The world is in a weird place right now. We’re mostly confined to our homes, and spend pretty much all of our time at home. Well, that’s perfect for some backlog bashing! Here is the rundown of games I played during April - coronavirus month 1.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo Switch)

Platform: Nintendo Switch Playtime: 28h10m

Animal Crossing: New Horizons{:class=“img-fluid” :alt=“Animal Crossing New Horizons”} Animal Crossing New Horizons {:.image-caption}

No surprises for my most played game in April… We’ve been waiting for this for years, and it launched at possibly the perfect time. Everyone wants an escape from coronavirus, and what a great place to hunker down to than your very own deserted island.

I expect this game to dominate for the next few months whilst I continue to play every day. I’m currently redesigning my island and moving all my villagers around to make them neat and tidy community.

Flower breeding, and terraforming take up most of my time now. Plus the addition of watering my wife’s hybrid flowers ever night means this is definitely a game to play every day.

Absolutely my game of the year so far!

Dragon Quest XI S (Nintendo Switch)

Platform: Nintendo Switch Playtime: 6h05m

I got Dragon Quest XI for Christmas and played for roughly 40 hours before I got stuck at a boss and didn’t go back. I needed a break from island life in April so I spent about an hour grinding some levels and managed to smack down the boss that was standing in my way (Alizarin, if you’re interested)

{:class=“img-fluid”} Dragon Quest XI S Title Screen {:.image-caption}

The story resumed, and I got sucked straight back into the wonderful JRPG world. I think I’m a boss or two away from the end of Act 2 so I’ll try and finish this soon.

I’ll need to go back and finish Act 3 and the retro Tickington Quests at some point too.

42 All-Time Classics (Nintendo DS)

Platform: Nintendo DS Playtime: 5h48m

{:class=“img-fluid”} 42 All-Time Classics Box Art {:.image-caption}

I’ve had this Nintendo DS game for literally ages. I remember playing it back at college with friends, and how much fun it was. This time around, I set out to complete stamp mode (on easy, because I don’t care what you think) and managed that over the course of a week.

The CPU definitely cheated when I was playing backgammon, and I hate to think what that would have been like on a harder mode. Nah, that’s no fun!

There is a sequel arriving on Nintendo Switch in June (51 Worldwide Games!) and am super excited for it. It looks like it will have online multiplayer, which is great since I don’t live near any of my switch owning friends. That is definitely gonna be a Day 1 purchase.

OpenTTD

Platform: PC Playtime: 4h55m

OpenTTD Game Screenshot{:class=“img-fluid”} One of my stations {:.image-caption}

A classic. I must have played this for literally hundreds of hours over the years and it never gets old. This time around I downloaded some UK trainsets and new industries. Uranium Mine > Power Station > Nuclear Waste is a neat industry tree that is more fun to build than the usual Coal>Power Station because it is a bit more detailed. The UK trains are just a joy to see travelling around my miniature train networks.

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I might not play again for a few months or even years, but I will always come back to TTD!

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Platform: PC Playtime: 1h23m

Not much to say about this yet. I finished a handful of missions, and drove around the map quite a lot. This has been in my backlog literally forever, so hopefully I can get motivated to finish it soon. Short pick up and play style + a drug dealing mini game in the style of the classic Drug Wars, what is not to like here? I think it was one of the few ‘Mature’ rated games for the Nintendo DS!