Rec
🍀
As a sickly kid with an older brother I spent a lot of time watching (rather than playing) video games.
Pikmin, on the surface, seemed like the perfect game for us to play together. He loved biology and imaginary ecosystems, I loved fairies and space adventures. But the original pikmin game, Pikmin 1 on the Game Cube, takes these concepts deadly serious. I remember watching the dreamy, mysterious world in my boxy TV quickly turn into a nightmarish hellscape of death and isolation as a bird-snake creature plucked and snatched and gobbled up our humble unit of adorable and strange pikmin in an all out massacre. Powerless to intercede I sat there shocked. I may have cried. We did not finish the game.
Years later I picked up Pikmin 3 and played it through with my mother. I held the controller this time. I had learned how to game for myself in 2020, I was ready. I was going to keep my pikmin alive until the end and get off the planet.
Admittedly Pikmin 3 is far less harsh than Pikmin 1, so the challenge of keeping all my pikmin alive was a simpler feat. But regardless, I did it.
And I'm doing it again in Pikmin 4, this time accompanied by the adorable and slightly off-kilter 2 legged-pup Oatchi!
Maybe my commitment to a no-Pikmin death run is for my inner child, maybe it's to feel control while my life and the world slowly go up in flames. Maybe I just love these little guys who hide in the grass, sprout flowers, sing while they work and cannot take an instruction to save their lives. Either way, you should play Pikmin 4, a beautiful and charming game that makes you appreciate the small things and take delight in efficiency (dandori).
(And if you do, you should use and abuse the remind button so your pikmin can live forever too. ♡)
Years later I picked up Pikmin 3 and played it through with my mother. I held the controller this time. I had learned how to game for myself in 2020, I was ready. I was going to keep my pikmin alive until the end and get off the planet.
Admittedly Pikmin 3 is far less harsh than Pikmin 1, so the challenge of keeping all my pikmin alive was a simpler feat. But regardless, I did it.
And I'm doing it again in Pikmin 4, this time accompanied by the adorable and slightly off-kilter 2 legged-pup Oatchi!
Maybe my commitment to a no-Pikmin death run is for my inner child, maybe it's to feel control while my life and the world slowly go up in flames. Maybe I just love these little guys who hide in the grass, sprout flowers, sing while they work and cannot take an instruction to save their lives. Either way, you should play Pikmin 4, a beautiful and charming game that makes you appreciate the small things and take delight in efficiency (dandori).
(And if you do, you should use and abuse the remind button so your pikmin can live forever too. ♡)
Jan 27, 2025
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🍁i cannot remember a first playthrough of any game i’ve ever played that was as enchanting as this. it was the wondrous adventure that the original zelda from 1986 was gesturing at but finally fully realized with the aid of modern technology and design. especially in the era it came out, when open-world games were at the absolute peak of bloodless checklists and cocomelon design, a game that was this single-mindedly committed to atmosphere, exploration, and wonder was such an unbelievable breath of fresh air (pardon the pun).
at the time it came out, i was falling out of love with gaming broadly, and botw is probably singlehandedly responsible for reigniting my love for videogames. it made me feel a kind of wonder that i genuinely did not think i was capable of feeling anymore, and it reminded me of the wholly unique kind of engagement that interactive art can provide that nothing else can. if you somehow haven‘t played it yet, i would literally recommend it to everyone. absolute fucking masterpiece.
(honorable mentions: super metroid, undertale, metal gear solid 2)
at the time it came out, i was falling out of love with gaming broadly, and botw is probably singlehandedly responsible for reigniting my love for videogames. it made me feel a kind of wonder that i genuinely did not think i was capable of feeling anymore, and it reminded me of the wholly unique kind of engagement that interactive art can provide that nothing else can. if you somehow haven‘t played it yet, i would literally recommend it to everyone. absolute fucking masterpiece.
(honorable mentions: super metroid, undertale, metal gear solid 2)
Oct 14, 2024
Rec
I just finished Persona 3 Reload. Don't think theres any game I love more than one that will show the effects of your actions. There are things I could've done better, and can do better considering I can just play on a new save - though I think its important not to. At least, not to for a while. Games like Life is Strange, Emily is Away, and the previously mentioned Persona 3, even Doki Doki Literature Club and Infamous: Second Son, all have you making decisions that later effect the story or gameplay, and while this is meant to be a way to add "replayability," I believe the inclusion of choice can serve a much greater purpose. The intrigue for me, ever since my first "choose your own adventure" book, was never the multitude of routes you can run through, but the actual process of getting to one. Going into a story with the idea that this will be your first and only time attempting to beat it made each choice much more thoughtful, and the euphoria of successfully finishing a story with your own ending was something beautiful. The whole point is that I believe most choice games are best left atnone playthrough. Looking back at your story and the choices you made, coming to accept them or even justify them as your life, as your truth, is something human. To simply run through the game to experience all it has to offer is no sin, but it kills the connection to the characters as people. Theres much more to elaborate on, but I think I've done a fine enough job organizing this stream of consciousness. If you made it this far I hope you take this into account for the next life you live whether real or virtual. Byee✌️
Jun 29, 2025
Rec
🎮Alice Madness Returns - first played it in my first year of uni at 18 and it became my whole personality, recently replayed it and it basically happened again.
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood - a recent play and the game that has me considering becoming a game writer
Death’s Door - dark souls for cutie pies. i just find this endlessly repayable because the controls feel so nice for me. Also the first “hard game” I played that convinced me “hard games” aren’t out of my ability.
Final Fantasy X - the first “real game” I played on my ps2 when I was like 10. my friends used to make fun of me for not going out to play after school because I was doing anotber ffx replay.
Shout out to the spyro trilogy and Spiritfarer - the endlessly replayable basis for my favourite kind of gameplay, and the first game to make me cry, respectively.
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood - a recent play and the game that has me considering becoming a game writer
Death’s Door - dark souls for cutie pies. i just find this endlessly repayable because the controls feel so nice for me. Also the first “hard game” I played that convinced me “hard games” aren’t out of my ability.
Final Fantasy X - the first “real game” I played on my ps2 when I was like 10. my friends used to make fun of me for not going out to play after school because I was doing anotber ffx replay.
Shout out to the spyro trilogy and Spiritfarer - the endlessly replayable basis for my favourite kind of gameplay, and the first game to make me cry, respectively.
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