The traditional real-world update: Ukraine aid went through (yay!), but the Israel/Hamas cease-fire didn't. Well, at least we're starting to make noises about maybe not supplying arms to indiscriminately kill civilians with while Israel pursues their goals... I'd call that progress, but even that suggestion is getting some pretty harsh push-back here in the US, so we'll see what happens there.
Now, as for what brought on the need to post... I've got Helldivers 2 that could be letting me scratch the first-person shooter itch (and, I still do, maybe one or two short sessions a week). I've got Starfield that could be letting me explore a chunk of the galaxy (however repetitively). I've got Baldur's Gate 3 that could be letting me push through a fantasy world to save both it and myself. These, and many, many other good games vie for my attention. Yet, lately, the main game I've been sinking my time into is a little oddity called Book of Hours.
On its surface, Book of Hours isn't much to look at. Your actions pretty much all boil down to play card/item in slot (or, if you're lucky, multiple cards/items in multiple slots), wait for result, then claim the proceeds. How they managed to take that simple mechanism and create "cozy 1920's upper-class British librarian and esoteric knowledge researcher simulator", that I don't know, but I'm glad they did.
So, mechanics aside, what exactly is it that you do in this game? Well, so the story goes, there's a manor called Hush House, out on an island with a small village, that was a repository of all sorts of esoteric knowledge. Was, because there was a fire that basically destroyed everything, and the last Librarian has gone missing. You're hired on by the foundation responsible for the property to take what remains into hand, and get things back in order. Things start out as well as can be expected, with you washing ashore after a shipwreck at the village, whose populace, due to historical reasons, is extremely distrustful of outsiders. Of course, you'll need those villagers to help you even get to Hush House, never mind deal with clearing out the place... except, once you get there, there's no sign of a fire, just years of neglect, along with the protections left in place by past Librarians of course. There's still plenty of books to be found, which you can catalog to get the general gist of what they're about, then study to improve your skills, hopefully, assuming they're not also somehow cursed or infested with something unpleasant. Then there's various visitors and the like to deal with, some of which are involved with incidents in the outside world like you might find in your random Cthulhu-mythos stories, some just looking for research materials, and some you can use to further your own advancement (for example, you know a great many languages to start with, but not all of them). Beyond that, well, let's just say there are more systems that (super)naturally come to light while you're playing, all coming together seamlessly to create something special.
I think what makes the game work is the subtle ways they use the simple systems to reinforce the world and your place in it. Days and seasons pass, and the day's weather can have a significant impact on what it is you decide to do on any given day. Cataloging the contents of a book is a single mid-length action, but resting outside of what you get back each day is a multi-step process (brew some tea, serve it out so you're not drinking the whole pot, then drink it and take a nap). Heck, I've got a pile of dirty bedding in the groundskeeper's shack I'm using for home base that kind of drove my initial exploration of the manor, thinking I'd find someplace to do laundry or the like... but Librarians don't do laundry, that's something I'd need to get help from the villagers to handle, somehow, and I'd much rather spend that time trying to solve the mystery of this 15th-century tome to get a new skill or improve one I've already got. Plus, of course, it's using time-appropriate British currency (pence, shillings, farthings, etc.), which makes keeping track of your mundane money all the trickier (and yes, that does mean there's non-mundane money as well).
I could go on (and on and on) about various details, small and large, that have made Book of Hours entertaining enough to keep me engaged and coming back, night after night, to get a few more days' efforts in, but I think I've said enough to let you decide if you're at all interested. If so, definitely check out the link I put in earlier. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some research to get back to.
