I have been gaming a long time, and due to the never-ending march of time have been going to bed instead of pulling an all-nighter. Every time I tell myself to play until the morning, I fall asleep around 1:00 am or so. That changed after I got Palworld to play with GiN columnist Vincent Mahoney. I am not going to get into the details of Palworld as Vincent is working on the full GiN review, which will run soon.

I got Palworld just after seven in the evening on a Friday and downloaded it. Vincent and I played until about one in the morning when he quit for the night. I thought to myself that I would just play solo for an hour and go to bed. Next thing I knew light was filtering through my window. It was now ten in the morning, and I realized that I needed to go to bed. It goes to show how great Palworld is because I have not had a long night like that in a while.

So, what is the point of this column? Honestly, I wanted to talk about how incredible it felt to fall in love with gaming again with Palworld. Sure, I enjoy gaming and I get access to all sorts of titles through my job, but it can get exhausting. Between deadlines and having to analyze each title while playing, it’s easy to get a little bit burned out from it.

Even now, I have games to review (Marvel Midnight Suns will be coming soon), and I can feel the burnout a little bit. Palworld has been nothing short of addicting, and I’m so grateful for taking a chance on it. Palworld has a fun gameplay loop, and Vincent helps with the funny commentary. Hearing Vincent yelling at his Pals for having bad pathfinding is endearing.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and would never trade it for the world. But it was nice to really enjoy a title like I used to when I was younger. I can’t explain why I liked it more than, for example, 7 Days to Die, but I have had to forcefully stop myself from playing Palworld and remind myself to eat. Maybe it is my ADHD that is allowing me to hyper-fixate, but with the weekend fast approaching I know there is going to be a lot of Palworld coming up.

Even as I type this column that I am way behind on, I’m excited to get back to gaming. Palworld has reignited my enjoyment for gaming as a whole. I have multiple strategy titles that I want to play, and I picked up an older one I can use for my next column. I’m sorry if this column isn’t what you guys have come to expect, but just know that some amazing reviews should be coming in from me real soon, and Vincent will have an in-depth look at Palworld.

Readers, remember to take time to enjoy what you love, and keep looking for a great title or two that will really hold your interest. And now, I’m going to make a pot of coffee and get back to playing some more Palworld because I plan to take my own advice. Happy gaming, everyone!