This month felt very productive, lots of stuff to catch up on so let's go!

• Part of the month was spent playing Quake 2's expansions. I realised I needed to cover them in case they held anything worth talking about.

• A large part of the month went into writing the draft of the script. It's at 34 pages and there are still 2 major games, a remaster, and some expansions to discuss. It's gonna be a chonker when it's done and could very well be the longest script/video I've made. How ironic.

• The last few days have been crunch as I realised that Steam Next Fest was the perfect opportunity to cover some indies for the next video. I had to identify and trial a whole bunch of games. Lots weren't quite ready for a demo, but I found 5 which will go into a video. I'm going to focus on finishing that video before returning to the id video as I want it out as soon after Next Fest as possible. There are some great games to look forward to, folks.

• This month has been a bumper one for productivity. Lots of extra time here and there going into the channel. Even though the id video is some way off, I know how important every 30-60 minutes here and there can be.

I think now's a good time to drop the hammer on what I've been working on these past months. The video title is a living thing - I haven't set my heart on a name yet - but it's something along the lines of "The untapped horror potential of id's Doom and Quake franchises". It's a mouthful and I'll probably change it, but you get the idea.

What's Blondie playin'?

I finished Cronos: The New Dawn this month: 31hrs to completion. Why didn't I pick this up sooner??!! Resource management is tight, the mystery is compelling, and I loved my time with it so much that I'm playing again in NG+. That's all I've had time for this month. I'll start RE: Requiem once Cronos NG+ is finished, looking forward to that.

Ambitions

No mini-essays this month, I wanted to focus as much energy on the id video as possible. Now that I'm writing the script, it's much easier to steal 20 minutes here and there.

Personal ambitions

Running: I think I've abused the zone 2 training, straddling the zone 2/3 threshold instead of easing back to a proper recovery pace. So I ran zone 2's slower this month and buh-dee...what a difference! Not only were the zone 2 (easy) runs easier, but I had WAAAAY more energy for the tougher runs, able to sustain heartrates which have felt like physical chest-bursting redlining in past runs. There's clearly some proper recovery which has been missing from my zone 2 runs which I'm now benefitting from. I might also try taking creatine again to see if it improves post-run recovery. Either way, this feels much more sustainable long-term, and the benefits from the harder runs will pay off the slower recovery pace tenfold.

Food: February took a hit with birthday parties and gatherings going on all over the place, but nothing which derailed the plan. Protein intake is high now, and I've become more conscious about what's going into the bread I eat. Trying to pick loaves which have little-to-no additives and crap. Also eating less processed butter which has been an adjustment :p

I haven't read much this month. If there's time to read then there's time to write, and the video script ain't gonna finish itself.

What are you playing at the moment? Did you play anything in the Steam Next Fest? If so, give me your recommendations!

Until next month, pardners.