Tag: gaming

EGX 2021 – You Absolute spanner:

Posted on by in Gaming, Real Life

As an introvert who lives alone, is not in a committed relationship, works a programming job and whose hobbies are mostly online or solitary, I do not get out much. Sure, I will go for a walk on days that I need to clear my head. When I need something from town, I will grab my keys and head out the door with relative ease. This solitary nature has led to a running joke in my family about my tendency to melt if I step into the sunlight, or how the fresh air is actually poison to my lungs. However, there are always events that I push through the social anxiety to go to – EGX being one of them.

We have talked about the gaming convention EGX and its smaller counterpart EGX Rezzed on the site before. It was after Rezzed 2019 that Mind Games came into existence. Through the gaming community and the various fandoms that I have been a part of all these years, conventions like EGX have given me an opportunity to meet people who’ve I have only heard through voice chat and to experience the joys of gaming with those I care about, rather than by myself in a university dorm late at night. Despite a global pandemic and lockdown, last year I still got to take part in EGX – through EGX Digital and the brilliant panelists who joined me to talk about mental health representation in gaming.

Considering the pandemic is not yet over (because diseases do not go away overnight, what a surprise), I was unsure of whether this year’s in-person convention would even happen. Originally, I decided not to go, not wanting to spend money on hotels and travel when I am in the middle of sorting a new place to live. However, I struggled massively with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), especially as I realised just how many of my friends were going to make an appearance. As the closing date for press applications grew nearer, I decided to take a chance. I applied, allowing the acceptance or denial of my application to make the choice for me. Then I got one.

I was immensely surprised. I am well aware of the chaotic period of infrequent content that Mind Games has gone through over the last eighteen months. Between a pandemic, a dissertation, a new job, housing issues, mental health declines and the chaos of adopting two cats – I have not been able to focus on the site as much as I have wanted to. Apart from my Dungeons and Dragons campaign, there have not been frequent posts on the site. Yet, I still received a press pass.

So, on the 7th of October 2021, I stood outside the Excel center once more, ready to face four days of games, socialization, crowds, and joyful chaos. I never regret going to these conventions, they are some of my fondest memories and forge bonds that will linger long after the words on this post have filtered through your mind. The last EGX I went to, I was accompanied by my good friend Rob (RupertLitterBin/RupertRamblings) who brought my coffee/breakfast with him. Thank God for that, I would have died otherwise. In 2021, I decided to take advantage of my paying job and get a hotel so I would not have to commute three hours each way just to attend the convention.

During the previous EGX, I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with my now good friend Matt – @TheMattAttackUK, who runs multiple podcasts over on Visionaries Global Media (a podcasting network). A few months later, he approached me to ask about whether I would take part in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign he was running. I agreed and well, now I am part of the Dungeons and Junkiez crew, who play every Tuesday night. It is definitely one of the best things in my life at the moment. Through Matt, I met Kerry, Alex, and Chad – who have all become good friends. Honestly, I have missed having a group that I see regularly and spend time with. Years at a boarding school and three years of university featuring lots of theatre productions, means that I have grown accustomed to having those periods of socialization, I did not realise that I needed it until it was absent from my life.

Although Chad could not be there (something about an ocean being between the USA and the UK), to see the rest of the group in person and to spend time with them in three dimensions, was invigorating. Big social events are extremely draining to my mental health, but to be honest, I needed this. COVID-19 has drastically changed the last 18 months of our lives and for some people, such as me, this pandemic has clashed with milestones in our lives – tainting those memories. I have not had a formal graduation ceremony or gone out for drinks/coffee with my new work colleagues. So, to see people outside of my immediate family, my housemate and a few select friends, has brought a great deal of relief.

As terrified as I am, and always will be, of these big events, there is a sense of normality to them that I dearly miss. Having a few days to wander around a convention center, sharing inside jokes, trying new games, and making new memories, it brings a human connection that I think we all have been deprived of for a while now.

