After completing Jedi: Survivor, I felt like I needed a cozy game to play next. I searched through my library on Steam and saw I had purchased Zodiacats a few months ago. I didn’t know much about the game except that it has cats, it’s a puzzle game, and that’s about it. Zodiacats is the perfect cozy, puzzle, cat game that I needed.

Zodiacats is a puzzle game in which the goal is to solve puzzles to reveal pictures of the astrological signs. Each sign has its own image, and each image features a cat on it. The puzzles are a sliding square type puzzle to reveal the picture once the blocks are in the right spot. Once each zodiac is revealed, two other puzzles become available for players to complete.

I loved Zodiacats, but let’s be real, I’m a bit biased. I love any game that features cats, so this game would have had to have been really bad for me not to like it. It was the perfect game for me to play after a long day at work. I would usually have Critical Role or What We Do in the Shadows on as background noise while I played through this game. The hard mode is actually difficult. There are a few puzzles I have yet to complete because I can’t figure out why the puzzle isn’t unlocking. I did read some of the comments from other gamers, and they mentioned the possibility of a bug. I don’t know if that’s the case for me. Some of the flowers on the puzzles are difficult to differentiate at times, so it could be that I have a few of the blocks in the wrong spot.

Zodiacats is a cute zodiac puzzle game. It’s a cozy game that I think is perfect if you need a break from a game that’s a bit more time-consuming. I didn’t realize, but Zodiacats is designed by the same company that made A Building Full of Cats and Sudocats, which are both games I played on my Switch. I’ll be on the lookout for any future games they make.

The last time I played Vampire: The Masquerade was back in 2021 for a one-shot. I hoped this one-shot would develop into a longer campaign, but our group dissolved due to conflicting schedules. A few weeks ago, I was alerted on our Dungeons & Dragons Discord that Badwolf Adventure Studios was running a Vampire one-shot on Friday night. I immediately signed up because Vampire has to be one of my favorite TTRPG systems I have played. I’m happy I signed up because it was an entertaining one-shot from start to finish.

The DM running our Vampire session was the same DM who ran the Curse of Strahd campaign I was in, so it felt like a mini-reunion. To prepare for the session, our DM had pre-generated characters to pick from. I liked this a lot because it had been a while since I created a character from scratch, so having readily available options worked quite well for me. Whenever I play Vampire, I usually pick the Toreador or Ventrue clans. I wanted to choose something different and picked Tremere. Tremere is the blood witch clan that experiments with blood magic. While there wasn’t much time to experiment with all of my character’s abilities, I liked playing Tremere as a clan.

Our session had five players in total, with three of us having prior experience in Vampire, and the other two players being new to the system. Our group worked well even though we had never played a game together. One of the newer players straight-up tried to use her vampiric abilities to intimidate one of the guards. I was here for it. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, but it was cool to see them dive into the game so quickly. One of the vampires we encountered tried to use a power called Dominate on my character, which compels someone to obey. This worked; however, I retaliated and used Cloud Memory, so the vampire didn’t remember anything I told her under Dominate. Our players were rolling well throughout the session, which doesn’t always happen in Vampire. After the session ended, it seemed like everyone had a good time.

This was so much fun, and I’m happy I signed up for the session. I hope Badwolf will offer a longer-term Vampire campaign or more one-shots of other systems in the future.

It has taken me five months, but I finally sat down and finished Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. I would go through spurts where I would play for a few hours at a time, and then I wouldn’t play the game for months. When May came around, I knew I wanted to sit down and devote the time to complete the story. I’m glad I made the time to finish Jedi: Survivor, but I can’t deny that there were moments where this game frustrated me.

Jedi: Survivor takes place five years after Jedi: Fallen Order. Cal Kestis has distanced himself from Cere Junda, Greez Dritus, and Merrin. While stealing military data on Coruscant, Cal’s ship, The Mantis, is heavily damaged. Cal flies The Mantis to Koboh, so Greez can repair it. While locating ship parts, Cal has a vision of two High Republic Jedi, Dagan Gera and Santari Khri, talking about a hidden planet called Tanalorr. Cal wakes Dagan from a Bacta tank and is horrified to find out that Dagan turned to the Dark Side. After Dagan escapes, Cal realizes Tanalorr would be the perfect place to hide from The Empire. Cal has to team up with his friends to stop Dagan once and for all.

