Evening campers, long time no see, how you doing? What’s new? How are the various relatives you pretend to care about?

It’s sadly been far too long since I last updated everyone with how things are going, at least here at the digital residence of the happy go lucky scamp that I am. For those in the know, you pretty much have been seeing whatever has been posted on Instagram and honestly, that pretty much represents the highlights of the stuff that goes on.

I’ve turned yet another year older, not that much wiser, more tired and frankly starting to wonder what to do with one’s self as the years go by and the sights and sounds that have been a mainstay grow more tiresome. There was a jolly lovely trip out to SE Asia back in January, where aside from seeing the sights of Singapore and Malaysia, it was a excellent chance to catch up with friends and see what the other side of the planet brings in terms of life. It was an eye opener to say the least.

I do have ambitions to return back to Japan, having been smitten with the place ever since that first incredible trip only a couple of years ago, just it’s a case of time and money, sadly which neither in in abundance these days. We all have to work to then just stand still as things go in 2025 and in many respects it does mean that you end up being a hermit a lot of the time just out of necessity.

It’s pretty much meant that a lot of free time ended up being spent at home gaming like the fat little nerd that I am and in may respects, it’s been awesome! For example;

It takes an awful lot for me to be peeled away from Hearthstone as my free-to-play fix on the mobile phone while on the loo or at a café. At least, it used to. In may ways it became pay to win and rather dull at that considering each new expansion release also meant that there were only 1 or 2 decks worth playing and random nonsense like what we used to have during the Hearthstone Happy Hour is largely punished and no longer fun at all.

Enter Persona 5: The Phantom X, the spin off gacha game which got a global English release this year and although it is a gacha game which basically bombards you with adverts to spend money gambling for characters every chance it gets, it’s ended up being far more fun than Hearthstone could ever dream of being, while being far cheaper too to play. Excellent single player content you can enjoy at your own pace and only spend what you feel as the game also is remarkably generous in terms of resources. It has taken the crown from Blizzard’s effort with ease and I cannot see myself going back to the aforementioned card game again.

Plenty of other games got released in 2025 which has been immense fun, like Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, METAL GEAR SOLID ?: SNAKE EATER, South of Midnight and the wonderful DOOM: The Dark Ages (which ended up being far more fun that Doom Eternal to me…. imagine that?) and it’s just been grand to enjoy from the comfort of the fortress of solitude such excellent entertainment!

It may not be the glamourous life you see everyone else pretend to live on social media while going into debt, but it’s fine by me!

Anyway campers, just wanted to write a little update here in 2025 to you all and until we meet again, toodles!