Since October 7th, 2023 all I have been really caring about were missiles falling on my head, hostages suffering in dungeons, cascading wars, bigger missiles falling on my head, online leftists—allies of the yesteryear—revealing their solidarity being unlimited to everyone but the Jews, and nowadays, even bigger missiles falling on my head. I never stopped playing games, but finding some time to write about them… Not easy.
Enough! If this never-ending war is the new norm, there is no other choice than to adapt and make some blogging happen! Even while running to the bomb shelter every couple of hours or so.
Being bombed changed me. A bit. I became a bit edgy, a bit less patient, a bit less focused. In addition to getting irritated by sudden noises and siren-like sounds, I have much less tolerance for online bullshit. Social media is plain insufferable. Virtue signaling, lies, coping, AI fantasies of mass murder, blood libel, Pakistani and Russian bots, and all those fucking unbombed opinions from unbombed people. All those Western wise guys, paragons of virtue, humanity’s moral compasses spewing their misinformed moronic sentiments all over.
But who am I to judge? Those people are unbombed sweet summer children. They don’t know shit. Bless them and let it stay that way so they won’t ever experience this. Although, watching the world spiraling into the abyss with most of its bad guys not just unpunished but rewarded and even sometimes celebrated (there are some welcomed exceptions to this, thanks to the IDF), most of the unbombed people of today probably are going to become bombed tomorrow. It sucks, but c’est la vie.
Now to the important question of it all: what about videogames? How can you—an unbombed person of today—get ready for being bombed tomorrow, gaming-wise. In other words, gaming under fire: is it possible? The answer is yes. Here are some tips.
First of all, go portable. While some of the newer apartments in Israel are equipped with an anti-missile safe room (so-called «Mamad», ממ”ד)—and have a luxury to place their stationary rig with neon-lit liquid-cooling system there—most of the people, upon hearing alert sirens, have to drop what they’re doing, take their family members and the most precious belongings, and run to the closest public bomb shelter\underground parking\subway station.
If you’re still unbombed in 2026, most of the chances apartments in your country won’t have «Mamads» any time soon. Considering hardware prices as they are today, it’s probably wise to stop investing into stationary computers and start getting used to gaming laptops or handheld gaming devices. Instead of coming back to smoldering ashes of some ultra-expensive PC rig in the case of, god forbid, straight missile impact, you’ll keep your core gaming resources safe in an emergency backpack.
Secondly, go all-in single player. As mentioned above, a missile strike is an instant and largely unexpected event. Depending on the distance from the place missiles are launched, you’ll have up to ten minutes—tops—for getting to the shelter (it’s for ballistic missiles flying thousands of kilometers). If your shelter is considered safe, you won’t get any mobile service there with enough bandwidth for online gaming, if at all. Therefore, you won’t have any other choice but disconnect and drop your Dota2 match—or whatever young people nowadays play online—going AFK for some twenty minutes (even in the best case of short limited salvo of several missiles). It’s rude, it’s impolite, it gives your teammates a bad time. Wartime play etiquette demands single player only.
Thirdly, get used playing with no sound. Two reasons. 1) Hearing a siren, mobile alert, or any other audio warning regarding a missile strike or drone invasion on time is pretty critical for your survival. Don’t overestimate your hearing. 2) Later, when got used to being bombed for some time, you’ll begin hallucinating sirens, mobile alerts, or any other audio warnings regarding missile strikes or drone invasions pretty constantly. You’ll hear them everywhere: in the sound of running water while taking a shower, between those tasty riffs while listening to your favorite Immolation album, during a Drain & Spin cycle of your washing machine. You’ll definitely hallucinate them buried beneath a gaming sounds cacophony. While in constant pressure, getting spooked by false alarm sucks, trust me.
Fourthly, a small personal advice: consider playing something cozy for at least first couple of weeks. When real missiles explode under your windows, playing games about modern war—especially graphically and audio realistic ones—may be a bit distressing. If you can’t stand coziness and your thirst for digital murder has to be quenched no matter what, pick something with swords, not bombs.
Lastly, a logistical and pretty obvious advice. Pre-install your games. Utilize external drives and memory sticks. Prepare yourself an offline emergency library: if you’re a consistent GOG consumer, consider yourself covered. For games with online-only DRM features think about sailing some deep waters: wartime needs.
Oh, and another personal advice—Steam Deck is a perfect wartime gaming device. Highly portable, greatly customizable, ergonomic, has a pretty good battery, and most importantly—has a fantastic Quick Resume feature. Stop your play, run for shelter, resume from the same point you’ve stopped. It’s my best wartime purchase item after a cat backpack carrier.
Get ready, stay safe, leave social media, and eat well. We’ll get through this, perhaps.
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