15 Days: Part 26 – May 1st to May 15th 2026

Death Has Never Looked So Dashing

This is later than I had planned but that’s because the first few days of Part 27 were taken up with attending another gaming event (that’ll have to wait until next time), and then I found myself taking my time in writing this simply because I was enjoying it.

So, what does Part 26 have for you?

• Dash Dash Dead
• Destiny 2: Edge of Fate
• Fitness Update

After Blue Prince’s BAFTA win, and my decision to share that amazing testimonial, I had a little bump in followers along with a few enquiries for testing. Now, very recently, whenever anyone contacts me about testing, I’ve started asking these three questions:

• What stage of development are you at?
• What do you need?
• What’s your budget?

Whatever it is about these questions (I’m guessing budget but I may be wrong) 80% do not even reply. Of those that do, it’s their honesty that I appreciate. I understand that budgets are small or non-existent but don’t be afraid to say so. I will always listen and there’s always a way to collaborate on a project.

It also raises more questions for me about how important QA/testing is to studios. I’ve seen this for a while where it’s not even considered as an expense, and there are lots of ways to look at this. The standard and quality of the testing required. Where can it be done for free (albeit there’s no guarantee it’ll be any good). The total budget for the game, (if you have to choose between voice acting and testing, which do you prioritise? Voice acting brings a game to life and elevates the player experience but good QA/testing can really iron out game-breaking bugs that might not be picked up until after launch, leading to bad publicity. How often have we seen negative reviews where someone says “Great game, awesome story and VO but let down by a bug that crashes the game.”? Too often. Reviews are a minefield and not the topic for right now, and I also appreciate this is not a particularly varied list of scenarios as there are many layers to this but, for the sake of the point I originally made, it’s my experience that testing is either not taken seriously (until it is) or that it just isn’t considered important enough to part with money for. I’d argue that if you’re willing to pay a voice actor, animator, artist, musician, programmer, etc. for their expertise and time, you should be paying QA/testing folk for theirs.

I think there’s a deeper dive needed into this, and testing in general at some point. A new series of blogs, perhaps? I’m quite tempted to do it. At the very least, I might stop asking the budget question on first contact.

Anyway, out of all this came a call to test a game called Dash Dash Dead.

Dash Dash Dead: Developed by Virtual Void Studio, their Steam page describes the game as follows:

‘Play as a death row inmate competing for freedom in a show designed to kill for entertainment. Hunt targets, build deadly item combinations, and survive long enough to matter in this turn-based dungeon crawler rogue-lite. The clock is ticking & the viewers want blood. Are you in?’

I’ve really enjoyed this one. It’s addictive, easy to pick up and play, the music fits, sessions can be completed very quickly (or not, as you wish) and it has a lovely gameplay loop. Time flies by and I’d already sunk several hours into the game before I realised the time. Am I in? Yeah, I’m in!

We’ve also done some good work in catching some tricky bugs and improving the user experience in a very short period of time. Another fun test, and another quality assurance credit for my portfolio. As always, I’m very grateful to developers who put their faith in me.

So, Dash Dash Dead is recommended by me, and another one to wishlist if you like the look of it. The steam page is here: Dash Dash Dead Steam Page

Destiny 2: Edge of Fate: Any long-time reader of this blog will know my love of Destiny 2. I used to play this regularly for years but, as The Final Shape expansion ended and with it the The Light and Darkness Saga, it felt like a good time to say thank you for the cherished memories but for me, now, this is enough, and so I said my goodbyes, memorabilia also in tow, like Drifter’s haul, and the knowledge that I can always drop back into the game from time-to-time, often just to run Presage and The Whisper, and to enjoy the game. Even when the last expansion, The Edge of Fate (EoF), launched in July 2025, it was the first time in many years I didn’t play it immediately, waiting instead to buy it in a sale. Even then, more time passed, until very recently I decided to boot up Destiny 2 and play this new campaign.

It was good to run through familiar locations, brush up on my gaming skills, and blast away enemies. I rarely alternate my loadout or armour and, for the purposes of this campaign, I didn’t need to. As always, the story is enjoyable and I’ve always liked and appreciated the characters Bungie creates and develops. The music is always very strong too. I usually buy it to listen to away from the game.

As far as comparisons with previous expansions is concerned, it didn’t quite hit the heights of previous successes but it was fun overall. I became accustomed to the matterspark/mattermorph mechanics but there didn’t seem to be very much by way of ingenuity when applying this to the puzzles. Once I learned the basics, it felt very similar throughout and not particularly difficult. Not bad, not great; somewhere in between.

I wondered if I was less enthused because I had said my goodbyes to Destiny 2 a while ago but I think it was just that I know what has come before and, whilst EoF is enjoyable and certainly worth playing, the ending of the aforementioned saga is probably where it should have ended for good. But then, that’s a different story for another time.

Anyway, it’s definitely worth playing if you’re a fan, and there’s always the Renegades content that followed later, with the potential to wield your very own lightsaber…

Fitness Update: I’ve not had much time to share progress on this all year but now is a really great time to do so. Cast your minds back to Graph Thingy (Part 21, if you need it); where I tracked how much caffeine, chocolate and alcohol I consumed, and my somewhat dubious yet credible steps towards cutting it out completely. Now fast forward to today.

I no-longer track these. I don’t need to anymore. Something people don’t know about me is that I’ve tracked stats before and it’s useful but there comes a time, not where I’m bored, but where it becomes so habitual that if I don’t hit a target, I’ll feel like I’ve failed. It becomes a heavy weight upon my mind and body and is therefore more damaging than it is helpful. When that happens, it’s overkill, and time to switch things up.

On May 4^th (I like that it was Star Wars Day), I suddenly decided to start doing exercise and I started by using what I describe as ‘Dead Time’. This is where instead of scrolling on my phone, I spend ten minutes on the exercise bike. I can fit this into my morning routine before I leave for work so not only do I get some fitness in, it wakes me up and it’s done before I leave the house. Every day I’ve done this over the last 15 Days bar a couple of rest days. When I get home, there’s also 40 minutes of Dead Time before my wife finishes work so back on the bike I go, for about 15 minutes, following that with some bicep curls. Every day bar rest days.

During working hours, I walk three times; to and from the office (15 minutes each way), and then 30 minutes at lunch. All-in-all, it’s not a lot but it’s far more than I’ve done for many years. I’m finding that I have more energy and, crucially, not being tempted by chocolate and alcohol. I have a little every so often but I don’t want to spoil the hard work. Or momentum. Because momentum is what will help me keep this going for longer.

However, the biggest win here is that I miss the exercise on rest days and I look forward to it when I wake up in the morning. I haven’t felt like this for a very long time, and knowing how I am, I think and feel like this may be the turning point I’ve been searching for. I don’t push myself any further than I need to. I listen to my body when I need to rest, and aside from needing more water and doing stretches before and after exercise, I am on a good path towards the level of fitness I want. This is a part of who I am; and I’ve missed it very much. I may not need Graph Thingy any more but it was the start I needed at the time. Small, incremental, forward progress. And being happy. I’ll take that every day. I’ll let you know how I get on in future 15 Days blogs.

That’s it for now. Until next time, as always, stay safe and thank you for reading.

Paul.