GAMES
Boyfriend Dungeon
Ok, stick with me here. Boyfriend Dungeon is a dating sim/dungeon crawler where you date your weapons. And it’s really good. You play as a young 20-something who lacks confidence and has never been on a date before. When you travel to a small sea-side town to stay with your cousin for the summer, you discover a community filled with attractive and charming people who occasionally shape-shift into swords, axes, and other sharp things. And, it turns out, you are a “wielder”, able to use these weapons (with their consent) to defeat monsters and traverse dungeons that are scattered around town.
Over the course of the summer, you can befriend or romance a whole bunch of these shape-shifters, with my favorites being a K-Pop idol/lasersaber, a rebellious street artist/dagger, and a non-binary witch/sythe. For my first playthrough I just romanced Seven, the lasersaber, but on my second playthrough I romanced EVERYONE. Muahahaha.
I really enjoyed Boyfriend Dungeon’s inclusivity, sex-positivity, and variety of romance and friendship scenarios. The game does feel a little short (you only explore two dungeons and it really seems like there should be three) but I loved what was there. An important note on the story though: Boyfriend Dungeon received some criticism on its release because a major, unavoidable plot point involves stalking and some people felt the content warning the game provided wasn’t strong enough (there was also frustration that stalking is in the narrative to begin with). I can definitely understand where these criticisms came from and the game-makers have taken steps to patch the game and make the content warning clearer. That narrative arc does culminate with the stalker realizing their issues, apologizing, and seeking out therapy so I do think it is handled intelligently, but if stalking themes and content is hard for you, then Boyfriend Dungeon is probably something you should skip. (Nintendo Switch)
Ratchet & Clank
I’m a big fan of the previous Ratchet & Clank games and I had a lot of fun playing the new installment Rift Apart, which continues the story of lombax Ratchet (sort of an anthropomorphic fennec fox) and his tiny robo-pal Clank who go on adventures to save various planets/galaxies/dimensions. Rift Apart begins with Dr. Nefarious (the bad guy, obs) stealing a powerful gadget that opens rifts to other dimensions. So the fuzzy mechanic and the diminutive robot set out to fix the rifts, and in the process meet up with alternate-dimension versions of themselves who lend a hand. The story is entertaining, if a bit a bit thin/undeveloped, but the gameplay is excellent. There are 14 games in this series so far, so Insomniac has had plenty of time to refine and polish the game mechanics and playability. I had no problem spending a bunch of extra hours collecting and upgrading all the things because I was having so much fun. (PS5)
Psychonauts 2
Sort of a parallel to my experience playing Ratchet & Clank, Psychonauts 2 has a fun story and amazing design but drops the ball a bit when it comes to gameplay.
Both games in this series center around acrobat/psychic Raz, who spent his childhood dreaming of joining the elite psychic spy/hero agency The Psychonauts. The first game saw Raz running away from his family’s traveling circus to attend a psychic summer camp and having to stop some nefarious goings-on involving brains being stolen. In game two, he is brought in as an intern for the Psychonauts, but there is a mole in the agency and rumblings of a previously vanquished villain returning to power and it’s up to Raz to once again travel into people’s minds to fix their emotional issues and save the day.
As I mentioned, this story is a lot of fun but it takes a bit of time to properly get going; the first third of the game feels really disconnected from the main plot. The design is really where the game shines; artist Scott Campbell designed all the characters and they’re wonderful, and going into a bunch of people’s minds allows for a great variety of creative environments like a psychedelic music festival, a forest made entirely from quilts, and dilapidated mental greenhouse. What keeps me from giving a glowing Psychonauts 2 recommendation is the frustrating controls which make these fun scenarios a lot less fun. Probably 90% of my deaths in this game (and there were a lot) involved falling off things while trying to make a jump or not being able to tell what parts of the level were actually traversable and which ones were just decorative. One level involves balancing on a bowling ball while trying to make your way across tiny platforms and MAN, I almost quit at that point.