Now, given that we are still in the midst of a pandemic, there were concerns that EGX would struggle to provide a safe event. Others, especially those online, complained that the convention was not good enough as it lacked representation from the AAA game companies – giving more of a focus to the tabletop and indie communities. Personally, I prefer the smaller, indie developer focused event that is Rezzed, but I can understand where people are coming from. However, walking around in my facemask, watching developers wipe down controllers and surfaces between play testers, handing over my proof of vaccination to the venue security team, I could tell that they were doing all they could. Part of my fear of attending EGX was whether I would inadvertently pass my germs onto someone who is less able at fighting them off.

Part of the writer’s block that I have been experiencing since lockdown began, has been due to lack of enthusiasm for games. Since I have not been going round to friend’s houses after lectures to play Uncharted or forwarding upcoming release trailers to those that I know would love it, a lot of my passion for writing articles has fizzled away. Not because I do not enjoy the games or that I do not want to write about them. It is more that I have lost that sense of community, that joint excitement for new experiences. I can say with confidence that EGX has brought that back. Walking around the retro zone, being terrible at rhythm games, conquering most of Russia in a board game, chatting to developers about their inspirations, it has brought it all back to me. I play games on my own but the communities and excitement surrounding them are what makes it all worth it for me.

So, what can you conclude from this rambling mess of an article that has no real structure to it? Well, I have my love of writing back again. Even if it is only here for a few weeks, I am going to try and take advantage of it and start producing content for you all again. To wet your beaks a bit, here is a list of things that are coming your way:

  • A Juggler’s Tale – A game about puppets. Yes. Puppets.
  • More D&D – Woo the D&D train never ends, even more for my players to suffer
  • A big rebrand of the site, including the launch of my tabletop games as an actual entity – Blades In The Dark, D&D 5e and hopefully a lot, lot more!
  • More articles about board games!
  • More bits about mental health/conditions that impact people in the community
  • Requests?

It’s good to be back. I would love to hear from you all again, so send me your suggestions, feedback and ideas! Heck, even just how you’ve been doing these past few months 🙂

Take care,

CaitlinRC

Hades – When in Doubt, Punch Your Way Out:

Posted on by in Gaming

In traditional Mind Games style, we are ridiculously late to the bandwagon. Hades was released in the second half of 2020, to uproarious applause from the gaming community. Nominated for various awards at the Golden Joysticks and the Game Awards, as well as winning several, Hades had the opening season that most game developers dream about. Whenever a game does so well off the bat, I tend to be instantly skeptical. My cynical soul will wonder whether a game is doing anything new or if it is treading over the same ground that has been trod a thousand times before. However, I am glad to say that Hades has proved me wrong. It is a game well worth all the awards and accolades being thrown its way. So, let us see what all the fuss is about.

Hades takes a leaf from the Breath of The Wild playbook and lays out your final goal from the get-go – escape hell. You must wage war against the onslaught of enemies and obstacles that the underworld has thrown into your path, to stand on the surface of the earth – a feat no other had achieved. You play as Zagreus, known in this game as the son of Hades and Persephone, though the earlier mentions of Zagreus in mythology quote him as “Zagreus highest of all the gods”. Others say that Zagreus was the child of Zeus and Persephone. Go look him up, there is a lot more to him than Hades can get into during its gameplay.

Two bros, chilling in the underworld, 5ft apart cause they respect personal space

Let me explain how Hades works for anyone who does not know or like me, hid under a rock away from popular trends for several months. Every time you attempt to escape from hell, you fight your way through a series of chambers until you reach that regions boss. Beat the boss and you travel to the next region, so on and so forth until you reach Styx. It is here where the entrance to the surface world dwells and after bribing the best three headed doggo to stand aside, you challenge your father to a fight. If you survive all of that, you can venture out into the surface world and witness some cool story things. If you die at all in the course of your escape attempt, you emerge from the pool of what I assume is blood, back in the House of Hades. Not sure how good a bath in blood is for your skin but hey, I’m no dermatologist.

