Lockdown Gaming

PostLockdown Gaming by **fry87** » Sat May 08, 2021 6:32 pm

Recently I've been thinking about how my gaming has unsurprisingly increased during lockdown, but also how some of my gaming habits have changed.

In terms of the increase in gaming I decided to try and calculate the number of games that I've completed since the original lockdown in March 2020. To my surprise the total came to 50 games, which is probably more than double what I'd complete under normal circumstances in roughly 14 months. The list in total is:

A Hat in Time, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Astral Chain, Battletoads, Bioshock 1, 2 & Infinite, BoxBoy + BoxGirl, Brutal Legend, Carrion, Crash Bandicoot 4, Donut County, FFVII Remake, Full Throttle, Ghost of Thushima, Gorogoa, Greedfall, Guacamelee 2, Hades, Halo 5: Guardians, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, It Takes Two, Journey to a Savage Planet, Katamari Damacy Reroll, Minecraft Dungeons, Mirrors Edge: Catalyst, Murder By Numbers, New Super Luckys Tale, Ni No Kuni, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Overcooked 2, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Rage 2, Resident Evil 2 Remake, Scott Pilgrim, Sniper Elite 4, SteamWorld Quest, Streets of Rage 4, Super Mario 3D World + Bowsers Fury, Super Mario Galaxy, The Last of Us 2, The Room, The Touryst, Unravel 2, West of Loathing, What Remains of Edith Finch, Wolfenstein: Young Blood, Xenoblade Chronicles 1 & 2, Yooka Laylee & the Impossible Lair

The list is pretty varied and has games that took just a few hours, to bigger games including some like both Xenoblades that took 70+ hours. This doesn't even include time spent on games you don't complete like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Rocket League, PES 2021, Fall Guys, etc.

In terms of changing gaming habits, the main things I've noticed are:

Online gaming - having never really been one for online gaming I've definitely embraced it during lockdown. From completing the likes of It Takes Two, Scott Pilgrim, SoR4 and Overcooked 2 with friends, to playing the likes of PES 2021, Rocket League, MK8 and Fall Guys every now and again. I can definitely see this continuing beyond lockdown, particularly with friends who live further away.
Gamepass - fairly late to the party getting an Xbox One I only really got into Gamepass in 2019, and during lockdown I've definitely made the most of it, completing a good number of games and dabbling in plenty of others. It's because of Gamepass that I played some belting games such as Journey to a Savage Planet, Carrion and What Remains of Edith Finch, which would likely have passed me by otherwise. I'll definitely continue using Gamepass and it's undoubtedly the reason I will at some point get a Series S/X.
JRPGs - as a genre I've rarely had the patience for historically, all of the free time during lockdown has seen me tackle the likes of FF7 Remake, Ni No Kuni and Xenoblade Chronicles 1 & 2. I've enjoyed all of them but have my doubts that my patience for such games will remain as our freedoms return and my gaming time hopefully reduces.

So my question is, how has lockdown impacted your gaming?

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Zilnad** » Sat May 08, 2021 6:36 pm

The kind of games I play hasn't changed but I've been able to play so much more. I've also achieved more platinums in the past year than I had achieved total since the launch of the PS3 :lol:

It's unfortunate that it won't always be this way. The game time I mean, obviously I don't want to live with death and disease forever.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **gamerforever** » Sat May 08, 2021 7:57 pm

Definitely have been gaming too much over the past year, but it started off with games like the last of us 2, ff7 remake and then came ghost of tsushima. Theres been some nice games in between going next gen and the ps5 at launch was a great experience. Truly next gen and the first time astrobot loaded was magical.

Since then i got a series x and game pass and i’m loving that too. If it wasn’t for lockdown i doubt I would have got both next gen consoles and will try to take a break in the summer.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Rubix** » Sat May 08, 2021 8:38 pm

I had managed to clear my backlog in lockdown which is always a good thing. But the increased gaming has come at a cost as I haven’t been reading and slipped on some TV shows.

Corazon de Leon · PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Corazon de Leon** » Sat May 08, 2021 8:56 pm

I've increased my overall achievement percentage from 55% to something like 77%. :lol:

Also started streaming and have been enjoying that as a result of lockdown.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **more heat than light** » Sat May 08, 2021 9:43 pm

I've played much less, as my partner is working from home and I can't spend all day on the Xbox any more.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Sprouty** » Sat May 08, 2021 9:59 pm

Turned back to multi format, having been single format since PS3. The Switch was a joint purpose specifically purchased to keep my girlfriend entertained through lockdown and we put close to 1,000 hours into Animal Crossing alone. I'm still yet to play some of the games I really want to, such as Pokemon, Mario and Zelda BOTW, though I have loved Animal Crossing and playing Links Awakening again.

