It’s getting hot in here
It’s impossible for me to think of the summer months without my mind wandering towards the cover of These Days are Just Packed. It’s my favorite of the Calvin and Hobbes collections, a series that holds the distinction of being one of the few things my brother and I willingly shared. We read through them dozens of times as kids.
Anyone who’s familiar with Bill Watterson’s work on Calvin and Hobbes knows that almost every panel in the storied comic has a special kind of mid-summer magic to it. Calvin and his partner in crime, Hobbes, go on wild adventures. They get in all sorts of trouble but never have to worry about anything worse than an impending bedtime. It’s childhood bliss. But These Days are Just Packed tells a more understated story with its cover. On it, the dynamic duo lounge on a tree branch. Hobbes stretches lazily, his feline tendencies on full display, while Calvin leans against his partner in crime with a water balloon in his hand and his eyes closed. Even the prospect of soaking an unsuspecting sucker feels like too much effort when the sun’s beating down. There’s always another water balloon. The days seem to go on forever, after all; and summer days are designed to be packed.
I’m waxing poetic about Calvin and Hobbes because Steam’s Summer Sale just ended. It always feels like the annual sale goes on forever. Entire days are marked by new purchases of old games — freshly added shrines on the Eternal Backlog’s altar — until, all at once, the sale’s over.
So, Dtoid, what did you buy during Steam’s Summer Sale?
I bought Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Slime Rancher, and Arx Fatalis. Here’s hoping I can find the time to play them.