There’s something remarkably addicting and therapeutic about Hades. Sure, it has a similar approach to losing a fight as most roguelike games – Dead Cells, Dark souls and Bloodborne for example, where death has more of a consequence than a slap on the wrist. However, your deaths in Hades have a greater purpose than simply sending you back to the beginning. The various gods, servants of hell and lost spirits that you meet during your trek out of hell can be found in the House of Hades, allowing you to discover tidbits of the story and explore the relationships that affect the world around you. Naturally, your quest to escape from hell is the focus of the story, but there is so much more to Hades than simply conquering the Underworld through brute force.

This absolute tool

I love the combat. It feels more than just a mechanic or a button masher to me, there’s a remarkable elegance to how Zagreus weaves through his enemies, dodging projectiles and traps, utilizing his gifts from the gods of Olympus and the weapons known as the Infernal Arms. When you fall into the fight’s rhythm, it’s so viscerally satisfying and heck, pheromone inducing, that you want nothing more than to lose yourself in the siren-song of Hades. Not that it’s easy, it is far from that. You are meant to die, to learn from your mistakes and improve Zagreus’s abilities. Sure, dying repeatedly is frustrating, like when Hades himself only had a tiny sliver of health, after which I may or may not have thrown my controller down in rage.

As humans, we learn from our mistakes. We seek to improve ourselves, to adjust the parameters of the situation to ensure that failure no longer remains an option. There’s a reason we don’t throw ourselves from great heights, eat raw foods, have fist fights with sharks or surface immediately after diving deep into the ocean – we know these actions have negative consequences and risk our health, so we evolve, we change. Game developers have become very good at creating experiences that force the player to adapt, to change, to persevere in a seemingly impossible situation and to eventually emerge triumphant. Hades is one such game. Regardless of how many times you’ve run through the depths of Tartarus in your attempts to escape hell, your combat strategy will not remain the same. Different enemies require different approaches, something that becomes painfully clear when you stop clinging to the starting weapon (yes, I know about that, don’t deny it, we all do it). Variety is the key to success – no run through Hades is identical. Some of the most satisfying combat in Hades comes from experimenting with various combinations of “boons” from the Olympians.

Prepare to be bonked. By me.

If you’ve read some of my other articles or have the misfortune of following me on Twitter (@CaitlinRC/@OurMindGames), you’ll probably know that I am a big nerd when it comes to all thing’s mythology. There’s something fascinating about the field of mythology and the impact that it’s had on the world as we know it. Every civilisation in history had their own belief systems, deities, and methods of worship – imprints of which can be found in all forms of media nowadays. Take the rising of the sun every morning. The scientific community explains that the sun rising in the morning is a result of the rotation of the earth on its axis, and its relation to the rays of light being emitted by the giant blazing ball of gas at the centre of our solar system. However, in Greek mythology, such as what Hades is based upon, the sun rising is the god Helios riding his flaming charity across the sky. There are countless explanations for things we now dismiss as commonly known facts. It’s fascinating!

Hades does a fairly good job at sticking to the more commonly known mythological figures and deities in Greek mythology. The core Olympians are all present, references to minor gods and key players are present throughout the dialogue, the regions that you battle through are all beautifully distinct, with entrancing visuals and music accompanying you on your journey. Plus, it’s nice to hear the often-overdone tales like Eurydice and Orpheus or Hades and Persephone told from a different perspective. Then again, maybe I’m biased. The game doesn’t rely entirely on the player’s knowledge of mythology to be enjoyable, it’s very much a detail that adds more dimensions to the world you explore and the trials the characters speak of.

GOOD BOI

Going to talk more about the plot points here so if you still haven’t played/watched a let’s play of Hades and want to remain unspoiled, beware!

Although based in mythology, Hades is very much a game about family. The entire reason that Zagreus wants to escape hell in the first place, is to find his mother. Persephone, known as Kore to her mother Demeter, left the Underworld shortly after Zagreus was born and the boy grew up knowing Nyx, goddess of the night and mother of the fates, as his mother. He eventually finds out that Nyx is not his birth mother and sets out to find her in the outside world. When you eventually escape hell, you arrive in Greece and have a few moments with Persephone on her little farm – filled with beautiful life, a sharp distinction to the swathes of death that Zagreus has spent his entire life surrounded by.

