I am quite excited for the coming months in gaming. I've been itching to fall back into the wonderful XCOM trance, the one where you start playing clean-shaven and finally step away with stubble. I am prepared to place my weekends upon the sacrificial altar of XCOM 2. I can finally get my hands on the latest Tombraider installment and raid some tombs. Even The Division is starting to look kind of appealing. It has been years since I have been interested in anything even resembling an MMO, but this looks like it might just have that 3rd person action game core-loop that can really grab my attention, coupled with enough upgrading and resource acquisition that I could see myself getting pretty absorbed. I honestly didn't expect to anticipating The Division with any interest, but there you have it.

Not to mention the tons of smaller games that seem nearly made for me (The Witness, Firewatch, that weird but kind of incredible looking anime-fighter with a too-long title, etc.) that are all rolling out in the next few months - or are out right now. I am genuinely excited about the future of gaming in 2016.

There's just one problem. I have almost no free time to play any of them. Holding a job while trying to finish a degree, combined with a live-in partner (and all of the time investment that entails) has left little time in my life available for games. Brief hours, here and there. An occasional evening if I can get away with only skimming some reading I'm already familiar with or a certain formula or concept clicks for me faster than I had expected.

Despite being intensely curious about The Witness, I haven't allowed myself to go near it. I just know that having to put it down and only chip away at it in small chunks would drive me up the wall.