Games, Games, Games
I’m currently twenty-five years old, and my taste and preferences in games have changed so much throughout my life.
That being said, I want to write a post here about my experience with games previously, and where the current state of my passion for gaming lies.
In my preteen and early teenage years, I had three game consoles and a hand-me-down Alienware gaming laptop.
The first console was a Nintendo Wii; the games I played the most on this device were Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, and Mario Kart Wii.
The next was a Nintendo 3DS, I played a ton of Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Mario Kart 7.
Lastly, I had a PlayStation 3. This console was my life. I had Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto V, Call of Duty 4 through Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, Skate 3, Battlefield 3, and Battlefield 4.
The big eye opener for me growing up, however, was this Alienware laptop. I was introduced to PC gaming by my father at a young age, and when I was gifted this laptop, the biggest games for me were Minecraft, Call of Duty Black Ops, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3, Portal 2, Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead (especially the DayZ mods, Overwatch Mod, Epoch Mod, and Overpoch Mod), Garry’s Mod, and CS:GO.
I feel like all of these games really shaped my developmental years. Then we enter my late teenage years and early college life.
At this point, my devices were primarily a PlayStation 4 and a prebuilt Alienware desktop.
On the PlayStation 4, I logged the most amount of hours in Call of Duty Black Ops III, Call of Duty Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty 4 Remastered, Grand Theft Auto V, and Battlefield 4.
On my Alienware, I began gaming daily, logging a ton of hours in Sid Meier’s Civilization IV, Sid Meier’s Civilization V, Hearts of Iron IV, STAR WARS Battlefront II, Titanfall 2, CS:GO, Overwatch, and Fortnite.
From 2019 (the year of my high school graduation) to now, I’ve been doing a lot less daily gaming compared to my younger years, as the everyday responsibilities of my adult life take up a substantial amount of my time every day.
I no longer have any consoles, nor do I have the Alienware laptop or prebuilt desktop.
Currently, I have a desktop that I built, consisting of the following specifications:
ASRock B760M-C R2.0
GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, 8GB
13th Gen Intel(R) i7-13700F, 2100Mhz, 16 Cores, LGA1700
TeamGroup Vulcan DDR5, 16GB, 6000MT/s
MSI Spatium M450 2TB SSD M.2, 3000MB/s Read/Write
600 Watt Standard Gold PSU
Peripherals:
Logitech G502 Hero
Logitech G715
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless
Razer Seiren Mini
Logitech C920
While I’ve gamed on every launcher that’s existed (EA/Origin, Battle.net, EPIC, Ubisoft Connect, RIOT, etc.), Steam is my preferred and primary platform. As of today, Tuesday, May 5th, 2026, these are my current titles with over 100 hours of playtime listed on Steam:
Counter-Strike 2: 1,589.3 hours
Apex Legends: 656.5 hours
PUBG: Battlegrounds: 515.1 hours
Destiny 2: 421.3 hours
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege: 398.4 hours
Garry’s Mod: 387.4 hours
Hearts of Iron IV: 223.6 hours
H1Z1 Battle Royale: 207.3 hours
Overwatch 2: 165 hours
Grand Theft Auto V - PC Legacy: 157.6 hours
Arma 3: 153.2 hours
Black Desert Online: 116.9 hours
Battlefield 6: 111.6 hours
Throughout all of these titles, my favorite game was never listed.
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... has been my favorite game since the moment I touched it. The game has touched upon every emotion I can feel, the soundtrack is perfectly composed, and in my opinion, the best from a video game, and the achievement hunting and replayability mechanics are super friendly, engaging, and very comforting for both casual gamers and grinders alike. The game offers multiple unique endings and is a must-play for anyone seeking great story-driven content paired alongside fun ARPG gameplay.
Throughout these last three years, I’ve also picked up Magic: The Gathering as a tabletop gaming interest.
I’m a big fan of Orzhov colors and decks that build a small but effective board state that can inflict damage without relying on creatures under your control to swing.
I’m beginning my Master’s degree in Strategic Game Design and Applied Development this upcoming Fall of 2026, and I’m curious to see where my passions in gaming (and the hours logged) lie in the future.
Until next time…
