MindGames

Have you ever wanted to quit your job, leave your home, journey to the winter tundra and live-in isolation with no-one but your pack of huskies for company? No? Not at all? Well then, you have not played The Red Lantern. Released last year by Timberline Studios, The Red Lantern is a story-driven game focused on you and your team of five sled dogs, as you attempt to navigate the Alaskan wilderness and reach your new home. Your survival is dependent on the resources you obtain during the journey, as well as those you remembered to pack in the first place.

The main selling point of the game, obviously, is your dog team. Every decision that you make will influence your dog’s wellbeing, whether that is rationing out food, using your limited medical supplies to heal a pup’s wounds or avoiding groups of elk in order to not upset one of your team. When you start a run, you have a limited number of resources – food, medicine, ammo and fire kindling. If you only have two bits of meat left, do you feed your pups and take the risk that you might starve before you reach your destination?

At the start of the game, you get to choose four dogs to add to your team from a choice of eight, meaning that there is enough variety to warrant a second playthrough, just to see each of their personalities. When you meet each dog, you are told a little about them and what they could bring to your team e.g., Bodega loves his treats, Iggy likes to hide in the snow and Noodle just needs some gosh darn love. Each pup has such a distinct personality and look to them that I want to cuddle them all and conquer the world with my army of huskies.

During my first run through the game, I had the following team:

1. Chomper – He is the protagonist’s dog from their old life in the city and the leader of your little pack. His nemesis is squirrels.
2. Barkley – Feisty but loyal, this big boy will fight bears to protect you.
3. Fin – Can sniff anything and everything out, however, tends to find skunks instead. She is a very shy pup who does not like cuddles at first but comes around eventually.
4. Slayer – Speedy, reliable and always ready to run. They are afraid of elk though. I do not blame the pup; those horns are scary.
5. Stilton – A blue eyed angel who is an older pup but is as watchful as Heimdall. He will never steer you wrong.

With the incredible voice talent of Ashly Burch playing the protagonist and five loyal doggies by your side, each run through the game comes alive. The wildlife you encounter, the decisions you make, the beautiful night sky as your team races across a frozen lake, all add to a game that manages to perfectly encapsulate the exhilaration, isolation, fear and wonder that your protagonist feels as they try to make it in the harsh wilderness. Your only companions are your pack of hardworking pups and the various wildlife that litter the landscape, including some dickhead owls who led me into so many charging moose that I think they are just doing it on purpose now. Screw you owls. Screw you.

Similar to roguelike games such as Hades (which I will write about soon), The Red Lantern is a game of trial and error. Each run through the Alaskan wilderness, you come across different scenarios, forcing you to decide how you will spend your limited resources. When you eventually fail, be that from hunger, injury or exhaustion, you wake up in your van – ready to try again. However, what does not kill you makes you stronger. Say you freeze to death out there during a run, well your protagonist will realise that they need to pack more fire kindling. If you find a key item whilst you are exploring, it becomes a permanent part of your inventory for all future runs. Trust me, you will never be more excited to find a bit of flint than when you have run out of kindling for the fourth run in a row.

The Red Lantern is filled with little moments that stick with you from run to run. Each dog on your team has a miniature story arc that you can pursue, allowing you to dig into their personality and bond with them. Every story has its own merits and memorable interactions, but Fin’s arc was what stuck with me the most over my time with the game.

Fin is a shy pup. Known as a keen tracker by her previous owners, Fin is an independent soul who prefers the wild to her comfortable doghouse and the affection of her musher. To begin with, Fin will only cautiously sniff your hand, preferring to keep her distance from both you and the more boisterous dogs (looking at you Chomper). One night though, you wake up to discover that your beanie is missing. Checking the camp, you see that Fin has it clutched in her paws as she sleeps, using your scent to soothe her. The next time you go to sleep, the game gives you an option to let Fin have your beanie – which although it leaves you cold, brings the pup comfort. Later on, she lets you scratch her, happy for the love. The game makes you work for her affection, builds that relationship of trust and gives you a sense of accomplishment when you see that tail wag.

More than anything, The Red Lantern is about having faith in your team and in yourself. Life is filled with the mistakes we have made. I have screwed up more times that I have pairs of socks. It is what you choose to take from those missteps that will make all the difference later down the line. Just because you have screwed up before, does not mean you will never succeed. You need to believe in yourself, because in the end, you are the only one whose opinion really matters. Our friends and family, we love them dearly but, in the end, it is your burden to bear, not theirs. A failure is a setback, not an unbreakable roadblock. That is something that I am still struggling to remind myself of. Especially now, where my mental health is not in a great place. I know that I used to be in a much better place. I know that I can take better care of myself. However, that does not lessen the effort it has taken to build myself back up to this point.

Anyways, that’s enough existential crisis conversation for this week. Thank you all for your kind words on last weeks piece and I hope you will continue to support everything I do. New D&D episode coming Saturday evening as well, which has been a delight to edit since it is essentially Phoenix Wright on drugs. It will make sense when you listen, I promise.

Take care, stay safe and wash those hands.

Caitlin RC