Tyler’s Save File: April 2026
The month of cozy rain.
Boy, April was heavy on the backend! Sure, it could be Mephisto hooking me with his devilishly fun grind, but the first half of the month felt cozy and chill, and then Tax Day brought a torrential downpour of fresh titles. Regardless, I had a blast juggling them all. And despite officially creating my 2026 backlog (don’t worry, Vampire Crawlers, you’re next), I’m feeling pretty high on this year so far.
MOUSE: P.I. For Hire
Probably not a hot take, but this game wants to be Cuphead so badly. I think there’s even an argument that it has the style and setting to pull it off (along with a fantastic—albeit expected—voice performance from Troy Baker). I’m just not convinced a boomer-shooter was the right genre. You can argue that it’s following the 2D sprites of something like the original Doom, but the overall experience felt handcuffed by that choice. Overall, I didn’t hate my time playing; it just didn’t grab me as I had hoped.
Pragmata
I knew it was going to hit pretty close to home when a daughter-figure was riding on my back for the better part of 12 hours, quipping and being all cute, reminding me of my own perfect angel. What I wasn’t ready for was how plain fun the combat is. It’s been said that this hits the “Xbox 360” vibes in a great way, and honestly, I can’t think of a better likeness. While the story might not be the strongest—although I really clicked with the ending—the characters are likable, and it’s the very definition of a video game. (I was going to put “ass” somewhere in that, but I couldn’t figure out where. Video-ass video game? I dunno.)
Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred
For the record, Lord of Hatred released on the 28th of this month, and I had every intention of saving this entry for May. That… didn’t happen. Please understand that I’m not proud to admit that I spent more time playing this over the last couple of days than just about everything else on this list combined. Despite being fuzzy on what’s new in the expansion versus seasonal improvements, I’m happy that after taking some time off, this feels like a very fresh and polished endgame—one that I honestly can’t put down. For me, I think it’s finally safe to say they’re back to the same level as Diablo III.
While I’ll likely review this officially on the podcast in the coming weeks, overall, I’d rate the campaign as “fine” to “good,” and I largely enjoyed the areas and story more than Vessel of Hatred. I spent my initial time playing the Paladin class, and while I could see some fun late-game builds, I’m kicking myself for not trying the Warlock instead. That being said, I got sucked back into Whirlwind Barbarian, and… look, it’s a whole thing. I’ve been playing this game a lot.
🕹️ Retro Roundup
If you’ve been following my retro game obsession on the podcast, April marks the first official month of me going through a very curated list of Game Boy Advance games. My goal isn’t necessarily to beat each of them, but to sample what many consider a GOATed library. After a deep dive into the pits of Reddit and other random corners of the internet, I feel the 200-odd titles on my curated list are the best of the best, and I’m excited to begin this journey!
Gradius Galaxies
If I had started my GBA project in any prior year, there’s a very good chance I would’ve just ended it right here with Gradius Galaxies. I cannot overstate how inferior I felt, flying-dodging ineffectively and seeing the dreaded “Game Over” screen again and again. Yet as luck would have it, 2026 Tyler is a glutton for punishment, and while frustrating at times, I stuck it out long enough to see the hook. (Special shoutout to seeing some of Galaxies’ DNA—specifically the upgrade system—make its way into the much more modern Sektori.) Let me be clear, I’m still whatever is lower than trash at this game, but I appreciate its unapologetic “get better” theme.
Developed by Mobile21 and published by Konami, Gradius Galaxies was released in North America on November 30, 2001.
Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
It pained me to learn this game existed. I loved the original Pokémon Pinball for the Game Boy Color—rumble motor and all—but I always thought it was just a weird little spinoff. Learning that Nintendo not only produced a sequel but that it was better in just about every way made me both extremely happy and extremely sad that I waited two decades to play it. I don’t know why Pokémon was the brand that got me into its pinball (maybe it’s just simpler and for babies), but learning the two tables and fighting my past scores became a nightly routine.
Developed by Jupiter and published by Nintendo, Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire was released in North America on August 25, 2003.
Super Monkey Ball Jr.
The good news is that while I thought this game played like absolute garbage, it was just the underpowered device I was playing it on. Turns out Super Monkey Ball Jr. pushed the GBA to its limits (I love learning the history of this stuff). Bad news is that I might be worse at this than at Gradius. I can see why this game was a marvel at the time, but I’ll be honest, I put this one down after the first hour.