Now that I’ve finally finalized where and when I’ll be moving next month, I can start to make plans for the rest of the summer. Broad strokes only, of course, since I’m still too far out from any chance to rest to get specific. Gotta pace myself, you know? I don’t want to give myself so much to do that I wind up just exacerbating my current burnout. So I’m mostly focusing on the ways I’ll spend my time in general rather than things tied to specific dates. Which, in my case, means video game plans. After all, there’s a whole lot coming out this summer that I’ve been looking forward to, so it’ll be a good summer for gaming, even if I might want to (eventually) make some plans to get me out of what will hopefully be a much cozier, more comfortable apartment.

First up, starting tomorrow, is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I have no idea how much of my time that will take up, but with a week-long wedding trip and then a move happening within a month of the game coming out, I doubt I’ll fully clear it in three weeks like I did with Breath of the Wild. Once that’s done, I’ll probably have enough money saved up in my entertainment fund for a PS5 and the new Star Wars: Jedi Survivor game (which will also hopefully be through its kind of rough release period). Unfortunately, that’s also around the time Diablo IV comes out and since I got a copy of the game thanks to a friend who works for Blizzard, I expect I’ll be pretty busy in the weeks following the full release. The Diablo games tend to come and go in waves as players (myself included) show up for new seasons or events and tend to taper off as the season drags on.

After that, and once I’ve finished Jedi Survivor, I’ve got a PS5 replay of Ghost of Tsushima and then a New Game+ (or full replay if my save data doesn’t carry over) of God of War: Ragnarok. Somewhere mixed into all that is finally making the time to play Live a Live, and then Rise of the Third Power when it comes out in August (both RPGs recommended by folks who loved Chained Echoes). Baldur’s Gate 3 also fully releases in August, or is at least slated to, so I’ll probably be dropping far too many hours into that at some point. With those titles alone, I’ve probably got enough game time to fill as many of my evenings and weekends as I’d care to spend, which doesn’t even account for whatever I wind up doing as part whatever streaming I’m still doing once my Breath of the Wild challenge is over.

Mixed into all of that is plenty of reading, hopefully catching up on shows and movies I’ve been avoiding (it is difficult to enjoy watching stuff when I’m constantly losing focus on the TV because my upstairs neighbors are stomping around or their dogs are endlessly scrambling and barking), and plenty of rest. Maybe even a camping trip or two, though I’m trying to avoid thinking about those too much since I can’t even begin to make specific plans until I’ve recovered from my move. And, you know, figured out what my budget looks like once my rent has gone up and I’ve paid for a move, which should be fairly cheap since i’ll just be changing buildings rather than moving around the city. Definitely close enough that I can just awkwardly carrry furniture around my apartment complex (a series of similar buildings with sidewalks criss-crossing the lawns) rather than renting a truck. That said, I might hire some professional movers to make everything run more smoothly, though I’ve got no idea what this kind of move world cost me since most references I’ve looked up include a truck and moving more than a couple hundred feet away [as it turns out, it would cost me way too much, so I’m back to just friends helping me move].

I might not be excited about all these plans (because it’s not like my burnout magically vanished between yesterday and today), but it’s nice to know that I’ve got stuff lined up that I know I’ll eventually enjoy. Sure, it might be more fun if I can find a way to share this joy with others (something I don’t really have any plans for right now since I don’t really have many gaming-focused friends left after removing unhealthy relationships from my life), but at least I’ll have plenty to write about as I play these games. And to stream, if I keep that up.