Crimson Vow is just what I need to get back into the game.

Besides Magic, I bought a new wireless mouse for work, but now I intend to use it when I play games on my laptop.

I have been writing a gaming post at least once a month, which is perfect. It gives me enough time to play and have something new to say. As mentioned, I’m going to write a post about the Adventurer’s League session where my character almost died because that’s a funny story.

I wanted to create a new series on BizarreBrunette that serves as a gaming update. I can talk about what I’m currently playing, if I played any new board games recently, or if I have any new roleplaying stories to talk about. Gaming is a big hobby of mine, and now that the wedding and our mini-moon trip are over, I have free time to devote to gaming. I didn’t know what to call this, so I ended up naming it “Controllers & Coffee.” I found this fitting because I usually write my posts while drinking my morning coffee. I may end up changing the title as I continue this series, but for now, this will stick. I have five categories in this update, they are as follows: Consoles, PC, Board Games, Roleplaying, and Miscellaneous. I feel these sections encompass my gaming interests; however, these are subject to change if I find I’m missing something. Let’s get into the latest “Controllers & Coffee” gaming update.

Consoles

I’m currently playing through LEGO Harry Potter. I finally 100% Years 1-4, so I have moved on to Years 5-7. I went through a gaming slump, and LEGO Harry Potter pulled me out. Playing through a LEGO game has been stress-relieving. If I had a tough day at work, I could play through a game that doesn’t require my whole attention span. It’s worked for me, and I plan on unlocking all the trophies in Years 5-7 as well before moving on to the next game on my PS4.

Originally, I said I would play Far Cry 5 next. However, I saw an advertisement for Square Enix’s Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game. The reviews have been excellent. I’m skeptical because Marvel’s Avengers was mediocre. I’m a sucker for Superhero games, so Square Enix drew me in. I’m planning on playing through Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, followed by Far Cry 5.

Finally, I bought Super Mario 3D World Bowser’s Fury. I wanted to get back into playing my Nintendo Switch, so I figured a new game would help. I have been taking a break from Animal Crossing as it got too repetitive. I want to get back into it, but I still need a break. Super Mario 3D World has been a blast.

PC

I had been playing the older Nancy Drew PC games. The last two Nancy Drew games were more frustrating to get through, so I ended up staying away from them. The Nancy Drew games are older, and as such, some of the graphics could be updated. In one game, I was lost in a series of underground corridors, and each corridor looked exactly the same. I couldn’t figure out how to get to the end. I want to go back to the Nancy Drew games, but not right now.

In Minnesota, we recently had our first snowfall. In Winter, I find myself gravitating towards playing Sims. While everyone is playing Sims 4, I’m still playing through Sims 3. I missed out on Sims 3 as most of the expansions were released while I was in college. I like how Sims 3 has achievements, so it allows me to come up with my own Sims challenges to keep me entertained. I have one challenge of having one Sim completing all six degrees, while another Sim is trying to become a celebrity psychic from the Supernatural expansion. Setting challenges makes playing the Sims more upbeat and less mundane.

Board Games

I don’t have any new updates as far as board games. The last board gaming event was when I played Mysterium. I hope to schedule a board gaming day sometime soon.

Roleplaying

Currently, I’m not in any active campaigns. I joined a Vampire: The Masquerade campaign in the summer, but due to wedding-related planning, I had to miss several sessions. In my absence, I found the other players in the campaign didn’t want to continue, so the DM let me know that the campaign was permanently on hold. I’m optimistic about finding a new campaign to join.

To keep my love of roleplaying alive, I have been watching the first campaign of Critical Role while also watching the new episodes of their third campaign. I also purchased tickets to the NADDPOD live show in January next year.

Miscellaneous

The newest Magic: The Gathering set, Crimson Vow, is out. This set is centered on Innistrad, a spookier Magic: the Gathering plane. The lore behind Crimson Vow features a Vampire wedding, so many of the creature cards in this set will be Vampires. I am a casual Magic player. This set is one that I’m looking forward to. I’m not sure if I will get back to in-person pre-releases, as my experiences have been a mix of positive and negative in-person gameplay. I’m going to try to play Crimson Vow on Arena.

For “Controllers & Coffee,” I want to write a post at least once a month or ideally every other week. Gaming is a hobby I put on the back burner, but now I want to get back into regular gaming. I’m looking forward to what games I can play through from now until the end of the year.

