Skolcial Distancing: What’s everybody playing?

We started our series on Skolcial Distancing yesterday by asking everyone which TV shows they’ve been watching and if they had recommendations for others. Now, I want to move on to another medium, and one that might be my personal favorite.

As someone that’s been gaming since the days of the Atari 2600 (look it up, kids. . .the controller had one button and one stick and we were thrilled to have it), video games have always been a source of entertainment for me. I know we have plenty of other gamers out there as well, so I want to hear what everyone’s doing in the world of gaming during this coronavirus shelter-in-place.

As you can probably see from the picture that accompanies this article, yours truly has gotten back into the world of Animal Crossing with the latest release, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. For those that are unfamiliar with the Animal Crossing series, you control a character that lives in a world surrounded by cute animals, spending your days collecting things, fishing, catching bugs, and getting to know your neighbors.

Yeah, there’s not a lot of what most people would deem “excitement,” but damned if it isn’t relaxing. Given everything that’s going on at the present time, “relaxing” sounds pretty damn good to me. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a Nintendo Switch exclusive.

On the other end of the scale, if you need to have something with lots of action and blowing things up and what not, I recently finished Borderlands 3, as well as its initial expansion pack. The Borderlands games put you in the shoes of a Vault Hunter, attempting to stop the reign of terror of the Calypso Twins, a brother-and-sister team that are attempting to find the Great Vault for nefarious purposes. I enjoy the heck out of the Borderlands series, and this one is certainly no different. They actually have a new DLC pack that’s going to drop on Thursday, the second out of four.

The benefits to being a gamer in this age is that you don’t actually have to wander down to your local Gamestop or Walmart or what have you in order to add to your collection. You can just jump on the online store for your platform of choice and download your new games right to your system. Perfect for a time when game stores, shockingly enough, are being classed as “non-essential” services.

(That was sarcasm. I know game stores aren’t really essential.)

Also, as long as I’m here, I also want to drop in a recommendation for a gaming podcast, Axe of the Blood God. Hosted by our friend Kat Bailey (who is a part of the God-forsaken hellscape of Minnesota Vikings fandom like the rest of us) and her co-host Nadia Oxford, they take a weekly dive into the world of role-playing games on various systems. New episodes come out every Monday, so check it out! (That’s the Apple Podcasts link, but they’re on numerous other platforms, too.)

So, what’s everyone playing? Are you finding a new challenge to take on? Have you broken out an old system to revisit the classics? Tell us about it here!