The reunion between mother and son is remarkably heartfelt, more so when Persephone tells Zagreus that he was originally stillborn. Heartbroken by the loss of her child, she had to leave the realm that reminded her too much of the son that never got to live, leaving Hades and the later revived Zagreus alone. Their time together is cut short hover, as Zagreus is unable to survive on the surface world for very long. Like his father, his life force is bound to the Underworld and perishes in his mother’s arms, returning to the House of Hades. Eventually, after many trips to the surface, Zagreus convinces his mother to come home and his family is reunited, with an …adjusted version of the truth told to his various uncles and cousins on Olympus to prevent a war breaking out – after all, Demeter wouldn’t be happy to hear that Zeus had essentially kidnapped her daughter and handed her to Hades as a “consolation prize”.

…….Hi dad

End of spoilers!

Hades is a game that has stuck with me throughout lockdown and the shit show that the last 18 months have been, and an experience that thoroughly deserves all the awards that it received. Plus, you can pet Cerberus.

Anyways, I’ve rambled for a while, so I’ll let you all get back to whatever you were doing. I know all that I’ve really posted since February has been episodes of my Dungeons and Dragons campaign (which you really should listen to, it’s bloody brilliant if I do say so myself), but hopefully this article is the start of me getting back into the swing of things. I’ve played a lot of great games over the last six months, and I’d like to write about them, as well as a few more think pieces about general life/pursuits that I have outside of gaming.

Thank you for still being here,

CaitlinRC.

Special Effect – Press to HONK

Posted on by in Real Life

One of the most powerful tools that game designers use to cause you fear or unease, is to take away something that you rely on. Be it your faithful animal companion, your magical abilities or even a sense, to have that ripped from you changes how you approach the rest of the game. Even if it is restored, you face the rest of it with that voice in your head, reminding you that what has happened before, could and maybe will, happen again. Especially in games that rely so heavily on quick responses or audio cues, everything becomes so much harder, as if the difficulty has been turned up to eleven without you knowing.

HONK.

Now, apply that to everyday life. Simple tasks are more difficult, there are some situations that are completely inaccessible to you and experiences that you will never get to have. Not fair is it? That’s what life can be like with a disability. Mental or physical, these disabilities can taint every part of our lives, constantly reminding you of its presence. For example, games majorly focused on strategy and cooperative play can be a massive struggle for those who are neurodivergent, particularly those on the autistic spectrum who struggle to pick up on social cues. Depending on the colour palette you use for your game, those who are colour blind may not be able to play. Even subtitles can make a massive difference in allowing people to enjoy a medium that a lot of us take for granted.

So, why am I bringing this up? What game could I possibly be talking about? Why am I asking various rhetorical questions to readers who can’t hear the sarcasm in my voice? Well, whilst I was at EGX, I got the chance to talk to the lovely Becky from Special Effect. If you haven’t heard of Special Effect, they’re a charity that builds custom gaming rigs for the physically disabled, both young and old, to enable them to enjoy the games we know and love. From creating joysticks that can be controlled with your chin, to having a big yellow button you can hit to make the goose honk, they will go above and beyond to improve the quality of life of those with disabilities. If that’s not selflessness, I don’t know what is.

Best Robot 11/10

I wanted to highlight Special Effect, here, on MindGames, because what they do is so important. The whole purpose of this site is to highlight how gaming and mental health are closely linked, how they can affect one another and improve our lives for the better. Yet, some people can’t access video games. They are cut off from one of the most powerful forms of media, all because of something they had no control over. Despite being dealt a crap hand in life, these people are all phenomenal. Kind, hilarious, bright and compassionate, they are the pinnacle of what humanity should be. So, it is our duty as the rest of humanity to nurture that potential, that hope and enjoyment in any way that we can.