So my gaming habits haven't changed radically, perhaps I've spent a little more time gaming, mainly because I've been studying alongside my job which has taken up time that might otherwise have been spent gaming. I've also spent the odd bit of gaming whilst waiting for a report to run at work! But for my girlfriend, it's really opened it up more genres, some which I never thought she'd play and enjoy. I knew that she loved Spyro, so I thought Mario would be a safe bet, and she completed it, but Breath of The Wild has surprised me as her favourite Switch game. She's literally now starting Horizon Zero Dawn, so it will be interesting to see if that keeps hold of her attention. It's certainly not a game that I would have expected her to want to play pre lockdown!

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Abacus** » Sat May 08, 2021 10:24 pm

I didn't really play too many games pre lockdown.

I did a few years back, but back then I just thought - this is a waste of my life. My clock ticks down every year, and yet instead of living, I'm just busying myself with distractions.

So, I stopped and went out instead. Drank too much, met new people, had a laugh.

And then last year happened, and oh my word I suddenly needed distractions.

I played Spiderman on PS4, and suddenly instead of being trapped in my own 4 walls I was whooshing though a city as a webslinger. That game, for me, got me through lockdown 1 - maybe an hour a night of pure escapism.

Since then, bought an Xbox, mainly to play & chat with a friend online, since we aren't really phonecall type friends. But that, and Stadia, plus my Switch have really made me appreciate games so much more. I play them more than I have in years, and they've kept me entertained and (kind of) sane

I don't see gaming as a waste of time any more, or as a lesser use of my time.

Sometimes I think - I'm just going to stay in today and drive some fast cars, shoot some stuff or save the world from Mr Sunshine and I'll look forward to it

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Jenuall** » Sat May 08, 2021 10:46 pm

My gaming time has probably been reduced over the last year if anything.

Through changes to work levels and stresses, having to adapt to things like home schooling kids during school lockdowns, and a general disruption of the usual balance of life within the household it's definitely left less time and energy available for gaming than what I would have had previously.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Tsunade** » Sat May 08, 2021 10:55 pm

If it wasn't for the lockdown, our switch definitely wouldn't have had as much use as it has done. I've always gamed quite a lot but not to the same degree as I have done. There'd be a time where putting more than 200 hours into a game would be too much for me, but I've very easily piled over 500 hours into animal crossing.

I've played quite a lot of my backlog instead of playing new games though. Digimon Cyber sleuth being the odd one out there. I've put hours into games I normally wouldn't play or get around to playing, mainly because of just having the time to do it.

I know my gaming times and habits will slowly go back to normal as more stuff opens and normality returns, but I know that if I hadn't had gaming to keep me and the family occupied, time would have gone a lot slower and we would have been a lot more bored than we had been.

Saying that, I still need to play FF10 soon. It's staring at me every time I look at my games.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Zilnad** » Sat May 08, 2021 11:10 pm

Oh, one big change for me is that I haven't played my PC for a year but it was my main gaming platform before. That's partly because I prefer to be in the lounge with my wife, while she's working from home. But also because the PS5 is brand new and more powerful than my, pretty old, PC.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **fry87** » Sun May 09, 2021 8:21 am

Rubix wrote:I had managed to clear my backlog in lockdown which is always a good thing. But the increased gaming has come at a cost as I haven’t been reading and slipped on some TV shows.

This is the same for me. Gaming has definitely been my primary distraction. Having previously been a big reader I've read fairly little in lockdown, maybe 3 or 4 books. Not watched a huge amount of TV shows so my backlogs on Netflix, etc remain pretty big. Plus with the impact on movie releases last year I've watched a lot fewer of those than I would typically.

Abacus wrote:I didn't really play too many games pre lockdown.

I did a few years back, but back then I just thought - this is a waste of my life. My clock ticks down every year, and yet instead of living, I'm just busying myself with distractions.

So, I stopped and went out instead. Drank too much, met new people, had a laugh.

And then last year happened, and oh my word I suddenly needed distractions.

I played Spiderman on PS4, and suddenly instead of being trapped in my own 4 walls I was whooshing though a city as a webslinger. That game, for me, got me through lockdown 1 - maybe an hour a night of pure escapism.

Since then, bought an Xbox, mainly to play & chat with a friend online, since we aren't really phonecall type friends. But that, and Stadia, plus my Switch have really made me appreciate games so much more. I play them more than I have in years, and they've kept me entertained and (kind of) sane

I don't see gaming as a waste of time any more, or as a lesser use of my time.

Sometimes I think - I'm just going to stay in today and drive some fast cars, shoot some stuff or save the world from Mr Sunshine and I'll look forward to it

I've previously felt guilt about wasting time gaming too, although perhaps not to the same extent. But as you say, in the last year it has been such a welcome bit of escapism.