I started watching Critical Role in 2021 and quickly became enamored with the world Matthew Mercer built for his players. Although Critical Role wasn’t the first Dungeons & Dragons podcast I listened to. My first DnD podcast experience was NADDPOD, which I started listening to back in 2018. I realize that the Mercer-Effect impacted me when I started playing Dungeons & Dragons because I had such high expectations from my DM. I wanted to talk about this experience and share something I learned from it.

My friends and I started a Dungeons & Dragons group back in 2019. My friend wanted to try to DM and create his world. As mentioned, I had high expectations for what I was hoping for from the story. I wanted a high-intensity story with real-world implications. I realize that I set myself up for failure. I set this campaign on a high pedestal when in reality, Dungeons & Dragons allowed me and my friends to goof off and have a great time. I reflect on this campaign as a way that all my friends were able to get together regularly, even though we all live busy lives.

I think the biggest way around the Mercer-Effect is setting little to no expectations when playing Dungeons & Dragons. Playing through a campaign with an open mind can allow random events to happen during gameplay. Besides the expectations, I think it helps to have a gaming group that clicks with each other. I have played in campaigns that I grew bored with, but when I reflect on these sessions, I didn’t connect with the group I was playing with. In my most memorable and fun sessions, I think of all the random events and how much laughter was shared between friends.

Dungeons & Dragons is supposed to be a fun and interactive game. It’s also completely valid to be a fan of Critical Role, NADDPOD, or Ain’t Slayed Nobody and not want to play TTRPGs. Many fans of these podcasts like interactive storytelling, but don’t enjoy roleplaying. The Mercer-Effect can create a negative environment in a gaming group, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Roleplaying is one of my favorite hobbies, and thanks to Critical Role, it’s become more accessible.

The only reason I bought my PS4 was because of Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man game. This game was so good. I played through Miles Morales earlier this year, which allowed me to reminisce about playing through Marvel’s Spider-Man. I have been a big fan of Insomniac ever since, and when I saw they announced Marvel’s Spider-Man #2 plus a whole new game about Wolverine, I was ecstatic. I wanted to summarize my thoughts on both games.

After watching the Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 trailer, my first reaction was how much of a presence Venom will have in this game. Venom is one of the most well-known Spider-Man villains. If there’s any villain to incorporate into a game to generate buzz, Venom is it. There was an after-credit scene in the first Marvel Spider-Man game, which leads into who Venom could be. I won’t discuss this here because it’s a major spoiler. This trailer provided just enough without feeling like it’s giving away the entire game.

Marvel’s Wolverine

This trailer was quite short. It shows a blood-stained Wolverine in a bar after he’s fought many men. His knuckles are bloodied, as he’s sitting having a bourbon or a whiskey. It’s been a day. I’m surprised it’s taken this long for Wolverine to have his own game. I imagine this game will be more violent and gritty if Insomniac is staying true to the character. I think there’s a lot of potential in turning this into the ultimate Wolverine game.

I’m still utilizing my PS4 as I haven’t upgraded to the PS5 yet. Both games are slated to be released in 2023, which is probably when I will buy a PS5. For now, I will continue to extend the life of my beloved PS4 as I try to wait patiently for both games to be released.

As someone who collects board games, it’s normal for me to have an unwrapped board game waiting to be played. My brother gave me Mysterium two years ago as a birthday present, and until last weekend, I never opened it. I was determined to finally open this game, especially because it’s going to be Fall / Halloween season soon. Mysterium is one of my favorite games I have ever played, and as someone who’s a big fan of Clue, Mysterium adds a supernatural element to the classic game.

Mysterium is a collaborative game, meaning all players will win or lose. Mysterium is set in the 1920s, with the characters playing as psychics performing a seance. One of the characters will play as the ghost who will display visions to relay to the psychics who killed him at this mansion twenty years before. The objective of the game is for the psychics to guess correctly what the ghost is trying to say in seven in-game hours. The ghost wants the psychics to guess correctly, so the murder can be solved. If the psychics don’t guess correctly within the seven in-game hours, everyone loses as their spiritual connection to the ghost is severed.

This is where the inspiration for Codenames comes in. The ghost has vision cards that the ghost will play in front of psychics to try and get the psychics to guess the correct person, location, or object. In all the games our group played, I was always in the psychic role. The toughest part is trying to put the pictures together to then make a correct guess. Both roles, whether they be the psychic or the ghost, are challenging for different reasons.

One of the major highlights of playing Mysterium is the art. The art on the vision cards was ethereal and mysterious. Each card fits into the setting of the game. The vision cards had so many artistic details to them that I wasn’t sure what was important on the card. Another highlight was the level of detail in the components of the game. On the front page of the rules, each psychic character has their own back story, which I loved. I changed characters throughout our playthroughs to have someone different to play as.

