Editors’ Picks: Digital Discoveries
Hardware staff writer, Joanna Nelius, and hardware lead, Bo Moore, share what’s been helping them relax
AROZZI VERONA JUNIOR GAMING CHAIR
Between various jobs, reviewing games, and writing my own stories, I’d already spent a lot of time sitting in front of a computer long before joining
MaximumPC. Years of having bad posture at the keyboard caught up to me. I started getting muscle spasms in my shoulder blades. All the muscles in my lower back felt like worn-out rubber bands. So, I started sitting up pin-straight in my chair.
It’s difficult to maintain that kind of posture for over eight hours a day, if not impossible. I didn’t hurt as much, but I realized that the other issue was my chair. Sure, it was some expensive, ergonomic chair that could adjust in more directions than a Wonkavator, but it was too big.
Few gaming peripherals are made with smaller people in mind, and chairs are my nemesis—but then I sat in Arozzi’s Verona Junior Gaming Chair. It’s technically a kid’s chair, but for a petite woman like myself, it feels custom-made. The head and lower back pillows actually hit my head and lower back. I don’t have to sit up like a I’m wearing a corset to have good posture. I don’t care if it was designed for kids. It feels good to sit comfortably. Now, if car makers would put adjustable pedals in cars, that would be great.
$249, www. arozzi.com
HOLLOW KNIGHT
I’m continuing my trend of picking up great PC games more than a year after release (specifically, once they arrive on Switch). This time, I’m heavily into
HollowKnight, which I just finished putting about 50-odd hours into, and am currently sitting at 105 percent completion. (It goes above 100 percent due to DLC content.)
HollowKnight is a game that my friends and colleagues raved about at launch, but I wasn’t super-interested in playing a metroidvania on PC. Instead, I waited for the Switch release, which finally arrived in mid-2018, right around the time I was deep in IntotheBreach. After clearing out a few other games from my backlog, I finally picked up HollowKnight over the holidays, and I haven’t put it down since.
The game is damn hard, with tight platforming and challenging enemies, but most have a pattern to their combat that makes encounters more of a puzzle to solve than a fight to win. It’s also dripping with setting, and tells its story much more through your exploration of the world rather than any one line of dialogue. I’m reaching the end now, but I still have a few boss fights to tackle and secrets to uncover. I can’t recommend it enough.
$15, www.hollowknight.com