One of Special Effect’s projects that really caught my eye was Bubble Busters. Their cute little bots have an inbuilt camera, microphone and speaker so that children who can’t physically attend school, can still be there in class, to keep up with their education and to let them have those childhood experiences we all remember. Inside jokes, hanging with their friends, getting any academic support they need, it is all possible with these little robots. Currently, the scheme is focused on children with leukaemia, who are forced to be at home for long periods of time due to their severely weakened immune system. This terrifying point in their life, is when they need their friends the most. That is what Special Effect is trying to accomplish and the impact they’ve had on kids lives already is astounding.

TLDR: They’re great, go support them.

As we discussed in my piece on Alien Isolation, loneliness can be a powerful thing when not dealt with. Sure, we all need a little me time now and then but being trapped alone with only the thoughts of your situation, is something that no one deserves. This extends beyond just those with the disability, but also to those around them. The family, friends and carers are also struggling. Having a few moments where they know everything is ok, that they don’t have to worry, can be the difference between a good day and a bad day. Be it being able to play a game with your child for the first time or just seeing them smile so wide it hurts your heart to look at, the impact is phenomenal.

Apologies that this piece is a lot shorter than usual. All I can say is that you should go investigate this amazing charity yourself. Here’s their website – https://www.specialeffect.org.uk/ .

Till next time,

CaitlinRC

Online Gaming – Yes, Online Friends Are Real Friends

Posted on by in Gaming

When you hear the words “online gaming”, a lot of people’s minds go to games like Call of Duty or Halo, where the most common words spoken over headsets are words that I will never repeat, especially if my mother is within earshot. Multiplayer has always been a thing in video games, even back to the original video game – Pong. We humans are social creatures and some of our greatest achievements such as flight, breaking the Enigma code and landing on the moon have been achieved through the co-operation of talented individuals, working towards a common goal. However, for those with social anxiety and other assorted mental health conditions, social events can be a nerve-wracking experience. I’d like to think that online gaming and the communities that it has spawned, has helped bring a lot of those people, including myself, together.

So, first things first. What is online gaming? That, like many things in life, is a broad question. The computing side of my brain would argue that it is any game mode that requires an outbound connection either across a Local Area Network or to the Internet, where individuals in different locations are all playing the same game simultaneously. This connection is why you can make your character jump in England and your friend over in Canada can watch you with a bemused expression. For the more psychology-based part of me, I’d argue that online gaming is more than just being able to play together. It’s the communities that rise around it, debating new updates and features, organising meetups and sharing their various fan projects based around the game at hand.

Growing up, I didn’t know many other people who were as interested in gaming as I was. Sure, there was the odd friend every so often, but I moved too frequently to really delve into those friendships properly. Most of my multiplayer experience was either through visiting my sister’s town in Animal Crossing (and chasing her around with an axe like the mature child I was) or playing the versus mode in Super Mario Bros against my younger cousin. When I hit secondary school and got into playing Minecraft, that was when I got to experience the world of online gaming.

Can confirm I spent far too many hours on this Minecraft server playing Hide and Seek, Death Run and Hunger Games.

Over the next few years, I threw myself into online servers – eventually joining a fan community for the popular Minecraft YouTuber group Team Crafted. In there, I ended up meeting some of my closest friends who I still speak to most days. Heck, even the RC in my username harkens back to those days, though what it stands for will remain a secret! I travelled to Minecon in London and met my friend for the first time, where we proceeded to spend the next two days being utterly ridiculous and laughing at our own weird little jokes. To this day, the phrase “Helgrind” still makes me laugh, much to everyone else’s confusion.

From there, I moved more into general gaming communities such as the OutsideXbox/Xtra channels, who have become an important part of my life – to the point where I’m ridiculously invested in the community and have been to conventions to meet so many of my amazing friends. (Yes, hi Fanstra I know you’re reading this). From Town of Salem to Twitch streams to RDR2 Online, I have been ridiculously lucky in my life to meet so many amazing people through the medium of online gaming and they have supported me unconditionally through some of the darkest points of my life. If any of you are reading this, and you know who you are, thank you.