In our three total games, our group only won one game. In Mysterium, there are three different difficulties. Our group played on easy, and that still was tough. I like playing tougher, collaborative board games because when our group wins on a greater difficulty, it’s so satisfying. In future gameplay, I want to try playing on the medium or the hard difficulty.

Mysterium was a blast to play! Everyone in our group had a fun time learning the game, setting it up, and making the guesses. Being a fan of both Codenames and Clue, I felt Mysterium embodied both.

I’m on a Nancy Drew video game streak! I played this game right after playing through Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes. I was looking for a creepier game with more jump scares. I still haven’t found a Nancy Drew game that’s scarier than Ghost of Thornton Hall. Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion wasn’t one of my favorite games, as I found the gameplay convoluted at times.

In this adventure, Nancy Drew is asked to come to a mansion outside the San Francisco area. As she’s staying at the mansion, she interviews Rose Green, who plans on turning the mansion into a bed and breakfast. The mansion has been plagued by several accidents, which worries Rose. Rose has asked Nancy to help investigate as she’s on the verge of abandoning her efforts. Nancy is always willing to help, and she begins exploring the mansion to uncover what’s going on.

In this game, Nancy has to rely on time. Each suspect she can interview is only available at the mansion for a certain time. This allows Nancy a limited window to interview or explore certain areas. Once I memorized the schedule, this didn’t become an issue. I did mention how the gameplay was a bit convoluted. Some of the next steps in the game didn’t unlock until I talked to everyone. For example, I was told to find this man’s briefcase, and I couldn’t find it in the room. It wasn’t until I had a dialogue with one of the other characters that, when I re-entered the room, the man’s briefcase was there to unlock. Without the help of a walkthrough, I would have been stuck.

I was hoping for more jump scares in this one. There was a ghostly figure wandering around the mansion and creaks as Nancy ascended the stairs, but that was about it. There also weren’t any mini-games either. The mini-games are fun, and I find they often make a Nancy Drew game memorable. I felt this game was a bit boring to play at times.

Overall, I’m glad I played this, as my goal is to complete all the Nancy Drew games; however, this one wasn’t the best. It was a bit boring, and the gameplay left me feeling stuck at times, where I felt I needed to use a walkthrough to get through the game. The next Nancy Drew game on my list is Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water’s Edge.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is devouring all my gaming time. I’m still nowhere near done with decorating my island, although I wanted to play other video games simultaneously. I wanted to play a video game with a start and an endpoint. This led me back to Steam to play through another Nancy Drew game. The latest Nancy Drew game I finished was Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes.

Alibi in Ashes starts with Nancy receiving a note to go to the town hall in River Heights. As she investigates why she was sent there, she’s locked in a room where a fire starts. After escaping the town hall, she’s questioned by the local police, leading to her arrest. Alibi in Ashes is a unique Nancy Drew game, as Nancy spends the majority of her time in jail. As the player, Nancy can switch to either her boyfriend Ned or her friends Bess and George. Nancy can send her allies to various parts of River Heights to look for clues, play mini-games, and gather evidence.

I liked being able to switch between Nancy’s friends. I found myself relying on Ned for the most part because certain situations required him to talk to the NPCs. While I liked being able to play as Nancy’s friend, I thought the mechanics could have been better. To switch characters, Nancy would call her friends. However, I couldn’t switch from Ned to Bess, for example, I would use Ned to call Nancy, who then had to call Bess to switch the game to her. If they are all friends, why couldn’t I seamlessly switch between Nancy to Ned, to Bess without having to go through Nancy? I didn’t think this was a big deterrent to playing the game, although it was a bit of a nuisance at times.

Each Nancy Drew game is known for its puzzles or mini-games. There was a fun antique box mini-game that could be played in the antique store in River Heights. The box opens with various numbers on the screen. In the game, you have to click numbers 1 – 41 at a certain time. I think I spent about thirty minutes playing this mini-game over and over again. Out of all the Nancy Drew games I have played, this mini-game was the most enjoyable and addictive.

Towards the end of the game, it’s revealed early on who is the one who framed Nancy. The climax of the game is having to prevent the suspect from revealing incriminating information about Nancy. I enjoy the Nancy Drew games, where it’s more of a jump scare of who the evil villain is. It didn’t distract from the game, but I felt a little let down with the villain reveal.

Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes is a solid Nancy Drew outing. It’s a fun take on the other Nancy Drew games by allowing other playable characters and being able to navigate around Nancy’s hometown of River Heights. Out of the thirty-three Nancy Drew games out there to play, I only have twenty-eight more to go!