Now Playing at SUPERJUMP: Issue 11

We're back with another issue of Now Playing at SUPERJUMP! We hope you've all enjoyed a fabulous holiday season so far, and perhaps even received (or bought) a few new games to get on with. Our editors took a quick break from their festivities to regale you with what they're currently playing, obsessing over, thinking about, and looking forward to in the coming weeks. So enjoy, and we'll see you back here each week for more recommendations and odes to the games our team loves!

Lawrence Adkins

I’m finishing out my year with the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC! Kitakami has been a great place to explore, and the Blueberry Academy has a bunch of great Pokemon coming back, especially with the terrarium bringing back a lot of Alolan Pokemon. I love the world-building that the DLC adds to these games, and all the new characters have so much personality that makes them stand out.

Brandon R. Chinn

I'm playing my annual holiday run of Parasite Eve, but for the first time ever I'm playing the game on an actual CRT with original hardware. It's even more incredible.

Jahanzeb Khan

Tetris and Nintendo; is there a better pairing in video games? A late holiday pick-up, I had to splurge a little to score this Japanese deluxe edition of Tetris Effect. The VR experience on PlayStation was extraordinary, but no matter how many hardware generations go by, Tetris simply makes sense on a Nintendo handheld. I found myself playing a lot of Tetris DX on Game Boy Color during the year, and this deluxe package for Switch feels classy and perfect. I had a long list of games I was going to catch up on during the holidays, but I think I'll end up not overthinking my fun and just playing Tetris instead. What was good in 1989 is still good enough in 2023, perhaps more addictive than ever.

Ivanir Ignacchitti

After two weeks of some net service issues at home, I've been enjoying some calm and quiet for now. As such, I intend to finally pick a game for myself rather than for review. It's time for Mediterranea Inferno. This is a game my friend, Vitor Costa, gave me as we had both played the previous Lorenzo Redaelli game, Milky Way Prince. I'm always on the lookout for games discussing sexuality and this title seems very promising. Other than that, I'm probably gonna rest some more before the new year brings even more games I simply must play.

Ignas Vieversys

Besides grinding Gift Wrapping Simulator 2K24 (it's pretty much the same as last year, but with better graphics - devs must have taken a few tips from EA's playbook surely) this entire week, I'm still trying to finish Red Dead Redemption 2. After seeing that I'm barely halfway there at 53 percent, I have accepted the fact that Rockstar folks are just too good at making games. With all the stuff there's to do in the virtual Wild West - this week I spent an hour celebrating getting John Marston's boy back safely, in awe of how everyone was hungover the next morning (realism!) - I will probably sip this experience through 2024 like a glass of mulled wine. Also had my mouse over Jusant a couple of times, but saving it until I can properly kick back, relax, and climb those virtual mountains until Gift Wrapping Simulator is done at 100 percent...

Leah Isobel

I recently finished Ghost Trick. Great game! I didn't realize how much I missed the DS vibe - games like Professor Layton and especially Hotel Dusk were hugely formative experiences for me as a preteen, and Ghost Trick is full of that energy. I really loved it.

Now I'm playing through Umurangi Generation, which I've been interested in for a while. It's cool! The aesthetics are amazing and I love how the environments pay tribute to the developer's influences. I was originally planning on doing a completionist run but I think it's a much better game taken casually; trying to meet all the bonus objectives is mostly just annoying.

Nathaniel Kelly

I've started my Christmas run of Dark Souls which is going a little slower than I’m used to. This week I rang the first bell and next week the plan is to trudge through the depths and Blight Town to make it halfway through the game. I may have also gained an addiction to Elder Scrolls Online which is turning out to be a really fun game to quest through solo. The voice acting and character building have been super fun and if the group content is just as fun, I’m gaining the momentum to be making this game my 2024 pastime.

And if you’ve been seeing my entries in "Now Playing..." the last few months you’d know I am always playing Magic the Gathering and this month is no different. The theme of this month has been: “definitely always fix what isn’t broken” which means that instead of starting that new deck, you could put that energy into making that least played deck really fun. I just did this with my Leinore, Gluntch, and Jodah which has made them my new favorite children. Happy Holidays to all those who celebrate and use some of that time to play something fun!

That's a wrap for this week's Now Playing at SUPERJUMP!
Thank you for checking out the veritable treasure trove of games our team is playing right now, and be sure to check back next week when we're back with more.