I want to use this first issue to tell you what to expect from this newsletter. The gaming world is fast-moving, and it can be hard to keep up with while also living a busy real life. I want to be a friendly guide to what’s interesting and relevant, and what games are worth your valuable time and attention.
But this won’t just be a news rundown. Video games don’t exist in a cultural vacuum, and they’re not just products that appear and are quickly forgotten. For anyone who plays them – which, increasingly, is pretty much everyone – games are a part of life, not something separate from it. I want to talk about them in a way that reflects that.
Ask any anthropologist and, they’ll tell you that we can learn a lot about people by looking at how we play. I find that games that break through to become popular often reflect some interesting facet of our culture and the world we live in: whether that’s The Sims’ potent mixture of ultra capitalist fantasy and soothing control over human affairs, or pandemic space hit Among Us’ undercurrent of anxiety, instability and mistrust. Even a game that ostensibly has nothing much to say – Fortnite, for instance – can tell us a lot when we look at how people play it. Teenagers use it as a place to hang out; their generation’s equivalent of loitering pointlessly around the local park with your mates, though possibly without the covert cans of cider.
And gaming culture – because it is young, because it is technologically cutting-edge – can give us an insight into what’s on the cards for the world as a whole. There’s the dismal example of Gamer gate, the 2014 harassment campaign that foreshadowed the Trump campaign and the seductive tactics of the alt-right; but gamers were also early representatives of the Internet’s ability to connect and empower people, with our newsgroups and online lobbies. People were creating and curating new selves and friendship circles in video game worlds long before they were doing the same on Instagram.
I say all this to reinforce the notion that games matter. They’re not some guilty pleasure, some pointless waste of time. Like all art and culture, they have power. Games connect and entertain and, sometimes, effect change. The people who make and play them can be fascinating. I love video games in all their forms, from the sublime to the very, very ridiculous, and that is exactly why I take them seriously. The right game at the right time can change your life. Or it can give you something fun and blissfully escapist to do in between working long days, raising your kids, or navigating the everyday heartbreaks of life. That’s good, too.
I’ve been a game journalist for 16 years, and I still find them endlessly fascinating. I’m excited to share the games and stories that make my brain happy with all of you.
This week’s game recommendation is Death’s Door, an extraordinary wee game that flew somewhat under the radar this year – appropriately, as it stars a crow who works as a Grim Reaper. It’s an invitingly beautiful Zelda-like adventure game, with stylish, snappy fights and a world comprised of pleasing dioramas full of interesting secrets to find, but it’s also gently melancholy in a way that really got to me over time. There’s something almost Spirited Away about it, with moments of touching levity in among the dungeon-delving.
Available on: PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch Approximate playtime: 10 hours
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