Media Consumption Round Up - May '25

A truly light month

For the last few months of these posts, I’ve mentioned that I’ve been too busy to watch, read, and play a lot.

That wasn’t completely true.

This month I really didn’t watch, read, or play much.

During the final weekend of the month Lottie was sick for a day and we ended up watching quite a bit of stuff. This list went from 3 items to 5. So, not as light as it could have been!

Video Games

I’m still chugging through Persona 3 Reload at a pretty decent clip, all while playing a handheld game at work. This month I wrapped up one game that I’m extremely fond of.

Next month I’ll have more to write about, especially since I just started a wonderful little game this month. You’ll have to wait to hear what that is though - follow to find out!

Mario Golf: Advance Tour

Why sports games are not modeled after this is beyond me.

You play as a kid who is training to be the best golfer. You spend your time practicing for XP and leveling up your stats. Like I said in last month’s round-up, there are 4 tourneys you need to beat to win the game. Once you beat the final course you unlock the final course - the Mushroom Tourney.

I love that this game has a Mario myth. After rolling credits, you can find a note in your dorm inviting you to the mushroom tourney. It explains that the way to get there is by standing under the stained-glass portrait of Mario. You are then teleported to Princess Peach’s castle in the sky. A ton of Mario characters are there to play in the tourney.

I haven’t finished this tourney yet. but I don’t feel like I have to. I already became the best golfer and now I get to play with all the Mario characters in a secret club.

I will be picking this up from time to time just because it’s so stinking good.

Movies

We watched a movie on the last day of the month - just squeezed in there!

Lilo & Stitch

I’m a pretty big fan of Stitch. His design is crazy iconic and I’m a boy and therefore like blue so, there you go.

We watched this with our 15-month-old because she was sick. We only give her screen time when she’s sick cause what else is going to do while she has a fever? She actually knows who Stitch is because I have a Disney Jersey with him on it and a stuffy from one of my past Disney trips. She loves him, she kept saying “stch” when the poster would appear on Disney+.

This movie goes pretty hard. I’m a die-hard hand drawn lover so this movie already gets a lot of bonus points, but one thing that really took me back this time was the backgrounds. They have so much texture and character and really make the world interesting.

TV Shows

Lottie’s sick day gave us ample opportunity to actually watch some stuff

Mythic Quest - Season 1

I. am. a. gamer.

Mythic Quest is funny. It’s heartfelt. It’s cringey.

The creators of this show really seem interested in talking about video games in a meaningful way, but they fall a tad short when it comes to gamer speech and portraying people who like games.

To be clear, There is a lot you can leave out when portraying gamers. They can be gross and weird and super cringy. However, there is a subsection of the community (that I think includes the majority) that are level-headed and great people!

One thing the show does very well is the balance between serious (and heavy) topics and comedy. There were a couple of moments where Zelphia and I both said “I thought this was our fun show”. We were expecting something superficial and funny but found something thoughtful, important, and funny.

Board Games

Board games are not media, but I really didn’t consume much media this month so I’m including board games here. They’ve been on my mind a lot recently - this happens maybe every 4-6 months or so.

AHOY

Leder games consistently make my favorite games.

Ahoy is an asymmetrical game which means everyone plays with slightly different rules and actions they can take. The two bigger factions (yellow and blue), score points through control, but how they get control is very different, and the other faction (the smugglers) has a completely different set of rules and win conditions.

I first played Ahoy in February while my friend was here to visit. I was immediately enamored by how tight the game felt. Everything feels intentional, especially the entanglement of it all.

When playing in a 3-4-player setting, the bigger factions are reliant on the smugglers to increase the points available to them. That means it’s not productive to bully the other players. You need them present on the board and they need you present on the board.

It’s also surprising to me how many rules are specific to the enemy pieces. In Root, rules may say “remove x enemy warriors,.”, but in Ahoy it’ll say “remove x Bluefin Patrols.”. This gives these actions a sense of purpose and feel heavily directed.

I love Ahoy

ARCS

Again, Leder Games just has the sauce!

I had the chance to play two games of Arcs this month. One was online with an employee and the host of the ROMP podcast, and the other I thought some friends online.

This game continues to shine for me, but I wish I had more opportunities to play it. I feel like my understanding of it is starting to wane ever so slightly. I want the meat of the thing.

I’ve been poking around at a full review of this game, but writing about board games is not easy for me. I always end up in the weeds about how the rules work. Maybe that will see the light of day someday.