Friendship in your 40s is not talking to people for months on end and then picking up right where it left off. Don't think more into why no one is contacting each other, it's the grind stage in life.
From my old job, was hard to get them to traps in a feed mill with grain everywhere. Bucket traps were useless with all the food available. This was daily.
The little cup on the traps was perfect size to smash a peanut into it that they couldn't just grab it and take off, they'd step on the...
With the old school wooden traps, id use raw peanut in the shell, break the shell in half, stick half on the bait portion with peanut butter, the weight really helps and they'll jiggle the peanut hull chewing or grabbing it.
A remake of Hectic or Hexen would be great.
Any of the Gargoyle Quest games would be great, but I have little faith in Capcom these days. They're sitting on so many titles they could bring back.