Obviously, everyone’s experiences of online gaming differ and a lot of it depends on the communities you join. Some can be more welcoming than others, whilst a few can seem quite intimidating at first. Although it has lessened over the years, there is still a lot of stigma against female gamers and it can put young women off gaming entirely, which is a huge loss both to the communities and to the gaming industry. So many aspects of modern gaming wouldn’t exist without the amazing men and women behind it, with the future of the industry resting in the capable hands of our generation. Yet, so many talented individuals feel unable to join the world they so adore, in part due to the mental health conditions plaguing their everyday lives.

The OX community is such a big part of my life now, I can’t imagine it without them all, especially my friends over on the fan server.

As we’ve talked about before on this site, even entering a familiar social situation can provide a host of uncertainties and potential anxiety triggers to a sufferer of say, anxiety, for example. For me, one of my main issues when facing a social situation is my escape route. Often, when I’m panicking, most of my energy is focused on not showing it outwardly and seeking an opportunity to remove myself from the situation. Now, this can’t work forever, and I do eventually break down. Meanwhile online, I can simply exit voice chat or not reply to a message for a while, giving the excuse that I had to attend to another matter without anyone really questioning where I’d been. This escape hatch being so readily accessible is a lifeline in more stressful situations or on my darker days.

Another aspect of online gaming and the communities it creates is that you come across a lot more people who understand exactly what you’re going through because so are they. Depending on those around you, you may not meet someone who also suffers from psychosis or who is also disabled for most of your young life. Meanwhile, with the Internet and the like-minded individuals forming these groups with mutual interests, you suddenly find yourself surrounded by people who understand exactly why you need to take time out or why you suddenly want people to flood your messages with pictures of cute cats instead of talking. They know why because a few days ago, that was them.

Apologies that this week’s article is shorter than usual, I’m not sure how much more I can say about this topic because it is an incredibly personal experience for everyone. This was just a little bit of how I feel the world of online gaming has impacted me. Big thank you to Mike Hodgin for suggesting this and for his support! Let me know your experiences down in the comments, and look forward to next weeks article on the Drawn to Life games from the Nintendo DS (yes, I’ve been playing my childhood games again hush)

No, you spent your weekend off playing the series.

Remember to like, comment, follow the site and follow me on twitter @OurMindGames for all updates/future polls on content!

Till next week,

CaitlinRC.

Super Mario Odyssey – Over The Moon For Moons:

Posted on by in Gaming

When we think of video games and their well-known mascots, 99% of people’s minds will go to the infamous plumber, Mario. Whether he’s flying through space or adventuring through Bowser’s internal organs, this moustachioed man can be found everywhere. I didn’t really have much experience with the Mario games personally. My main experience with them was Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS and even then, I mostly used it to play the awesome minigames with my cousins and my sister whenever we were together (just saying, I normally won). Mario games always felt a little bit lacking in the story department and repetitive with its mechanics. So, apart from the Mario & Luigi games which took a leaf out of Mario RPG’s book, and Mario Galaxy (because space is cool), my focus wasn’t on the red plumber.

When I got my Switch, I realised that I could get it cheaper if I got Mario Odyssey as well. So, I decided to go for it, thinking if anything, I’d have a fun time playing it even if I never came back to it. Plus, I was curious what it would be like to possess the minds of living creatures and make them dance to my will like puppets on strings. Plus, each possessed creature gets a version of Mario’s moustache, which is far too funny an opportunity to pass up. So, I booted up the game for the first time and was greeted by Mario’s goofy face, though thankfully in a slightly more appealing way than Super Mario 64 because that loading screen was bloody terrifying.

First things first, Mario Odyssey basically every commendation it receives and if you get the chance, it is a Mario game worth playing. It works as a good entry point into the series and really shows off the capabilities of the console, making use of the motion controls of the Joy-Cons which are a major upgrade from the controls of the Nintendo Wii. It’s charming, with an awesome soundtrack and a series of stunning levels that rewards players for thinking outside the box. Plus, with so many Moons to collect, there’s a strong urge to search every single nook and cranny of each level to ensure you haven’t missed anything. Especially when that level is so stuffed full of collectables that I guarantee it’ll burst if you put anything else in there.

