What You Playing? – May 2026
Intro
The Selective Hearing team spent May exploring demos, ranking up in Street Fighter 6, travelling to Japan for Pokémon GO Fest, and tackling growing backlogs.
Allen
What Have You Been Playing in May?
- PRAGMATA Sketchbook Demo
- The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales Prologue Demo
- Alan Wake Remastered
What Are Your Thoughts?
SPOILERS AHEAD
PRAGMATA Sketchbook Demo
My month got super busy so it didn’t really leave me time to game and during my down times, I wasn’t really feeling like picking up my backlog and spending time on them. So instead I tried a few demos that I had saved and one of them was PRAGMATA.
I was very intrigued by the mechanics of the game, mainly having to solve a mini-puzzle while aiming at your enemies with the goal of getting more damage. I really enjoyed it, had me moving and staying quick on my feet. Very left brain/right brain impulses.
Finished the demo pretty quickly. It did want me to replay it over and over to try to get the time down. I will be picking the game up once it goes on sale. I don’t feel too much of an urgency to play the game, yet it did leave a mark on me.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales Prologue Demo
Another demo that dropped and I had lined up was The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales Prologue Demo. I remember seeing the trailer and a lot of people laughing at the name of Elliot. Elliot is my boy!
I actually didn’t know too much other than it was another HD-2D game from Square Enix. I haven’t hit my fatigue on HD-2D style graphics just yet but was pretty close on Dragon Quest 1 and 2. I actually found this game pretty charming and it came a lot from its voice acting. The portrait arts when main characters are talking also compliment the HD-2D style graphics with it’s voice acting.
Then I was getting drip fed the combat mechanics and the weapons. Elliot has a sword attack you charge up, a boomerang with a charge attack, a bow that you can charge into a spread shot. That’s when I realized I was playing a Zelda A Link to the Past game. This game pays such an homage to that Zelda game that I was happily surprised. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is my favorite Zelda game, I used to play it every year. Seeing all the influences Elliot has taken from that game had my attention.
The demo is pretty meaty, I spent a few hours on it before completing my run. They pretty much give you a great appetizer of what to expect in the game, the combat mechanics, the crafting for accessories, a few dungeons and some of its puzzles, and a good dose of the story.
I was very impressed by the demo. This along with PRAGMATA will be on my wishlist until I can find time to play and hopefully get on sale, practicing my inner patient gamer.
Alan Wake Remastered
I took advantage of a Best Buy sale and got the Alan Wake II Deluxe Edition. Alan Wake II was very highly praised and I always wanted to try it out especially since I was a big fan of Control. I did play the original Alan Wake back on the Xbox 360 years ago but I don’t remember too much about the game.
I decided to play the first one to get me up to speed again. However I do feel like a lot of things in the game didn’t age well. The shooting I feel isn’t super good, trying to use light sources to remove the darkness shields on enemies before plugging them with bullets was cool back in the day. Now I just find it a nuisance because I have to evade wild enemy swings. Then I would get beaten down gang style if I get caught in between three or more enemies.
I also feel like the acting didn’t really age well, it’s probably a product of the time to be a little bit more over the top serious. Now I find it to be a little too cheesy. So I do have to put myself into that mindset as the story unravels.
I’ll keep plugging away, maybe get one chapter done a day or something.
What Are You Looking Forward to in June?
Honestly I may not have much to be excited about since my backlog keeps getting larger and larger. Plus a lot of events coming from the Big 3 as well as the Dorito Pope’s Summer Game Fest. I’m sure there will be enough to add on for the next year.
Greg
What Have You Been Playing in May?
- Pokopia
- Street Fighter 6
- 007: First Light
Pokopia
The month of May was putting in some work to finish the main story of Pokopia by filling up the strange machine in the wastelands with various goods. I managed to do that, and I was really quite disappointed by the ending. I mean it was obvious what happened to the humans once you collected all the tablets with all the various stories. Still, I was like “That’s it?”
Apparently this is not the true endgame of Pokopia though. I still have to get each zone to level 10 and find all the various Pokemon. I already got the wastelands area maxed out and I am working on the rest of the zones, slowly restoring them back to their former glory.
So now it’s more a casual stroll through the game to catch them all and get the world back to normal. I don’t feel rushed to get that done now that I’ve finished the story. This game will be a nice break from the other games in this list.
