Saturday Side Quest - Life Changing Video Games
Where has faith and fandom intersected this week?
Sometimes I feel like an outlier in my own community. I’m a seeker of niche within the niche. When my gaming peers are seeking out the blockbusters, I’m the hipster with a curly mustache and scarf seeking out obscure art.
Cringe, I know.
But the truth is—it’s my favorite thing in the whole world. Not the cringy hipster part… I am an absolute enthusiast for digging until I find a truly compelling and unique story. Or method of storytelling. I’m all for Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, but it’s so fun to find something that pushes the boundaries a bit. Something that might bore someone looking for the usual experience. Something that might even bore them. Or put them out of their comfort zone.
This week, I’ve been fortunate enough to get to experience that feeling in spades as I’ve played through an indie underground title from this year called Until Then. It has been evocative in all of my favorite ways. It’s exactly what I am looking for and scratches every itch.
I long for that feeling. It’s what draws me to the indie gaming community.
I have to admit, that’s a part of my disappointment at the Balatro sweep at The Game Awards. While I appreciate the ludological and mechanical feat that it is, I wasn’t compelled at all by the narrative it wove. Appropriately enough… it didn’t really need one.
But for this bonus blog, I thought I’d share a few that I do enjoy. These are five games that have changed my life—and I’m not being dramatic.
This is not at all an exhaustive list. Consider that this is my favorite genre of gaming and realize I have way more than five.
Everhood (2021)
From the moment that a Buddha appeared in this game, I knew that this was something different. I’m not a huge fan of rhythm games. I enjoy them well enough, but when they get challenging, I flee the scene. Everhood was a challenging game. Mechanically, it pushed my skill level to the brink. I recall seething behind those buttons as I queued up another round of a battle I just couldn’t conquer.
The real magic of this game is in the last half-hour. The downright Richard Rohr level of transcendentalist eschatology… man, what an experience that no other game gives you. It’s like if LOST had been good.
Am I allowed to write about Buddha on my Christian blog? Too late.
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (2007)
This game was the first game I ever played that literally changed my perspective on how to play games. For those unfamiliar, this is a Nintendo DS game. But it is vertically oriented (portrait) and so you have to tilt your console 90 degrees to play it. A novel concept. ;)
Anyway, the game itself also changed it all for me. Many of you know that I am a fan of visual novels, which is a subgenre of narrative games in which there is hefty chunk of reading involved. It treats games like, well, visual novels.
Hotel Dusk would be the first of many, many of these games and showed me what I wanted to get from the games that I play: a mysterious narrative. Unfortunately, the sequel is only available in the UK, and I have yet to stumble on a physical copy—and emulators can’t play it because it was too innovative with its cattywampus playstyle.
emily is away (2015)
I will never go back and play this game, because I refuse to acknowledge the likely cringy-ness of the MC (main character).
This game sends the player back in time to the days of AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). You’re a male student who is flirting with a girl named Emily. Drama ensues. Choices are made. Songs are sent (torrented from Limewire, of course).
It’s a flashback style game and it knows exactly what it’s doing.
To give this game it’s due: I believe the cringe nature of the MC is pretty spot on to the way that we texted in the aughts.
Void Stranger (2023)
It’s hard to understate how much this game shouldn’t work.
It’s a sokoban game, which means that the gameplay involves pushing boxes around a room to solve puzzles.
But it’s so not that.
This is a game that I would compare to a Russian Nesting doll. It begins as one thing, but it shifts and warps as you reveal the deeper layers. By the end, you likely end up finding something inside the last doll that you never expected in the first place.
It’s a weird game and it shouldn’t work. I played it partly due to that exact fact.
OneShot (2016)
This is one of the most important video games ever made and I can’t spoil any of it in this response to it being a life-changing game. Everyone—everyone—should play OneShot.
Will It Preach?
I finished a few things this week, so I will reflect on them in this space. Would they preach? See if you agree with my take.
Metaphor: ReFantazio (2024)
Talk about an epic. This game was a tome of reading and lore. I found myself reminded of Lord of the Rings with the intricate world-building that Atlus was able to pack into this game. In an immaculate tale of discrimination and inequity, you’d be hard-pressed NOT to see Jesus’ words pouring out of this game. Will preach.
Withnail & I (1987)
What a silly film. I suppose there is something parabolic in this story—a couple of foolish yin-and-yang types discover who they are in the midst of travelling. O to be the Wise Man! Will preach.
Three Colours: Blue (1993)
Now THIS is a film that demands to be explored. A woman is left a widow and childless after a car accident. She is blue. Could be an intriguing exploration of grief for a pastor, without the flowers and accolades. A Good Friday story, perhaps? Will preach.
Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
This noir type film was fun enough, but I can’t imagine taking the moral lessons too seriously. Won’t preach.
Let’s Do It Already!, Vol. 1 (2020)
Lol no Won’t preach.
The Credit Roll
These are some of the things I found this week that I am sharing as a bonus. Enjoy my custom For You feed.
On the press tour for Sonic 3, Ben Schwartz notes his favorite game as being Chrono Trigger
A well-known TikTok voice actor performed a dramatic reading of Sven Vincke’s speech from the Game Awards
In response to the racism against Okarun’s English VA from DanDaDan, Tony Weaver, Jr offered up a fantastic presentation on the success of black nerds
What did you think of this one? I tried something a bit different with the game list. Really trying to figure out what this thing needs to be to best serve the audience here.