Tell Us About Your Pop Culture Month: February 2022 Edition

It’s the end of the month, folks, and that means it’s time to tell us about some of the shows or films you watched and the games you played. (And things you’ve read or listened to, if those are things you partake in.)

Played: Since I own a PlayStation 5, that meant I was legally required to buy Horizon Forbidden West. While other things did end up briefly taking up my time not long after it came out, I have been enjoying what I played so far, even if it’s a bit out of step with how developers have been attempting open world games since 2017. The world simply feels big for the sake of being big, and while its core stealth/arrow sniping loop is still very good, it feels like Guerrilla just didn’t address much of Zero Dawn’s issues, like its underwhelming melee and traversal mechanics or having to screech to a halt every time you ride a mount and want to gather resources.

Last month, I said that I could see myself enjoying Cyberpunk 2077, but its various bugs were turning me away, so I set it aside. So naturally, CDPR went and released the next-gen upgrade a few weeks ago, and I dove back into it. The potential of the game is starting to shine through, and it’s nice to finally play the game without having to cross my fingers that the quicksave function will work and I won’t fall through the floor. Finally, I went through the Witch Queen expansion for Destiny 2, whose campaign is really good, and feels like Bungie firing on all cylinders for the first campaign in some time.

Watched: Mainly, the thing that I’ve been watching are things that I talked about last month: Abbott Elementary, Legend of Vox Machina, and Dimension 20: A Starstruck Odyssey. Slowly but surely, I’ve been catching up with Demon Slayer and its first season. While I’m not entirely sold on the hype that everyone’s been giving it on Twitter during its second season (yeah, I know, give it time), I won’t deny that it is pretty dang good. And it’s incredibly pretty to boot, the kind of anime where nearly every action beat has something impressive going on. Can’t wait to see what’s next.

Read: Comics took up my reading time for the month, when I had the time to read them. I’ve been catching up with Jujutsu Kaisen, Boruto, and My Hero Academia over on Shonen Jump, but as far as the Big Two goes, it was the month of Marvel. The new Iron Fist from Alyssa Wong, Michael YG, and Jay David Ramos turned out to be a lot of fun, and I’m excited to see where it goes with its new lead. X Lives/X Deaths of Wolverine from Ben Percy, artists Joshua Cassara and Federico Valentini, and colorists Frank Martin and Dijjo Lima has also been just damn good at what it does, like much of Percy’s recent comics work. Both are worth reading, if you like mutant weirdness or kung-fu coming-of-age stories.

Let us know about some of the things you’ve played, watched, or read down in the comments below.

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