Street Fighter 6
I’m still grinding it out in ranked and have got my Sagat up to Gold 5 and surprisingly, I am maintaining and moving on up rather hitting that peak and then getting my ass beat and ranked down. Ingrid came out at the end of the month and I’ve had some short play time with her. Managing her resources is a bit like Juri but a bit more tedious because of how much the stocks drastically affect your gameplay. I’m still getting used to her, but Ingrid is pretty fun.
007: First Light
I was excited to get this game since the developers of the Hitman series made it. I love that series and some of the ridiculousness you can do. I’m not very far into 007: First Light but I can see some of the HItman influences already.
I learned very early on you can’t go full Leroy Jenkins and there is no rag doll physics once you do go get your license to kill and go on rampages. If you choose to run and gun you have to be conservative with your ammo and make your shots count. I have become very good at head shots because of this.
Story wise, this is very much like a James Bond movie and so far there haven’t been too many crazy plot twists or bedding of the ladies quite yet. But what I have gone through has me intrigued into how things will play out as I get deeper into the game.
What Are You Looking Forward to in June?
I haven’t looked at what is coming out in June. So I’m looking forward to getting more of my James Bond on and splitting time between the other two games in my list and probably Pokemon Z-A.
BigFreaky
What Have You Been Playing in May?
- Pokémon GO
- Ghost of Yotei : Legends
- Pokémon HOME
- Pokopia
What Are Your Thoughts?
Pokémon GO
GO FEST 2026!!! IN TOKYO!!
This year I traveled to Tokyo to take part in Go Fest 2026, the 10th anniversary of Pokémon GO!
One thing for sure is when you go to Japan you will WALK and WALK A LOT! As I did and racked up if not my biggest week ever, but a close second if that. 100+ KM. (67 Imperial Miles). After a week of 50km+ before that!! Astronomical numbers for me!
Playing PoGO in Japan is how the game is meant to be played. Easy walkability and no shortage of stops and gyms. While I was there I also leveled up to 76.
Before GO Fest Happened, there was also a Baseball event in Yokohama that I took a train ride to take part in. You could catch a special Pikachu with Jersey and Stadium background.
I didn’t prepare well and my phone died while I was there…
Next up was GO Fest itself.
It took place on Odaiba in Tokyo Bay.
The area was MASSIVE. Far too large to play the entire area in such a short time we were allotted to be in the park. 4hrs. (3.5 due to scheduled Mega Mewtwo raids). I started the park rotation in the wrong direction so I had to backtrack the entire area to get to my scheduled and geolocated Mewtwo raids. The sun was quite strong and there was limited shade.
Unfortunately it felt more like work than fun play, but that might partially be a me thing. Luckily I purchased some city wide play the day before and that was much more relaxed.
Playing Pokémon GO in Japan (Tokyo) is great. But I might have to consider the park play again due to the sheer size and the intense heat/sun that is always prevalent with the event. (At least it wasn’t like 2023 in August!!!!)
I had fun. I obtained Mega Mewtwo X & Y.
I also finished up the Unown “Dex” by catching the letter Q.
Another GO Fest in the books.
Ghost of Yotei : Legends
Just more grinding away on the Legends mode. Basically got every class to S tier on every weapon they have and to minimum level 30. Some weapons overlap with class type so that makes it go quicker. Sucker Punch released a statement that all the major updates to the Legends mode have been released and I guess we should not expect much more going forward. That is a bit sad. While the new Legends mode has its flaws (looking at you bs computer unlimited blocking and teleporting away before the last hit), it was still pretty fun. Not sure how often I’ll play going forward. It was fun while it lasted.
Pokémon HOME
While I was in Japan for GO Fest, I also visited some Pokémon Centers (as usual). But since April last year (2025, also right after I returned from a trip to Japan). They released Medals inside of Pokémon HOME to commemorate visits to events, or PKMN Centers. Just digital trinkets that are fun to collect, and you can also trade with friends. I visited 4 PKMN Centers this time to scoop up the goodies. I will have to revisit the other Centers in Japan and also abroad again to increase my collection.
Pokopia
I did play a bit of Pokopia, but nothing of any real merit or creation. Some cleaning up and what not. I still plan to showcase my “Train Stations” in the future. So stay tuned.
What Are You Looking Forward to in June?
Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago. Yes I know I just did Japan, but I have to do the one that is right next door.
A little more time in Pokopia.
I’m at a bit of a crossroads now. I don’t think any new games are coming out that I’m waiting to play with a passion. I need to look at my endless backlog. It could be anything!!