Not sure anyone wanted to see this but… thanks Nintendo?

What a slightly smaller subset of people will have noticed, is the strong parallels between Nintendo’s Mario Odyssey and that of another famous Odyssey – written by Homer, the legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. These two epics follow the story of the Greek hero, Odysseus, through his actions in the Trojan war and his journey home after the war ended, with victory going to the Greek’s, after the infamous Trojan horse incident. However, like any good story, the journey home was not smooth sailing and it took him ten long years to return to his wife and son, who he had left behind on the island of Ithaca. If you’ve never read these two great epics and have even a slight interest in mythology, go read it because you gain a deeper understanding about the word “odyssey” and it’s meaning in modern life.

It’s clear that Nintendo’s creation takes a few pages out of Homer’s writings, with some tweaks of their own. The entire main story of Mario Odyssey has you travelling around the world, chasing after Bowser and Peach, who always seems just one step away from you. Much like Odysseus, you travel from land to land, having to resolve the resident’s various issues and killing the occasional monstrosity as you go. Every time you think you’ve reached the end of your journey; another minor inconvenience occurs like a cyclops, being shot out of the sky by a giant cannon or a furious god of the sea drowning most of your crew members. Both Odysseus and Mario continue their journey, not for fame or glory, but to see their loved ones again, even if it means travelling to the underworld, fighting a giant dragon or disguising themselves as a hunk of meat? (What even Nintendo, what even.)

One thing that I truly love about both Homer’s Odyssey and Nintendo’s game, is that it allows you to envision travelling the world in someone else’s shoes, without ever having to leave your home. A lot of people will be saying, why don’t you go travel the world then if you love it so much? The answer to that, like the answer to many of my issues, is that of mental health. I can’t think of a single mental health condition that wouldn’t hinder you in some way from enjoying your travels. Be it having an anxiety attack in an airport, not having your support network with you when you have a depressive episode, facing your phobias by yourself or not being able to eat because to you and your mind, it is inedible. We don’t think about these things until they are suddenly blocking our path but it’s something every person with a mental health condition or a physical ailment must consider, every time they go outside.

Friendly reminder, Cappy can render you unable to control your body as you are forced to watch it be controlled by a maniac plumber.

A good explanation of this is my thought process when I go to a coffee shop to study. My anxiety demands I take the same, safe route that I have committed to memory. As I walk, I wear my noise-cancelling headphones to block out the overwhelming stimuli around me, be that passing conversation, traffic or just some very angry seagulls. Once I get there, I order, retrieve my coffee and go sit upstairs in a corner, where I can see everyone who is going up or down the stairs. I am, what you would call, naturally paranoid. Tiny changes in the environment, be it a chair moving or a conversation suddenly falling silent, can set off my anxiety. That anxiety leads to self-loathing which leads to depression which leads to flashbacks and nightmares, which sets off my PTS. It’s a cycle of damage that if I don’t take precautions with, could ruin my afternoon or even the rest of the month for me. Now, imagine that level of thought, having to be applied to travelling abroad. It’s a terrifying overload of information, is it not?

Games that incorporate travel and exploration as a big part of their narrative can be a major boon to those of us who might never be able to experience that for ourselves. In Mario’s case, the simplistic nature of the game also makes it more accessible. There’s a two-player mode for those with young children or those who struggle to use the Joy Con’s tiny controllers due to physical ailments  (trust me they can be a nightmare), though the game does punish you slightly for using the two-player mode, since it refuses to let you take part in various minigames, blocking off a lot of the game’s content which is a bummer.

This whole sequence was traumatic if I’m honest.

Anyways, I’ve rambled on long enough about this and if we’re not careful, I’ll be talking about mythology for the next 10,000 articles on this blog. Considering talking about card games or the Drawn To Life series from the Nintendo DS (yes I did just finish both games over the course of a four day weekend, no you should get a life). Let me know any suggestions down below and remember to comment, like and follow the site to keep up to date on all my posts!

Till next week,

CaitlinRC.