2nd August
Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we’ve been playing. This week’s a quiet one, with a few staff out on their summer holidays. Chris manages his little football men, and our SEO maestro Will spirals into an all-timer.
What have you been playing?
Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We’ve Been Playing archive.
Battle Chess, PC
I was chess club captain in school, but I hadn’t played a game for years – until last week, when a family member called me up to ask if I wanted some of his old chess books. Since then, I’ve been spiralling. It’s been a week (I think) and I’m now well and truly experiencing the chess equivalent of the Tetris effect.
I’ve gone down the rabbit-hole of online chess, have caught myself using chess analogies at work, and have now even considered finding the floppy disk copy of Battle Chess in my mum’s attic. It could be the insomnia, it could be the coffee, or it could be the constant fear of leaving my queen undefended. Whatever it is, I don’t think this obsession is sustainable. Someone, please, save me.
-Will Barnes
Football Manager 2024, PC
Ahhh, sweet FM. When the results are against you in the real world you’re always there. The warm embrace of an A+ scout report on a wonderkid you’ve spotted for a bargain. A place for sensible transfers and unserious wishlists. An xG graph that proves you deserved to win, even when you didn’t.
Football has been pants for me, this past year – and really the past few. But Football Manager – despite the absence of FM25, a hole in my heart – has filled its place for now. I’m currently on a save I’ve titled “Amorim’s United But Good”. We’re top of the league. I didn’t buy two extremely overpriced number 10s when my team needed a striker and a midfielder. And I am not, ever, going to lose to Tottenham.