A Link Between Worlds

* Beat the game
* In hero mode
* Got all the gear
* Got all the heart pieces
* Found all the Maiamai
* Solved all the puzzle rooms

I don't even know why I'm bragging; this is the fourth full time I've gone through A Link Between Worlds since it came out in November 2013. Playing this game is a weird compulsive organizational exercise for me in that my goal is to do everything as efficiently as possible. The computer doesn't keep track of your play time, but I think I've got it down to about ten hours.

I was talking to a friend about A Link Between Worlds the other day, and he agreed that there's a sort of "arranging your closet" quality to the game. Technically it's less linear and more open-world, but it's also very rational, almost as if there is a place where everything fits and it's your job to lay down all of the puzzle pieces in the right order. I think perhaps the two of us find this activity so satisfying because we've both played A Link to the Past countless times and know what the big picture is supposed to look like.

On my friend's recommendation, I downloaded Pushmo, and it has transported me to a state of rapture. It's like playing with Legos, except you don't have to clean up afterwards or risk stepping on jagged little bricks in the middle of the night. Also I'm in love with the little Pushmo creatures. They are so so so cute.

( Cut for lengthy and rambling speculation on A Link Between Worlds )