The games I actually play

Most of my free time that is not code goes to games. These are the six I have put real hours into, with the hours on my own list. I'm rounding them as "over", not exact.

Apex Legends, 800+ hours

My most-played. The movement is the reason. Tap-strafing around a corner that nobody was watching is still one of the best feelings in any game I play. I main Wraith and Pathfinder. It is also the game I play when I want something fast and loose between ranked sessions elsewhere.

Valorant, 600+ hours

I mostly play Jett and Killjoy. My honest review is that it will eat your evenings if you let it. I have been away from it for a while, and I'm glad about that.

Rocket League, 400+ hours

Octane and Dominus. The ranked grind is slow and it never stops being fun. Rotations from ranked 3s carry over to other team games better than I expected. The hard part is telling your brain the ball is the objective, not the opponent. Air dribbles and ceiling shots are the flex. A clean powershot on target is the real skill.

Rainbow Six Siege, 400+ hours

Ace and Jäger. Siege taught me that map knowledge is a skill you can practice. Drone first, peek second. I will also say, loudly, that I hate droning in this game, and I do it anyway.

Marvel Rivals, 300+ hours

Moon Knight, and Cloak and Dagger. It's a hero shooter that plays best with friends who can carry you, and that is how I play it. If you have that group, I would recommend it.

CS:GO, 300+ hours

AK-47 and AWP. Before Siege there was Dust 2. Crosshair placement, spray control and map awareness all came from deathmatch and competitive matchmaking. The callouts never leave you. "One more game" has been a lie since 2015.

What I get out of them

I notice a pattern in the list. Almost all of it is team-based and competitive, and almost all of it rewards the same things: knowing the map, communicating clearly, and keeping your head after a bad round.

Those carry over to engineering more than you would think. A team game is a distributed system with a bad network. You have partial information, a deadline, and teammates who can fail. Calling something out clearly and quickly is the same discipline as writing a good commit message or an incident note.

I also use games to switch off. After a day of reading CI logs, an hour of Rocket League is a clean reset.

If you want the same list with cover art, it is on the games page. If you play any of these, say hi.