Anno 2070 - 20/20 hours

I finished the second mission of chapter 3. The high point was capturing Strindberg, who, because he got beat by F.A.T.H.E.R.'s forces, for some reason decided to turn on the alliance and start attacking our ships. He wound up causing an oil spill around my secondary island in the process. What an incompetent dick! How did he wind up getting a second chance in the Global Trust? (I delivered him to Rufus Thorne, which should be the end of him, but somehow, I'm guessing he'll get an inexplicable third chance to screw things up).

That was just a sidequest though. The main mission had me build up the infrastructure to build high-end Global Trust warships. It went a whole lot smoother now that I had a robust infrastructure giving me basically unlimited tools and building materials, but I'm pretty sure I screwed myself for the last couple of mission, because I am virtually out of space to expand, so if missions three and four have any more serious teching up to do, I'm done for.

However, I think I'm going to leave that for another time. Anno 2070 is a game of growth and order, of building miniature electronic gardens and watching them flower over time. Twenty hours doesn't do it justice, but neither would 50, or 100. It's a weird thing I'm discovering on this journey of mine - a lot of my games are infinite time sinks. I started this project with the notion that I could "give my games their due," put in a solid 20 hours and rest secure in the knowledge that I hadn't wasted my money by buying them. Now, I think that may not be the biggest problem with my collection.

It turns out, I'm probably wasting the games. I have Recettear and Anno 2070 and Skyrim, so why exactly do I need a fourth game (obvious answer - Civilization)? Each one could be a hobby, an obsession, or a lifestyle. Is my time really so valuable that I can afford to play favorites among them, sprinkling my attention whimsically between games, never really getting the full experience of any of them, just so I can say that I own them? Am I really so bored? So jaded?

I don't think so, but I also couldn't say what I hoped to accomplish by buying them. Call it a species of lust, I guess. The things looked so appealing, and they were so easily attainable, that I had to go after them, but I never really meant for that to become a commitment.

Which is to say that, now, coming off the high of succeeding at Anno 2070's campaign mode, I fully intend to come back and visit it again, but I have more than 50 games yet to go, so it's actually quite like that another will turn my head (obvious answer - Civilization), and for all it's undeniable virtues, it is unlikely to be the one that tames my wandering heart.

It's bittersweet, but I must say "goodbye and good luck" to Anno 2070. I will always remember your excessively fiddly supply chain mechanics with fondness.