BUT, all that being said, Psychonauts 2 is on this list because my enjoyment of the game outweighed my annoyance. Plus it’s currently free to play if you have Xbox Game Pass. (Xbox series X/S)
BOOKS
Yeah, sorry, it’s all romances and adventure-romances for August and September. A bunch of my favorite authors in the genre released new books and romances are my version of cozy mysteries.
Role Model by Rachel Reid
Role Model is the 5th book in Rachel Reid’s muscly Canadian hockey player romance series Game Changers, and focuses on the relationship between a jerk player who is trying to be a better person and the team’s cinnamon-roll social media manager. Troy, the aforementioned jerk, has to do a lot of work to de-jerkify himself after his actions in the previous books, and I like that Reid doesn’t give him a pass on his crummy behavior. I also love how characters from the previous books continue to pop up and influence the story in fun ways. (Contemporary Romance)
Peter Cabot Gets Lost by Cat Sebastian
Cat Sebastian described Peter Cabot Gets Lost as “no plot just vibes” and I think that’s a perfect summary. Peter is the son of a political dynasty who has zero interest in carrying on the family tradition. Caleb grew up poor in Louisiana and is itching to start a new life as a journalist. After graduating college in the summer of 1960, the young men end up on an impromptu cross-country road trip together to get Caleb from Boston to Los Angeles to start a new job. Will the sweet boy and the grumpy boy fall in love? Yes, obviously. The story is all character driven which works well because it’s a pleasure to spend time with Sebastian’s excellent characters. (Slightly Historical Romance)
The Lights on Knockbridge Lane by Roan Parrish
A sweet, Christmas-themed romance involving a single father who sets out to cheer up his daughter by covering their house with as many twinkle-lights as possible. In the process, he accidentally falls in love with the reclusive scientist who lives across the street. All of the books in Roan Parrish’s Garnet Run series are soft and kind - like literary cups of hot chocolate. Everyone in these stories is lovable and they all have excellent pets. Gus, the daughter in Knockbridge Lane, is written particularly well; she is charming, obsessed with spiders and bugs, and really sounds like a chaotic 8 year old. (Contemporary Romance)
In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens
17-year-old Prince Tal sets sail for the coming-of-age tour of his family’s kingdom, but almost immediately encounters a complication when his crew finds a sinking ship, a chest full of treasure, and a mysterious, roguish prisoner named Athlen. The two end up on a big adventure involving mermaids, secret magic, kidnapping, pirates, political machinations, a sea witch, and some smooching. I loved this book and weirdly, one thing that made it stand out is how supportive and good the rest of the royal family are. The prince has a number of siblings that all love and protect him, which is really refreshing. Usually in adventure stories involving royal families like this, there is at least one plotting parent, conniving cousin, or sinister sibling. (Sorry, after I wrote “conniving cousin” I had to go all in on the alliterations…) (Fantasy Adventure/Romance)
MUSIC
If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power by Halsey
I’m a big fan of Halsey and I’ve had their new super atmospheric and slightly haunting album on repeat for two months. It was produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and you can definitely hear their gothy-snyth influence. Favorite tracks: Bells in Santa Fe, 1121, The Lighthouse, and I am not a woman, I’m a god
Montero by Lil Naz X
Man I’ve been enjoying this album a lot. A great mix of genres and styles that go from cheeky rap to super personal ballad to impossibly catchy pop. Favorite tracks: LOST IN THE CATADEL, THAT’S WHAT I WANT, VOID, and MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)
What I listened to the most in August and September was definitely video game soundtracks, in particular the one for Boyfriend Dungeon, which is the perfect combo of chill, synthy pop music and sword-based pun lyrics. While I’ve only watched gameplay videos for Road 96 and not actually played the game, I’ve been enjoying the soundtrack’s eclectic collection of songs as well. The rad Hades soundtrack was also frequently in the mix.
ART
“Nadja”
For Gallery1988’s TV-themed IDIOT BOX show that opened at the end of September.