This year marks our ten year anniversary! Which is pretty incredible! Yes, over the years the demands of my offline life have forced me to scale back the number of games I play and the posts I get to write. I still enjoy games, stories and writing, which is why whatchaa.com is not going away anytime soon. Here is a brief recap of the past decade.
The Story
I have been playing video games since my childhood and never stopped. First on my PC. then my laptop and, for the past ten years, on console, namely the PlayStation. As a teen, I dreamed of landing a job at LucasArts, that gifted us classics like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Day Of The Tentacle, the Monkey Island-games and some Star Wars-title, of which I enjoyed Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Dark Forces and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith.
While that dream did not come true, I started this blog on a whim in 2015, simply wanting to share my love of games with the world.
Characters
Since this is a pet project, there is no team behind it, just me, a communications professional writing under the pen name Vanessa. Occasionally, I enjoy playing online with other people. And you can find my handle for PSN in the About-section of the blog.
The Missions
These are not missions, really, but the topics I dedicate my blog to. You can find the main games I cover in the navigation. Since I am a stealth afficinado, that genre holds a special place in my heart. But I also love exploring indie titles. Apart from game reviews there are character analysis or walkthroughs on whatchaa.com, and sometimes I delve into more philosophical topics, too.
Highlights
When I speak of highlights, what I mean are my favorite games. And, truth be told, it is not that often that I come across a title that turns into one I can replay over and over again. That’s not the main criteria, though. Some games I play only once or twice and they still leave a lasting impression that makes them eligible for the top games I have ever play. If I were to name a top 5, these would be
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (An amazing, terrifying and emotional rollercoaster!)
- The Last Of Us (Best character and relationship development ever!)
- The Last Guardian (What a beautiful journey!)
- Aragami (Stealth never felt this good!)
- Watch_Dogs (A character and game that grows on you)
As far as franchises / series got, here are my top picks
- Dishonored
- Aragami
- SNIPER ELITE
- HITMAN
Stats
Last but not least, I have some stats prepared for you. When I first started this blog in 2015 I posted a total of seven articles, and the most articles posted were 37 in 2018. Since then, the average number of posts has been about one post per month and that is where I want to keep it.
Thanks to a course I did on search engine optimization, the stats soon boomed and went from a little over 200 views and over 130 visitors in 2015 to over 80,000 views and over 52,000 visitors in 2021. Thanks to some sought after, very specific walkthroughs I published in the beginning, whatchaa.com has managed to retain relatively high stats even during years where my workload was such that I managed just four new posts during an entire year.
Speaking of: those specific walkthroughs are almost exclusively from the HITMAN-games, namely HITMAN (2016) and HITMAN 2 (2018). Here are the top ten most viewed blog-posts ever, and I am very proud that among those you can also find an indie gem like The Council. Surprisingly, a lot of people want to know about my favorite horses in Red Dead Redemption II…
Thank you!
I thank all my visitors, new and old, for the journey, and look forward to many more years to come!
Until then, keep on playing!
Cheers
Vanessa
whatchaa.com 