Four in February 2026

It’s almost February again, and that means I’m going to try to beat four more games in the shortest month. This year, there’s one big thing working for me and one big thing working against me. I recently bought a Steam Deck, so it’s easier than ever to play games during my lunch break or in bed. However, I’m also flying out for an international vacation on the 28th, so between packing and travel I’m going to lose about a day and a half (and there’s not a lot of days in the month to begin with!).

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X will be the first Final Fantasy game that I’ve ever seriously tried to get into. I’m both nervous and excited about this one. I’m excited because I’ve heard it compared pretty favorably to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (my favorite game of 2025), but I’m nervous because it seems to be a pretty long game. I’ll be playing the remastered version on my Steam Deck - as an older game, the little bit I’ve played so far seems to run pretty well.

Star Wars Outlaws

I built a new computer in Spring 2025 (I ended up overpaying for the GPU, which would have cost less if I had waited until Summer, but I completely avoided the extreme RAM and SSD price increases), so I wanted to pick a game that would give my graphics card a workout. Star Wars Outlaws just came to Game Pass, so I figured that would be a good one! I’ve also heard it’s a much more reasonable length than the typical Ubisoft game, which is a relief in this slightly abbreviated month.

Shadows Over Loathing

For a little bit in the mid-2000s I really enjoyed Kingdom Of Loathing, a browser-based MMORPG that is still going with regular updates over 20 years later, and I also really enjoyed the follow-up game West of Loathing. I never finished Shadows Over Loathing though, another game in the same universe but with a prohibition-era city setting (with a little cosmic horror thrown in). The graphics may be very simple - black-and-white and stick figures galore - but the writing is sharp and there’s little secrets to be found all around.

LEGO Horizon Adventures

I’ve played the other Horizon games (other than the VR one), but this one hasn’t super hooked me so far. Still, I want to push through due to my love for the franchise. It seems relatively short and sweet, and the game does look pretty great. I also think it’s really cool that everything in the game looks like it was made with LEGO bricks.