The fact that some of the games released or that I played were amongst the best of the generation certainly didn't hurt either, with games like TLoU2, Ghost of Thishima, Hades, Ori 2, RE2: Remake and It Takes Two all probably among my games of the generation.

The last year has been terrible in lots of ways, but it was strangely a pretty stellar one for gaming!

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **OrangeRKN** » Sun May 09, 2021 1:54 pm

I've worked throughout so haven't really had significantly more time to play, so my habits haven't really changed. Other than really getting into animal crossing :lol:

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Victor Mildew** » Sun May 09, 2021 1:58 pm

I now got 1-2 hours of gaming in before work, which is something I've never done before. Flexi time was stopped once working from home started, and with getting up early still, I've got ages to do what I want before work starts.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **fry87** » Sun May 09, 2021 7:57 pm

Victor Mildew wrote:I now got 1-2 hours of gaming in before work, which is something I've never done before. Flexi time was stopped once working from home started, and with getting up early still, I've got ages to do what I want before work starts.

The move to home working and no commute has seen me gaming a bit before work as well too as I'm similarly an early riser.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Balladeer** » Tue May 11, 2021 10:27 am

My initial thought was, 'I didn't go out that much anyway and am still socialising virtually, surely my habits haven't changed.' Then I thought about it and realised how wrong I was.

Like you, Fry, and Rubix, I've made some real headway into my backlog. Thing is, I've always kept my backlog fairly toned down (six games on the go and a six-game wishlist), so all that's meant is new games have taken the place of the old ones. :slol:

It does mean I've played a lot of smaller games, to the point where I'm now struggling to find games to fill the wishlist. That's a good thing! But it's hard to find people to talk about the smaller games with, which is one of the great pleasures of gaming to me. :cry:

Lockdown also sped up the process of my partner moving in. As a result I've tried a lot more local co-op games (of, it must be said, not always terribly good quality) and, as she's a big point-and-click buff, we're rinsing the eShop of those. If you want to know about good point-and-clicks on Switch, I'm better placed than most to help!

Finally, the games I play on my own have changed slightly as well. Due in part to the stress of the situation, and in part wanting something light to play in small bits during the working day :shifty:

, I've shifted my focus towards low-stress games. Primarily that's been JRPGs (Tales of Vesperia, Ikenfell, Bravely 2 - the extra time definitely helps here as well), although the odd cheerier game in other genres has reared its head. Games that have a lot to concentrate on at once (Monster Hunter Rise) or that are high-stress (Inside (shudders)) have fallen by the wayside in exchange.

So yep, lots of changes. What hasn't changed is the volume of great indies on the eShop making up much of my gaming, and the fact that the eShop's useless for searching meaning I've had to use my unreliable memory of games I missed in days gone to fill the gaps. :fp:

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Skarjo** » Tue May 11, 2021 10:48 am

Things I associate with lockdown.

Animal Crossing
- Total lockdown. No routine. World over. Find Fossils.
- Also Tiger King

Control
- Just quite a good game

Fall Guys
- This was when school had resumed as I could play this at lunchtime.
- Woo Whooo00

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Robbo-92** » Tue May 11, 2021 12:07 pm

For myself I don’t really feel like my gaming habits have changed all that much throughout lockdown. I still have times when I put a lot of hours into a game, others when I just jump on Animal Crossing (or any game really) just for half an hour to just unwind a little if I’d had a crap day at work or just have a spare 30 minutes. One thing that has been nice is everyone expecting you to have filled your days off with immense amounts of stuff, as your days off from work should see you rushing around just like when you’re at work :capnscotty:

Meanwhile I’ve happily spent a lot of my days off getting things done that need to be done, then relaxing doing stuff I actually enjoy.

Animal Crossing New Horizons - I’ve poured around 450 hours into this since release, but I think I’d have been at least at 300 without the lockdown conditions as thats just how I’ve always played the series, put loads of hours into it in the first year and then it naturally decreases as there is less to do on a daily basis within the game, it was the same with all the previous entries too.

If anything about my spare time has changed I think its been my TV viewing, at the start of lockdown the department I was on at work was effectively shut down with immediate effect so my shift times changed quite a lot, meaning I had basically every afternoon free. This meant I was getting home and doubling up with watching TV series friends have been recommending to me for ages and playing New Horizons alongside it, as its a very easy game to do this with as the only time it requires constant attention is when you’re fishing/catching bugs.

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **Hypes** » Tue May 11, 2021 1:21 pm

I thought I'd do a load more gaming but I haven't. Although perhaps that's because the Switch has had no games

PostRe: Lockdown Gaming by **imbusydoctorwho** » Tue May 11, 2021 1:57 pm

I remember during last year I really got into the Resident Evil franchise, I went through the whole series on PS4 last year.

Lockdown Gaming

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