Spoilers Ahead for Jedi: Survivor

One of my favorite parts about playing these games is the characters. Cal and his friendship with BD1 is so cute. BD1 is the best buddy and keeps Cal company on his adventures. Merrin has a much bigger role in Jedi: Survivor, which I enjoyed. Cere and Greez still have Cal’s back and reunite as the story continues. I liked the addition of Bode to Cal’s crew. Bode’s voice sounded familiar to me, and it turns out that Bode was voiced by Noshir Dalal, who recently appeared on Critical Role’s Candela Obscura. I loved Noshir on Candela Obscura, so it was a nice surprise to see him pop up in this game. I mentioned this in my Jedi: Fallen Order review, but I genuinely believe that these games provide essential lore for Star Wars.

In Jedi: Survivor, Cal unlocks new abilities. I like how this game prompts Cal into diving into the Dark Side of the Force. When Cal goes after Bode, Cal unlocks his Dark Side ability, which replaces his previous ability. I’m curious to see how this will impact Cal in future games. Will Cal turn to the Dark Side permanently, or will Cal see The Light? Personally, I hope Cal remains a Jedi. Besides Cal’s new ability, there are several new Lightsaber stances to learn. One includes a heavier melee attack, while another stance allows Cal to carry a blaster. I leaned towards the blaster stance as I felt it was useful against the Stormtroopers and Battle Droids.

With the story, I liked the inclusion of the High Republic era of Star Wars. I think there’s so much potential to tell powerful stories before the prequels. Can we talk about Cere’s journey throughout this game? When their base is attacked, Cere confronts Darth Vader. Unfortunately, Darth Vader gets the upper hand and stabs Cere. Cal arrives too late when he senses Cere’s echo and holds her as she dies. This scene was heartbreaking. I liked how Cal didn’t see what happened, but could sense it, which plays into Cal’s powers as a Jedi.

Another interesting element of Jedi: Survivor is Bode’s story. Towards the latter half of the game, Bode betrays the group and takes the compass, believing Tanalorr can protect his daughter. Once Cal chases Bode, Bode pulls out his red lightsaber, indicating his previous history as a Jedi. What a moment! Bode’s character is interesting to me because it reveals how morally gray the galaxy is when the Empire took over. Bode’s intentions are good because he wants to protect his daughter from the Inquisitors. However, he partners with The Empire because he doesn’t see a way out. I feel for Bode, and while I’d say he’s a villain, I think he was shaped by his experiences, and he couldn’t sacrifice everything to keep a rebellion alive.

While I enjoyed Jedi: Survivor, I wanted to share a few grievances I had with the game. The first would be the navigation. It feels like Jedi: Survivor made no improvements to the map. For each mission, Cal has a waypoint several meters away. Unfortunately, the area between Cal’s current location and the waypoint is black, so there isn’t a great way to figure out where you’re going. I still had to use walkthroughs to ensure I was heading in the right direction. I wish these games had a navigational feature where there would be a yellow line or arrow on the ground guiding Cal to the next spot. This feature could be turned on or off in the main menu for those who want to figure it out for themselves. This would have saved me so much time. While there was a fast travel option, I don’t think it addresses the issues I have with the maps.

Jedi: Survivor is as difficult or more difficult than Jedi: Fallen Order. While some of the boss fights seem more balanced, I found the save points were more spread out. There were several times when I would face a group of enemies, be low on health, and end up dying because I didn’t make the wall run to the next area. This was so aggravating. While this didn’t ruin the game for me, it became a major reason why it took me so long to finish the game.

Jedi: Survivor is a solid sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order. I feel these games appeal to a certain type of gamer, and that’s not me. I don’t have the time to grind through a difficult game. Going forward, I will probably play these games on the Story Mode difficulty because, honestly, that’s why I’m playing these games to begin with. I want to dive into the story without feeling like I’m getting a ruthless game experience. I’m looking forward to the third game in the series and to the release of Star Wars Outlaws, which is set to come out later this year.