Real talk: as much as I love books and reading, I do occasionally experience book burnout and feel the need for a break. This weekend was a busy one, with an outdoor wedding and our first consultation for our own wedding cake. but there was still plenty of time in which I could have been reading.

Instead, I took a nice long walk with my pup and my fiance this morning, then settled down with the old Nintendo Switch.

You see, my friends recently started playing Dungeons & Dragons again, and our DM set our adventure in none other than Baldur’s Gate. This town is the setting of the very first RPG video game I ever played, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance.

It occurred to me as I played the obnoxious know-it-all about this particular setting that it may be possible to buy a digital copy of the old favorite on one of our newer systems.

Sure enough, you can get the game on the Nintendo Switch, and lo and behold, my latest dive into nostalgic video gaming began. Alarming amount of effort put into the swaying of NPC breasts aside, the game holds up surprisingly well in terms of graphics and playability, even if it is far less open-world than Skyrim.

I’m enjoying rediscovering this old favorite, and introducing it to Andy, who grew up without a gaming console in the house and missed out on the gaming experiences that were foundational for me.

This does, of course, mean that my reading time is being diverted elsewhere for the time being. I think I needed a break and my brain found me one, in the form of dungeons, giant rats, and one scantily clad elven sorceress.

I’m curious–what are your favorite non-bookish hobbies? Do you find that how you spend your free time ebs and flows?